A Children’s Story

 

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful, young girl who lived in a cottage in the forest.  This fair-haired girl spent her days in lovely white dresses, chasing butterflies through the woods and dancing with trees.   She laughed and loved and smiled all the time.  She glowed so brightly, that everyone she met wanted to be near and share in her warmth, even if only for a little while. 

Throughout her young lifetime, she had generously given tiny pieces of her heart away to everyone she had met.  Unfortunately many of these people had taken those pieces of her heart and not given her anything in return.  Some did this because they were young and greedy, while others had lost most of their hearts as well, and some never had a heart to give.  Before she new it, the fair-haired girl realized she had but one tiny sliver of her heart left.

Frightened, she decided to hide the only piece of her heart that remained within a small tree in a glen. Surely, she thought, it would be safe there and she planned to keep it hidden until she could learn to be more careful with whom she gave her love to.

Finally, the girl was safe.

Lonely,

but safe.

           Weeks passed, then months and years and everyday that little tree grew bigger and stronger and more beautiful, as it reached towards the sun.   Life passed and changed things around that tree, and after many years, the glen was almost completely demolished.  Only a few trees remained in what became a courtyard surrounded by tall office buildings. Fortunately, the one with the girl’s heart had been spared, as it was too beautiful of a tree for the workers to cut down.

At first, the girl had visited the tree daily, and dreamed of the time when she could be reunited with her heart.  But as she grew older, richer, and more successful; she rarely found time for things like butterflies and trees. Eventually, she moved out of the forest, into a three bedroom condo with laminate flooring and tilt-in windows. All grown up, the girl had become a safe, responsible and sensible, corporate accountant.  White dresses became completely impractical; instead she wore very nice tan suits and not-so-comfortable shoes.  She worked very hard in one of the tall buildings that surrounded the courtyard, and although her office window looked down on that tree, she never took the time to turn around and see it. 

Yet the girl remained safe,

empty,

but safe.

Then one magical day, a very important man on his way to a very important meeting happened to pass by the courtyard. He had passed by this tree everyday and had never really noticed it before, but on this day, he was taken by how tall and strong it stood in the sunlight.  The man was sure that the sounds of the leaves in the wind seemed to be whispering his name. He thought to him self, “This is the tree I have been looking for all of my life.”  So he hired some men to cut it down and had it turned into a desk for his very important office.

As the very important man had the tree hauled away, the girl, (now a woman), just happened to pass by.  She saw the spot where the tree had been, and stopped.  For a short moment, she was almost sad. She just didn’t remember why.

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