Am I supposed to take this as a metaphor for England in general?
Because that's how I'm taking it.
The Major Oak, which has stood in Sherwood Forest for longer than a millennium, has died after a particularly rough drought season.
From the Associated Press:
The 1,200-year-old Major Oak in Sherwood Forest is believed to have died after it didn't sprout leaves this spring, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds said Thursday.
Visitors over the past two centuries who viewed the tree's gnarled limbs and sprawling canopy in Nottingham compressed the soil, making it difficult for rain to reach its roots, the conservation group said.
The forest has been under threat for years and the tree had been rumored to have died in the past — only to have the group confirm it was still alive.
That is no longer the case.
Supposedly, the ground above the root system being stepped on by tourists so much prevented water from penetrating the soil, leading to the death of the tree that was planted on the border of myth and legend.
Way to go, tourists!
'The tree's failure to produce leaves this year is heartbreaking for everyone,' Hollie Drake of the RSPB said in a statement announcing the death.
(Couldn't they have just, you know, watered the tree themselves?)
Robin Hood, the 13th-century folk hero who kept the spirit of the nation alive under Prince John's oppression while awaiting the return of King Richard (who was busy saving Christendom from Islamic rule), was said to have camped under this very tree with his merry men.
But today the tree is dead, and some would say that's a sign.
The Major Oak lived a good, long life for an oak tree.
Kind of how England has lived a good, long life as a nation.
But all good things (in this world, at least) must end.
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