The Indian Legend of the Oak

                                                     

The Legend of the Indian Oak

      Daphne left the oak but it did not leave her.  She felt it pulling at her even now.  Everyday life became more impossible.  She couldn't concentrate at work.  Her eyes would close and she could hear the trees, see the oak.  She couldn't talk to anyone about it.  They would think she had lost her mind. Had she?  She needed to return. Her deadline would have to wait.

      During her musings, the door to the office opened.  "Daphne?"

      "Yeah."  She didn't look. 

      "Daphne, would you look at me?"  She spun around.  She had no idea how long she stared out the window.

      "We're worried about you.  You seem distracted and your writing lately is...How shall I put this.. different?. . .  Not what you usually do."  Daphne didn't respond, didn't care to.  "Well, we're wondering do you want some more time off. Need to take a little leave, you know, and, get your head together." 

        Perfect she thought, but she paused before answering.  "That would probably be a good idea, Ted.  Maybe six or eight weeks if you can spare me." 

      "Sure Daphne just let me know what I can do."

      "I'm going to stay in the cabin near Paint Rock Bluff outside of town. I'll check in from time to time."  I'm free, she thought.  She wondered if the oak could hear her thoughts.

      "That's so far out in the woods.  Are you sure you'll be all right?"

      "Ted I used to live there, I'll be fine."  Would you please just go! She thought to herself.

      "I forget, it just seems so isolated to me."

      "Safer than the city."  She kissed him on the cheek, gathered up her laptop, a few other things, and left the office.  "No worries Ted, I'll see you soon."  She said on her way out the door.

        He just stared after her shaking his head.





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      She stood on the hill this time excited but she didn't know why.  Instead of the bench, she went straight to the oak.

        The oak stood there in all its glory just the way it always did.  Larger and more foreboding that ever, it invited her to his presence.  The limbs waved and bowed as she approached.  Was that possible?  Or did she imagine what she wanted to believe?

        She put the sleeping bag she brought with her at the bottom of the tree in between some of its large roots and put the old pillow up against the large base of the oak.  She looked up into the branches of the tree and said, "I'm here and I know you know that I am." 

        It was impossible to see around the oak and she felt overpowered by its size while comforted all at the same time.  Being very tired in moments she was asleep and she dreamed...





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        The oak was in the dream, not as large but more vibrant and the vivid greens of the forest danced in the sunlight.  Coming from a distant meadow in the village a beautiful Indian girl ran through the trails in the forest.  Daphne saw everything, not only saw, but also heard everything; the thoughts of the young girl and the young Indian brave hiding behind the brush.  Humming Bird, the young Indian girl was to marry on the following day to Windwalker.  They were promised to one another as children and although she did not want to marry him, honor would prevent her from shaming her father by refusing the marriage. 

        Right now, Humming Bird thought only of Yellow Moon, he had been her best friend all of her life.  If she could have picked her husband, he would have been it.  Unfamiliar with men, still young, and never feeling the pangs of love herself, she was still by the custom of her tribe at the age to marry.  It would be disgraceful for her to admit to fear, but she knew the truth. 

        Humming Bird knelt before the large tree to pray to the Great Spirit.  Near the old oak she always felt closest to all that was spiritual.  Yellow Moon watched from behind the brush wanting with all his heart to go to her but he knew she always went here to be alone.  He watched her as he always did basking in her beauty.  As he watched he became aware of a darkness descending in the forest and a wind beginning to howl in the trees.  He thought he heard a whispering in the trees, surely it was just the wind, but perhaps the Great Spirit talked to Humming Bird.

        The oak aware of the turmoil in the young girl knew this always as a chance to use his special gift.  Always when humans came here, emotions charged, he could feel what they felt, and longed for more.  If they were vulnerable for just a moment he could take advantage to feel what they felt and do what they did from one full moon to another and then he would return to his oak and them to their body. 

