Wilderness Whispers

Why the trees have beards

If you go into the forest today, you can hear birds singing and frogs croaking and leaves whispering to each other. You may also notice that many of the trees have beards hanging down from their branches.

The Forest is a happy place to be – but it wasn’t always like this.

Many‚ many years ago, the forest was a quiet lonely place with no birds to sing, no insects to chirp no animals to talk and no beards hanging from the trees.

Living in the forest, were a family of tree fairies. Their real name was‚ ‘Barkum’ and they got their name because they lived under those big flakes of bark that you find on the very big old trees. Now, what exactly does a‚ Barkum look like you may ask, especially as very few people have ever seen one? Barkums are tiny little people with long pointy ears, (always stuck with sticking plaster from all the times they scrape their ears on the bark as they climb around under the flakes of bark) tiny sharp little noses and the longest fingers and toes you have ever seen. Barkums also used to be a very sour and grumpy and sulky and rude bunch of fairies, not like fairies are supposed to be at all. This was caused by having lived so long in such an unhappy forest without any happy sounds of birds singing at all to cheer them up.

Before I carry on with the story let me introduce you to the ‚Barkum family that I know.

First, there was Daddy Barkum. His real name was‚ Podocar…‚ Podocarp…, Podo something or other, named after the Yellowwood tree.^[1] No one could pronounce it so they just call him Daddy Barkum for short. He used to be the most unpleasant Barkum of all, with a character as rough as the trees he lived on. Daddy Barkum’s voice was law – no matter what the Fairy Bible said.

Then there was Celti Barkum.^[2] She got her name from the majestic Celtis trees that grew in the forest. When she was happy, she was just as majestic as the tree she was named after, but she hadn’t been happy for a long, long time.

Last, but not least, there were the Barkum children, the Cassine twins. Silky was a pretty little girl who liked going off to explore the forest by herself, especially to get away from her brother, Peragua, who was a thoroughly horrid little boy, all set to grow up just like his father.

But, back to the story!

One day Silky was off by herself, exploring at the edge of the forest, trying to be far away from her brother when coming faintly through the breeze she thought she could hear singing. If she listened carefully, she could just pick up a few notes. She wasn’t even sure that it was singing, but she could remember once when her aunt had visited, she had caught her singing whilst she fed her daughter‚ Bessie. That was until Daddy Barkum told her to shut up or he would throw her and the baby out of the tallest tree he could find. That was the one and only time Silky had ever heard singing, but now she was sure she was hearing it again. Yes! There it was again. When the wind blew just right! Oh, how she wished she could hear a little clearer. Well, no fairies in the world would be able to save her if Daddy Barkum found out she had left the forest.

When Silky got home that evening, she was a very sad little girl. Her long ears drooped over her shoulders as she shuffled off to bed. Just before she drifted off to sleep Silky vowed, tomorrow, yes, tomorrow, I am going to the edge of the forest again to see if I can hear the singing.

Early the next morning Silky was up and about doing all her chores long before Daddy Barkum had stopped snoring and long before Celtis had stopped snuffling and wuffling as did in her sleep and long before Peragua had even thought of how lazy and horrid he was going to be for the day. Silky wanted to get all her work done and be away before anybody could give her any more work to do. Then she would have lots of time to sit at the edge of the Forest and listen out again for the singing. Oh, how she hoped to be able to hear them sing and Oh, how she wished she could meet whoever was doing the singing. Obviously, the place from where the singing was coming from didn’t have a Daddy Barkum and a Peragua to spoil everybody’s day. Maybe they could even have singing in their own forest …..Hummmmph! She thought. No chance with all the sour old Barkum’s around.

Off went Silky and with every step she took you could feel the excitement growing inside her tiny little Barkum heart. So much so, that by the time she got to the place where she had last heard the sounds, the only thing she could hear was the sound of her heart pounding anxiously in her chest.

Silky looked out from the edge of the forest straining her long pointy ears (all covered with sticking plaster) to catch even the faintest sound. It was still early in the morning. The sun was just starting to light up the sky and then! Yes! There it was, there it was again,

Tweet, weeeet weeeet

Cheriooo tweeeet weeeet weeeet

The sound was coming faintly over the breeze. Oh, this was the happiest sound Silky had ever heard and she felt as if her body was going to burst with pleasure. Then suddenly she was sad again. Who could she tell? Who could she even share it with? Poor little Silky, not only was she sad but she was also becoming very angry because she wouldn’t be able to hear the singing unless she came to the edge of the forest and she knew she wouldn’t be able to do that very often. As she thought, she got crosser and crosser and crosser until she was jumping up and down in anger and frustration, kicking and punching at everything she saw. In fact, she was starting to act just like Daddy Barkum and Peragua and just like all the other Barkums that you may have heard stories about. A thoroughly horrid, mumpy, humpy just plain grumpy girl.

