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<v Speaker 1>Chapter five of Ten Common Trees. This is a LibriVox recording.

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<v Speaker 1>All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more

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<v Speaker 1>information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording

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<v Speaker 1>by Kimberly Sassen. Ten Common Trees by Susan Stokes, Chapter

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<v Speaker 1>five the birch tree. At first it was only a

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<v Speaker 1>tiny tree with two little leaves lifted up to the light.

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<v Speaker 1>They were very little leaves, but they sifted the sunlight,

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<v Speaker 1>made food for the roots, and gave back to the

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<v Speaker 1>clouds the water the roots had found in the soil.

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<v Speaker 1>Of course, the sunlight helped them, and so when the

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<v Speaker 1>breeze passed by, they would sing in rustling voices, Oh, Sun, Sun,

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<v Speaker 1>beautiful sun. When the sun sank behind the hills in

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<v Speaker 1>the west and the stars came out, the little tree

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<v Speaker 1>went to sleep, and an owl in the great tree

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<v Speaker 1>near by kept watch, saying whoo oohoo. One morning the

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<v Speaker 1>sky was gray and the rain fell in torrents. Oh

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<v Speaker 1>what can the matter be? What is all this? Said

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<v Speaker 1>the little tree. This this is rain. We need it,

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<v Speaker 1>said the big tree, and his leaves slip slipped against

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<v Speaker 1>each other. Then the sun came out and the leaves

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<v Speaker 1>worked so busily that the little tree grew apace. After

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<v Speaker 1>a while it grew so cold that the young tree shivered.

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<v Speaker 1>Why is it so cold, it asked of the tall tree.

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<v Speaker 1>Winter is coming. Drop your leaves, said the great tree.

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<v Speaker 1>Then there came a gust of wind which carried away

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<v Speaker 1>the young trees leaves. Oh my leaves, my pretty leaves,

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<v Speaker 1>Where are they going? It cried. But soon it found

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<v Speaker 1>it was warmer without the leaves, and so it did

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<v Speaker 1>not regret them. Fortunately, it was not very cold there

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<v Speaker 1>at the willow's feet. When spring came again, it put

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<v Speaker 1>out some more leaf. The bark upon the stem grew

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<v Speaker 1>smooth and shiny, and was marked with short horizontal lines,

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<v Speaker 1>without any knots or uneven places. Near the tip, it

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<v Speaker 1>was downy, as is the way with birches. One day

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<v Speaker 1>a tall young Indian passed by. He was straight as

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<v Speaker 1>an arrow, and tall like the pine tree. He crossed

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<v Speaker 1>over to a big tree, saying, give me of your

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<v Speaker 1>bark o birch tree, of your yellow bark o birch

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<v Speaker 1>tree growing by the rushing river, tall and stately in

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<v Speaker 1>the valley. I A light canoe will build me build

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<v Speaker 1>a swift chiemund for sailing, that shall float upon the

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<v Speaker 1>river like a yellow leaf in autumn, like a yellow

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<v Speaker 1>water lily. Then the tree made answer, take my cloak,

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<v Speaker 1>o Hiawatha. Then Hiawatha stripped the tree of its smooth,

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<v Speaker 1>tough bark, and in the valley by the river, made

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<v Speaker 1>his birch canoe and launched it. Then he came again.

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<v Speaker 1>This time from his pouch, he took his colors, took

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<v Speaker 1>his paints of different colors. On the smooth bark of

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<v Speaker 1>a birch tree painted many shapes and figures. Of course,

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<v Speaker 1>our young tree could not know their meaning, but it

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<v Speaker 1>would have liked to have him put upon its bark

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<v Speaker 1>some songs of war and songs of hunting. Across the

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<v Speaker 1>river from the little tree there stood a great birch tree.

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<v Speaker 1>In the spring, its branches were tipped with long, drooping tails.

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<v Speaker 1>In the winter there were brown cones upon its bare boughs.

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<v Speaker 1>The young birch wished to have some of these strange fruits,

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<v Speaker 1>so it asked the old tree what it should do.

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<v Speaker 1>You must begin in the fall, said the old tree,

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<v Speaker 1>make some long conelike winter buds. In the spring they

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<v Speaker 1>will open and become these drooping yellow tails. The young

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<v Speaker 1>tree listened, and in the fall it made some great

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<v Speaker 1>long buds Figure one, and covered them over with thick

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<v Speaker 1>scales bracts. Under each heavy scale there were several thin scales.

