Tapping the Dream Tree

By Charles de Lint from Tom Doherty Associates

ANGEL OF DARKNESS

DREAMS UNDERFOOT

THE FAIR IN EMAIN MACHA

FORESTS OF THE HEART

FROM A WHISPER TO A SCREAM

GREENMANTLE

I'LL BE WATCHING YOU

INTO THE GREEN

THE IVORY AND THE HORN

JACK OF KINROWAN

THE LITTLE COUNTRY

MEMORY AND DREAM

MOONHEART

MOONLIGHT AND VINES

MULENGRO

THE ONION GIRL

SOMEPLACE TO BE FLYING

SPIRITS IN THE WIRES

SPIRITWALK

SVAHA

TAPPING THE DREAM TREE

TRADER

WIDDERSHINS

THE WILD WOOD

YARROW

The author and publisher have provided this e-book to you without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied so that you can enjoy reading it on your personal devices. This e-book is for your personal use only. You may not print or post this e-book, or make this e-book publicly available in any way. You may not copy, reproduce or upload this e-book, other than to read it on one of your personal devices.

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in these stories are either fictitious or are used fictitiously.

TAPPING THE DREAM TREE

Copyright © 2002 by Charles de Lint

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form.

Edited by Terri Windling

A Tor Book

Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC

175 Fifth Avenue

New York, NY 10010

www.tor.com

Tor® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

ISBN 0-312-87401-4 (hc)

ISBN 0-312-86840-5 (pbk)

Printed in the United States of America

0 9 8 7 6 5

“Ten for the Devil” first appeared in
Battle

Magic,
edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Larry

Segriff; DAW Books, 1998. Copyright © 1998 by

Charles de Lint.

“Wingless Angels” first appeared in
Black Gate,

Vol.1, N.1, Spring 2000. Copyright © 2000

by Charles de Lint.

“The Words That Remain” first appeared

in
Taps and Sighs,
edited by Peter Crowther;

Subterranean Press, 2000. Copyright © 2000

by Charles de Lint.

“Many Worlds Are Born Tonight” first appeared

in
Lisa Snelling's Strange Attractions,
edited by

Edward E. Kramer; ShadowLands Press, 2000.

Copyright © 2000 by Charles de Lint.

“The Buffalo Man” first appeared as a limited

edition chapbook published by Subterranean

Press, 1999. Copyright © 1999 by Charles de

Lint.

“Second Chances” first appeared as a limited

edition chapbook published by Triskell Press,

1998. Copyright © 1998 by Charles de Lint.

“Forest of Stone” first appeared in
Merlin,
edited

by Martin H. Greenberg; DAW Books, 1999.

Copyright © 1999 by Charles de Lint.

“Embracing the Mystery” first appeared in
Spell

Fantastic,
edited by Martin H. Greenberg and

Larry Segriff; DAW Books, 2000. Copyright ©

2000 by Charles de Lint.

“Masking Indian” first appeared in
Mardi Gras

Madness,
edited by Martin H. Greenberg and

Russell Davis; Cumberland House, 2000.

Copyright © 2000 by Charles de Lint.

“Granny Weather” first appeared in
Imagination

Fully Dilated Volume II,
edited by Elizabeth

Engstorm; IFD Publishing, 2000. Copyright ©

by 2000 Charles de Lint.

“The Witching Hour” is original to this

collection.

“Pixel Pixies” first appeared as a limited edition

chapbook published by Triskell Press, 1999.

Copyright © 1999 by Charles de Lint.

“Trading Hearts at the Half Kaffe Café” first

appeared in
Single White Vampire Seeks Same,

edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Brittiany A.

Koren; DAW Books, 2001. Copyright © 2001

by Charles de Lint.

“Making a Noise in This World” first appeared in

Warrior Fantastic,
edited by Martin H. Greenberg

and John Heifers; DAW Books, 2000. Copyright ©

2000 by Charles de Lint.

“Freak” first appeared in
The Mutant Files,
edited

by Martin H. Greenberg and John Heifers; DAW

Books, 2001. Copyright © 2001 by Charles de

Lint.

“Big City Littles” first appeared as a limited

edition chapbook published by Triskell Press,

2000. Copyright © 2000 by Charles de Lint.

“Sign Here” first appeared in
Apprentice

Fantastic,
edited by Martin H. Greenberg and

Russell Davis; DAW Books, 2002. Copyright

© 2002 by Charles de Lint.

“Seven Wild Sisters” first appeared as a limited

edition book published by Subterranean Press,

2002. Copyright © 2002 by Charles de Lint.

To the memory

of Jenna Felice

You'll be missed

more than you could ever know.

When I sat down to write the first Newford story (that was “Timeskip,” and I didn't know that's what I was doing at the time), I never imagined that twelve years later I'd be sitting down to write an introduction for a fourth collection of these stories. Needless to say, I'm
GRATEFUL
that others enjoy visiting this place as much as I do, allowing me the indulgence of regularly checking in on the characters to catch up on the gossip and see who's new in town.

This time out, as in
Forests of the Heart
and
The Onion Girl,
a few of the stories take us a little farther afield from New-ford's familiar streets to the hills north of the city. It's not that there aren't stories left to tell in the city itself, it's just that some took me down more rural roads.

For those of you interested in chronology, these stories all take place before the events in
The Onion Girl.

I realize that in each of these short story collections I've thanked a number of people (often the same ones from book to book) and some of you might be getting tired of reading the list of names. But their contributions are important, so please acknowledge them with me. I would like to especially thank:

My wife, MaryAnn, who came up with the title for this collection. She has a gift for fine-tuning and asking the right questions, both of which help to keep the creative juices flowing;

My long-time editors Terri Windling and Patrick Nielsen Hayden, and all the wonderful folks at Tor Books and at my Canadian distributor H. B. Fenn, with a special thanks to Irene Gallo, who has done such a fabulous job with her design work on my books at Tor, and to Tom Doherty, who continues to support these short story collections of mine;

My friends Rodger Turner, Charles Vess and Karen Shaffer (without whom there'd be no seven sisters, wild or otherwise), Pat and Jon Caven, Andrew and Alice Vachss, Anna “Many Names” Young and Julie Bartel (who will always be Her Julieness), Charles Saunders, Paul “Possum” Brandon and Julie Hinchliffe, Glenn Elder (he really is older, I don't care what the birth certificates say) and Lorraine Stuart, Joanne (“wine and chocolat”) Harris, John Adcox, Lisa (“I could be a crow girl”) Wilkins, and Jane Yolen (for many things, but here it's for introducing me to the work of her poet Joshua Stanhold);

The individual editors who first commissioned these stories: Larry Segriff, Peter Crowther, Lisa Snelling (thanks for letting me play on your Ferris wheel), Martin H. Greenberg, Bill Schafer, Russell Davis, Alan Clark, Liz Engstrom, Steve Savile, and John Heifer;

And of course you, my readers, steadfast in your support, which is much appreciated.

Lastly, some notes on a couple of the stories. In “Big City Littles,” Sheri's story of the Traveling Littles is adapted from an Appalachian story detailing the origin of Gypsies; I found my version in
Virginia Folk Legends,
edited by Thomas E. Barden. Thanks to Charles Vess for introducing me to this delightful book. And in its initial publication,
Seven Wild Sisters
was dedicated to the red rock girls, Anna Annabelle and Her Julieness, and it still is.

If any of you are on the Internet, come visit my home page at
www.charlesdelint.com
.

—Charles de Lint

Ottawa, Autumn 2001