Henry Beston has the faculty for spinning a fantastic tale and doing it so gracefully and convincingly that it escapes the stigma of fantasy and makes a place all its own. This is a story along a familiar enough pattern, but wholly original in its application. A pine tree thinks distant pastures are greener, and sets out on its travels, only to find that the old pasture was best. In the process the tree terrifies -- or puzzles -- the people and animals it meets, and comes back to its own family and its own creatures after foiling the plot of a gang of thieves.