The Pool And The Tree - A Soothing Tale For A Peaceful Sleep
Welcome back! In this episode, we delve into the enchanting world of Mary De Morgan's The Pool and the Tree. This beautifully written tale explores the enduring power of friendship through the poignant relationship between a steadfast tree and a tranquil pool. As their bond weathers the trials of time and adversity, we are reminded of the beauty of loyalty, love, and the connections that sustain us. Let this soothing story wrap you in its warmth as you settle in for a peaceful journey to sleep. Perfect for listeners seeking comfort and inspiration, this episode celebrates the timeless theme of devoted friendship. Sweet dreams, Joanne Music in this episode 'Softest of Feathers' via Epidemic Sound
Transcript
Hello,
And welcome back to Drift Off,
Where gentle stories and relaxation meet.
I'm your host Joanne,
And tonight I'm excited to share a tale called The Pool and the Tree by Mary DeMorgan,
A thoughtful story that will guide us through themes of nature and reflection,
Perfect for a peaceful end to your day.
Now,
Let's prepare for a peaceful journey into tonight's tale.
Settle into a comfortable position,
And if it feels right,
Gently close your eyes.
Picture yourself in a quiet forest,
Nestled beside a calm,
Clear pool.
The air is fresh,
Filled with the scent of earth and leaves,
And the water's surface mirrors the world around it,
Reflecting the swaying branches above.
A soft breeze stirs,
Carrying a feeling of serenity and balance.
Take a deep breath in,
Allowing the calmness of this setting to settle into your own heart.
And as you exhale,
Feel yourself letting go of any tension or worries,
Allowing them to drift away like ripples across the surface of the still pool.
My friend,
This is your time to relax,
And let the gentle story ahead ease you into a state of calm.
Thank you for joining me here,
And now,
Let's begin our story.
Once there was a tree,
Standing in the middle of a vast wilderness,
And beneath the shade of its branches was a little pool,
Over which they bent.
The pool looked up at the tree,
And the tree looked down at the pool,
And the two loved each other better than anything else on the world,
And neither of them thought of anything else but each other,
Or cared who came and went in the world around them.
But for you and the shade you give me,
I should have been dried up by the sun long ago,
Said the pool.
And if it were not for you and your shining face,
I should never have seen myself,
Or have known what my boughs and blossoms were like,
Answered the tree.
Every year when the leaves and flowers had died away from the branches of the tree,
And the cold winter came,
The little pool froze over and remained hard and silent till the spring.
But directly the sun rays thawed it,
It again sparkled and danced as the wind blew upon it,
And it began to watch its beloved friend,
To see the buds and leaves reappear,
And together they counted the leaves and blossoms as they came forth.
One day there rode over the moorland a couple of travelers in search of rare plants and flowers.
At first they did not look at the tree,
But as they were hot and tired,
They got off their horses and sat under the shade of the boughs and talked of what they had been doing.
We have not found much,
Said one gloomily.
It seems scarcely worthwhile to come so far for so little.
One may hunt for many years before one finds anything very rare,
Answered the elder traveler.
Well,
We have not done,
And who knows but what we may yet have some luck.
As he spoke,
He picked up one of the fallen leaves of the tree which lay beside him,
And at once he sprang to his feet and pulled down one of the branches to examine it.
Then he called to his comrade to get up,
And he also closely examined the leaves and blossoms,
And they talked together eagerly,
And at length declared that this was the best thing they had found in all their travels.
But neither the pool nor the tree heeded them,
For the pool lay looking lovingly up to the tree,
And the tree gazed down at the clear water of the pool,
And they wanted nothing more,
And by and by the travelers mounted their horses and rode away.
The summer passed,
And the cold winds of autumn blew.
Soon your leaves will drop,
And you will fall asleep for the winter,
And we must bid each other goodbye,
Said the pool.
And you too,
When the frost comes,
Will be numbed to ice,
Answered the tree,
But never mind,
The spring will follow,
And the sun will wake us both.
But long before the winter had set in and the last leaf had fallen,
There came across the prairie a number of men riding on horses and mules,
Bringing with them a long wagon.
They rode straight to the tree,
And foremost among them were the two travelers who had been there before.
What are you doing?
Why are you trying to wrench up my roots and to move me,
Cried the tree.
Don't you know that I shall die if you drag me from my pool,
Which has fed and loved me all my life?
And the pool said,
Oh,
What can they want?
Why do they take you?
The sun will come and dry me up without your shade,
And I never,
Never shall see you again.
But the men heard nothing,
And continued to dig at the root of the tree till they had loosened all the earth around it,
And then they lifted it,
And wrapped big cloths round it and put it on their wagon and drove away with it.
Then for the first time,
The pool looked straight up at the sky,
Without seeing the delicate tracery made by the leaves and twigs against the blue,
And it called out to all things near it,
My tree,
My tree,
Where have they taken my tree?
When the hot sun comes,
It will dry me up if it shines down on me without the shade of my tree.
And so loudly it mourned and lamented that the birds flying past heard it,
And at last a swallow paused on the wing,
And hovering near its surface,
Asked why it grieved so bitterly.
They have taken my tree,
Cried the pool,
And I don't know where it is.
I cannot move or look to right or left,
So I shall never see it again.
Ask the moon,
Said the swallow.
The moon sees everywhere,
And she will tell you.
I am flying away to warmer countries,
For the winter will soon be here.
Goodbye,
Poor pool.
At night,
When the moon rose,
And the pool looked up and saw its beautiful white face,
It remembered the swallow's words and called out to ask its aid.
Find me my tree,
It prayed.
