THE MERRY GREENWOOD 121 



a 



Nay, nay," she laughed, ^*I am the guard- 

 ian of this spring ; and as long as the oak tree 

 stands, it is my home." 



'^Then as long as I live," he exclaimed, 

 *'your oak shall stand, though ^a thousand fall 

 at thy side!'" 



**Aye, the thousands are falling," she said 

 sadly. *'Man needs much wood; but the rivers, 

 too, need trees." 



Josiah pondered upon her words, and one 

 day he asked her what they meant. 



^^ Under the shade of this forest," she an- 

 swered, **and through the great sponge of its 

 leaf -mold and the root-bound earth beneath, 

 the rain soaks slowly, slowly down, to trickle 

 out at last in tiny springs. So leave the trees 

 upon the mountain side, for the forest is the 

 river's friend." 



**As the forest protects the streams," he 

 cried, '^so I will protect the forest!" 



However, he was now learning things out of 

 books that told him nothing about little wood- 

 nymphs who guarded springs ; and in the pass- 

 ing years, he had no time to think of the forest 



