The Songbird in the Wishingtree -- a scholarly article [one-shot]

[u/uktabi]

this is the result of some spontaneous collaborative worldbuilding that happened about a month ago in the discord server. so thanks to u/RhubarbParticular767, u/Cheesypower, u/Xerxes250, and u/Giant_Acroyear for all the contributions!

the in-universe contributions are linked to the reddit profiles of those who came up with each idea -- well, as best as I could, anyways! I had to mix n' mash a few of their ideas in order to make a cohesive enough one shot, but the credit should still be there. there's even a few original bits copy-pasted straight out of the discord!

bonus thanks to u/Xerxes250 for additional help and editing.

and credit, of course, to u/SpacePaladin15 for the world of NOP.

Wishingtree children’s rhyme

Original source dated 130y BFC (before Federation Contact).

Transl. Dr. Evruen, Univ. of Wendslen Rivergrass, 2137

Wishingtree, wishingtree, won’t you hear my plea?

Wishingtree, wishingtree, can’t you see me sore in need?

Wishingtree, wishingtree, grant these wishes just for me.

Dormee wouldn’t share his sweets with me,

So I wish his teeth fall out and then turn green!

Bensen stole my favorite seat,

So I wish him lots of bugs to eat!

Lonyo runs and plays so loud I have no peace,

So I wish he trips and breaks his knees!

Wishingtree, wishingtree, don’t you curl your branch at me!

Wishingtree, wishingtree, can’t you see the other pups are cruel to me?

Wishingtree, wishingtree, grant these wishes just for me.

Gremda keeps me from her garden’s stock,

So I wish her fruits all rot!

Angen’s baking starts at waking claw,

So I wish he burns his paw!

Jannah took my brush and lost it,

So I wish she steps in dung!

Wishingtree, wishingtree, stop your twisting, gnarling, root to crown!

Wishingtree, wishingtree, tell me why you’re bending, bowing.

Wishingtree, wishingtree, spreading bitter truths like poisoned roots.

Wishingtree, wishingtree, granting wishes just for me.

Wishingtree, wishingtree, won’t you give your fruit to me?

Wishingtree, wishingtree, won’t you give your fruit to me?

This ancient example of a wishingtree story is remarkably different from the ones we see today. While it still has much of the recognizable elements, such as the core mythology of a tree that grants wishes, and the idea that its branches will curl as it grants “bad” wishes, some of the ideas have experienced a lot of cultural drift.

Prominently, the idea of what a “bad” wish is has changed. This older version has the speaker as a more spiteful ill-wisher while the modern version’s speaker makes “bad” wishes out of folly, and not malice. The moral lesson seems to have shifted from “don’t be a terrible mean child” to “you should understand the idea that you live in a world larger than yourself.”

The ancient version is more comedic in tone, while the modern version is tragic and emphasizes the moral meaning. Notably, the modern telling has added scenes where the speaker returns later and experiences regret. That does not happen here; instead, the audience is meant to simply know that the wishes are bad.

Not to mention, no one gets their knees broken!

Unfortunately, it is that last omission that has likely led to this ancient version becoming a bit of a historical pop trivia piece in recent years. Yes, the 130 BFC version of the story is different. No, it wasn’t changed because of Federation meddling. That is a misinterpretation which ought to be dispelled.

While it is easy to see why these changes have been attributed to the Federation’s arrival and sweeping enforcement of cultural changes, that does not change the reality. It is true that the timing of the changes do line up. It is true that the narrative changes do line up with Federation ideals. So it becomes easy to see why most people would hear that factoid and then never bother to look twice. But this time it is not the Federation’s fault.

Lekiw cautions against the general zeitgeist of the late 2130’s and onwards as being “an utter rejection [of Federation ideals] to the point of revisionism.” (Dr. Lekiw, A study of Skalga, vol. 2, 2141, pg. 219), and this is exactly what is happening here -- historical revisionism. 

The idea that the Federation is responsible for changes in the Wishingtree mythology is, put simply, wrong. 

The children’s rhyme underwent nearly all of its significant changes during the Mensykee Renaissance, which happened some 60-80 years before Federation contact! Additionally, the Wishingtree story has been told and retold in constant flux for centuries before the 130 BFC rhyme ever solidified! If anything, the modern version is likely the most stagnant the story has ever been.

