ET- Jumping Trees

The trees were mostly Jumpums, of great vigor, having evolved from a time of terrible drought on the Green Planet, when their desperate search for water had caused them to lift themselves out of the soil, roots and all, and move on; the movement had evolved through the ages until now the entire family of Jumpum trees took short hops every so often, and then dug their roots like frenzied claws deep into the soil. This meant that no path in a Jumpum forest was ever in one place for very long, for Jumpums could obliterate it in a minute or so, and frequently did, jumping all over it.

  E.T. opened his mental band into the telepathic mode, to help him find his way to friendly and familiar surroundings; he was tracking with some success, though a bunch of Jumpums jumping all around you, if you’re not used to them, can be upsetting, and he scolded a few of them for jumping almost on top of him, their roots pinning his long toes in place. “B. good.”

  They looked at him sadly, their leaves drooping to the ground as they backed off, for he was a distinguished botanist and they were just silly young Jumpums.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, and jumped around with them for a while to make them feel better; his short legs did not get him far in the jumping category but the Jumpums didn’t care, and jumped merrily. He left them as they started to organize a jumping contest, which was much too strenuous for anyone but a Jumpum. He walked on, carrying his geranium.

- E.T. The Book of the Green Planet, chapter 2