Chapter 28 - Fairy Tale Trees

Once upon a time there was a young girl who was in danger from a wicked stepmother or villain of some type. She would end up alone and frightened in the the dark and eerie forest. Close to Sigma on a road leading to the tennis courts is a row of trees that could fit into any fairy tale or the movies, "The Wizard of Oz," or "Lord of the Rings."

When I was a child, I loved Grimm's Fairy Tales. The two brothers wrote their stories from oral tales told to them by local residents, peasants and farmers, and don't forget - they lived in nearby Germany. I feel quite sure that these trees were similar to the kind described in the fairy tales. You can just see Snow White, Gretel, Red Riding Hood, and their fictional sisters being lost in the woods with trees like these!

After looking exhaustively online, my best guess is that these trees are some kind of willow tree. I know precious little about the trees of central Europe - most of them here look quite different from the East Texas Piney Woods. Of course I took the pictures in bright sunlight (my camera's not much good otherwise) so you'll have to imagine the woods in dim light, all silent and creepy.

Looking down the road the trees seem benign, don't they?


They have a nice shape and provide good shade.


The rest of the pictures show how the trunks near the
ground are eroded away (don't know how). You can almost
see a little leprechaun or ogre hiding in the crevice.
I would have loved trees like this when I was a child.
What fun it would have been to climb them and play in these
cavities!