Meet Alpine

Alpine

Says nothing at all — and works best

The voice: Silent
Home: The Sleepy ForestWhere the trees close their eyes one branch at a time
Part of: The treesThe Sleepy Forest cast. Every one of them a different way of saying goodnight.
How home goes to sleep: It goes to sleep when every secret eye closes, one after another.

The story of Alpine

Nobody gave Alpine the night watch. He simply grew into it — taller and narrower than any other tree in the forest, the one silhouette you can find from anywhere, at any distance, in any light. And somewhere on the way up he decided the most useful thing a watchman can do is say nothing at all. He is the only tree in the whole forest with no mouth. Just two very large, very patient eyes, watching the dark the way a lighthouse watches the sea. He never slumps — a leaning sentinel stops being a sentinel — so on the way down the ladder the only things that move are his lids, falling rung by rung, and his soft blue-green tiers, settling ever so slightly. Everyone else in the forest talks you to sleep. Alpine keeps watch while it works.