What a Tree Means to America and Me

Once upon a time there was a kingdom, richer than all the others.

The kingdom had trees, gardens, and many other plants. One day a man came strolling along outside of the kingdom's gates. He looked very peculiar and mischievous. He handed a letter to one of the guards. Oncethe guard had looked at the note, he lifted his head and stared at the manas if he had claimed he was a giant.

The guard walked past the gates and into the castle and up to the king'squarters. He handed him the note. The king had begun an outrage! Hestarted screaming, yelling, and raving. He threw the note to the ground andsaid, "How could they even think about taking the trees from the rightfularea and building upon their once used ground?"The king stood up and stomped down to the meeting hall. Once hereached his destination he ordered that all of his court gestures come atonce.

Picea abies, single tree. Russia, Ivanovo District...

English: Photograph by Mario Vaden, at Simpson Ree...

Sequoia sempervirens in Redwood National Park

As they arrived one by one the king began to think. He was thinkingof a way to persuade the men who brought the dreadful note, to not cutdown there beautiful trees. Once he had come upon his idea he begansharing it with everyone who had arrived. They thought that his idea wasbrilliant.

A week later the men came to cut down the trees, but the king hadhis guards stop them at once. He began sharing his thoughts with them.

He said, "How could you cut down these trees? They are vital for all livinglife! If we simply cut them all down we would not be able to survive in theworld."At that moment the man asked the king if he could chop down half ofthe forest, so that they could still have trees left to produce oxygen. Theking was starting to get frustrated, so,