The Woodcarver and his Wife (excerpt)

Once there was an elderly couple of craftspeople, a woodcarver and his wife. The woodcarver and his wife were very skilled; every day they would go into the forest to create their handiwork.

The woodcarver took fallen branches that he found lying around, found a log, and sat and carved. The woodcarver’s carvings were very impressive, and they all told a story. The woodcarver’s carvings told stories of his culture, the struggles it had faced, the victories it had won, and where it was now.

The woodcarver’s wife was a weaver; every day when she and her husband went into the forest she would collect grasses that she found.

The woodcarver’s wife took only enough grasses as she needed, never any more ….

One day during their walk to the forest the woodcarver and his wife found a notice saying, “in a few days the forest will be sold to the logging company.”

Dismayed by the news that the woodcarver and his wife’s beautiful forest would soon be just sticks and stumps, they set off to find the owner of the land, to talk about the forest’s situation.