"Now I know for whom they play the death-song," the old palm said to
itself, when it again stood erect. "It is not for any of these strangers."

But the man and woman knelt down on their knees and praised God.

"Thou hast seen our fear and taken it from us. Thou art the Mighty One,
that bends the stem of the palm like a reed. Of whom should we be afraid
when Thy strength protects us?"

Next time a caravan passed through the desert, one of the travellers saw
that the crown of the great palm had withered.

"How can that have happened?" said the traveller. "Have we not heard that
this palm should not die before it had seen a King greater than Solomon?"

"Perhaps it has seen Him," answered another wanderer of the desert.



THE HAUGHTY ASPEN

_A German Legend_

NORA ARCHIBALD SMITH


As I went through the tangled wood
I heard the Aspen shiver.
"What dost thou ail, sweet Aspen, say,