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TREE ANCESTORS 



Britain were a part of the druidical cult, and in the more modern 

 days it was beheved that the spirit of the oak took refuge in the 

 mistletoe during the winter when the tree was leafless. The asso- 

 ciation of the mistletoe with Christmas grew out of the former 

 belief and the custom of bringing the mistletoe into the house in 

 order that the tree spirit might bring fertility to the homesteaders. 



Fig. 27. Sketch Map Showing the Existing Distribution of Oaks 



There are historic oaks in ahnost every region where oak trees 

 of outstanding size and longevity are to be found. Among these 

 may be mentioned Charlemagne's oak in the forest of Fontain- 

 bleau; the Abbott's oak at Woburn Abbey where Henry VIII 

 hung the Abbott in 1537; the oak in the New Forest against which 

 the arrow is said to have glanced that killed William Rufus; the 

 royal oak at Boscobel in which Charles II hid after the disastrous 



