The fish wanted so badly to play with the boy, too, but he knew that as a fish it was impossible. The boy would run with the horses, wrestle with the dogs, and climb the trees with the squirrels. Every day the fish would watch with envy as a boy from the nearby village played with the animals on the land. “Once upon a time there was a fish who lived in a deep lake all by himself. And so the Curvy Tree was left alone to grow in peace now that all the other trees were gone. The loggers had seen how its trunk and branches twisted and turned and they knew they could never use its wood to build with. When they finally left the forest, only one tree remained, and I bet it will come as no surprise when I tell you it was the Curvy Tree.

They cut down every tree in the woods to build houses, tables, chairs, and beds. Years later, on the last day of winter before spring began, loggers traveled to the forest looking for wood, not to burn, but to build with. ‘We hate your bark and your branches and your leaves that twist and turn! One day they will chop you into firewood and you will forever burn!’ It made the Curvy Tree very sad, and if you spoke Plant you would hear it cry itself to sleep every night. When the humans and animals were away, in a language that only could be heard by the plants of the forest, the other trees would taunt the poor Curvy Tree.

It was known as the Curvy Tree by all who saw it, and many humans and animals came from far and wide to see its splendor. While the other trees grew perfectly straight toward the sky, this particular tree grew in loops, twists, and turns. “Once upon a time, in a faraway forest, there lived a tree that was different from all the other trees in the woods.

A grimm warning book