Showing results for "The Trees of Pride" in Classics

Squire Vane, a noble man from Cornwall, has three 'peacock trees' in his local village, imported by his ancestors. However, a sinister legend hovers around these trees: it is said that they are destined to spread disease and bring severe misfortune to those who cross them. A rationalist to his core and allergic to any form of superstition, Squire dismisses these rumours as nothing but foolish whispers. But when some local village people raise the topic with Squire, he can take no more – angered, he insists on spending the night sleeping beneath the trees to prove their harmlessness.

Three trees, known as the Peacock trees, are blamed by the peasants for the fever that has killed many. Squire Vane scoffs at this legend as superstition. To prove them wrong, once and for all, he takes a bet to spend the night in the trees. In the morning he has vanished. Is he dead, and if so who has killed him? The poet? The lawyer? The woodsman? The trees?