56 Trails to Woods and Waters 



" The next morning two wood-choppers 

 came with axes and saws and I said good-bye 

 to the forest and my native mountain, for my 

 hour had come. 



" Each time the bright blade of the axe 

 sank into my flesh, there was a nipping, biting 

 pain. Soon I felt a numbness creeping up 

 the side upon which they were cutting. This 

 numbness which was like a strange sleep crept 

 to my first limbs, and then to my very tip-top 

 plume. 



" When they had cut in part way, in one 

 side, they began on the other and soon that side 

 too was numb. Gradually, like one who is 

 heavy with sleep, the numbness enfolded me, 

 then the white snow-capped hills and valleys 

 faded from my sight. The sound of the wind 

 died in the treetops and I began to waver, 

 like an old man upon his staff. 



" Then a few more keen axe strokes severed 

 my heart, and with a rush and a roar that 

 shook the mountain side, I fell and was no 

 longer a tree, but several thousand feet of 

 unsawed timber." 



