Cadi & the Cursed Oak, Kara Gebhart Uhl

A children's book by Kara Gebhart Uhl about Cadi, the daughter of a Welsh stick chairmaker, and the cursed oak of Nannau.

The Nannau oak, which once grew just outside Dolgellau, Wales, was long considered cursed. Also known as the "spirit's blasted tree", "the skeleton tree" and the "hollow tree of the ghost", some say it was used for witch trials in the Middle Ages. But it was mostly feared for something that happened long before: in 1402 the Welsh leader Owain Glyndŵr killed his old rival Hywel Sele, the 9th Lord of Nannau, while hunting and hid the body in the hollow of the oak, where it remained for 40 years.

In 1813 the oak fell in a terrible storm. By then it was more than 900 years old and measured 28' around. Its wood was made into tables, candlesticks, picture frames and silver cups with oak sleeves turned in the shape of acorns. Legend says that if you drink from one of the acorn cups, the tree's stories will haunt you.

After more than a year of research, Kara Gebhart Uhl brought the legends, facts and centuries-old stories together in a new children's tale. With one sip from an acorn cup, Cadi drinks in the tree's stories. Readers follow her as her mum reads a tale of three plagues and fighting dragons, as she discovers an old plaster scene of witches on trial under a tree, has frightening dreams where old oaks fight back, hunts for Welsh stick chair arm bows with her dad and walks with her grandmother to a timeworn wooden door in the Nannau deer park, where her grandmother tells the skeleton tree's whole haunted tale. All the while Cadi faces a seemingly impossible task: how do you stop stories that are too scary, sad or difficult to bear?

The book is richly illustrated by Elin Manon of Cardiff, who is often inspired by the natural world, folklore and folk traditions. The last page contains a glossary and simple pronunciation guide for the Welsh words and phrases in the text, written by Dr Iwan Wyn Rees of the Cardiff Centre for Welsh American Studies.

The book has some frightening scenes and is probably best suited for children aged 8 and up, but every child is different.

Facts:
48 pages
8-1/2" × 11"
Printed on bright white coated paper; sewn, glued and taped
Dark blue cotton-linen cloth cover with matte white foil stamp
Printed in the United States
In English