Untitled Document

Youth of a Forest

Characters

Tummy

Panolon III

Music: Youth of a forest By Ryan Whittier

It is said that deep below the tallest trees on a planet, in its undying woods, a flute can be heard. And wherever the flute is heard, animals of all kind come to rest. From lions to bears, and from foxes to zebras, all come and enjoy a brief moment of animalistic serenity around the flute. But the sound of this flute to a human is a sad sound. It is a sound of a tear. It is the poetry of life that at some point depresses us all! It is the sound of loosing a loved one. It is the sound of a kiss good-bye. It is the sound of a child named Panolon!

Panolon was a child of Ares. He spent much of his young life in search of his sister, Ramelia. But when he found her, (which is often the case in many adults) the woman he called his sister seemed to no longer exist. So devastated by the encounter, Panolon ran off to the undying forest never to be seen again. Many people of the land have heard about the myth of the magical flute. Some have even claimed to experience the saddest sound known to man! But no one has actually been able to see the musician behind the sound. Well, no human that is. Any human that was brave enough to try and hunt down this composer, would quickly find himself chased out of the forest by the local childlike animals.

You see, once a month at the dawn of the first sunrise, Panolon gets a visit! He is normally greeted with a giant strawberry smashing into his face! When it first happened, he was enraged! He chased the surrounding animals away. He yelled to the heavens, “Leave me alone!” and fell back down to tears. But as he sat on his knees, he heard a distant laugh.

“Muoh ohm Ohmu,” laughed Tummy as she bit into another giant strawberry. This enraged Panolon even more, for Ohm can be quite annoying to a loner. So he threw his flute at her. But Tummy just yanked a vine that quickly pulled her up a small coganut tree. On the tree she sat with a monkey, drinking coganut milk! This time, the monkey joined the fun, and tossed his empty coganut at Panolon. It cracked the boy on his left small horn. But the boy paid the two no mind. He sat in one spot for the entire day, and didn’t play his flute that night.

mad at monkey

The next day, Tummy did not show up. And the boy was happy to be sad and alone again. Some may wonder if the two emotions coexisting at the same time is possible. But many days, they do! And many days the boy went on feeling this way. Until a month later, at the dawn of the first sunrise, when Tummy decided to awake the boy by sticking Mekko sticks in his nose and pouring coganut milk in his mouth while he lay asleep. The boy sprung up coughing and gagging! Tummy broke out laughing again. But this time when she stepped back to speak, a rope gripped around her ankle and she flung up, and found herself dangling from a tree branch.

Panolon never came to a smile. He just looked at her for a moment. Tummy pleaded from upside down, “Muoh ohm-mu Muoh!” But the boy just walked away with his head down. About ten minutes later, the boy walked to a stream that existed directly in the middle of the forest. As he looked at his reflection, he could see the white haired, female Ohm up in a tree behind him once again. But he didn’t say anything. He just turned and looked at her. Tummy came down from the tree with a hand full of prunes. She extended her hand as a sign of good will and gave him the prunes. “Ohm, ohm?” she asked.

The boy took the prunes, but he didn’t smile. He simply replied, “Ohm ohm.”

That night, he played his flute with Tummy by his side. And as he played, Tummy drank 6 coganut milks, and ate three giant melons. He played until Tummy, and all the animals of the forested fell asleep.

They repeated this almost every month for a long time. But if Tummy didn’t show up at the dawn of the first sunrise that month, she wouldn’t show up at all! The boy never reacted though. If she were to show up, he would go about his day as usual, just with her by his side. If she didn’t show up, he would still do just the same. But when she was around, there was one thing that was for sure. Friendship.

The End