Gia Lâm

forest-spirit · Vietnam · Southeast Asia

Not independently attested. No Vietnamese source records a forest spirit named 'Gia Lâm': the name is a district of Hanoi, birthplace of the hero Saint Giong, while 'già làng' denotes a Central Highlands village elder, a human role rather than a supernatural being. The 'old man of the trees' guardian account is generic template prose with no documentary basis.

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