The Pine...

• Atharwa Khandelwal, Grade 4
• Short Story
• 2018

THE PINE

It was a pitch black night in the woodland and Betulma was anxious about her bosom friend, Jeventus, the pine tree. The pine tree was dying because of her thirst and hunger. She had grown old and her leaves were drying up. One day, the Magpie told Betulma that tomorrow was the day that Jeventus will come to an end. The men were frightened that the tree will fall drop down and destroy a part of their land. That night Betulma cried and thought about what the Magpie said. She knew she had to do something. Then she noticed fruits hanging on the branches of Jeventus’s tree. She got an idea. In sunrise, when Jeventus woke up, Betulma told her the idea she got. Jeventus thought for a moment. Betulma thought she will deny but she agreed. When the men came to chop Jeventus, they noticed the fresh fruits that grew on her. They finally chose the right decision and not to chop Jeventus down. Jeventus was delighted from her luck. That night, the plants and the animals had gathered to have a meeting about the most important animal or plant in the forest. Everyone was arguing over the decision except the two pine trees. The cicada asked the two uncomplaining trees, why they were not counting themselves in the conversation. Jeventus said “We both know who should be the most respected one”. The cicada managed to inform everyone that Jeventus had in mind who should be most important member of the forest. That caught everyone’s attention. Jeventus started her speech. “Today Betulma saved my life from the men. They could have cut me down but fruits grew on me. I think that Betulma is really important”. Tears of joy came out of Betulma’s eyes. From then on, Betulma was important to every creature in the forest. She was known as the wise one from that day on. People started to water the plants once again. Every animal and plant took wise advice's from the wise one. This made the wolf and the squirrel really jealous. After thinking for a long time, wolf got an idea. The squirrel would pretend to be a pet and take his owner to the pine tree to cut the wise one down. The jealous animal was not expecting a high with danger plan but had to do it if he wanted to kill the wise one. The next day, the squirrel set of for his journey. It wasn’t long before squirrel found a kind heart man and did as planned with the clever wolf. When the man saw the tree, he started cutting the tree. The dry leaves forced the man to start chopping. But before he could even chop the tree, it started raining heavily. The fruits from the other trees fell on the wise one. From then on, no one did anything ungrateful to the forest.

Moral - There is something good in every situation.