He Tree and She Tree - Short Story (true?)

He Tree and She Tree

He Tree: My, but you’re beautiful

She Tree: You’re just saying that because we look alike, except I have more fir.  

He Tree: (Laughing) You could be right, but you’re still beautiful to me.

She Tree: Even after all these years?

He Tree: Maybe even more so now.

She Tree: Isn’t it interesting, how we came to be here? I came from a cone dropped from my mother tree, who has long since fallen and been reabsorbed into Mother Earth. You came from far away over that hill, after a Raven dropped your cone right at this spot. What made that bird do that?

He Tree: I think I will never know, since Raven isn’t usually interested in cones. But I’m glad he did.

Then there was silence for a while. This silence lasted for maybe seven years as they stood peacefully smiling, with their branches touching. They stood, feeling their roots intertwined. They had grown together to the extent that they could not tell, deep in the earth, which roots belonged to which tree. On warm days, they felt a tingling sensation all the way up, from their deepest taproots to the newest branches; nourishment from the rich forest soil. The seasons came and went. During the heaviest storms, although a disconnected human could never sense it, She Tree leaned just a little closer into He Tree, who protected her from the coldest blasts.

One early Spring day, She Tree said to He Tree: Sometimes I am sad to see the children we created all cut down.

He Tree: I am too.

She Tree: But even though they were cut down, I can see that our children are coming back to us. They are growing again.

He Tree: You are so observant, and it is so like you to notice something beautiful and cheery like that.

She Tree: Thank you. When they get taller, maybe we won’t feel the wind quite so strongly. That will be nice.

He Tree: I was just thinking that same thought!

Then there was an easy silence for two months before they spoke again.

She Tree: Do you think we will make it through many more winters?

He Tree: She Tree, I don’t know what the future holds. Our children came and went and now they are coming back. The deer and elk came and have only come back a little. The tree fairies haven’t come back at all since the road was built. The humans make it hard for me to predict much. Mother Earth is sometimes silent to my ears.

She Tree: You’re right about all that.

He Tree: All we have, my beautiful partner, is every minute, one at a time. Our roots are deep and strong. Mother Earth feeds us both all that we need. So far, we have been strong enough to withstand humans, beetles and wind, although we lost some branches to the cold. But it is hard to say.

She Tree: Well, all I can say is that I love every minute we spend together, here on this hill. And one day, if one of us falls, I hope we both do, so that together our bodies can nourish our Mother Earth, the termites, the ants, the grubs, the ferns, the grasses, the mushrooms, the voles…

He Tree: I love you, She Tree.

She Tree: I love you, He Tree. Hold me for a while, will you, for this moment?

He Tree: For as long as I shall stand, my love.

And that is how I, a human seeking re-connection to Mother Earth, found them on this beautiful Spring day, the echoes of their ancient conversation ringing through the ages…

--Eric Marley

May 2011