A Tale Of Trees

"Sadness gives depth. Happiness gives height. Sadness gives roots. Happiness gives branches. Happiness is like a tree going into the sky, and sadness is like the roots going down into the womb of the earth. Both are needed, and the higher a tree goes, the deeper it goes, simultaneously . The bigger the tree, the bigger will be its roots. In fact it is always in proportion. That is its balance"-Osho. This magnificent quote by Osho carries with it such immense depth that it led me to alter my perspective on these creatures that seem to be an irrelevance in our lives. This quote also led me, almost serendipitously, to another short saying which reads: "Nature is an authors best friend" which made me  think deeply once again about nature and its importance in our lives.

I looked quite thoroughly  into how nature has inspired  architects, poets and designers throughout history, and for this post in particular; authors. I have recently gained a deep appreciation for trees and how each one is distinctly different to another; how each branch is different from the other in the way it reaches toward the sky seeking precious sunlight for the leaves it effortlessly  carries, how each tree can cast a different shadow on the ground, creating unique shapes which mid-afternoon strollers can gaze in wonder upon, and what startles me the most is how a fledgling young stem, still green with chlorophyll, can resolve to grow tall into a stern tree regardless of how harsh the winter or how treacherous the environment in took root in. Each tree has its own identity, its own soul and its own story.

This post is largely inspired by my three favorite authors: J.R.R Tolkien, Joanne Rowling and George R.R. Martin, whom make trees in their stories literally come alive, they each give them such personality and meaning that one cant help but tell "A Tale Of Trees". As I love to do, I will now dissect each type of tree in each of these authors work and branch off into how each one has planted a seed of gratitude in my heart.

Ents

 

All  of us who are familiar with "The Lord Of The Rings" will remember Treebeard  right!? I think it would be rather difficult to forget a character like that, and id just like to say that when I came across him while reading "The Two Towers", I literally froze and re-read that particular page and thought to myself: "wow!" I never realized that it were possible to describe a tree in such a way, let alone a living one in such an extraordinary manner. Here is an excerpt from that page: "They found that they were looking at a most extraordinary face. It belonged to a large Man-Like, almost Troll-like, figure, at least fourteen-foot high, very sturdy, with a tall head , and hardly any neck. whether it was clad in stuff like green and grey bark, or whether that was its hide , was difficult to say . At any rate it's arms , at a short distance from the trunk , were not wrinkled, but covered with a brown smooth skin. The large feet had seven toes each. The lower part of the long face was covered with a sweeping grey beard, bushy, almost twiggy at the roots, thin and mossy at the ends. But at the moment the hobbits noted little but the eyes. These deep eyes were now surveying them, slow and solemn, but very penetrating. They were brown, shot with a green light. Often afterwards Pippin tried to describe his first impression of them.
'One felt as if there was an enormous well behind them, filled up with ages of memory and long, slow , steady thinking, but their surface was sparkling with the present; like sun shimmering on the outer leaves of a vast tree or on the ripples of a very deep lake. I don't know, but it felt as if something that grew in the ground -asleep, you might say, or just feeling itself as something between root-tip and leaf-tip, between deep earth and sky had suddenly waked up, and was considering you with the same slow care that it had given to it's own inside affairs for endless years'".

This little piece of magic made me sit up and pay attention. Every little piece of nature is alive and if we look at the root of it all, us beings and nature are exactly the same! we both share the same structure if we boil it down to molecules. And any one who has read Tolkien's books will find that there is a recurring  pattern of deep love for nature, Tolkien uses his vivid description of the rolling Hills of the Shire, the daunting forests of Mirkwood, the ever enchanting golden forest of Lothlorien and the ancient Entwood in such a way that it ensnares the readers imagination and leaves one breathless.
This love for nature is something that Humphrey Carpenter(The author of J.R.R Tolkien's Biography) describes as sedimentary: "It is like Autumn leaves falling on the ground to form a pile" thus his love for nature developed over time and with it, his remarkable style of writing. This sage of literature has planted a keen appreciation for nature and it's impact on the human imagination within me, after all the creatures of the Earth were wise before we ever were.

