Once upon a green time there was a boy who lived in a big tree. The Tree was in a huge wood called Coed y Cwm. But everyone called it The Cwm.
His e-mail address was cochyn@coed.cwm. His hair was red, and his name was Cochyn. Everyone called him Cochyn y Cwm.
At the top, The Tree had millions of leaves. They glowed in the sun and made the tree's dinner from Sunbeams and Air and Rain.
At the bottom, The Tree had roots which spread underground until they were just tiny white lights. They made sure The Tree had enough to drink. And when he’d had too much, the roots made sure The Tree stood up straight – especially when the Big Wind blew.
When Cochyn looked up he saw The Tree shooting on and on like a fountain until the leaves splashed green into the bright blue sky and then on and on to the sun and moon and stars.
When Cochyn looked down, The Tree flowed down and down like a waterfall until it dived into the warm, black earth with all the warm things living on it and in it, and then on and on almost to the banks of the runny river that ran through The Cwm. The river was named Nant y Graig. But everyone called it The Graig.
The foxes and badgers and rabbits and moles and mice and rats and worms and mushrooms and bluebells and earwigs and all sorts of things from all the ends of the Earth lived in The Earth. The Tree itself lived in The Earth.
The fish and frogs and otters and eels lived in The Graig.
There were things living in The Tree too.
There were all the birds. They sang songs all the time to tell each other the time, or what the news was. The birds were very interested in the news. But mostly they just sang because it was fun. When he heard them sing, Cochyn saw colours in his head and felt like he was a bird too, flying in the sky.
There were lots of other things living in The Tree with Cochyn.
Moths that came out at night and danced like brown fairies in the light of Cochyn’s computer. They loved dancing and reading. It was the moths that showed Cochyn how to dance.
In the daytime, there were the Butterflies – always dressed up in their holiday shirts and always looking for sweets. It was the Butterflies who showed Cochyn how to tell jokes.
Then there were all the shiny, busy beetles. They lived in The Tree and in the earth and sometimes, at parties, they would fly. Just like the birds, only fatter. They were very polite and shy, but sometimes they would say “Hello Cochyn please” and ask if he had seen their pencils anywhere. The beetles were always losing their pencils. All except the Ladybirds. They didn’t use pencils. They had tiny shiny biros, and were always getting the ink on their shells. Especially at parties.
And then there were the Squirrels.
But more about them later.
In between the leaves at the top and the roots at the bottom was Cochyn’s house. It was made from woven Willow wands and branches. It had a roof of leaves, and was warm and dry in the winter, and nice and cool in the summer. It had a big bough outside the front door, where Cochyn could sit and look out through the leaves and branches at all the other trees in the Cwm.
Or look up at the sky and clouds and wonder what they were made of.
Or look down, down to the ferns and grass and bushes below with all the animals scurrying about and rustling in the brambles and eating the blackberries. Or down at The Graig chattering and splashing on to the sea and the islands where there were red and green parrots and elephants and dinosaurs made of ice – or so some of the birds said.
The Graig was very busy too. It had to keep moving.
“Sshhh ... gotta-go – Gotta-go … Shsshhh..”
it would say when it was too busy to chat.
“Sshh ... gotta-go – Gotta-go … Shsshhh..”
Because it rained a lot, there was always more water to get to the sea. That was The Graig’s work. To get the rain into the sea. Everyone in The Graig had a job they liked to do. Sometimes lots of jobs.
Cochyn loved living in the big tree. The Tree was in a huge wood called The Cwm. His e-mail address was cochyn@coed.cwm