Children´s story “The natural garden”

Once upon a time there was a king who had a great palace whose gardens were truly wonderful. over there thousands of animals of hundreds of different species lived, of great variety and color, which They turned that place into a kind of paradise that everyone enjoyed.

Only one thing in those gardens displeased the king: probably in the center of the place were the remains of what centuries ago had been a huge tree, but now looked dull and almost dry, subtracting brilliance and color from the whole. It bothered him so much that he finally cut it off and replace it with a lovely font set.

Some time later, a cunning nobleman was visiting the king in his palace. And in a moment he whispered in his ear:

– Majesty, you are the most cunning of men. Everywhere you hear of the beauty of these gardens and the multitude of animals that search them. But in the time I’ve been here, hardly he could see anything other than this fountain and a few birds… What a great deception!

The king, who never intended to deceive anyone, discovered to his horror that what the nobleman said was true.

They had been admiring the fountains for so many months that they had not realized that they were barely a few animals remained. Without wasting a second, he sent for the experts and wise men of the court. The king had to listen to many lies, inventions and assumptions, but nothing that could explain what happened. Even the great reward offered by the king could not recover the splendor of the royal gardens.

Many years later, a young woman appeared before the king assuring that she could explain what happened and recover the animals.

– What happened to your garden is that it did not have enough excrement, Your Majesty. Especially moth.

Everyone present laughed at the young woman’s joke. The guards were preparing to expel her when the king stopped him.

– I want to hear the story. Of the thousand lies I’ve heard, none had started like this.

The young woman remained very serious, and began to explain how the large animals in those gardens fed mainly on small, brightly colored birds, which owed their appearance to their food, made up of colorful worms, in turn fed on several very rare species of plants and flowers that could only grow in that part of the world, as long as there was enough moth excrement… and so she went on to tell how moths were also the basis of food of many other birds, whose droppings gave rise to new species of plants that they fed other insects and animals, which in turn were vital for the existence of other species… And he would have continued talking without stopping, if the king had not shouted.

– Enough! And is it possible to know how you know all those things, being so young? – he asked.

– Well, because now all that garden is now in my house. Before I was born, my father he recovered that old tree uprooted from the center of the royal gardens and planted it in his garden. From then, every spring, thousands and thousands of moths emerge from that tree. Over time, the moths attracted the birds, and new plants and trees arose, which were eaten by other animals, which in turn belonged to others… And now, my father’s old house is full of life and color. It was all because of the big tree moths.

– Excellent! exclaimed the king. Now I can get my gardens back. And you, I will make you rich. Be sure to that within a week everything will be ready. Use as many men as you need.

“I’m afraid you can’t be your majesty,” said the young woman. If you want, I can try to recreate the gardens, but you will not live to see it. It takes many years to recover the balance natural. With a lot of luck, when I’m old it might be ready. Those things don’t depend on how many men work in them.

The old king’s face was sad and thoughtful, understanding how delicate the balance of nature is, and how reckless he was to break it so cheerfully. But he loved so much those gardens and those animals, that he decided to build an immense palace next to the lands of the young woman. And with thousands of men working on the job, he was able to see it completed in a hell of a lot less time than would have been necessary to restore the natural balance of those gardens in any other place.

Pedro Pablo Sacristan