Once upon a long moment ago, there was magic that was whispered though the forests of Glenmere. This place was brought into being by a council of wise Elders. There were graceful elves, enchanted fairies, protective trees, ingenuous gnomes, wise dragons, creative humans, wild sasquatch, and cosmic star people gathered within these woods. Of course, watching everyone, there were the sentient animal beings who offered their silent yet brilliant wisdom. Everyone vowed to create a sanctuary of balance and mutual respect.
Glenmere was a place where time was fluid. It was a time that we yearned for with all our hearts. A place that allows for differences in the same breath as cooperation. There was a curious young elfin named BlueBelle. Whenever, she looked outside her beautiful home, she saw questions to answer and so many beings that were eager to guide her.
One day, she invited her best friend Norm, the Gnome to go for a walk. They loved walking in Glenmere since they always noticed unusual things. That day, they decided to visit three places, the farm, the cherry orchard and the river.
Norm said, “I feel like they are all stressed due to lack of water. Can we turn on the water hoses to help them”?
Bluebelle said” yes that’s a great idea”. Pretty soon the carrots stopped jumping, the parsley stopped curling potatoes became the right size and the tomatoes started smiling.
PHEW that was close. Let’s keep walking.
Then they were moving towards the cherry orchard and they heard a loud “whushing” (a combination of water rushing and cherries popping) . “Oh no” said Bluebelle what could this be? I am worried. Norm said “let’s get closer so we can see what is happening. The cherries in the trees were crying and red juice was running everywhere. It was quite chaotic.
This time Norm started crying and being upset. I don’t want them to make a mess. Bluebelle said this time let’s pretend that we are cats. Cats do lots of stretching all the time. I feel like taking big catlike stretches would be good. So, they stood up and raised their hands above their heads and stretched and stretched. Norm said that feels good. Okay. I have a plan. The cherries are sick. What do you like when you are sick? Bluebelle said” I like to listen to beautiful songs”
Norm said “perfect”. Let’s sing a beautiful bird song. They sang softly at first and then louder as they became more confident. After a couple of choruses, the whushing became fainter and then it was silent. The trees were calmer.
Bluebelle said they are feeling better. Let’s be quiet and walk on to the river. They found the river path and were happy. For the third time, they heard funny sounds. It sounded like popping and thunks. What could that be?
As they rounded the corner, they saw fish jumping out of the water on to the land. Norm said “this isn’t good. What do we do”? We figured out the last two problems by borrowing behaviors from our friends the dogs, the cats and the birds. What do we do now? “I know” said Bluebelle, “let’s do a dragon breath” It always seemed to calm them down. They sat down by the water but not on the fish and they took deep belly breaths. IN and OUT, IN and OUT, IN and Out.
When, they opened their eyes, they saw that the river had been dammed up by the beavers and they had nowhere to go. Now that Norm and Bluebelle were calmer, they were able to fix the problem easily. The beavers apologized and said that they would be more thoughtful of others. The fish jumped into the river and swam away. Norm and BlueBelle started walking again. They mused that sometimes you don’t really know what is happening unless you take a minute to see things clearly. They realized that their animal friends had a great deal to teach them. Sometimes, not knowing what to do is the best way to do something.