Big Doug

By Eri Erens

Big Doug is my third eBook. It tells the story of a thousand-year-old Douglas Fire. This gigantic tree must thank a raven, for saving his life when he picked up a seed from a beach very close to the ocean. The raven took it high up in the sky and carried it a bit away from the wild ocean waves. But than he lost interest in it and dropped it. Lucky for the tiny seed, it landed far enough from the ocean so the wind could not blow it back to the beach again. A few days later it was covered with nutritious soil, and it was ready to start its life. As you can imagine that during his long, long life, he has many stories to tell. Especially, since an Indian tribe was living nearby, and he could see firsthand how their daily life was. Most of the time it was a lot of fun for the tribe. Until a sickness took a toll on all of them. The first ten or so years were not all fun for the young tree either. In the winter he could not see at all what was going on around him. He was covered totally in snow for several months. During the other months he was always afraid some kid from the tribe, a deer or bear would just trample him down and break his tiny stamp, like it happened to some of his brothers and sisters. But not only overcame he those growing pains, Big Doug became one of the tallest and oldest trees in Canada. My first eBook, Rock Talk, tells the stories of two pebbles who came out of the ocean to travel all over Canada to see and do remarkable things. My second eBook, I will be back, is about a young girl dying of cancer. This brave and strong girl is absolutely not afraid to die, because she believes in reincarnation and cannot wait to come back to earth without the pain. Is she right? Will she come back? You can bet on it! The fourth eBook, Fairy Tales, tells stories about long forgotten times which go back hundreds of years. I am sure you will like it and even your grandma and grandpa will like it also. Make a deal with them and get them to by the stories for you.
All the best to you,
Eri

• Language: English
• Publisher: Eri Erens
• Release date: Dec 10, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005207540

Eri Erens

Hi there, I am Eri,I came to Canada a long time ago. My degrees in architecture and structural engineering, which I achieved in Europe, are not recognized in Canada. Therefore, I started and worked in my restoration business.In my free time I drafted several books, mostly for children. Why for children? Well, I grow up with two older sisters who read fairy tales to me to shut me up from asking too many questions. When I was finally able to read on my own, I am absolutely sure the party they had was to celebrate their newfound freedom from me and my pestering.Anyway, it got me hooked on fairy tales. So far, I wrote four children’s books. The first one is ‘Rock talk’. The main characters, Francis and Lorie, travel all over Canada and have lots of fun doing it.The second one, ‘I will be back’, is about a little girl. Jenny is in a hospital, dying of cancer. She is, however, not at all afraid of dying. The young girl believes in reincarnation and is looking forward to returning to earth without the pain she has now. And she is right! She will come back. Just not exactly like she hoped. But most important, Jenny loved where she is and what she has to do.Number three is about ‘big Doug’, a thousand-year-old Douglas Fire who used to live on the West Coast on Vancouver Island, Canada. Many, many years ago, high up in the sky a tiny seed was blown miles and miles to the shore of the Pacific Ocean. It flowed down toward the sandy beach and before the tide could sweep it away, a raven picked it up, and carried it a short distance away from the wild ocean waters. From great heights he lost interest in it and let it go again. Finally, this petite seed reached the rich earth in the rain forest where it took root. Thanks to the raven, this young sapling grew to became one of the tallest trees on the West Coast of Canada and has countless stories to tell.The fourth book, ‘Fairy Tales’, tells stories about long forgotten times. Like kings, princes and princesses, cowboys and Indians, knights and soldiers, as well as rich people and bandits. It has something for everybody, children, grandmas or grandpas.I know you will love each one of them.All the best to you,Eri

Book preview

Big Doug

Published by Eri Erens at Smashwords

Copyright 2021 Eri Erens

Hello there, my name is Big Doug. Today is my birthday; I am one thousand years old. And since no person or animal gets that old, I am a tree, to be specific, a Douglas Fir.

I do not know where I came from because when I was just a seed the wind carried me over miles and miles until I fell to the soft ground on Vancouver Island, Canada.

Anyway, I consider myself a real Canadian tree.

Just for you to get an idea of how big and tall I am, let me tell you that my base is more than 3.90 meters in diameter. I am still growing, but I am already more than 70 meters tall.

As you can imagine during all this time, I have experienced many things. If you are interested in what I have seen and heard, just keep reading and I will tell you.

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When I was created there were only Natives and animals here on Vancouver Island. One tribe was living nearby. I could not see the Natives, because I was only four centimeters tall, but I could hear them. Mostly the children, of course, they were always laughing and singing. For the next few years, I was constantly scared when the kids came too close to me. They did not always look when they were running around, and I saw many of my brothers and sisters lying there with their little stems broken. Some were dead, others were crippled, and never grew tall and strong.

But I was lucky! The closest I came to danger was in my first year when a little squirrel grabbed me with his front paws but was chased away by a crow. I never found out what he was going to do to me, which, in fact, was just fine with me.

A few years later I witnessed a tragedy that involved a young Native boy. He was seven years old and had already lost his mother when he was born. His father never took another wife but was close to his only son. On one of his fishing trips, he was killed by the wild waters of the ocean.

His friends carried his lifeless body home and his son, together with the entire tribe, mourned the death of a great father, brother, and friend.

When the dad was laid to rest, his young son stayed until everybody else was gone and he was on his own. Tears kept running down his face until he had no more left.

A little girl, about five years old, was walking away with her family when she looked back to the lonely little boy. She picked up a red flower, went back to the boy, and handed it to him. He took the flower and looked at the girl with pain in his eyes. The girl went home and shortly after, the boy’s uncle picked him up to live with him and his family in another tribe.

Life went on in my community and not long after the ceremony, hordes of kids were playing, laughing, and singing again. But I did not see the boy for a long time.

The next 15 years went pretty fast. I had a lot of growing to do and I did just that. The children who played around me before had become young adults. Now they played with bows, arrows, and spears. The problem was, from all the trees in the forest, they choose me to be the one to throw their weapons at. Luckily, my bark was getting thicker, and their bone-stacked arrows did not really hurt me.

I also had my first birds, I believe they were ravens, who built their nest in my branches. In the early days, I did not understand what the busy couple was doing, stacking twigs and small sticks in one place but when the female started laying a couple of eggs in it, I got the idea.

It was fun to watch a squirrel trying to steal one of the eggs, still, whoever sat on the eggs, the raven dad, or the mom was only pretending to be asleep and was always able to chase the tiny bandit away. He just was not going to give up until the larger raven grabbed the squirrel with his feet, flew off with the little bugger, and dropped him in a nearby pond. Wet and probably embarrassed, he paddled back to shore and never bothered the raven couple and their young again.

In midsummer, the young raven had long left the nest and the small Native boy who lost his father a long time ago came back to his tribe. He was riding a black horse and definitely was no boy anymore, but a proud young man.

All the young, unmarried women were dancing and singing at the tribe’s celebration place, which I was able to see through the trees. The young girl that gave him the flower was also there. But..., she was anything more than a little girl now. She grew to become the most beautiful woman anybody had ever seen. Every unmarried man was waiting for his turn to dance with her. And dancing she did with everybody, young or old, good looking or, well…, not. The biggest smile was always on her face, and she was full of energy. Nevertheless, that was as far as it went, and nobody was ever able to get her to follow him into his tepee.

Of course, the young man also saw her, and he guided his horse through the dancing people toward the gorgeous girl. Standing with his horse in front of her, he handed her a small package. She opened it and found the dried flower she gave him so many years ago.

She looked at him and for the first time, she followed a man when he reached out his hand to help her on his horse.

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