The Tree Father

Once, a poor woodcutter went into the forest and started to cut down a tree but then, to his surprise, he heard the tree cry out,

 

“Stop woodcutter. Put down your axe or tomorrow it shall be you who is cut down”.

 

But the woodcutter would not listen.

 

“I must have money to feed my wife and children”, he said, “That is all I can afford to think”.

 

And so he cut down the tree but, the next morning, when he awoke, the woodcutter got a terrible shock.

 

Both his arms had turned into wooden branches.

 

“Help!”, he cried out to his wife, “I am turning into a tree. What should I do?”.

 

Panicking, his wife went to fetch the local doctor but when the doctor saw the woodcutter, whose nose had started to turn into a leafy twig, he was only frightened and bewildered.

 

“I am not a tree surgeon, madam”, said the doctor, hurrying out of the house, “I only treat people”.

 

And so the woodcutter said to his wife, “Please, if I am turning into a tree then help me bury my feet in the earth because they are liable to become roots and then I shan’t be able to walk at all”.

 

And so the woodcutter and his wife went outside and she dug a hole for him to stand in and when he was standing in the hole she buried his feet in the soil and the moment that she did this his toes turned to roots and bursting from his boots fixed themselves firmly in the soil and then the rest of him began to change; his skin becoming grey bark and his mouth turning to a knot hole that he could no longer move to speak out of.

 

Now the woodcutters wife was very sad at losing her husband but, because she had taken vows to love him until death and because he was not dead but only transformed into a tree, she decided that she would care for and protect the tree.

 

And for many years she cared for the tree until one spring, green apples grew upon its branches and, eating one of them, the woodcutters wife became pregnant

and gave birth to a girl with hair as brown as tree limbs and eyes as green as leaves who she called

Treea.

 

And Treea, when she had grown up into a young girl was as merry and full of life as any little girl could be and loved all the things of Nature; the birds and the flowers; the insects and all the trees but her favourite thing of all, though she did not know it was her father, was the tree that he had turned into.

 

Whenever she had a trouble on her mind or a secret to whisper she would tell it to the tree and so the woodcutter saw his daughter grow up.

 

But then one day the woodcutters wife was walking through the forest when saw an old house and feeling very thirsty she wondered if she might beg a cup of water from the owner of the house.

 

But when she knocked upon the door of the house, to her amazement it opened by itself and, on the table of a kitchen inside she saw a bottle and a golden goblet and on the bottle was a label which said “This bottle shall be filled with whatever you wish and shall never run dry”.

 

And so, believing the words upon the bottle, the woodcutters wife wished for it to be full of apple juice and, when she tipped the bottle up, apple juice poured out of it filling up the goblet.

 

And it was so delicious and refreshing.

 

But then the woodcutters wife was curious as to what else might come out of the bottle if she wished for it and so she wished for peach brandy and, just as before, when she tipped the bottle up what she had wished for poured out of the bottle into the goblet.

 

“My, what an amazing bottle”, she thought, “Whatever you desire it pours”.

 

But then, she thought, perhaps she would wish for champagne because she had heard that Queens and Duchesses drank it but, being a peasants wife, had never tasted it and then, tipping the bottle up, to her amazement, out of the bottle came bubbling and fizzing, golden champagne which she eagerly drank up.

 

But then, just at that moment the woodcutters wife heard the clock on the wall of the kitchen begin to chime 6 times and then, two little doors springing open at the front of the clock, a little mechanical angel with a golden bugle, flapping her mechanical wings, flew out of them, fluttering about and tooting upon her bugle before declaring, “The Witch is coming home. The witch is coming home. If anyone is in this house who oughtn’t to be then you had better run and run quick because the witch will soon be here”.

 

Terrified, now the Woodcutters wife got up and ran out of the strange house as fast as her legs could carry her but, before she could get very far the evil witch appeared before her.

 

“Stop, you trespasser”, she said to the woman, “How dare you enter my house uninvited and drink from my magic bottle as well. I’ll turn you into cookie dough and bake you into biscuits for this”.

 

Hearing this the poor woodcutters wife sank to her knees,

 

“Oh please, please”, she begged, “Please, I will do anything you want, but please spare me for I have a little daughter to support and she will not survive without me, I know”.

 

The evil witch rubbed her pointy chin as wicked thoughts ran through her head, “Hmm”, she thought, “Very well, then you will bring me diamonds, a bucket full of diamonds by tomorrow at noon and if you do not then I shall turn both you and your little daughter into cookie dough”.

 

“Diamonds?”, replied the woodcutters wife, not able to believe her ears, “But madam witch, I am but a poor woodcutters wife and my husband has…um…passed away. I do not have even two brown ha’pennies to my name. So how can I possibly bring you diamonds?”.

 

The vile witch only threw her head back and cackled with amusement,

 

“That is not my problem, it is yours”, she said, grinning, “But mark my words, if I do not get my diamonds by tomorrow at noon then both you and your daughter shall feel the heat of my oven, understand!”.

