Bedtime story

Once upon a time, there was a giant tree in the middle of the forest. The tree was very old, and had been in the forest for a very long time. It had branches that went to the sky, and the sunlight had a hard time getting through the leaves to the floor of the dark forest primeval. The deep dark forest had many wonderful creatures; deer, elk, rabbits, foxes, squirrels, and occasionally there were rumors in hushed polite society of sightings of unicorns. The unicorns were only seen late at night, usually under the pale moonlight, and only occasionally were there people around to see the mystical creatures.

A woodsman, by the name of Henry, from a western slope along the forest, was one of those people. He had been working in the dark brush along the slope, cutting firewood for the upcoming winter season, and the stacks of firewood next to his cart indicated his hard labor the entire day. As the sun was beginning to set, the woodcutter, realizing he would soon run out of daylight, shouldered his axe across his broad shoulders, and carried the remaining wood to the wood cart sitting on the dirt path that ran back to his cottage. He was just finishing stacking the wood neatly in rows in the cart, and turning to pick up the handles of the cart, saw a silvery shadow out of the corner of his eye. It wasn't like anything that he had ever seen. It was a pink, silvery, almost champagne colored beast, with a strange silvery horn on the top of its head. Whistling quietly under his breath, he realized he was seeing something that few people alive had been able to...a real unicorn. It gazed at him with the dark brown eyes, flickering its ears, as it grazed lightly along the brush, picking off the delicate flowers with its tongue. Standing still, the woodsman was able to enjoy the view of this beautiful creature, and saw that it wasn't afraid of him. Remembering that he had an apple from his lunch, he thought of a brilliant idea. He quietly turned to the cart, and picked up his lunch pail, and lifted the lid, pulling out the beautiful red apple. Taking a step toward the creature, he let it see him and froze in place for a minute, letting it see that he didn't mean it any harm. He extended his arm toward the magical beast, hoping that it would take the first step toward him and possibly take the apple from his extended hand. He stood for what seemed an eternity, and being patient, it eventually warmed up to him, and walked toward him, smelling the fruit. It lightly nibbled at the skin of the fruit, and then without any pause, took a big bite of the apple. It fell on the ground between the woodsman and the unicorn. The woodsman, not wanting to scare the beast off, stood still. It looked at him, then down at the apple on the ground. Seeing the big bite out of the apple, it reached its neck downward to the apple, and continued to eat it. The woodsman, not wanting to scare it, but fascinated at the radiant flashes of light from the mane, even in the darkening wood, couldn't help but reach out and touch its neck. Startled, it took a step back, but continued to eat when it realized the apple was a treat. The woodsman, smiling in the dark, knew it could easily be tamed with someone with a gentle touch and patience. Patience, he had learned was the way to approach new things. And the unicorn, finishing the apple, leaving nothing behind, turned on its hoofs, and trotted away. Swallowed by the darkness, the woodsman turned and walked to the cart..and pushed it back to the cottage, whistling happily all the way.