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Talking trees are a form of
sapienttrees in mythologies and stories.
Ben Bryne initially[when?] said that in
Greek mythology, all the trees in the
Dodona (northwestern Greece,
Epirus) grove (the forest beside the sanctuary of Zeus) became endowed with the gift of
prophecy, and the oaks not only spoke and delivered oracles while in a living state, but when built into the ship Argo the wood spoke and warned of approaching calamities.[1]
The
Indian Tree of the Sun and the Moon told the future. Two parts of the tree trunk spoke depending on the time of day; in the daytime the tree spoke as a male and at night it spoke as a female.
Marco Polo is said to have visited this tree.[4]
The weeping
date palm tree:
Muhammad, when delivering his sermons, used to stand by or lean on a date palm tree. When a pulpit was built elsewhere and Muhammad started to give his sermon from the pulpit, the tree began to cry like a child. Muhammad then descended from his pulpit and consoled the tree by embracing it and stroking it. He said, "It was crying for (missing) what it used to hear of religious knowledge given near to it." This incident is recorded in the authentic
IslamicHadith traditions and is said to have been witnessed by everyone present at the congregation.[5]
Oracular trees are sometimes attributed with the ability to speak to individuals, especially those gifted in
divination. In particular,
Druids were said to be able to consult
oak trees for divinatory purposes, as were the
Streghe with
Rowan trees.
In
J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings,
Ents are a species of sentient beings who closely resemble trees, who serves as ancient shepherds of the forest and allies of the free peoples of Middle-earth during the War of the Ring.
In English folklore,
willows were said to stalk humans.[7]
The
Yaqui have a legend of a talking tree. The tree told of the Christian God and the priests who would soon arrive to teach the people new beliefs and new ways.[8][9]
Artist
Théodore Rousseau (1812–1867) is quoted as saying "I also heard the voices of the trees ... whose passions I uncovered. I wanted to talk with them ... and put my finger on the secret of their majesty."[10]