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Jackson Island

The sun was up so high when I waked, that I judged it was after eight o’clock. I laid there in the grass and the cool shade, thinking about things and feeling rested and ruther comfortable and satisfied. I could see the sun out of one or two holes, but mostly it was big trees all about and gloomy in there amongst them. There was freckled places on the ground where the light sifted down through the leaves, and the freckled places swapped about a little showing there was a little breeze up there. A couple of squirrels set on a limb and jabbered at me very friendly.’   (Mark Twain, ‘The adventures of Huckleberry Finn’, 1876, p 40)

The sun was up so high when I woke up, that I judged it was after eight o’clock. I hid there in the grass and even in the shade it was hot, thoughts flashed through my mind and I felt restless and rather helpless and scared. I tried to catch a glimpse of sunlight through one or two holes, but mostly I was surrounded by big trees and I better stayed in the dark. There were all these unfamiliar noices coming out of the woods and from my hiding place I could see little movements on the ground without any visible source. The wind blew stronger now, the leaves changed position and the forest prepared itself. Creatures approached me, still unknown, and certainly not friendly.

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