The Woodland Queen

a vignette where i was given the abstract concept of nature and was told to make it concret. it is about the woodland queen, a mother nature like character

 

The Woodland Queen

Nature has many different names. Some call her Mother Earth, the Earth Goddess, Nature’s Protector, the guardian of the trees, the Woodland Princess, a forest faerie, but her favorite name and the one she chooses to go by, will always be the Woodland Queen.  She once had a human name, a mortal name but as the years past she quickly forgot it as she stepped into her role as the Woodland Queen, the role she took with hesitation, but no regret. The job description was simple but the task was hard. The Woodland Queen made sure that the plants grew and the woodland animals thrived. But she couldn’t be everywhere at once and more often than not, some poor forest would be overlooked and she would return to it only to find it destroyed, sometimes by fire, sometimes by man. No matter how often she came upon the sight of black hollow trees or a leveled forest, or a construction site, it always broke her heart and spirit. But her heart would mend and so would her spirit as she moved on to another forest and watched it thrive.                

She often moved, going from one forest to another, trying to visit them all as often as she could in hopes of preventing them from dying as so many before. At this particular moment, she lays in the bough of one of the great redwoods. This particular forest pleases her for even the human mortals have learned to appreciate its worth and strive to protect it. She doesn’t have watch the campers’ fire, or hear a hunters footsteps as he walks underfoot with his rifle, ready to kill one of her beloved animals without a second thought. She could relax here and she needed to relax and let her heart mend and her spirit repair itself after the last forest she went to, to find it burned to the ground with nothing left to save.

As she lay in the top of the tallest tree, she gazed at the sky. The cloudless crystal blue expanse spread as far as the eye could see and invited her to it. As much as she wanted to get up and soar on the back of the wind and disappear in the sky, fear kept her safely in the tree. She knew that the blue sky above her looked hopeful and willing to give her hearts desires but somewhere inside her she knew that it held nothing for her. No trees to sleep in, no plants to grow and no animals to keep her company.  All that she wanted in life already surrounded her and her surrounding confirmed it when a simple squirrel came up to her. This particular squirrel had come by regularly seeming just for the sake of seeing his Queen among his branches. When he had first made a habit of stopping by, he came bearing gifts such as nuts and berries, which she always turned down, knowing he had a family to feed. Today the squirrel had nothing to offer her as he had learned that she wouldn’t accept it. He crawled over body, his tiny claws digging into her skin, tickling her. She let out a small laugh and watched how the squirrel stopped his moving about to stare and marvel at her voice. Her laugh held the sound of a soft drizzle, of a nightingale’s song, of the wind as it whistles through the trees as the forest sleeps, and of the twinkle of the stars themselves. The squirrel soon stopped his staring and darted down the tree.

Author's Note

this is an english assignment that i was proud to turn in but dont let that keep you from giving your feedback and tips to improve!