The Tree

H.P. Lovecraft

Summary

Title: The Tree
Author: H. P. Lovecraft
Narrator: Jonathan Dunne
Original Publication: 1921
Public Domain: Yes
Series Placement: Number 33 in the Timeless Terrors series
Description:
The Tree by H. P. Lovecraft is a haunting parable of art, envy, and the quiet vengeance of nature — a story where beauty and death grow from the same root. Set in ancient Greece, it tells of two sculptors, Musides and Kalos, whose friendship and creative genius draw the admiration of all who know them. Yet when jealousy, death, and strange growths intertwine, the boundaries between art and decay dissolve into something both poetic and terrible.
Lovecraft’s tale departs from his usual cosmic scale to reveal horror in the natural and the human — a mythic meditation on pride, mortality, and the price of creative rivalry. Beneath its serene surface lies a creeping inevitability, where the living and the dead are bound by the same relentless cycle.
Narrated by horror author Jonathan Dunne, this performance evokes the story’s classical rhythm and tragic atmosphere — the stillness of marble, the whisper of leaves, and the final, inescapable judgment of the earth itself. While the text itself is in the public domain, this narration is an original performance and copyright © 2025 Jonathan Dunne.
Part of Timeless Terrors, a series dedicated to resurrecting the great voices of the uncanny, The Tree stands as a tale of eerie beauty and timeless punishment — where the roots of envy reach far deeper than the grave.
Prepare for a story carved in stone and shadow, where art becomes epitaph and the living are outlasted by what they create.

Duration: 13 minutes (00:13:06)
Publishing date: 2025-10-13; Unabridged; Copyright Year: — Copyright Statment: —