Why does...?

[Ciri]

So I'm still swamped with schoolwork...but I have a sort of challenge for all you writers out there. Call it "myth-making," and a more in-depth explanation can be found here

 

The short form of it is, pick any natural phenomenon and create a story or poem as to why it is the way it is. To go with familiar examples: thunder is the sound of god bowling, or the reason spiders spin webs is because Arachne challenged a goddess and was transformed into the first spider. Then post 'em here!

 

Have fun!

[Quincunx]

How the Frogloks Became a Sentient Species

[Venefyxatu]

See, this is what happens when I finally give myself a few swift kicks in the butt and then sit it down to write. Thank you for the challenge!

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

Why does a weeping willow lose its leaves every year?

 

A study by Lemmen Dargwin.

 

Foreword

 

It is with deep regret that I had to reduce the topic of my study to weeping willows. While I was planning to find a common explanation for all trees that lose their leaves every year, this turned out to be impossible and beyond the scope of the assignment. The material I have gathered about other trees will be compiled later in separate studies, when they are complete.

 

History of explanations

 

The earliest reference to this phenomenon in scientific works dates back to the Second Era of the Herridites Calendar(1), the year 372 to be precise. Gerald L. Volger, Headmaster of Herbal Lore, published a paper in which he claimed that trees had, in fact, different reasons for shedding their leaves every year around the same time that herbs, which were then considered to be of much more interest, started dying. After facing much ridicule for investing time and effort in the study of something as useless as trees, neither he nor any other sages of his time touched the subject again.

 

It was not until approximately seven hundred years later, in the year 291 of the Third Era, with the advent of the Order of Seguia(2), that another attempt was made to explain the phenomenon. According to its members, trees would start losing their leaves around the same time every year to remind all living creatures that, while Seguia had brought life to the world, she could just as easily take it away again. Naturally, this was linked to the time when trees grow new leaves, explained as Seguia showing her good will and restoring life. When the order disappeared after approximately one hundred and fifty years, it did leave a vague curiosity about trees among those who knew of it. Ignoring the ridicule and scorn of the most prominent scientists of their time, these dendrologists, as they called themselves, became more and more obsessed with trees as they continued studying them. While it is believed that they were extremely thorough, unfortunately most of their works were lost during the Fall of Science in the year 312 of the Third Era, when a lot of scientific works were burned in the streets by the homeless to keep them warm while they protested against their unfair treatment by the upper classes.

 

Ever since, no real attempt has been made to study trees again, although there are papers which seem to get sidetracked in this direction, resulting in a large collection of theories which contradict each other as often as they complement one another.

 

Elusive creatures

 

In order to get to know more about trees, I decided to go and live among them. More than seven months I spent living in the Ackburn Forest, using nothing but what I could find in there to survive. After the first three months I started feeling safe, having learned to recognise signals of danger as well as having developed a feeling for what I could and could not do. While the constant feeling of being watched that everyone who enters the forest talks about remained, it no longer felt as threatening as it did at first. At last, in the seventh month, while the other trees were nearly finished losing their leaves and I was taking shelter under a weeping willow which was only starting to shed, I found the answer to my question.

 

Cold, tired and hungry, I woke up against the trunk of the tree, only to see a figure startle and rush so quickly to hide that I could barely make it out. It seemed vaguely humanoid, although it had been too quick to make out any specific details. Breathlessly I waited, staying motionless in the hopes of making it think I had fallen asleep again. Sure enough, not much later, I noticed from the corners of my eyes that the figure was returning, quite hesitantly. Closer it came, until it finally stopped, startled to notice that my eyes were open and I was watching her. Now that I could see it more clearly, the figure was definitely a female. She looked as though she was about to run off again, but my staying still must have convinced her that I was not about to harm her. When she'd stared at me for a while, she spoke, hesitantly, searching for every word.

 

“You ... block ... my entrance – could you move?”

