The Tree

This is an ancient, timeless fable that mythologizes the celestial rotation of Värmäne's four moons into four woodland creatures and a classic tale of greed and compromise.

There were four animals in a beautiful woodland who relied on the same tree for survival. The Bear, who slept in it's branches, trimmed it's claws on the bark, and slurped up honey from a beehive that made it's home there.

The Robin, who built her nest near the top of the tree, where she kept her eggs and fed off of the termites and ants underneath the bark. 

The Wood Mouse, who took shelter within a hollow hole in the tree and also ate the termites and ants. 

And the Bees, whose hive hung from the tree's lowest branch where they were safe from most land-dwellers and were shaded from the harsh sun. 

These woodland critters had fought over this tree for as long as they had been there. Clawing, pecking, stinging, biting. All of this to take the entire tree for themselves. 

If The Bear had the tree all to himself, he would have all the room in the world to lounge on it's branches. He could trim his claws and scratch his back along the bark without any pesky wood mice nibbling at him. 

If The Robin had the tree all to herself, she would never have to worry about a rowdy bear crushing her eggs, or a wood mouse eating all the termites and leaving none for herself. 

If The Wood Mouse had the tree all to itself, it could dig more tunnels and hollow out the tree without the others complaining about weakening the trunk. 

If The Bees had the tree all to themselves, they wouldn't have to worry about a bear stealing all of their honey, or a robin dropping its waste onto their precious hive. 

And so the animals fought. The Bees stung The Bear- The Bear swung its claws at The Robin- The Robin pecked at The Wood Mouse- The Wood Mouse bit The Bear- The Bear bumped the hive and nearly broke it off of the tree- it was chaos, with no rhyme or reason at all. The animals tumbled and squabbled until eventually, they each wound up bloodied and bruised on their own respective branches. 

They said to each other, this is my branch! You better not step one talon or toe or stinger any closer, or you will regret it!

And so, at a standstill, each of the animals stayed on their branches, glaring at one another, not daring to move or say another word. This left their daily chores woefully unfulfilled. 

The Robin had to hunt for worms for her freshly hatched eggs, but if she left her branch the other's would seize it!

The Wood Mouse would freeze or get blown away by the wind if it didn't take shelter within the tree, but if it left it's branch the other's would seize it!

The Bees must leave every day to pollenate the flowers and feed on their nectar, but if they left their branch the others would seize it!

The Bear must take his trip to the river to feast on salmon and bathe in the water, but if he left his branch the others would seize it!

And so they waited, day and night and day and night and day and night until they lost count. They were hungry and cold. The flowers around the tree began to wilt without any bees pollenating them. The Robin's chicks became fussy without food other than termites and ants, which were beginning to run low. The Bear was starving without honey or fish, and the salmon in the river swam in overcrowded hoards without a bear to eat them. The Wood Mouse could barely feel it's paws from the cold wind blowing over them, and it's teeth became too long without tunnels to chew. 

They continued to sit miserably, until one day, a raccoon waddled up to the tree. 

Leave, you bandit! growled The Bear from the tree's thickest branch. 

I have only come to ask for some of your walnuts. I have not come to steal, only to ask of you a portion of your great abundance of walnuts, said The Raccoon.

Walnuts? the four animals muttered, because truthfully, they had never paid much attention to the nuts growing from the tree's branches, other than the times the shells became rotten enough for The Wood Mouse to eat, or when the ripened nuts fell from the tree and plunked The Bear right on his head (which The Bear usually blamed The Robin for, resulting in quite the ferocious quarrelling). 

Only a few, if you don't mind, asked The Raccoon, who seemed quite the polite fellow especially for a raccoon. 

The animals, feeling protective over their tree once again, buzzed and growled and squawked at the raccoon to frighten him away. 

Do you barbaric bunch even eat those walnuts? They look untouched to me, hissed the raccoon, now quite annoyed with the stubborn tree-dwellers. 

The animals quieted at the question and all looked at each other on their opposing branches. 

The Bear spoke first, there's no point. I would havt'a eat fifty trees worth to ever get my fill!

The Robin spoke next, of course I don't eat them, they would never fit in my narrow beak!

Then The Wood Mouse spoke, the shells are far too hard to break open, even with my mighty teeth!

And lastly The Bees, who said, we can't eat anything other than the nectar of the flowers!

And so, The Raccoon, feeling very exasperated, asked, well, if the walnuts are so useless to you, why in the world can't I have any?

And the four animals of the tree found that they had no answer. 

This is when The Bees realized that they had so much honey it had begun to spill out of the hive. Then The Robin and The Wood Mouse realized that without going out to scavenge, they had both eaten so many termites and ants that there were none left at all! And then The Bear realized that without any bees, there would be no honey to eat! And without any robins or wood mice, the tree would be infested with termites that would destroy it, or fire ants that would make his lounging and scratching most unpleasant! 

And this is when all of the animals realized that they had been fighting and hoarding and torturing themselves for no reason at all, because without each other, the tree would be useless. 

And so The Bear, The Robin, The Wood Mouse, and The Bees all climbed and scurried and flew up the tree, to the tippy top where the nuts were ripest, where they met without any fighting, and worked together to pluck the walnuts from the branches. 

When they delivered them to The Raccoon on the ground, he thanked them ferociously and promised to bring them something in return, for he was a very polite and grateful raccoon after all. 

In that moment, with all of the woodland critters aware of how much they gave to each other- how much they each mattered (even the termites), they began to share. They began to build something: A community. 

The Bees offered The Bear a paw full of honey everyday, as long as he promised not to take anymore than that and not to shake the branch that their hive resided on. 

The Robin and The Wood Mouse agreed to share the tree's bugs equally. The Wood Mouse could tunnel underground and catch worms for The Robins chicks, if the Robin could protect The Wood Mouse from hungry, circling hawks. 

The Robin moved her nest from above The Bee's hive to a different branch, as to not lay her droppings on them anymore, so long as they never stung her and helped to ward off badgers and other egg-snatchers. 

The Bear found himself content to lounge on his singular, thick branch, and only sharpened his claws along the bark when The Robin and The Wood Mouse were away foraging, and he vowed to protect The Bees from any other honey-licking bears that crossed their path. 

And they all gave the walnuts to the creatures below who needed them for food, and those creatures brought back seeds for flowers to make their field more abundant, velvety leaves for The Robin's nest, and logs for The Wood Mouse to hollow out to it's heart content. 

And they all lived happier than ever, in harmony, in their beloved tree. 

Each of the elements in this story is based off of a celestial body, and the journey that those celestial bodies make across the celestial system; as the four moons eclipse all at once at the beginning and end of each Celestial Rotation (this event named The Blackout that occurs every seven years), and the midway point of the Celestial Rotation in which the moons are farthest from each other at parallel positions from Värmäne. 

Moons (in order of largest to smallest):

The 1st moon (orange): The Bear

The 2nd moon (red): The Robin

The 3rd moon (yellow-green): The Wood Mouse

The 4th moon (blue-purple): The Bees

The Tree is the entire celestial system. 

The Walnuts are the stars. 

Some believe that the raccoon who brings them all together is Värmäne, Our Moon, The Sprouted Moon. Other's think that the raccoon represents the sun, or even one of the notable comets in history. Such thing is up to the reader's interpretation and perspective of the celestial system.