Legendary stories about the Mother Tree

A mother sat next to her child, very anxious because she was afraid that the child would die. There was no blood in his little face, and his eyes were closed. His breathing was difficult, and he only took deep breaths occasionally, as if sighing. The mother looked at the little creature, looking even more sad than before. There's a knock on the door. A poor old man came in. He was wrapped in a garment as large as a horse felt because it made him feel warmer, and he needed it. It's a cold winter outside, everything is covered with snow and ice, and the wind is blowing hard, stinging people's faces. When the old man was shivering from the cold and the child fell asleep temporarily, the mother walked over and poured some beer into a small pot on the stove to warm the old man. The old man sat down and rocked the cradle. The mother also sat down on a chair next to him, looked at her sick child who had difficulty breathing, and held one of his little hands. "You thought I was going to hold him back, didn't you?" she asked. "Our God will not take him from my hand!" The old man - he was the god of death - nodded in a strange gesture, which seemed to mean "yes" and "no". ". The mother lowered her head and looked at the ground, tears flowing down her cheeks. Her head was very heavy because she had not closed her eyes for three days and three nights. She was asleep now, but only for a moment; then she woke up shivering. "What's going on?" she said, looking around. But the old man was gone; her child was gone too - he had taken him away. An old clock in the corner made a hissing sound, "Plop!" The old pendulum made of lead fell to the ground. The clock also stopped moving. But the poor mother came running to the door, calling for her child. Outside on the snow sat a woman in a black robe. She said: "Death was sitting with you in your room just now; I saw him holding your child and running away in a hurry. He ran faster than the wind. Everything he took away, He will never come back!" "Tell me, which direction did he go?" said the mother. "Please tell me the direction, I want to find him!" "I know!" said the woman in black. "But before I tell you, you must sing to me once all the songs you have sung to your children. I love those songs very much; I have heard them before. I am the God of the Night. When you sing , I see you crying." "I will sing these songs to you, sing them all to you!" said the mother. "But please don't keep me, because I have to catch up with him and get my child back." The Nightless God sat silent. The mother could only twist her hands in pain, sing songs, and shed tears. She sang many songs, but she shed more tears, so the God of Night said: "You can go to the black fir forest on the right; I saw Death carrying your child to that road. ” The road crossed with another road deep in the woods; she did not know which way to take. Here is a thorn bush with neither leaves nor flowers. It was the severe cold winter at this time, and only icicles hung on those twigs. "Did you see Death walking over with my child in his arms?" "Yes." said the thornbush, "but I don't want to tell you the direction he went unless you held me on your chest to warm me. I'm freezing here, I'm about to turn to ice." So she hugged the thorn bush to her chest, hugging it tightly so that it could feel warm. The thorns dug into her muscles; her blood flowed out drop by drop. But the thorn bushes grew fresh green leaves, and flowers bloomed on this cold winter night, because the heart of this sad mother was so warm! So the thorn bush told her which direction she should go. She came to a large lake. There were neither big boats nor small boats on the lake. There wasn't enough ice on the lake to support her, but the water wasn't shallow enough for her to wade across. However, if she is to find her child, she must walk across the lake. So she squatted down and drank from the lake; but no one could finish the water. The miserable mother was just imagining a miracle. "No, this is something that will never happen!" Hu said. "Let's talk about the terms! I like collecting beads, and your eyes are the two brightest beads I have ever seen. If you can cry them out and give them to me, I can give you Send it to that big greenhouse. Death lives there with flowers and trees. Every flower or tree is a human life!" "Ah, I would sacrifice anything for my children!" said the mother. So she cried harder, and her eyes fell into the lake and became the two most precious pearls. The lake held her up as if she were sitting on a swing. In this way, she floated to the opposite shore - there was a strange house more than ten miles wide. People don't know whether this is a big mountain with many woods and caves, or a house built of wood. But the poor mother couldn't see it because she had cried her eyes out. "Where can I find Death who has taken my child away?" she asked. "He's not here yet!" said an old woman who was guarding the tomb. She specializes in guarding Death's greenhouse.

