Part VIII...

He walked quickly through trees and around trees, all the while watching for the flashing glow that would warn him of anything approaching. Nothing happened however, and as he began to see the glow of the huge tree growing brighter and closer, he relaxed.
And then, all of a sudden, he was in a clearing and there stood the great tree before him in all of its red pulsing brilliance. Jonah began to walk to the tree. After a few steps he noticed small shapes lying in the reddish grass. He approached one for a better look and saw a small furry body lying motionless. It looked like a cross between a monkey and a raccoon. It had long arms and legs, a long tail, and its head was round with a small snout. The snout was covered in white stripes, as was the head, which stretched across the face and widened down the back.
There were what seemed to be primitive tools shaped from branches and stones lying here and there in the field. Jonah now saw a number of these little furry shapes lying here and there. He couldn’t tell if the one he stood next to was sleeping or not so he stepped gingerly around it and began to walk towards the tree again, taking slow careful steps.
Finally Jonah reached the tree and stared up. The trunk of the tree was extremely wide and stretched high into the air. Jonah realized that the tree’s branches covered the entire clearing and shone so brightly that it seemed almost daylight. The light of the tree seemed to emanate from a hole in the trunk just above Jonah’s head.