The Gamean Tree

I am sitting on a log with a bunch of other young boys as a large Hercules like man strides up and down the line calling out for someone to match the courage of Arcus Aurelios. I stand up as he tosses two boys aside proclaiming them to match the courage of a pithy nemeian scout. The rest of most of the boys and I follow him to a cliff with a huge olive tree growing out of the side of it. The man explains that this is the Gamean Tree, old with the weight of centuries. Growing on its farthest branch is a single fruit. The man explains that we must overpass the courage required to reach that fruit and retrieve it. Many of the boys climb out onto the tree courageously, but I stay back until I am one of three left. The man asks me why I hesitate, and I ask him the origins of the tree as the last boy plummets to his death to the sunbleached ruins below. He explains that the Gamean Tree was originally carved of Gaia's very roots, yet in its time under the hard sun and under the yoke of insects, it has become irritable and sunburned. Another boy falls to his death as the very branches shake under him. I run down the cliff a ways to retrieve some mud, and as I scale the tree I apply the cool wetness to its branches. Nothing moves. The tree is still as I moisturize it. I pluck the bright white fruit and bring it back to the man. He smiles and motions me and the other remaining two boys to follow.