Once Upon a Time...

There languished a small bit of woodland in the middle of the cornfields. Once, it had been part of a wild marshy forest that stretched as far as the eye could see. It was home to deer, wolves, wild cats, hawks, owls, herons, ichneumons, tiger beetles, and mosquitoes. Some of these creatures still haunted the forest, but some had been killed off. Over time, Abraham Lincoln surveyed the land, and gypsies camped among the great trees. Lovers carved their initials into a beech tree. Many generations of men came to hunt game and harvest from the abundant sugar maples. As the years passed, the forest was logged, and trimmed back until it only covered a few acres. It became surlier as habitat disappeared and humans left their rubbish all over. Grumpy gnomes brooded in the stumps along the roadsides. The Pookahs perched in the trees, gleefully terrorizing anyone who dared to overnight in the forest. The pixies and Faeries misled wanderers with their barely-heard music. And the Dragon slumbered and dreamed of another world...