How A God Lost Himself And Found Beauty

 
Once a god swallowed an acorn. He had been sleeping beneath an oak when a lark began to sing. The song was beautiful and he sat up to listen, but the startled bird flew off, dislodging an acorn.
 
Come back, cried the god. That was when he swallowed it.  
 
The acorn took root. The tree grew bigger until it pressed him to the earth, and when its branches pierced his navel, he couldn't move.   A god said, I'll cut down your tree. Then you will walk again.    If you kill the tree, the god replied, I will die as well.   So he lay for ten thousand days, until one morning a lark began to build a nest in his branches, singing a song more beautiful than he had ever heard. Now, when the lark sang, the god kept the branches of his tree perfectly still. And that is how a lark found peace and a god surrendered to beauty.
 

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