Reflection
- “A Secret of the Trees” by Megan McKenna
- Once, in the days following the very beginnings of all things, there lived a tree. It was old as trees go – piney, well-lined and scarred from time and heat and random blows from skies handing out rain and lightning touches. It looked like all the other trees in the mild wood - except for one small thing. In the insides of the tree lived a fox.
- Now, foxes usually live in hollow places in the ground. But when the tree was young it had been hit by another tree falling and had a good piece of its insides laid bare. It had taken years to cover over the hole and the tree had felt bad about its emptiness. It was always afraid of someday being cut off from the ground.
- But the fox had discovered the hole one day and for some reason always returned to just that hole in that tree, and eventually he had moved in. He had been there so long that the tree had come to believe that it was natural for other creatures to live in one’s hollow empty spaces.
- More and more, with time, the tree wondered what the fox would do for a home when it fell due to the weakness of its internal structure. Before that came to pass, it decided it had to find a home for its house-guest the fox.
- Now there was a tree that lived next door. It was a thin, fragile tree that turned only light green in spring and nearly died each summer. It wasn’t suited to housing anyone. It could hardly stand up by itself. But the trees had been close for years and one day the pine tree shared its concern over the fox’s home with its thin friend.
- Now the tree was thin, but it was young (as trees go) and it was still growing quickly. It hit upon an idea. Why don’t I shift a bit and start growing among your roots, right up alongside your old scar. It will strengthen your base, and still leave the fox a place to live in for a long time to come.
- So, it was agreed. The young tree crept over and the old tree learned to accommodate the nearness of this companion tree to its insides, and the fox was happy too. In fact, all the other trees were so impressed at the strength and length of time the trees lasted together after that, that ever since then, if you walk in a forest you will notice that all the roots run together and the trees fall over each other, living so closely that if one needs to bend or lean, there’s always another near enough to hold it up. And, if you listen, you’ll hear in the silent wood the secret of the trees that stand against time: Leaning can make you live forever and your weakest places can be someone else’s home.