The Origin of Trees

In the beginning the first plants on Earth were annuals and lived their whole life in a single year. In winter they found a place where the earth was fertile and they began to grow roots as spring came and later they grew above ground and they saw the sun for the very first time and they fell in love with the sun. Because they loved the sun so much they offered a flower. The sun loved the flower and sent the wind to gently touch them.

The plants, knowing they had to die soon, discovered that they could move their lives completely into the flower and form a hard shell where they could wait out the dark winter and then live again. But they always forgot their last life. Over billions of years some plants learned how to use their energy to form a seed shell on the outside of their bodies and to grow deep roots where they could sleep during the winter. These plants became the first trees and they remembered their lives year to year and lived for thousands of years.

Before man came the trees became very crowded and the trees began to die because many of them couldn’t get enough sun. The sun saw this and felt compassion and spoke to the trees and taught them how to use the energy of the sun and the wind to lift themselves from the earth in order to follow the sun where the sun wanted them to be. The trees listened carefully and they created a cart with wheels like a skateboard. They each followed the sun and moved along rivers, up the side of mountains and some to lonely rocks out in the middle of the sea. As long as the trees listened to the sun and followed to where they belonged they thrived. And the trees learned to grow flowers for the sun and how to put part of their live into the seeds. The life really came from the sun but many times the trees forgot that.

There was a tree growing in a valley with the annual plants and this tree saw that the annuals died after they released their seed. And when the time came the tree likewise released seed. One of the seeds grew into a sapling and the sun taught the sapling the art of following. The tree that helped form the sapling saw that the sapling was leaving and was concerned about the hardships the sapling would have to endure during its journey to the place the sun had selected. The elder tree used all of its energy to lift itself from the earth and followed after the sapling to protect it. But because the older tree cast a shadow the sapling could no longer see the sun so it lost its way and stopped moving with the sun and it’s leaves began to turn white and drop off and it began to die. The older tree also began to die because it was no longer in the place the sun had selected. Finally the sun spoke to the older tree and told it that the sapling would die if the elder tree didn’t follow the sun back to its place with the annuals. The elder tree was heartbroken to have to leave but it followed the sun back to the valley and became the weeping willow and the sapling followed the sun up the mountainside and became the white pine.