A Little Book of Profitable Tales
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Authors
Field, Eugene
Issue Date
1904
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Type
Book, Whole
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Abstract
I was tempted to bypass this book in my cataloguing. But I chanced to read The Oak-Tree and the Ivy (105-112). Though longer than a traditional fable, its basic structure is that, I believe, of a fable. The oak grandly accepts the love of the ivy at his feet. Condescendingly, even, he will protect her and be good to her. In the meantime, she keeps growing upwards. She follows his invitations to cling close in storms. After some time, they are married, but he still sees himself as the protector and still sees her as the young thing at his feet. One fierce storm comes that knocks down many trees. When the oak prevails against the storm, the storm king in anger hurls a thunderbolt that cracks the oak into two. But the tender ministrations of his loving ivy bind up his wounds so that no one can see them. She now tells him stories: not his stories of the heroes, winds, and oceans but rather sweeter tales of contentment, of humility, of love (111). Nice!
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Publisher
Charles Scribner's Sons
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Identifier
7822 (Access ID)