Leaving The First Land (part 4)

So the people all sailed away in their trees and eventually there was no-one left except for the Four Seasons. And the only part of the whole First Land that was still above water was the top of the hill where the Magic Tree grew. And still it kept raining.

"What'll we do?" Spring asked the others.

"We'll have to go, too," said Fall.

"We will indeed," Winter agreed.

"But we need a boat," Summer said.

They all looked up at the Magic Tree and shook their heads. Not a word was said. None needed to be. They all agreed quite unanimously that they'd never cut down the Magic Tree no matter how desperate their plight might be. But it was hard to see what else they could do. All the other trees were gone and there was no more wood to use.

"Maybe we ought to just sleep on it," Summer suggested. "The answer might come in a dream."

And as it turned out that's exactly what happened. They all had a dream and they had the same one because it came from the Magic Tree. They dreamed that a great grey thunder cloud came by overhead. The lightning was brilliant and piercingly bright. The thunder was wondrously loud. One lightning bolt of incredible size struck straight at the heart of the Magic Tree and split it right down to the roots. The thunder that followed shook every-thing loose and a very large piece of the Magic Tree trunk broke free and fell down to the ground.