. . . if the Green Man often looks deathly at the same time as overflowing with life, that is because paradox is his very nature. Since he is life itself, the thing he utters, or 'outers', is the living green of woods in spring. He carries the spirit of Dionysus himself, whose haunts are woods and wild places, and who is never seen except as a mask hanging in a tree.

- Roger Deakin, Wildwood