The Gatekeeper Tree

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Speaker 1 You know those days when your brain just won't cooperate? When you're staring at your to-do list, hopping from call to call, and the mental fog just gets thicker?

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Speaker 1 Welcome to bedtime stories for everyone

Speaker 1 in which Nothing much happens.

Speaker 1 You feel good

Speaker 1 and then you fall asleep.

Speaker 1 I'm Catherine Nikolai.

Speaker 1 I write and read

Speaker 1 all the stories you hear on Nothing Much Happens.

Speaker 1 Audio Engineering is by Bob Wittersheim.

Speaker 1 We give to a different charity each week. And this week we are giving to Unbound,

Speaker 1 dedicated to ending human poverty in all its forms.

Speaker 1 Learn more about them in our show notes.

Speaker 1 We have some lovely things coming up in the village in the near future, including my second book, Eek.

Speaker 1 More to come on that soon. There's going to be a live show you can watch and participate in from anywhere in the world.

Speaker 1 And not too long after that, an app that is the next best thing to actually living in the village of Nothing Much.

Speaker 1 So follow us on socials and sign up for our newsletter. I don't want you to miss out on any of this cozy fun.

Speaker 1 There's a link in the notes for that. And as always, for ad-free and bonus apps, click subscribe in Spotify or Apple or go to nothingmuchhappens.com.

Speaker 1 Bedtime stories aren't a new invention,

Speaker 1 but recognizing just how effective they are for sleep training for folks of all ages and needs kind of is.

Speaker 1 All you need to do is listen. I'll tell the story twice,

Speaker 1 and I'll go a little bit slower the second time through.

Speaker 1 If you wake later in the night,

Speaker 1 Don't hesitate to restart an episode. With practice, falling and returning to sleep will happen within mere moments.

Speaker 1 Our story tonight is called the Gatekeeper Tree.

Speaker 1 And folks,

Speaker 1 it is ever so gently a spooky bedtime story.

Speaker 1 And I know that's not for everyone. So if it doesn't sound like it's for you, the good news is that we have hundreds of other episodes to listen to, always at your fingertips.

Speaker 1 This story is about a late-night expedition, the flickering light of a lantern in the woods, tree roots that might trip you or make way,

Speaker 1 depending on whether or not you ought to be there, a fox kit,

Speaker 1 and a fairy circle,

Speaker 1 and the prize found at the journey's end.

Speaker 1 Okay, it's time.

Speaker 1 Maybe you've been waiting all day for this moment.

Speaker 1 The moment when nothing else is needed from you, when there is no expectation of you.

Speaker 1 We're there.

Speaker 1 Let everything go.

Speaker 1 Take a deep breath in through your nose

Speaker 1 and sigh through the mouth.

Speaker 1 And again, breathe in

Speaker 1 and out.

Speaker 1 Good.

Speaker 1 The Gatekeeper Tree

Speaker 1 In the thick of the forest,

Speaker 1 the light from my lantern bounced off the tree trunks

Speaker 1 and mossy roots.

Speaker 1 I could hear the crunch of twigs and dried leaves under my feet.

Speaker 1 The sound of my breath, a little fast from the climb.

Speaker 1 But not much else.

Speaker 1 Then at the edge of the tree line,

Speaker 1 the sound of flapping wings startled me.

Speaker 1 A bird.

Speaker 1 By the sound of it, a large bird,

Speaker 1 set off into the dark sky.

Speaker 1 Tonight's walk wasn't just for the joy of it.

Speaker 1 I was on a mission

Speaker 1 as a member of the friendly circle of village witches.

Speaker 1 The task of foraging something special from the wood,

Speaker 1 as the veil thinned,

Speaker 1 had fallen to me.

Speaker 1 The path leveled off, and I stepped out into a clearing full of moonlight.

Speaker 1 The difference was so stark

Speaker 1 that I blinked for a few moments

Speaker 1 as my eyes adjusted to it.

Speaker 1 I let my arm drop to my side,

Speaker 1 the lantern knocking against my knee

Speaker 1 and took a deep breath of cool air in

Speaker 1 and out.

Speaker 1 I could smell so much in this field,

Speaker 1 the damp damp soil after the recent rain,

Speaker 1 old logs

Speaker 1 and fallen branches slowly breaking down.

