"The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein and narration by N. Raghu.

The Giving Tree is an extraordinary children’s picture book written and illustrated by Shel Silverstein, first published in 1964. Since then over 10 million copies of the book have been published in English alone and many more translated editions in various foreign languages.  Here in this video, you can hear me narrating this story that represents a great relationship of love, friendship, giving and sacrifice:

The book follows the life of a female apple tree and a male human, who are able to communicate with each other; the tree addresses the human as "Boy" his entire life. In his childhood, the boy enjoys playing with the tree, climbing her trunk, swinging from her branches, and eating her apples. However, as time passes he starts to make requests of the tree.

After entering adolescence, the boy wants money; the tree suggests that he pick and sell her apples, which he does. After reaching adulthood, the boy wants a house; the tree suggests he cut her branches to build a house, which he does. After reaching middle age, the boy wants a boat; the tree suggests he cut her trunk to make a boat, which he does, leaving only a stump.

In the final pages, the boy (now a shrivelled old man) wants only "a quiet place to sit and rest," which the stump provides. The story ends with the sentence "And the tree was happy."

The book has generated several opinions on how to interpret the relationship between the tree and the boy:

* The tree represents God and the boy represents humankind.

* The tree represents Mother Nature and the boy represents humankind.

* The tree and the boy are friends.

* The tree and the boy have a parent-child relationship.

In whichever way you may interpret the story, you will be moved by the love and helping nature of the tree. And I hope you will like my narration of the story.