Read this collection during the Spooky Season, a couple of months back, and it was perfect.
One of the stories, Ancient Sorceries, has been included in many an anthology, and I read it for the first time at about the age of 12. As a life-long cat owner, I heartily approve. The fact that Egyptians considered them deity-adjacent is not at all surprising. But two of the other stories intrigued me greatly. In both cases, there was no being that was the antagonist, but rather certain aspects of Nature itself.
The first, Sand, gives the shifting sands of Egypt, and what they hide, a rather sinister cast. But the second was my favorite. Entitled The Man Whom the Trees Loved, it tells of a married couple who have been stationed throughout the East with the husband working as a forester, who have now retired to their home country of England. They now live near an Old Forest, and although the wife enjoys having Nature about, she can’t help but notice a gradual change in her husband. Gazing out at the forest that borders their property,
And then she thought that curtain had stirred. There was movement somewhere. That obscure dim thing that forever broods behind the visible appearances of trees came nearer to her. She caught her breath and stared about her, listening intently. . . . The trees had turned in her direction. That was it. They saw her.
Let us say the trees are not malignant. Instead, unlike their obvious adoration of her husband, they are supremely indifferent towards the wife. Somehow, that’s worse.
And having read a few books lately on how trees communicate, I totally buy this.