Speaker 1 Leaves crisp and spicy were the top note of this perfume

Speaker 1 and somewhere in the middle

Speaker 1 was just the open,

Speaker 1 uncluttered scent of night time.

Speaker 1 My breath fogged in the air,

Speaker 1 and I began to walk again

Speaker 1 before the cold could take hold of me.

Speaker 1 I was headed somewhere further out,

Speaker 1 and though I didn't have a paper map to follow,

Speaker 1 There was one written in the land,

Speaker 1 and so far I'd been able to follow along.

Speaker 1 I scanned the edge of the wood opposite until I found what I was looking for.

Speaker 1 When I spotted it, I lifted the lantern again to confirm

Speaker 1 and whispered under my breath

Speaker 1 There she is.

Speaker 1 The tree stood a bit apart from the others

Speaker 1 and right at the edge of a clear, worn-down path.

Speaker 1 Many of its roots were exposed and crossed over the trail

Speaker 1 to the ground cover on the other side.

Speaker 1 The gatekeeper tree

Speaker 1 Every magical wood has one

Speaker 1 one at least, in fact

Speaker 1 a tree that,

Speaker 1 like a ticket-taker on a carnival ride,

Speaker 1 or a bouncer behind a velvet rope,

Speaker 1 inspects and possibly welcomes those who pass through.

Speaker 1 I approached with some respect,

Speaker 1 just pausing and breathing down deep into my belly.

Speaker 1 When trying to communicate with something that doesn't use a spoken language,

Speaker 1 it's wise to rely instead

Speaker 1 on the most ancient language ever devised.

Speaker 1 Sensation.

Speaker 1 So I paid attention

Speaker 1 to what I felt in my body.

Speaker 1 The calm beat of my heart.

Speaker 1 The warmth in my tissues from the exercise.

Speaker 1 The fresh feeling on the back of my neck as the cool air blew over it.

Speaker 1 I reached out slowly and laid a hand on the gatekeeper's trunk.

Speaker 1 I'd read about a study done a few years before

Speaker 1 in which

Speaker 1 intention

Speaker 1 communicated through touch was tested.

Speaker 1 Two people separated by a barrier so they couldn't see each other.

Speaker 1 One reached out

Speaker 1 and for a few seconds touched the arm of the other,

Speaker 1 trying to encode that bit of contact with an emotion.

Speaker 1 Love,

Speaker 1 embarrassment,

Speaker 1 envy,

Speaker 1 surprise,

Speaker 1 gratitude.

Speaker 1 Then the recipient of the touch reported

Speaker 1 what emotion they felt had been transmitted.

Speaker 1 If they'd simply guessed,

Speaker 1 they would have been correct about eight percent of the time.

Speaker 1 But they were correct nearly seventy percent of the time.

Speaker 1 We can speak through touch.

Speaker 1 I thought of that whenever I said hello to a tree,

Speaker 1 whenever I hugged a friend or shook the hand of someone I hoped would become one.

Speaker 1 I did my best to say now to the gatekeeper that I was good-hearted,

Speaker 1 respectful of the woods,

Speaker 1 and here to play and learn.

Speaker 1 I felt a slight vibration in the bark,

Speaker 1 a warmth that traveled from the wood into my palm.

Speaker 1 I heard branches high up shaking and shifting, and a few dry leaves

Speaker 1 showered down over me.

Speaker 1 As they touched the earth at my feet,

Speaker 1 I noticed the roots that crossed the path

Speaker 1 wriggle themselves deeper into the soil so that I wouldn't trip over them.

Speaker 1 And one of the fallen leaves shimmered as it turned back to the glossy dark green

Speaker 1 it had been in the peak of summertime.

Speaker 1 I bent and scooped it up,

Speaker 1 and in my hand

Speaker 1 it continued to glow and shift

Speaker 1 from green to deep red, and bright yellow,

Speaker 1 and fiery orange.

Speaker 1 That's where it settled.

Speaker 1 And I wove its stem into a lock of hair in my braid

Speaker 1 and stepped into the forest.

Speaker 1 I thought of the time I had been tripped by the roots of a gatekeeper tree

Speaker 1 on my way into the woods.

Speaker 1 it was before I understood much

Speaker 1 about speaking the language of trees.

Speaker 1 Before I relearned to trust my instincts,

Speaker 1 I'd laid a hand on the bark

Speaker 1 and had felt a twist in my stomach.

