Untrodden by man, almost unknown to man, it lay there beneath the moon, remote from human influence, on the frontier of another world, an alien world, a world tenanted by willows only and the souls of willows. And we, in our rashness, had dared to invade it, even to make use of it. Something more than the power of its mystery stirred in me as I lay on the sand, feet to fire, and peered up through the leaves at the stars. For the last time I rose to get firewood.y
from "The Willows"

I've started this book a few times before but this year I was determined to read the whole book by Halloween. I've read The Willows and Ancient Echoes more that once, and I think I have read The Occupant of the Room before too, but the rest of the stories were new to me. A couple of them reminded me of The Music on the Hill by Saki, being concerned with the power of nature and the old gods, but others were placed firmly in the early 20th century when they were written.

She clung to it because her father taught it her and not because she had thought it out for herself. Indeed, like many women, she never really thought at all, but merely reflected the images of others' thinking which she had learned to see.
from "The Man Whom the Trees Loved" ( )