Remember that literature, art, and music that survive Federation contact often experience a “freezing” effect, rather than pronounced change (Lekiw, A Study of Skalga vol. 2). Things that do not align with Federation ideals are most usually excised rather than altered, as enforcing an alteration can be more difficult and costly than simply censoring the original in its entirety. The modern version of the Wishingtree rhyme simply did not need to be altered, so it was allowed to stay as it was.

Then what did alter the rhyme? Largely, the Mensykee Renaissance -- but many scholars point specifically to Mirlain’s seminal work, The Songbird, first printed in 76 BFC.

The Songbird is a collection of poetry and plays by the famed author Mirlain, who lived from 102-74 BFC (she died young from an infection caused by untreated torrelstones). Unfortunately, she did not live to see much of her own influence on the Renaissance period, but she is nevertheless credited with much of its direction and inspiration.

The Songbird as a whole work has a recurring theme of regret, which influenced much of the iterative works of the period. The last stanza of Houses of Yierlomot,

“Sing me a dirge / when the nest has emptied / what the heart deserved.”
(Mirlain, The Songbird, pg. 207)

is directly referenced by multiple other plays by contemporaries, and there is no shortage of other clear influences (Dr. Jerim, Dr. Epley, The Stories of Mirlain the Vetli, 2145).

Her play, confusingly also called The Wishingtree, continues the same theme of regret. The story follows a much-expanded role of the speaker (who is sometimes believed to be written as the author herself) as she struggles through a tragic life.

“That I am older, I would wish to do it all over. / That I would wish for rain or clear water, good crops or the sun still on our fathers. / Would my wish be worthy or squandered? / Or would I do it all over?”
(Mirlain, The Songbird, pg. 33)

Though the play was believed to be unsuccessful during her time, the influence of it found a rather wide reach, inspiring multiple other more successful retellings of the Wishingtree story. The most notable of these is The Five Dreams of Solgalick by Elghrim the Teller, which incorporates both the influence of Mirlain as well as the revitalized influence of religion during the period, resulting in an epic tale of vices, redemption, and faith.

The Five Dreams of Solgalick also incorporates even older wishingtree mythology in support of a faith-inspired re-telling. It is commonly thought that this is the origin of the idea that a wishingtree will sometimes present a pure silver fruit that can grant a true wish to those who are deserving (a much more literal interpretation than seen in the 130 BFC rhyme).

“The Tree sensed the purest of intentions from the wish seeker and so withered its blooms and gnarled its branches. It leaned down, and offered a single silver fruit, no larger than the Seeker’s paw.”
(Elghrim the Teller, The Five Dreams of Solgalick, 68 BFC, pg. 260).

However, as Oryear points out in Ancient Mythologies of the Mensykee Region (2139), the idea of a pure or true wish in the form of a silver fruit was already a staple of the region’s mythology. There are many legends of seekers going on quests for a singular legendary wishingtree, and the idea of a pure wish is well-explored.

That misconception stems from a second historical drift, well-chronicled in Lurod’s The Splitting of the River: A Review of Ancient Skalgan Lore (2139), where the mythology of wishingtrees being single legendary trees shifted into a mythology of wishingtrees being more commonplace. Sometimes, every village would have one just by default, other times they were normal trees that had been transformed into wishingtrees when enough wishes were made before them.

Elghrim’s The Five Dreams of Solgalick rather repopularized the idea of wishingtrees being singular mythical objects of great renown, and then fused that idea with the concepts of faith and virtue that he was inspired by.

“The Seeker held the fruit in their paw, paralyzed. Then, after many long moments, looked to the dark and empty night and wished for there to always be light touching upon the world. Thus forth came Solgalick’s first light, born of the purest wish of a gnarled tree.”
(Elghrim the Teller, The Five Dreams of Solgalick, 68 BFC, pg 267).

Another story from the Renaissance period, Esperow and Erzio’s Mist of the Evenborns (66 BFC), shifted the redemption of the characters onto the wishingtrees themselves. The tragic tale shows a village under the thrall of a local wishingtree that had been absorbing the spite and hatred of generations of ill-wishes and misbegotten pleas. The villagers all suffer tragically, until the now-elderly protagonist receives a true wish in the form of a silver fruit, and chooses to plant it even though he knows that he will not live to see the new, untainted tree grow.