And so the woodcutters wife went back home, sobbing with despair and saying to herself, as she walked through the forest, “Oh, my poor little girl and I are doomed for  where will I get diamonds from”.

 

However, as she was passing the tree that had been her husband and saying this to herself, suddenly, to her astonishment, upon all the branches of the tree she saw diamonds as large as apples appear, glittering brightly in the sun.

 

Now, seeing the glittering diamonds upon the tree, the woodcutters wife leapt up with joy,

“Oh, thank you! Thank you, dear husband!”, she said, “You have saved us”.

 

And then, rushing into her house and fetching a bucket, the woodcutters wife picked all the diamonds from the branches of the tree and, placing them in the bucket, filled it up right to the top.

 

And the next day, at noon, carrying it with the help of her daughter because the diamonds were so heavy, the woodcutters wife took the bucket to the witch.

 

However, the moment that the witch saw all the diamonds in the bucket, her greedy eyes lit up and, stroking her pointy chin in thought she said, “Hmm? Whoever can get this many diamonds can also get gold”.

 

And so, grasping hold of the bucket by its handle and tipping it out onto her kitchen table, the witch said to the woodcutters wife and her daughter,

 

“You’ve done very well and so I will not turn you into cookie dough, not today but bring me a bucket full of golden coins by tomorrow at noon or, tomorrow, I shall bake you and your little daughter in my oven, understand?”.

 

And so, now, the poor wood cutters wife took home the empty bucket and, as she did so, she wept, saying, “It would be easier to fill this bucket up with tears, my daughter, than gold coins; for I have plenty of them. Oh my dear what shall we do?”.

 

But then, as she was passing by the tree that had been her husband and saying this to her daughter, suddenly, to her amazement, upon all the branches of the tree the woodcutters wife saw gold coins appear; each one as big as the eye of an owl and, seeing them glisten brightly in the sun, both the woodcutter’s wife and her daughter leapt and danced around with joy,

 

“Oh thank you, thank you, thankyou”, said the woodcutters wife, throwing her arms around the trunk of the tree and kissing it, “You have saved us again”.

 

And then, picking all the gold coins from all the branches, the woman and her daughter placed them in the bucket until, eventually, the bucket was filled up to the brim with golden coins.

 

Then, the next day, at noon, with her daughter helping her to carry the bucket because the gold coins were so heavy, she took the bucket to the house of the witch.

 

However, the moment that the witch saw all the gold coins in the bucket, her greedy eyes started to glow and now, just as before, she rubbed her pointy chin in thought,

 

“Hmm?”, she thought, “I smell magic in this for just where are a poor woodcutters wife and her daughter getting all these diamonds and gold from? Wherever it is it could make me rich! Rich as a queen!”.

 

And then, turning to the woman and her daughter, the witch said, “You have done very well my dears but now you will tell me exactly where you have got such a fortune in diamonds and gold from or I will bake both of you in my oven, understand?”.

 

And so, sadly, the woodcutters wife was forced to tell the witch about her tree husband and how he had produced the diamonds and gold coins from his branches and, hearing this, the witch leapt up in the air with glee before rushing inside her house and fetching an axe.

 

Then, coming back out of her house, she said to the woman and her daughter, “Now take me to this fabulous tree for I want it for myself and all the gold and jewels it can grow”.

 

So, reluctantly, the woodcutters wife led the witch to the tree that had been her husband and when the witch saw the tree, cackling with glee, she began to swing her axe, chopping into the trunk of tree.

 

Whack, whack, whack, she went, hacking into the trunk of the tree and, as she did, the woodcutters wife sobbed, saying, “Oh my poor husband, after all you’ve done for us, for this terrible thing to happen to you”.

 

But then, when the trunk of the tree had been cut right through, it came crashing down upon the earth and the moment that it did, to the witch’s horrified amazement, her skin started to turn into grey bark; her arms started to become branches; her fingers, leafy twigs and her feet and toes, tree roots.

 

“Oh no, no!”, she shrieked, “What is happening to me! I’m becoming a…a tree!”.

 

And before long, instead of a witch standing before them, the woodcutters wife and her daughter saw a gnarled, twisted, crooked old crab apple tree; its crab apples rotten and crawling with worms.

 

But though they were now safe from the witch; the woodcutters wife was still crying for the tree that had been her husband and, throwing her arms about its trunk she told her daughter all about the tree and how it had been her father.

 

But then, just at that moment, the woman and the little girl heard a clock begin to chime and then, from out of nowhere, there appeared the little mechanical angel with its golden bugle and, tooting loudly upon the bugle the angel declared, “Because you have turned the wicked witch into a tree you have done a great service to goodness and so, as a reward, the spell that was cast upon the woodcutter will be broken”.

 

Then, suddenly, in a flap of the angels golden wings, the woodcutter’s wife saw her husband transformed back into a human being and, overjoyed to be human again, the man hugged his wife and daughter with all his might.

 

Now, because the Witch had turned into a tree and could do no more harm, the woodcutter and his family took back the diamonds and gold that they had given to her and, buying a nice big house, they all lived happily ever after.