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The same meaning is further developed in a similar episode which
unfolded sometime later. Another government more powerful than its
predecessor insisted that a stopping place for the steamer be built on
the doum tree site. (lines 2723-335 of the ST) The villagers fought
desperately to foil the government's attempt to carry out the project.
Twenty men were jailed in the city. The opposition party took up the
issue of the down tree of Wad Hamid and the government had to step
down. In Parliament, a fiery speech was given calling for popular
support for the down tree issue. The government was severely attacked
for interfering in the sacred beliefs of the people. "To such tyranny
has this government come that it has begun to interfere in the beliefs
of the people, in those holy things held most sacred by them" ... Ask
our worthy Prime Minister about the doum tree of Wad Hamid. Ask him
how it was that he permitted himself to send his troops and henchmen to
desecrate that pure and holy place!" The cry was nation-wide. The
twenty prisoners were released. The Prime Minister, the Speakers of
the Houses of Parliament and other dignitaries lined up to greet the
released prisoners on their arrival to their home village. "The Prime
Minister laid the foundation stone for the monument you've seen, and
for the dome you've seen, and for the railing you've seen. The down
tree of Wad Hamid has become the symbol of the nation's awakening".
From then onwards, the village remained as it had ever been;
uncivilized, secluded, uncared for but overwhelmed by the shady down
tree guarding Wad Hamid's sepulchre. No water pump; no agricultural
scheme; no stopping place for the steamer; only an iron railing, a
marble monument, and a dome decorated with golden crescents.
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