Like For Like

The trees were unhappy with good reason. While they were not normally aggressive and definitely peace-loving, they knew that had to be their own main priority and always looked out for themselves and each other.

The forest, like all forests all over the world, was a tranquil peaceful place, but the only disturbances and destruction were caused by a particularly vile creature, Industrial Man.

For thousands of years, the forest had been a sanctuary for animals and man, providing shelter food, and even wood for building and fires, and man respected the trees. They provided apples, pears, and many other fruits, all without effort from man. Food was free a gift of the trees.

But man became greedy, not all men, just some.

They stole seeds and created orchards forcing trees to bear more and more fruit. Man wanted control of fruit production.

They started cutting back the forest using the wood for fires and building and fencing.

Industrial Man started clearing the forest for building and livestock pasture.

The trees saw their days were numbered if they stayed silent and did not defend themselves. They knew they were far more powerful than Industrial Man, and Man only got what the trees deigned to give them.

The Trees talked:

"This has to stop, we have to show them that they cannot abuse the trust that we have given them. We need to make an example of some so that destruction must stop."

"Must we hurt them, surely if we just withhold our gifts they will stop and leave us alone".

"No, Industrial Man is different, he has machines, fire, poison, and chemicals. It will not be about getting fruit or wood, it will be about wiping out the trees. Industrial Man has to stamp his toxic authority everywhere regardless of any practical benefits. It may take him time but he will only be satisfied when he has turned this planet into a wasteland of dust. Trees and forests will not be the only casualties, every other creature t0o will feel the genocidal wrath of Industrial Man.

We have given them so much, but they have taken so much more than they could hope to use. They leave nothing for others or for us.

Industrial Man must be stopped, and we are the only ones that can hope to do that."

"We will no longer give them fruit, and when they come for wood for fire and building, we will break their saws and chainsaws, our bark will be pierced no more"

"That will get them mad, we must teach them to fear trees. Unbelievably, most of them think that we are static and never move. Every forest has a lave and every lake must be filled with human bodies to show our wrath and power.

They must see, experience, and never forget"

What Happened

Fruit stopped growing, and apples and pears became a memory.

The logging crews turned up to clear more forest for pastures and housing, but when the saws hit that back it was like they were cutting into steel or granite and the saws exploded and shattered. Many loggers were killed as their tools were destroyed.

Those who survived hadn't noticed that the trees were thicker and the lake seemed uncomfortably close. Soon they were in the lake, and branches wrapped around their throats and dragged them down.

No trees would die today, or ever again, but today many humans would be drowned in forest lakes around the world, and the lakes would be filled, a warning that the Earth owned humanity, not the other way round.