SOME TREE LORE 71 



thou hast will wholly be made vain.' Then 

 stretched I forth my hand a little further, and 

 plucked a branchlet off a great thorn, and the 

 trunks cried: ' Why dost thou mangle me? Why 

 dost thou rend me ? Hast thou no pity what- 

 soever ? Men once we were, changed now to 

 trees.' " 



But as they ascended up through Purgatorio to 

 Paradiso, they found wondrous trees, some filled 

 with fruit and bearing sweet incense. 



Trees occupy a prominent place in the literature 

 of all ages, and more especially in the myths handed 

 down to us by Homer, Ovid, and Virgil. 



The ancient Greeks and Romans believed that 

 many trees held enshrined within their woody 

 bark sylvan deities, whose lives were darkened when 

 the trees were felled. These bright creatures 

 inhabited every part of the tree, from the root to 

 the smallest twig, giving them life and beauty, 

 feeling and intelligence. It was they who shud- 

 dered and moaned in the storm, and shivered and 

 grew pale at the approach of cold, and became glad 

 again in the springtime, when their happy laughter 

 rippled out in fluttering, joyous leaves and bright 

 flowers. 



The particular tribe of elves who inhabit woods 

 and forests have always been known to the human 

 race as the Sylvans, and in this family we find 

 merry tribes of Dryads, Nymphs, Fauns, and Satyrs. 



The Dryads were young and beautiful nymphs, 

 who were always regarded as semi-goddesses, the 

 name being derived from the Greek word, druSy 

 meaning a tree. 



The Hamadryads were of human shape from the 



