:)

Hallo Bernard, It just doesn't sound right to me. A tree sheds its leaves in Autumn, not just a few , but all of them. A snake sheds its skin, not just flakes thereof. 'Let fall' is a somewhat old fashioned expression, which I always like using for such stories, especially when one takes into consideration the era in which they were written.

I understand, Wendy, though I don't follow you with the large amount; since "let fall" sounds too much like a false friend to me and "threw down" is too active, maybe simply using "dropped a branch" might work:)?

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Danke Bernard: I know the word 'shed' has the meaning of 'let fall', 'discard', 'let drop' etc., but in this case, as it is only a single twig, I prefer to use an alternative, such as 'let fall'. For me the word 'shed' implies 'everything' or a larger amount, which is almost more a 'feeling' of the meaning than something I can explain logically!

Vielleicht auch:
... beech tree shed a twig with three.. ?