“In the forest when the river flows, find the tree with its eyes a-glow; wait, until the shadow approaches; then, the god of wisdom shall show.” Matt read out loud for the twenty-fifth time. He was in the forest, reading out loud from his notebook. He was trying to find and prove the old legend to be true.

The legend has been passed down from the elders for decades. It is a mysterious, riddle-like chant: ‘In the forest when the river flows, find the tree with its eyes a-glow; wait, until the shadow approaches; then, the god of wisdom shall show.’ It is said from the elders that the god of wisdom will give its blessings to you, which makes you the smartest man on Earth. The legend has only been seen as a little encouraging chant made up by people in the past to make you study hard to the people in the village, but not to Matt. He trusted the legend to the core, and wanted that blessing like crazy. In that way, he wouldn’t have to go to school ever again. So, at lunch break, he snuck out of school to the forest with his pencil and notebook with the chant written on the notebook. And there he is now, frantically trying to find a glowing tree.

“Urgh! Where is that tree?” he muttered, walking further into the forest. “All the trees are just the same!” He sat down onto the ground, resting his sore feet on a rock. Just then, warm sunlight shone onto his face.

“Sunlight... oh! So that’s what it means!” Matt shouted, standing up. He took notes in his notebook.

“Note: ‘when the river flows’... means the time... when the tide rises to its highest point! ‘The tree with its eyes a-glow' must mean... that the tree... being shone by sunlight! Oh, I’m a genius!” he said to himself. “So, that means... I have to find a tree being shone by sunlight!” he checked his watch. “The time is half past one. That means it’s the perfect time! Off I go!” he said merrily, as he chased the beam of sunlight.

After five minutes, Matt stood proudly in front of a tree with a beam of sunlight on it. “There we go! Sentence one and two is cracked and solved! Now, for ‘Wait, until the shadow approaches’... shadow... that must mean the tree’s shadow! There isn’t a shadow now, so that must mean a shadow at night! So, all I have to do now is to wait until night.” And so, he did. Time passed by quickly as he drew sketches of the surrounding view and took notes. Soon enough, it was night.

“Hm... what do I do now?” Matt mumbled. “Maybe the shadow thing works like the sunlight thingy? Maybe I’ll just wait.” He sat down. After a few minutes, the tree’s shadow appeared! Matt pressed his body against the tree excitedly. What would appear? He’ll be sure to take a lot of notes and sketches! Slowly, a different kind of wood was revealed on the tree bark under the moonlight. Matt pulled it out nervously, only to see...

“Seriously? An owl?!” Matt was shocked and disappointed to reveal an owl sleeping in its nest.

“I worked so hard to reveal an owl inside a tree?!” he shook his head in disbelief, and punched the tree in anger. The owl woke up, hooting disapprovingly, and flew into the dark. After a couple of minutes, Matt calmed down.

“Well... the owl is a symbol of wisdom, and people in the past weren't very smart... I guess that’s an acceptable answer.” he said. “But alas, the elder is in my debt! He owes me an explanation and an apology! I shall return to the village and ask him now!” he huffed, and stormed back to the village.

However, back at the village, Matt isn’t the only one who needs an explanation—his parents and class teacher needed one, too!

An Enchantment in the Forest