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| The Keepers of the Tree | |
| By Snodlander | ||||||||||||||||
| 29 March 2007 | ||||||||||||||||
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All stories start somewhere. All cultures have the story of where they started. This is where the Kung Fu Space Monkeys I'm going to write about some day believe they started. The first Tree grew on the slopes of the mountain, in the midst of the untamed jungle. The first Man ran through the untamed jungle, at the mercy of all the terrors it contained. And the Man heard the Tree calling, and he answered, and found it alone in the untamed jungle. The Tree and the Man spoke, and the Man said, “Why do you hide amongst the shrubs?” The Tree replied, “The trees steal my sunlight, and their roots steal my food, and I cannot grow.” So the Man broke down the trees that stole the Tree’s sunlight, and stamped the ground around the tree until it was as hard as stone, and he forbade anything to grow around the Tree. And the Tree flourished and grew, and became mighty. Then the Tree spoke to the Man, and asked, “Why are you sad, and why do you look so fearfully at the jungle?” And the Man replied, “In the jungle there stalks a beast, and I am fearful that it will come upon me in the night, and rend my life from my body.” So the Tree flattened its branches, to make a resting place for the Man, and the Man slept upon the branches, and the beast could not find him. This was the first Agreement. The Man spoke to the Tree and asked, “Why do you weep and twist in pain?” And the Tree replied, “The creatures that crawl burrow into my trunk. The worm eats my leaves and spoils my fruit. I am beset from within and without by enemies, and I cannot fight them.” So the Man dug out the creatures that crawled from within the Tree, and he gathered up the worm that ate the leaf from without the Tree. The Tree ceased weeping, and grew straight and strong. Then the Tree spoke to the Man, and asked, “Why do you shiver and huddle to my trunk?” And the Man replied, “I am naked, and the wind chills my bones.” So the Tree offered to the Man its bark, which he tore and beat and wove to make garments for himself. And this was the second Agreement. The Man spoke to the Tree, and asked, “Where is your fruit, that you might raise a great forest?” And the Tree replied, “They are eaten by the birds of the air before they ripen.” So the Man climbed the tree, and beat off the birds as they tried to feed. The Tree flowered and bore fruit, and the fruit was allowed to ripen. Then the Tree spoke to the Man, and asked, “Why are you so thin, and do not grow?” And the Man replied, “I have no food to eat, and only water to drink.” So the Tree gave a portion of its fruit to the Man, a third of all it grew, that he might eat and drink and grow strong. And this was the third Agreement. The Man spoke to the Tree, and asked, “Your fruit is plentiful. Why then do you not spread your seed and grow into a mighty forest?” And the Tree replied, “My pollen cannot travel to my kin, nor can its pollen travel to me, for none carries it.” At this the man was afraid, for the beast still stalked the untamed jungle. And he spoke to the Tree, and said, “I cannot carry your pollen, for the beast still stalks the jungle, and I am afraid that he will rend me from my life. Who then would keep you, and where would my seed go?” So the Tree grew from its branches roots that were straight and strong. And the Man took the root and fashioned a staff from it. Then he no longer feared the beast, and he carried the Tree’s pollen for it. And this was the fourth Agreement. And the Tree and the Man multiplied, and each Tree had its own family to keep it. The Tree named the Man Asokk, which means Keeper, for Asokk was the first Keeper of the Tree. And from that day Asokk and his descendents keep the Tree and its descendents, and the Tree keep the children of Asokk, for as long as the four Agreements hold.
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