The Tree That Listened

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The story

A family cuts down a fir from the woods and sets it up in the parlour, but the whisperer describes how the tree leans toward the people who speak loudest. The father tries to silence it with carols.

How it begins

The fir came out of the woods on the coldest morning of the year, dragged along the lane by a father who swore on his mother's grave that it was the finest tree in the whole valley. It was tall and crooked, with one branch that drooped like a tired arm. It smelled of snow and old pine sap and something faintly sweet underneath, like honey left too long in the jar. Snow fell from its needles in soft clumps as it passed through the gate. The family hauled it into the parlour, and it stood there, dripping on the good rug, while the children clapped their mittens together and…

The folklore behind it

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