124 FOREST FANCIES 



wherever the ferns made room. The laurel 

 faded and the snow fell and made a fairy for- 

 est all around, with only the little dark well of 

 water to break the pallor. Fifty Mays the 

 laurel bloomed, fifty winters the white snow, 

 fell. The wood-nymph waited beside the 

 spring, waited and watched for him. 



II. — The Fall of the Oak 



While the wood-nymph waited by the spring, 

 settlers were building homes beyond the moun- 

 tains. Every day the field grew larger and the 

 forest smaller. Even there she could hear the 

 echo of the axe among the hills. 



Then one day a settler, passing by, stopped 

 to drink at the spring. 



"Have you come to save the forest T' she 

 asked of him. 



"Why, there is timber for all," he ex- 

 claimed, "and trees for bonfires." 



' ^ ^ Waste not, want not ! ' " was her warning ; 

 but he went on his way, clearing the ground to 

 farm. 



