Owly Saves The Magic Medicine Tree Page 5
All the animals were admiring the colorful things when suddenly the Spirit of the Forest was with them. Her voice seemed to be coming from the trees, but they could not see her. She told them to collect a golden shell from the stream and an orange crystal from behind the nearest rock.
They were to then put all the colorful things everyone had gathered into the same leaf that Owly had taken from the Medicine Tree. “Wow how did the golden shell and orange crystal get there?” they all wondered, but none the less they did what the Spirit of the Forest told them to do.
After they did this, she told them to go to the stream and where the water was the clearest and most sparkling, and for each of them to gather up some water and to sprinkle it over the leaf.
The clearest and brightest part of the stream was also the deepest, so each creature dived in and ran out and shook themselves off over the leaf containing all the colorful things.
The drops of water from each creature’s coat ran down inside the leaf. The creatures had great fun doing this, even creatures that did not like water very much, found they enjoyed it.
“Stand back little ones while I do my magic now” said the Spirit of the Forest.
Each stood back and watched a beam of sunlight come down and land on the leaf that contained the water, along with all the other things they had collected. The water began to boil with the heat of the sun, and the colorful things started to dissolve into a multicolored warm liquid. The leaf didn’t burn.
“Quick get the root that the medicine tree gave you, and tie it up, so the medicine wouldn’t be lost” said the Spirit of the Forest.
“Now we need to quickly bring it back to the medicine tree. Everyone is welcome to go back over the rainbow to save time” said the Spirit of the Forest.
“Hey, that’s not where the medicine tree is” said Owly.
“Dear Owly while you were so busy watching the spell, I changed the direction of the rainbow. Why look little one, the rainbow is now going deep into the forest and will stop outside the medicine tree.”
“Go fast, I sense my friend is getting weaker by the minute so we don’t have much time” said the Spirit of the Forest.”
All the forest creatures came this time and hurried as fast as they could. Owly travelled the fastest and held on really tight to the medicine inside the leaf.
As they climbed the rainbow, they could see over the tops of the tallest trees in the forest. They could see birds’ nests and the distant countryside, but they didn’t have time to stop and look around. They were on a mission, a very important one to save the medicine tree.
They promised themselves that if they saved him, that they would all stay friends, work together to make the forest beautiful again. Maybe the Spirit of the Forest might even put a spell on Victor, and make him a friendly vulture, who wouldn’t try to harm them.
As they landed on the other side, they saw the Medicine Tree. It looked really ill. All its branches were dead and its roots were curled up above the forest floor. It looked like it was about to fall over.
Each of the creatures made a tight circle around the tree, and gave it a big hug, and put their face up to the tree.
Owly ran forward and asked the Spirit of the Forest to sprinkle the medicine over the tree. Suddenly the wind rose up and the medicine was made into droplets and carried in the wind to all parts of the tree. “Please get better, please get better,” said each creature hugging the tree really tight.
The Spirit of the Forest stood back and watched the magic happen. And boy did it happen. New branches started to form, and out grew fresh new green leaves and berries grew. The roots became strong again, and buried themselves deep into the earth.
The old bark fell away and was replaced by a lovely smooth silvery gray bark. All the branches spread out, as if waving to the world. All the creatures jumped up and down with delight, and hugged each other.
The Medicine Tree had come back to life again, thanks to the medicine that they all helped make.
“My dear Owly, you saved my life and you brought me back my old friend the Spirit of the Forest and many new ones too” said the Medicine Tree. “Thank you all for coming and for saving an old tree like me.”
“I thought my life was over. I was here all by myself for such a long time, life just didn’t seem worth living any more, but you showed me that I am still needed and you cared enough to come and help me-all of you” said the medicine tree.
Owly was a little confused. “If you and the Spirit of the Forest are such good old friends, then why didn’t you ask for her help or why didn’t she come to you sooner” said Owly.
“Dear Owly” said the Spirit of the Forest. “Of course we could have helped each other, and believe me, I wouldn’t have let any harm come to my dear friend, but the medicine I can make is not as strong as the medicine you all can make when you work together with a purpose to help another in need of help.”
“Wow, so we are all part of the magic!” said Owly.
“Yes and you always were. I just wanted to show you how powerful you can be, when you stay together, work together and think about each other” said the Spirit of the Forest.
“Now I believe you have one more problem to solve Owly” said the Medicine Tree.
“Oh yes,” said Owly, “Victor Vulture has been making our lives miserable for years. My Mom and Dad said it has been like this all their lives, and each of us have family members he tried to have for lunch. Sadly, he has taken some creatures away, never to be seen again.”
“My dear Owly, don’t judge Victor too badly. Can you be really sure he has eaten them?”
“What do you mean?” said Owly.
“Go back” said the Spirit of the Forest “and just ask him. I know what his answer will be and I will be waiting nearby for some special news.”
Victor Vulture and the Big Secret