Speaker 1 But I hadn't paid any attention to it, just barreled forward brazenly,

Speaker 1 only to fall flat on my face on the dusty trail.

Speaker 1 Even then I hadn't listened.

Speaker 1 I'd dusted myself off,

Speaker 1 shaken my head at my own clumsiness,

Speaker 1 and continued on my way.

Speaker 1 The quiet of the birds hadn't registered,

Speaker 1 nor had the heavy branch I'd found across my path.

Speaker 1 It wasn't until I noticed an unnatural darkness looming ahead

Speaker 1 and felt a sudden cold wind blowing on what had been a warm day

Speaker 1 that I finally tuned into the alarm that was ringing through my tissues.

Speaker 1 The gatekeeper had tried to turn me away that day.

Speaker 1 The whole forest had heard her call

Speaker 1 and added their voices in the ways that they could.

Speaker 1 I don't know exactly what fate I'd been saved from.

Speaker 1 But once the chill hit me

Speaker 1 and I realized I was somewhere I oughtn't be,

Speaker 1 I spun on my heel and made my way out

Speaker 1 and to safety in a flash.

Speaker 1 That day,

Speaker 1 when I'd learned that important lesson

Speaker 1 about listening to my instinct and trusting a literal gut feeling

Speaker 1 had been a bright, sunny midsummer day.

Speaker 1 Now in the dark of night, at the tail end of autumn, I felt safer than I had then.

Speaker 1 I could feel down to my bones

Speaker 1 how welcome and protected I was among these trees.

Speaker 1 They had helped make me a dryad.

Speaker 1 And when I was here, I was as safe as a fox kit,

Speaker 1 snuggled in its den.

Speaker 1 I pulled my braid over my shoulder and smiled as I noticed that the single orange leaf had become a beautiful chain

Speaker 1 of golden maples

Speaker 1 and acorns and luminous moss

Speaker 1 that glowed as it fell down my back.

Speaker 1 I smiled, thinking of how I just might brag to my sister witches about this garland I'd acquired,

Speaker 1 how the trees themselves had clearly dubbed me queen.

Speaker 1 In a clearing ahead of me,

Speaker 1 I finally found what I'd been looking for.

Speaker 1 Inside a ring of saplings

Speaker 1 was a pumpkin patch with ripe orange gourds and prickly stems,

Speaker 1 just waiting to be picked and carried away.

Speaker 1 They were growing in a fairy circle on a full moon,

Speaker 1 and so they carried within them

Speaker 1 the magic of the forest

Speaker 1 and the protection of the gatekeeper tree.

Speaker 1 We would carve them

Speaker 1 and set them out along the ley lines of the village.

Speaker 1 To our neighbors, they would seem just like any other Halloween decoration.

Speaker 1 But they would assure that the season of all hallows

Speaker 1 would be safe for all.

Speaker 1 Not a single trick-or-treater

Speaker 1 would so much as skin their knee from a fall

Speaker 1 while our pumpkins were lit.

Speaker 1 I set my lantern down on a stone at my feet,

Speaker 1 took a breath,

Speaker 1 and stepped into the circle.

Speaker 1 The Gatekeeper Tree

Speaker 1 In the thick of the forest

Speaker 1 the light from my lantern

Speaker 1 bounced off the tree trunks and mossy roots

Speaker 1 I could hear the crunch of twigs

Speaker 1 and dried leaves under my feet

Speaker 1 The sound of my breath

Speaker 1 a little fast from the climb

Speaker 1 but not much else.

Speaker 1 Then at the edge of the tree line

Speaker 1 A sound of flapping wings startled me

Speaker 1 A bird

Speaker 1 by the sound of it, a large bird,

Speaker 1 setting off into the dark sky.

Speaker 1 Tonight's walk wasn't just for the joy of it.

Speaker 1 I was on a mission

Speaker 1 as a member of the friendly circle

Speaker 1 of village witches.

Speaker 1 The task of foraging something special

Speaker 1 from the wood

Speaker 1 as the veil thinned

Speaker 1 had fallen to me.

Speaker 1 The path leveled off,

Speaker 1 and I stepped out into a clearing full of moonlight.

Speaker 1 The difference was so stark

Speaker 1 that I blinked for a few moments

Speaker 1 as my eyes adjusted to it.

