An Ecological Fairy Tale
With apologies to the Brothers Grimm
Mother Nature fell sick, so she called all her children to gather near. To each she confided a message of everlasting love. When the little creek’s turn came, she heard Mother whisper to her, “Dear child, know that I shall be always with you.”
Thereupon she closed her eyes and slipped into a deep and unresponsive sleep. Every day that it could, the little creek flowed by Mother’s bedside and wept. But because it was an ephemeral creek — existing only during and shortly after a rainfall — her visits were intermittent. One day when she returned after being away a while, this little creek noticed the gravel road running along one of her banks had been covered in asphalt.
The new asphalt road brought with it more cars that were sleek and fast and rolled over the places where plants had grown and creatures lived. Now began a bad time for the poor ephemeral creek. “Is that ditch starting to undercut the road?” the drivers of the cars said. “We must pour some more asphalt in to stabilize the banks.” They covered the bank closest to the road with hot asphalt that made her gag and hardened into a chute, causing her water to rush through the creek bed much too fast. More and more soil from the other bank started rushing along with her.
