20 TREES IN NATURE, MYTH & ART 



life we were discussing; such, for example, 

 as Blake's question to the tiger : — 



Did He who made the lamb make thee ? 



To this question the tiger could give no 

 answer. But who could give the answer, and 

 say why the mild and the fierce must both have 

 a place in creation ? And the trees can give 

 no answer to any question we may ask about 

 the life that lives in their cells and along their 

 fibre. But who can give the answer? We 

 can guess at it, as we watch the trees, or work 

 among them, modifying their life. The whole 

 answer it is not ours to have. 



Flower in the crannied wall, 



I pluck you out of the crannies, 



I hold you here, root and all, in my hand. 



Little flower — but if\ could understand 



What you are, root and all, and all in all, 



I should know what God and man is. 



So said Tennyson. 



To me the meanest flower that blows can give 

 Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears. 



So said Wordsworth. I make no apology 

 for having headed this chapter "The Soul 

 of a Tree". 



