The Fire Lizard and the Great Oak Tree

The great oak tree had far outgrown its brethren by coercing the forest animals, one by one, to trust it into climbing within the safe confines of its branches. Once it had earned their trust, it would violently shake them free so they would fall to their death and nourish its roots.

One night, a fire lizard had lost his way from the desert and wandered deep into the forest. The cunning oak saw the strange creature’s desperate need for help and convinced him to rest in the shelter of its foliage before attempting such a long journey back to the desert. Warily, he accepted the invitation.

After the lizard was fast asleep, the great oak shook its branches and greedily watched him plunge to his death. Satisfied, it went to sleep and had dreams of becoming the tallest tree in the forest.

But the deadly toxins within the fire lizard’s blood slowly seeped into the ground. Sudden stabbing pains startled the tree awake. The poison crept up the side of the helpless oak, mercilessly seizing and coiling around its body before finally dragging it to the ground. There, the great oak unwillingly perished. And there, it fed its brethren’s roots for ages to come.

This is a fable I wrote in the spirit of the energies of the 1st ring. And it also happens to be one of my ‘world fables’, which is a side-project I’m working on.

It is said that the lesson you learn from this story reveals your true nature. :)
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I am currently in the middle of writing a book. Or ‘middling’ – as it is sometimes called in the writing world. This is the point of the book writing process where you see a nightmarish landscape of jagged, foreboding mountains laid out before you during a swirling storm, and you must traverse all of it if you ever wish to see, somewhere on the horizon, the fabled, glimmering, heavenly, yet taunting, End of the Book. This is the point where you realise you will indeed pay with your sweat, blood, and tears – just like all of those authors whose advice you read forewarned – before finally making it to the end of the story, only to be greeted by an unforgiving ‘final editing process ogre’ holding his stopwatch and tapping his massive foot, demanding even more of your time and patience.

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