Of Fruits and Trees
Title: Of Fruits and Trees
Prompt: Metamorphosis (for brigits_flame)
Word Count: 711
A/N: Inspired by my Philo 111 (Medieval Philosophy) class.
Ssssss…
One, two, three, one arm and foot after another. Yes, yes, forward! I just want to move, move, move!
I am an explorer.
Ssssss…
What am I supposed to do all day? There is nothing more to do in the Garden, nothing more to indulge my curiosity.
Ssssss…
What pleasure there is in movement! I have travelled to the four great streams that flowed in the Garden. I have slept in the pile of pure gold in the north and played among the fragrant flowers of the west. To the east, I have sung and in the south, I have bathed.
Now, there is nothing more to do, nothing else to explore. The once majestic Garden has dulled and withered in my eyes.
Ssssss…
I need to be intoxicated once again by a new adventure. I need titillation, to feel alive. Yes, yes, that is what I long for! Life---more of it than what I was already given!
Oh, the memory of my first breath: the delicious gasping feeling of being awakened after an eternity of sleep.
Was it sleep? I do not know for I do not remember anything before it. But I do remember the warm, tingling sensation that burned down the length of my body that first day. No, no, it wasn’t the first day.
It was the Fifth day.
Ssssss…
One, two, three, one arm and foot after another. Yes, yes, forward! I just want to move, move, move!
I am an adventurer.
There are plants and trees and other creatures. They used to be fun, but now their novelty is spent. They are boring and stiff and stupid, staying in the same place, eating the same fruits---just... being.
But I? I am made for more vibrant stuff. I refuse to merely be. I am becoming.
Ssssss…
The trees!
The two famous trees of the Garden: one for Life and the other for Knowledge. I go to Life first, north of Garden. What a horrifying sight! It is a dwarf, black-encrusted tree that yields thin, spiky leaves and small crimson fruits---the definition of ugly.
Why? How can something so ugly be so full of life? For all I see is an old tree standing there: humble and unassuming. But I feel the strong and lively music of its pulse.
I retreat away, far far away, from the wretched little thing.
Ssssss…
I go to Knowledge now, at the heart of Garden. What a marvelous sight! The tree stands tall and chivalrous, green and fat and healthy. It bears enormous white fruits that seem to glimmer in the sunlight. Oh, did I know beauty before now? No, no.
Aha! I see a competitor: Woman.
Her bare breasts and wild raven hair catches my eye. Sneaky, sneaky Woman! No! The tree is mine! I found it first!
“Did the He really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?” I say, startling her.
She stares, wide-eyed at my sudden entrance. “We may eat the fruit of the trees in the Garden. But never of the tree in the middle, lest we want to die.”
“You will not die.” I tear a fruit from its branches. “You will see. Finally see. See as He sees.” I offer Woman the enticing white fruit.
But I know its secret. Of course, I know!
She takes the fruit from my hand and eats it. Each grum, grum, grum of her mouth sends warnings in the air, alerting the Garden of an error, an anomaly, a disobedience, an evil.
But I care not for evil. I care only for excitement, intoxication: life.
Woman leaves to share the fruit with Man. And I am left, at last, to my lovely, lovely tree, standing tall and chivalrous, green and fat and healthy.
Ssssss…
Cursed!
One, two, three, no arm and no foot after another. I am transformed into an ugly crawling creature: hated, deplored and despised. And for what? A woman? Sneaky, sneaky woman! She takes from me my most precious tools for adventure: arms and legs.
But I will not yield. I will not be, for I am becoming!
Yes, yes, forward! I just want to move, move, move.
I am a wanderer.
~ End ~
Prompt: Metamorphosis (for brigits_flame)
Word Count: 711
A/N: Inspired by my Philo 111 (Medieval Philosophy) class.
Ssssss…
One, two, three, one arm and foot after another. Yes, yes, forward! I just want to move, move, move!
I am an explorer.
Ssssss…
What am I supposed to do all day? There is nothing more to do in the Garden, nothing more to indulge my curiosity.
Ssssss…
What pleasure there is in movement! I have travelled to the four great streams that flowed in the Garden. I have slept in the pile of pure gold in the north and played among the fragrant flowers of the west. To the east, I have sung and in the south, I have bathed.
Now, there is nothing more to do, nothing else to explore. The once majestic Garden has dulled and withered in my eyes.
Ssssss…
I need to be intoxicated once again by a new adventure. I need titillation, to feel alive. Yes, yes, that is what I long for! Life---more of it than what I was already given!
Oh, the memory of my first breath: the delicious gasping feeling of being awakened after an eternity of sleep.
Was it sleep? I do not know for I do not remember anything before it. But I do remember the warm, tingling sensation that burned down the length of my body that first day. No, no, it wasn’t the first day.
It was the Fifth day.
Ssssss…
One, two, three, one arm and foot after another. Yes, yes, forward! I just want to move, move, move!
I am an adventurer.
There are plants and trees and other creatures. They used to be fun, but now their novelty is spent. They are boring and stiff and stupid, staying in the same place, eating the same fruits---just... being.
But I? I am made for more vibrant stuff. I refuse to merely be. I am becoming.
Ssssss…
The trees!
The two famous trees of the Garden: one for Life and the other for Knowledge. I go to Life first, north of Garden. What a horrifying sight! It is a dwarf, black-encrusted tree that yields thin, spiky leaves and small crimson fruits---the definition of ugly.
Why? How can something so ugly be so full of life? For all I see is an old tree standing there: humble and unassuming. But I feel the strong and lively music of its pulse.
I retreat away, far far away, from the wretched little thing.
Ssssss…
I go to Knowledge now, at the heart of Garden. What a marvelous sight! The tree stands tall and chivalrous, green and fat and healthy. It bears enormous white fruits that seem to glimmer in the sunlight. Oh, did I know beauty before now? No, no.
Aha! I see a competitor: Woman.
Her bare breasts and wild raven hair catches my eye. Sneaky, sneaky Woman! No! The tree is mine! I found it first!
“Did the He really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?” I say, startling her.
She stares, wide-eyed at my sudden entrance. “We may eat the fruit of the trees in the Garden. But never of the tree in the middle, lest we want to die.”
“You will not die.” I tear a fruit from its branches. “You will see. Finally see. See as He sees.” I offer Woman the enticing white fruit.
But I know its secret. Of course, I know!
She takes the fruit from my hand and eats it. Each grum, grum, grum of her mouth sends warnings in the air, alerting the Garden of an error, an anomaly, a disobedience, an evil.
But I care not for evil. I care only for excitement, intoxication: life.
Woman leaves to share the fruit with Man. And I am left, at last, to my lovely, lovely tree, standing tall and chivalrous, green and fat and healthy.
Ssssss…
Cursed!
One, two, three, no arm and no foot after another. I am transformed into an ugly crawling creature: hated, deplored and despised. And for what? A woman? Sneaky, sneaky woman! She takes from me my most precious tools for adventure: arms and legs.
But I will not yield. I will not be, for I am becoming!
Yes, yes, forward! I just want to move, move, move.
I am a wanderer.
~ End ~