Little Pine finished the day’s tasks early. He had shared the news about the coming visitors with all the dwellers on the south side of the large pond. Each of them was thrilled with the idea that the Elf King had chosen their woodland to visit this year. Some could hardly believe it was true.
Little Pine’s whole day had been filled with shouts and laughter, and now he wanted some time to let all that happiness sink in. He decided that he would walk along the creek on his way home for supper. He loved the music of its little waterfalls and the way the water whispered as it flowed over the creek’s smooth stones. Its song was always so soothing.
He had only walked a little way when he was suddenly struck with the beauty of his surroundings. Every stone, every limb, every curve of the creek seemed perfectly placed. Even on this misty day, with its low hanging clouds and its fragrance of coming snow, the colors were exactly as they should be and in perfect harmony each other.
No wonder the Elf King had chosen this woodland! Who wouldn’t want to come here, especially for the Festival of Light!
Still, as he stood there on the creek bank enveloped in a trance of beauty, he remembered what the comfort plant had told him, too. It was a puzzle that he simply couldn’t solve. In a world of such harmony and grace, how could fear and suffering be real? How could there be sadness and anger? How could there be pain?
But something inside him told him that he did not need to know. The comfort plant said that the Great Yes understood, and that was enough somehow.
As he continued his walk, the comfort plant’s melody played in his heart, and he knew that her song, like the beauty around him, was a gift of the Yes and rose from an endless love.