Tree on the Take

It is not surprising that the legends of these diminutive human-like creatures are often disregarded, for most people simply disbelieve. This remains the case despite the fact that many cultures around the world have stories of little people in their history.  Even the amazing discovery of “hobbit like” bones on the Island of Flores near Indonesia in 2004 has not swayed the minds of most.  Even more unlikely heard or believed are the tales from their culture, but knowing the quality of their content, we will share one short translated Nubbin legend with you, and let you decide upon its place in your mind.  These stories always have some type of a moral to teach a lesson.  The following is not about them, but comes from them.

It Takes…Only a Tree

There are those places not to travel and things we shall never know why; and so it is told that deep in the forest to the south, an old tree lies bent, broken and seemingly gone to the world beyond.  But our ancestors have told us that the tree lives and has been in that state for generations long before our time.
  

One like you who has learned to give will never see it, for it lies on a darkened path used by those always on the take.  Most of them never notice and simply pass by, but there are others, perhaps so chosen, who come upon it.  As they look at the tree, a face within they can see, the eyes of which are like white gold and seeing them shine out of the blackened bark, they approach the tree, and it begins to speak:

“I can tell you of a vast treasure; it’s simply yours to take. Come closer and touch my branches and you will see where it is hidden.”  

And so they move in and touch the nearest branch, and with a flash of light, they are justly taken in.  A ragged branch becomes their fate, and the tree takes another soul to fuel its life.  There it stands broken and bent, awaiting another to find its place, another always on the take.

Richard Webb [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons