Refusing big sums, locals vow to protect ancient fig tree VietNamNet Bridge – A fig tree, called a “nature’s masterpiece” has been existing for thousands of years in Nghe An province, because the local residents have been wholeheartedly protecting it. In a remote village in the west of Nghe An province in the central region, there is a fig tree, thousands of years old. The tree, with the shape of a cock holding a tray with steamed glutinous rice, is believed to be unique in the world. Local residents said a lot of millionaires, who heard about the original tree with the special style, flocked there and asked them to sell the tree for billions of dong. The fig tree has been existing there for the last many thousands of years as a part of the lives of local residents with its invaluable spiritual value. One day, a person, who introduced himself as an ornamental tree connoisseur, came there and discovered the special tree. The tree immediately became the “aiming point” of the rich, who want to possess the precious tree. Nguyen Van Hanh, Head of the Giai Xuan commune’s culture committee, with a respectful voice, called it the “grand-grandparent tree.” “The grand-grandparent tree is tottery atop of the large rocks with the height of 30 meters, the leaves’ canopy of 60 square meters and the giant roots which embrace two overlapped blocks of rocks. The above rock is surrounded by hundreds of the tree’s roots, while the rock underneath, square, has cracked in half,” the old man describes the precious tree. The old men in the Ke Mui Village said that the tree has been living here for the last many generations, and that they could see the tree as soon as they were born. They heard from their parents and the grandparents that they have to protect the ancient fig tree no matter what, because the tree was grown by a Goddess, who has always been helping and supporting local people. The land area around the precious fig tree is called by local resident as the “Dau land”, which means the holly land, where the Goddess once lived. People dare not enter the holly land of the Goddess, except for some days, when they come there to organize ceremonies to pray for bountiful crops. The fig tree deserves to become the Vietnamese heritage tree The rock block covered by the fig tree is granite. The above block looks like a big gem with the tonnage of 25 tons. The rock block below weights some 160 tons. They have been clinging to each other for the last many thousands of years and have not moved despite storms and natural calamities. The local residents believe that the two blocks of rocks symbolize the Earth (the square one) and the God (the round one). While entering the “Dau” land area, the Tho ethnic minority people can only speak in their language, and they dare not speak in other languages for the fear that the goddess may get furious. No one dares to be disrespectful to the fig tree, or they would get retribution. Vu Ngoc Son, Deputy Chair of the Giai Xuan commune people’s committee said the local authorities have asked for the Vietnam Association for the Nature and Environment Protection’s recognition as the Vietnamese heritage tree. Compiled by Kim Chi