The Legend of Merlin’s Oak Tree
Created | Updated May 24, 2011
Merlin Ambrosius/Myrddin Emrys (as in the fellow associated with good old King Arthur), to whom I refer, was of course born in the wee Welsh town of Carmarthen [see Carmarthen article].
There were and still are many oaks in the town, though none any more especially wonderful than (most) other oak trees in the rest of the country, or world for that matter.
Except one.
As a lad, the legend tells, young Merlin would play in a particular tree, most happily I imagine. Until, one day, a friend (though not, I shouldn’t think, a particularly good one) informed him that the tree was headed for the chop. Angry and upset, Merlin then said the following:
"When Merlin's Tree shall tumble down,
Then shall fall Carmarthen Town."
Of course, this was many hundred of years ago (though in more likely likelihood, the tree could have been planted by a schoolmaster in 1659 to commemorate Charles II’s accession) and so over time it began to crumble (or, perhaps, was poisoned by some chap because it was too popular a meeting place, maybe).
In the year 1951, a branch was broken off of the tree and it lies now in the Carmarthen Museum.
In 1978, the last remaining fragments of the tree (…stump – GoogleImages it) were removed and placed in Carmarthen’s Civic Hall.
Carmarthen Town has not fallen. If anything it is growing.
However, the winter following the Tree’s removal, Carmarthen experienced it’s worst floods for many years and a train was de-railed ( - apparently: I couldn’t actually find any confirmingly solid evidence of this - yet).
