Spirit of the forest : tree tales from around the world

Trees are symbols of life itself. We cut them down at our peril. Here is a leafy anthology of 12 traditional tales from all over the Earth's surface, from Native North America to New Guinea and from Wales to Nepal.

They include tales of high magic, bravery and guile, death and rebirth, each woven around a tree Eric Maddern's and Helen East's spirited storytelling combines with Alan Marks' romantic artwork to create a lively and thought-provoking collection.

How Trees Came to Be (Creation myth, Native New Zealand) The Stolen Spoons (Poplar, Greece) The Knot Hole (Pine, Sweden) The Yellow-Cedar Sisters (Yellow cedar, Native North America) The Flame Tree (Flame, Uganda) The Green Ladies of One Tree Hill (Beech, Ireland and England) Rhododendron and Little Alder (Rhododendron/alder, Nepal) The Tree with Three Fruits (Oak, Wales) The Coconut Fisherman (Coconut, New Guinea) The Willow Tree (Willow, Japan) Kooboo and the Gum Tree (Eucalyptus, Australia) The Silver Birch (Silver birch, Germany)