Hacking Down the Forest

In the forest, there lived a young couple in a log cabin next to the bright, tall mountains with peaks shimmering like blue glass.

The tall mountains were the Gods watching over all of mankind. Anyone or anything who went and disturbed nature was to be punished by the shimmering blue ice mountains.

These very mountains were known as Modrý ľad, which meant blue ice in the Slovak language (a language used by some folks in Slovakia).

When people saw Modrý ľad, they would stare in awe of the majestic piece of landscape.

In the tales passed down from generation to generation of the villagers who lived near the blue ice mountains, it is said that whoever climbs to the very top of the mountain, they will be blessed with great fortunes.

Although Modrý ľad had qualities many defined as magical, a secret laid deep inside the blue ice mountains.

Deep deep inside the blue ice mountains, there were the villagers and villages that were hidden away from outsiders by the guardians of the lands, or, otherwise, known as "roamers."

These roamers were no ordinary men. To trespassers who disturbed the peace of the villagers and villages, while coming to the lands the blue ice mountains surrounded and protected, these trespassers were to be punished.

To individuals who worked long hours to have food on the table, supplies and necessities to fulfill the needs of their families, they were rewarded and granted protection from the wind gusts and snowstorms of Modrý ľad.

One day, a woodcutter started to hack at the apple tree in the forest all day and all night. Since the woodcutter was a businessman who wanted the most profit out of the wood and apples from the singular apple tree left in the forest, he made no haste in whacking his axe multiple times against the trunk of the apple tree.

Despite the warnings from the elders of the forest, the woodcutter ignored their advice in not going to the lands of the blue ice mountains to gather resources, but the woodcutter did not listen, leading to the moment of tranquility once residing in the forest to disappear.

Not only was the peace of the young couple shaken up by the woodcutter, but the peace of the villagers who lived beneath and within the ice caverns of the blue ice mountains had dissipated.

Winds began to howl nonstop, with gusts going up to 70 miles per hour.

The darkest hours were about to come.

In only two hours, the sky went from a light blue all the way to pitch black.

Since the woodcutter was at fault for chopping away a piece of the forest for his own personal gain, no one, but him could atone for his sins.

That is when the woodcutter went and returned the resources he took from the apple tree to distribute to the villagers who were in need of firewood and apples for the wintertime.

Off the woodcutter went from log cabin to log cabin and village to ice caverns. Finally, at long last, the woodcutter met the young couple in a log cabin whom he had awoken with the first strike of his axe.

Immediately, the woodcutter apologized for the ruckus he had caused and gave his axe to the young couple.

After the woodcutter finished distributing what he had taken from the forest for his personal gains, the sky cleared up and became a vibrant blue once more!

The blue ice mountains were no longer enraged.

Gusts of winds were no longer felt or in sight.

Peace was restored once and for all!