<P> After breakfast, Cassie and her brothers go into the forest with their three cows and their offspring, walking them to a pond . It was a muggy morning, but the trees were keeping the heat out as their leaves blew above them . Cassie takes it as them singing and asks Stacey if he can see it too, but Stacey dismisses this and tells her that it's just the wind . Shortly after, Cassie asks Stacey about the well - being of their mother when overhearing her and Big Ma talk about medicine . Stacey assures her that their mother was alright but if she was ill, then it wasn't that serious for them to worry about . The kids leave the cows and their calves at the pond to drink water while they go out and pick blackberries . </P> <P> Along the way, the kids decide to play a quick game of hide - and - seek . Cassie notices the leaves of the trees stop moving . When Stacey approaches her, she tells him that they "aren't singing anymore". Stacey tells them that they should pick the berries now before it got too late . They come across two white men, Mr. Andersen and his partner Tom, who are talking about cutting down the trees . The kids hide so they aren't noticed . Mr. Andersen hasn't gone to spoke to Big Ma yet about taking the trees but is planning to do that soon . Tom is worried about David's reaction as he doesn't make dealings with white folks . Mr. Andersen assures him that David won't be a problem since he doesn't own the land and sends Tom on his way to get his team of lumbermen to start cutting down the trees for him to claim . The Logan kids hurry back to the house where they find Mr. Andersen there talking to their mother and Big Ma . Mr. Andersen offered up sixty - five dollars and says that's more than what David would make in two months . Mary objects the offer, feeling they can make it with the amount David sends . Mr. Andersen says that anything could happen to David and he could get into an accident . This worries Big Ma who quickly accepts the offer, but the kids quickly come in to protest . Cassie scolds Mr. Andersen, saying that the trees were her friends and wasn't going to let him cut them down . Her mother grabs a hold of her and sends her off to her room . </P> <P> That night, Cassie wakes up and looks outside the window of her room and sees Mama, Big Ma and Stacey on their mare, Lady . She asks her mother where Stacey was off to and Mary tells her that he was off to retrieve their father . Three days pass . On the fourth day since Stacey's departure, Cassie sees her mother walking alone through the forest . She decides to join her and ask how sick she was, remembering the conversation she had with Big Ma just days earlier . Mary tells her she was very much sick, but was going to feel better when David returned home . They enter into an area and see that many of the trees have already been cut down . The ones still standing had been marked with white X's to soon signal their cut - down . Mother and daughter held tight to each other and cried at the sight of this . </P> <P> After they returned to the house, Little Man decided he wanted to go look at the destruction for himself . Ignoring his mother's orders not to go into the forest, he does so anyway with Cassie and Christopher - John following him . They come across Mr. Andersen and his team of lumbermen who spot them . Mr. Andersen orders the children to return home, but when they refuse, Mr. Andersen has a black man named Claude handle them . Claude grabs a hold of Little Man who fights his way from him and was eventually shoved down . Cassie charges towards Mr. Andersen, but is stopped by Claude who carries her off with Christopher - John trailing behind trying to get Claude to let him go . He leaves them off at the pond for them to make the rest of the trip home . </P>

Song of the trees by mildred taylor summary