The Swallow and The Flying Seed

One day a swallow met a little flying seed.
The seed explained the swallow: “They told me I am a seed and I have to find a ditch, lay down and eventually I’ll become a tree and I’ll be happy. But I don’t want to do what other seeds told me. I feel different from them, they don’t understand me. They give up their freedom, they grow roots and they stay all their life in the same place. They are missing out and they don’t even know it. Me, on the other hand, I want to see the world. Do you wanna fly with me and see the world?”

The swallow replied: “Sure! We’re gonna explore the world together, we can be best friends forever.”
So they started to fly together, over the sea and over many lands. They were so happy!

After many months of flying and seeing new places, the seed started to feel tired. She had travelled so much, she had seen so much. But she started to feel unhappy as if she didn’t know who she was anymore.
She was looking at the big valleys below and she was seeing so many trees living with their roots in the ground. They looked so calm and beautiful while she was feeling so lost. What before looked like a prison, now looked like home.

One day she decided to ask the swallow if he would find a ditch and live with her in the ground instead of the sky.
He got offended and said to her: “You don’t like being with me anymore? What are you missing? We have everything we need: we’re free, we can do whatever we want. No one is holding us back or forcing us to do what we do not want to do.”
The seed said “I love being with you, that’s why I’m asking you to come to live with me. But I’m starting to feel lost and scared up here in the sky. Would you come and live in the ground with me?
The Swallow replied:

“I would die if I had to live in the ground. That’s not how I’m supposed to live. I would suffocate if I had to live in the ground. But you should go, that’s who you are. You will become a beautiful tree with many leaves and flowers.You’ll be happy.”

“What’s the price?” asked the seed.
“The price is that we will have to part ways” said the swallow.

The seed was so sad to lose her friend. For many days she said she changed her mind, that she didn’t want to go and live in the ground. She thought: “If leaving in the ground means to lose my friend, I don’t want to go because I’ll never be happy. I’m staying here in the sky.”
But the swallow really loved her, and he wanted to help her become a beautiful tree, even if this meant to lose her. He knew she would be much happier, even if at the beginning she would suffer a little.

So one day he brought her flying near a beautiful forest. When they were flying, he cut her wings. The seed felt. She was in such pain. She couldn’t believe the swallow would hurt her. She wanted to fly back up in the sky and stay with him, but she couldn’t. Her wings were broken. She thought she was gonna die for sure.

For days and days she cried. And cried. And cried. Her tears made the ground around her wet. One day, she saw that a little root was born. She was so surprised. She didn’t know she had that potential inside her. Day after day, more and more roots started to grow. Then some leaves. Eventually, she started to become a beautiful young tree. She was so beautiful. All the trees around her loved her. She started to grow flowers and fruit. Birds were coming to say hi and some of them asked her to live on her branches. Little birds were born in the nests on her branches. Season after season, she started to feel a new form of happiness that she never experienced before: she knew who she was and what her purpose in life was.

One day, her old friend the swallow came by. She was so happy to see him, but also angry because he had hurt her. She was sad because he had lost him and she was scared he made her fall because he didn’t love her.

But the swallow talked to her gently: “You see, I loved you so much that I couldn’t bear seeing you unhappy. I couldn’t bear knowing that you would not fulfil your potential, that you wouldn’t become this beautiful tree that you are now. It was sad for me to leave you, and I’m sorry that I hurt you. But now you know who you are, you know how much you’re worth because you’ve grown strong and you’re beautiful. Now you are loved not only by me, but by the whole forest, by the birds who live on your branches and are your friends. You receive love by the rain, by the sun, by the air.
Now you have much more love than what I could ever give you myself.”

The seed was so moved by the depth of love of the swallow. She forgave him that she hurt her because she now knew his intention was good.
Her heart was so full of love that the whole forest was radiated by it. Every living being around her felt happy. And they all lived happy for many, many, many years.