The Oak and the Thunder-God.
In the third edition of his Golden Bough, chap, xx., Dr. Frazer has inserted an interesting discussion of the relation of the worship of the Oak to that of the Aryan god of the sky, thunder, and lightning: a subject which has also been treated at length by Mr. A. B. Cook in Folk-Lore, vols. xv. and xvi., and in the Classical Review, vols. xvii. and xviii. It is now certain that the oak is of all trees the one most held in reverence by Aryan peoples, and also certain that almost all these peoples identified the Oak-god with the Sky-god who sends the lightning. The difficulty is to explain the connection or identification, and to determine whether tree or lightning came first in religious importance. Dr. Frazer's explanation at the end of his chapter is somewhat fanciful; but he was not, when he offered it, acquainted with the fact I propose as a solution. He has privately informed me that he thinks my explanation may prove to be the right one. I came upon it quite by accident.
As the years 1910 and 1912 have been prolific of thunderstorms, I have for some time been amusing myself in the country by examining the effects of lightning on various species of tree. I was met by some rather puzzling facts; in particular, I could find no beech that had been struck, and I was told that beeches are immune. Wishing to know the truth of this, I consulted books on forestry, and at last, by the kindness of Mr. H. T. Gadney, I was supplied with the fourth volume of a great work on this subject, by Dr. Schlich, of which the fourth volume was contributed by Prof. Hess of Giessen. In this fourth volume I found what I wanted, and more; for the evidence of sixteen years' recorded investigation in the large forest of Lippe-Detmold, where the percentage of each species in the forest was known, shows not only that the beech is rarely struck, but that the oak is far more often a victim than any other tree.[1] On p. 662 will be found a table in which it appears
- ↑ [The popular belief that beech is never struck by lightning is mentioned in Notes and Queries, 1st S., vol. vi. (1852), p. 129, and 3rd S., vol. v. (1864), p. 97, and in 1st S., vol. x. (1854), p. 513, is given, second-hand, a statement from The Mechanics' Magazine, (April 10th, 1847, p. 359, verified), that the beech is obnoxious to lightning, but the oak amongst the trees which attract it most. The preference of lightning for the oak is mentioned in 5th S., vol. ii.
