THE SEED AND THE STONE

There is a story, told to the children of Hirun, that goes something like this:

Once upon a time, in a great forest, there slept a stone. Now, stones are well known for wanting nothing more than to be left alone and this stone was very happy just resting on the ground in the shade of the trees.

One day, a seed fell from the sky and bumped the stone on the head. The stone immediately woke up and asked the seed, “What are you doing here?”

“I’m very sorry,” said the seed, “But I just fell here. I hope I’m not disturbing you.”

“Disturbing me? Why that’s exactly what you’re doing,” the stone replied angrily, “I’ve been sitting here for years, resting quite peacefully and now you’ve come along and woken me up.”

“I’m very sorry, but there’s not much I can do. I’m afraid I can’t move, you see, I’m just a seed,” the seed apologised again.

“Oh, don’t you worry about that, you’ll move very shortly.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you’re so small, the wind will pick you up and carry you away,” said the stone and the seed began to worry.

“Yes, I suppose it might,” said the seed

“Or if the wind doesn’t take you, the rain will come and wash you away,” continued the stone.

“Oh dear,” said the seed.

“Or if the wind doesn’t take you, or the rain doesn’t wash you away, you will be eaten. Just look over there,” said the stone.

The seed looked into the distance to see another seed sitting on the ground. Suddenly a bird swooped down, picked up the distant seed in its beak and swallowed it whole.

“You see,” said the stone, “If the wind doesn’t take you and the rain doesn’t wash you away, a bird will come and gobble you up. Now, if you’ll kindly be quiet, I’m going back to sleep.”

The seed was now very worried indeed, but it had one question for the stone.

“Wait,” the seed said aloud, “why doesn’t the wind take you away, or the water wash you away or a bird gobble you up?”

“Because I am a stone, I am too strong for the wind to blow me away, too heavy for the water to wash me away and too large for a bird to gobble me up. Now, stop talking so I can rest,” said the stone, with a laugh, but the seed was still afraid.

“Would you mind if we kept talking? If I’m going to be blown away, washed away or gobbled up, I’d rather spend the time I have left not thinking about that fact and talking will take my mind of such a dreadful fate,” the seed asked hopefully, but the stone was not interested in conversation.

“We can’t talk, you’re a seed and I’m a stone, we are too different. You can talk to your own kind, but you can’t talk to me.”

“We can talk, we’re talking now,” the seed insisted.

“I know we can talk; I would just prefer that we didn’t. Now, you are going to do what I say because I am bigger, I am stronger and I was here first. What are you? You are just a seed, you are small, weak and pathetic,” sniffed the stone haughtily.

“That’s very rude of you,” retorted the seed.

“Well, it’s very rude of you to keep talking, so be quiet!” and with that, the stone fell asleep again.

“But who will I talk to?” cried the seed but the stone was asleep, and did not reply, so the seed had no choice but to remain silent.

For some time, the seed and the stone sat side by side, in total silence, and with each passing day, the seed grew more and more worried about being gobbled up. Then, one day, there was a loud noise, which woke up the stone.

“Was that you, seed? I told you to be quiet,” shouted the stone angrily, but the seed was quiet, the noise was coming from somewhere else. The noise was footsteps and the sound grew louder and louder until it was right behind the stone.

“Seed, seed! Help!” Cried the stone but the seed remained quiet, as it had promised, and the foot fell upon the stone. Yet, the foot went, as quickly as it had come, leaving just a large footprint beside the stone. The stone gasped and looked around, amazed to still be alive.

“By the earth, that was close!” the stone exclaimed, “Seed, did you see that?” but the seed did not reply.

“Seed?” The stone repeated but the seed was gone and, in its place, in the middle of the footprint, was a small hole about the size of, well, a seed. The stone was amazed.

“The seed’s been trampled into the ground,” the stone cried, to no one in particular, but although the stone felt a slight twinge of remorse it laughed.

“I told you you’d be gone soon! Didn’t I tell you? Well, not by trampling exactly, but I said this would happen. Now, at last, I can get some peace,” said the stone and it settled down to enjoy a well-earned rest.

However, as the stone was resting, the seed was growing underground. Slowly and silently, the seed grew roots, then a stalk. As the roots grew deeper, the stalk grew taller until it pushed out of the ground and kept on growing. The stalk grew taller and thicker until it became a trunk. From the trunk grew branches, from the branches grew leaves and everything kept growing and growing until the seed was a mighty tree.

The wind blew hard but the tree stood strong. The rain fell hard but the tree grew taller. The birds came, but they didn’t gobble it up, instead, they made the tree their home.

The tree was now so big that it pushed against the stone, waking it up for a second time.

“What’s going on? Who are you?” said the stone but the tree did not reply.

“Mother of nature, I know you, you’re the seed! But you don’t look like the seed anymore. Why, you’re bigger than the seed, stronger than the seed, heavier than the seed,” and once the stone heard its own words echoing around the forest, it paused and looked at itself.

“Why, you’re bigger than me, stronger than me, heavier than me!” said the stone.

The stone tried to rest, but couldn’t knowing that at any moment the tree could shed a branch and its great weight might crush the stone to powder. The stone worried about this for many months and finally when it could bear the thought of being smashed to atoms no more, the stone spoke to the tree again.

“Seed, I mean, tree, I can talk now, if you’d like,” the stone said, but the tree remained silent and the silence made the stone angry.

“Seed! Talk to me!” cried the stone, however, the tree was so tall, it could not hear the stone. In fact, the tree was so tall, it was as tall as all the other trees.

“Hello,” said one of the other trees.

“Hello. I’m Seed,” said the former seed and the other trees laughed.

“You were a seed, we were all seeds, but you’re a tree now and you need not worry.” And indeed, the tree didn’t worry ever again about wind, rain, birds, footsteps or even stones.

ANAX.