      The oak saw her sitting on the ground, legs crossed, her fear enpowered him.  She prayed earnestly for courage to go through with the marriage but her fear was stronger than her prayers.  The wind began to howl and Humming Bird prayed more ferverntly for her fear became more desperate for she knew the Great Spirit must be angry.  Humming Bird shivered and felt as if it was useless to fight any longer, perhaps she might just surrender to some power greater than she and then it might be over.  Daphne was being sucked deeper into the dream and knew what that moment of surrender was like.  In a moment in would be too late it would be finished and Humming Bird wouldn't even know it.  Daphne felt as if she herself was becoming part of the dream, part of the story, part of again...but part of what and for what reason? 

        As Yellow Moon neared, the whispering grew louder.  Yellow Moon watched as the oak appeared to lean its branches toward Humming Bird whose arms were stretched towards the oak.  Then he saw her spirit leave the ground in a great gust of wind and enter the tree.  At the same moment another spirit entered the body of Humming Bird.  Yellow Moon was afraid to move or speak; he began to back slowly away from the scene he had just witnessed.  Part of him wanted to tell what he had seen, part of him did not believe it. 

        The body of Humming Bird stepped into his path.  "No one will believe you."  As the oak that possessed the body of Humming Bird traced a hand over the face and lips of Yellow Moon, he also ran a hand over her body relishing every curve.

        Yellow Moon shivered and said.  "Don't touch me."

        "I am Humming Bird nothing less. Why do you deny what you want?"

          Yellow Moon blushed and looked up at the oak, as if he felt guilty.  "What are you?  An evil spirit.  What have you done with Humming Bird?"

          "She is fine and all will be as it was soon."

          "When?"

          "It does not concern you."  He/she walked over and kissed Yellow Moon and he did not move. 

          The oak in the body of Humming Bird said, "See not scary at all Humming Bird, I'm going to take good care of you my child."  And he/she laughed. 

          Daphne watched all of this and felt pity and as if she should do something, anything but she was powerless..

        The spirit of Humming Bird entrapped within the oak watched confused and frightened.  She did not understand?  What was happening to her?  Was the Great Spirit punishing her for even thinking disobedience?  She prayed for forgiveness. What would happen to her now? 

        Daphne thought maybe she could help her but she found although she was a part of the dream and she could feel the feelings, she could not be seen, she could not speak.  Why was she here?

          Yellow Moon was speaking to the tree.  "Humming Bird do not be afraid he has promised everything will be all right."





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        Wind Walker did look forward to the wedding for Flaming Star had stolen his heart.  She taunted and teased him promising him passion but knowing he was promised to another.  Wind Walker felt nothing when he looked at Humming Bird.  She was beautiful but so young and naive not passionate to life like Flaming Star.  Still he would not betray his father and the wedding must take place. 

      Still lost in thought, Humming Bird surprised Windwalker as she strolled into the village from her afternoon walk.  She looked at Wind Walker with a glint in her eye and a smile he had never seen before. She crooked her finger at him to follow her and then ran away.  Wind Walker felt compelled to follow.  She looked to see if he took the bait and saw that he had.  Yellow Moon watched helpless.  Humming Bird turned and Wind Walker ran into her.  She laced her fingers around his neck placed a kiss on his mouth.  Swept up in the moment, he put his hands under her arms, picked her up, and pushed her against the oak. 

        Abruptly he removed his hands, stepped away and just stared at Humming Bird as if he'd never seen her before.

        Humming Bird smiled knowingly and brushed the back of her fingers across her mouth and then licked her lips. "I thought you wanted me to be less shy, more like Flaming Star."

        "How do you know that, I have never said anything?"

        "I know alot of things.  You'd be surprised what I know."

        Wind Walker looked at Humming Bird disturbed but intrigued. "Tomorrow." And he turned and walked rapidly away looking back several times.

        "As you wish."  She watched him walk away still smiling and lingered behind to gloat to the spirit of Humming Bird trapped in the oak above.  "See Humming Bird it's really quite pleasurable and not scary at all.  I'll help you.  It will be my gift to you both."  The oak possessing Humming Bird laughed wickedly. 

        The soul of Humming Bird at last understood.  Yellow Moon had been watching from behind the brush.  When Humming Bird left he came to the oak. 

