THE LINDEN-TREE OF JONSBODA 



HERE was once a large and beau- 

 tiful linden-tree, for which tradi- 

 tion had won the name of the 

 Holy Tree. For many years, 

 longer than anyone could remem- 

 ber, it had stood on a farm in Jonsboda, 

 Smaland, in the south of Sweden. Misfortune 

 w^ould surely follow him who harmed the 

 tree; so, safeguarded by adoration and fear, 

 in the seventeenth century it still lived on the 

 farm of Ingemar Svenson, a real family tree. 

 Under the heavy shade played Ingemar 's 

 three children, repeating the traditions that 

 they had heard about it, and loving it for the 

 sake of these stories, for the kind shelter of 

 its heart-shaped leaves, and for the sweetness 

 of its summer bloom. 



The three children grew up, loving the tree 

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