Short Story: Cut, Cut, Don’t Cut by Anit Singh

In this short story, Anit Singh shares a powerful incident surrounding the loss of a tree with a poignant narrative.

In 1524, Easter Island lost its very last tree around the last week of May. 

This is a story about the loss of a tree.

Rigvi sat on top of the Mother Tree, the highest point of the island, and from his ‘nest,’ he could see every part of the island extending to the clear blue waters. The children had begun to climb the Mother Tree late in the night after their last dance as children. Rigvi had promised them prophecies at the top. It had all been easier when his own mother was the shaman and his job was just to help the children with the climb.

Perhaps because Rigvi wasn’t able to summon the spirits, or perhaps because he was a man and shamans were supposed to be women, or perhaps because the spirits had not taken a liking to him, whatever the reason, he had never even come close to a trance. Every time he imbibed the bark of the Mother Tree to prepare himself, he found himself in the same nightmare: being chased by a talking whale.