Per Jespersen
A Day In The Forest
Deena and Sarah spent their summer vacation with Deena's uncle
Samoa, who was a retired teacher, living in a remote house in the
middle of a huge forest. Every day they strolled with him in the
forest, listening to his strange stories about trees, witches, and
fortune tellers. There was no end to his stories – he could go on
and on – so one day Deena asked him, "Where have you read all
these stories?"
"I haven't read them. They just pop into my mind when I see
things."
"How come?"
"You see, when I see an old oak tree, I try to imagine the
experience this tree is possessing."
"A tree has no memory," Sarah laughed.
"How do you know? Anyway, I said that I imagined it. All the
people who have passed this tree during the years – lovers –
walkers – workers – all kinds of people. And I imagine the tree
telling me all this – and there you go – the story is there!"
"So you mean that the tree possesses stories," Deena said,
pondering.
"No, but the presence of the tree makes my mind come up with
imagination. When I am alone, I just see visions, but when I am
walking with you, the visions come to words, and I tell you the
story. Do you see?"
"No," both the girls said, and Sarah went on, "The story must be
somewhere, before you find it."
Uncle Samoa frowned. "So you mean that stories are in the world
on beforehand, waiting for us to pick them up?"
"In a way," Sarah said.
"No," Deena said. "Things are there – events are there – thoughts
are there -- and people's minds make connections between
them."
"Oh, I see," Uncle Samoa said.
Deena went on. "For animals there are only things and events,
and they do not connect them the way we do. They are not
supposed to. But people have minds, and the meaningness of the
human mind is to learn to connect events and things with their
thoughts."
"So you mean that thinking is sort of a tool for connection and
understanding," Sarah said.
"Not really. Thoughts are dead themselves – they can only come
to life through emotions and fantasy. The ability to imagine
things – to pick up stories as Uncle Samoa does – or to make
music or paint or dance or make a ballet – this ability makes it
possible for people to connect all this in their minds."
Uncle Samoa listened intensely. Then he said, "What you say is –
well, mental creation or something like that. Does this mean, that
you mean, that our goal is to create? That it is more important to
create than to think?"
"Sure," Deena said. "Creation is there all the time, waiting to be
experienced by us, and waiting to be discovered all the time – on
and on again. The deepest of our minds is creation and not
thinking."
"So you mean," Sarah said, "that our fantasy and our imagination
are the deepest of our – I don't know – the deepest of our soul, if
we have one."
"That's it," Deena said. "Life is creation. Creation is there all the
time, waiting for us to see."
"Look," Uncle Samoa said. "Look at that marvellous tree. See a
story there?"
"Yes," Sarah laughed. "It's a story about love – Man's love for
Nature, and Nature's love for us."
"Or a ballet – look at the leaves," Deena said eagerly. "They
move in the wind like a ballet."
"I can almost hear the symphony," Uncle Samoa said. "The forest
symphony, telling us to take care of Nature – dance with it – pick
up all the stories – make a painting of this marvellous world. I do
agree with you – there is nothing but creation. So let's join our
hands and dance to my house. I expect a whole orchestra waiting
for us there."
"This is just beautiful," Deena said. "Three people dancing in the
forest, while the leaves make their ballet above our heads. I think
I'm going to fold out my wings and fly home."
"Sure, why not! Everything is possible, when the mind is ready
and open."
And there Uncle Samoa stood, looking at the two flying girls.
"What a story," he said. "What a story!"
In your exercise book:
Write questions to the story.
Read them aloud for the class and discuss the answers.
Why does imagination play such a great role in our thinking?
Discuss the answers.
How would people be without imagination? Would we be able to think at all?
Glossary:
vacation = ferie
retired = pensioneret
stroll = strejfe
witch = heks
fortune teller = spåkone
experience = erfaring
possess = besidde
memory = hukommelse
presence = tilstedeværelse
frown = rynke panden
on beforehand = på forhånd
event = begivenhed
connect = forbinde
ability = evne
mental = åndelig
creation = skabelse
goal = formål
discover = opdage
marvellous = vidunderlig
Per Jespersen: A day in the forest
Engelsk for 7. klasse
Skole-forum.dk
