Old Man Winter and the Maple Tree Work On Their Relationship

"You will surrender all your leaves or anger us again and feel our deadly freezing rain upon your defiant flaming colours, your golden tatters flying helpless before the slashing fingers of my winds! All this temporary glory of yours will be trampled into the discouraged ground while our triumphant crystalline voices breathe slogans into the sky which you will never read! Where we rule, nothing moves without our permission and our will is a howling sub-zero wind in an eternal night. Withdraw therefore strategically below the surface, close your frosted yes while my tender, white, blanketing snow fills the nests of the panicked and escaping birds, and a quiet multitude of creatures burrow among your powerful roots. Further south, the constant warmth and feverish competition would only exhaust you - nature down there is much too unruly and rebellious. You wouldn't like it, believe me. Hey, Maple Tree, never mind - you can always 'leave' in the spring. Haw. Haw."