The vast majority of mythological creatures and monsters are based on animal or human forms. However, some more subtle or cunning supernatural creatures prefer to align themselves with the more unassuming world of plants and trees, blending in with the forests, and gardens which surround us.
Although, as we shall see, some supernatural trees are monsters unto themselves, the majority gain their supernatural abilities from the creatures or spirits which occupy them. In the Celtic tradition, the expressions, "touch wood" or "knock on wood" are used, even in the contemporary context, to avert bad luck. Those who use these expressions are in fact, often unwittingly, continuing the Druidic tradition of appealing to the spirits of the wood for help or favour.
This frequently-repeated piece of Somerset lore, originally collected by folklorist Ruth Tongue, emphasizes the importance of tree-spirits in the British isles. Celtic tree-spirits may be nymph-like and feminine, like the Green Ladies of the birch groves, or gnarled and goblinish, like the Bodach na Croibhe Moire, a cantankerous old Oakman who zealously guarded his father trees. British tree spirits are generally benevolent toward friends of the forest, but must be approached with caution, as they are capricious, and will react swiftly and vengefully to any perceived harm or insult to the trees in their care.
Legends of similar tree-folk appear throughout Europe and Asia. One of the more familiar of these figures is the German Elderflower Mother, or Frau Ellhorn, who is also notable for her appearance in one of Hans Christian Anderson 's fairy tales. In order to safely pick elderberries or wood from a tree protected one of these elves, one was required to ask, "Mother, grant me some of your wood, and I'll grant you some of mine, when I grow into a tree."1,2 A Japanese legend tells us of a man who unknowingly married a willow spirit, and later accidentally caused her death by allowing her tree to be cut down.
Other well-known tree inhabitants include the dryads of the Mediterranean, relatively harmless feminine creatures who are more often the victims than the perpetrators of supernatural pranks, and the German kobolds, small, masculine tree spirits who are able to adapt into benevolent house-sprites when wood from their trees is used to make tools, furniture or toys.
