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#21- Carvings
I walked slowly through a tunnel, hearing the scraping of my feet on the wooden ground on the floor of the tree. There was no dirt there; the tree tunnel was just a huge circular tunnel that was made completely out of wood. It seemed clean. I couldn’t see anything but darkness. This darkness wasn’t cold or eerie. Instead, it seemed quiet and peaceful. The silent closeness of the dark tunnel made me almost drowsy. I kept walking, speeding up my pace, not knowing what was lying before me through the tunnel. It was strange like I had been walking for such a long time but when I looked behind me, I hadn’t gotten far from the entrance. I noticed Ahisutah was walking behind me. I saw that the knothole had already closed and it was no bigger than a person’s head again. Ahisutah gave me a slight nudge and told me to not look back and keep moving forward. I turned my glance back in front of me. I noticed a small yellow glow coming from the end of the tunnel. I squinted as it was getting slightly brighter and brighter and as I walked closer; my eyes had already adjusted to the light glow.
The end of the tunnel was right in front of me and I saw what lay beyond it. It was a warm little living room. The yellow glow was coming from a fireplace at the front of the room. The fire crackled and its flames rose elegantly up like dancing phoenixes, creating a beautiful and brilliant luminosity to the whole room. I wondered how a fire could be made there and not burn the whole tree down. There was furniture placed all over the room. The furniture was so old age and looked to be made from mostly wood. There was a small wooden table placed in the center of the room with four chairs placed around it. On the floor was a dark red mat sitting underneath the table. The walls were all wooden and had small decorations on them. I looked closely at the decorations. There were all sorts of different things hanging all around the walls. I made out dolls made out of cloth and straw.
Maybe voodoo dolls, I thought to myself, smirking at my own foolish ideas.
There were also many wooden carvings that sat on a small shelf beside the fireplace that seemed to be growing out from the tree. They were carvings of many kinds of animals; birds, rodents, horses. But the few carvings that stood out the most were the carvings of a great serpent and a horse with a long thin horn on its forehead. The serpent had giant leather looking wings on its back that were expanded, like it was ready to fly. The magnificent posture of it was bold and mighty. Its mouth was open in a roar. The horse was also as mystical as the great serpent. It had long thin legs that were curved in a graceful pose. Its long flowing mane and tail brought a dignified beauty to its posture. When I looked closely, it seemed that its eyes were thoughtfully watching me, twinkling with the spark of the fire.
These two carvings were both un-painted and wooden yet the magical feel they brought out to me was amazingly enchanting.
I took my attention off the carvings and spotted the wooden masks hanging on the wall. The masks were all painted a wonderful tinge. They had wild glaring eyes on them. Some were shaped as heads of different creatures I did not recognize. The creatures were unworldly but still extraordinary.
There seemed to be more rooms in the giant tree home. In the living room, I saw two human sized knotholes that both lead to different rooms. My curiosity and amazement overcame me. My heart was thudding excitedly in my chest. A room in a tree was hard enough to believe.
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