The following is Lucy Mack Smith’s recollections of a vision that Joseph Smith, Senior experienced in April 1811, recorded in 1844. It bears some resemblance to the vision of the tree of life experienced by Lehi in the Book of Mormon, though it’s possible that Lucy’s memories of the vision were shaped by the Book of Mormon in the intervening years.
Spelling, punctuation, and paragraph formatting have been modernized.
I seemed to be traveling in an open barren field. I looked to the east, to the west, to the north, and to the south. I could see nothing but dead fallen timber—not a leaf, not a tree, not a spear of grass could be seen in any direction. No sound of any animate thing was to be heard in all the field. No living thing, either animal or vegetable was there, save myself and an attendant spirit that stood at my side.
Of this personage I enquired the meaning of what I saw and why I was traveling in this gloomy place. He said, “this field is the world, which lies inanimate and dumb as to the things pertaining to the true religion or the order of heavenly things. All is darkness. But travel on and on a certain log by the wayside you will find a box whose contents will make you wise and if you eat the same you shall have wisdom and understanding.”
I did as I was directed and presently came to [the] box. I took it and placed it under my left arm, forced up the lid and began to taste of its contents when all manner of beasts, horned cattle, and roaring animals rose up on every side and rushed upon me, tearing the earth, tossing their horns in air, bellowing ‘round me, [and] threatening every moment to devour me. They came so close upon me that I was forced to drop the box and fly for my life although it made me the happiest of anything of which I ever had possession. I awoke trembling with terror.
Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–1845, Page [5], [miscellany], p. [5], [miscellany], The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed January 18, 2024, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/lucy-mack-smith-history-1844-1845/245
Prophets, Seers, and Revelators 