Silky was so busy being horrid that she wasn’t paying any attention to what was going on around her. Before you could even blink an eye there was a shadow and a fluttering and a sound and there, all of a sudden, was a very big something sitting right on top of the point of the branch where Silky was. The very big something couldn’t see Silky because she was under the bark being horrid, but Silky could see the very big something. She was in such a bad mood that she was about to come out and give the very big something a piece of her mind and a piece of her foot just where thought it might do the most good when there it was clear as a bell right there on top of her!

CHERIO,  TWEEET, TWEEET

CHERIOOO, TWEEET, WWEEEET

Well, I can tell you, Silky fell flat on her backum^[3]

“Hello! Very Big Something” said Silky

“What’s that?” said the ‘Very Big Something’ in a trickling sort of a voice, like water running in a stream. At the same time hopping around trying to see where the voice was coming from.

“Here it’s me. Silky Barkum! Here I am, right underneath you.”

“Uh! A Barkum. I’ve heard of you lot before. Are you related to Daddy Barkum by any chance?”

“Well, yyy yy yes” stammered Silky, not quite sure what to say. “He’s my father. But I’m not like him at all.” She added quickly. “Please tell me ‘Very Big Something’, was that you making that noise just now? Was that singing? No one sings in our forest at all!”

“Firstly, I’m not a very big something. From where I come from, they call me Robin and I’m really quite a small something, especially compared to some of the other creatures around. Secondly, all my family sing, that’s how we talk to one another.”

“What a happy place you must come from.” exclaimed Silky. “Couldn’t you bring your family and come and sing in our forest” pleaded Silky. “You could even teach me to sing,” she added hopefully.

“What?” screeched Robin his voice going immediately off key. “Come into the forest … with the Barkums. Silky, don’t you know the story about the Barkums and all the other creatures?”

“What story?” whispered Silky, starting to get a little anxious. She could hear the tone of Robin’s voice. He wasn’t singing anymore! And she wasn’t sitting under the bark anymore either!

“Go ask Daddy Barkum.” Came the short reply and with that and a Bruuggg of his wings, he was gone.

“Come back, come back,” cried Silky. “What story. Please tell me. What story?”

But Robin was already out of hearing range. Flying far away from the forest and far away from Silky Barkum.

Even if you have seen a sad fairy before you still would not be able to imagine just how sad Silky looked. She was the picture of the saddest fairy of all. Her long pointy ears that always stood up so proud were hanging on her shoulders and her eyes were pulled closed with tears running down her cheeks and her lips were all puffed out. Oh, what a sad fairy she looked like. Would she ever hear singing again, could she ever be happy again?

The trees of the forest listened to Silky, and they began to sway this way and that way. As they swayed, the leaves began to whisper,

Wishhhshshhhsh wisshhhshh wishshsh wishshssh wish makeawish wish makeawish.

“Make a wish?” whispered Silky back to the trees. Now she remembered. Every fairy has just one wish in their life. Naturally, you then had to make sure that you used the wish very wisely. Was this the time for Silky to use her wish, she wondered? Maybe she would need her wish for something else – what was she to do?

Wishhhshshsh wishshsh makeawish wish, wish whispered the trees, as they read Silky’s thoughts.

Silky took a deep breath. “All right!” she said to the trees.

“Here goes!” She said aloud but more to herself.

Now when a fairy is going to use op their one and only wish it’s really quite a performance. I’ve never actually seen it but Silky described it to me in great detail.

She started getting herself ready to make her wish. First, Silky had to sit down with her legs crossed. I’ve told you before what long toes the Barkums have, so this was extremely difficult (maybe that is why so few of the Barkums ever get to make a wish). Silky tried this way and that way, whichever way you can imagine, but she just couldn’t get her legs crossed without her toes always being in the way. All of a sudden with all the contortions that Silky was doing, she slipped off the branch and tumbled through the air.

Gweeee PLOP! Right onto the branch below her.

“UHHH!” she cried. Then she looked down to check her body for any breaks or sprains and guess what! Yes! Her legs were crossed.

“YIPPEE!” she cried in excitement. She was so excited that she almost undid them again!

