Chapter 12
The BuckwheatVERY often, after a violent thunder-storm, a field of
buckwheat appears blackened and singed, as if a flame of fire had
passed over it. The country people say that this appearance is
caused by lightning; but I will tell you what the sparrow says, and
the sparrow heard it from an old willow-tree which grew near a
field of buckwheat, and is there still. It is a large venerable
tree, though a little crippled by age. The trunk has been split,
and out of the crevice grass and brambles grow. The tree bends
for-ward slightly, and the branches hang quite down to the ground
just like green hair. Corn grows in the surrounding fields, not
only rye and barley, but oats,-pretty oats that, when ripe, look
like a number of little golden canary-birds sitting on a bough.
