not a forest but a tree

[caraloup]

Yes, this post is about an ancient tree - one of the most magnificent and fascinating trees I’ve ever seen, and I’m happy to say that I spent several hours of my most recent birthday in its shade. It’s a huge black pine that manages to be a forest all by itself, a whole world of trees, and the longer you look at it, the less you want to look at

Comments

[caraloup]

Oh, I can well imagine that special trees with visible 'personalities', like this one, inspired Tolkien to envision Ents, no doubt about it! But I tend to think that a primary-world source of inspiration for Treebeard would have been an oak, since Treebeard with his "green and grey bark" is rather oakish in appearance. I've looked up the Entmoot description, too, and there's no mention of any Ent resembling a pine...

A few seemed more or less related to Treebeard, and reminded them of beech-trees or oaks. But there were other kinds. Some recalled the chestnut: brown-skinned Ents with large splayfingered hands, and short thick legs. Some recalled the ash: tall straight grey Ents with many-fingered hands and long legs; some the fir (the tallest Ents), and others the birch, the rowan, and the linden.

Still, it's not hard at all to imagine an Ent resembling the majestic old pine!

[ex_lbilover]

What a magnificent tree! I can see why Tolkien loved it so much. You're right that it's like a whole world of trees by itself. Fascinating.

[caraloup]

Isn't it? Since the Botanical Gardens are right in the middle of Oxford and close to the colleges, Tolkien may have gone there fairly often. And although there are many impressive trees, the pine really stands out.

[faline_le_fay]

Cara, I really enjoyed reading your post here, thanks for sharing the pictures as well.

It surprised me because one of my favorite tv shows is Northern Exposure, which ran in the early 90s for about 6 years. I finished buying up my DVD collection over the holidays and just this past Sunday was watching an episode titled "The Old Tree" that I hadn't seen in years. It was about the townspeople paying respect to a great tree that they had named Old Vicky. The tree was hundreds of years old, but was now dying.

Your post and my recent DVD viewing made me catch my breath a little at the timing coincidence :) .

Thanks again,

Suz

[caraloup]

Hey Suz - good to hear from you! And a very happy new year full of enchantments to you. :)

And thanks for sharing the story of 'The Old Tree' with me. Do you remember what kind of tree it was?

[faline_le_fay]

Hi Cara, Happy New Year to you as well! It's great to see you posting again

[caraloup]

And trees are much bigger than we are. And much *much* more forgiving.

Oh, I totally agree with *that* statement!

Thank you for sharing all this with me, and for transcribing this exchange. It's lovely that 'Old Vicky' is treated as a 'person' rather than an object (most people I've watched around trees really seem to think of them as inanimate objects). If I ever get a chance to view this episode, I definitely will. Thanks so much for pointing it out to me. :)

[belleferret]

What a marvelous tree! That second picture looks like an Ent to me, with his arms raised up to the sky.

[caraloup]

Oh yes, there's something very entish about this tree, definitely! It's easy to envision stretching its old limbs just a little when nobody's watching. :)

[slender_sail]

Ah... I feel like climbing up through all of those branches, but I'd prefer being a squirrel on that particular occasion! This tree just asks to be hugged! Pines... *sigh*

Christopher calls it ‘early chartings’ of a ‘primitive mythology’, but it’s still a strikingly visual scene and feels more vivid and concrete to me than the published Silmarillion version

Just because we're primitive, cave-painting and all, doesn't mean we made it up. ;) The "higher" expression then reinforces that fact. ("Primitive" - a very beautiful song by Annie Lennox too).
It's rather weird (if I may use that word), that one should need a pine for coming back *down* from the sky. It's a bit Bean-stalky to say the least. But myth contains deliberate keys to enlightenment.

sleep *zzz* (and this is the 5th time I try to send this comment, yawn)

[caraloup]

I feel like climbing up through all of those branches, but I'd prefer being a squirrel on that particular occasion!

You and me both! In fact, I'm a dedicated squirrel-worshipper and love watching them leap and weave through the trees.

It's rather weird (if I may use that word), that one should need a pine for coming back *down* from the sky.

Why is that any weirder than going up into the sky that way? One and climb up and down Yggdrasil, too (or at least Ratatosk the squirrel can ;), maybe that's why it doesn't seem odd to me.

[slender_sail]

Walking nicely to and fro on Bifrost? :D