Once upon a time in a land that was quite ordinary by ordinary peoples' standards, there lived an ordinary man who lived a somewhat ordinary and uneventful life. This man toiled in the fields of machinery from dusk 'til dawn everyday so that his family could have an abundance of products made of aluminum that they could sell in the market so that they had the money to purchase the basic necessities of life - things such as toilet paper and underpants.
Everyday was a steady stream of the same - up at dusk, work 'til dawn, get the products to the market, collect the money, buy toilet paper and underpants, repeat. That is until the day of the great winds.
The day of great winds started out like any other day - up at dusk, work 'til dawn - but near the time of the work 'til dawn part, which was mentioned before, out of the North came the great winds. This was not really that unusual being that it was November and all, and this was the usual time of year for the great winds to be returning to their wintry home far south of their summery home in the north. So all seemed well and quite ordinary, which is what usually happened to this man at this time of the year.
The great winds were blowing through the area with a great force. But somehow it all felt different like there was something blowing in the wind that usually was not there. Ordinarily a difference of this magnitude would be easily recognized as something out of the ordinary, but this difference was just passed off as the same old thing happening on a different day. The great wind indeed was different on this day ad not at all ordinary for he great wind on this day carried with it an evil magic. This being the regular sort of evil magic was easily overlooked for it was after all magic. But those with a deep sense of such things could feel its presence with the great wind. And those who felt it the deepest and understood its true meaning were the eldest inhabitants of the land and these individuals we would all know as the trees.
The trees just stood and watched year after year as the world went by. They watched and learned the ways of man. They observed the comings and goings of generation upon generation of these creatures. They paid particular attention to the man who toiled day after day in the fields of machinery bringing home that which his family needed in their quest for toilet paper - though the trees referred to it as toilet tissue being that it sounded classier and made them feel good about themselves for this was a product that they gave their heart and soul to produce - and underpants, which the trees referred to as underpants for they did not have any need to make them sound ritzy for they had no use for underpants and had no hand in the production of this human product.
The great wind that now had become the evil great wind blew across the hilltops, down into the valleys, and through the deep dark forest where the man had to travel to reach his home that was beyond it. The evil great wind left a path of destruction across the land, and everywhere it traveled there were many pairs of underpants and great streams of toilet paper (or toilet tissue if you happen to be a tree). And all along his journey home, he did not realize that there was anything different about this day, and all seemed to be usual as it usually does. He did not sense the evil in the great wind for he was not as perceptive as the tree and did not have time in his life to sit idly by and just observe his surroundings like trees do.
And through the deep dark forest the man went upon his steed. And seemed well and good. And his thought ran between all that he had done during the night and all that he needed to do during the day. And the great wind blew as it had, but the forces of evil were soon to make their presence known to all that stood in their way.
As the journey lead him up a hill and around a corner, the man caught a glimpse of motion out of the corner of his eye. And strange thoughts raced about within his head. A fear gripped him at his very soul and tried to yank it out through the various openings that he had upon his body. And his world was about to change for the worse and there was nothing within his power's he could do to change what was about to happen.
His surroundings went into slow motion and he felt as if the passing seconds would drag on into hours. The motion that had caught his eye become all to clear and all to real. The trees to his right began to move toward the path. The thought crossed his mind that it was odd that trees would try to block his journey home. And this thought soon became a reality when one of the lesser trees of the dark forest jumped out in front of him. And try as he may, his steed could not be made to stop by normal means with every fibre of his body working in unison to accomplish just that. The ground was wet and the steed lost its footing and before anything could be done to change the situation, the steed was in the grasp of the tree.
The man dismounted and backed away to evaluate what had happened and devise a plan to free his steed from the clutches of the evil great wind animated tree. He spied a weakness in the tree - possibly an old injury the tree had sustained, but it could be recently obtained in the attack upon the man and his steed. The man grabbed the tree just above the wound and began pulling and pushing upon it. With a sharp crack, the area above the wound snapped off and rested in his hands. The man was a little startled by the fact that he was now holding part of the tree that still had a firm hold on his mount, and he looked at it a bit bewildered at first, but then decided that since it no longer seemed to animated, he would discard of it in the dark forest from which it came. This was all well and good for this bit of the tree, but for the most part it still had a firm grasp upon his steed and seemed less than willing to let go of its hold.
