Wicked Woods

In a land of giants stood a small, quiet, tree. The tree was a whispering pine. He was called a whispering pine because though the winds howled through the giants, when it hit this small tree, it was quieted to a whisper. The giants were so amazed by this that each time the winds grew they would take turns standing near the small tree to try to hear what the wind was telling it.

Now in this forest, the trees, because they were never touched by mankind, could move freely about the land. All the trees roamed except the whispering pine. Many of the giants, when they took their turn to stand near it, would ask why it never roamed. The little tree would just stand in silence. It never once raised a root to go anywhere. He almost became an outcast of the forest. The only thing that saved him was his ability to quiet the wind.

Every year that passed the little tree got bigger around and stronger. No one in the forest even saw how big the little tree was getting. With each passing year, no one noticed that some of the giants were getting weaker. On one occasion, when the wind was blowing especially hard, a couple of the giants fell. The noise was so intense that some of the others went to go see what was happening. No one could figure it out. One of the giants that stood near the whispering pine asked one day, why doesn’t your trunk bend like ours?

The little tree answered, because I have spent years growing my many branches to slow the wind and to quiet it so that it does not destroy me. My branches are soft and flexible to move with the wind. The giant asked how he could do that. The little tree said to him, allow me to tap into your roots and I can give you the power to grow many branches as I have. The giant freely accepted. The little tree told the giant, the only stipulation is that you will need to move to the outside of the forest until your branches grow.

The little tree tapped in and stole all the nutrients from inside the giant without him even noticing. When finished the giant did as he was told. He moved to the outside of forest where he died and fell to the ground with an intense rumble. The giant did not even know what had happened to him. Now some of the other giants noticed that the little tree was bigger today than yesterday and asked if his growth had something to do with the giants dying. The little tree just stood in silence.

When the giants could take no more of the silence, they got together and surrounded the little tree and told him he had better tell them or they would crush him. So, the little tree began to tell them a story. This is a story of how the giant fell, the little tree started. You see the giants had been in the forest for many, many years. The giants allowed the birds and the squirrels to nest in them. What the giants didn’t know was that the birds and the squirrels were bringing in seeds from other lands. These other lands had trees like me, that were able to stretch out all across the land because we had a great expanse to live in.

The giants on the other hand were confined to these smaller areas which forced their roots to grow deep in the land for enough nutrients to grow. Now when I was dropped here, there was enough for me to grow right on the top from all the parts of you that drop to the ground and rot. While you stand tall and look all around the land, I stand here beneath you and such the life out of all of you. You were so amazed at how I could quiet the wind that you never even felt me attacking you.

The giants became angry and decided to attack the little tree. There was something that they did not see. The little trees’ roots had spread so far and wide through the forest that when the giants tried to move, they could move no more. The giants began to feel something happening to them deep inside. They began to beg the little tree to stop. The little tree said to them, sure I’ll stop, but you will all be stuck right where you are to never be free again.

As the giants struggled, they came to the realization that they were doomed to either die or to never move again. The giants, as to save their own lives, agreed to stand in the place they were and to never move again rather than to die. The little tree then began to shoot up from its own roots more little trees. As these trees grew, they began to chock out the giants. Because the giants were unable to move, they lost their lives anyways.

The small quiet trees, because nothing was there to stop them, themselves grew into giants. The bigger they got the stronger they got. The stronger they got the bigger their limbs got, until one day a small, quiet little tree began to grow beneath them. The giants were amazed at how the small little tree could stand so well in the wind and how quiet the wind got when it touched him.