THE TREE WHO WANTED TO BE A SHIP

Trees like people have their aspirations. Their first choice is to become a part of a ship and travel the world. But before one can be accepted, one's trunk must be straight and firm. Their second choice is to become a part of a house which will last for many years. Failing that, even becoming furniture is respectable. The last thing they want is to become its firewood.

And yet, ironically, it is the fire that serves man's most important need. Man can live without ships, even houses and furniture, but he will die without fire.

In this forest, there was a young tree who was determined to be a part of the ship. Each year when the woodmen came to the fringe of the forest, the young tree listened to the zee-zee-zee if their electric saws. To him it was as if a thousand violins were playing. This would be followed by a sudden silence while the cut trees decided which way to fall. As the trees fall, their branches torn off, it seemed to the young tree, as if a thousand rattling drums were sounding. This all ended with a loud 'thump'. To him it was a dramatic climax to a symphony. He longed to be part of it.

He had always prided himself as being properly fit and ready. He did not hesitate to boast to all the trees around him. In response, the trees warned him of the trial and pain he would have to go through. But he took no heed of it.

Season after season, woodmen came through the forest marking trees ready to be cut. Each time, they passed him by. "You fools, can't you see I am ready and well-suited to become a part of a ship?" His cries went unheard.

Eventually, one day the woodmen marked his neighbour and himself. He was overjoyed. A few days later, the woodmen came to cut his neighbour. He saw for the first time what it was really like.

As the electric saws went zee-zee-zee, white sap poured from the trunk as the tree screamed with pain. When the saw was finished the severed tree rocked on its wound. The screech of pain was beyond his wildest imaginings. Then the tree fell, its branches torn off. It was an awful experience to see and hear the pain and suffering that his neighbour was going through.

"No, no! I have changed my mind. I don't want to be a ship after all." The neighbouring tree said, "It's too late. You will have to go through with it. All you can do is to concentrate the whole of yourself upwards to the branches at the top of the tree. This way you may escape some of the pain."

It was then his turn. The woodmen cut the saw into his trunk. He screamed with pain and rushed his whole spirit upwards to a branch at the top of the tree.

When it was all over he rocked on his wound and fell. As he fell, the branch in which he was lodged was torn away from the trunk. When he hit the ground he was unconscious.

When he regained consciousness, he saw his trunk a few yards away. It was magnificent, long and straight. "I told you so; I am fit to become a part of a ship." He was very proud of himself.

The foreman of the woodmen came and he overheard him say, "That is a wonderful tree. Drag it down to the river and float it down to the shipyard. These branches - cut them up and sell them as firewood."

"Please, please, let me rejoin my trunk," he shouted. But no one heard him.

Many months later he was chopped up and sold as firewood. Those who bought his logs found them excessively smoky. When they gathered round the fire they had tears in their eyes. They would never know what they were 'crying' for.

0. Preface
1. The Chicken Hawk
2. The Two SparrowsHawk
3. The Bugs Who Lived In A Cinema
4. The Old Man And His Creeper
5. The Tree Who Wanted To Be A Ship
6. The Obsolescent Wahing-Machine
7. The In-between Puppy
8. Postscript

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