The Dryad and the Gift of the Greenwood

The dryad of the greenwood liked to leave her tree sometimes and wander the forest. She loved to stretch down deep into the ground, and talk to other trees through their twining roots, and their susurrations of leaves and branches, but sometimes she got the urge to wander. The greenwood was old and filled with life; deer and squirrel, fox and bird. She had no fear for her tree when she stepped out from it to explore the woods. As her leaves turned golden in autumn, she often felt this desire to look around and stretch her legs once more before winter’s long sleep.

The forest was filled with fire and glow that autumn day as the dryad walked among the tall trees. She visited her friends who lived too far away to easily talk to through rustling leaves and twining roots.

The time would arrive before the dryad knew it, the moment when her leaves would all fall to the ground, and the blustery winter winds would arrive. When her eyes would drift closed and her sap would thicken in her veins as she hibernated during the season of rest. But now…now it was a moment of liquid amber beauty in the air and the sky around her as autumn exploded with a last burst of life.

She sat down near a particularly dear friend of hers, Hazel, to talk for a while. But soon the mushrooms near her started to whisper of dirt and spores, and the air grew thick around her as her eyes drifted peacefully downward.

The dryad of the greenwood fell asleep there in the forest, far from her tree. And as she slept, she dreamed of magic, of finding a way to preserve the beauty of autumn’s glow long into winter’s season. Wouldn’t that be a splendid thing, she thought.

The mushrooms listened to her dreams, and carried its story on its spores through the air to all the forest. And the god of the greenwood heard her.

When she woke up, resting right at her feet was a beautiful autumn pumpkin. Pumpkins were a gourd that grew in the fall, she had certainly heard through the whispers from tree to tree, but they weren’t commonly found in the forest. But this pumpkin didn’t look like any she had ever heard described. It was covered in scales, almost like a pinecone. And it was the greenest green of the greenwood.

As she held the pumpkin, a voice whispered to her on the breeze. The voice was not that of the leaves and branches of her fellow dryads, but far older: the voice of the greenwood itself. It told her to watch the pumpkin as it grew. She was to keep it and protect it, and as it turned from green to golden orange, it would soon hatch into an autumn forest dragon, filled with the fire and glow of the season.

The dryad cradled the pumpkin in her arms and carefully returned to her tree, thanking the greenwood for its gift. She nestled the pumpkin in a bed of the most beautiful autumn leaves gifted to her by dryads along the walk back to her home tree. And then she waited.

The pumpkin grew and turned yellow first, then a golden orange. And the dryad of the greenwood became a mother one day as it cracked open to reveal a dragon who smelled of crunchy leaves and apple cider, pumpkin spices and caramel.

She stepped forward from her tree to embrace the dragon and to whisper in his ear just how much she loved him. But her leaves were almost gone, and it was almost time to sleep for winter.

All through the winter’s cold, the autumn dragon of the greenwood protected the forest as it slept under a bed of thick white snow. And the dryads in their slumber all had beautiful dreams of long golden fall days filled with spice and warmth.

~*~

I actually just recently finished writing a much longer short story with a similar story line to this, but when I saw this pumpkin at the store, I couldn’t help but write this little tale and take photographs in the woods as the dryad.

Many thanks to Niole for gifting me this beautiful Pine Forest Witch linen dress to wear in exchange for sharing its beauty! This is the first linen dress I’ve ever owned and I am utterly smitten. It’s comfortable, lovely, and magical-looking!