The Willows

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Willows, by Algernon Blackwood
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Title: The Willows
Author: Algernon Blackwood
Release Date: March 4, 2004 [EBook #11438]
Language: English
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Produced by Suzanne Shell, David Newman and PG Distributed ProofreadersTHE WILLOWS
Algernon Blackwood (1907)
I
After leaving Vienna, and long before you come to Budapest, the Danube enters a region of singular loneliness and
desolation, where its waters spread away on all sides regardless of a main channel, and the country becomes a swamp
for miles upon miles, covered by a vast sea of low willow-bushes. On the big maps this deserted area is painted in a fluffy
blue, growing fainter in color as it leaves the banks, and across it may be seen in large straggling letters the word
Sumpfe, meaning marshes.
In high flood this great acreage of sand, shingle-beds, and willow-grown islands is almost topped by the water, but in
normal seasons the bushes bend and rustle in the free winds, showing their silver leaves to the sunshine in an ever-
moving plain of bewildering beauty. These willows never attain to the dignity of trees; they have no rigid trunks; they
remain humble bushes, with rounded tops and soft ...