“I have not forgotten my friend the toad. I long to know what has become of it. The following day, at the usual time, I walked towards the spot in which I had left it. The weather was beautiful. The sky was clear. The storm had chilled the air. Heavy rain had washed and revived the grass, the leaves, the dried-out, powdery and listless plants. The meadows, the fields, the woods blend the exhalations of their greenery through which the sap flows once more.”

Those are the first lines of chapter six of the Chronicles of the Forest of Sauvagnac or Short Stories of the Ponds written in the late 19th century by Count Anatole Beaupoil de Saint-Aulaire.

This literary curiosity, boasting a typically romantic style and aesthetics, enraptures its readers with its poetic descriptions of Nature, fantasy tales and historical facts recounted with finesse and a light touch.

Stemming from the archives of the château of the Domaine des Etangs in the Charente-Limousine region, this work has been republished to promote French cultural heritage, a heritage from the Terroir.

Over short chapters, the charming pen addresses the readers so that they may wonder, immerse themselves in the plot and travel through the woods in which many natural treasures are sheltered and discovered. This books invites its readers to dream of Nature from a comfortable chair, with a warm beverage, for a moment of rejuvenating relaxation.