"As long as I've lived upon this mountain, tree and sapling," he
shouted, "I've never known such a wind. I'm not so young as I used to
be, and I fear that my end has come."

"Be brave! Oh, be brave!" implored the Little Red House. "Don't let
him blow you down. I should be so sorry to lose you, What are you
grunting for?"

"I'm not grunting," answered the Blue-gym in a pained voice. "Those
are my roots giving way, one by one. I can't stand much more of this.
Look out!"

The Little Red House looked up, and what he saw terrified him. The
big Blue-gum, in the clutch of the wind, was bent right over him,
so that the top branches seemed to be just above his roof; and the
great tree appeared to be falling, falling, helplessly.

"Don't fall on me!" shrieked the Little Red House. "Oh, don't fall
on me; because, if you do, you know you'll squash me! I don't want
to be squashed!"

But the big Blue-gum said, "There is just one little root holding
now. If that gives way we are both done for."

"Be brave! Oh, be brave!" shrieked the Little Red House.

Then slowly, very slowly, the big Blue-gum began to straighten up
again, away from the Little Red House.

"I have stood upon this mountain, tree and sapling, for over a