An Apple Gall Being's Beginning

Standing at the edge of a very ancient forest, grew a very old oak, almost as old as the forest itself. This oak over the many years, had grown quit tall, taller than any of the other oak, and was quit majestic. The many birds, insects and living creatures of the forest, loved this mighty oak, so much so, It was given the name of, "Compassion".

One winter a special seed had been dropped at the base of Compassion's trunk by one of the many visiting birds. At first Compassion gave it no notice, as seeds always seemed to be surrounding Them at one time or another, but this seed felt different. They could feel it was special, and so watched of this little seed.. The first month there seemed to be no life felt from this new seed. The second month, Compassion began to feel something wrapping itself around Their roots, and noticed a tiny green shoot had begun growing from that very special seed. They kept careful watch over this new seed after seeing there was life. This had become very intriguing, for no seed ever dropped before had ever grown into anything. By the third month, They began to notice this tiny plant had grown quite a tall, and had sprouted many branches with lots of leaves. Each day it grew taller and taller still, and it wasn't long before red buds began emerging from the end of each of those new young branches. Compassion was so excited, for They had never been this close to another plant before, and could not wait to see what those red buds were going to be. Their excitement was not only for what was happening above ground, but also what it felt below. As the new plant continued to grow taller, Its roots also grew, and They could feel more and more of them wrapping, and becoming intertwined with Their own.

As this new plant grew, Compassion felt something It had never felt before. It was a deep comfort knowing Their roots were holding tightly onto Its own. This new life continued to grow, and it seemed to grow faster than any other plant They had ever noticed before. By the fourth month, this new plant had grown half way up, as well as, around Compassion's trunk, and Their trunk could no longer be seen.

Then one day, to Compassion's surprise, something wonderful had began happening. Through Their roots, They had found a way to speak with this new life. They learned Its name was Love. Love spoke with Compassion, saying They were decended from a family of rose, which went by the name of Black Baccara Love. A family considered very old, very rare, quite exotic, and especially beautiful. Love was one of only a few remaining roses of this line left in the world.

Within weeks tiny rose buds began opening up. Each having soft velvety petals, the color of a deep burgundy. Upon seeing these roses for the first time, Compassion could hardly believe such beauty existed, and from that moment on, They did all They could to protect Love. When the deer tried to eat the newly formed, delicate leaves, Compassion would kindly ask them to leave. When aphids threatened to destroy the new buds, Compassion called for Their friends the ladybugs and praying mantis, to help clear the intruders away. Love continued to grow, taller and taller still, wrapping around, and throughout, Compassion's trunk, reaching all the way to the highest of Their branches. Love and Compassion were known throughout the lands as the oak-rose tree.

A Gift

Love and Compassion spent their time together speaking with one another on every possible topic imaginable. Each always intrigued with the other's thoughts. Affection for one another grew deep for one another. Their love for each other had not gone unnoticed by the many creatures around them. There were many insects living throughout Compassion & Loves branches, one of which was an oak apple gall wasp. These tiny little wasps, almost the size of a gnat, only had a life span of two years which they spent living in the same oak tree in which they were born. The oak apple wasps watched the love between Compassion and Love, with much admiration, especially the queen wasp. When it came time for this Queen of the oak apple gall wasp to lay her egg, she had an idea and gathered the other wasps. She proposed presenting a special gift to Love and Compassion, a gift which would not only for Themselves, but also for the many other creatures in their ancient woods. All agreed, and so the queen began her quest.

First the Queen flew to one of Love's open roses and rolled in Their essence. She then gathered more essence from Compassion's leaves, and on she went to gather more essence from a liquid amber tree, a rambutan tree, a ladybug, and finally, a monarch butterfly. Once done, she went onto one of Compassion's newly forming leaves, and inserted her egg. She then encased the precious larvae with all the essences she had previously gathered. When done, she flew down to the root base of Love and Compassion, and spoke her final words

“Dear Love and Compassion”, the Queen began, "You have given so selflessly, to all other life around you, you have always been true to your names. For this, we, the oak apple gall wasps, have decided to give you a special gift in return.” She then proceeded to tell them of what she had done, and of the egg she had just laid on one of Compassion's newly forming leafs.

