The
story tells that, in a town, men and women toiled working to survive. Every day
men and women went out to their respective work: men to the corn and bean
fields; women to collect the firewood and to carry the water. At times there
was work that brought them together equally. For example, men and women got
together to cut the coffee, when its time was reached. That’s how it went. But
there was a man who did not do this. He did work, but not making corn or bean
fields, he did not even come near the coffee trees when the fruit turned red on
the branches. No, this man worked planting trees in the mountains.
The
trees which this man planted were not fast-growing, all took entire decades to
grow and make themselves into all their branches and leaves. The rest of the
men laughed at and criticized this man a great deal.
“For
what do you work on things which you are never going to see finished. It would
be better for you to work the corn field, which after a few months already
gives you its fruits, and not on planting trees which will be large when you
have already died.”
“You
are stupid or crazy, because you work uselessly.”
The
man defended himself and said:
“Yes,
it is true, I am not going to see these trees when large, full of branches,
leaves, and birds, nor will my eyes see the children playing under their shade.
But if we all work only for the present and for just the next morning, who will
plant the trees that our descendents shall need in order to have shelter,
solace, and joy?”
No
one understood him. The crazy or stupid man continued planting trees that he
would not see, and the sane men and women continued planting and working for
their present. Time passed and all of them died, their children followed them
in their work, and the children of their children followed them. One morning, a
group of boys and girls went out for a walk and found a place full of large
trees, a thousand birds inhabited them and their great crowns gave relief in
the heat and protection in the rain. Yes, a whole hillside they found full of
trees. The boys and girls returned to their town and told of this wonderful
place. The men and women got together and were left in great awe by the place.
“Who
planted this?” they asked each other.
No
one knew. They went to talk with their elders and they also did not know. Only
one old man, the oldest in the community, could say and told them the story of
the crazy and stupid man.
The
men and women met up in an assembly and discussed. They saw and understood the
man who their ancestors interacted with and very much admired this man and
loved him.
Aware
that memory can travel very far and arrive where no one thinks or imagines, the
men and women from that today went to the place of the great trees.
They
went around one which was in the middle and, with colorful letters, made a sign
for it. Then they had a party, and they were already deep into the night when
the last dancers went to sleep. The great forest remained alone and in silence.
It rained and stopped raining. The Moon came out and the Milky Way placed once
again its twisted body. Suddenly, a moonbeam ended up seeping through among the
great branches and leaves of the middle tree and, with its faint light, could
read the colorful sign left there. This is what it said:
“To
the first ones:
We
from afterward did understand.
Cheers.”
Originally
published in August, 1999.
English translation
copyright © 2014 by Henry Gales. All rights reserved.
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