The Oak-Planting Boar
A legend from Ukraine
Ukraine’s two oldest oaks grow in the heart of the village of Stuzhitsa. Hidden in the Carpathian Mountains, right where Ukraine, Poland, and Slovakia meet, the inhabitants of the village tell a curious legend about the origin of one of these trees. The “Champion Oak” is estimated to be an impressive thirteen hundred years old and thus is one of the oldest known oaks of Ukraine. However, it is the slightly younger “Dido Oak” that is the better-known tree. Dido Oak – “Grandfather Oak” – was planted by an enormous old wild boar that roamed the territory near the village, so the folktale goes. Searching for water with his porcine companions, the boar reached a stream. While drinking, a falling acorn got stuck in the bristles on the pig’s head and travelled with it for a while. Eventually, the boar began digging in the earth near Stuzhitsa in search of food. The acorn fell into the loosened soil, took root, and grew into the famous Dido Oak. Almost a thousand years later, the oak is more than thirty meters high, and its trunk circumference – more than nine meters – takes six or seven people to embrace it all around.
Almost one thousand years later the oak is more than 30 meters high, and its trunk circumference is more than 9 meters that takes 6 to 7 people to embrace it. (Photo: Laura Kuen)
