An Evolving Fairy Tale

Once upon a time, which time was too long ago for anyone to know, there was a land far away from majestic mountaintops. It came to be known as the Valley of E.

This was no ordinary place. The Valley of E had perfect weather. Well … almost. Sometimes the weather would act as if it had a mind of its own. A storm could begin and end in the blink of an eye. That is, if there were any eyes around to blink. You see, the Valley of E was uninhabited. Everyone lived in the mountains.

A river ran down the middle of the valley. It branched off into many streams and creeks. This was fortunate because without a good water supply the small patch of sugar cane could not survive. Off to the east stood one magnificent olive tree. To the west was a field of wheat. Beyond the wheat it was barren. The only thing there was a dry salt bed.

But the most significant feature of the Valley of E was a rather odd rock formation that rested at the edge of a grove of trees. It was long and flat except at one end where there was a rectangular hollow at the bottom. From the hollow the rock rose up and curled like a wave of the sea.

Late one day a strong wind blew in from the west and almost stripped the wheat field clean. Kernels were flying everywhere. Not only kernels, but also a few crystals from the salt bed beyond were picked up and tossed about. The wind was so ferocious it carried wheat and salt all the way to the rock formation and dashed them to powder against the part of the rock that looked like a wave. When the wind finally ceased some of the powder came to rest in the rectangular hollow of the rock.

Though the weather was typically perfect, this was a strange couple of days, for early the next morning another strong wind swept through the valley. This time it came from the east. Leaves from the grove were stripped from the trees and covered the sky. The sugar cane, which had barely survived the previous night, could no longer withstand the wind. Cane was tossed to and fro, fro and to until it was hurled against the wave of the rock. As the cane continued on its wayward course some of its sweetness dripped into the hollow.

The magnificent olive tree was mighty and could not be broken by the wind. However, leaves and olives were ripped from its branches. As with the cane, wheat and salt, olives were pounded against the wave of the rock. By this time the wind was so strong that what oil came of such severe pounding was blown up, not down, and settled in a depression on top of the wave. When the wind died down leaves floated to the ground. Some came to rest on top of the oil.

The weather continued its unusual course and a light rain immediately followed. Oddly enough the rock was shaped in such an ideal way that it protected what was now in the hollow of the rock from getting soaked. But the rain did fall on the leaves and olive oil on top of the wave. The depression soon filled with rain and water ran down the side of the rock. The rainwater carried oil into the hollow as well as some fungus that had washed off the leaves.

In harmony with this strange weather pattern the light rain did not last long. It was now late morning and the sun shone brightly. The sun continued to heat the ground rapidly until after midday when a whirlwind sprang up. This dust devil formed on the flat part of the rock and therefore did not have any dust in it. It began to move but then got caught under the wave and couldn’t escape. The whirlwind caused quite a stir in the hollow of the rock. Everything that had previously landed in the hollow was mixed together so well one would think it had been done on purpose. Whirlwinds are known to have brief lifespans and this one was no exception.

The weather finally settled down. But now the ground decided to have its turn. And turn it did, into an all-out, rough and tumble earthquake! The whole valley shook. The earthquake shot the rock formation into the air. As the rock reversed its course to fall to the ground the mixture in the hollow popped out, hit the top of the rock, folded in half, twisted a quarter turn and landed back in the hollow with a plop. Whenever the rock fell back to earth it shot back into the air. And each time the mixture performed the same dance: it popped out, hit and folded in half, twisted and landed back in the hollow. After a short time the violent shaking stopped.

The bright sun kept the temperature warm. The fungus that had been carried into the hollow fed off the sugar causing the mixture to rise to twice its original size. Then aftershocks hit! Each time one hit the rock jumped and the mixture again did its dance, which caused it to deflate a bit. The aftershocks did not last long, but the weather continued to be warm and the mixture once again rose to twice its size.

By this time another storm was brewing and the air began to cool. The weather now seemed to be answering the ground with a shock of its own: lightning! It was only one bolt—for now—but that’s all it took to light up the trees at the edge of the grove. The bolt hit with a thunderous crash and the trees burst into flames. Many of them fell to the ground around the rock formation and caused the temperature of the rock to rise about five times what it had been. The trees did not burn completely before the fire died out, but they did burn long enough for the mixture to turn into

a beautifully browned, perfectly baked loaf of bread!

The bread did not remain undisturbed very long before the ground and the weather decided to have one last argument. Another aftershock hit and the bread rumbled in the hollow. Then lightning struck again! This time it hit the magnificent olive tree and shattered it into shards of wood. Those pieces of wood came flying toward the rock just as the full force of the aftershock caused the loaf to break free and leap into the air. The shards fanned out and cut right through the bread, bounced off the wave and cleared the rock.

The pieces of bread fell downward and rolled until they came to rest on the flat part of the rock. And there it sat:

a perfectly sliced, delicious, fresh loaf of bread!

A man (of questionable heritage, they say), who thought life would be better far from his home in the mountains, happened upon the tempting loaf of bread. He stooped down and picked up a slice. After examining his newfound treasure he took a bite, relished in the taste and believed he would live happily ever after.

But alas, butter would not be created accidentally for another billion years!