Week Thirty-One

 

   This is a tale about a girl whose name was Envy. She cherished what others had, and not her own. She envied everything about anyone that came into her life. Whether they were young or old, she despised them for what they had. She had no brothers and no sisters, and her parents were always away. 

   One day when she was tired of being alone, she decided to take a walk through the woods. She came across a beautiful green tree with magnificent ivy and vines intricately wrapped around its trunk. She stopped to look at this tree, for she had never seen it before. She was in awe of its beauty, and was drawn to it. So, she decided to sit down and lean against the big tree. Soon she began to tell the tree of her sorrows and misfortune and of everything that was lacking in her life.  The tree was a great listener and heard every word she said. One day when Envy was telling the tree of how she wished she could be as pretty or talented as others, the tree proposed a plan. It gave her an emerald necklace, ring and pair of earrings, saying that if she wore them, all those who she envied, would soon envy her. For a little while, it worked. Envy’s peers were in fact jealous of her beautiful jewels, and it made Envy disgustingly happy. But all too soon, it faded away. It faded away like everything else in this world, something bigger and better came along and the envious eyes took themselves elsewhere. 

   Envy was distraught. She wasn’t the person that every girl wanted to be, and she wasn’t what everyone was talking about anymore. It bothered her. Far more then she would admit. She felt a darkness growing inside of her heart, but she hushed it away, telling herself that there was no fault in having a little confidence. But that was where Envy was wrong. True, she was right about nothing being wrong with having confidence. But it was where she was putting her confidence in that was the problem. She had such a desire to be the next best thing, and was always chasing after what new and wondrous item everyone else had that she forgot that sometimes the best things in life aren’t even things at all. Envy was choosing to put her self worth into material items, but nothing in this life truly lasts. Unknowingly, she was slowly becoming a prisoner of her jealousy, and in more ways then she knew. 

    So in a desperate rage, she ran to the tree and told it of everything that had happened. She told it that she wanted something even more magnificent then the jewels, something to have that nobody would ever stop talking about till the day she died. She wanted to be better than everyone else, and she wasn’t going to stop until she was. The tree thought for a moment, pondering the words that Envy had spoken. It asked her if she truly, deeply and wholeheartedly wanted to be something that nobody else was, someone that would be talked of forever and ever. She said yes, desperately so. She was tired of being just her. She wanted more.

Well, in so many words, Envy got what she wanted. She was somebody, and there was no way anyone was quite like her. But she realized it wasn't what she wanted. She liked herself just the way she had been. She promised over and over again that she wouldn't be jealous anymore, if she could just have everything back to normal again. But it was too late now.

For she was a tree now.

And people talked about her forevermore, the girl who was utterly green with envy.