The Tamarack Tale

I had loaded this story on my Facebook page and decided to share it on here also. It is a story from a book by Richard Wagamese.  the book is called One Story, One Song. The excerpt below is from the chapter "Birdman" 

 

 

In the Long Ago Time, before the time of the Human Beings, one winter grew especially harsh and deadly. The snows piled higher than they ever had, and Keewatin, the frigid north wind, blew long. the cold was so devastating that the sap in the trees froze, and their limbs swelled and exploded. Every where in the forest was the sound of popping trees. It was a haunting sound in the darkness.

A small chickadee who was nearly frozen hopped along on top of the snow until he came to the base of a small tamarack tree. The wind was gusting mightily. As the little chickadee huddled close to the trunk of the tree, he begged the tree to lower its branches to shelter him.  At that time, all beings could speak to one another, and the world was filled with their lively chatter.

But the tamarack was young and proud. It revelled in its fine shape and refused to lower its branches. So the little chickadee gathered his strength and hopped on through the snow, clutching his wings about him to stave off the cold. Eventually, he came to an old pine tree and moved close to the trunk. The chickadee asked the same favor of this tree. Seeing his plight, the pine tree dropped its lower branches to shelter the small bird.

Creator watched the drama unfold. She asked the tamarack why it had refused the small bird. The tamarack replied that it did not see the need to surrender its beauty to shelter a bird who would likely die anyway. The Creator asked the pine tree why it had decided to help the freezing chickadee. The pine tree replied that it had felt the bite of many frigid winds and knew how lonely and terrifying that could be.

As a sign of the pine tree's compassion, Creator allowed the pine to keep its dropped lower branches from then on. Creator allowed the tamarack to keep its magnificent shape, but because of the tree's vanity and selfishness it would henceforth lose its needles every fall. The tamarack would always face the winter naked and cold, as an indicator of its lack of mercy and compassion.

 

 

Lets get outdoors and have some fun!!