Tales from the German, Comprising Specimens from the Most Celebrated Authors

A young squire follows a moonlit apparition to an ancient oak—and hears the tree’s unseen inhabitant ask him to stand between her home and the axe. Crocus has promised to protect it, but the woodcutters are already at work.

In these translated tales, John Oxenford brings readers into the varied imaginative landscapes of German writers. The collection opens in the Bohemian forest, where elves flee the arrival of Duke Czech’s settlers, and Crocus leaves his lord’s service to guard the oak-bound spirit who has watched over him. But her life is bound to the tree, and the new inhabitants have plans for its sturdy trunk. In return for his courage, she offers Crocus a choice of gifts—and a glimpse of wisdom beyond ordinary sight. What will he ask for, and what will the elf reveal?

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