Just as Professor Drake had recorded, the experience of poet Mr. Roland took place this year, in the spring of Year 1853.
It had been a bright, sunny day. Mr. Roland had brought along his notebook and concealed a small knife on his person for protection as he headed to the wetland lakes west of Huntington to seek inspiration.
Though his main profession was translation, Mr. Roland had a wide circle of friends. As he passed his friend Mr. Cedric's Apple Orchard, he wandered about the grounds, intending to compose a short poem about winter frost on the trees.
But when he reached the depths of the orchard woods, a human face suddenly appeared on a tree beside him. More precisely, the grain and cracks in the trunk formed a human face:
"I know this is hard to believe, but I am certain it was not a drunken hallucination."
Having reached this point in his tale, Mr. Roland even raised his glass in defense at the tavern:
"I usually do not drink when I write poetry."
Just like the fisherman from Lower Luther Village who had been frightened by a talking Snake, Mr. Roland had been more educated than a village man, but the strange event still terrified him that spring.
He described to Shade the panic he had felt at the time, as well as his desperate attempt to flee without regard for direction:
"I do not remember how long I ran, but I simply could not escape that forest. Yes, I feel that ever since I was chased through three streets by Wild Dogs in the autumn of 1850, I have never exercised so intensely again."
As Mr. Roland reminisced, Shade nodded and took notes, finding these miraculous experiences even more interesting than the Goddess in the Lake