Maria circled, round, and round the big Oaktree because she has been hearing tales, about people getting what they want if they go round the Oaktree, "Bring back my Hoggie, bring back my Hoggie." She repeated in whispers as if chanting, and with her eyes shut she went round and round again till she stopped to catch her breath and started to weep gently, " where are you my dear Hoggie?" she said rubbing her tears, suddenly the Oaktree shook, Maria stopped weeping and stared at the Oaktree, " Is someone up there?" she said, "Mr. Tree?" Maria stood there waiting for a response but the tree remained silent so, she went on again "can you talk?" she asked, the Oaktree remained silent but continued to shake, ' perhaps, it does not understand English.' Thought Maria, 'I dare say it's a French tree' so she began, " Que fais-tu?" which was the first sentence in her French book, the tree giggled at this, so Maria continued in French, " Quel est ton nom?"
" Oh! You can stop!." The tree replied,
" You do speak English!." Maria replied she was pleased to know because she can hardly speak French.
The tree gave a soft laugh before choking and coughing; he sounded like an old man.
"Are you okay, Mr. tree?" Maria said, the tree cleared his throat and said, "Oh My! What a kind little girl, you are" Maria blushed at hearing his words but couldn't say anything.
" and what are you doing here," the tree asked before coughing.
" I'm searching for my pet a brown hedgehog," replied Maria, have you seen him?"
"Oh! Yes!" the tree said
Maria jumped with joy, " really? Where did you see him." She said with zeal.
"Over there," replied the tree and pointed his branch to the far west of the garden, Maria turned back and saw a line of brown hedges and many brown hogs were jumping over it.
"Yes, there!" the tree said again, " Hogs jumping over the hedges are called hedgehogs, your pet is over there," he sounded promising.
" I don't see him," Maria replied, the Oaktree's leaves withered and some fell off, " well, I'm very sorry my dear child, he is dead." He said, this time sounding remorse.
Maria put her hands on her hips because she found his words to be very harsh.
" That was very rude of you to just say he's dead." She said in an angry tone.
" well, everybody dies." The tree replied, " but not me, I've been stuck here for... God knows how long," he said with a sigh and more leaves fell from the branches.
" Hmph!... well God knows, how many trees my uncle has chopped," Maria said, " he's a woodcutter and he lives deep in the forest if only he could be here, I will tell him to chop you off, he even chopped off the tail of a beast."
" speaking of tales," the tree interrupted " I know very good tales, in fact, I have been telling tales my whole life, tales of princesses, tales of fairies, and many more… that's a good point for living long, don't you think?"
" well, you should think before you speak," Maria replied, "and I am very fond of tales."
The tree shook his branches and began-
' once upon a time, there lived a beautiful princess. She had four noses, five ears,
and six eyes with only three eyelids- …'
"Stop!" Maria interrupted, " why are you telling me a story? And that princess should not be beautiful but she should be ugly and scary."
"well, tales are just stories." The tree replied
" Never mind!" Maria said and she brushed the dust off her dress, " I'm searching for my Hoggie, I don't have time to listen to your tales, I'm sorry." She said and started to walk away.
" Wait! Come back!" the tree called after her, " I've something important to say!"
This sounded promising: certainly, Maria turned and came back
" Keep your temper!" the tree said.
" Is that all?" said Maria swallowing down her anger as well as she could.
" No!" the tree replied, " perhaps if you sit down and listen to my tales, it may help you."
Maria thought she might as well listen to his tale, as it may help her find some clues to find out where Hoggie went, ' It wouldn't hurt to listen.' She thought.
The tree stood silent for a minute or two and he shook, " are you ready?" he said.
Maria folded her arms and said "Yes!"
"Good!" the tree replied, he shook once more and began-
' Old Billy went to the jungle…
Old Billy caught a doe…
Old Billy tied it up…
"I'm sorry,doe, but I'm very hungry," said Old Billy,
"Dear, old Billy" the doe replied, "if you want to eat me, you should first listen to my story."
Old Billy was confused, " Why? Dear doe" he replied.
" because I am a mother doe and has a story to tell before I get eaten," said the doe. " my dear doe," said old Billy, " I didn't know you were a mother doe, how many kids do you have."
"My dear old Billy, I had ten kids,
the first one was born without breathing,
the second one flew away with the eagle and was seen no more,
the third one went into the cave of fangs,
the fourth one swam away with the river,
the fifth one was taken by a net,
the sixth one was covered by a huge rock that was running down the hill after its nap,
the seventh one slept and never woke up,
the eighth one was swallowed by a huge vine with fangs and,
the ninth one hid under the earth."
" where's the tenth one?"
" the tenth one is sipping sap from the hibiscus tree and needs his mother." Said the doe
Old billy remained silent for a while, "well" he said and untied the doe, " you can go now."
The doe quickly got on her feet and climbed onto the top of the mountain, where no one could reach her, she slowly turned back and said " Dear old Billy.."
Old Billy looked at her shielding his eyes from the sun.
" what is it? Dear doe."
The deer snorted and said, " to tell a lie was very easy, foolish old Billy."'
" done already?" said Maria with her arms still crossed, " that was nonsense."
"All tales are nonsense." The tree replied, " in fact, they do have meaning."
" not quite right, I'm afraid." Said Maria as she began to walk away from the tree, ' what a waste of my time' she thought, ' I could have found Hoggie by now, only if I didn't listen to his stupid tale.'
" Come back!" the tree called out, Maria turned back and headed towards him, " what now?" she said
The tree stood silent for a minute or two and shook its branches before speaking, " if you go to the east side…" he said and stopped for a while, it seemed as if he was sleeping.
" east side what?" Maria said
The tree shook and continued, " you will come across the tea party, where the Hatter and the March hare always drank tea…but they're dead now."
" what's the point of involving with dead people?" remarked Maria, " when even the living ones are not much of a help."
" Oh! You can't help that" said the tree, " but the dormouse still lives, perhaps he can help you."
" No, thank you," Maria said as she turned and walked away, after a minute or two she walked on in the direction given by the tree, as she did not know where to go. Far away she could see steams coming out and had not gone much farther before she came in sight of the tea party.