        Drops of moisture fell from the leaves of the tree.  When Yellow Moon looked to see if it rained, it did not.  "I am sorry.  What would you have me do?  No one will believe me."  He sat for hours at the bottom of the oak until soft whispers that seem to come from the trees seem to bring comfort to them both.  There was magic in the trees if one listened closely. 

        Wind Walker and Humming Bird married and the moon was full again.  The oak came to the tree where Humming Bird was imprisoned.  "Hello my dear.  Well the time is finished.  Are you ready to return?"

        From her imprisonment in the oak, Humming Bird watched, and all the while she learned from a new perspective.  What would she do with what she had learned?  Only time would tell.  As always the forest grew dark and the wind began to howl.  Humming Bird fainted at the time her soul entered her body.  Her eyes opened and Windwalker carried her inside the teepee.  He looked most concerned.

        He was so gentle and tender with her.  He kissed her face, stroked her hair.  She felt no fear, only, feelings that are to be between a man and woman.  She closed her eyes and let herself be carried away.  She found something she never knew existed.  Had the oak done that for her?  She instinctively knew what to do.

        Days passed and Humming Bird was happy with Wind Walker.  Only one thing brought unhappiness to her--the oak.  She could not get it out of her mind.  It was if it had some kind of hold on her.  She would return to the oak more and more often.  Wind Walker wanted to know why she went there so much.  She had no answer.  The time came when the tribe talked of leaving the area and Humming Bird became frantic at the thought of leaving the oak.  Yellow Moon knew the reason; he tried to tell her the spirit in the oak possessed her and that she needed to talk to the Witch Doctor.  She would not. 

        Once, drawn to the oak, she found Flaming Star and Wind Walker together.  Wind Walker ran after her and tried to tell her that her obsession with the oak had driven him almost mad.  She would not listen to anything he said.  Even Flaming Star tried to talk to her and that made it worse.  She became so distraught it was as if she walked between two worlds.  One of the worlds was real and tangible and the other was the one that the oak had brought to her.  That world was always just out of reach.  Yellow Moon tried to reach her for he still loved her deeply.  Eventually Humming Bird wandered to the top of the Paint Rock Bluffs and fell to her death.  It is said that her spirit roamed the forest until Humming Bird found the oak and now exists as one of the roots of the trees.



 

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      Daphne woke from the dream with a forlorn feeling.  She moved her sleeping bag and in her back was a root shaped like a woman.  Daphne traced her features with her finger.  She looked closely and there were the features of an Indian girl with long hair.  She could see the shape of her arms, legs, and the curve of hip as if she were lying on her side.  Daphne jumped up.  She must not be awake.  She looked up at the oak.  What was he trying to tell her? 

      She thought she must have been dreaming so she touched the root again and her hand went through the bark.  She let out a scream and jerked her hand back.  Her heart was racing what was happening?  Surely she was still part of the dream world and yet the smells of the forest were sharp and pungent.

        What had her father told her when the oak had taken her?  "All things have their place in life.  Each have there own souls." 

        How is it that the spirit of the oak can move in an out?  What makes him different?  Is he part of a bigger picture or plan?  Does Humming Bird belong here forever?  Do I?  Is my father here?  This is why she had been drawn back here.  But she did not believe the oak was the beginning and end of everything.  Maybe a part of but not the whole.  He needs her to do something.  But what?  What hold does he have over me?  What hold did he have over Humming Bird?

      As the thoughts went through her a pain as sharp death went through her.  She looked up at the oak.  She knew he knew her thoughts and he was angry.  "What!" She screamed.  Then the pain was gone.  It was replaced by something she thought seemed as warm as love comforting, sorrowful.  She wanted to cry.  She looked down at the root that was Humming Bird and it seemed to move.  The forest began to darken and the trees began to whisper as when she had been here before. 

      Her fathers voice came to her again.  "Everything has it's place each has a soul unique to them."  She remembered during the storm when possibly lightening had destroyed the oak, he made the exchange with her.  She looked down again at the root.  It seemed to move some more.  She knew in the dream Humming Bird was so sad and confused perhaps she did not know where to go but to the tree.  The forest grew darker and the spirit of Humming Bird stood before Daphne.

