THE IVY
And I the slip-knot....

THE FIR-TREE
And I the four planks for their little coffin....

THE CYPRESS
And I a perpetual grant of a tomb....

THE WILLOW
The simplest way would be to drown them in one of my rivers.... I will take
charge of that....

THE LIME-TREE (_in a conciliatory tone_)
Come, come.... Is it really necessary to go to such extremities?... They
are very young.... We could quite simply prevent them from doing any harm
by keeping them prisoners in an enclosure which I will undertake to form by
planting myself all around....

THE OAK
Who speaks?... I seem to recognise the honeyed accents of the Lime-tree....

THE FIR-TREE
Yes, it's he....

THE OAK
So there is a renegade among us, as among the Animals?... Hitherto we have
only had to deplore the disloyalty of the Fruit-trees; but they are not
real trees....