Of The Trees

So much for the tree-spirit conceived as incorporate or immanent in the tree. We have now to show that the tree-spirit is often conceived and represented as detached from the tree and clothed in human form, and even as embodied in living men or women. The evidence for this anthropomorphic representation of the tree-spirit is largely to be found in the popular customs of European peasantry.

           -The Golden Bough, Chapter 10, James Frazer


I would like to begin my blogging experience by relating the true story as to why all the deciduous trees are down in the valley, and why most of the coniferous trees have strayed into the mountains.  This is a retelling of conversation between an MSU professor and his 19 year old daughter that I happened to be privy to.

Daughter:  Father, why do only pine trees populate the mountains?
Professor:  Well, let me tell you.  It all started with a pine cone, Bud.
Daughter:  Dad, pine cones are cones, not buds.
Professor:  Right.  Well, this pine cone's name was Bud.  One day, Bud saw all the deciduous trees having a party so he wandered over.  Instead of inviting him over, as the pine trees would have done, he was shunned and turned away.  The deciduous trees banished him and his kind to the mountainous regions nearby.  The pine trees were never again allowed in the valley.
Daughter:  But dad, there are still some pine trees that aren't in the mountains.
Professor:  Of course!  That's because the leafy-trees got really drunk one night and some of the exiled snuck back down to the lower elevations.  Don't drink, daughter, or you may let back into your life those you have explicitly chosen to avoid.

A short story, perhaps, but fitting to this class nonetheless.  We are never too old to learn a new truth about the way things came to be.