Ep3: The Unripened Fruit
Location: A higher astral plane, strangely connected with our
own...
"Master, see the fruit high on the tree, there?"
"Yes, Grasshopper."
"It looks very tasty, Master, how can I bring it down?"
"That fruit is not yet ripe, Grasshopper, it will fall in
time."
"I have thrown many stones at it, and yet it does not
fall."
"You will only bruise the fruit, Grasshopper, and damage the
nearby branches. Should they not one day bear fruit too?"
"I have tried cutting the stem, Master, but to no
avail."
"Your clumsy attempts have only caused the outside of the
stem to harden- the fruit may never fall now!"
"I tried tying off the stem, Master, to make it fall."
"You fool! The fruit will turn poisionous, and the nearby
branches will wither! Should you try and consume it, it will
sicken you!"
"Master, what must I do to get the fruit?"
"Too late you ask for advice. The fruit will not fall, you
cannot pull it free, and you cannot eat it. For the sake of the
rest of the tree, you must untie any bindings, and cease to try
to cut it or throw stones at it. Is there not other fruit on the
ground? This fruit does not belong to you, but to the tree. It
would be wrong to take it."
"Should I cut the tree down, Master?"
"You would cut down a tree for the sake of one fruit? It
took hundreds of years to grow that tree! Truly you are foolish,
Grasshopper! Why are you so obsessed with this fruit that you
cannot look for fruit elsewhere?"
"But Master, the tree has offended me, it will not give up
its fruit!"
"Have you learned nothing in the company of those more
enlightened than yourself? It is you who have offended the tree,
with your stones and knives and bindings and threats of chopping,
and that is why the fruit will not fall. If you continue this
behaviour you will be banished from these walls, where fruit and
fish and grain are plentiful, and live alone where the stronger
will exploit you, brigands will fall on you, and your sicknesses
shall fester within you. If you had but left the tree alone, the
fruit would have one day fallen of its own accord, and its fruit
would have been sweet. Now, should it separate from the tree, its
seed should be planted and a new tree grown, and thus we will
have an abundance of fruit in centuries to come.
The transcript above will be denied by the alternate dimension involved. Attempting to verify this information through paranormal channels is not advisable.Any resemblance between the characters and any person or being, living, immortal, dead or undead, on any astral plane, is probably purely coincidental.