Every week, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields (thank you, Rochelle!) hosts a flash fiction challenge, to write a complete story, based on a photoprompt, with a beginning, middle and end, in 100 words or less. Post it on your blog, and include the Photoprompt and Inlinkz on your page. Link your story URL. Then the fun starts as you read other peoples’ stories and comment on them!
PHOTO PROMPT © LIZ YOUNG
The Healing Tree
That night the pain was worse. I silenced my cowardly groans, biting hard on a willow twig.
Our shaman nodded at me next morning.
“You are sick,” he said. “You must go to the Tree of Healing.”
“What do I do there?” I asked.
“It is your presence that heals, not what you do. Go!”
I walked. On the second day there was blood in my mouth. I kept walking.
On the third day, I saw the tree; I saw a light, brighter than the sun; I heard chanting voices.
The light faded and I fell.
The pain was gone!
I’m going to try that for covid
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Thank you for your comment, Neil. Have you seen the latest weapon in the war against the virus? Apparently low dose aspirin reduces the risk of hospitalisation and death by about 40%. Talk about old-fashioned remedies!
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Hadn’t heard that, Penny. Thank you for sharing the info!
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Wonderfully imagined, Penny. I wonder if it became a place of pilgrimage once word got out and before Big Pharma patented it!
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Thank you for your kind comment, Dora. I’m sure it was a place of pilgrimage – but only for those who knew and had faith.
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Does the tree really el, or is it just a question of faith? Good take Penny.
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Thank you for the thoughtful comment, Iain.
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Dear Penny,
Would that there was such a tree. Take me there! A magically, well-told story, full of light. Your vivid descriptions took me there.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Dear Rochelle
Thank you for the very kind comments. You’re very kind to praise the description.
Shalom
Penny
xx
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I need a tree like that in my garden. Right this minute… 🙂
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Thank you for the comment, Sandra. I hope it doesn’t mean you’re in pain.
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Oh, this was an eerily good one.
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Thank you for your very kind comment, Bear. It’s lovely to think that the story is eerie!
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A paracetamol tree, how cool!
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Thank you for the comment, CE. When you refer to a paracetamol tree, are you comparing the Healing Tree with the willow twig that he chews in the opening paragraph? It would be appropriate since, as you probably know, willow twigs contain aspirin!
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That story was a great build to a happy ending!
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Thank you for your kind comment, Susan.
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If only! A nice piece of fiction … or is it?
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Thank you for your kind comment, Keith. In his instance the story is completely fictional.
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From scanning through the comments, I would say we all could wish for access to a healing tree. My question: What happened next? Did the person just pick himself up and toddle off back home?
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Thank you for your very thoughtful comment, Linda. What happened next? Well, first of all, the reader decides for herself, because the text of the story doesn’t say. Nevertheless, look at the clues in the text.
“That night” implies that there have been other nights of severe pain. The MC has to stifle cowardly groans. He’s ill enough for the shaman to realise. On his journey to the Tree, he finds blood in his mouth. He sees a bright light that fades as he collapses. What circumstances would tie all those elements together without there being any miracle?
The author’s view is not optimistic!
With very best wishes
Penny
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Pretty much what I was t hinkiing.
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I’m glad of that, Linda. I had been starting to think the clues weren’t strong enough! Thank you for letting me know – all constructive criticism is warmly welcomed. Thank you, too, for your courtesy in not revealing your insight into my back story in your first comment.
With very best wishes
Penny
xx
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Penny… you forgot to give US directions to that tree!
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Dear Dale,
I’m sorry not to have given you directions. I’ve lost the map and my sense of direction is hopeless! I’m not altogether sure I want to reach that particular tree in any case.
Thank you for your sweet comment!
Penny
xx
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Dang it Penny! Then again, I think you’re right. That tree seems to offer something but we know everything comes at a cost…
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For whatever reason I leapt to the conclusion that your protagonist died just as they got there…
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Thank you for the helpful comment, Ali. You are quite right – that was the conclusion of the story in my mind. However, the text doesn’t say so, hence the reader can imagine a happy ending if they prefer!
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My first impulse was: kick that shaman out. Poor sick person, full of hope… sure, the pain stopped. But going through all this pain and misery of the journey… I still want to kick the shaman out. 🙂
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Thank you for your indignant comment, Gabi!. Seriously, though, the shaman is all the medical help the tribespeople have. Would you prefer to exhaust yourself journeying to the Healing Tree, or lie in your wigwam in agony for the last few weeks of life? How would you prefer people to remember you – a brave warrior who fought to the end, or a coward who died snivelling?
But, even more seriously ( 😉 ), thank you for being emotionally involved by my story. That’s good to know!
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Heheh. What I would want? The truth. And then, if I want to die in nature, prepare and be accompanied by family or friends. Or, if there aren’t any, get drugs and drift away without pain. Every culture I can think of has potent drugs. Nature provides. 😉 😀
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it could be placebo effect working here. 🙂
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Thank you for your comment, Plaridel. It could indeed be the placebo effect. If you’re cynical about the shaman, it could even be the nocebo effect!
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The ultimate healing as the light here fades. Excellently written as always!
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Thank you for your very kind comment, Brenda. Yes, it would be quite a good way to go.
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I like the image of the tree as a healing place. Well done.
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Thank you for your kind comment. The photograph of the tree made me think of a cathedral, with light and music – and healing.
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Sadly I read a finality to this journey… Aspirin and good quality Chicken soup, are great medicines. One note of caution Aspirin can badly damage the stomach
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Thank you for your astute comment, Michael. I agree with you about both aspirin and chicken soup. Also, tinned tomatoes are useful when recovering from a fever.
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Never trust a Shaman. Still, many of the old methods if followed quick can cure an illness before it becomes too sever.
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Thank you for commenting, James. The old methods were sometimes successful, but I confess I would prefer modern medicine if my life were on the line!
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Beautifully mysterious.
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Thank you for your kind comment, Jenne.
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I guess the gates of Paradise might well look like this.
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Thank you for your thoughtful comment, Liz, and also for the stimulating prompt photo. I think you’re right about the gates of Paradise. It will be wonderful to see them and know we will soon be with Jesus.
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All trees are healing and this one even more so. Wonderful storytelling, Penny.
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Thank you very much for your kind comment. Trees can work magic on the human mind!
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You’re welcome, Penny.
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Sometimes faith sustains us when everything else fails. I suspect the protagonist did not get healed in the end.
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Thank you for your thoughtful comment, Subroto. The text of the story doesn’t say whether the protagonist got healed in the end, so you can choose for yourself! In my version of the story he dies at the tree, but is free of pain, and tranquil.
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I wondered whether you were consciously influenced by WH Hudson’s ‘A Crystal Age’, which concludes with a similar pain remedy.
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