an energy adventure and ebook for the young and young-at-heart
Start
your
adventure
here:
Check out
this intro video
to learn what
‘the 3 honeylocust trees’
is all about.
Next, enjoy scrolling down the page to read the book. It’s readable on a smart phone, but it’s way more fun with the animation available on a laptop…
There’s also optional music you can play while you read to make the experience even more magical. Click the audio player to start the music.
At the end of the story, you’ll see a study and contemplation guide to help you and anyone you are exploring the story with – kids, friends, study groups, service groups – understanding the significance of this simple-seeming story more deeply.
3
honeylocust
trees
But I feel more like a tree.
Trees seem to know
what to do
and how to be.
to be girls or to be boys.
They all usually just have
green leaves and brown bark,
with different shapes and hues.
on the ground
and
their heads in the air.
Trees seem to know
what to do
and how to be.
wet in the rain
and
they don’t get in trouble
for having muddy feet.
like dancers.
have to say must be important
because every time they
sing in the breeze,
it is beautiful.
wise kings and queens
and
seem to be watchers
and guardians
of their realm.
and
trees are grand.
They soar overhead
like high domes.
of the magic house
of
3 honeylocust trees.
my grandparents’ house.
It’s a special house of
slate and wood and glass where
you can see all the way from the
front yard through the glass
to the back yard and beyond.
built by a famous Hungarian
architect that my grandmother
used to boss around when
they were both little children in
Kindergarten.
glass with a cold grey slate floor,
a wooden ceiling of dark brown beams, wind chimes made of shells
and –
best of all –
a garden inside
that blooms even in winter!
square carpet of grass.
In the back is a canal that leads
to the sea.
Willow trees drip into the canal
across the way on the other shore.
with low Japanese bushes
and
a crab apple tree
I like to climb and lie in.
is to the left of the front door:
3 honeylocust trees
in a triangle.
There are 3 on the right, too,
but they’re not the same.
3
honeylocust
trees
are
a
family…
a magic house
for girls and for boys
and
for special adults
who can still see and
remember how to play.
3
honeylocust
trees
wait for me to visit
and
know when I arrive.
the 3 honeylocust trees,
I am in a different place.
A curtain of shimmering, iridescent
light opens up and lets me in.
honeylocust tree house,
everything gets quiet…
is the wind in the leaves
and the bees
buzzing in the sun.
the grass is the bed,
the roots are the pillow
and
the branches are
the ceiling overhead.
outside the honeylocust tree house,
I do not get wet
underneath its leaves.
in the honeylocust tree house.
I have nowhere else to be.
wrap their arms
around me and carry me
wherever I want to go.
on a boat
on the sea…
floating in the
dark night sky…
wearing flying goggles
as we soar over
a moonlit desert.
tree
is
strong
and
silent
and
stands guard.
tree
is
warm
and
cozy
and
makes me feel safe.
one
tree
fills
my head
with ideas and visions
and
shows me where to go.
are my family
and
show me the who and the how
I am supposed
to be.
have the whole universe
inside them.
Everyone can see it
if they know how to look.
loves to visit with me
under the
3 honeylocust trees.
like the trees!
But he stretches himself
all out and lies in the grass bed
and puts his head on the root pillow and stares at the leaf ceiling and falls asleep.
the honeylocust tree house,
says he put it there
just for me.
the big-person house usually
makes the magic want to fade.
That’s why so many of our adults
can’t see our magic house and
special friends.
most important jobs
is to help
our adults wake back up
under the leaf ceiling
in the
honeylocust house.
where you live.
It may not be honeylocust trees.
All trees and shrubs and flowers
are magic. But it’s important to
look for a group of 3.
They will tell you who they are
if you ask.
your honeylocust tree house,
take your adults by the hand and
invite them to join you
in the magic space –
in the grass bed, on the root pillow,
under the leaf ceiling –
and describe it all
if they cannot see.
magic house and that you and the trees know that it is real.
You plant the seed of the
honeylocust tree house
in your adults’ hearts and
someday they will wake up and
remember that it’s real, too.
AND
the beginning…
"the 3 honeylocust trees" book contemplation + study guide
a space to deepen your understanding of the “power of 3s” for relations, communications + cooperation
- Why does the girl in the story feel like a tree?
- What does a tree mean to her? List the trees’ qualities as the girl describes them.
- How do the trees’ qualities contribute to being able to cooperate?
- How do the 3 honeylocust trees form a “magic house” for the girl?
- What qualities of that “house” are important to her?
- How do these contrast with how people normally define houses + what they find important about them?
- What characters or lives|beings in the story does the girl interact + cooperate with?
- What do the 3 honeylocust trees teach the girl about life?
- What does “family” mean in this story?
- How does the significance or definition of “family” to the girl differ from traditional definitions?
- How does this different + expanded definition contribute to the girl’s ability or consciousness to live + cooperate?
- Why are quiet + silence important themes in this story + important qualities in being able to relate with other people + nature?
- Why is the space for imagination that the 3 honeylocust trees provide to the girl important for her life?
- How does imagination shape or contribute to the ability to cooperate + relate?
- Which tree in the story represents will-power + purpose? Which one represents loving-understanding + wisdom? Which one represents creative intelligence + beauty?
- What does the girl mean when she says that the 3 honeylocust trees have the whole universe inside them? What does that mean for cooperation, understanding, acceptance + goodwill?
- Why is the girl’s grandfather important to the story + her life?
- According to the story, what is one of the greatest roles + ways children have in cooperating with + for adults?
- How does this story expand adults’ understanding of more evolved ways of relating + cooperating with children?
- How is being “different” in this story celebrated + what does that teach us about how better to cooperate + be in life?
