Daily Yellowstone journal., 1890-08-15
TALES OF SACRED TREES.
Several Curious Legends Concerning IN,
Palm. Oak and Ash.

Palm. Oak and Ash.
The palm, he oak and the ash are,
according TO "A timely and interesting
article in the Deutsche Rundschau, the
three trees which, since time imme-
mortal, wers held to be sacred trees.
The first among them which figures on
the oldest monuments and pictures of
the Egyptians and Assyrians is the
date palm Phoenix dactilifera), which
wa the symbol Of the world and Of
creation, and the fruit Of which filled
the faithful with divine strength and
prepared them for the pleasures Of i'm
mortality. Honor" said Mahomet,
'thy paternal aunt, the date palm, for
in paradise il was created out of the
same dust of the ground"
Another Mahometan tradition Of a
later period says that when Adam left
Paradise he was allowed to take with
him three things-a myrtle, because it
was the most lovely and the most
scented flower of the earth; a wheat
ear, because il had the most nourish-
ment, and a date. because il was the
most glorious fruit of the earth. The
date from Paradise wa In some mar
Vicious way brought TO the Hejaz; from
It have come all the date palms in the
world, and Allah destined ii to be the
food of all the true believers who shall
conquer every country where the date
palm grows.
The Jews and the Arabs again looked
upon the am tree as a mystical ale
CORY of human beings, for, like them,
IL dies when its head (the suminit) is
cut off, and when a limb Cbranch) is
once cut off it does not grow again.
Those who know can understand the
mysterious language Of the branches
on days when there is no wind, when
whispers of present and future events
are communicated by the tree. Abra-
ham Of old. so the rabbis says, under.
stood the language Of the palm.
The oak was always considered q
''holy' tree by our own ancestors, and
above all by the nations Of the north
of Europe. When Winifrcd of Devon
shire C6S0-15i \. d. went fD~h on his
wanderings through Germany to preach
the Gospel one Of his first actions was
to cut down the giant oak in SaSony
which was dedicated To Thor and wor-
SHIPPED 10y the people from far and
near But when he had nearly felled
the oak, and while the people were
cursing and threatening the saint, a
supernatural storm swept over il, seized
the summit, broke every branch and
dashed It, quasi superni motus solalis,
with a tremendous crash 10 the ground.
The heathens acknowledged the mar.
vel, and many Of them were converted
there and then. But the saint built II
chapel Of the wood Of this very oak
and dedicated il 10 ST. Peter
But the sacred oaks do not seem TO
have always done their duty Thus.
for instance, "A famous oak in Ireland
was dedicated 10 the Irish saint Colum.
ban, one Of the peculiaritics Of the tree
being that whoever carried a piece Of
its wood in his mouth would never be
hanged. After a time, however, the
holy oak Of kenmare was destroyed in
q storm. Nobody dared gather the
wood except a gardener, who tanned
some shoe leather with. the bark; but
when he wore the shoes made If this
leather for the first time he became a
leper, and was never cured.
In the abbey Of Vetrou, in Brittany,
stood an old oak tree which had grown
out Of the staff Of st. Martin, the first alb
bot OF the monastery, and in the shade
Of which the princes Of Brittany prayed
whenever they went into the abbey.
Nobody dared TO pick even a leaf from
this tree, and not ever the birds dared
10 peek mt IL. Not 80 the Norman ri.
rates, two Of whom climbed the tree Of
st. Martin 10 cut wood for their bows.
Both of them fell down and broke their
necks. ,
The Cells and Germans and Scandi-
navians. again. worshiped the mount.