Everyone and Everything

The stone mountain protected the villagers during bad storms and the huge iron gates protected ‘everyone and everything’ that lived inside the valley from any dangerous things that lived outside.

  Each morning, the sun would rise and travel across the stone mountain before setting upon ‘everyone and everything’ in ‘Horseshoe Valley’. When the sun got to warm, the stone mountain would cast a nice cool shadow around the edge of the valley.

  Being shaped like a horseshoe meant that the valley always trapped enough rain and sun to ensure that the crops grew well and that there was always plenty of food for ‘everyone and everything’ to eat.

  The sheep that grazed upon the lush, green pastures were also happy and they grew lots of wool, which was made into warm clothes for the villagers. Even the hens were so happy that they laid lots of eggs and the flowers were so beautiful that nobody ever picked them and nothing ever disturbed them.

  ‘Horseshoe Valley’ was the happiest place one could imagine and ‘everyone and everything’ that live there were also happy. They were proud of their beautiful valley, but above all, they were most proud of the two tall oak trees that had lived there long before ‘everyone and everything’ else had been born.

  To the villagers of ‘Horseshoe Valley’ the two tall oak trees were their good luck charms. When ‘everyone and everything’ looked up at the trees, they would feel special and protected.

  Often, the villagers would say, "As long as we have our two tall oak trees, nothing disastrous will ever happen to us."

  ‘Everyone and everything’ loved the trees so much that they never went to sleep at night until they had said ‘good night’ to them. If anyone or anything woke up during the middle of the night and felt a little afraid, all they would do would be to simply look at the two tall oak trees standing side-by-side and they would stop feeling afraid and quickly go back to sleep. Every time anyone or anything went out of the valley or came back into it, they would simply pat each of the trees lovingly on their huge trunks as they passed by.

  The two tall oak trees loved being kissed in this way and whenever they received a loving pat, they grew a little bit taller and looked a little bit more magnificent.

  As ‘everyone and everything’ grew closer to the two tall oak trees, the two tall oak trees grew closer to each other. As the years passed and the trees had grown as tall as they could grow, they each began to spread their uppermost branches wider and wider, until at last, their branches were able to hold hands beneath the open sky.

  The two tall oak trees were now happier than they had ever been in their lives and they felt closer to each other than they had ever felt. One day whilst everyone and everything’ were happily going about their daily business, the earth shook and tremored. It was the first earthquake that had ever visited ‘Horseshoe Valley’. It frightened ‘everyone and everything’ so much that they all ran inside their houses, which were built around the base of the stone mountain.

  As 'everyone and everything’ ran for cover, a big split began to open up in the ground from the centre of the iron gate at the entrance of ‘Horseshoe Valley’, stretching towards the curved part of the stone mountain.

  For the next few minutes, there was a lot of noise followed by a loud crashing thud, and the stone mountain shook violently. They all went very quiet as ‘everyone and everything’ began to think about the disaster, which had befallen them.

  When ‘everyone and everything’ had decided that the earthquake had passed, they came out of their houses to look at the damage it had caused. Fortunately, neither one villager nor one animal had been hurt and all their houses had remained undamaged.

  The wind now seemed a bit stronger and they soon realised why. They looked towards the curved end of ‘Horseshoe Valley’, and saw that the earthquake had cut through the stone mountain and had left a big opening that looked out onto the world beyond the village.

  ‘Everyone and everything’ then looked towards the entrance of ‘Horseshoe Valley’ where the huge iron gates were positioned and where the two tall oak trees had stood side-by-side.

  They all gasped when they saw that the huge gate no longer stood upright, but instead now rested on the ground in a tangled mass of twisted iron.

  ‘Everyone and everything’ then looked towards the tall two tall oak trees, which had stood side-by-side for many years and a great silence befell them.

  The two tall oak trees no longer stood side-by-side. One of them had disappeared and the other was looking bruised and battered and had some of its uppermost branches broken in the places where it had held hands with its mate beneath the sky.

  ‘Everyone and everything’ then remembered the big split in the ground that had begun to open as they ran towards their houses during the earthquake.

  When they looked towards where the big split had been there was no longer any opening in the ground.

  The tall oak tree had fallen to the ground during the earthquake and had fallen into the big split in the ground, filling it perfectly where the earth had broken up.

  At first ‘everyone and everything’ felt very sad with losing one of their two tall oak trees and most of them cried. The remaining tree also felt very sad and for a while, it felt lonely with having lost its lifelong companion.

  In time however, the feelings of sadness and loneliness passed as ‘everyone and everything’ began to realise that they still had each other to love and that they still had one of their tall oak trees standing sentry at the entrance of the valley.

  They also came to understand, that although the other tall oak tree would never again stand side-by-side with its companion, the fallen tree would always remain a living part of their daily lives and would never be forgotten.

  In time, ‘everyone and everything’ began to get on with their lives once more. They decided that as they had a lot of happiness in their valley that they would share that happiness with the world outside whenever they could. So they did not put their huge iron gate back up and instead they widened the opening that the earthquake had made in the horseshoe-shaped mountain so that they now had two entrances to their valley and to exits from it.

  Their valley was no longer shaped like a horseshoe and they renamed it, ‘The Valley of the Two Tall Oaks’. Instead of keeping strangers out of their valley, the villagers did everything possible to welcome them into it. Before very long, their neighbours from the other villages and valleys began to visit their new friends in ‘The Valley of the Two Tall Oaks’, particularly when there was something special to celebrate or share, like a birthday, christening, a marriage or a death.

  When anyone was happy, it was because everyone shared his or her happiness with each other. At times when someone felt unhappy or sad, that sadness was shared by everyone and before long, everything seemed to get better a bit sooner.

  And do you know, that the tall oak tree who had lost its companion in the earthquake had found lots of new friends to give it loving pats of affection after the earthquake.

  Whenever a celebration was held in ‘The Valley of the Two Tall Oaks’, it was always beneath and around the tall oak tree that the happiness of ‘everyone and everything’ was shared.

  All of this happiness touched the tall oak tree and made it even more magnificent to behold.

  The tall oak tree never forgot its lifelong companion or where she lay, although the new crops, flowers and grass had since covered up the spot where she rested in the valley.

  Sometimes when ‘everyone and everything’ was fast asleep, the tall oak tree would forget for a moment and reach out his branches to hold hands with his friend beneath the sky. Then, he would remember that his companion no longer stood alongside them, so instead, he would stretch his roots until they touched his resting companion, and gave her a pat of love.

  One day, two strangers hearing about the happy valley, came to see it for themselves. They had walked a long way to get to the valley and were very tired by the time they arrived there. When they reached the magnificent tall oak tree t
hat now stood alone, they rested beside its wide trunk and started talking to each other.

  One of the men said to the other, "You know, Khalig, this really is a beautiful place, but one thing puzzles me."

  His friend Khalig said, "What puzzles you John?"

  John looked at his friend and said, "They call this place, ‘The Valley of the Two Tall Oaks’ and that is the only name I have ever heard it called. I have looked around everywhere for the two tall oaks, but can only see one tall oak; this magnificent oak tree we are resting against."

  His friend looked around the valley and said, "You're right. This is the only tall oak tree in the valley."

  But they were wrong, weren’t they?

  The end

  #####

  ‘Little Jimmy and the School Bully’

  (A story about a little person dealing with a big bully)