Topher Payne

It was desperately sad.

Meet Topher Payne.

I am a playwright and teacher in Atlanta.

I'll absolutely take that.

Once there was a tree, and the tree loved the boy.

And every day the little boy would come and play in the tree's branches, and they had a marvelous friendship.

And the tree gives her branches, which do grow back, but they grow back so much slower.

But she gives them up because she loves the boy.

And then he wants to build a boat and so on and so on until the tree is nothing but a sad little stump and there is nothing left of her.

And the boy comes back as an old man and she has nothing left to give and he sits on her.

The end.

You know, the most common hot take that I hear on the story is that it is an allegory for maternal love.

You just give everything that you have to your child, and you see them thriving, and they are so happy.

And the two things that I want to say to that are, one, nuh-uh, that's not how motherhood should work.

And two, the boy is not happy.

There is nothing in the story that indicates that this behavior results in the boy being happy.

The boy always comes back seeking more and doesn't understand why he doesn't feel fulfilled.

Yes.

This notion of give till it hurts.

No, sometimes pain is a sensor telling you to stop something.