The next thing Silky had to do was to take her right arm behind her and take hold of her left ear and then take her left arm behind her backum to grab her right ear. That was easy because Barkums have such long ears and fingers (if you remember). Imagine if you or I had to do that before we made a wish.

Next Silky had to bend forward and tap her nose three times on the bark in front of her, repeating the words of the wish. ‘Silky Barkum Wish’ each time she taped the bark.

Well with her legs crossed and her arms folded behind her, this was no easy task. First, she tried it slowly – that didn’t work. So then, she tried it faster.

“OWWWW!” she bellowed. That was too hard and too fast. Silky was sure her nose wasn’t quite so pointy anymore – but at least now she knew how to do it and she quickly bent forward tapping her nose three times on the bark in front of her and repeating the words.

‘Silky Barkum Wish’ between each time.

No sooner had she finished when suddenly the trees stopped going swishshsh swishshsh swishh in the wind.

The trees stopped doing anything at all.  The sky got darker and darker.

“What have I done now?” thought Silky. Had she made the right wish? Had she got it mixed up with something else? Poor little Silky. She crept away under the smallest piece of bark she could find, terrified to find out what was going to happen next.

Footsteps!  – Loud footsteps – large footsteps. What had Robin said? Something about him being only a very small something compared to some of the other animals.

The sky started to get lighter again and the trees started to sway a little. Silky pricked up her ears. Somebody was calling her. She slowly pushed her long pointy ears out from under the bark, then just the top of her head and then very slowly the rest of her body. Straining to see who was calling her Silky came right out from under the bark.

Ah! What was that? Quickly she whirled. Something had prodded her in the backum.

There sitting happily on the tree next to her was a very old lady Barkum. Or almost like a Barkum. You couldn’t quite see with all the long flowing silvery hair that covered her from tip to toe. She was sitting contentedly with something on her lap and two strange sticks in her hand going ‘clickerdyclick’, ‘clickerdyclick’. Her eyes seemed to stare deep into Silky’s heart.

“I’m your Fairy Barkum Witch.” She lilted in a lovely musical voice.

“A Witch!” cried Silky. “Oh dear! My wish really did go wrong.”

“Of course not, silly.” There was that lovely musical voice again. “I’m not that sort of Witch. I’m a Barkum Witch.” Her voice carried a tone of pride in what she said. “There aren’t any bad Barkum Witches left.” This time her voice sounded quite relieved.

Just by listening to the Barkum Witch’s musical tone in her voice, Silky became completely hypnotized. She wasn’t going anywhere, even if this was a bad Witch!

“Didn’t you make a wish Silky?” asked the old lady.

“Yyyyess.” Stammered Silky.

“Well, I’m the result of your wish. My name is Alsophila^[4]. I’m the Fairy Godmother to the Fairies.”

This may have been very interesting to Silky under other circumstances! What was far more interesting, at that precise moment, was the way in which the sticks in Alsophila’s hand, never stopped going ‘clickety-click, clickety-click’. Silky moved closer until she saw that the silvery hair that covered Alsophila was really coming from the slicks going ‘clickerdyclick’ in her hands.

“What are you doing ‘Phila? If I may call you that?” Asked Silky.

“You may, my dear.” Replied ‘Phila. “What I am actually doing is called knitting. All the ‘Forest’ Barkums used to be able to knit. But that was many, many years ago. I am the only one left now who can still knit.”

“Why’s that?” queried Silky. (Ever the most curious little Barkum you may have had the privilege of meeting.) “Surely there must be others? There must be other Barkums in other Forests, especially if all the Barkums used to be able to do it?”

“Well,” began ‘Phila “it’s actually a very sad story. It is also part of the reason why you made your wish today.”

‘Phila then went on to tell Silky the story of how the Barkums lost their ability to knit.

As far as it was told to me, it went something like this.

Many, many years ago when all the Barkums could still knit. (That was about the time of the 23^rd Comet) Life was rich and fun in the forest. There were animals and birds and insects and frogs and all sorts of other creatures. They all stayed in the forest and went about their lives day in and day out. Year in and year out. Everybody was happy and singing and playing. In fact, everything, especially for the Barkums was just so much fun that they just stopped knitting. There were too many other exciting things to do. So, one by one, and family by family all the Barkums stopped knitting to go and join in the fun that had been organized for that day. As the days went by, more and more Barkums stopped knitting to go and join in the fun. It got to the stage where they were having so much fun that they even forgot the reason why they had even been knitting in the first place.

