MOST ANCIENT PINE

He was the most ancient of his kind. In fact, he was the most ancient of any of the living creatures on

the land. He had been born before the ice had come to the land and he had seen the ice retreat far

to the north. The Children in the area sang to him during the summer and winter solstices. Many of

the Children communed with him when they were out beyond the realms of reality. Only a few of the

Children could communicate with him in that way, since only a few of them were trained so as to be able

to walk upon the paths of the spirits and the ancestors, before their own deaths. This, the ancient pine,

thought it was all as it should be. The Children could be so talkative. But, for the most part, he enjoyed

hearing their stories.

His own story was longer than most. By the reckoning of the Children he had been alive for tens of

thousands of years. He had seen many ages of the Children come and go. He had been born because the

One wanted him to be born. It was the One who breathed life into the young pine cone and it was the

One who had planted him here at the very top of this tallest of mountains. Around him the One had also

sown many others like him. But these were here for only a few centuries. They had spread across the

lands of the north, and now their descendants covered almost all of the continent. This was also as the

One had desired it to be. This was part of the Balance the One had established in all things. But now, as it

was foretold, the Balance of All had been once again disrupted. Again, it was the Children who brought

about their own end, and the beginning of the new Children.

This, too, is as it is supposed to be. Balance maintained for an age. Balance disrupted. The old Children

cede way to the new. Even now he could feel Mother Turtle awaken, and even the twin spirits Tween

and Twixt were now upon the lands of the Children. Soon death would cover the lands in its all-encompassing

reach. But death would not yet come for him. He had always known when the time of his

death would be. And that moment was yet many years ahead.

Now he opened his soul, and allowed for his spirit to emerge from deep within his massive bulk, so that

it could once again dance within the majestic heights of his branches. Branches which could see above

the clouds, and at times, like tonight, his branches would be caressed by the northern lights as they

reached down towards him from the sky. The lights were the spirits of not just the Children’s ancestors,

but the freed souls of many creatures that once roamed blessed earth.

Tonight, they will all dance and sing for the One to restore the sacred Balance. This is as it has always

been.

This is The Way.