The Eternal forest and its lady

13.12.2022 19:57
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Autor : Nina Miháliková, Gymnázium Ivana Kupca, Komenského, Hlohovec

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When the Lady of the Forest was born, the King of Trees gave her a crown. The Lady of the Forest bore many names, the Goddess of the Forest, the Eternal Wisdom, the Protectress of the Forest, but none of these titles claimed to be her real name. She had a name, but to the people it had long since faded into the past, but her forest always remembered it. Her name was Feronia. Her appearance was sacred, but she had a beautiful dark skin, her eyes were a combination of the most beautiful flowers one could find. Her hair was dark and long, her curls were visible and had a crown of flowers on them. She had a beautiful voice that sang to the forests and its inhabitants a melody that only the forest could hear and remember. Her forest had no name and no mention in the world of humans, and yet she had held it dearly in her heart.

The Lady of the Forest was a gentle soul who protected her forest and its inhabitants from any harm. In the seasons when she flew among her beloved mountains, a young lad entered without fear. " Curious tiny human, are you not afraid of the deep forest? " The young lad introduced himself and was given the name Iniko. The mighty forest goddess laughed at his courage, for she had never seen a human being enter her forest so boldly. The goddess took a liking to the human and his company.

The boy saw what the deep forest hid. It had flora that people had never seen before. Flowers of unseen colours, trees that reached to the sky. The young boy would show this and humans would enter the forest. The goddess of the forest thought to herself. " These are nothing more than wanderers who will leave the forest", but she thought wrongly. Sooner or later, people will get bored with how little the forest gives them, and their gratitude will become greed. But what is gratitude if it becomes greed.

The people who gave themselves what they wanted had no need of God. They took what they wanted from the forest and left the forest sick. Trees that once reached for the sky were now only cut trunks. Flowers that grew and complemented the grass with their colours were now only accessories for maidens who wore them proudly. When the lady of the forest saw what had happened, she felt eternal guilt because her once beloved forest had disappeared. Still, love and longing once dwelt in her heart. Until thorns burned away that beautiful and fragile part. Thus, she became the cruel goddess that historians were loath to remember. Her crown of flowers became a crown of thorns, her eyes, once full of compassion and life, were now full of rage about to unfold. The goddess came to the village, but the people paid no attention to her.The villagers thought she was a traveller, but she called out in a loud voice. " You shall see how the forest can be destructing . " With these words she wiped the people who were once her people from the face of the earth. After all the destruction she had wrought, she left into a once living and flourishing forest, now just a forest of ghosts.

Even though she destroyed those who took away her beloved forest, the guilt of not having protected it enough never left her. She wept for a very long time over her forest, noticing how much time had passed and how many tears came from her eyes. What she did not notice was that with her tears, a pond was created underneath her and the forest slowly healed itself. When she noticed flowers blooming in front of her, her heart felt what it was longing for and she realised that it was not time, but her, that was bringing the forest back to life. She stepped onto the calm waters of the pond, and there she began her eternal dance. Her crown was again full of flowers, her eyes full of colours, her sacred beauty returning with her beloved forest.