TREE PHONE

from FOLK SONG IN ENGLAND by R.L. Lloyd:

"We hear of a village in the Antilles inhabited chiefly by women. The men have to seek work in the nearest town. Any messages the women want to pass to their men they confide to a tree. 'Why do you talk to that tree?' asked the visiting folklorist. 'Because we're poor', the women answered. 'If we were rich we'd use the telephone.'