{"id":252,"date":"2021-04-12T20:21:11","date_gmt":"2021-04-12T20:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english.illinoisstate.edu\/euphemism\/16-2\/?page_id=252"},"modified":"2021-04-28T21:02:03","modified_gmt":"2021-04-28T21:02:03","slug":"lullaby","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/16-2\/lullaby\/","title":{"rendered":"Lullaby"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
Ellen Pearson<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

What do the trees do when the sun goes down?<\/em><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Well, when the sun goes down and the world goes quiet, they get bored, so they yawn and stretch and finally move from the spot they\u2019ve been standing in all day. The ones that lean over the train tracks on the other side of the Dairy Queen stand up straight and grumble and moan that they\u2019re getting too old, just like grandpa does after he reads a long book.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Then what do they do?<\/em><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

They walk west\u2014all of them. A big parade, a mass migration like the geese we saw today at the park or the marching band that passed our house just a couple weeks ago. Do you remember that? They were all in red with shiny instruments hanging all over them. The big evergreens hold the hands of the itty bitty saplings and they all walk home.<\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

What\u2019s it like there?<\/em><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

It\u2019s very pretty there. The sky is even more blue than it is here. There are all kinds of trees and flowers everywhere, and they\u2019re all friends.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Is there magic there?<\/em><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Of course. Every wish comes true in the land of the trees. There\u2019s magic floating through the air, but shh! don\u2019t tell anyone I told you that.<\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Can I go?<\/em><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Only if you ask a tree very nicely.<\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

How do you know?<\/em><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

When I was your age\u2014and you weren\u2019t yet born\u2014mom was very sick. I thought maybe if I went to the land of the trees, I could wish for her to be better. So, when grandma took me to the park that day, I ran into the forest and found the biggest, tallest tree, and asked him very, very nicely if I could visit his home.<\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

What did he say?<\/em><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

He said yes. He put me into his pocket very quickly and quietly and off we went. We walked for so long that I couldn’t see grandma or our house or the playground anymore. It took so long that I fell asleep. When I woke up, I was in a very strange place with a bright, bright blue sky. From the pocket, I could see flowers moving past on the gentle wind, and I could hear the sound of little trees playing. I closed my eyes to make my wish, but I must have fallen asleep again, because I woke up to grandma tapping me on the shoulder. I was laying in the grass just below the big, tall tree.<\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Did your wish come true?<\/em><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Well, as grandma and I were walking home from the park, we got a call from the hospital that said mom was okay and I had a little sister.<\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Was that me?<\/em><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

That was you.<\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Will you tell me another story?<\/em><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

No, it\u2019s time to go to sleep now.<\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Can I go to the land of trees tomorrow?<\/em><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Only if you promise to tell me all about it.<\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ellen Pearson   What do the trees do when the sun goes down?   Well, when the sun goes down and the world goes quiet, they get bored, so they yawn and stretch and finally move from the spot they\u2019ve been standing in all day. The ones that lean over the train tracks on the… Continue Reading Lullaby<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-252","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/16-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/16-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/16-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/16-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/16-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/16-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/252\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":855,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/16-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/252\/revisions\/855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/16-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}