The Knowledge Tree

 

   Once upon a time, a sickly young boy was walking a field in the village of Green Vale and came upon a medicine man. The medicine man was busy tending a tree by the River of Reeds. The tree was storied and old and stood taller than the others. As the boy approached, the man paused his pruning and greeted this stranger.

    "Hello, young man, what troubles you?" 

    The boy explained that he was of the Furlat tribe and was said to be diseased of the mind. He acted different, he did not fit in. Did the medicine man know of anyone that could help?

    The man gave him a kindly smile, picked a leaf from the tree. "Eat this leaf of knowledge. It makes your mind strong again."

    The boy took the leaf and ate it and felt better. 

    "Now eat this acorn of medicine, it makes your body healthy."

    Over time, the medicine man taught him everything he knew about the knowledge tree. They passed the days together, tending it in isolation. They became so alike that they became known by the same name. Yet the sickness persisted, though he ate of the knowledge tree regularly.

    One day he saw some women tending a bush further down. The bush was queer looking and thick, with colorful leaves and strange berries. 

    What's that bush called, asked the boy, now a man.

    The medicine man was old by then and tired but looked upon his pupil with kind eyes. "That is the bush of common sense, and those are the women that tend it. The berries are potent and strange, like that of a weed. They change your mind and make you obstinate. That bush has torn apart families and good friends at times. Be careful of the bush, my friend, but if you feel that you need it, talk to the woman tending it, and she will tell the story."

    So the man went and he talked to the woman a great deal and ate of the leaves of the bush of common sense. He even tried the berries which gave him thoughts that he found unusual. 

    The other medicine men were quite incensed, and they called upon the village elders at the medicine center to have the boy locked up. 

    "This boy is out of control!" They said. "He has eaten of the bush and its berries and now he questions his former master! He must be addicted to the bush or fornicating with the women!"

     The man's former teacher had retired, have long tended the knowledge tree and seeking his rest. It was only the upstart who stood against the college of medicine men.

    So, they took the upstart and interned him at the medicine college. There they proceeded to berate him and instruct that he was now an addict and needed to learn his place. "They will not take you back!" the medicine men warned. "You are an addict and a criminal!"

    The man became very embittered, and when they released him he returned to the women tending the bush. They did not believe the lies of the medicine men, saw the truth in-between: That the man was doing as he always had done, learning and relying on the teachers and the garden to nourish him and make him strong. And the women took him back. 

    He continued to eat of the bush of common sense, as well as the old knowledge tree he had relied on. He only hoped that the medicine men saw the errors of their ways and overcame their ignorance and arrogance. But only time would answer that.