The tree stood alone at the top of the hill. Nobody knew how it got to grow there. The fruit of the Terebinth, when fully ripe, was bright red in colour, so the theory that a bird had eaten the fruit far away and had flown over the hill, depositing the seed within it's dropping, was probably correct.
The Terebinth stood only about 3 metres tall, but many storms and strong winds had taken their toll. The tree, bent and weathered, leaned over precariously to one side.
Storm clouds again loomed up in the distance. If the tree could talk, it would say that it wasn't worried, it had survived many storms.
The wind began to howl, dark storm clouds gathered above the hill. A flash of lightning burst from the clouds, and seeking a place to discharge it's fury, aimed for the highest point....the Terebinth!
As the electrical charge flowed through the tree, the heat generated, instantaneously boiled the natural moisture and resin harboured within the tree. The pressure built-up, of the resulting steam, had to find release....!
The trunk of the small tree burst open, the escaping gasses making loud hissing sounds, as if a monstrous serpent attacked from within.
After a while, even the sound of the rain falling on the smouldering bark ceased. The lonely sentenal atop the hill, had finally succumb to the rages of war.
