Translation:The High Mountains/60

The Chief Engineer came the following day. Five children stayed behind to guard the cabins and all the others set out with him towards the place where there was a hydraulic sawmill.

To get there they crossed over denuded and arid areas. At each step they made the stones hurtle down. The wind was cold and it roared. The sun wasn't burning hot.

A vulture appeared above them, it cut through the air slowly.

They all raised their heads to see the great bird which was flying in search of food.

For one second, the vulture stopped in its movement, remained poised on its wings, and then it beat the air again and disappeared behind the Three Peaks.

“Up here everything is wild and superb”. said the Chief Engineer.

And it's true that they saw how immense the mountain was, that which seemed just a blue shadow from the town.

How many rocks, gorges, ridges, stones and broken places there were!

Now, said the Chief Engineer, you're going to see the biggest monster that can come out of the mountain. Here it is!”

The children stopped to look with curiosity. They only saw that he was showing them the dried-up river going down the slope, filled with dry pebbles.

“It's the torrent, he told them. Wolves, bears, lions are nothing compared to this torrent. They cause very slight damage and never do very much against man.

“But the torrent can chase man and destroy him, him and his descendants.

“When it fills with water and deposes it in the fields, all this loose stone that you see smothers the men, the vines, the animals and whole villages.

“Men construct walls and raise dams to stop it, but this is pointless. Only one thing can fight against such a monster. It's the tree.”

—The tree! replied the children in disbelief.

—Do you know the strength of a tree? With its roots it holds firmly to the ground and the stones so that the rains cannot carry away everything in the torrent.

“The tree is not alone in having this force, there are also the small bushes, the brambles, the holm oak, the strawberry trees and even thyme.

“That's why places covered with vegetation protect men against floods.

“If, on the other hand, we burn and uproot the trees; then the ground and stones are swept away from the exposed hillsides towards the torrent.

“This swells with the rains and with a terrible force, discharges earth, stones and water, destroying houses, crops and men.

“All those who are going to cut trees down should think about that”.

Matthias, as in school, raised his hand to ask:

—Then why not stop the woodcutters from cutting down the trees too?

—You did well to ask that question, my child, said the Chief Engineer. The woodcutters only cut the trees which we tell them to cut.

“Each of these trees are forty, fifty, even seventy years old. They have aged and it's time for them to give us wood, to let other small trees grow in their place, which in their turn will grow tall.

“Near that which has been cut down, we help another tree to flourish, and if it doesn't grow by itself, we plant one.

“In this way, the forest regains that which it gives us.

If however we let just anybody who falls on the trees, cut what he wants, then the forest would disappear.

And if ever it goes, we men will die of thirst.”