There once lived a very special little pine tree.
When I say little,
I mean this tree stood just under three feet tall,
When it stood upright.
Sometimes the tree slouched,
Especially when it felt sad or discouraged.
This pine was very special,
And had two very special qualities.
First,
It had two little trunks instead of one,
And could walk around on its two little trunks.
But it could not run,
Because it did not have knees.
The second quality that made this little pine so special was that it could talk.
But this quality also made the little pine lonely sometimes,
Because none of the other trees in the forest could talk.
They just swayed in the wind.
The only noise they made came from their branches breaking,
Or from woodpeckers pecking away to look for bugs in them.
This little pine was the most curious little pine,
Most curious of all about the time.
All day long it walked around asking other trees for the time,
Hoping one of them would answer.
But they just towered above the little pine,
Swaying in the wind.
One day,
After walking around for hours,
The little pine's little stumps,
With root balls and dirt clods at the end of them,
Began to get tired.
So the pine sat on a log,
And thought of a song.
There was a little pine,
Who always wanted the time.
He worried it might take long,
To grow wise and strong.
As he sang his tune over and over,
The little pine noticed other trees swaying to the beat.
They didn't just sway,
They danced.
They seemed to have hips,
And when the hips moved one way,
The top half moved the other.
The curious little pine hopped off the log and walked over to the tree.
Yes,
You got it,
The little pine said.
That's why I want to know the time.
Now can you please tell me what time it is?
Well,
Little pine,
The time is inside of you.
It's inside of all of us.
What do you mean?
The tricky thing,
The downright unfair thing,
Is that us trees can never know the time,
Even though the time gets recorded inside of us.
You see,
Each year our trunks grow a bit wider,
And a ring is left around the trunk,
Inside the bark.
So I'm 40 years old,
And I have 40 rings.
You're only 3 years old,
And so you have 3 rings.
So the rings are kind of like wrinkles on an old person's face?
Asked the little pine.
Kind of,
But not exactly.
When we have lots of sunlight and water,
And no bugs or sickness to fight off,
We grow a lot.
So in good years,
Our rings are far apart.
But when we don't get enough nutrients,
Or we get sick,
We grow just a little.
So in bad years,
Our rings are closer together.
Think of it like a human kid standing with their back against a wall.
Each year their parents make a pencil mark on the wall to show how tall they are.
Some years they grow more than others,
So some pencil marks are closer or farther from others.
Okay,
Said the little pine,
Dissatisfied.
He turned away from the big tree and looked out on the river.
An elk walked down to the bank and slipped on some rocks,
But found its balance again.
Then the elk went to the water's edge and took a big drink.
It's going to take me forever to grow big and tall like all the other trees,
Said the little pine.
Would you rather be big and tall,
Or short and special?
Asked the old pine.
Big and tall,
Said the little pine in a pouty voice.
What if I told you,
Said the big pine.
When you get big and tall,
When you become all grown up,
Your two stumps will turn into one.
And you probably won't talk anymore.
Most of the time you'll just sway in the wind like all the other pines.
When you put it that way,
I think I'll stay little and special,
Said the little pine.
When you put it that way,
I think I'll stay little and special,
Said the little pine.
Creak,
Went the big tree.
That's how it laughed.
Say,
Why is it that you and I are the only pines that can talk,
Asked the little pine.
The old pine swayed in the wind for a bit.
I think we come from a special seed.
So we are family,
Asked the little pine.
Yes,
Most likely.
The little pine smiled by drooping all of its branches except for two about five inches below its tip.
Then it turned to look back at the elk down the river.
Maybe I'll let go of how long it will take to grow up and just focus on what's happening right now.
Like the elk,
Like the elk is,
Said the little pine.
Good idea,
Said the big pine.
The little pine bowed its tree tip and said thank you.
The old pine bowed in return.
The little pine walked down to the river,
Being careful to balance its two trunks.
Having roots and dirt on the end of them made balancing a little easier.
The little pine found a shallow place to cross.
As it crossed,
The elk lifted its head to look over and then put it back down for more water.
In the middle of the crossing,
The pine started to wonder how fun it would be to just drift down the river.
It knew it didn't have lungs like other creatures,
So it could go underwater if the current pushed it down.
One,
Two,
Three,
Said the pine to itself.
Then it let go of its balance and just drifted down.
It waved a branch to the elk,
Who replied by waving his antlers.
I guess it's time to have some fun.
The end.
There was a little pine who always wanted the time.
He worried it might take long to grow wise and strong.
Then one day,
An old pine said,
Hey,
You don't need to worry.
So the pine went on its way down to the river to splash a little,
To have some fun.
Under the sun,
Under the trees,
Swaying in the wind,
Swaying in the breeze,
Oh yeah.
Then the current took it by surprise.
The little pine let go of its footing and looked into the sky.
It floated down the river without a care and waved to an elk and waved to a bear.
One day,
Then one day,
The sun came out bright.
The pine grew up towards the light.
Now we can wave with the other trees.
Let's go,
Let's flow with the breeze.
Now we can wave with the other trees.
Let's go,
Let's flow with the breeze.
