This tiir.e, there was no such universal quiver-
ing of the leaves, throughout the whole tree, as
there had been before. But after a while, Jason
observed that the foliage of a great branch which
stretched above his head had begun to rustle, as
if the wind were stirring that one bough, while
all the other boughs of the oak were at rest.

"Cut me off!" said the branch, as soon as it
could speak distinctly; "cut me off! cut me off!
and carve me into a figure head for your galley."

Accordingly, Jason took the branch at its
word, and lopped it off the tree. A carver in
the neighborhood engaged to make the figure
head. He was a tolerably good workman, and
had already carved several figure heads, in what
he intended for feminine shapes, and looking
pretty much like those which we see nowadays
stuck up under a vessel's bowsprit, with great
staring eyes, that never wink at the dash of the
spray. Bat (what was very strange) the carver
found that his hand was guided by some unseen
power, and by a skill beyond his own, and that
his tools shaped out an image which he had
never dreamed of. When the work was finished,
it turned out to be the figure of a beautiful

[[293]]

p292 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p293w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p294

v?