The Forests Gift

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    Two boys, one dressed in blue, and the other in red, ventured into the forest behind thier small village. Before leaving the main trail, the boy in blue looked twords the boy in red and said,

"Hey, we must be on the lookout, my father says that there is hidden treasure in this forest, but it's gaurded by the trees!"

"Impossible, the trees can't gaurd things, and thats probably just a roumor!" The boy in red said. They continued walking, but then stopped when their path was blocked by a thick line of saplings, tightly bound together.

"Don't worry, I've got my fathers hunting knife with me, I can use it to cut through these trees and then we can keep on going." The boy in red said.

"No, you cannot cut down those saplings, they are just sprouting, leave them, we can just go back and find another path."

"Why would you do that when I can just cut us through?"

"Because, those trees are alive too, we cant just kill them while they are saplings" the boy in blue said. The two looked at eachother until the boy in blue noticed somthing.

"Look, theres a way through right there!" The boy said exidedly. Although they had not seen this way through the saplings earlier, they continued through anyways, thankful they found a way.

The two boys continued forward until they came upon a small clearing, probably a hunters doing. They looked around until they saw a wounded deer, whoms leg had been caught in a trap.

"Oh my god, we must help it, look at its leg!" The boy in blue yelled. The deer looked calm but ready to flee.

"No, we came here to adventure, not meddle with the hunters traps, lets keep walking." The boy in red said, while he started to walk past the deer.

"Wait don't leave, I won't let this poor deer suffer, just please wait while I get this trap off."

"Fine, just hurry it up, mother says I have to be back home before sunset." The boy in blue smiled at that, then turned to the deer. After trying his hardest to pull, the trap released the deers leg and the deer jumped up. It stared deep into the boys eyes, almost as if it was thanking him, then it ran off into the woods, dissapearing without a sound.

"Okay, can we go now?"

"Sure lets go."

The two boys continued on thier venture.

    After walking for a couple minutes, the boys were suprised to see an old man. He was dressed in dark robes and carried a long walking stick in his left hand.

"Young boys, are you lost?" The old man questioned as he looked at the boys.

"No we arn't, in fact we are here on an adventure to explore these woods." The boy in red answered.

"I see, so you have come for the tresure?"

"What do you mean treasure? I thought that was a joke!" The boy in red said, still confused.

"Oh no, you are mistaken, the tresure is real, left behind by the elders for the one person, the one who could pass all thier tests."

"What kind of tests?" The boy in blue asked.

"Good question young man, I would answer, but I do not know. What I do know though, is that your final test is just beyond that large tree behind me." The old man said. The two boys turned thier backs and began to discuss if all this was real, but when they turned back, the old man was gone, almost as if he hadn't been there at all.

"Lets go?" The boy in the red said.

"Sure." The boy in the blue replied. They walked forward and behind the large tree, when suddenly they were both caught in a vine trap. The vine wrapped around thier legs and pulled them up into the air, suspended by one leg and facing head down.

"What in the world! This has to be the hunters doing, are they having fun with us? Hey come out guys, we understand we won't come here again!" The boy in red yelled out.

"This is not right, the hunters use rope for thier traps not vine, and what pulled us up? There is no way someone could pull us up and not make any noise doing it, I mean we didn't hear anyone around." The boy in blue replied.

"Maybe it was that old man... no, he wouldn't be able to pull us up." The boy in red said. The two boys suspended in the air, confused as to who had done this, when they saw the deer from earlier. The deer approached the two boys, but got closer to the boy in blue.

"Hey deer, you shouldn't be running around with that messed up leg of yours." The boy in blue said. The deer looked at him, then turned twords the vine and bit it. After a couple seconds his teeth ripped through the vine and the boy in blue ascended quickly to the ground.

"Thank you deer!" He exclaimed. The deer looked at him, then ran off just as quietly as the last time.

"Hey could you get me out of here!" The boy in red yelled. The boy in blue grabbed the vine, and found it tied to a branch. He untied it and the boy in red fell to the ground.

"This has to be the worst trip ever, i'm leaving, you can stay here if you want I dont care!" The boy in red said as he stomped back the way they came. They boy in blue wanted to stop him, but he knew it wouldn't work so he let him go. Then as the boy in red left, the boy in blue saw something in the corner of his eye, so he walked twords it. In a moments time, the old man in robes from earlier appeared again.

"Congratulations, you have passed all my ancestors tests, and you my freind have proven yourself to be part of the cycle of life. Please take this spade and dig right there." The old man said, as he pointed to a small mound of previously dug up dirt. The boy accepted the spade and went to dig up the dirt.

"Whats burried here?" The boy said.

"Keep digging and you shall find out." The old man replied.

The boy dug until he felt a hard surface, he blew away the dirt and saw a small chest. When he opened it he could not belive his eyes, it was full of jewls and coins, enough for his family to buy a house in the town and move out of his tattered home.

"Why am I recieving such a treasure?" The boy questioned.

"You have treated the forest well, and to commend your efforts the forest has done the same for you. Now, I must go, my job has been fufilled, stay respectful just the way you are young man." A gust of wind blew, and the boy covored his eyes, when he moved his hand, the old man had dissapeared, leaving nothing but the boy and his treasure.

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