Speaker 1 I let my arm drop to my side,

Speaker 1 the lantern knocking against my knee

Speaker 1 and took a deep breath of cool air in

Speaker 1 and sighed it out

Speaker 1 I could smell so much

Speaker 1 in this field

Speaker 1 the damp soil

Speaker 1 after the recent rain

Speaker 1 old logs

Speaker 1 and fallen branches slowly breaking down

Speaker 1 Leaves, crisp and spicy

Speaker 1 Were the top note of this perfume

Speaker 1 And somewhere in the middle

Speaker 1 Was just the open,

Speaker 1 uncluttered scent of night time.

Speaker 1 My breath fogged in the air,

Speaker 1 and I began to walk again

Speaker 1 before the cold could take hold of me.

Speaker 1 I was headed somewhere farther out,

Speaker 1 and though I didn't have a paper map to follow,

Speaker 1 there was one written in the land,

Speaker 1 and so far I'd been able to follow along.

Speaker 1 I scanned the edge of the wood opposite

Speaker 1 until I found what I was looking for.

Speaker 1 When I spotted it,

Speaker 1 I lifted the lantern again to confirm

Speaker 1 and whispered under my breath, there she is.

Speaker 1 The tree stood a bit apart from the others

Speaker 1 and right at the edge of a clear, worn-down path.

Speaker 1 Many of its roots were exposed

Speaker 1 and crossed over the trail

Speaker 1 to the ground cover on the other side.

Speaker 1 The gatekeeper tree

Speaker 1 Every magical wood has one

Speaker 1 one at least, in fact

Speaker 1 A tree that like a ticket taker on a carnival ride

Speaker 1 Or a bouncer behind a velvet rope

Speaker 1 inspects

Speaker 1 and possibly welcomes

Speaker 1 those who pass through.

Speaker 1 I approached with some respect,

Speaker 1 just pausing

Speaker 1 and breathing down deep into my belly

Speaker 1 when trying to communicate

Speaker 1 with something that doesn't use spoken language,

Speaker 1 it's wise to rely instead

Speaker 1 on the most ancient language ever devised,

Speaker 1 sensation.

Speaker 1 So I paid attention to what I felt in my body,

Speaker 1 the calm beat of my heart,

Speaker 1 the warmth in my tissues from the exercise

Speaker 1 and the fresh feeling at the back of my neck

Speaker 1 as the cool air blew over it.

Speaker 1 I reached out slowly

Speaker 1 and laid a hand on the gatekeeper's trunk.

Speaker 1 I'd read about a study done a few years before

Speaker 1 in which

Speaker 1 intention

Speaker 1 communicated through touch

Speaker 1 was tested.

Speaker 1 Two people

Speaker 1 separated by a barrier

Speaker 1 so that they couldn't see each other.

Speaker 1 One reached out

Speaker 1 and for a few seconds

Speaker 1 touched the arm of the other,

Speaker 1 trying to encode

Speaker 1 that bit of contact

Speaker 1 with an emotion.

Speaker 1 Love,

Speaker 1 embarrassment,

Speaker 1 envy,

Speaker 1 surprise,

Speaker 1 gratitude.

Speaker 1 Then the recipient of the touch reported

Speaker 1 what emotion they felt had been transmitted.

Speaker 1 If they'd simply guessed,

Speaker 1 they would have been correct about eight percent of the time.

Speaker 1 But they were correct nearly seventy percent of the time.

Speaker 1 We can speak through touch.

Speaker 1 I think of that whenever I say hello to a tree,

Speaker 1 whenever I hug a friend,

Speaker 1 or shake the hand of someone,

Speaker 1 I hope will become one.

Speaker 1 I did my best to say now

Speaker 1 to the gatekeeper

Speaker 1 that I was good-hearted,

Speaker 1 respectful of the woods,

Speaker 1 here to play and learn.

Speaker 1 I felt a slight vibration in the bark,

Speaker 1 a warmth that traveled from the wood into my palm.

Speaker 1 I heard branches high up

Speaker 1 shaking and shifting,

Speaker 1 and a few dry leaves

Speaker 1 showered down over me

Speaker 1 as they touched the earth at my feet.

