Week 9 Storytelling: Evergreen and Neen-i-zu

There once lived a boy named Evergreen. Evergreen was not like other boys. He was special, very special indeed. Evergreen had the most beautiful dark green wings, the color of the deep green leaves in the forest around him. Wherever he walked flowers would bloom and the undergrowth would thrive.

One day Evergreen was in the meadow in the human world tending to the flowers that had suffered winter’s cold breath. He had ventured further than he had ever dared before. Suddenly, he heard the trees rustling behind him, and flew up into the tree closest to him. His mother had always warned him of the dangers of wandering too near the “others”. By “others”, his parents meant the humans. Every now and then a human would wander deep into the woods and reach the place where our world met the humans’, called the in-between. The normal humans mustn’t reach this point for if the wrong human were to cross over into our world it would be most tragic. Humans would only see the things they could take for their own personal gain and would wreak destruction upon our world. In our world there is no winter and the plants are always green and aglow. In the human world, Evergreen could heal the flowers that had been destroyed from the humans’ harsh way of living which is why Evergreen spent much of his time in the in-between. 

Evergreen looked about for the source of the rustling, fearful for what caused it. Slowly, emerged the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. He had never seen a human before. Was that what this was? It had long brown hair that flowed in the wind and such a strong, yet gentle face. The human moved with such grace. He watched as it crouched near the plants Evergreen had been tending to. The human started humming with the most melodious voice he had ever heard as it tended to the plants. It opened a pouch and poured water on the dry plant. Evergreen decided it must be a girl from the gentle nature and high-pitched voice. She then walked over to the river nearby and collected more water and continued to distribute the water to the plants the river could not reach on its own.

 

Neen-i-zu 

Evergreen watched her. Was this the awful human he had heard so much about? Before he knew it, the sun was beginning to go down and darkness started to fall on the forest. The human straightened up and walked away exactly how she had appeared.

Evergreen sat in the tree. He had to see her again. He waited in that tree until the sun rose the next morning. She appeared later that day picking up where she had left off in tending to the forest. As she sang, the birds gathered to heart her song. She collected seeds from the ground and held them in her hand for the birds to eat. She was the gentlest creature Evergreen had ever seen. The leaves rustled as he stood up in the tree which caused the birds to flutter away. She turned and watched the birds fly away. Evergreen gracefully leapt to the ground. As the human turned back toward the plant, she saw Evergreen and let out a startled cry. 

She had never seen anything like him. He had green wings protruding from his back and antlers like deer extending from his head. They stared at each other for a moment just taking one another in. Finally, Evergreen greeted her, and learned her name was Neen-i-zu. They instantly grew a friendship like no other.

 

  Evergreen

Neen-i-zu returned to see Evergreen every day from this point on. Evergreen showed Neen-i-zu his ability to care for and grow the plants and Neen-i-zu taught him the gentle nature with which she cared for the animals. Neen-i-zu had never felt more herself than she did here with Evergreen. Time seemed to stand still in the in-between when they were together. Unfortunately, the sun still set which signaled for Neen-i-zu to return home.

One day Evergreen waited for her regular visit, but she did not come. He listened for the slightest noise that might suggest she was approaching. He soon heard her familiar footsteps; however, they were moving quicker and less graceful than usual. 

He jumped down in front of her path and as she saw him, she ran to him and hugged him with tears streaming down her face. She explained to him that she was to be married, and her mother demanded she stop spending time in the forest and instead spend time doing work with the other women. Neen-i-zu sadly told Evergreen that tomorrow she would be wed at which point she would never return to the forest.

Evergreen’s heart broke at her news; fore he loved her more than she knew. Evergreen begged her to come back tomorrow before she was to be wed. He did not know what he was going to do, but he had to see her one last time. Neen-i-zu agreed.

Evergreen had never experienced such a long night. He lay awake waiting for the time for Neen-i-zu to return. The morning came and he was overcome with great sorrow realizing at last this would be the last time he would see Neen-i-zu. She emerged from the trees looking more beautiful than ever before. Evergreen knew he could not live without her. He knew he must ask her to come away with him to his world. She was the only human that was capable of loving and respecting his world as much as his people did.

Neen-i-zu was never seen by her people again, but she did indeed become a bride that day, after all.

Author's Note: I really love stories about love and fairy tales so this was my kind of story. I originally read American Indian Fairy Tales by W.T. Larned. The last story, The Fairy Bride, is what I modeled my story from. I decided to take the Evergreen's point of view instead of Neen-i-zu's, how the original story did. I decided to add a little detail to their relationship and show their friendship and love growing for one another over time as well.