Fierce winds tugged at Little Cedar. His scrawny boughs bent and swayed but he dug his roots deeper and hung onto the rock buried beneath the mountain soil.
“The wind is so cold,” said Little Cedar. He shivered from his topmost limb to the bottom of his twisted trunk. “It must be nearly Christmas again.”
Little Cedar could see his brother and sister trees far down the mountainside. They looked lovely with snow heaped on their full, green boughs. Soon many of them would be taken into warm homes and decorated with dazzling ornaments. Children would love them and grown-ups would pile presents under them. Little Cedar knew all about Christmas. His friend Cardinal told him what he saw when he flew past people homes and looked in the windows.
“Nobody wants me,” whispered Little Cedar. “Who would want a bent and twisted little tree to decorate for Christmas?”
Try as he would, Little Cedar could not grow any larger. The soil this far up the mountain was just too poor and scanty for a tree to grow tall and straight like the cedars farther down. Strong winds that blew across the mountaintop tore at him and it was all he could do to hang on, much less grow.
“Better hold tight, Little Cedar,” chirped Cardinal, darting down to light in his branches. “Tonight the Big Blizzard is supposed to get here. Owl says it will be the Storm of the Century. Trees will go down, for sure.”
Little Cedar shivered. He was so small, how could he ever last through a tremendous gale?
Sure enough, as the sun slipped farther over the mountain, clouds scudded across a darkening sky. They thickened and roiled, bringing sleet whining through the wind. Little Cedar tried to scrunch behind the rocks to hide but of course, he couldn’t move. Nothing at all shielded him from the blizzard which grew in strength until it seemed the whole mountain would go sailing away. The cold wind almost took Little Cedar’s breath with it.
“Help” he cried, but no one heard and if anyone had, who could do a thing against the wrath of the Storm of the Century?”
“Br-r-r. Excuse me, Little Cedar, may I shelter under your branches?”
Little Cedar looked down. A half-frozen rabbit shivered at his feet.
“You may, for all the good it will do,” answered Little Cedar.
Rabbit scurried close and tucked his pink nose between his paws.
“Is there room for me?” asked Red Squirrel as the wind whipped his tail over his eyes.
“Yes, scoot under,” invited Little Cedar. “You may freeze if you do not hurry.”
Rabbit and Red Squirrel huddled together against Little Cedar’s thin trunk.
Something tickled Little Cedar’s lowest branches. He looked down. “Please, may I come in too?” twittered Cardinal. “I thought I could fly down the mountain but the wind blew me up this way.”
Little Cedar nodded. “I always have room for a friend.”
Rabbit and Red Squirrel made a place for Cardinal against Little Cedar’s trunk.
“Who-Who-where else can I go if you do not let me under your branches?” quavered a gravelly voice.
The wisest bird in the forest lay in an icy heap at Little Cedar’s feet.
“Rabbit, Squirrel, Cardinal, Owl needs your help,” cried Little Cedar.
The friends pulled and pushed and shoved until the whole bundle of soggy gray feathers which was Owl lay propped against Little Cedar.
“I hope no one else comes,” complained Rabbit. “We do not have any more space.”
Now, Friend Rabbit,” said Little Cedar. The winds whipped his words eerily. “You know that we cannot turn anyone away on such a night as this.”
“I am so glad to hear you say that,” barked a weak voice.
“No, no!” squeaked Red Squirrel. “It is my old enemy Gray Fox.” Squirrel tried to hide behind Rabbit who tried to slip behind Squirrel.
The savage wind threatened to lift Gray Fox right off the mountain. “If you will let me under your wonderful branches, Little Cedar, I promise not to harm your friends now or ever,” he said.
Little Cedar dug his roots more tightly around his rock just beneath the soil. “Come in but see that you stick to your promise.”
Trying to look at his friends and be sure none had blown away, Little Cedar bent in the wind but the snow and sleet flew so thick and fast, he could not even see the ground. He hoped they were all safe.
(to be concluded tomorrow)
Speak Your Mind