Monday, January 09, 2023

SELECTIONS FROM: THE MAN WHO PLANTED TREES

 

A Story by Jean Giono

“Creation seemed to come about in a sort of chain reaction.  He did not worry about it; he was determinedly pursuing his task in all its simplicity; but as we went back toward the village I saw water flowing in brooks that had been dry since the memory of man.  This was the most impressive result of chain reaction that I had seen. “

“As the water reappeared, so there reappeared willows, rushes, meadows, gardens, flowers, and a certain purpose in being alive.”  

Afterword by Norma Goodrich

“One must think of these variously gifted old [women and] men as embodying the creative gods themselves, as native survivals in this ancient Provence to which they continuously brought their wisdom, their knowledge of agriculture, their message of life indestructible, all of them teaching, like the titanic Dionysus, the precious secret of humanity’s ancient kinship with the earth.” 

Wood Engravings by Michael McCurdy



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