Ruby Rose
Location: Canadian Prairies
This story is based on a little French girl's childhood fantasies in the 1940s of human-eating plants and such. I give you:
In 1949, Dr. Alberto Ruz discovered a very elaborate pyramid tomb in the ruins of Palenque, in the hills of the Mexican state of Chiapas. Four years later, Professor David Kelley, an expert on glyphs from Calgary University in Canada, participated in the excavations. A huge sarcophagus was uncovered. It was the tomb of Pacal, the great ruler of Palenque who ruled from A.D. 615 to 683. The tomb was made of a type of limestone similar to what the Greeks used - to reduce the flesh quickly to dust. As per National Geographic 1975, the complex glyphs and portraits on the twelve foot sarcophagus lid of limestone consisted of the figure of Pacal frozen in a perpetual fall depicting an assumption amongst the gods; there was a cross behind the ruler representing the sacred ceiba tree with roots in hell, trunk in life, and branches in the heavens, where a celestial bird perched - honouring Pacal's illustrious earthly presence. And the gods were pleased. But when they were not...a portrait of merely a jaw bone; a strangler fig tree with roots in life and its host tree, a tall oak with trunk in hell and a common swallow-like bird...may be delineated.
In the late spring, sounds of little crying voices drifted upwards to unseen ears. "Leave me alone" "Please let me go" "I didn't do anything to you"...followed by a domineering voice: "I'll let you go when I'm good and ready. Right now, I want to have some fun. Why don't you try and make me stop?" mouthed Mickey - a baneful bully to all the youngsters in the small rural town in Northern Quebec.
It is believed that the gods will unite in a cause. And so it came to pass on a Sunday - the day of the sun, in the North East part of the country of Canada. Hebe, the goddess of youth, approached Morpheus, the god of sleep - Sol, the god of sun - Eurus, the god of South Eastwind and Baal, the god of rain to assist her in protecting the innocent - the youth. And they did.
The day was suddenly unusually hot with record-breaking temperatures causing everyone to feel lethargic including Mickey who succumbed to the urge to sit under the tallest tree he could find in his yard - a huge oak tree that had seen many years. He soon fell into a dead sleep.
Meanwhile, in Amazonian Peru, a long bird - blackish in colour with a swallow-like form, slightly bowed with stiff wings and with no apparent tail - was feasting on one last fig, a favourite fruit, before heading to the North East part of the country of Canada. It was commonly known as a chimney swift - a bird that possesses extraordinary powers of flight. Now sated, he flew off with the fig seed still in his mouth to begin his long but swift journey.
The bird soon arrived in the small rural town. Before nesting and roosting in the chimney of the house where Mickey lived with his family, the swift with fig seed in mouth deposited that seed at the top of the tallest tree in Mickey's yard - the oak tree. Where it began to sprout with the assistance of the gods that be.
The seed germinated a double set of roots. One set headed for the ground as most plants; but the other started winding around a branch of the host tree - the oak. And the life of a strangler fig tree began. As the first set of roots reached the ground, the strangler tree got stronger and stronger developing more and more of the encircling roots with their smooth entire leaflets - resembling a species of poison oak common in the Western USA. They began squeezing the host tree's trunk with Mickey sleeping against it - tighter and tighter. Mickey, with mouth agape in a singular gasp, awakened briefly at the final squeeze from the encircling roots...melding him forever into the remaining hollow trunk of the old oak tree. Finally the sap of the oak stopped flowing and the oak tree died with the strangler tree taking its place.
The next day, a group of children cutting across the yard, noticed the strange looking tree and wandered closer. Inspecting the strange markings on the centre hull - formerly the host tree - the oak, they fantasized on their formations. "Hey Joey, look at this one - looks like a human jaw bone." Then another said: "Yah...in a silent scream!" "Hey, look at what I found," said another. "A snow white polished smooth stone! Just the right size to make a great die for our games." "Here's another one the same size. Now we have a pair of dice." "Let's go and try them out."
As they were leaving, distinctive rapid chirping notes in the air could be heard as a lone bird, blackish in colour, flew by with its wings appearing to twinkle to the human eye.