Neither Love, or Compassion, could believe this wonderful news, and were moved by such a gift bestowed upon them, both thanking the Queen profusely. When done speaking, the Queen, now at the end of her life, then burrowed into Their roots from where she first began. They encased her with more tiny roots, and their she lay for her final resting place.

Love and Compassion searched for, and found the branch, and the leaf where the gifted egg lay. They each began to cover the little treasured gift with more leaves, keeping it as protected as possible. Their joy and anticipation could hardly be contained.

The Gift Arrives

Months passed and the expected day of the new arrival grew near. Excitement culminated throughout the community, for there was not one creature who did not hear of the news about this precious gift. All knew the approximate time of the gifts arrival, and many had chosen to stay close by waiting for the special moment happen. From the time the egg had been laid, Love and Compassion watched as the gift grew under its leaves. In the beginning, it was very tiny, and over time it had grown quite large. It was growing so large, they had to continually add more leaves to keep it covered. As it grew, it also began to move. Birds, insects, and creatures of all types gathered closer each day, all hoping to get a glimpse of this gift. At last, after many months, on June 21rst, the day of Summer Solstice, the moment of arrival had come.

It was time and suddenly there was complete silence. All watched in amazement and great anticipation while slowly each remaining leaf wrapped around the gifted creature, one by one, began to fall . When the last leaf fell a head, covered in many colors of red, pink and orange glittery rose buds, lifted up. There was an Ahhhh heard throughout. Then next, arms of delicate little oak twigs, with hands of rambutans began stretching, reaching for the sky appeared. A lovely girl stood tall on her feet of liquid amber seeds, and legs of oak. More awes and oohs, were heard, for she was like no other being anyone had ever seen before.

Love and Compassion were entranced as they watched this elegant creature, stretch up her long arms towards the skies. She stood quite tall, yet was a bit wobbly. She slowly opened her eyes, and her first sight was that of Love and Compassion. With wonder in her voice, and a smile, she spoke her first word, a simple word, “Hello”.

Compassion gently lifted the new arrival up onto one of Love's vines. Then they both embraced their new gift, and she them. Love spoke first, “Welcome to our wonderful world little one, we all have been patiently waiting for you. I am Love and this is Compassion.”, as They pointed up. Many oak apple gall wasps were sitting on the surrounding branches. Love continued, “You were created by the Queen of the oak apple gall wasps, with the essence from both Compassion and I, as well as, liquid amber, rambutan, ladybug, and a monarch butterfly. You were her gift to us, and, too, this world.” All of the oak apple wasps began fluttering around, each flying down to kiss the new arrival.

The new being giggled, for the kisses tickled. She then looked upon the many other creatures surrounding her, and smiled. When she smiled, a love, her love, could be felt radiating throughout the entire land.

“May we call you Rose, if you don't mind?” as Love looked at the new arrival. Compassion said, “What a beautiful name.”. This beautiful creature nodded her head, and so it was that Rose had her name.

Many came to visit and play with Rose, for she was dearly loved, and she loved her new world along with everything about it. She was known for being quite fearless as she learned to run, jump, and unafraid of exploring the many wonders of her new world. The oak apple gall wasps thought Rose might want to have companions similar to herself, and so they began to gather pollen or essence from the many surrounding flowers, trees and creatures to make this happen.

There were many different types of flowers, trees, birds, animals, even other insects to gather essence from. They collected as many as possible. Once each had all the essences gathered, they would then fly to a new budding leaf on one of Compassion's branches, lay their egg, cover it with whatever essence was gathered, and fly away. Each year, the new beings would each be born sometime from May to July. Once born, Compassion would then set the new arrival on one of Love's vines, where they would be greeted, and Love would then sometimes bestow a name on the new arrival. As with Rose's arrival, there were always many creatures there to greet the new beings. A ceremony began after the naming, and Rose would stand on Compassion's tallest branch, and tell the story of her arrival, the reason why she came to be, and how the oak apple gall community was born.

It had all begun from Love and Compassion.