I The Call of the Woodsman

II The Trail Through the Forest

III The Shadow of the Thunder-Oak

IV The Felling of the Tree



ILLUSTRATIONS

Photogravures from Original Drawings by Howard Pyle.

So they took the little fir from its place . . . (Frontispiece)
The fields around lay bare to the moon . . .
The sacred hammer of the God Thor . . .
Then Winfried told the story of Bethlehem . . .



I
THE CALL OF THE WOODSMAN


I

The day before Christmas, in the year of our Lord 722.

Broad snow-meadows glistening white along the banks of the river