it spun about his waist and lifted him from the ground , higher and higher , and he was passed to a second branch , then to another , up the tree , from branch to branch , his hands bound so tightly by coils that he could n't move them , his body held so tightly he could hardly breath , and he was passed through the inner darkness of the willow , a hollow core of blackness , then suddenly out into the light , bright , blinding , at the top of the tree .