Speaker 1 I noticed the roots that crossed the path

Speaker 1 wriggle deeper into the soil

Speaker 1 so that I wouldn't trip over them

Speaker 1 and one of the fallen leaves shimmered

Speaker 1 as it turned back to the glossy dark green

Speaker 1 it had been in the peak of summertime

Speaker 1 I bent and scooped it up

Speaker 1 and in my hand

Speaker 1 it continued to glow

Speaker 1 and shift

Speaker 1 from green to deep red,

Speaker 1 then bright yellow,

Speaker 1 and fiery orange.

Speaker 1 That's where it settled.

Speaker 1 And I wove its stem into a lock of hair in my braid

Speaker 1 and stepped into the forest.

Speaker 1 I thought of the time I had been tripped by the roots of a gatekeeper tree

Speaker 1 on my way into the woods.

Speaker 1 It was before I understood much

Speaker 1 about speaking the language of trees.

Speaker 1 before I relearned to trust my instincts.

Speaker 1 I'd laid a hand on the bark

Speaker 1 and had felt a twist in my stomach.

Speaker 1 But

Speaker 1 I hadn't paid any attention to it.

Speaker 1 Just barreled brazenly forward,

Speaker 1 only to fall flat on my face on the dusty trail.

Speaker 1 Even then I hadn't listened.

Speaker 1 I dusted myself off,

Speaker 1 shaken my head at my own clumsiness,

Speaker 1 and continued on my way.

Speaker 1 The quiet of the birds hadn't registered,

Speaker 1 nor had the heavy branch I'd found across my path.

Speaker 1 It wasn't until I noticed an unnatural darkness looming ahead

Speaker 1 and felt a sudden cold wind blowing

Speaker 1 on what had been a warm day

Speaker 1 that I finally tuned into the alarm

Speaker 1 that was ringing through my tissues.

Speaker 1 The gatekeeper had tried to turn me away that day.

Speaker 1 The whole forest

Speaker 1 had heard her call

Speaker 1 and added their voices in the ways that they could.

Speaker 1 I don't know exactly what fate

Speaker 1 I'd been saved from.

Speaker 1 But when the chill hit me

Speaker 1 and I realized I was somewhere I oughtn't be,

Speaker 1 I spun on my heel

Speaker 1 and made my way out

Speaker 1 and to safety in a flash.

Speaker 1 That day,

Speaker 1 when I'd learned that important lesson

Speaker 1 about listening to my instinct

Speaker 1 and trusting a literal gut feeling,

Speaker 1 had been a sunny, bright midsummer day.

Speaker 1 Now, in the dark of night,

Speaker 1 at the tail end of autumn,

Speaker 1 I felt safer than I had then.

Speaker 1 I could feel down to my bones

Speaker 1 how welcome and protected I was

Speaker 1 among these trees.

Speaker 1 They had helped make me a dryad.

Speaker 1 And when I was here,

Speaker 1 I was as safe as a fox kit

Speaker 1 snuggled in its den.

Speaker 1 I pulled my braid over my shoulder

Speaker 1 and smiled as I noticed that the single orange leaf

Speaker 1 had now become a beautiful chain

Speaker 1 of golden maples

Speaker 1 and acorns

Speaker 1 and luminous moss

Speaker 1 that glowed as it fell down my back.

Speaker 1 I smiled, thinking of how

Speaker 1 I just might

Speaker 1 brag to my sister witches

Speaker 1 about this garland I'd acquired

Speaker 1 how the trees themselves

Speaker 1 have clearly dubbed me queen.

Speaker 1 In the clearing ahead of me,

Speaker 1 I finally found what I'd been looking for.

Speaker 1 Inside a ring of saplings

Speaker 1 was a pumpkin patch

Speaker 1 with ripe orange gourds on prickly stems,

Speaker 1 just waiting to be picked and carried away.

Speaker 1 They were growing in a fairy circle on a full moon,

Speaker 1 and so they carried within them

Speaker 1 the magic of the forest

Speaker 1 and the protection of the gatekeeper tree.

Speaker 1 We would carve them and set them out along the ley lines of the village.

Speaker 1 To our neighbors they would seem just like any other Halloween decoration

Speaker 1 but they would assure that the season of all hallows

Speaker 1 would be safe for all.

Speaker 1 Not a single trick or treater

Speaker 1 would so much

Speaker 1 as skin their knee from a fall

Speaker 1 while our pumpkins were lit.

Speaker 1 I set my lantern down on a stone at my feet,

Speaker 1 took a breath,

Speaker 1 and stepped into the circle.

Speaker 1 Sweet dreams