"How did you get here? Who helped you?" "Our God helped me!" she said. "He is kind, and so you must be kind. Where can I find my dear child?" "I don't know," said the old woman, "and you can't see it either! There are many flowers and trees this evening. They are all withered, and death will come soon. Replant them! You know very well that each person has his own tree of life, or flower of life, according to his arrangement. They are exactly the same as other plants. , but they have a beating heart. A child's heart beats too. Go and find it, and maybe you can hear the beating of your child's heart. But what if I told you what you should do next. "What reward are you going to give me?" "I have nothing left to give you," said the sad mother. "But I can go to the end of the world for you." "I have nothing for you to do there," said the old woman. "But you can give me your long, black hair. You know it, it's very beautiful, and I like it very much! In exchange, you can take my white hair - that's better than nothing." "If you ask for nothing more," she said, "then I will give it to you!" So she gave her beautiful black hair to the old woman, and in exchange she got her snow-white hair. hair. In this way, they walked into Death's big greenhouse. Flowers and trees grow together in strange shapes here. Beautiful hyacinths are growing under the glass clock; large, hardy peonies are in bloom. Among the various aquatic plants, many still fresh, many half withered, water snakes were coiled about them, and black crabs clung to their stems. There were also many beautiful palms, oaks, and plane trees; there were celery flowers and thyme in full bloom. Every tree and every flower has a name, and each of them represents the life of a person; these people are still alive, some in China, some in Greenland, scattered all over the world. Some big trees are planted in small flower pots, so they are very crowded and almost burst the flower pots. In several places on the fertile soil there are many delicate little flowers growing around them with some moss; they are carefully cultivated and tended. But the sad mother bent over the smallest plants and listened to their heartbeats. Among these countless flowers, she could hear the heartbeat of her child. "I've found it!" she cried, stretching out her hands toward a blue early spring flower. The flower is hanging its head to one side, a little sick. "Please don't touch this flower!" said the old woman, "but please wait here. When death comes - and I think he can come at any time - please don't let him pull out this flower. You can threaten him. He said, "You must pull out all the plants; then he will be afraid. He has to answer to God for these plants; no one can pull them out until he has God's permission." Then there was a sudden moment. A cold wind blew into the room. The mother without eyes could not see that this was the coming of death. "How did you find this place?" he said. "Why did you come earlier than me?" "Because I am a mother!" she said. Death stretched out its long hands towards the delicate little flower; but she held it tightly with both hands. At the same time, she was very anxious, for fear of breaking all its petals. Then death blew towards her hand. She felt it was colder than the cold wind; so her hands dropped down, without any strength at all. "You can't resist me no matter what!" Death said. "But our God can!" she said. "I only carry out his orders!" said Death. "I am his gardener. I transplant all his flowers and trees to heaven, to the paradise in that mysterious land. But how they grow there and how they live there, I dare not tell you!" "Please give me my child back!" the mother said. As she spoke, she begged. Suddenly she grabbed two beautiful flowers nearby with both hands and said loudly to Death: "I will pull out all your flowers because I have no way to go now!" "Don't touch them!" said Death. "You say you are in pain; but now you are making another mother feel the same pain!" "Another mother?" said the poor mother. She immediately let go of the two flowers. "Here are your eyes," Death said. "I have taken them out of the lake; they are very bright. I did not know they were yours. Take them back; they are brighter now than before, and look down into the well next to you. I will tell you the names of the two flowers you want to pull out; then you will know their entire future, their entire human life; then you will know what it is that you want to destroy." She looked down into the well. She really felt great pleasure, seeing how happy a life was, and seeing what a joyful and joyous atmosphere surrounded it. She looked at that other life: it was the incarnation of sorrow, peace, suffering and sorrow. "Both fates are God's will!" said Death. "Which of them is the flower of suffering, and which one is the flower of happiness?" she asked. "I can't tell you," Death replied. "But one thing you can know is: "One of these two flowers is your own child. What you just saw is the fate of your child—the future of your biological child.

"The mother screamed in horror. "Which one of them is my child? Please tell me! Please save the innocent child! Please save my child from suffering! Please take him away! Take him to the Kingdom of God! Please forget my tears, my pleas, and forgive me for everything I just said and did! " "I do not understand what you mean! said Death. "Do you want to take your child back, or do you want me to take him to a place you don't know?" "At this time, the mother twisted her hands, knelt down on her knees, and prayed to our God: "Your will is always good. Please ignore my prayers that go against your will! Please ignore me! Please ignore me! " So she lowered her head. Death took her child and flew to that unknown country. (1844) This story was first published in "New Fairy Tales". It is about the mother's love for herself. The love of children. “Oh, I would sacrifice anything for my children! "The God of Death snatched the mother's child away, but she chased him to the end of the world to find him. She finally found the God of Death. The God of Death allowed her to see the child's "entire future, the entire human life." "Some are "pleasure" and "happiness", but some are "the embodiment of sorrow and poverty, suffering and sorrow." Still out of love, the mother finally put down her child and prayed to the God of Death: "Please save my child from suffering!" Please take him away! Take him to the Kingdom of God! "Andersen said in his notes: "I did not have any special motives when writing "Mother's Story".

When I was just walking on the street, thoughts about it suddenly brewed in my heart