      Daphne looked up at the oak and a made a decision.  Before she could speak to Humming Bird she retreated back into the solace of the tree.  Daphne touched the root and once again her hand reached into the bark.  What would happen if she stepped into the root that was Humming Bird?  Dare she?  Could she help her and get back?  The Oak helped her decide.  A gust of wind knocked her forward and she fell on the root and found herself in another plain of existence.  Again she entered the world of dreams.  She as a human traveled between either the past and present or a dream world and a real world.  She also now found herself in the world of the spiritual.

      This time she and Humming Bird walked together and neither had the ability to reach the living.  When they entered the dream or the plain of existence the oak was showing them, Flaming Star was pale and thin, sitting at the bottom of the oak. 

      She spoke,  "I need Humming Bird to know we only talked of her that day.  Windwalker was beside himself with worry over her and it seemed the only person she ever talked to was Yellow Moon or this tree.  I wanted to tell him Yellow Moon and I were to marry to relieve his mind of one worry.  Yellow Moon and I had fallen in love.  He had always loved Humming Bird but it had grown into the kind of love brothers and sisters have for one another.  They had been best friends all of their lives.  He saw how much she loved Windwalker and so did I." 

      Flaming Star began to cry.  Yellow Moon watched behind the brush when he noticed the forest growing dark out of he fear rushed to Flaming Star. 

      He grabbed her by the shoulders and looked into her eyes.  "Are you...?"

      She threw her arms around him and cried.  "Will these feelings never leave me?"

      Yellow Moon kissed her face and hair in relief, then said to her sternly.  "Please Flaming Star stay away from the oak.  You do not understand and would not believe me if I told you."

      "But Humming Bird always came here. It's what made Windwalker so crazy, what he couldn't understand." 

      "Please trust me.  Do not come here."

      "I need the guilt to go away.."

      "No person caused the death of Humming Bird. This I know."

        Humming Bird and Daphne watched as they walked away together.  Having heard this news Humming Bird knew she must find Wind Walker Daphne knew felt they would find him at the top of the Paint Rock Bluff.  Humming Bird went and stood beside him.  He stood there on the edge of the ridge, the wind blew back his hair and his cheeks were stained with tears.  "It has been two years today my love and it seems like only yesterday.  There will never be another that will have my heart as you did and I will wait for you in the next life my wife."  Proud and majestic standing there, the chief he was always meant to be, Daphne had never seen a more beautiful man. 

      Humming Bird said,  "I will always love you.  I am sorry I hurt you."

      Windwalker turned his head as if he had heard something in the wind and then said,  "I forgave you along time ago.  I loved you too much."

        She looked at Daphne.  "Is this why you have brought me here?  To hurt me?"

      "I'm not sure.  But now I think you had to see this and now we have to go back so you can go where you really belong.  The oak brought me here to help you find your way.  You need to release Flaming Star as well."

      "I don't want to leave him."

      "Your place is not here with him."

      "Your place is with him somewhere else. You've been in a prison so to speak.  You cannot stay here."

      Even as she spoke they found themselves back in the forest near Flaming Star.  Humming Bird said to her softly,  "It was not your fault."

      She drew in her breath quickly and looked around.  Just as quickly Daphne and Humming Bird were gone and the forest grew dark and windy.  Daphne awoke lying on the root which had once been Hummingy Bird.  Humming Bird was standing before her with Windwalker along with Yellow Moon and Flaming Star. they smiled at her, then disappeared into a place Daphne knew not.

   

     

     

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          Daphne felt she had done something wonderfully noble and yet she did not really come here for that.  She came for some other reason.  One more selfish and self-centered.  Now she was only left with more longing and more bitterness from the past.  Not a good combination.  Jeff came to mind.  All the promises made and all the promises broken.  Yet he'd always been able to take her breath away and then give it back again.  The longing to accept, the longing to have, she was torn between the two worlds.  Would it ever be satisfied?  The oak, what had he done to her? 







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