Berganashio - Chapter 16

South from where the sea-wolf ship was at anchor, near where the meerbirds burrow lands were, there grew olive trees. Haniel was one of the olive trees. Every year his branches grew stronger. He was a healthy, handsome looking olive tree as far as trees go. He felt grateful to have been raised by humble, gracious parents. They had instilled many good qualities in him. He possessed a kind soul. They had filled his mind with the best of adages and stories. He had grown up on the edge of a riverbank. He knew that his roots needed the sweet water that faithfully flowed by every day without fail. Each season, the sweet water remained his source of strength.

For most of his life, he had always kept his eyes looking upwards toward the sky, until one day, he felt the need for some sort of change. Instead of looking up, he looked across the riverbank to see what was on the other side. To his surprise, he glimpsed at an intriguing lady olive tree!

Soon, he learned that her name was Leah. She was incredibly smart and ambitious it seemed. Haniel liked her very much and could not take his eyes off her. Leah was certainly unique. Her branches were not quite as strong, and she had some broken, unfruitful spots, so it appeared. Haniel didn’t mind, as he had some branches that were deformed. He had tried to hide those branches from others most of his life with some of his brighter leaves.

Before long, they began to talk to one another. Their roots, deep below the river, grew closer and closer the more they talked. The two olive trees decided to intertwine roots but agreed to stay close to the river. They both had friends that had grown up near the river as they had. Over time, sadly some of their friends had grown away from the river. It was to their own demise.

One day, there was a storm, and the wind blew a couple of Haniel and Leah’s branches off. Two of the branches broke off, on top of each other, and several days later their two branches sprouted into a new olive tree! They trees looked down with pride and were excited to have their very own olive tree to raise.

Sadly, the young tree’s roots weren’t quite deep enough, and the small tree dried up and died. Filled with grief over their loss, they couldn’t help but dream about another storm to come so that they could try to spout another tree of their own. Sure enough, months later, another storm came, and the two trees smiled as the rain kissed their faces and limbs. They grew hopeful. Again, a couple of their branches broke off and a few days later it sprouted into a new young tree and this time the young tree’s roots grew deep into the soil quickly and tasted the sweet water, just like her parents. They named her Bao. Bao grew to be extremely lively. She could make almost all the trees near the river smile and laugh. She was always such a joy and exuberant delight, with all of her entertaining mannerisms.

Years went by and Leah’s mind began to drift. She seemed less and less engaged in Haniel and Bao. Haniel and Bao would spend many days together, playing, whistling, and telling one another knock knock jokes. Olive trees love knock knock jokes especially.

Meanwhile, some of Leah’s roots began to grow in another direction, away from the sweet water, toward the other side where there was bitter water in the ground. Some of her branches grew thinner. She was dizzy some days from it. Haniel saw a change in Leah’s branches but couldn’t quite understand what was wrong. He grew sad because he didn’t know how to help her. All he knew to do was give Leah more space and time to figure things out.

One day, Haniel looked over and saw that there was a very old, ugly tree growing closer to Leah. His name was Lecher, and he was a manchineel tree. It was clear that he was poisonous, and he omitted a four odor. None of the birds came even close to him because of the terrible smell.

Suddenly, Haniel’s wooden stomach churned, and he knew what had happened. “How could I have been so stupid and naive!” he thought to himself. He knew that some of Leah’s roots on the far side had intertwined with Lechers. “How could you be so foolish?” he cried to Leah who was looking sicker by the moment.

Intense tears rolled down Haniel’s face. He had never known this kind of emotional pain before. His wooden chest ached. Not knowing what to do, or say, he looked up and saw Grinyella the elderly meerbird flying toward them from quite a distance. A few minutes went by, and she landed on one of Haniel’s strongest branches and looked down with concern at seeing him so emotionally distraught. She would come from time to time to collect their olives as she used the olives to make oil. The olive tree family was always delighted to share their olives with any of the birds or meerbirds that flew by. Grinyella had been visiting them for years and always enjoyed their company.

Regaining her breath from the flight, “Whatever is the matter, dear Haniel? I’ve never seen you so sad and distraught.”

“Him!” motioning over to Lecher, with anger and hatred in his eyes.

In an instant, Grinyella knew exactly what type of tree he was, and her heart began to beat faster. “A manchineel tree!” she spat. “You poisonous viper! Do you even know how much pain and destruction you’ve caused?”

If looks could have killed, Grinyella’s glare surely seemed like it could. She reached into her backpack and pulled out two pieces of flint stones. Quickly, striking the flint stones together above the poisonous tree, sparks flew everywhere. In a flash of light, the flames caught the evil tree on fire. The manchineel tree writhed in agony, screeching in defeat. The poisonous sheckle berries exploded from the intense heat of the flames. Down into the ashes he fell on the ground. His roots immediately retreated from the ground and burned up completely, without even the slightest trace. Then, a mighty wind blew the ashes away from the ground and moments later it was as if he had never even existed in the first place. Haniel stared off into the distance, dazed, and in shock, but relieved.

Grinyella flew over to one of Haniel’s branches and perched there. “Today has proven to be full of more excitement than I anticipated.” She put her flint stones back into her small packpack that she had slung over her shoulders.

“Indeed,” Haniel sadly answered. He still felt shaken to his very core but tried to distract himself by focusing on his company. “How did this year's anointing day go, Grinyella?”

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