A Hen's Tale
The tree had three neighbors: a hen, an ox, and a gerbil. The tree considered them friends because he could communicate with them. Or at least, he thought he could. By sending vibrations through his roots when they drew near, he could help them drift into a deep sleep. So his three neighbors spent lazy Sunday afternoons beneath his branches, sleeping on his massage roots. But one day the ox started taking shelter under a new tree on the other side of the farm. So the old tree was sad. It cried sweet sap that the farmer collected eagerly. He told his wife, "Look honey! More sap t' sell at the market!" This only made the old tree cry harder, and the farmer happier. But then the tree had a thought. Maybe he could extend his roots to the new tree, and suck up its life force. And win back the ox. So it extended its roots beneath the earth. But to do this, the tree had to sink into the earth to create more length in the roots. The science here was tricky. So the tree sank all...