Sylvia loves the natural world of her Maine home. So she's troubled when a young hunter comes and says he wants to shoot the wonderful white heron she's seen in the marshes. But since she has a crush on him, and he's offering a lot of money for her to guide him, she climbs to the top of a vey tall tree to try to spot the heron.
Published in The White Heron and Other Stories, "18[?]mo, pp. 254. Gilt top. Houghton, Mifflin & Co. $1.25". The quoted listing is from "Books of the Month", ''The Dial'' 1886-10 p138 under "Fiction--Humor", a complete list of new books received during September by Chicago publisher-wholesaler A.C. McClurg & Co. {{LCCN|07009732}} links digital copies at HathiTrust; one copy from University of Michigan is dated 1886.
The speculative part of the story is that after Sylvia (note the name: "of the woods") has another transformative sight of the heron, she finds to her own surprise that she literally can't speak to tell anyone about it.
| Date | Publication | Publisher | Type | Page | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 1971 |
|
Eco-Fiction | Washington Square Press | Anthology | 134 |
| October 1973 |
|
Authors' Choice 2 | Hamish Hamilton | Anthology | 61 |
| 1974 |
|
Authors' Choice 2 | Thomas Y. Crowell | Anthology | 61 |
| 1978 |
|
Galaktika 30: Tudományos-fantasztikus antológia | Kozmosz Könyvek | Anthology | 18 |
| 1988 |
|
Fiction 100: An Anthology of Short Stories | Macmillan | Anthology | 791 |
| 1989 |
|
Fictions: Second Edition | Harcourt Brace Jovanovich | Anthology | 586 |
| 1994 |
|
The American Short Story: A Treasury of the Memorable and Familiar by the Great American Writers from Washington Irving to Saul Bellow | State Street Press | Anthology | 385 |
| 1994 |
|
The American Short Story: A Treasury of the Memorable and Familiar by the Great American Writers from Washington Irving to Saul Bellow | Galahad Books | Anthology | 385 |
| February 1996 |
|
Great Short Stories by American Women | Dover Publications | Collection | 50 |
| July 2002 |
|
Great American Short Stories | Dover Publications | Anthology | 84 |
| October 2007 |
|
American Short Stories | Pearson Longman | Anthology | 133 |
| 2011 |
|
The Story and Its Writer: An Introduction to Short Fiction | Bedford Books of St. Martin's Press | Anthology | 404 |
| January 2011 |
|
The Vintage Book of American Women Writers | Vintage Books | Anthology | 356 |
| January 2011 |
|
The Vintage Book of American Women Writers | Vintage Books | Anthology | |5 |
| June 2011 |
|
Great Short Stories by Great American Writers | Coyote Canyon Press | Collection | 195 |
| 2012 |
|
Pine Tree Pioneers: 20 Tales of Early Mainers | Sam Teddy Publishing | Anthology | 217 |
| August 2012 |
|
The Oxford Book of American Short Stories | Oxford University Press | Anthology | 136 |
| February 2015 |
|
100 Great Short Stories | Dover Publications | Anthology | |
| March 2015 |
|
100 Great Short Stories | Dover Publications | Anthology | 243 |
| 2017 |
|
The Giant Book of Classic Bird Stories | Sam Teddy Publishing | Anthology | 183 |