The Smoke Bush

Once upon a time there was a lady who loved to do eco-printing.  She had many good trees and plants on her land whose leaves and flowers would print very well.  Her daughter who  lived far away also helped by sending items that did not grow in the woman's part of the kingdom.  But alas, the woman had no access to the leaves of the smoke bush.  She really wanted to print with their leaves.

The woman went on a vacation.  It was a 14 day driving vacation.  While the smoke bush is a less seen plant the woman saw several along the way.  She was sorely tempted to pick leaves off the bush but she knew that taking things from others was called stealing so she did not.  That went on for days until the next to the last day of the vacation.

The women to her man that when she saw the next smoke bush she would anxiously knock on the door of the smoke bush owners and ask to pick the leaves.  She knew they would think her a bit odd but the woman really wanted the leaves.  The very next smoke bush she saw was the biggest one in the world!  Surely the owners would let her pick a few leaves since the bush had millions of leaves. So, the man pulled into the very long driveway and with trepidation the woman went looking for the owners.

Rather than knocking on the door to the house, the woman heard talking from the behind the house and she went there to see who she might find.  It was a man and his adult son working on some farm equipment.  Really big farm equipment.  The son was working on a truck and was closer so the woman asked about the smoke bush.  He looked at her with wonder, said he didn't see why not, but said she would have to speak to his father since the father owned the smoke bush.  The man climbed out of the cab of a huge tractor when he saw the woman approach.  The woman explained she was an artist and in need of some leaves from the magically smoke bush.  He grinned and said, "It is really big isn't it."  The woman whole heartedly agreed. He then gave her permission to pick the leaves.

The woman picked leaves until the hardcover book she was using to press the leaves could absolutely not hold one more leaf.  She knew that soon those leaves would leave wonderful prints on silk.