"A Strangling"
by Ruby Rose
by Ruby Rose
In 1949, Dr. Alberto Ruz discovered a very elaborate pyramid tomb in the ruins of Palenque, in the hills of the Mexican state of Chiapas. Four years later, Professor David Kelley, an expert on glyphs from Calgary University in Canada, participated in the excavations. A huge sarcophagus was uncovered. It was the tomb of Pacal, the great ruler of Palenque who ruled from A.D. 615 to 683. The tomb was made of a type of limestone similar to what the Greeks used - to reduce the flesh quickly to dust. As per National Geographic 1975, the complex glyphs and portraits on the twelve foot sarcophagus lid of limestone consisted of the figure of Pacal frozen in a perpetual fall depicting an assumption amongst the gods; there was a cross behind the ruler representing the sacred ceiba tree with roots in hell, trunk in life, and branches in the heavens, where a celestial bird perched - honouring Pacal's illustrious earthly presence. And the gods were pleased. But when they were not...a portrait of merely a jaw bone; a strangler fig tree with roots in life and its host tree, a tall oak with trunk in hell and a common swallow-like bird...may be delineated.
In the late spring, sounds of little crying voices drifted upwards to unseen ears. "Leave me alone" "Please let me go" "I didn't do anything to you"...followed by a domineering voice: "I'll let you go when I'm good and ready. Right now, I want to have some fun. Why don't you try and make me stop?" mouthed Mickey - a baneful bully to all the youngsters in the small rural town in Northern Quebec.
It is believed that the gods will unite in a cause. And so it came to pass on a Sunday - the day of the sun, in the North East part of the country of Canada. Hebe, the goddess of youth, approached Morpheus, the god of sleep - Sol, the god of sun - Eurus, the god of South Eastwind and Baal, the god of rain to assist her in protecting the innocent - the youth. And they did.
The day was suddenly unusually hot with record-breaking temperatures causing everyone to feel lethargic including Mickey who succumbed to the urge to sit under the tallest tree he could find in his yard - a huge oak tree that had seen many years. He soon fell into a dead sleep.
Meanwhile, in Amazonian Peru, a long bird - blackish in colour with a swallow-like form, slightly bowed with stiff wings and with no apparent tail - was feasting on one last fig, a favourite fruit, before heading to the North East part of the country of Canada. It was commonly known as a chimney swift - a bird that possesses extraordinary powers of flight. Now sated, he flew off with the fig seed still in his mouth to begin his long but swift journey.
The bird soon arrived in the small rural town. Before nesting and roosting in the chimney of the house where Mickey lived with his family, the swift with fig seed in mouth deposited that seed at the top of the tallest tree in Mickey's yard - the oak tree. Where it began to sprout with the assistance of the gods that be.
The seed germinated a double set of roots. One set headed for the ground as most plants; but the other started winding around a branch of the host tree - the oak. And the life of a strangler fig tree began. As the first set of roots reached the ground, the strangler tree got stronger and stronger developing more and more of the encircling roots with their smooth entire leaflets - resembling a species of poison oak common in the Western USA. They began squeezing the host tree's trunk with Mickey sleeping against it - tighter and tighter. Mickey, with mouth agape in a singular gasp, awakened briefly at the final squeeze from the encircling roots...melding him forever into the remaining hollow trunk of the old oak tree. Finally the sap of the oak stopped flowing and the oak tree died with the strangler tree taking its place.
The next day, a group of children cutting across the yard, noticed the strange looking tree and wandered closer. Inspecting the strange markings on the centre hull - formerly the host tree - the oak, they fantasized on their formations. "Hey Joey, look at this one - looks like a human jaw bone." Then another said: "Yah...in a silent scream!" "Hey, look at what I found," said another. "A snow white polished smooth stone! Just the right size to make a great die for our games." "Here's another one the same size. Now we have a pair of dice." "Let's go and try them out."
As they were leaving, distinctive rapid chirping notes in the air could be heard as a lone bird, blackish in colour, flew by with its wings appearing to twinkle to the human eye.