The Whomping Willow

Joanne Rowling is a woman whom I look to for strength and inspiration, her life's-story is one that has moved me completely. Her "Tale Of Trees" will begin with the one tree that all Harry Potter fans have a fascination with, if not, a fear of; The Whomping Willow. This is not like any other willow you will come across in a park or a forest, it is alive with a sense of malice, or a dark enchantment most would say. I loved the way in which Rowling would use the Whomping willow to depict a change of seasons and  this depiction translated very well onto the big screen  The tree has a thick sturdy trunk with long, thin branches and it will attack anyone who ventures within branches-reach, it is as vicious as vicious can be! As if it was protecting something right?

 Our first real encounter with the willow is the incident of the blue Ford Anglia, and how the  old willow unceremoniously destroys the car by crushing it with it's branches, it also lays waste to Harry's first broomstick, the Nimbus 2000 after it flew off during a cursed Quidditch match. My favorite appearance of the willow is when we find out that it was secretly harboring Sirius Black beneath it's huge trunk. We find out that the tree was the guard to a secret passage which  led to the Shrieking Shack; which has the favorite haunt for the most notorious animangi in the wizarding world of Harry Potter: Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs!

Nothing is ever as it seems when it comes to trees, The whomping Willow appears vicious to the eye but to the trained mind(or anyone who knows the secret knob on it's trunk or the immobulus spell) it is a medium to a place of solace and the origin of  friendship which dates back decades. To the commoner it was feared but to the Marauders, it was an escape, a sanctuary where they could express their animalistic selves and it was a place where a seed of friendship, between the four, would be planted and endured through the ages, minus the treachery of Peter Pettigrew, of course. Trees are magic come alive.

The Heart Tree

The Heart Tree with it's bone-white bark, its crooked branches ,blood-red leaves and it's ominous red face as if it was carved out in blood is the "Heart" of the North and Northern religion. As a symbol of ancient deity and a portal to connect with the "Old Gods"(being the Wind, the Earth, Stone and Tree), The Wierwood Tree is planted firmly  at the heart of "A Song Of Ice And Fire", it is the spine of the story. It is said that once a Wierwood tree is planted, it never dies.

To the children of the forest, the greenseers,in particular it was a medium which was used to survey the entire continent of Westeros, with the eyes which they carved out in the massive trunks. The children would espy the vast expanse of the land from Whitetree right down to the Broken Arm(before it was broken). The ancientry of this tree brings a cold chill down my spine because it pretty much predates the children themselves  and The Night's Watch, it's a relic of  time in a world where magic seemed to have been veiled or overshadowed by petty politics, and yet it endured.
To the Northerners, as mentioned above, it was a shrine,  a place of meditation, if you will, where the believers of this faith would come and ask their gods for guidance, wisdom and a short Winter. To the Nights Watch it is(without spoiling it for readers) the portal through which their watch begins.

A solemn place was the godswood, where wierwood trees were planted in a circle, most times and keepers of the faith would practice their religion. As you delve deeper into the books you get a real sense of how immortal these Wierwoods are, with their white branches hanging dauntingly over your head like an axe and their red leaves humming in the wind like a song prepared for your judgment. You feel as if someone or something is watching you with timeless eyes, and if you are not of the North, you would feel completely out of place. The Trees are alive! and they live through the Earth as well as their subjects, the men and beasts of Westeros. They have and will endure The Winds Of Winter and they will be standing sentinel come A Dream Of Spring.

Trees carry with them a sense of wisdom which is unfathomable and secrets and treasures which we will never comprehend! My new found inclination toward trees has me sitting on my balcony on a daily basis, watching the sunset behind a veil of leaves, thinking to myself:" would that I could be a young tree on a windless night, with outstretched branches and roots that go so deep that they are untouched by the frost. Would that I could gain so much wisdom that I become a pillar of strength and a source of shelter to the world". This is my Tale Of Trees and I am glad I told it, thank you

T.B