Mr. A. "Here he comes. Well, William, where have you been?"
William. "Oh, sir, the pleasantest walk! I went all over Broom Heath, and so up to the mill at the top of the hill, and then down among the green meadows by the side of the river."
Mr. A. "Why, that is just the round Robert has been taking, and he complains of its dullness, and prefers the high road."
William. "I wonder at that. I am sure I hardly took a step that did not delight me, and I brought home my handkerchief full of curiosities."
Mr. A. "Suppose, then, you give us some account of what amused you so much. I fancy it will be as new to Robert as to me."
William. "I will, sir. The lane leading to the heath, you know, is close and sandy, so I did not mind it much, but made the best of my way. However, I spied a curious thing enough in the hedge. It was an old crab-tree, out of which grew a great bunch of something green, quite different from the tree itself. Here is a branch of it."
Mr. A. "Ah! this is mistletoe, a plant of great fame for the use made of it by the Druids of old in their religious rites and incantations. It bears a very slimy white berry, of which birdlime may be made. It is one of those plants which do not grow in the ground by a root of their own, but fix themselves upon other plants, whence they have been humorously styled parasitical, as being hangers-on or dependants. It was the mistletoe of the oak that the Druids particularly honored."
William. "A little farther on I saw a green woodpecker fly to a tree and run up the trunk like a cat."