They are safe.  But were your men to cut me down quickly and surely, the force of my fall would crush and kill the saplings beneath me!  O king, take my life if you must, but spare my people!”

The king thought of his shining new palace.  He thought of his people, who would suffer great hardships to pay for it.  And he hung his proud head in shame.

“Your saplings are safe,” he told the spirit of the tree.  “And you are safe as well.  I was thinking only of my own glory, but you were more noble than I.”  The king thought one last time of that shining wooden palace.  But then he banished the thought and felt a weight seem to leave his shoulders.  “And there’s nothing wrong with my old palace, now that I can consider it, nothing wrong at all.  Thank you, O spirit, for bringing me back to my senses.  Farewell, and good fortune to you and your folk.”

With that, the king signaled to his courtiers and his servants and his woodsmen with their axes, and started cheerfully for home.

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Josepha Sherman is a writer of fictional articles and books for both adults and juveniles.  Her juvenile books include Vassilisa the Wise, The Song of the Dark Druid,and The Invisibility Factor. Her forthcoming adult novels, based on Slavic folklore, are The Shining Falcon (Avon, 1989) and The Deathless (Avon, 1990).