The Tale of
One Tree
By Rachael Long
Copyright 2012 Rachael Long
THE TALE OF ONE TREE
a parable of sorts
CONTENTS
Part One
Beginnings of a journey
One Tree was unlike any other tree in the forest...
Part Two
Travel by water
One Tree looked out at the ocean...
Part Three
Endings and homecoming
One Tree waved its branches...
The Tale of One Tree
This is the tale of a tree, one tree among many.
One Tree was unlike any other tree in the forest. One Tree was not tall with needle-shaped leaves and pine cones bristling on every branch like all the other trees: One Tree was short. Not only that but One Tree also had long branches that stuck out like arms and flat green leaves with rounded edges.
None of the other trees quite knew just how or why One Tree happened to be in their particular forest. There were some who said a passing bird had dropped a seed and that it had then grown into One Tree. Others said one springtime, passing hunters on their way to summer hunting grounds had planted One Tree. But no one really knew how One Tree came to be there or even how One Tree came to be known by the name of, One Tree. Had One Tree been named by a flock of migrating birds? Perhaps it had been hunters or even a wise owl or maybe the wind? Who really knew?
One morning, after a very stormy night, during which several pine trees had been damaged and at least two had fallen, a tall, battered pine whispered to One Tree, “we don’t know why you stay here. After all, you are not a tall, elegant pine tree like all of us.”
“That’s right”, added another. “This is a pine forest and you’re just…” the tree paused.
“Small and funny shaped,” a young pine called out.
“But I’ve always lived here”, protested One Tree. “I like it here. I like being in the middle of all you tall trees. I feel safe and protected. One day I hope I’ll grow as big as all of you”.
“You won’t get any taller,” sneered a nearby pine. “You should go off and find a forest of your own. Or let the hunters cut you down and turn you into a canoe! Why should we have to keep you safe from the storms?”
One Tree rustled its leaves and said loudly; “I would be proud to be a canoe!” The other trees laughed and shook their branches sending a flurry of pine needles down on One Tree. It rustled its leaves and shook off the pine needles.
“You take up too much room,” complained a distant pine. “I’ve heard all about you,” called another. “Yes, too much room,” said yet another. “All you do,” said the young pine again, “is tell dull stories about how you dropped into the forest when you were a seed.”
“No, he was thrown away by hunters,” a pine from the back called out harshly.
One Tree was now a little upset. “I thought you liked my stories...”
“Well we don’t. This is a pine forest. You are not a pine tree…you should leave.” The pines around One Tree all began muttering.
One Tree dropped a leaf then another and then, as if they were tears, One Tree’s leaves slowly fell to the ground. By nightfall, One Tree had shed all its leaves.
Late that night an owl glided through the forest and settled on one of One Tree's branches. “You don’t look well,” said Owl.
One Tree told Owl all about the other trees and how they only wanted pines in the forest now.
“I see”, said Owl, then after thinking for a moment. “Why don’t you leave then?”
“Not you as well,” moaned One Tree.
“No, no,” said Owl. “Come with me on an adventure. We’ll explore the world. Shake the earth off your roots and come down to the river.”
“Is that possible?” One Tree asked.
“Well,” said Owl, “you won’t know until you try. Go on, shake those roots!”
One Tree slowly wriggled its roots and gently, carefully eased them out the ground, shaking off the earth. Then, very slowly so as not to wake the other trees, One Tree shuffled out of the forest and down to the riverbank.
The moon was full and bright and bathed One Tree in silvery moonshine. Owl fluttered down and settled onto one of One Tree’s branches.
“Come on then, into the water,” said Owl. “Drop yourself in. River won't mind if you make a splash.”
One Tree looked at the flowing river with moonbeams dancing on its rippling surface. The water did look very inviting but One Tree had no idea about swimming or even floating.
River gurgled and said, “hop in, I’m not a cold river, you know. Well, I am when I start up in the mountains but I'm much warmer here.”
One Tree nervously crept nearer the edge of the riverbank, dipped in the end of a root and giggled. The water felt strange. Then One Tree put the root further in and laughed. River was tickling its root!
“But I can’t swim,” One Tree said rather sadly, pulling it's root out of the water. Then added, “suppose I don’t float?”
“Mmm...yes...That would be a problem.” Owl thought for a moment. “However, I have never known a tree who couldn’t float…Mind you there was that funny looking tree up river.”
“I remember that one,” said River. “That was a real heavy tree. Sank quicker than a box full of boulders. Splash! Straight to the bottom!”
One Tree shuffled away from the riverbank. “Thank you Owl and River but I’ve changed my mind. I’ll just stay here.”
“Nonsense, nonsense,” said Owl, flapping her wings. “You’re only telling half the story, River, tell the rest.”
“Well…” said River speaking slowly. “That poor tree…it just sat on my riverbed going nowhere. In the end I had to roll it downstream for a week, until it got to where it was going.”
Owl looked sternly at River. “And the rest please, River. Why did the tree sink?”
“Oh yes,” said River and continued, “well, as I said, it was a funny looking tree. It turned out that some hunters had decided a large boulder reminded them of a tree. So they carved it into a tree shape! But it was too heavy for them to carry so they pushed it into the river, that’s me, and made me do all the carrying for them! Humans, eh? Funny bunch.”
“So you see,” said Owl giving her wings a little shake, “it wasn’t a real tree after all.”
Feeling a little reassured, One Tree slowly edged back to the riverside and gently entered the river one root at a time. All seemed to be going well until…
SPLASH!
“Don’t worry, I’ve got you,” said River. “You’re fine. Look, you’re floating!”
One Tree bobbed gently up and down in the river, splashing water with its branches. “Look Owl. I really am floating. Floating! This is fun!”
Owl flew up from the riverbank and settled down on One Tree’s trunk.
“Well then,” said River; “now that we are all here, where would you like to go?”
“Mmm...” said Owl thinking. “One Tree is not happy in the forest and I think it would be quite nice to go on an adventure. What do you think, One Tree?”
One Tree waggled its branches, splashing water around. “An adventure sounds nice. Somewhere warm and sunny, I think. Somewhere...without forests.”
River thought then said, “I’ll take you down to the ocean. Ocean knows lots of places. Places that are near and far.”
By morning time Owl and One Tree were bobbing up and down at the river’s estuary. “Here we are,” said River, “Salt Wedge Estuary. You see, Ocean is salt water and me, I’m just plain old fresh water. This estuary is where we change over.”
One Tree looked out at the ocean. It spread as far as could be seen. “Goodbye, River
” said One Tree and Owl as they floated out into the ocean. For a few moments they bobbed together, rising and falling with the rhythm of the ocean then a rolling wave lifted them up into the air.
“Good morning to you,” said Ocean. One Tree could taste Ocean’s salty breath. “What can I do for you two? River told me you wanted to travel to somewhere warm.”
Owl and One Tree explained to Ocean they wanted to go somewhere warm and sunny and somewhere without forests.
Ocean gave a little rippling smile. “I know just the place. Sit back and enjoy the journey.”
The days and nights passed as Owl and One Tree floated along on top of Ocean. They saw the sun rise and set, the moon rise, the stars twinkle and dance in the midnight velvet sky and then saw the moon setting. Some nights whales, giant squid and octopus would rise up from the depths and spend a while on the surface talking with Owl and One Tree.
One night they even had a visit from a very strange looking creature. It didn’t want to give its name and said that only Ocean and now, Owl and One Tree, knew about it. But it stayed all night, talking about its life at the very deepest