Crosscut

Crosscut is a woodsman who lives in the Greenwood.

The Emerald Princess Plays a Trick
As Crosscut is walking in the forest he eventually hears cries for help in the Twisted Vines. He and the fairy Hazelnut hurry to see what the matter is and find the gardener Staghorn upside-down in the treetops, held painfully up by a rope around his ankle. Crosscut carefully cuts him down, but his ankle hurts so much Staghorn can't stand up on his own. As Hazelnut tends to the injury as best she can, Crosscut goes to look for Princess Emily.

He soon returns with the princess, but Staghorn refuses to speak to her since he believes his injury was caused by another one of her tricks. Although Emily wants to take him to the Emerald Palace to get treatment, the gardener flat-out refuses to go to the palace and insists instead that he go to Nana Woodbine, a woman famed for her healing skills. Shrugging Emily off, he allows Crosscut to help him to his feet instead. Crosscut shrugs apologetically to the princess, but says nothing as he helps Staghorn hobble to Nana Woodbine's cottage.

Crosscut stays at Staghorn's bedside as Nana tends to his injury. They are soon joined by Hazelnut and Staghorn's best friend, the fisherman Fluke. They enjoy telling stories and reminiscing over old times, but the topic soon turns to Princess Emily and her tricks. Curiously, Crosscut keeps quiet, although he laughs along with everyone else when Fluke suggests that Nana Woodbine give the foul-tasting mercury vine medicine to Emily instead of Staghorn.

Later that day, Nana Woodbine sends Fluke to find an herb. When he returns, he explains to everyone that he has discovered that Darklings -not Emily- set the trap that injured Staghorn and that the princess in fact saved him from a similar fate as he was out looking for the herb.