Tree and Horse

In a beautiful valley, among green fields,
There lived mighty Tree, old and wise.
He stretched branches to the sky, singing freedom and life,
And among the forest paths stood majestically for centuries.

Once swift Horse raced along the path,
He was proud, strong and very ambitious.
Horse pretended not to notice Tree, and did not say hello,
That's how ambitious animal he was.




Free image from Pixabay



Well, okay, young insolent, I will take revenge,
Tree said soundlessly, as if inside itself,
Because Tree has no mouth, no ears, only the mind.
So he said this silently and began to make a plan.

Years passed, but Tree even did not notice,
He was old and knew how to wait.
Horse also became old, and everyone around became old too.
And then one old man in the village went to forefathers,
And the funeral delegation went to Tree for branches.

Tree saw people from afar and pretended to be rotten.
"Oh, - said people, - we can't make a coffin of this wood,
Then what are we going to make a coffin for our friend from?"
"Make it of Horse, - Tree rustled with leaves, - Horse is old too."

People were delighted with this idea and ran to catch Horse.
It turned out to be easy, because Horse was really old.
They killed him, skinned and sewed a coffin for deceased elder.
And so that the good would not disappear,
The rest was cooked into a stew for the commemoration.

Tree watched as people buried the deceased in a leather coffin,
And then they ate horse meat stew for a long time,
Because the stew turned out to be a lot, and it was tasteless.
Tree did not laugh and stood silently,
But this was only because he did not know how to laugh.
And by the way, the leather coffin came out just great.



The original text was written by me in Russian. I haven't studied English systematically so the translation may not be ideal. The main work was done by Google Translate, I just corrected obvious absurdities, where I noticed them and where I did not confuse them with brilliant insights.