Being that this was the major route over the hill and through the dark forest, a number of people had their paths blocked in both directions and eventually a small group was standing around looking and pondering what should be the next move to free the steed. The man with the help of a couple of the braver souls went to work trying to free the steed. The great evil wind still blew and the rains were falling on their frail human bodies that were not equipped for this type of environment. And still they worked, pulling and prodding, trying as they may to free the poor beast that was so entangled by the evil tree.
After quite some time, the three men finally quit and decided that what was best at this time was to pull the steed off the path and call in some professional help. One of the men who was wrestling the evil tree said that he would let the town watch know of this situation and they could decide what was best to do about the freeing the helpless beast from the clutches of the evil tree.
As the steed was pulled off the path, those that had been blocked from completing their journeys began to pass by the seen of the brief battle. And eventually the man was left alone with his steed that was still being grasped by the evil tree. There he sat just wondering what would happen next. Would his steed be freed and if it were, would it be physically and emotionally able to finish the journey home? Or would he be left to walk the remaining distance, braving the elements, and arriving late so that his family would not have a reasonable amount of time to sell the goods and make the money needed for them to survive their daily existence?
After the passing of some time, which was made to seem far longer than it really was by the fact that the conditions were miserable, the man saw a lantern coming up the path and toward him. The light grew larger and larger until it became apparent that if he continued to look at it, he would be temporarily blinded. So he looked away. At the instance he looked away from the light he heard a voice that was somewhat low, but gaining in intensity asking, "Art thou okay?"
"Yes, yes, I am quite well though my steed seems to be in a bit of a pickle at the moment," replied the man who was thankful that he was no longer alone in the dark forest.
"Aye," was the reply that the man heard as the belanterned one assessed the situation with his lantern. "Thou hast a wee bit of a situation with thy steed."
"Aye," said the man whose voice carried with it the sound of a man defeated.
"Hhhhmmmm, if thou lifteth the beast, I mayest be able to get the evil tree from under the unfortunate animal," said the belanterned one.
"Aye," said the man.
So this plan went into action with the man lifting and the watchman wrestled with the evil tree, pulling and prodding without much success, yet still they tried for this was all they could do.
After quite a while of lifting and pulling, they realized that all their effort was in vein and they resigned themselves to fact that without further assistance, the task at hand would never be accomplished. When the night seemed its most darkest, another lantern appeared to be coming up the path towards them. This lantern was followed by another and another 'til the number of lanterns drawing toward them was five. When the lanterns were within a short distance of the two men, the watchman recognized them as the fire brigade from the village at the bottom of the hill.
The watchman explained the situation and the plan to the members of the fire brigade and all went to work freeing the entrapped beast from the clutches of the evil tree. The man lifted and the watchman and the members of the fire brigade wrestled the evil tree. Finally the beast was freed and all rejoiced that they had overcome the forces of evil that blew in on the great wind during this cold November morn.
And the man thoroughly checked his mount for any injuries that it may have sustained during the struggle, and all appeared well with the steed. The watchman looked also and he too found nothing out of the ordinary and added, "If thou findeth anything out of the ordinary, be sure to let the watch knoweth so that we may taketh appropriate action."
"Aye," was all the man could manage to utter at this point being that the full weight of all he had been through had finally caught up to his body and soul.
He mounted his steed and thanked everyone who had assisted in freeing the beast. He was frightfully tired and his body ached in places that he had forgotten existed. And his mount finally returned to his home and everyone seemed happy that the night was finally over. And he completed all of his morning routine without further unpleasant incidences and finally fell off into a deep sleep to awaken to a new night that was free of the great wind.
