Week 11 Story: The Giving Trees
Week 11
Have you ever wondered how "mother nature" or "mother earth" ever got it's name? Mothers cherish the life that they bring into the world. They nurture it and watch it grow just like all things on earth. Mother nature experiences all aspects of life and death in a repeated cycle. It watches all forms of life grow and flourish.To truly experience it, we must examine these cycles or life and death and how it can be a beautiful thing.
There was once was two brothers who were rather mischievous. Their mother was constantly getting onto them about how often they would play and not help around the house. She was exhausted as she was very poor and had to clean, find food, and cook, just to support her family. One day she asked her sons if they would go find food as she needed to rest from working so hard that morning sewing clothes for them. The boys were furious as all they wanted to do was play games. The mother begged them to help this one day, so the boys sighed and left the house to find something to eat.
The sons found many berries on their journey. They came across a corn field and collected what they could carry and made their way back home. Since their hands were so small and they forgot the basket they ended up dropping most of their food. When they got home the mother say how little food they brought back and decided it was only enough for her sons to eat and she would stay hungry that night. She ended up getting very angry with them and complained that all they did was play and couldn't even help out for a couple hours so she could eat. She was so mad she ran out the back door crying. Her anger took over and she fell hard onto her knees in the soft ground sobbing. She realized that she had started sinking, but that didn't stop her from her cries. The boys went to check on her and saw that the earth was consuming her. They tried to pull her out, but their strength was spent on their earlier activities from playing games and they also fell in. The ground slowly ended up closing in on the mother and the two sons.
A new family had moved into the "abandoned" house. As spring came and showered upon the ground where they last were, three trees sprouted from the ground. They grew very large very quickly. The family was in awe of these trees. The actual mother within mother nature was born and decided she never wanted a family to experience this kind of sadness again if they were in the presence of these trees. In fact, When the new mother in the house asked the daughter to find food she would simply go out to the three giving trees and pick off the many fruits and nourishing foods they had to offer. The family never went hungry and cherished the trees. Her giving nature was reflected in her life after death and her roots will always be tied to her two sons so the three of them can always be together.
Author's Note
This story was inspired by a story from "The Myths of the Cherokee" section called "Origins of the Pleiades and the Pine" by James Mooney. In this short story there were 7 boys, which is typically a religious number, who rebelled and got in trouble for it. One day the mothers were upset about them always playing games and never helping with the food. The mothers said to eat the stones they love to play with which lead to the boys running off in anger. They wanted to go someplace where the mothers couldn't get onto them and started to do a dance. They lifted up in the air and when one of the mothers saw this she tried to pull her son down but ended up pulling him too hard and he slammed down into the earth where it closed over him. As the mother wept, she ended up watering his spot in the earth where a tree was blossomed.
In my story I wanted to pull the element of there being a conflict between a mother and a son, but I wanted the mother to ultimately leave. The boys go after her instead where they find her slowly sinking into the earth. They try to save her the same way the mother tries to save the son. It also has the same element of life coming from it.
Hey Clay, First off I really enjoyed this story and I think it was a great adaptation of the original short story "Origins of the Pleiades and the Pine." I think the twist you made by making the boys go after their mother was great and nice twist to make it original. I really liked the ending where you signify a bond still between the mother and the sons even after death. Really nice story, keep up the great work!
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ReplyDeleteHi There! I really liked this story. It was super creative and interesting! It kept me wanting to read more and I was never confused while reading it. You did a great job of keeping it short and simple but also descriptive. I like that the mother from the story is the reason why mother nature exists. You have a great reading style. Great job, keep it up!
ReplyDeleteIf my memory serves me correctly, "The Giving Tree" was a great book that I used to read as a child. I honestly don't remember the details of the book too much, but I still was reminded of it while reading your story. The message you convey is very touching - on par with the heartwarming children's book. I felt so bad for the mother when she ran out to cry!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this story! The idea that there was death so there could be life was magical. I also loved the detail in the story how the sons were not able to save their mom from being consumed because they had used all of their energy from playing games, which was the mom's exact complaint. I also love how at the beginning you explained the meaning behind mother earth and mother nature. Great story!
ReplyDeleteHi there!
ReplyDeleteI really liked your story retelling and how you were able to adapt it from the original! Your writing style is very engaging, as I was captivated throughout the whole story. I've never read the original of this story, but your rendition of it makes me want to go back and read the original for myself! Good post!
Hello there!
ReplyDeleteThat poor momma! I would surely be angry if my sons never helped me out with anything. At first, I thought it was going to be one of those 'you never know what you have until its gone' stories. But I realized that wasn't the case when the sons got pulled in as well, making the story that much sadder. I like that you basically explain the origin of mother nature and how this one mother's compassion was used to help another family!