The Cypress and the Flame Vine
Folklore Table of Contents
Once upon a time, not far from the last house of the village, just before the road bends toward the Mount Carmel foothills, a young, proud cypress seemed to stand eternally at guard as if to warn away any eventual intruder.
He was all alone and although he did not seem to mind, in reality often he felt neglected, with no one to talk to or even to smile at. Most of his family, unlike him, are known to keep together, either in thick groves or in long, straight, severe procession like rows.
No one remembers how he came to stand there, but the fact remains that our cypress held himself, proud but lonely, on his sunny spot.
Then, one day, after a long, windless, rainy winter night, the softest whisper broke the deep silence:
-O tall one, who are you? May I talk to you? I am lonely...
The cypress quivered softly, pleasantly surprised, tried to teach himself the art of smiling, bent with some difficulty to look downward and said:
-Of course, little one; but who are you? And are you planning to stay for long?
Overcoming her anxiety and shyness, the baby Flame Vine replied:
-I am a newborn Flame Vine; but I soon will grow and search for some tall friend to climb higher and higher with him...
-Little visitor, welcome, said the Cypress, you are invited to climb and visit me.
-Oh, thank you, thank you, smiled the Flame Vine; and some day, even if now I can hardly be seen, toward the end of the winter, my first orange colored flowers will blossom, - then I'll show you that I have also something to offer, and we shall become friends...
-We shall see, we shall see, answered the cypress, hiding his tolerant smile.
Time passed; spring came and nothing much happened; when the Cypress made an effort to look downward, now he could see his new friend's dark new little leaves - but that was all. Summer came, then autumn and yet another winter. The sturdy Cypress stood firm before wind and rain and storm; and the little Flame Vine grew on and on, hugging the lower branches of her new, indulgent, ever smiling friend, who encouraged her on and on.
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