Noon
He knew not that he had ever had a brother whose death had been the work of his own hand . The hut behind him might never have existed , the forest about him might have been the open prairie , the sodden ground a carpet of fine texture , the snow-covered clearings dusty plains ; he knew nothing , nothing . He moved , ran , walked ; he was a living organism without a governing power of mind . Noon came . The silent forest looked down upon his frenzied progress . The trees nodded gently in the breeze , whispering solemnly to each other in their pitying tones . Owls watched him with staring , unmeaning eyes ; deer fled as he came rushing into the calm of their sylvan retreats .