This story is from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It is about a time when trees wandered from place to place. They behaved like living beings. They would seek a shady spot and stay there for a time. Then they would move on.
Sometimes they would go in a crowd. When it was time to rest, they would quarrel with each other as to take the favoured spot. Then humans arrived and they used the trees as transporters. They sat on the branches and also put their goods on the limbs of the trees. Their animals were tied to the trunk.
This bucolic life continued until a group of avaricious villagers came into the forest. They were looking for precious resources. They dug up the forest and then exploited the trees. They tried to force the trees to become carriers. The trees revolted and they refused to move. And to this day they have remained rooted to a spot.
It was a lesson for humans. They must carry their own spoils and burdens. We forgot that we must respect mother earth and all the plants that live on her.
Dear ones, let us join hands and give back to Mother Earth, what we have taken.
Aim Hrim Klim
This is the first part of a longer tales series. Look forward to the next episodes.
Tale 2 – Two rivers in love
Tale 3 – The Peacock from Meghalaya
Tale 4 – The tears from Arunachal Pradesh
Tale 5 – A bird and a hot chilli
Tale 6 – The mermaid’s song from Puducherry
Tale 7 – Tigers are family
Tale 8 – The Hornbill’s curse
Tale 9 – Coconut palm
Tale 10 – Cuckoo cries all summer
By © Vyacheslav Argenberg / http://www.vascoplanet.com/, CC BY 4.0, Link