PIRIN

In the clear waters of the fountain

In the clear waters of the fountain CHAPTER III

Theoson proceeded swiftly towards East and came in sight of the town of Mason Gottbin, a fortress of the Dwarves. Before entering the town, though, the young man was stopped by a luminous and iridescent Sprite who, coming towards him on butterfly wings, asked him to follow in his trail. You should know that, although they rarely appear to mortals, there are many fairy creatures in woods. When they take male form, they are generally called Sprites, whereas, when their appearance is female, they are called Nymphs or Fairies; to conclude, when one of them appears as an old man, he is called a Genie. Contrarily to those who believe that flowers, trees, stones, or the water of streams, are inanimate bodies, actually within each of them dwells a Sprite or a Nymph keeping them alive. Now, when the Sprite came to Theoson asking him to follow in his trail, our traveler in the first place refused, explaining, in order to justify himself, that he had an important mission to accomplish, preventing him from taking deviations; but the radiant, winged Sprite begged him, asking for his help. Theoson felt pity for him, but, before following him, he wanted to learn what the Sprite’s problem was. The Sprite, crying tears of light, dripping with a shimmer from his translucent eyes, said his beloved had been imprisoned by her evil brother who, through a spell, had bound her in the waters of a fountain.

I and my beloved, the Fairy Melimghal, played lighthearted games before a fountain

The young goldsmith, moved by that story, asked how it could have happened, and the Sprite began to tell: “My name is Nhaldharar. This morning, at the break of dawn, I and my beloved, the Fairy Melimghal, played lighthearted games before a fountain of fresh water, which is found in a great clearing surrounded by colourful wildflowers. At that point Melimghal’s brother, jealous and possessive, saw her in my company, after he had tried the best he could to dissuade her from seeing me. Indeed, I normally live in mistletoe, the trunk-less, groundless shrub, suspended between the branches of other trees as a bird’s nest. Melimghal, for sure, would deserve as her beloved a Sprite who could take her to dwell in a great, powerful, well-rooted tree. Therefore her brother decided to punish her. Together with two of his acolytes, he captured me and tied me to a birch with a rope made of resin, dew and wind. Then, turning to his sister, he pronounced a formula and, by the spell, imprisoned her in the clear waters of the fountain, that, as soon as he had done so, became dark and dirty”.

The spell, as the Sprite furthermore explained, could only be broken by Melimghal’s brother, as soon as he pronounced for the second time “ Ha sth zadheliorteha, jandhidimteth!” (I free you, surface!), but nobody knows when he might come to free her.

“I, astonished at having seen my beloved’s a*******n, stood there tied for a few hours before a Faun, who had heard my pleas for help, came and proved so courteous as to free me from the rope keeping me tied to the birch’s trunk”.

Nhaldharar the Sprite concluded by telling Theoson that, if he helped him setting Melimghal free, somehow convincing her evil brother to let her go, he would repay him by telling him an important secret, which only a few amongst those who travelled those woods knew. The generous Theoson told the Sprite not to despair because he had what would save the poor Melimghal from her water prison. He invited the Sprite to come back there the next morning, about the same hour when his beloved was captured and imprisoned. Theoson found hospitality for the night by a family of farmers living not too far off, and the next morning, just before dawn, he came to the fountain where Nhaldharar was waiting for him with eyes full of hope.

Theoson produced from his sack the magical mirror he had been given by the old woman in Mastrithal and put its glass in front of the fountain. The Sprite observed with great wonder the smooth silver plate, wherein he could see the reflections of the bad happenings of the day before. He saw himself playing with the fair Melimghal, her brother coming forth alongside his evil companions, and he saw himself being tied to the birch-tree… He asked Theoson how could that mirror restore Melimghal’s liberty. “You see, my good friend, this magical mirror, wherein time runs slower, not only reflects pictures, but also sounds. By putting it in front of the eerie fountain, the mirror shall reflect the figure and voice of Melimghal’s brother, while he pronounced the formula that can break the spell. Thus the sentence shall be pronounced here for a second time, and the curse shall be broken”.

Indeed, a few moments later, from the bewitched silver plate there came the reflection of the cruel Sprite who was brother to Melimghal, and he could be heard while, out of his own mouth, he pronounced the words: “ Ha sth zadheliorteha, jandhidimteth!”. Immediately, the spell was broken. The waters of the fountain poured out once more, clear as a crystal, and thence came out, radiant and splendid, the fair Melimghal, so that she could hug once more the unbelieving Nhaldharar. The couple could escape together and look for a new forest to live in. And never mind they had to live suspended between the mistletoe’s branches, hit by the winds, for love would be their trunk, roots and ground…