CHAPTER IX 



THE AGE OF TREES 



"fTlHEY used to tell of a chestnut of Sancerre 

 A whose trunk was more than four meters 

 round. According to the most moderate estimate its 

 age must have been three or four hundred years. 

 Don 't cry out at the age of this chestnut. My story 

 is just beginning, and you may be sure that, as a 

 narrator who stimulates the curiosity of his audi-' 

 ence, I reserve the oldest for the end. 



"Much larger chestnuts are known; for example, 

 that of Neuve-Celle, on the borders of the Lake of 

 Geneva, and that of Esau, in the neighborhood of 

 Montelimar. The first is thirteen meters round at 

 the base of the trunk. From the year 1408 it shel- 

 tered a hermitage; the story has been testified to. 

 Since then four centuries and a half have passed, 

 adding to its age, and lightning has struck it at dif- 

 ferent times. No matter, it is still vigorous and 

 full of leaves. The second is a majestic ruin. Its 

 high branches are despoiled ; its trunk, eleven meters 

 round, is plowed with deep crevices, the wrinkles 

 of old age. To tell the age of these two giants is 

 hardly possible. Perhaps it might be reckoned at a 

 thousand years, and still the two old trees bear fruit ; 

 they will not die." 



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