You shone through its branches and know it well,
And you can see all over the world.
Look for my tree and tell me where they have taken it.
Perhaps they have torn it in pieces or burnt it up.
Nay,
Cried the moon,
They have done neither,
For I saw it a few hours ago when I shone near it.
They have taken it miles away,
And it is planted in a big garden,
But it has not taken root in the earth,
And its foliage is fading.
The men who took it prize it heartily,
And strangers come from far and near to look at it,
Because they say it is so rare,
And there are only one or two like it in the world.
On hearing this,
The pool felt itself swell with pride that the tree should be so much admired,
But then it cried in anguish,
And I shall never see it again,
For I can never move from here.
That is nonsense,
Cried a little cloud that was sailing near.
I was once in the earth like you.
Tomorrow,
If the sun shines brightly,
He will draw you up into the sky,
And you can sail along till you find your tree.
Is that true?
Cried the pool,
And all that night it rested in peace,
Waiting for the sun to rise.
Next day there were no clouds,
And when the pool saw the sun shining it cried,
Draw me up into the sky,
Dear sun,
That I may be a little cloud,
And sail all over the world till I can find my beloved tree.
When the sun heard it,
He threw down hundreds of tiny golden threads,
Which dropped over the pool,
And slowly and gradually it began to change and grow thinner and lighter,
And to rise through the air,
Till at last it had quite left the earth,
And where it had lain before,
There was nothing but a dry hole,
But the pool itself was transformed into a tiny cloud,
And was sailing above in the blue sky in the sunshine.
There were many other little clouds in the sky,
But our little cloud kept apart from them all.
It could see far and near over a great space of country,
But nowhere could it see the tree,
And again it turned to the sun for help.
Can you see it?
It cried.
You,
Who see everywhere,
Where is my tree?
You can't see it yet,
Answered the sun,
For it is away on the other side of the world,
But presently the wind will begin to blow,
And it will blow you till you find it.
Then the wind arose,
And the cloud sailed along swiftly,
Looking everywhere as it went for the tree.
It could have had a merry time if it had not longed so for its friend.
Everywhere was the gold and sunlight shining through the bright blue sky,
And the other clouds tumbled and danced in the wind and laughed for joy.
Why do you not come and dance with us?
They cried.
Why do you sail on so rapidly?
I cannot stay,
I am seeking a lost friend,
Answered the cloud,
And it scutted past them,
Leaving them to roll over and over and tumble about and change their shapes and divide and separate and play a thousand pranks.
For many hundred miles the wind blew the little cloud,
Then it said,
Now I am tired and shall take you no further,
But soon the west wind will come and it will take you on.
Good-bye.
And at once the wind stopped blowing and dropped to rest on the earth,
And the cloud stood still in the sky and looked all around.
I shall never find it its side,
It will be dead before I come.
Presently,
The sun went down and the moon rose,
Then the west wind began to blow gently and move the cloud slowly along.
Which way should I go,
Where is it,
Entreated the cloud.
I know,
I will take you straight to it,
Said the west wind,
The north wind has told me.
I blew by the tree today,
It was drooping,
But when I told it that you had risen to the sky and were seeking it,
It revived and tried to lift its branches.
They have planted it in a great garden,
And there are railings round it,
And no one may touch it,
And there is one gardener who has nothing to do but to attend to it,
And people come from far and near to look at it because it is so rare,
And they have only found one or two others like it,
But it longs to be back in the desert,
Stooping over you and seeing its face in your water.
Make haste then,
Cried the cloud,
Lest before I reach it I fall to pieces with joy at the thought of seeing it.
How foolish you are,
Said the wind,
Why should you give yourself up for a tree?
You might dance about in the sky for long yet,
And then you might drop into the sea,
And mix with the waves and rise again with them to the sky.
But if you fall about the tree,
You will go straight into the dark earth,
And perhaps you will always remain there,
For at the roots of the tree they have made a deep hole,
And the sun cannot draw you up through the earth under the branches.
Then that will be what I long for,
Cried the cloud,
For then I can lie in the dark where no one may see me,
But I shall be close to my tree,
And I can touch its roots and feed them,
And when the raindrops fall from its branches they will run down to me and tell me how they look.
You are foolish,
Said the wind again,
But you shall have what you want.
The wind blew the cloud low down near the earth till it found itself over a big garden in which there were all sorts of trees and shrubs,
And such soft green grass as the cloud had never seen before,
And there in the middle of the grass,
In a bed of earth to itself,
With a railing round it so that no one could injure it,
Was the tree which the cloud had come so far to seek.
Its leaves were falling off,
Its branches were drooping,
And its buds dropped before they opened,
And the poor tree looked as if it were dying.
There is my tree!
My tree!
Called the cloud.
Blow me down,
Dear wind,
So that I may fall upon it.
The wind blew the cloud lower and lower till it almost touched the top branches of the tree.
Then it broke and fell in a shower,
And crept down through the earth to its roots,
And when it felt its drops the tree lifted up its leaves and rejoiced,
For it knew that the pool it had loved so had followed it.
Have you come at last?
It cried.
Then we need never be parted again.
In the morning when the gardeners came,
They found the tree looking quite fresh and well,
And its leaves quite green and crisp.
The cool wind last night revived it,
They said,
And it looks as if it had rained too in the night,
For round here the earth is quite damp.
But they did not know that under the earth of the tree's roots lay the pool,
And that that was what had saved the tree.
And there it lies to this day,
Hidden away in darkness where no one can see it,
But the tree feels it with its roots,
And blooms in splendor,
And people come from far and near to admire it.
Sweet dreams my friend,
Sleep well.