And that reason – was because of the curse of Dracaena^[5] the Dragon Barkum. He was an old evil wizard and hated all the creatures of the forest. He especially hated creatures having fun. Once, many years ago. Just when he was particularly angry with a group of Barkum children who were having such fun romping around the branches, that they knocked him off his reading twig. Oh! Was he cross? So cross in fact that he placed a terrible curse on the Barkums. This curse was such that all a Barkum’s fingers and toes would just keep growing and growing. Growing and growing! Longer and longer!

It took a very special Fairy Godmother (‘Phila’s mother) to help alleviate the curse. But, she could only help half of it. That was the half for the toes. At last, after lots of trial and error, she managed to stop the Barkum toes from growing any longer.

As for the fingers, those she just couldn’t stop! What she did do, was to get the Barkums started on knitting. If they kept their fingers busy knitting, then they didn’t grow. At least that was some consolation to the Barkums.

It wasn’t long, what, with all the knitting that was going on, everybody in the forest had an oversupply of sucks and gloves and scarves, and jerseys and jackets and everything else you can imagine. The Barkums then had to find something else to knit to keep their fingers busy and to stop them from growing any longer. That was when they discovered how to knit birds ‘nest lining’. This was so successful that they soon had orders from birds in many of the other forests apart from their own. The birds were happy and the Barkums were happy. (Well, at least happy that their fingers weren’t growing any longer).

The birds sang and made the forest vibrate with the sounds of their voices. Oh! It was a happy place to be

But then!

Once the Barkums stopped knitting to go and join in the fun that they had almost forgotten about. The first thing that started to happen was that their fingers started to grow again. As their fingers started to grow, they all thought that there was plenty of time. They’d start knitting again tomorrow. But then, when tomorrow came there was some other type of fun to have and off they would rush to go and join in. Forgetting once again about their knitting, and their fingers. It wasn’t long when one of the Barkums discovered that her fingers were too long to hold the knitting needles. Too long to knit.

“Aaahh!” Screamed the Barkum one morning soon to be joined by other screams of other Barkums. Too late, they realised what had happened. They had forgotten about the curse. Then it wasn’t long before the birds started running out of their supply of birds’ nest lining. Now the birds got terribly upset. They had become used to using the Barkums knitted birds nest lining. Their baby chicks loved it, as it was soft and cuddly to lie in. This was now the time of the year when all the birds were getting ready to have their little baby chicks. What were they going to do?

Well in a ‘Huff’ of anger, the birds decided to punish the Barkums by moving off to another forest and setting up their nest there. This started up a mass exodus as all of the creatures in the forest left with the birds. They didn’t want to be in a forest where there wouldn’t be any singing.

It wasn’t long before the forest was a terribly dreary place to be. With no singing and no playing, in fact no fun at all, that was just what Dracaena had planned all along.

Whilst ‘Phila had been telling the story, Silky had become very sad. What was she going to do? How was she going to get the birds singing in her forest again? How was she going to overcome the curse?

“ ‘Phila, what about my wish? How am I going to get the Robin to sing to me in my forest?” cried Silky dejectedly.

“Well it just so happens that your wish came just at the right time.”

“Really? How’s that?” Silky was intrigued.

‘Phila then went on to explain to Silky that the curse could only be broken by saying exactly the right spell on one day only. That day was the day of the ‘Five thousandths full moon, after the fourth flower century, after the second Forest generation. AND after the first Robin returns.

“And that’s today!” shrieked ‘Phila at the top of her voice. (Had there been any birds left in the forest, I’m sure her screech would have frightened them all away once and for all.)

Silky could not quite understand exactly what all these ‘timings’ were that ‘Phila had been talking about. What she could understand was that there was a chance to break the curse that Dracaena had placed on the ‘Um’s.

“Before we begin, Silky, you will have to learn how to knit. As soon as your fingers shrink enough to hold the needles, you must be able to start knitting immediately. Come on, let’s go and find you some needles and yarn for you to use. You are much younger than me so you’ll have to scrabble around and search in all the places I can’t reach.”

Off went Silky, rushing in and around, out and about, and under every part of the tree that she could find. Every now and then, she would bring things back to ‘Phila for her approval, until she had enough material to start knitting. ‘Phila inspected everything very carefully. She separated two of the sticks that Silky had brought. (Actually, they weren’t sticks; they were long thorns from the Spike Thorn tree^[6]) She placed these two ‘sticks’ to one side and some of the other bits that Silky had collected for yarn (Spider’s web and caterpillar silks mostly) in another pile.

