The Iroko forest was a very old forest. There was a legend about the forest that the trees in the forest could talk, but some people said it was all a fairy tale to scare little children. Inside Iroko forest, there were different kind of animals, from the big ones to the smallest, some were friendly and some were very dangerous. Iroko forest was a place where everybody found whatever they were looking for as long as they did not disobey the rules of the forest that nobody could cut down trees in the forest anyhow, and that nobody could weed the land of the forest anyhow.
One day, a group of young men came from a far away land. They claimed they were tree merchants, and they had come to cut trees at Iroko forest because there was good money to be made from sale of trees, especially now that many people from all over the world were looking for different kinds of timber to buy. Before entering the forest, the men, led by a young man called Atanda, were told that the trees in Iroko forest were not ordinary trees, and unless the trees themselves allowed anybody to cut, it would be dangerous for anyone who entered the forest for such a purpose. But the men simply laughed.
“Who has ever heard of such a thing that trees can talk!” Atanda asked and laughed.
“We have heard of such stories here in Iroko forest,” the forest guardian replied, not sharing in their laughter.
“Will you or your people stop us from going into the forest or cutting down trees?” Atanda asked again.
The forest guardian smiled. “No. Nobody will stop you from going into the forest or from cutting trees.”
Atanda called his men and asked them to follow him. The men obliged, except for Dodo who tried to convince Atanda from going against the instruction of the forest guardian. Atanda stopped and looked back.
“Whoever is afraid of losing his hand in a war should not be allowed to eat!” He said, and he left.
Dodo also followed them, but he was constantly afraid, and kept looking around because he thought he was seeing the trees moving.
That night, Atanda and his men made a camp to sleep since they couldn’t do anything in the dark. Even during the day, the forest was only partially lit by the daylight, but anyone could still see. So, they ate and slept. In the middle of the night, Dodo awoke to go and ease himself, and while returning, he heard voices, and he knew those were not the voices of his co-workers. Besides, those voices did not sound human. The fearful part of it was that he understood what they were saying, and what they were saying was that should they (the humans) cut down any tree in the forest, they would be punished for it. Throughout the remaining part of the night, Dodo did not sleep again. The following morning, he went straight to Atanda.
“Atanda, please you have to listen to me this time! Something happened in the night.”
“What happened?” Atanda asked, not giving Dodo a serious attention.
“I went to ease myself in the middle of the night, and when I was coming back, I heard the trees talking!” Fear was clearly seen on Dodo’s face, but Atanda simply stared back at him.
“Are you planning to scare us away so that you can come back here to do this business alone?”
“There is nothing like that, and you know it.” Dodo defended himself.
“Okay, what did your trees say?”
“They said we would be punished if we cut down any tree in the forest!”
“Is that all?”
“Yes.”
“Then let’s cut the trees first, and we’ll see whether we will be punished by your trees or not.”
Atanda and his men began to chop down trees one after the other. Excited about the money they were going to make from the sales, they didn’t even think that anything could go wrong. Meanwhile, Dodo who had not been supportive of their mission kept noticing movements among the trees. At first, it looked like there was no movement, but he soon realised that the trees were actually closing gaps. The trees were coming together to form a wall of prison around them. Dodo, unable to control his fear, ran back to Atanda to come and see something. Atanda reluctantly followed him, but he didn’t see anything wrong in the way the trees lined up. He went back to continue cutting down more trees, while Dodo sat on a stone, looking at the biggest of the trees which also seemed to be the tallest. Only he didn’t know he was looking at Iroko himself.
“My name is Iroko, and you will be punished!” The tree spoke,
Dodo instantly fainted, but he was soon revived by another tree which trickled down some liquid into his mouth.
‘Please, don’t kill me!” Dodo begged. “I told them not to cut down the trees but they won’t listen to me!”
“You were warned! You were told not to cut down trees unless allowed, but you did not listen! Now you will pay for it!”
Iroko, the aged keeper of the forest told the trees not to do anything until he gave the order, because he wanted them to understand the reasons humans were warned not to cut down trees anyhow. He explained to Dodo that, “the trees are meant to provide comfort for man in various ways that man himself doesn’t know, and still won’t know for a long time. Some of the trees provide food and fruits. Some provide woods for building and furniture. Some provide herbs and drugs for treatment of diseases. Some protect man from natural disasters. In fact, all trees give man good breathing air, and there are many more other good things that they do for man and animals!” Iroko was really angry. “All that the trees require in return is just good care, and the chance to be allowed to reach maturity before being cut down without any kind of replacement!”
Dodo pleaded and asked that he be allowed to go and give Atanda the message, but Iroko told him there was no need for that again. Iroko gave the order, and the trees moved in. Their branches began to crawl all over the floor of the forest, holding the men in place, smashing and breaking their equipment, and lashing out at their helpless body. Atanda, who was yet untouched, looked on with horror.
“Atanda, you are the one who brought us into this trouble o!” One of the men screamed.
“I don’t want money again o!” Another shouted in pain.
Atanda slowly moved back, hoping to find an opening through which he could run, but he only backed himself into Iroko himself. If Atanda had been beaten before, he had never experienced that kind of beating in all his life. They were going to be beaten to death if not for Dodo who kept on begging and crying. Iroko ordered the trees to stop, then warned Atanda and his men never to disobey the rules of the forest again. He told them that the trees had nothing against being used for something valuable, but they would not allow anybody to destroy the forest for selfish reasons. Thereafter, Iroko told Dodo to take all the trees already cut down and sell for himself alone. He also told him that whenever he was going into any forest to cut trees, he should make sure he planted another one to replace the one cut down.
“What do you think would happen if every man begins to die without having children?” Iroko asked Dodo.
“There would be nobody to live on earth again when everybody is dead.” Dodo replied.
“That is it. That is what will happen if trees are cut down recklessly without replacement. If all the trees should die, it won’t be only the humans who will suffer, even the animals who have no other place to live except in the forest, will also die. Everything will die!”
Iroko told Dodo not to forget everything he had been told, and that he should make sure that every man on earth heard the message and did the right thing by planting trees in place of the ones cut down. That they could plant even when trees are not cut down. Dodo thanked Iroko and left a happy man. As for Atanda and the rest, Iroko had his medicine man to attend to them, and when they were better, they let them out of the forest.
At the forest entrance, Atanda and his men met the forest guard again. “It looks like some people now know that Iroko forest is not an ordinary forest,’ the guard joked.
As for Atanda and his men, they learnt a good lesson, and they never disobeyed forest rules again.
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