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<v Speaker 1>In each of these were two small balls full of

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<v Speaker 1>yellow powder. They were fastened in place by a filament

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<v Speaker 1>which forked Figure two. During April sunny days, the tail

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<v Speaker 1>like buds grew long and feathery, and the yellow pollen

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<v Speaker 1>floated away, But still there were no black cones. Again,

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<v Speaker 1>the young tree asked, what shall I do that I

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<v Speaker 1>may have cones. The old tree replied, oh, you can

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<v Speaker 1>make these in the spring. Instead of making so many

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<v Speaker 1>large leaves, Take some of your buds and do with

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<v Speaker 1>them as I tell you. So, the young birch took

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<v Speaker 1>some young twigs, such as it had been making into

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<v Speaker 1>leaves on a stem not more than an inch long

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<v Speaker 1>Figure three B. It crowded almost one hundred tiny, three

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<v Speaker 1>lobed bracts Figure four A. In front of each one

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<v Speaker 1>were three three little bodies, nearly round and quite flat,

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<v Speaker 1>for they were crowded. These were the pistols. Each had

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<v Speaker 1>two curved arms at the top. They caught the yellow

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<v Speaker 1>pollen dust which the wind carried about figure four. Be

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<v Speaker 1>it made them grow not very large, but as large

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<v Speaker 1>as the bract back of them. Figure four c. What

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<v Speaker 1>shall I do now, asked the young tree? Wait until winter?

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<v Speaker 1>Then shake them out, and the wind will carry them

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<v Speaker 1>away and plant them. What four? Have you forgotten that

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<v Speaker 1>you were once a tiny seed, and that the wind

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<v Speaker 1>dropped you among the willows? There you fell from one

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<v Speaker 1>of my cones. Was not the little tree? Glad to

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<v Speaker 1>know this, Glad to have been a part of that

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<v Speaker 1>great and beautiful tree. Her cones grew larger and thicker.

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<v Speaker 1>Figure five. The little seeds were strong and healthy, and

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<v Speaker 1>when they were ripe, the wind scattered them far and wide.

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<v Speaker 1>Would you like to be a birch tree and learn

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<v Speaker 1>to make soft catkins and winged seed? How may you

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<v Speaker 1>tell the birches apart? You must look at the bark,

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<v Speaker 1>the leaves, and the droop of the branches. They are

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<v Speaker 1>alike in their flowers and fruit. Have you seen a

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<v Speaker 1>tree with white bark in long hanging branches, a tree

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<v Speaker 1>with branches so slender that they scarcely cast a shadow.

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<v Speaker 1>This airy tree, with its flicker of green and white,

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<v Speaker 1>is a gray or white birch Fig. Six. Its bark

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<v Speaker 1>has the horizontal markings peculiar to the birches. There are

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<v Speaker 1>dark spots below the leaf scars, and the leaf is notched.

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<v Speaker 1>The notches are not so deep, however, as those of

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<v Speaker 1>its relative, the European white birch Fig. Seven. The yellow

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<v Speaker 1>birch is easily recognized by the yellow hue of the bark,

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<v Speaker 1>but it was not from the bark of the yellow

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<v Speaker 1>birch that canoes were made. The paper or canoe birch

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<v Speaker 1>has bark that easily separates in layers, and it was

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<v Speaker 1>from this that the Indians made their canoes. The white

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<v Speaker 1>color of the trunk is more conspicuous than that of

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<v Speaker 1>the gray birch, but it lacks the brown patches, and

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<v Speaker 1>the branches do not droop. The white birch is not

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<v Speaker 1>a tall tree. The paper birch frequently becomes tall, and

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<v Speaker 1>its bark is unbroken for some distance upon the trunk.

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<v Speaker 1>The leaf is shown in Figure eight. The western birch

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<v Speaker 1>from which the drawings were taken is a small tree.

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<v Speaker 1>Its twigs are very glandular, that is, they are rough

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<v Speaker 1>and sticky. This character it shares with some of the

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<v Speaker 1>Eastern forms. The young stems are often downy. The alders

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<v Speaker 1>are closely related to the birches. The leaves and cones

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<v Speaker 1>look much alike. The difference is in the stamens. The

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<v Speaker 1>little stalk holding the anther is forked in the birches,

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<v Speaker 1>but is distinct to the base in the alders. References

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<v Speaker 1>Song of Hiawatha Longfellow, Hiawatha's sailing picture Writing the Birch

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<v Speaker 1>Tree Lowell, an Indian summer Reverie Lowell, end of chapter

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<v Speaker 1>five