title: Weeping Willow
author: Blue Balcita
description: <span>Great quick read!</span><span><span><span> By </span> Mamacin </span> <span> on April 27, 2016</span></span>
zlib_text: 
  
  
  
  
  
  ![](images/00001.jpg)
  
  www.blackmask.com
  
  
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  # The Willows
  
  
  ## Algernon Blackwood
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  AFTER leaving Vienna, and long before you come to Budapesth, the Danube
  
  
  enters a region of singular loneliness and desolation, where its waters
  
  
  spread away on all sides regardless of a main channel, and the country
  
  
  becomes a swamp for miles upon miles, covered by a vast sea of low
  
  
  willow-bushes. On the big maps this deserted area is painted in a fluffy
  
  
  blue, growing fainter in colour as it leaves the banks, and across it
  
  
  may be seen in large straggling letters the word Sumpfe, meaning
  
  
  marshes.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  In high flood this great acreage of sand, shingle-beds, and willow-grown
  
  
  islands is almost topped by the water, but in normal seasons the bushes
  
  
  bend and rustle in the free winds, showing their silver leaves to the
  
  
  sunshine in an ever-moving plain of bewildering beauty. These willows
  
  
  never attain to the dignity of trees; they have no rigid trunks; they