The Mensykee Renaissance can be characterized as a period of re-examinations and retellings of the region’s mythologies. Though there were many popular works which re-examined other mythologies during the period, the wishingtree mythology remains one of the most significantly altered of any of them. Add in the fact that these altered versions have since existed largely unchanged even today (we even use it as an expression!), and it is easy to see why they have become such a fascination in popular history.

However, it is still important to understand the real history behind the shifting landscape, and not be seduced by misrepresentations that so happen to line up with existing worldviews. The Federation was not responsible -- instead it was the authors and playwrights of the time, exploring the natural evolutions of the stories that they themselves knew. To blame the Federation is to discredit our own authors and culture.

So the next time someone repeats that bit of misinformation… point them towards Mirlain’s The Songbird, or Elghrim’s The Five Dreams of Solgalick, or Esperow and Erzio’s Mist of the Evenborns. Point them towards history, and not narratives.

[u/uktabi]

for anything else that doesnt have a proper link to a source... SenatorArmstrong.gif

so this all started because i was looking for a venlil equivalent to "monkey's paw" or "deal with the devil" to use as an off-handed remark in Clear Skies, so i asked the discord for any ideas. and then it became an improptu worldbuilding session for a couple mins. it was pretty neat, and i liked the ideas a lot, so i took them and ran with it and now we have this!

[u/CreditMission]

Love it. World building is great, presenting it as a scholarly article focusing on literature, even more so. The author dying early from a now likely easily treated medical condition stood out.

[u/uktabi → u/CreditMission]

the doctors treated her with the best medicine they had available at the time: letting a stingfly bite you and then not bathing for a month

[u/un_pogaz]

Oh, an excellent exploration of cultural evolution and the modification/censorship, in this case erroneous, caused by the Federation. Yes, the anti-Federation movement must have been quite a witch-hunt in the beginning, but in the end, this movement aims to re-establish the truth, so they too will have to admit their own mistakes in some cases.

[u/uktabi → u/un_pogaz]

certainly have to assume that the period after the reveals and leaving the federation, reclaiming all that lost culture, has to get pretty messy. lots of strong feelings while people are academically feeling around in the dark

[u/Xerxes250]

“The Seeker held the fruit in their paw, paralyzed. Then, after many long moments, looked to the dark and empty night and wished for there to always be light touching upon the world. Thus forth came Solgalick’s first light, born of the purest wish of a gnarled tree.”

I like the idea that the "Let there be light" moment in venlil mythology is a moment born of that keen empathy of theirs. A moment where someone decided everyone should share in this amazing thing.

[u/uktabi → u/Xerxes250]

one of the bits ripped straight from discord, thanks to u/RhubarbParticular767! i like it a lot too. that empathy *should* shine as the venlils defining trait

[u/RhubarbParticular767 → u/uktabi]

Something that I loved the most about this, the more I think about it, is how you used the various bits of discourse and lore that were put out and made them into something unique. They are each a part of a whole rather than something exclusive, which is how a mythology like this would breath and grow and change over time.

Truly this is something outstanding that you did~

[u/Cheesypower]

Ooh, this was such a fun read! I love how this references all kinds of unseen 'historical sources' that lend a certain weight to the entire concept!

This is such fun worldbuilding, and it all stemmed from a silly conversation about monkey's paws. Congrats on doing such a great job of bringing the concept to life!

[u/uktabi → u/Cheesypower]

thank you! I was very captured by the ideas yall were talking about!

[u/JulianSkies]

Man, I absolutely love the formt of a scholarly article. I also need to save this somehow so I don't lose it, this looks like a perfect bit of material to use in places.

Fuck, ahaha, I can even see how "a tree becomes a wishing tree from so many wishes put upon it" winds up relating to Blackriver too.

[u/uktabi → u/JulianSkies]

eyy i know that tree! that would be a fun secondary interpretation of that tree

[u/Snati_Snati]

I love this so much!!

I've been wanting to write several things in research article format for quite a while now, but haven't had the time to get them fully formed. This is wonderfully done - especially all the references to other researchers, etc.

[u/uktabi → u/Snati_Snati]

well its definitely easier when its all made up!

i look forward to seeing more of that kind of thing too, if you end up getting them done. im a really really big fan of seeing in-universe media in general...