The story of ancient oak 'matchmaking' for 100 lovers but is always lonely

In Germany, there is a hundred-year-old oak tree called "bride and groom", which is said to have more than 100 couples who wrote letters to each other in the tree cavity, which was later blessed at this coordinates.

The strange oak tree in Germany is associated with a postman named Karl-Heinz Martens . Every morning during the past 20 years, Mr. Martens drove an ice truck on narrow roads in the town of Eutin, gliding through fields and farms to lose sight of the fairy forest. Just outside the trees of the forest is exactly 12 noon, and the crowds are also waiting for Martens.

The story of the strange oak tree, matchmaking for girls and boys "eh" for a long time

"Everyone is in my path and underneath the waiting oak tree. Many strangers cannot believe that a postman will deliver mail to such a . tree niche" - Martens said.

To the Atlantic , Martens - now retired - calls letters to and from this tree hole as "love messages . " Across Europe, there is only one mailbox inside the old man like that. It was the Bräutigamseiche tree , also known as the "Bride and Groom Bride" , which was over 500 years old.

Uncle Martens is now and when he was a postman.(Photo: Jeff Maysh, NVCC).

Anecdote, once upon a time, there was a handsome young man, who was the son of a prince, was lost in the forest. No one knew about the disappearance until an extremely beautiful girl passed by and rescued him. Because he was so touched, the boy planted oak seeds down there to mark, later growing into an ancient man nearly 25 meters high - the famous oak tree today.

Another more interesting story took place in 1890. A young man who made chocolate in Leipzig had a crush on the daughter of a family living in the forest. However, this love is forbidden by the girl's father. Therefore, the young couple can only secretly exchange love letters inside a niche of tall oak trees. Years passed, and one day the secret love was discovered by her father, but this time he was touched by the young couple. It was the old man who urged the two of them to get married right below the oak tree that they gave each other love letters. Since then, the oak tree has officially been named "bride and groom".

Love messages are sent in the niches of oak trees.(Photo: Archiv TI Eutin, Eliot Stein).

But it was not until 37 years later (1927) that Deutsche Bundespost post office gave a "title" to matchmaking oak. They took the tree hole as a mailbox, gave it a specific address, even north of a 3-meter fixed ladder for the postman to climb up and retrieve the letter / letter from the niche.

Lonely hearts can send love letters to the post office, can also go directly to the tree hole to open any letter. The only rule is that if you open a familiar letter but do not intend to answer, put it intact to someone for "right time" . At that time, many young girls complained that if they walked around the oak tree three times, they would immediately be able to get married in the next year.

A wedding under miraculous oak.(Photo: Atlantic).

Beginning in 1927, there were hundreds of young men and women who were able to be charmed by matchmaking oak. It includes an American girl and a British soldier. After many letters exchanged, the couple decided to move to Scotland to live happily together. In addition, there is another girl "addicted but still afraid" , causing her friends to write letters for her, so that she can find the righteous idea - a German soldier.

Later, there is a man from Ruhr who travels the long distance to the town of Eutin, stays in a resort along the Baltic Sea, goes swimming every day to improve his health. However, a cold day made the man decide to walk into the forest. He kept wandering and caught the oak tree in the legend, opening a letter. Unexpectedly, the letter came from a countrywoman. The two of them met, chatted happily and began to love and get married. Once again, the "matchmaking power" of the oak tree was fulfilled.

The letters sent to the tree sockets . (Photo: NVCC).

Until today, the Germans are still very proud of their matchmaking oak tree, attracting a lot of tourists to visit. Even on April 25, 2009 people were "married" to this old man. The selected mail is a 200-year-old horse chestnut tree in Düsseldorf (also the second trunk in Germany with a mailing address). Two "grandparents" lived together for 6 years, "old lady" died because of his weak age, leaving him an old oak to continue his unique matchmaking mission.

The oak tree also witnesses the love story of the postman

Go back to the mailman Martens - he has a French mother and his father is German. Therefore, he has inherited the absolute principle of the Germans and his mind as well as humorous and romantic, mixed with the spicy satire of the French. Martens said, during his 20 years as a postman, he regularly gave love letters from customers but did not believe in those fairy tales at all. Until then, Martens himself did not escape the "magical power of love" of a hundred-year-old oak tree. He and his partner met when they both experienced a broken marriage.

One day, Martens also climbed into the tree hole to retrieve the mail as usual, caught something remarkable: this letter was sent to himself! The sender is Renate Heinz, a wine trade. Ms. Renate is over 50 years old, divorced, has an adult son. When she thought the rest of her life would only focus on alcohol, Ms. Renate suddenly saw television reporting the "bride and groom bride" and interviewed the postman Karl-Heinz Martens."Immediately I felt connected to this man, so I wrote it right away" - Renate recalls.

A letter lay on the tree trunk, waiting for the appropriate person to open it.(Photo: Eliot Stein).

When Martens opened the letter, he was surprised by the woman's frankness, only briefly wrote: "I want to make you know!" . The mailing address is Saarbrücken, near the border with France, so Martens also feels interesting and connected. A postman, but Martens . was lazy to write letters because he was too laborious, so he picked up the phone and called Renate for hours. "I still have dozens of phone bills that day, " Martens said happily.

During a visit to France to visit her mother, Martens stopped by Saarbrücken to meet her correspondent friend. And he did the same thing for five years - when he talked with Ms. Renate, he tried a new wine again. Remembering the experiences at that time, the postman was humorous and shared: "I don't know how the people of Saarbrücken are, but because it is near France, it is also convenient. If I don't like her, just climb the car. disappear immediately ".

But in the end, they got together and Ms. Renate followed Mr. Martens to the town of Eutin."This decision is not crazy" - the woman confirmed. "Because we know each other thanks to the bride and groom's oak tree, it has a special power, but I don't have to meet at the disco dance floor."

Martens - Renate kissed next to the love oak tree.(Photo: NVCC).

In 1994, the couple said their wishes under the great oak trees in front of the witness of many friends and relatives. The local newspaper called the ceremony a hochzeit des jahres - meaning "Wedding of the year". Much later, the story of Martens - Renate is still the most famous love affair associated with miraculous oak trees over 500 years old.