Fern, Banyan tree
Unnatural Recollections #11
Part 2: Strange People
Fern
Wherever she goes, ferns spring up, so we all call her the Fern Maiden. She is a smart and beautiful girl who was once admitted to school. However, the Fern Maiden filled the entire school building with thread ferns, hair ferns, kidney ferns, and ear ferns. The students would all line up to watch this spectacle, trailing behind the Fern Maiden, not wanting to stay in their classrooms any longer. As a result, the Fern Maiden was invited to leave the school.
People always say that the miracles must be caused by spores shed from the body of the Fern Maiden. A man, out of hatred for the Fern Maiden, or simply out of lust, violated her. As a result, he was strangled to death by a bed full of bristlegrass.
The city was holding a large-scale sports event, and we decided to ask the Fern Maiden to represent us, as she was light and nimble. However, the city government refused to let the Fern Maiden participate in the competition, saying that she was too young. I think, in fact, they were afraid that the racetrack and the podium would be covered with ferns they didn’t want to see.
The Fern Maiden is younger than us all, but we all vow to forever follow the green footprints of the Fern Maiden. But this is difficult! Although where she walks, ferns grow, but as soon as the sun shines, those delicate little grasses will wither and die. Except in the shadowy places where the Fern Maiden lives. There are ferns that grow like creeping animals, covering the fragile body of the Fern Maiden.
Banyan tree
People say there are young fairies living in the Banyan tree. I wonder, how is that possible? The Banyan tree is so old while the fairies are so young?
That day, I had arranged to meet her under the old banyan tree, but I was unexpectedly late. I sat foolishly under the tree, occasionally looking up at the dense canopy. Seeing the entangled branches, I couldn’t dare to imagine climbing up to find her. It became dimmer under the tree earlier than outside, so I purposely walked around and frequently stomped my feet, acting out regretful gestures, thinking she might actually be secretly watching. Sometimes I seemed to see a slight shadow moving between the leaves, but it seemed to be just the wind. Later, it really became late, even the moonlight couldn’t penetrate in, I had to leave dejectedly, frequently looking back.
Some say that it was the banyan tree that captured the girls. Thus, there were always fathers looking for their daughters and boys looking for their lovers under the tree. Some even attempted to climb up the tree, only to fall to their deaths. When a father or boy died, a faint cry could be heard from the tree. This led people to believe that the hanging roots were the tears of the girls, stretching into the soil where the dead lay, forming new trunks. I, too, had thought about throwing myself to death, if it really could give rise to a new root. But I did not have the courage.
I only knew how to wait each day, hoping that eventually she would come down from the tree and stop tormenting me. This way, I waited for fifty years and became an old man. My only consolation was the green figs yielded by the tree each year, each one carrying the laughter of a fairy. I believe, one of them is her.