The Riddle on the Leaves

It was near sunset as the two children were still playing with their old rag dolls in the leaves. The trees had shed most of their mantels as the autumnal wind had shaken the rain of reds, yellows, and browns to the ground. The children played in the small yard surrounded by large lilac bushes that seemed like dense walls of interwoven brown twigs. The younger girl picked up an exceptionally bright red leaf and examined it with knotted brows. She called to her older sister and showed her the leaf that seemed to have been eaten by a worm leaving a lace-like curving line across its surface. The older sister stood shocked at the line which formed letters and asked a question:

“Can you hear my whisper upon the wind as I shake the leaves from the trees?”

They both stood silently and listened. The wind blew through the trees with a giggle and a song. The older sister held her younger one tight as they listened to the laughing wind. But the younger sister ran towards the gnarled old apple tree from which leaves were slowly falling like bright red snow flakes. And there more words were found.

“Can you hear my whisper upon the wind as I shake the leaves from the trees?
Can you taste my kiss upon the earth’s fruit that I passed on through the bees?
Can you see my laughter in the harvest moon’s light upon the lad and lass?
Can you feel my breath cool and clear as I paint frost upon the glass?
Can you smell my fragrance of summers gone in the secret place of the glen?
Can you sense my presence in the corn field and flying of goose and wren?
Can you know my tricks in the fields of wheat as the raven or scarecrow?
Can you guess my name and my nature when they reap that did sow?”

The girls heard the giggle on the wind again, and watched as the wind seemed to kick up the leaved in a whirlpool of red that ran across the ground to the brown lilac hedge. There was a creaking sound and the girls saw with amazement as the hedge seemed to knot and unknot, tangle and untangle until the tall hedge had formed an archway and a tunnel that went on for miles.

The two felt the wind pushing them towards the archway. Then they stopped. One looked hopeful, the other scared. The one hand slipped out of the other and one sister walked into the tunnel with the dancing wind around her. The other shook her head and decided to stay. The wind giggled, the lilac bush groaned and slowly closed the gateway. But realizing her sister was leaving she ran forward and pounded upon the brown branches. The bushes slowly opened again and she ran in after her sister and took her hand. Then the lilac bushes closed once more. In the empty yard the leaves fell softly upon the grass and the dolls now forgotten.