| A Foxy Tale of Tree Transplant | See more photos below |
| Intentions
may be good and the best horticultural practises may be applied to
the transplanting of mature trees, but in most instances, 99% do not
survive. Transplanting of a mature tree is like putting a very old
person on the surgical table for a non-emergency problem. If post-surgery
trauma does not kill the person outright, elevated stress will. It
just cannot be done. It is reckless, and even suspect, when someone comes along to proclaim a tree a heritage tree worthy of tree conservation, and in as many a beautiful words, hints the possibility of a transplant 'where necessary' -- all in the name of conservation. This is the case in point at Sentosa Forest. Marked 'heritage trees' -- earmarked for tree conservation -- do not necessary stay where |
 |
It reminds me of an old fox-fairy tale I read long ago. Its relevence is beyond words.
A poor peasant-scholar meets and marries a beautiful young maiden who, unknown to him, is really a fox-fairy. The lusty landlord covets after her and devises a plan to get the husband out of the way. In due course, the crafty landlord wins the confidence of the scholar's friendship and says to him one day,
"My dearest friend, I say it from the bottom of my heart, you are truly gifted. How mightily unjust, O' Heaven, if you should not enter the Imperial Examination and serve the King. You are destined for greatness, my dear brother. An asset to our Heavenly King! Come, my treasured friend, take this gold and go! It's my honour to serve."
His flowery words flow but not from his heart. However, it moves the naive scholar. Taking the gold, he leaves both wife and home in search of greatness. Unfortunately for him, he did not realise the danger of highway robbers on the road to the Capital that the landlord has deviously shown him. It was his fate and the landlord wouldn't have cared either. No sooner has the scholar depart, the landlord breaks into his home to claim his coveted prize that very night. Unfortunately, it was his fate to die under the claws of the fox-fairy. She runs off in search of her dead husband's body and disappears into the forest never to be seen again.
What is the moral of the story?
It is about human nature and how it took over the manipulative landlord with greed, lust (and a pure disregard for life) and how it causes all the pain. The landlord personifies those amongst us who lord over the earth and takes everything from Mother Nature.
The scholar (no matter how clever he is) personifies the indifferent and ignorant people who die an untimely and unknowing death in the aftermath of environmental catastrophe. In his innocence and naivety, he also symbolises the Silent Tree that man cut down without mercy. The gold he receives represent the *dead wealth of the earth.
The fox-fairy, on the other hand, personifies the living treasures of Nature. Her return to her true home tells us that when all damage is done (to the natural environment) and mass-extinction occurs, resilient Nature will somehow return triumphant to a brave new world without the human species. We would have been the first to go extinct.
Lastly, the beautiful maiden also symbolises the beauty and fragility of Nature while the fox-fairy underlies her omnipotent power. Bully her... uproot the scholar from his home... uproot the Silent Tree... and there... in the gaping hole of the forest floor is mankind's coveted prize: his own grave.
That, my dearest brothers and sisters, is the moral of the fox-fairy tale.
Photos of the Dracaena maingayi:
See close-up of the rotten stump which is dying a lingering death, and a picture of its original state the first day it arrived in Singapore Botanic Garden on the back of a trailer, which on hindsight, looked very much a hearse now.
Reference: *dead wealth of the earth, Red Oleanders, Rabindranath Tagore, 1925 (a drama in one act).