Little Pine was reading one of his favorite story books after dinner when his mother came into the room. She was holding her arms behind her back and wearing a mysterious smile.
“Little Pine,” she said, “Come here and sit beside me. I have a gift for you.”
“Shut your eyes,” she said when he was seated. He felt her lean forward and set something on the table in front of them.
“Okay!” Mother whispered. “Look!”
When Little Pine opened his eyes, he could hardly believe what he was seeing. It was a framed painting of the most beautiful pine cone that he had ever seen. It looked as if it had just fallen from heaven.
“Is that an angel, Mother?” he gasped in wonder.
“In a way,” Mother said. Then she told him a story.
“One summer, a long, long time ago, before Grandfather Pine was born, a human little girl started visiting the forest. She liked to sit beneath Great Grandmother’s boughs. Sometimes she would bring a book with her and read. But often she brought canvasses and paints, and she would sit for hours, singing and painting pictures of the lake and of the trees.
“She was a sweet little girl who always greeted Great Grandmother as she seated herself by her side. And when she left, she would always say goodbye and thank Great Grandmother for her shade.
“Late that autumn, she came with a basket and gathered the pine cones that Great Grandmother had released to spill their seeds. When her basket was full, she walked over to Great Grandmother and pressed her body against Great Grandmother’s trunk, stroking her bark with her free hand. ‘Thank you!’ she whispered to Great Grandmother. And then, as she skipped with her basket from the woods, she turned and waved and shouted, ‘Thank you! Merry Christmas, beautiful tree!’
“The weather turned cold and the days grew short and the human girl didn’t come to read and paint any more. But Great Grandmother often thought of her and the thought made her heart smile.
“Soon all the forest beings were preparing for the Festival of Light. And on the day that it began, the most amazing thing happened. The little human girl came singing through the forest, carrying a large basket in her arms. ‘Happy Christmas, great tree!’ she said to Great Grandmother. ‘I brought some presents for you!” And, laughing, she hung dozens of little portraits of angel pine cones all over Great Grandmother’s lower boughs. ‘May your seed grow and fill the land,’ she sang.
“And then she left, and Great Grandmother never saw her again. When the squirrels came by, she asked them to tuck the paintings carefully away, and to cover them with leaves to protect them.
“Over the years, her seed grew and covered our whole section of the forest. And when each of her offspring reached a certain age, she gave them one of these paintings as a blessing, that their seed might grow and continue to fill the land.
“Now you have reached that certain age, Little Pine. And it is my honor to give this gift to you, and to pass on its blessing, in memory of your Great Grandmother, and of a little human’s love for our kind.”
Little Pine’s heart was filled with wonder and joy. “What a beautiful gift!” he thought. “What a treasure!” He thanked his mother and snuggled against her. And the two of them sat gazing at the painting of the angel pine cone long into the night.