A short story by Jean Giono about a man who quietly brings about vast changes in a desolate place using nothing more than determination and gentle persistence. Elzeard Bouffier lives his life on a tiny scale consuming very little and asking for no assistance yet he is a channel for the force of Nature and leaves his anonymous stamp for the benefit of people who will never even know his name.
If you can find a copy of the BBC Radio 4 adaptation with Bill Paterson narrating you will love this story for the rest of your days.
If it persuades you to plant a tree or two, even better.
(Sadly the author’s wish to have this story freely available has been screwed up by some publishers and so I can’t give you a link to a free copy anymore but if you do want to buy it I recommend the version with the woodcuts by Michael McCurdy. I think there is a version published by Peter Owen in London. Better still, save a tree and buy a second-hand copy from somebody dumb enough to sell theirs!)
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