The History of Sticks Chapter 2

“A children's story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children's story in the slightest.”

― C.S. Lewis

In the beginning, there was a tree. The only tree in the whole world. The tree was not a pretty tree. It had a trunk, but no leaves, and no branches to hold them. The tree didn’t mind, because it didn’t know what it was missing, and it thought it was the best tree it could be.

Then one day, a crow came from the sky, and landed near the tree. “Where are your branches for me to land on?” the crow asked the tree, awkwardly hopping around its trunk.

The tree didn’t know how to respond, but it made it think “What are branches”.

The crow flew off, weeks passed, and nothing new happened. Then one day, a giraffe came up from the distant hills. “Where are your leaves for me to eat?”

Again, the tree could not respond, but again, it thought to itself, “What are leaves?”.

The giraffe wondered off, and the tree was left alone in its own thoughts once more. “If I am not making the things around me happy, then I must be doing something wrong.”

Finally, a squirrel scurried up the tree and began frantically searching for nuts it could save for the winter. “Where do you keep your nuts?” asked the squirrel to the tree.

“I don’t have any of those, whatever they are” answered the tree.

“Well what good is a tree without any nuts” the squirrel said as it bounded of into the distance, in search of nuts.

The tree began to made an important decision. It would grow itself into a huge tree, a massive tree! A tree with branches, leaves, nuts; The perfect tree that the animals seemed to want. It stretched, and pulled, and pushed, and grew, until it was indeed the perfect tree.

The next day, the tree was very excited about showing of its new additions, but instead of the crow, giraffe, or squirrel showing up, a man in a plaid shirt and suspenders strode over to the base of the tree.

“Hello. Are you here to see my branches?” The tree asked. The man did not respond, so the tree continued. “Or are you here to shelter under my leafs?”

The man continued to approach the tree, and before the tree could react with any more words, an axe was swung, and the tree fell. The man collected the trunk, leaving the branches, leaves, and nuts behind.

The tree was gone, but its ornaments remained. The leaves flew about, until they landed to the ground, and rotted into dirt. The nuts fell to the dirt, and sprung into saplings. The branches, however, could not figure out any further purpose for themselves. They had been useful on the tree, but now they had no leaves or nuts to support. They collectively decided that they would become something new. So the branches, under the new name “Sticks”, ventured on to find their new purpose in the world.

Author's Note

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