Library: Why Trees Whisper

In the early days of the earth, not long after the trees were created and humans were forced to leave Paradise to work, a man went out to the forest to cut wood. The first tree he came to was a pine tree. But as soon as the man lifted his axe he heard a voice cry out. "Do not strike me. Can you not see the sticky tears that are already coming out of my body? If you hit me it will bring you bad luck." The man did indeed see the sticky sap coming from several cuts in the tree trunk, so he moved on farther into the forest. He came to a spruce tree and again raised his axe. But the spruce tree protested. "Do not cut me down. You will find me of little use for my wood is twisted and knotty." Unhappily, the man went on until he came to an alder tree. Once more he raised his axe to strike but the alder shrieked at him. "Be careful that you do not wound me. Whenever I am cut, blood runs from my heart. It will stain my wood and your axe blood red." The man went no further but called out to his gods. "How am I to get wood to make fire and to build shelter? Every tree I meet cries out and pleads that I not cut it down." The gods took pity on the man and said: "Return to the forest. I will see that henceforth no tree will talk back or contradict you." The man did as he was told and this time no tree spoke to him. None protested as he cut them down to make shelter and to make a fire. The trees were not happy about this. They dared not complain aloud against the gods. Instead, they began to whisper softly, each time a person entered their domain in the forests. If you approah a group of trees anywhere, you an still hear them softly whispering to each other. They are gently complaining about their poor treatment at the hands of humans.

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Library: Why Trees Whisper