The Oak of Mingėla
The oak of Mingėla growing in the district of Plungė already counts 600-700 years. There used to live a wise old man in the old times. Once he felt really weak and his grandson decided to go to the forest to pick some acorns and make a tea from them so that his grandfather would feel better. The night came upon him while he was walking and a band of wolves attacked the boy. People found the boy all torn up with a single acorn of an oak clasped in his hand. People planted this acorn at the very place the boy was found and a huge oak had grown from it.
The oak of Mingėla is the second in size in Lithuania. The extent of its trunk is 7, 7 meters. The height of the oak reaches 15, 7 meters. The tree was named after Mingėlai family settled nearby. The oak used to be considered sacred in the pagan times. Once the fighting against paganism began, all the worshiped oaks which became the places for cult started to be destroyed. The oak of Mingėla was threatened as well. After the christening of the Samogitians it had been searched for someone to cut down the oak. When a cloth of 10 m and a musket was promised, Mingėla agreed to take up the task. But he could only cut the top of the oak, and he had given his life for that – the neighbours had drowned him in the river Minija. A small chapel was built on the branches of the oak without its top. Already the fifth generation of Mingėla is continuing to take care of the mighty oak. The centenarian oak can be found in the village of Vieštovėnai, the district of Plungė.
