of time, had been ruthlessly destroyed! I stood by the pros- 

 trate trunk and contemplated the work of wreck and ruin 

 with feelings of mingled sorrow and indignation. How much 

 I wished that the elm could tell me the story of its life, and of 

 the many never-to-be-repeated sights and sounds of by-gone 

 years it had seen and heard! Maybe it did. Standing there 

 alone, in profound silence, strange thoughts rushed like a flood 

 into my mind. "I ruminated, I pondered, and I dreamed." 

 And from these silent, intense communings events gradually 

 began to take form and shape; they were palpable and real — 

 I could see them happening about me. The fallen curtain of 

 the past seemed to slowly rise, and the dead and gone actors 

 in the years of old flitted to and fro upon the stage. So, in 

 this manner, the life of the dead king of the forest disclosed 

 itself, and his varied career passed in review before my eyes. 

 And thus it came to pass that I now can tell you 



The Story of the; Giant Ei/M. 

 "How old I was when I was destroyed I don't know; 

 but, as you men creatures compute time, it must have been 

 at least two hundred years. My first consciousness of life is 

 faintly as far back as the time when I was a tiny seed, wrapped 

 in the close folds of the winter bud and reposing on a twig of 

 my parent tree. But then the snow and sleet lay thick around, 

 and the wind blew sharp and cold, and, except on a few short- 

 lived sunny days, I remained in a state of profound slumber. 

 Presently the sun became bright and warm, and soft and gen- 

 tle winds began sighing through the branches and whispering, 

 'Wake up!' Then something began stirring within me, and 

 I began to push and struggle to escape from my wintry prison, 

 and soon emerged, a little green seed, with dainty wings to 

 aid me in my flight from the parental home. I soon fluttered 

 away, and fell on a spot of rich, crumbled earth, which, at a 

 time when the sun was highest, was warmed by his genial rays. 

 Then there came soft and pleasant rains, and I sank a little 

 space into the ground, but from which ere long I reappeared 

 in a new form — a little shoot of green. The days grew longer 

 and warmer, and I grew apace, and presently put forth nice, 



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