A Modern Polish Fable for the Young and Young at Heart

A man was riding his bike along a quite country road in Poland one day and stopped in the shade of a roadside forest for a drink of water.

Looking into the forest, he notice that one of the trees was paying very special attention to him, it leant toward him and the branches appeared to be beckoning him forwards.

Intrigued, he leant his bike against a nearby tree and stepped into the dappled shade of the surrounding woods.

As he approached the friendly tree it began to speak, and though the language  was strange to him,  somehow he was able to understand, and this is the story the tree told him.

Many, many years ago, long before your Grannies and Grandad's were even born, there lived in these woods a Polish woodsman, named  Peter Woodaxery (except in Polish the "W" is pronounced as a "V" and Peter is spelt Piotr).
Even though he was a woodsman who chopped down trees, he was someone who also loved the trees, and only cut down ones that were sick, or in danger of choking the trees close by, which would  cause consternation among the various tree families of the forest, and so the trees loved him in return.
One day. long long ago, men came from another country and talked of cutting down lots of trees and taking them away to sell, many miles away. Piotr was very upset, but knew  he was powerless on his own to stop the destruction.

He walked around the forest talking to the trees and telling them what he had heard and before too long a plan was hatched. The trees, every single one in the many forests of Poland , agreed to work together and repel the invaders.

As the marauding woodcutters walked into the forest with their axes, the trees seemed to be in their way all the time, when they tried to step around a tree, the branches would suddenly flick around and knock them over, or a branch would come crashing from the top of a tree and cause mayhem in the invading columns.

Behind the front line, Piotr and his small band of woodsmen, ran through the forest tracks that only they knew, and kept the defending trees informed of where the next attack was coming.

After several weeks the invading woodcutters withdrew and returned to their own lands empty handed.

Today in Poland, thanks to Piotr Voodaxery and his band of helpers, all trees in the land are cared for, the trees are happy and much of the country is covered in lovely forest that helps keep the environment  clean and healthy.

This could have been Piotr the Woodsman's Hut

And in one particular forest you can see a tree that looks like Piotr, is 600 years old and tells it's story to anyone who is lucky enough to pass it by.

The Piotr Tree