118 FOREST FANCIES 



were there not spirits of air and forest and 

 water? But this was many years ago. 



One day, as the wood-nymph of the birch 

 tree guided the Indian's bark canoe, a water- 

 nymph brought news : 



^*I have seen a canoe, made of much wood, 

 at the mouth of the river ; and the faces I saw 

 were the color of shells." 



*'The canoe has wings, and I blew it across 

 the sea," cried a sylph of the air. **The Pale 

 Face has come to make a home for himself and 

 his children. Some day he will possess the for- 

 est and the rivers." 



Did she whisper warnings to the Indian in 

 his canoe? For he pricked his ears like a 

 startled deer, scenting an enemy who would 

 sweep away the Red Man and the forest that 

 he loved. 



Two hundred rings and more had circled on 

 old oak tree since the landing of the big canoe, 

 when a pioneer stooped and drank from the 

 spring that bubbled among its roots. Then, 

 shouldering his axe, he followed the stream 



