A Tale of Two Flowers: A Forest of Ribbons

It's an unusually warm July afternoon to be walking by the forest boundary, Having taken in my fill of the Glory Lily and listening to Ananda's impromptu lecture in ethnobotany, I stroll contentedly.  In my hand are two fruits of Careya Arborea, a handsome tree with flowers of ineffable beauty - for this is the fruiting season - in the faint hope that I will be able to sprout some seeds at Random Rubble.

We see Venkatamadappa grazing his two cows and stop to chat.  He is an intrepid man-of-the-forest, for his land abuts the boundary and today he is in a foul mood, complaining about the elephants and the damage they have caused him.  
"This fence is useless," he says, pointing to the robust pillar-cable-and-electric line that extends for kilometres, done by the Forest Department.  "Not true," Ananda counters, "this fence has kept the herds away.  It's only the three bulls who cross it now. That is a big relief."

Madappa, of course, is least convinced and continues to argue; when your cows are grazing, no better past time can present itself.  He wishes he says that these elephants would go away, once and for all.   

Then, Ananda points to a pile of elephant dung, now drying in the sun, and he has a smile on his face.  "Sir," he speaks to me, but I suspect he is talking to Madappa, "look at the saplings growing in the dung."

With a stick, he sifts through fibre and mango seeds in the large pile and then points to the tiny saplings and to the fruits of Careya in my hand. "Three Careya saplings in one pile of dung! Elephants will sprout these better than you do.  They are the real tree planters!" he says with flourish. 

Madappa looks skeptical, but Ananda is now listing the species of trees, shrubs and grasses that the elephants disperse in their dung and it is an impressive panoply.  Yet,as I listen, my mind trails away.  What if I tied a ribbon to each of these saplings to keep notes? I think.  What if I tied a ribbon to every tree an elephant planted?  

Under the afternoon sun, I am in a world of my own for a minute: in my mind's eye, I can see a scrub-and-deciduous forest, with a ribbon tied to each tree.........