THE COAL TO THE KINDLING WOOD 77 



the reason why either of us burn at all. Do you 

 know why we do ? " 



" I only know what the Winds of Night whisper 

 to us on the mountain from the time we reach 

 our six green finger-tips above the soil, until the 

 axe stroke tells us that our tree life is ended. 



" The Winds say : ' Reach out, O Pines ; with 

 both foot and hand draw food from the earth 

 and stretch begging palms to the sky ; grasp the 

 sunlight, hold it fast. Grow, swell your limbs, and 

 prepare greater storehouses for the hoard of sun- 

 beams. Warm shall they feel as you grasp them, 

 yet they soon grow cool in the storehouse. But 

 when Wabeno speaks or touches you with fire, 

 back to the air shall these stored sunbeams return, 

 and all that will remain of you will be the ashes 

 of the storehouse walls.' 



" All this is true. For twenty years I stretched 

 out my hands and begged for sunbeams, grasping 

 and hoarding them. To-day they throw my ribs 

 into the grate and touch fire to them. Wabeno 

 calls ! I blaze, and all the store of sunlight dis- 

 appears into the air and leaves a pinch of ashes." 



" And you pass on the magic touch ? Do not I 

 blaze, too, when your heat touches me ? " asked 

 King Coal. "And though I blaze longer and 

 fiercer, is not my end the same a heap of ashes ? " 



