Nightmare Fuel, Day the 18th. A fable.

No horror this time, but a simple fable.

Next week, watch this space for the promised return of some AV posts. It's been lots of fiction as of late. Not that that's a bad thing.



"Among The Greenwood Trees"
by L Czhorat Suskin


The forest was even greater when we first came to live in this place. The might greenwood trees stood tall, creating a living cathedral of shaded sanctuary for those who would choose to walk among their woods. Then, as our settlement grew to a town and the town grew towards adulthood as a city some of us became rich, as people always strive to do. And, it was natural that the rich would want a little more space.

So, they'd hire some lumberjacks and cut down a greenwood tree or two. It would make a little clearing, and island of sunlight within the great woods. Some said it better let them see the face of god.

This made the people angry and jealous. They didn't like that those who'd worked harder, been more successful, and given their town its share of wealth would be the only ones to see God face-to-face. Some of the older unmarried women, turned bitter from years of being spurned, started spreading lies that the real gods were the nature-demons within the trees. We knew that all they really cared for was to sneak out to the deep woods for some obscene rituals, and that without God's blessing they'd never have more than that. So, of course, we paid them no mind.

Then a few more men became rich, then a few more. Each rich man would cut down a few trees and then, when someone moved too close to him, find a place deeper in the desert and cut a few more. It wouldn't do to have a neighbor sharing your window to God, of course. Some feared that we'rd reach a time when the few rich men would devour the whole forest, that we'd lose the greenwood trees that gave Greenwood City its name. The crazy witch-women were disgusting perverts, but they may have been right that, without action, the forest might be lost.

It was Hutch who saved the forest for us. Hutch was a banker, and the wealthiest, most successful banker there was. When it came time to move his house, he had it built right into two greenwood trees, roof and walls and windows currently wrapped around trunks and roods and lower branches. He told everyone that even the brightest painted house was no more pleasing to God than His handywork in the great Greendwood trees, and that this was how he'd live.

The rich aren't fools, no matter what you may think,. They watched Hutch and learned from his example. Today, you can still see the great greenwood trees, if you take the time to visit a rich man's yard.

Photo by Drew Perlmutter of HuffPo: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/26/abandoned-adventure_n_3982338.html