Musings

I Wonder What It Would Be Like To Be a Tree?

Last year my son L.D. came up with this concept and asked me to turn it into a story. Here is the result of our collaboration.

from phone 207

A tree stands tall in a field, and every now and then it drops a leaf on the flowers below. The tree thinks, “I wonder what it would

be like to be a flower?” After ten years the field is cleared for housing. The tree is felled, up-rooted and removed. It returns as

a flower, never knowing it was once a tree. The flower sits in a garden, adding to its beauty to its surroundings. A bee lands on

the flower to pollinate and the flower thinks, “I wonder what it would be like to be, a bee?” The woman tending the garden

moves away. The garden dries up, the flower is no more. It returns as a bee, never knowing it was once a flower. The bee

buzzes along and one day it gets chased by a dog and the bee thinks, “I wonder what it would be like to be a dog?” The bee

eventually mates and it dies. It returns as a dog, never knowing it had once been a bee. The dog is out walking one day with its

master. The master is whistling, and singing a song. The master throws a stick and commands the dog to fetch it. As the dog

carries the stick back to his master, the dog thinks, “I wonder what it would be like to be a human?” The dog lives a hundred

years in human years before he dies. The dog returns as a man, never knowing he was once a dog. The man goes along,

living his life. He works, marries, raises a family and retires. One day he is relaxing under a tall tree in a field. A leaf drops into

his lap. He looks up at all the leaves and the man thinks, “I wonder what it would be like to be a tree.

9 thoughts on “I Wonder What It Would Be Like To Be a Tree?”

  1. The ability to wonder. It is wonderful. 🙂 I am sitting here wondering how many times I have thought, “I wonder what it would be like …… ” Probably more than once a day. 🙂
    A retired elementary teacher of 20 years…. I can imagine reading this story to my class. And after discussing etc etc…they would have a writing project: Wonder what it would be like to be something else, do a bit of research and imagining and then write a little bit of what it would be like to be something else. LOL They could wonder what it would be like to be a living thing or an inanimate object.
    OH WELL. 🙂 I get a bit carried away with wondering.
    I like your tree picture too.

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    1. My son was just as pleased with your comments as I was. We have plans to add illustrations. I posted this on two other sites last year and forgot about the illustrations. Your comments reminded me of pictures. Thank you for your great comments.

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      1. Yes, the illustrations would really add to the book. I hope you can post some of them. I am wondering how old your son is.
        Just wondering. 🙂

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      2. My son is grown, married with children, just still has the amazing ability to imagine like a child. Some people say we lose that part of our imagination as we age, but I know we don’t, otherwise there’d be no Disneyland, or fairy tales, or Pixar etc.

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