by Simon Jakeman Part One ver the hills and far away, where the sky met the

sea, sat a young woodcutter by a pond, at the base of an old oak tree. He had been working hard all day and decided he needed a well earned break. It was late afternoon, on an early spring day. The sun was shinning and the cold of winter had began to fade away. The sap had started rising, with buds just on the verge of springing back to life. There was much activity all around, birds busy and singing, squirrels chasing around. There was a small blue and green caterpillar crawling on one of his boots. A small frog leapt into the pond, with a splash. As the woodcutter looked into the crystal clear water, the ripples slowly disappeared, he could see the reflection of the old oak tree behind him. The wind began to blow, through the branches of the tree. As he looked at the reflection the tree seemed to change. So he concentrated on this image with all his thought. As he cleared his mind a face appeared within the bark of the tree. The face was that of a beautiful, middle aged lady........ Helloshe said with a kind and caring voice, don't be afraid. The woodcutter startled rubbed his eyes, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. What, who are you? stuttered the woodcarver, having trouble getting his words out. Don't be afraid said the wise tree. I have many names, some people call me Mother Nature, others call me Gaia. I am the spirit of theEarth and I am everywhere you look. In the birds, the animals, the plants and the flowers, the sea, the sky everywhere! I come to you today, to pass on my wisdom. The woodcutter looked amazed. But why have you chosen me? I am no one special, and I lead a simple life the face replied Why not you? I have been watching you and have seen you have a good soul,I know you would benefit from the message I bring to you. So that you can share it with others.Instantly the woodcutter sat up and began to listen. It is very simplecontinued the tree I have an old story to tell you, make of it what you willand so it began..... The bright sun in the sky wasn't his usual happy self, in fact he was miserable, he felt no one liked him. Whenever he smiled and shone brightly at someone they screwed up their face and closed their eyes, due to this he thought he was ugly. He continued his journey across the sky everyday without fail, but he was extremely lonely. Now one cold and frosty day he awoke earlier than usual, and as he climbed into the sky he spotted along way into the distance, a beautiful pale lady. He had never noticed her before and couldn't understand why? As he thought he looked back across the sky, but she had disappeared. This got the sun wondering, who was this beautiful pale lady? He wanted to see her again. Days and weeks passed, and every morning as the sun woke he peered across the sky to look, but there was no sign..

by Simon Jakeman Part Two s time passed the sun had grown to love this pale lady, and decided he must do something to show his true feelings. So that evening, as it was getting late the sun tried to wait as long as possible to see if the majestic lady would appear, but no evail. The sun decided he would light up the sky with the most beautiful pinks and oranges to try to get some attention. Evening after evening as the birds sung their last songs of the day, the suns displays would be more and more spectacular. As you may have guessed this pale lady was the moon and she was also very lonely. Every night she would appear and travel across the sky. On many occasions she had seen the sun looking straight at her in the early morning sky, but he just couldn't see her. She had even tried to rise earlier in the evening to catch him, but only ever saw him just disappearing behind the hills in the distance. The sun didn't realise the moon had witnessed the end of every evenings display of love. How could she show her appreciation of the sun to him. Then one night the moon tried with all her might to give something back. As she thought about the sun more and more, she found herself blushing and turning from pale white to a bright red, and her shape then slightly changed. The trouble was it was all in vain, as yet again they had both missed each other, as the sun was around the completely opposite side of the Earth. Now one day the sun thought to himself I need to get a message to the moon, but didn't know how to do it. He knew that somehow or other that they kept on missing each other. The sun shone down upon the earth and looked hard and there running about amongst fields at great speed was an hare. The sun thought if he gave a message to the hare, it might just be quick enough to pass it onto the moon. The sun spoke to the hare and asked the hare to take a message of love to the moon. The hare agreed as long as he was rewarded well. Meanwhile the moon had turned disheartened because of no show from the sun and even started to turn blueish with sadness. The hare rushed off due east to get to the moon as quickly as possible to catch her as she rose up into the night sky. The hare had no idea how he was going to pass on the message, he just kept on running and running towards where he thought the moon might appear. As he ran he came across a frog sat in the middle of the road, which brought him to a complete halt. The frog asked the hare what all the rush was about. After explaining his mission the hare asked the frog if she had any ideas of how he could get to the moon in time. The frog explained the only chance he would have to get to the moon was where the sky met the sea. The hare was confused but thanked the frog for her time but explained he was running out of just that and must continue on immediately and with that he was off...

Part Two (contd) The hare ran and ran over hills an dales, through woods and forests until eventually he came to the sea. There as the frog had said, where the sea met the sky the majestic pale lady was waiting. The hare still didn't know how he would get to the moon to pass on the sun's message. As he looked across the vastness of the sea he slowly but surely could see a silver shimmering path straight to the moon. Without haste he was once again off. He ran the fastest he ever had across the silver path until he reached the moon. Once there he saw the he opened his mouth but nothing came out.

moon's kind face,

He had totally forgotten what he had come so far for. He was speechless as he ooked back at the earth and could see the world with new eyes from a new perspective, no divides. Just ONE.

He desperately searched deep but with no evail, it had totally gone. The hare explained the sun would not be pleased with him, he couldn't return. The moon told the hare not to worry, because the sun was a warm fellow and he should go back. The hare could not be consoled so she said that he could stay with her forever but could leave at any time, when he was ready.

by Simon Jakeman Part Three he following morning the moon waited as long as she could for the sun to rise, but no sign. Now every morning from then on she waited a little longer. As time went by the moon was still high in the sky at midday, on a cloudy day. The sun rose high and as the clouds moved away, the sun appeared with a great big smile on his face as he saw the moon and realised the hare must of delivered his message after all... The moon moved across to the sun and the two began to dance together. The Earth below had become still and peaceful. The sun gave a beautiful ring to show his love. At that moment, all the stars appeared everywhere. The dance would last forever. As they parted they knew that they would always be a part of each with the other. Now as time went by the sun would still get up early in the morning, while the moon lied in, but they were no longer lonely, as they knew each other were always there, moon for the night and sun for the day. The Tree continued and explained the two opposites had come together to become one and whole... .....With that the woodcutter now understood, he saw that he was covered in spring flowers . The face disappeared. He looked down at his boot, where the caterpillar had been, but instead, a beautiful butterfly lifted into the sky. The woodcutter smiled.

He knew what was needed to be done, he was free, he was home..