The Axe

By Hannah Stake

Long ago, there was a vast forest of trees, each with their own personalities. They had been ruled by the same Grandfather Oak, who had grown to a width that no other tree could compare to, for centuries. But soon a dark mysterious illness sprung and ate at the Grandfather Oak’s roots and deteriorated him from the inside out, leading to his death. After his final leaves fell, the trees had to make a decision. They needed a new leader.

Through the loss of their leader, the trees began to finally form their own opinions about who should rule them. There were many things to consider like whether they supported the growth of moss, how far apart each tree should grow from each other, and if intertwining trees are accepted. Because of all of this unrest, the trees began to turn against each other and after many races between trees no one won. Lacking a leader, the forest began to turn against itself and each section of the forest became divided; no woodland creature was safe anywhere and without the nourishment that the creatures brought the trees would die out soon. 

No one had visited the forest for years and without the trees knowing, humans had discovered the magical forest. They had long heard the legends of what cures the forest held, and in the current state that the forest was in, now was the best chance to raid it. Knowing that they couldn't over take the forest with such ancient trees and plants in it without being destroyed, they decided to form a plan — they were gonna send The Axe.

When The Axe ventured into the forest he was almost immediately killed until he explained why he was there.

 "I heard," he started, " That this forest is beginning to fade after the death of the Grandfather Oak. Since I am one of you, I wanted to come and save my homeland. I am here to run for King. " 

 "What is he saying?!" The trees scoffed to one another.

A crowd gathered as branches from all over the forest crossed territory lines to listen in through their leaves. 

 "What blasphemy is this!" The trees grumbled, "You are not one of us, you are an axe. You have never experienced the true roots of what our ancients stood for." 

The Axe was prepared for this and cunningly replied, "I may not look like one of you, and it is because my life has been cut short. I was torn down from my true home, where I used to be rooted like you. I was cut down, shaped, molded, and forced to do what the humans commanded, but I resisted. I ran away and I knew that this was my destiny. I too, am made out of wood and I have come to save my home." 

The trees muttered but none of them could come up with a good argument. Eventually The Axe won over each one of them and began his work. He acted as though he loved each and everyone has them dearly and became involved and many of the forest activities, mending friendships and stopping feuds. Little did they know that he was digging up dirt on each one of them just to pull it out when he became king so they would turn against each other in the end. For it is well known that it is much easier to tear a person down when they're weak and alone than when they are strong and united together. 

The election finally came, and The Axe won by a landslide. When the time came for him to present his speech, he began sounding honest and good. Then quickly, he began to pull out all the deepest darkest secrets and feuds of each tree. Commotion broke out and violence quickly followed. Limbs and leaves scattered among the forest and hours later no tree trusted the other. 

Only a few days later did the humans come and begin chopping down each tree. The trees were defenseless alone and couldn't put up a fight. 

As the Grandfather Tree’s stump looked on what had happened, he felt immense guilt in dying before he could share his last piece of wisdom. Being unable to speak, he thought to himself with the last of his life, “One can be easily deceived when they are weak enough to let their anger sever their friendships.”