The Fable of the Mother of the Trees

Once upon a time there lived a woman. This woman was very sad. You see she did not have any children. So she cried and asked her husband why this was so. He was very upset and went to sleep feeling sad.

And then, he had a dream!! Not just any ordinary dream, but a great and wondrous dream! In his dream God came to him and said 'My child. Don't be sad. It is very easy to love your own children. I do not worry about that. But I worry about my children. I need someone to take care of them. And that is a difficult thing to do. I need someone special! Out of the ordinary. Will you do this job for me?' And God went away smiling.

The next morning the man woke up with this curious feeling you sometimes have. Was that really a dream? What had happened? And what did God really mean. He thought about that all day as he had his meals and went about his daily chores. Preoccupied, he did not notice when he tossed a half eaten mango out of the window instead of putting it neatly in the bin.

The days went by and he all but forgot about his conversation with God in that special dream. But one day about a month from the day that this story started, he saw a tiny green shoot thrusting out of the earth under his window. The tiny green shoot had four even tinier glossy leaves sticking out of it. And as he looked at it he was filled with wonder. A strange feeling went through him. For some reason he could not explain, even to himself, he thought of the special dream. Could this possibly be what God meant? Was this little shoot the 'God's child' of his dream. He felt very sure that this was the explanation of the whole thing.

So he called out to his wife, showed her the tiny green shoot, told her about the dream and asked her what they should do. 'Nothing for it!' she said. 'We must care for this little tree.'

And they did. Tending it carefully, watering it. Cleaning it to remove insects. They watched it grow with so much pride. From a shoot it grew, to become a big, fine tree! And the man and his wife were happy.

One night soon after, God came in their dreams again. 'My children', said He. 'You have both done very well. Ask what you will of me and you shall have it!' 'Then', said the woman. 'Give me more, many more of your children to care for. '
'I will', said God. 'And you will henceforth be known as The Mother of the Trees'.

(To be continued...)