The Walnut

On my way home I saw the old walnut from my childhood days. It was towering over the plain the same way I remembered.

When I was a child I loved spending time in the shadow of this old guardian of the valley. The feeling of peace I got here was equaled only by the safety I felt around my parents.

A few weeks after I started here my father told me the legend of the lonely walnut.

This story started long before my grandfather was even born and it started as the story of a young lord. The lord was born with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. By the time he was a teenager, he read all the books in his parent’s library and he was outsmarting his teachers. Because of this, when he was twenty years of age he decided to start a quest for the greatest knowledge the world has to offer.

No matter how much his parents tried to change his mind the young lord could not be swayed from his decision. He left his parents with tears in their eyes, not knowing this will be the last time he sees them.

The lord wondered the land for many years, but his thirst for all that could be learned was not yet satisfied. On his way to a new library, he heard about, the lord, a proper man by now, passed by an old man.

-Young lord, can you spear a sip of water? The old man said.

Not completely willing, the Lord gave some water to the old man without saying a word.

-You won’t find what you’re searching that way, the old man said.

-What do you know about what I’m searching for? The Lord said with surprise and arrogance mixed in his voice.

-I know a lot more than you think.

-Speak old man. What do you mean?

-This search you are on is useless. Life is only part about learning, the other part is about living.

-What is life worth without knowledge?

-You live it as it comes. You taste every surprise. Even the bad ones.

-You are crazy, old man.

-I might, but it doesn’t mean I’m wrong. If you could ask for anything, what would you ask for?

-It’s easy, the Lord said. I would ask for more time to be able to learn everything.

-Are you sure this is what you wish?

-Yes

-I’ll give you all the time you need, boy. The old man said.

After that, the earth started shaking. The lord felt drawn in and at the same time, he felt getting higher above the earth. The last thing he heard was:

“You will live your time as a tree until you come to know love”

Time passed and the meeting of these two men was forgotten. Only the legend remained. That is why each summer young girls come with gifts for the walnut in the hope to make it human again.

In the autumn, when its leaves fall on the ground, the old tree seems to weep. It is said that all the wisdom he got makes him cry after the life he never lived.