gather and climb

A long while ago in a land before time there lived a wee hermit who'd gather and climb, and fetch from the trees and the soils below the tubers and apples that made his limbs grow. Now after a while his digits were long, his legs and his arms were both stretched-out and strong, his torso however had not grown an inch, so up to the treetops he went in a cinch and hung from the stoutest and loftiest branch until his face reddened and his feet were blanched. His hunger and thirst though would force him back down, but soon he avoided the hard rocky ground, and gained from the fruits and the wealth grown from wood the moisture and sustenance that did him good. He then started moving just nighttimes, you see, up there in his majestic verdant proud tree, and sleeping clear through the bright sun until dark, with toes wrapped around the coarse blessed rough bark. His torso however continued to shrink, and skin soon got loosened from a lack of drink, it hung from his armpits and from his crotch too, and he soon was covered in hairs dark of hue. One night there was lightning and crashing thunder that burst split exploded his perch asunder, to save his now hirsute and blood-reddened skull he spread his legs and his arms like a seagull and marveled to find that the patches of skin allowed him to glide and to ride on the wind. From then he chose to not touch solid ground but used his broad glide-flaps to move him around, did hang in the trees and shed each ounce of fat, we know him today as the common brown bat.

© americanifesto / 場黑麥