Don't Mess with Mother Nature

The Story

Petunia Asker is someone that every girl wanted to be. Petunia has faded brown hair that reaches just below her shoulders. Petunia is a very successful girl who creates beautiful clothing out of tree bark and leaves.

Everybody in the city of Athens loved seeing Petunia at work. Petunia thought that trees existed so she could cut them down and make clothing out of it. She doesn't care about nature and thinks that the trees will always grow back. What Petunia didn't know was that the goddess of the Earth was watching her.

Every morning, at dawn, Petunia would get up, grab her wooden, and then start cutting down trees. Petunia would always look at the forest before she cut down some of its trees. The sun just starting to raise, the birds singing their tunes, and the trees' leaves blowing with the wind. Then Petunia would take her ax back and slam it, with all her might, into a tree. As Petunia started cutting down trees more often, she got stronger and was able to knock them down more quickly. Sometimes, to get more money, Petunia would also pick berries. She would splatter them over the leaves so the clothing could have more color.

After Petunia cut down enough trees and got enough berries, she would go home and start making clothes. The leaves would be sewed together by the tree bark. In addition, the tree bark would keep the clothes from being easily ripped. People would come from all over Greece to buy something from her. Petunia loved the attention and loved how much currency people were willing to pay her.

So everyday Petunia would cut down more and more trees. She would pick more and more berries. She would sew more and more leaves together. Everybody was happy, well every mortal was.

Up in Mount Olympus, Gaia, the goddess of the Earth, was watching Petunia. Gaia loved the Earth and her favorite part about it was the plants.

Gaia was mad when Petunia first started cutting down her trees but she let it go, thinking it was just a one-time thing. When Gaia saw Petunia cutting down more trees, she was outraged. Not only was Petunia cutting up nature, she wasn't even planting any trees, replacing the one's she took. Also, the only reason that Petunia was knocking down trees was for money! Suddenly Gaia thought of an idea. She would transform into an old woman, go down to Earth, and tell Petunia to stop. If she didn't listen, the Gaia would severely punish Petunia.

Before traveling to Earth, Gaia had to change herself into an old woman. Instead of her curly brown hair, Gaia had white hair that was up to her ears. She had a cane that caused her back to have a hump. She, also, had to walk with a limp. Gaia's green robes turned into a shabby brown dress that was a little lighter than Gaia's original hair color. Instead of having naked feet, Gaia had brown slippers that were so thin; you couldn't even feel them when you were walking. Satisfied with the way she looked, Gaia made her way down to Earth.

Petunia was selling a dress, with raspberry spots on it, when an old woman came up to her. She was using a cane and had a large hump in her back.

"Good afternoon," Petunia greeted.

The old woman ignored the greeting and said, "You need to stop cutting up nature."

"Excuse me," Petunia asked, confused.

"You have to stop destroying nature. You also need to stop using up the berries. They are animal's food. They aren't your accessories."

"No one has ever complained about me using nature in my dresses! Not one person! I'm not going to stop making dresses so you can be happy!"

By this time, Petunia was yelling and everyone was staring at Petunia and the old woman.

"Gaia will do terrible things to you if you keep cutting up her trees. Beware!"

Then the old woman walked away and, when she was out of sight, disappeared.

Petunia was infuriated by the fact that an old woman would tell her to stop creating her magnificent clothes. Petunia was so mad that she wanted to do something that would tell the woman that she couldn't tell Petunia Asker what to do! So, instead of Petunia just getting trees and berries, Petunia would take flowers too. She would tear off the petals and sew them onto a dress. Petunia got out a piece of papyrus and wrote a sign that says, "New Dresses by Petunia! Now They Have FLOWERS!"

Petunia smiled to herself, hoping that the woman got the message. Meanwhile, the old woman changed herself back into her goddess form. Gaia saw the sign and knew that she had to stop Petunia's tomfoolery a she had to stop it soon. So Gaia transformed herself, again, except this time, she turned herself into a gorgeous rose. Next to the flower was a trap, hole of sand. When someone steps into the sand, they will start drowning, and the more they panic, the quicker they sink. Gaia created a quicksand trap.

Petunia was walking in the forest, looking for flowers, when she spotted the most beautiful rose she had ever seen.

It had bright red petals and a dark green stem. When Petunia stepped towards the flower, she stepped into the quicksand. Petunia was waist deep in the sand, quicker than you can say "flower." As Petunia was sinking, the beautiful flower grew and turned into Gaia.

"You were warned about what might've happened to you if you didn't stop cutting down trees! Not only did you ignore my warning, but you started taking flowers too! You were told that you were going to be punished. I hope you know why you deserved this horrible death. You should have done what I asked you, the first time I asked you to do it."

With that last word, Petunia's head went into the sand.

Quicksand traps have been around since Gaia created one to drown Petunia. Every time someone kills a tree and doesn't plant one, Gaia will find a way to make them die in quicksand. No one ever wore one of Petunia's dresses again. Everyone was scared of what would happen if Gaia saw him or her in clothes Petunia made. All the Greeks used to praise Petunia, but now they look down on her. When someone sees a quicksand trap, they think of a girl who didn't listen to a goddess. However, when a person dies because of quicksand, the family blames Petunia for their loss.

I'm sorry for all the spaces. It was something for the writing. That's the goddess Gaia at the side ----> Also spelled Gaea. She's Greek if you didn't already know.