Willow meads

The thickets of willow which lined the eastem shore of lake estolin were pleasant and provided a safer footing than the swampland elsewhere which was boggy and treacherous. The willow roots formed a dense mass carpeted with grasses and mosses even where below them the soil was totally waterlogged. There were many useful herbs and fungi to be found growing in the thickets. There were other willow thickets deeper within the Slough which were of a totally different character. Their branches drooped upon the ground limply, allowing choking vines[[ and slimy [[weeds to creep up and hang tendrils; the ground underfoot squelched and sucked and the light from above was ﬁltered by thick growths and lichenous fronds to a blue pallor.Travelers were told to beware such groves, for they might have been the homes of Mewlips and other spirits, and even the trees might be awake with an evil malice.