Once there was an oak child so young he was little more than a twig. He lived by a stream at the bottom of a hill not far from a small, sleepy village. Now in that village there were many children and they often played in the fields nearby, but never on the hill where the Oak People grew, for that hill was said to be haunted. The oak child knew birds and badgers and bees, and a bouncy black dog who lived close by, but he’d never laid eyes on a human child. And no human child had ever seen him—until one cold, bright winter’s day. Come close, and let me whisper in your ear. The story goes like this… Seven Little Tales is a collection of poem-prayer-chants from the pen of internationally-esteemed author Terri Windling. Each of these seven small prose-poems takes the reader deeper into the leaf-mulch and humus of the story-forest, deeper into the place where myth and story and self become one tale being told. The other-than-human realm is speaking clearly; each tale invites the reader to hear the words being spoken, ever-more-urgently. Terri Windling is a writer, editor, and artist specialising in folklore and fantasy literature. She’s published many books, receiving nine World Fantasy Awards, the Mythopoeic Award and the Solstice Award for Life Achievement. A former New Yorker, she now lives in a small English village surrounded by artists and sheep.