He continued in this mood for several days. Sometimes he looked out on the country far below him, but always it was bleak and unfriendly. And then one day as he looked out of the cave he saw far off a small golden object. The Sun glinted on it. As he strained his eyes to look at it, he realised that it was another of the wondrous trees, bearing fruit. He guessed that one of the cores which he had thrown away must have taken root under the waters. The sight warmed his heart.
Then he knew what he should do. He would plant the whole landscape with the golden fruit. If they flourished in rock, they might grow in the desert. He remembered that the kernel of the fruit was full of seeds. He decided to break them open and scatter the seeds into the air.
And so, one day, when a hot wind was blowing from the east over the desert, the man went up to the highest peak of the mountain with three of the golden fruit. He broke them open. Inside each there was a large quantity of seeds. But all seemed to differ in shape and size and texture. He was quite perplexed by this, seeing that the trees were so similar. But nevertheless he took them in his hand and scattered them in the air.
He waited to see what result this would have. The next morning nothing was visible on the land, or the next, or the one after that. His plan seemed at first to have failed. Then, one morning, he woke and looked out of the cave. Great trees were growing in the desert below. They were more than he could count; they seem to be of every shape and size. Their bark was of every kind, or so it seemed from far above. There were no leaves, and as far as he could tell, no fruit.
The next day there was a strong wind from the north. He scattered four handfuls of the light seeds in the air, and waited. Not long afterwards there were trees on the south side of the mountain. The trees on the west seem to have grown more numerous. A few weeks later he planted trees on the north side. Green leaves unfolded in a mass on the older trees. There was grass, too, and even flowers, growing in the spaces between the trees.
One day there came a wind out of the west. It was cool and fragrant, and smelt of the western sea. The man stood once more on the mountaintop. The wind blew steady and strong all around him. He threw seeds into the air. Then it began to rain.
It was the only rain which the man had seen since his first night on the rock. It continued for a week. He watched it from inside the cavern, a silver curtain between him and the green woods which he had planted.
The second tree had disappeared; he had used the seeds of its fruits to sow the desert: three for the north, three for the south, three for the east, three for the west. But he had planted the flesh of those twelve fruits, which he could not possibly eat, still with some seeds inside, and now in the cavern there were twelve small trees, all the same, bearing golden fruits, twelve times twelve, on their silver branches.
Watered by the rain out of the west, the three trees which the man had planted outside the cave had grown huge, but their shape remained the same. On the sixth day of rain the branches with their fruit vanished, and in their places came great buds borne on short stalks. The man had, however, picked one fruit, the one which had caught fire as he threw it into the water. The bare branch from which it had hung did not vanish, but dropped off. It was by now about six feet long. So the man took it and it became his staff. Wherever he went thereafter, he took the staff with him.
On the seventh day of rain the buds of the three trees burst suddenly into brilliant blue flowers as big as cart wheels. Each had seven huge petals. Each petal was curiously folded. The scent of the flowers was overpowering. It made the man drowsy, and he lay down and slept.
When he awoke it was near evening. The rain was lessening, and a great rainbow stood in the sky, which faded slowly. As it diminished the flowers began to bow their faces towards the ground. And then the petals fell gently from them, and lay all about the cave door like shining blue robes. The man was moved by their beauty. He did not want them to be lost; he gathered them up to bring them into the cave. Their texture was smooth, and as he grasped them, he found to his surprise that he could neither tear nor crush them. They were indeed like robes, with a wide opening at one end and a narrow one at the other. Joyfully the man took one and pulled it over his head; it hung round his body as if it had been meant for a garment. And that was how the man clothed himself.
As he looked again at the two trees by the doorway, he saw a grey colour spreading from the ground up the bare trunks of the trees: the silver colour vanished. The trees looked rigid. The rain ceased. The man went to the two trees and touched them: they had become stone. So now the two door posts of the cave were stone pillars. He looked down the mountain to where the third tree was and saw that a great stone obelisk stood in its place.
Then he caught his breath. The great desert was no more. Before him, and all around the rock, stretched a fertile land of green hills and valleys. There were woods and meadows in every direction, and the rushing of streams and rivers could be heard. His heart swelled as he breathed the fresh cool air.
He ran to the mountaintop. The view was alike in every direction. The mountain itself was clothed with woods and tufts of grass and moss on the stones. Returning to the cave, he found that a spring had burst out of the ground in the spot where the first silver tree had stood. It was trickling over the threshold of the cave and flowing down the mountainside. He looked at the other trees: they were unchanged, each with twelve round golden fruit.
Then he took his wooden staff and sought a way down the mountainside.
It was not as hard as it looked from above. The man followed the course of the stream which flowed over the threshold of his cave. After a few steps he turned and looked back. He could just see the strange silver and gold trees in the shady interior. He looked at the great stone columns which had once been trees and now framed the entrance to the cave. He said a grateful farewell to the place that had so long been his home.
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