 

The look on my face must have been priceless, for she suddenly started laughing and clapping her hands, which was a strange sight considering she had tears streaming down her face. When she spoke again, it was a lot more fluently, as if every word she spoke taught her three more of our language.

 

“I cannot return to my tree as long as you are sitting on this side.”

 

“Your tree,” I asked, her, with my confusion obvious in my voice. How could she claim a tree as being hers, and, for that matter, what did she mean by her “entrance” and “returning to her tree”?

 

She smiled and sat down, the movement reminding me of a leaf whirling to the ground.

 

“A fair deal is a fair deal – I see that you have a big question burning in your mind, so I will answer it and one other if you will let me return to my tree afterwards.”

 

I nodded to indicate that I agreed, and asked my first question.

 

“What do you mean by returning to your tree?”

 

She explained to me that she was a Weeping Nymph and the spirit of the tree I was leaning against. As long as I was blocking her way, she could not return to rest. I decided that, as a tree spirit, she must know why they lose they leaves each year, so I asked her.

 

She told me that, while she could not speak for the other trees, she could explain something about weeping willows. According to her people, it all goes back to the first days of their existence. In the days of the magi, before the trees had guardian spirits, there were several magi who tried to use them as part of, or the subject of, their spells, believing that by controlling a part of nature they would gain an advantage over their foes. As they gained more control over nature's forces, they became more ruthless and stopped caring about the wellbeing of the elements they sought to control. Nature started crying out in pain and desperation more and more often until finally, the guardian spirits were called into being. Tree guardians are not the only ones: there are so many elements of nature that have guardian spirits that it would take far too long to sum them all up. The one thing they all have in common, though, is that they personify the inner strength of whichever element it is they represent.

 

According to the legends of the Weeping Nymphs, one of the first of their kind was captured by a mage who lived near a lake with many weeping willows around it. He considered the area around the lake near his tower to be his personal domain and was quite proud of how well cared-for it looked. Every morning at the same time, he would go for a stroll through his domain and admire its beauty as well as the potential it seemed to offer. When he finally realized that something had changed, he left subtle spells behind to trap anything unusual. Then, contrary to his habit, he went for a second stroll about an hour later. One of the nymphs, in her attempt to hide from him, was caught in one of his spells.

 

The mage, whose name was lost, was a cruel man. Seeing that the nymph was weeping incessantly, he told her that if she looked so unhappy, he would give her a reason to. He bound her with magical shackles and forced her to watch as he burned the tree she had been trying to flee to.

With the flames eating away at her tree, the nymph shared its agony. However, she managed to hide this from the mage, knowing that if he realized she would die together with her tree, he would not only turn on another one, but also keep hers safe as long as he wanted to study her. If that happened, he would surely find a way to overcome the guardian spirits. So she resisted until the tree finally died and then, with a shriek containing all the agony she'd held back, she died as well, her body turning to ashes as she did. Her scream had been so loud that the mage became deaf for the rest of his life.

 

The next morning, when he went for his morning stroll through his domain, he saw that every single weeping willow had dropped all of its leaves. They never grew back. It is in memory of this that the weeping willows start shedding their leaves every year on the day it happened.

 

 

Conclusion

 

After hearing this story, I deduced that, since each type of tree has its own guardian spirits, they all must have their own reasons for shedding their leaves every year again.

 

Here, the neat handwriting suddenly stops and is replaced by a scrawl that's obviously made in a hurry.

 

I should destroy this study, for I believe that if the story of the nymph were to become known, their peaceful days would be over. Yet somehow, I cannot seem to bring myself to do it – I hope they will forgive me if it is ever found...

 

 

 

 

 

(1) Whenever a date is mentioned throughout this study, it is considered to be from the Herridites Calendar.

(2) A relatively unknown cult worshipping Seguia, whom they believed was responsible for bringing life to our world via trees. Their theories were never written down in a clear, unambiguous way.