"Because the
forest is worth at least a hundred and fifty roubles the acre," answered Levin.
We found the Black
Forest farmhouses and villages all that the Black
Forest stories have pictured them.
I have already said that the sight of the
forest did not surprise me at all; and therefore I listened for the two of us to what was happening next door.
When they had reached the middle of the
forest, the father said: 'Now, children, pile up some wood, and I will light a fire that you may not be cold.' Hansel and Gretel gathered brushwood together, as high as a little hill.
The day was beautiful, and the number of trees which were in full flower perfumed the air; yet even this could hardly dissipate the effects of the gloomy dampness of the
forest. Moreover, the many dead trunks that stand like skeletons, never fail to give to these primeval woods a character of solemnity, absent in those of countries long civilized.
The old white snails were the first persons of distinction in the world, that they knew; the
forest was planted for their sake, and the manor-house was there that they might be boiled and laid on a silver dish.
His judgment told him that the death of a single bird in this
forest which teemed with birds could scarce be of sufficient moment to warrant that which followed.
And then, from not far away in the
forest, came a "Goek!
The Charter of the
Forest designed to lessen those evils, declares that inquisition, or view, for lawing dogs, shall be made every third year, and shall be then done by the view and testimony of lawful men, not otherwise; and they whose dogs shall be then found unlawed, shall give three shillings for mercy, and for the future no man's ox shall be taken for lawing.
As he passed through the
forest Prince Andrew turned several times to look at that oak, as if expecting something from it.
Scarcely had I disentangled him than he raised his head high in air and commenced circling about at the edge of the
forest. Presently he halted, and, turning to see if I were following, set off straight into the maze of trees in the direction we had been going before Thurid's shot had put an end to our flier.
"How he haunts this
forest, and carries a book with him a big, heavy book, with iron clasps; and how this ugly Black Man offers his book and an iron pen to everybody that meets him here among the trees; and they are to write their names with their own blood; and then he sets his mark on their bosoms.