The Pupil And The Master

As she walked and ran in the woods the fresh air was fragrant with the wild berries ripening at this time of the year. The yellow of the sun the blue of the sky and the white of the clouds created a perfect backdrop for the green forest which was alive with life inside. The rabbits ran popped their ears hid and ran again as she walked along with her master.

She came with him here to search her identity. They belonged to the shaper tribes. She was a ten year old as impish crazy, childish, grown up wise snappy... and her master was walking with the robe of experience with her.

“Here, Tyla I will leave you.” He said in a grave voice

“Go and search yourself and may the knowledge be granted to you by the wise ones. The test is to be experienced.”

With this he touched his had to her forehead and swiftly disappeared inside the thick forest.

Tyla walked over through the shrubs and reached the place a semi circle of green shrubs and many flowers. It was a place where they had to go for their tests. Here she would find her own identity. The true shape of their soul is to be found here. Time was not any constrain or a limit either. It could take days, months or years.

She entered the dell softly and hesitantly. She calmed her nerves and stilled her thoughts. She closed her eyes and concentrated and then she could feel the change in her body which suddenly flattened and then divided it self into soft petals as she transformed into a lovely delicate flower.

Tyla searched herself in the softness of the delicate petals but it felt cold not warm as it should and did not fee right. This was not her shape she immediately understood.

Time moved or flowed she never realized as she transformed into a rose then a weed and after that a willow tree. But there was no light for her to feel it right. It was dark and unknown.

She was worried now.

What if she does not have a shape? She will be an outcast. Her tribe was a mild tribe with nothing aggressive. But an outcast had to go away to the human realm and never to return. She would not like to be an outcast

She suddenly felt her shoulder blades itching and there were some soft wings with many hues growing through the sides. As she transformed into a butterfly she fluttered around the flowers trying to search her in that beautiful shape. The flowers she searched for the nectar which seemed tempting but as she tried to taste it was bitter. The darkness and coldness around her told her this again was not her true shape.

She fluttered and hovered and tired she fell through the overgrowth. She was still for some of the many moments but she never realized them passing by. When she became conscious she felt herself branching out and the young green leaves appeared on her branches as the roots sunk deep inside the rust brown Earth. The breeze tickled her as water transported the life force from the earth. The birds flew hither and thither and butterflies looked at her with awe. The sun gave her the divine energy to make the green leaves greener and small tendrils developed buds which became flowers and soon she was covered with white dainty flowers with a heavenly fragrance She could feel the wind touching like a lover’s breath and immediately it dawned on her that this she had not changed her form but she had become the tree.
She was happy dancing in the wind as it flowed through her branches and the birds came to make nests.

But she will have to go back now to her village to tell her master. She will have to transform herself. She slowly became Tyla and gathered her skirts as she walked and softly danced out of the forest …she smiled as she remembered a song she hummed softly

"Silently the birds fly through us.
Oh, I, who long to grow,
I look outside myself,
And the tree inside me grows."

Rainer Maria Rilke
 (1875-1926)

 "Silently the birds fly through us.
Oh, I, who long to grow,
I look outside myself,
And the tree inside me grows."