• Dawn slowly broke over the welsh hills and beams of sunlight fell onto the sleeping valley village below. The wind whistled and blew harshly while the tree leafs and blades of grass danced in the violent wind.
    From atop one of the hills stood a great and old lonely tree and sitting on one of the old shabby branches sat an even lonelier little boy. He simply sat there, leaning against the old trunk and watching the sunrise in the east.
    His black hair was lifted by the wind and caught in the breeze along with stray red leafs. He was sure if his hair was not connected to his head it too would be blown away.

    The poor boy had always lived a lonely life. His mother died when he was young, and his father had left him in an orphanage in this village that seemed so far away from civilization. Every person who met him could see the loneliness reflecting in his blue eyes.
    The boy preferred to sit, and watch, and listen, and learn. He'd watch people who seemed so ignorantly happy and wish he could be like that, but it was simply not his place.

    Every night he'd stare into what I had thought of as the vast nothingness called the night sky. But it was so much more than vast nothingness as I soon came to realize. It was a beautiful sight. Star lit up the night sky and the moon shed it's own silvery, cleansing light upon the sleeping earth. Each star was like another soul, shining brilliantly and watching over us.

    As the boy observed the people in town, I observed him, talking to him whenever I saw him on the streets. He would say close to nothing before running off and once he did I would not be able to find him for quite some time.
    After awhile I finally decided to approach the boy myself, with confidence and no doubt in mind. So I climbed the hill and made my way to the old lonely tree and I faced the lonely boy. He simply stared at me, with eyes that seemed to see nothing.
    I finally had a chance to talk to him for real without him ignoring me. He told me about the sky, and the birds, and the sun, and about other things he observed. He told me it all. The sights, the sounds, the tastes, and the feelings of different types of things. I was amazed at his vast knowledge so I
    asked him how he knew all these things.
    He turned to me, his silk black hair flowing in the breeze and smiled. The smile gave me a strange feeling inside, it was so...warm and gave me the sense of home.
    After he smiled he simply said, "The tree tells me everything I need to know."
    Naturally an answer such as this puzzled me so I asked him to elaborate.
    He simply put a hand on the oak tree and said, "Once upon a time a lonely tree and a lonely boy met and all of a sudden they weren't lonely anymore. The tree told the boy many knowledgeable things and the boy listened to it and then began to watch life just like the tree had. He watched, he listened, and he learned about life. One day when the boy was talking to the tree it told him that he would soon find someone to share his knowledge with before it was lost. So when the day came when neither the lonely tree nor the lonely boy were found the knowledge neither lost nor wasted on an insolent person. The person who now knew that continued to tell others until everyone could understand the world around them. "
    With that he smiled and jumped down from the old tree before raising a hand to me and running back towards the village.

    Even to this day I am not quite sure what he meant. All I know is that the next morning when I awoke I intended to see the boy but the old tree was cut down. When I searched the village for the young boy he was nowhere to be found.
    The day when the boy told me all his knowledge was the last day I saw him. Even if I am not quite sure what he was telling me about the tree...I do know that I learned more about this world from him than any book could have taught me. I will never forget him...that sad, lonely, little boy.