Who Is The Cherry-Tree Stag (The Cherry Tree Deer)?
A stag with a cherry tree growing from its head
The Cherry-Tree Stag is a male deer shot in the forehead with a cherry pit, which later reappears with a fruit-bearing cherry tree growing from its head. It has no name in the original story, but it is one of the most famous animals in the Baron's hunting tales.
When the Baron met a magnificent stag in the forest, he had run out of bullets. So he loaded his gun with the cherry pits he had just been eating and fired them into the animal's forehead. The stag staggered but escaped. A year or two later, in the same forest, he came across a stag with a cherry tree growing between its antlers. The Baron brought it down, claiming to have gained venison and cherries in one stroke.
In telling this story, the Baron mentions St. Hubert, the patron saint of hunters. St. Hubert is known from a legend about meeting a stag with a cross between its antlers, and the Baron cites it to make his own tall tale sound believable.
