by novembercat
Dear Reader, if you are reading this, you probably wonder about the Land of Plenty and its rules.
The first settlers came during medieval times, it is said. But to be honest, nobody cares. They could have arrived during the Stone Age, for all we know. It is not important who came first, because it entitled nobody to anything. In the Land of Plenty, everybody is always so occupied by digestion that nobody even has the mind to name places. People lie down most of the time, busy not thinking.
There is, of course, a catch to living in the Land of Plenty. The problem, and it really is one, is that there is only food available. Nobody ever does anything, at least with their hands, and so nobody can be seen making clothes or building houses. Masons, for example, do exist, but they work at night, they are very silent, and they take years and years to build a house. People mostly live in very old houses that have been there for generations. As it would be a great shame to remember who built them, nobody knows who did.
Rarely, a child is born that has the urge to do things. Of course, everybody tries to distract it and teach it to let go. Very rarely don’t they succeed, and the child goes on to do things with its hands. Normally, that is where society gives up, as keeping a young person from doing something would involve somebody else doing something. But it makes people nervous to hear about such a child. They fear the impact of unsound thoughts.
Thoughts are a big thing in the Land of Plenty. As the landscape and the trees react to the wishes and dreams of the people, everybody has to have a kind of thought hygiene. It takes years and years of high-skilled dreaming to get a tree to grow sausages in the shape and hardness of a toothpick. Such a tree can mean hope and relief to everybody who has a bit of free-flying roast chicken stuck between their teeth, so it is extremely valuable.
You probably think: Why not just take a bit of wood and use that as a toothpick? Easy! No. Labor is forbidden. You can’t just go and do something with your hands, you have to dream it up! Lengthy, maze-like dream conversations have to leave an impression on the tree that you are lying under for hours and hours. You won’t go hungry. Just open your mouth and let something fly into it. There are flying fruit, flying roast fowls, even flying chocolates. They nest in the mountains that are be-dreamed by the people living there for generations, and mountains don’t change their nature so quickly.
But a tree can. It can revert to its wild form, the schabernackbaum or mischief-tree. The schabernackbaum looks like its domesticated cousin but its roots angle for careless feet, its foul red fruit are propelled into the faces of dreamers who dare lie under them. The schabernackbaum is every Plentylander’s nightmare if they don’t take care of their thoughts.
That is why a Plentylander will always lie and dream when they can, a careful expression of bliss on their face and never work with their hands. Although maybe picking something up might be ok, as long as you don’t go and cook!
© novembercat 2024-01-05