‘Phila then started lilting in that musical voice of hers. She was speaking all kinds of sounds that Silky hadn’t ever heard before. Most certainly, this was a language she didn’t know or understand.

POOOPFFPHH!

All of a sudden, there was a cloud of smoke and ‘Phila was coughing and spluttering and gasping. There before her, lay two beautiful long smooth needles and three big balls of lime green yarn. (One of Silky’s favourite colours)

“Now for the next step.” Said ‘Phila sternly. “You come over here and stand behind me. You must watch over my shoulder as I knit so that you can see exactly what I’m doing and how to make the stitches.”

Silky did as she was asked, watching from behind ‘Phila as she showed her the same stitches over and over again until she was sure Silky would get it right.

“Next Silky, I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to get into the same position you did while you were making the wish! This time ‘Phila was there to help her get her legs crossed in just the right way. The rest was easy, with her long fingers and ears.

“Now for the spell” whispered ‘Phila. She drew herself up to her full height, or it was at least as much as her old bones would allow her to stretch. She carefully put down her knitting and lifted her arms high in the air.

Silky watched as she saw the speed with which ‘Phila’s fingers had started to grow as soon as she stopped knitting!

She became aware of the fact that the trees were standing still. They weren’t swaying at all. Not a leaf was moving.

‘Phila started with the most important part of the spell. Whispering incantations, slowly her voice got louder and louder. (Just as her fingers got longer and longer) The last part of the spell came as she was screeching in her loudest shriek with the power of the spell inside her.

Silence!

 

Slowly ‘Phila lowered her arms and sat down to pick up her knitting. It was too late! Her fingers had already grown too long for her to hold the needles properly. Tears started to roll down her face as she turned to look at Silky.

At the same time, Silky could feel a strange sensation starting in her own fingers. Almost like pins and needles. The feeling got worse and worse until she was wringing her hands and crying out in pain. Then she realised this was from her fingers shrinking. She could see that they were getting smaller. Hurriedly, through all the pain and the tears she could see in ‘Phil’s eyes, Silky pulled her needles closer. The pain was excruciating, but she had to do it.

“Come on Silky, come on, you can do it. Try, please try!” ‘Phila begged and encouraged and pleaded as she watched Silky fighting through the pain.

Silky got the one needle right. Slowly, painfully slowly, she tied a knot of the yarn on the needle. Desperately she grabbed at the second needle with her other hand. She knew time was running out. She had it! The second needle was in her hand. She pushed the point of this needle through the knot she had made on the first needle. Then she turned the yarn up and over and through.

The first stitch!

Then the second. Then the third.

The sky exploded into streamers of lights and colours and the screaming cries of Dracaena as he knew his curse was broken.

Silky looked over to ‘Phila. She was knitting again. The tears were still bubbling down her cheeks, but this time it was from happiness. Tears of joy!

By the time Silky and ‘Phila got home that evening all the family and all their relatives had gathered. All of the ‘Ums together again, in one place. At last, the spell had been broken for everyone.

For the next few days, Silky and ‘Phila spend their time teaching all the Barkums to knit. It didn’t take long before you could see long streams of knitting hanging down from the branches of the trees in the forest. Long streams of silvery grey lime green knitting.

And it wasn’t long before the birds heard that their favourite lining was available again and they started returning to the forest. With them, they brought all the other insects and creatures that are supposed to live in a forest.

But, what about the Barkum family you may ask?

Well, I can tell you that they are alive and well and living deep in the forest of Wilderness Woods. Every now and then, I manage to speak to them. Even Daddy Barkum, Podo, Podocar, Podo something or other, is not as grumpy as he used to be. Silky is of course my favourite Barkum. She has been taking singing lessons from Robin as is even starting to sound a little like him.

They don’t have to worry about the curse anymore, but they still do their knitting. Except now, they do it for the birds.

Oh! Sometimes they knit, just for fun!

[1] Podocarpus Latifolius – The Real Yellowwood that Daddy Barkum was named after.

[2] Celtis africana – White Stinkwood Tree

[3] Barkum’s do not have backs and bums like us; instead, they are joined together into what they call ‘backum’s’.

[4] Alsophila capensis – Forest tree fern that ‘Phila (Fairy to the Fairies) was named after.

[5] Dracaena usambarensis – Small leaved Dragon tree that the ‘Dragon’ Barkum was named after.

[6] Maytenus nemorosa – White Forest Spike thorn which Silky used for needles.