The Brothers...

And now for something completely different, I have decided to post a little bit that I wrote sixteen years ago. I don't believe I had previously ventured very far from just writing poems, and for the life of me I do not know exactly what prompted me to write this little story, except perhaps the tree being the basis for my feeble attempt at folklore.


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The Brothers

Long ago a young woman gave birth to two sons who brought great joy into her life. As the two boys grew up, they spent all of their time together, running through the meadow, wading in the creek, exploring and getting into mischief. One sunny day, when the boys were trying to decide how to spend their time, one said "I want to go climb the rocks", and the other said "I want to go swimming in the creek". Then, for the first time in their lives, they began arguing, which turned into pushing each other, then punching. The Mother heard all of it and went out to separate the two before any black eyes or bloody noses came about. She sat them down to have a talk about their behaviour and ... afterwards, since the boys couldn't come to an agreement, she told them they would have to stay in the house helping her for the entire day. The boys stopped their fussing, and with pouts on their faces, stomped into the house, giving each other one last shove. From that day on, every little thing set them off.

Every day eventually ended in arguments and fighting, and as time passed, the Mother could no longer stop them nor bear to keep them in the house with her when they misbehaved. Being upset and unsure of what to do, she called upon the Creator to ask for help. The Creator, being all wise, told the Mother not to worry, "be patient, for your children will grow out of this".

Two years passed and nothing had changed, so the Mother, at her wits' end, again called upon the Creator for assistance. The Creator did not believe that the two boys could be such a bother, so he told the Mother he would watch over them for seven days and when the seven days were over, he would remedy the situation. The Creator looked down through the trees, but before he could see the boys, he heard them arguing with raised voices, disrupting the tranquility of the forest. He found them by the stream wrestling each other over something they had found. To the Creator, it didn't matter what they were arguing over, for he was just observing after all. He quietly watched and waited from above.

Six days passed and the Creator now understood why the Mother was so concerned, for even he, the all knowing, all wise, all patient Creator was becoming annoyed. So, he went down into the woods disguised as an owl, and found them kicking up dirt, scrambling around with fists flying.  He startled them as he cleared his throat... "Ahem... excuse me young sirs..." A deep low voice coming from an owl in a tree would be enough to startle anyone. "You boys are the noisiest and most troublesome creatures in the forest.... and your mother is very worried about you." One of the boys whispered to the other, "I know who that is...it's the Creator of all things". The other boy, in a louder voice said "No it's not, it's just a spirit of the forest that we've disturbed", and as always, another argument broke out. "SILENCE" the Creator boomed, and the boys stopped, with their mouths agape, mid-sentence. The Creator, very annoyed now, gave the boys an ultimatum, "If you do not stop this arguing and fighting, I will make it such that you will be together forever and you will not be able to speak ever again!" The boys looked at each other, and said quietly, "we'll be together forever anyways, so that's no big deal is it?" So with those words, the boys nodded in agreement, said goodbye and thank you to the Creator, returned home, ate dinner, tidied up and went to bed, like two little angels. The Mother had a peaceful sleep that night, as everything seemed to be fine.

The next morning, the boys woke up, ate breakfast, did their chores, and politely asked their Mother if they could go fishing at the creek. She agreed, and as they were heading out the door, told them “be careful, and no fighting”. As they walked down the path, the Mother heard them talking about where they would fish, then who would catch the biggest fish and suddenly, just as she heard their voices became louder, a blinding light flashed in the clearing beyond the trees, and a sound like thunder shook the entire forest. The Mother ran to the clearing, and where her boys had been, there now stood a tree. She looked around hoping to see the children hiding in the bushes lining the path, but did not see nor hear them.

She cautiously walked to the tree, and trembling, put her hand out to find that it was warm, and seemed to be shivering. She then realized that the tree was actually two trees spliced together as if hugging one another, and she wept. (But that's another story.)

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According to my notes, I wrote this on May 8, 1995 at 12:04AM. I made a few changes tonight.