Parable Of The Magnificent Tree

Rolf Hendriks, June 8 2019

A magnificent tree stood tall in the forest. The magnificent tree was gifted with great growth as it stretched into the heavens, towering proudly over all other trees. Its fruit were sweet and succulent. Its bark was crisp and pure. And its sap, say the many denizens of the forest, tasted of fresh flower juice.

The magnificent tree was proud of its magnificence and gave generously of itself. Birds, insects, and critters of the forest fed freely from the magnificent tree’s sweet succulent fruit to quell their hunger. Gazelles gnawed at its bark and praised the magnificent tree because its bark tasted of rich chocolate. The forest was happy with the tree because the tree was magnificent and generous. And the magnificent tree was happy because it made the forest happy and enjoyed giving of itself freely. The magnificent tree even felt vibrant and glowing because of its magnificence.

But as the magnificent tree grew older, the magnificent tree did not feel so magnificent anymore. Vitality no longer flowed through every fiber of its being. The tree was no longer able to grow at a magnificent rate, or grow fruit at a magnificent rate, or grow bark at a magnificent rate. Worst of all, the tree felt pain when another animal ate its fruit, or chewed its bark, or sipped its sap. And as the many denizens of the forest gnawed constantly at the magnificent tree, the tree’s pain grew deeper and deeper into misery, and the tree fell into despair. The tree realized that it could no longer be magnificent and keep giving of itself freely as it had done for all of its life.

So the tree’s fruit became bitter so that the worms would not burrow in them. And its fruit grew thorns so that the critters could not chew them. And its bark hardened so that the gazelles could not gnaw it. And its sap soured so the squirrels should not sip it. One by one the tree tallied those things that sapped it and it developed defenses against them.

But the tree also welcomed the mushroom because the mushroom fed back into it. And it welcomed the fungus because the fungus fed back into it. And it welcomed the moss because the moss fed back into it. One by one the tree tallied those things that gave it vitality and it developed deeper relationships with them.

The forest and its critters were not happy with the tree. They were not happy at all.
‘Die in a fire’, scowled the mad dog that could no longer bite the tree’s hard bark.
‘Sourpuss!’, bickered the little squirrel as it spit out the tree’s sour sap.
‘Bird hater!’, tweeted the fruitless mockingbird.

But vitality returned to the tree. And health returned to the tree. And the tree was happy again.