Write on Wednesdays - The stories a tree could tell

 Image from Facebook

Write on Wednesdays is back for 2012 over at Inkpaperpen, and I'm hoping to throw myself in to it to make up for my inability to commit towards the end of 2011.

For our first prompt, Gill posted the gorgeous photo you see above from the Story facebook page. There are so many paths I could take to fit in with this picture, I think it's breathtaking and completely inspiring as a writing prompt. Here's my piece for this week:

Long ago, when the earth was new and quiet, the Great Trees wandered freely over field and mountains. Clustered together in herds, their roots, unseen beneath massive trunks, would carry them over the earth, carving deep troughs in the ground as they moved.

They followed the sun, and the rain, the wind and the mist. Birds would fly after them, at times raising their young in nests perched within these mobile homes.

The Father Tree of the very last herd of Great Trees that ever existed had grown very old, and his sight and instinct began to deterioriate. On a dark, cold and gusty night, he kept his herd moving, but after a time he became aware that the group of trees he could hear and feel beside him had gotten smaller, until eventually there was no herd around him at all. He called and called, but none answered. He waited until the daylight began its gradual appearance over the world, and before him saw a cold and deserted beach, and nothing more. His herd were lost, and so was he. He lay down in despair, but was never able to get up again.