A pagan story: The Wreath

The wreath

It is said that the events that I'm about to tell you,took place in late XVIII century in Ukraine, but it could just as well happen in any other Slavic land, because love and fate work their ways just the same anywhere.

There was a beautiful girl, whose name no one remembers anymore, living in a small village by the river. People say, that her eyes were blue as the sky, her hair black like the wing of a crow and her teeth white as milk as she smiled gently and innocently.She was just sixteen but in that time it was a womans age and her parents decided that it was time to find her a wealthy husband. It wasn't hard, even though the family had very little money, because the girl's beauty was renown in all of the nearby villages. So a perfect candidate was found soon.

He was a wealthy merchant and a handsome, strong man. It is said that he could bend a horseshoe in his bare hands. He was tall, he could read and write and he could speak to the horses. And the moment he saw the girl he fell madly in love and he knew he would gladly give up all of his wealth just to have her for his wife. And the people would say "oh look, look at these two! Just imagine how beautiful their children will be!".

And the girl would be more than happy to become the merchants wife, because she could recognize that he was a good man and that she would love her and be true to her. But the girl couldn't force herself to love the merchant back. She couldn't because her heart already belonged to another man. Not a man, really. The merchant was a man, being in his thirties. The one that the girl loved was still a boy, not much older than herself. But nobody knew about that secret love. She used to call the boy she loved a "Nightingale", because he could whistle so pretty and he was as shy as a wild bird. In fact, he was so shy, that she never even saw him in the village. She first met him, when she was gathering mushrooms in the woods.

Her Nightingale was young an slim, he could run for miles or swim against the current. He knew things about the forest that nobody else knew and he had the sweetest smile she ever saw. But his clothes were poor and his only other possessions were a knife, a bow and a fishing rod. He had no family and he was living alone in a hut that he built for himself in the woods. There could be no doubt - the girls parents would have never agreed for those two to be together. And the fathers will was like the law in those times. Especially when it came to marriages. And the girl knew that it was the right thing to do to marry the merchant. And she saw how happy her whole family was that she was going to have such a good and wealthy husband. So - just as many girls did those days - she decided to forget about her true love and learn to live the life that has been arranged for her.

But there was an old wise woman living near the village. All the villagers called her "grandma" and respected her judgments. How could it be any other way - she was the one who delivered most of them to this world when their mothers were giving birth. But she was so much more than a midwife and so much more than a herbalist. Of all the people in the village she was the only one to guess that the girl was not happy with her coming marriage. She came to see the girl and asked her "Your face is smiling my child and your feet seem to barely touch the ground. But I can see that your eyes are turning gray from all of the dark clouds that gathered in your head. Could it be that your heart is in some other place than your mind?". And the girl knew that she could trust the crone with any secret so she cried with relief and - in between tears - she said "Oh, dear Granny, oh wise Granny, what you know not even my mother knows, not even my sisters. It's true... the merchant is a good, strong and handsome man and he deserves me, but there is a boy in the woods who whistles like a nightingale and whose hair smell of fresh hay..."

"Say no more" the wise woman said "you can not order your heart to love someone and you cant make it stop loving someone. If the goddess of faith wanted you to marry the merchant, she would never let you meet your boy from the woods. People always make the wrong choices and blame the goddess of faith for the outcome, but the truth is that she is never cruel. There is a way for you to be with your boy without making your father angry or breaking the merchants heart. It has been so for hundreds of years and the old laws still apply. I'll tell you what must be done".

The most important celebration in those times was the one called Kupala. It was the festival of spring, a celebration of nature coming back to life, of the soon-to-come summer. A festival of fire and water, of renewal, cleansing and fertility. On that night and on that night only a girl could choose a boy that she wanted to be with and her parents had to honor that choice. And if after that one holy night she would become pregnant with the man she chose, all promises her parents made to other men could be broken without any consequences and she would marry the man she chose, because that was the will of the gods. But that wasn't so easy to accomplish. The girl would have to make a wreath of meadow flowers and ware it on her head all night. Then, while the celebrations still lasted, she would have to go to the river and throw her wreath in the water so the current would carry it. If the boy she chose was able to find her wreath and bring it back to her, she would of been his for the night and no one could say a bad word about it. But there were many girls in the village so there would be many wreaths in the water. And the current was strong. The girl had to make sure, that her Nightingale would catch the right wreath. She went to see him in the woods.

"Oh my Nightingale" she said "I bring such good news! We still can be together. If the goddess of faith wanted me to meet you then she will once more aid us and when the time of Kupala comes she will help you to find my wreath. I will make it long before the other girls, so I can come and show it to you so you will know it from the others." And she was so happy with her idea that she didn't even notice Nightingales sad smile. And when the festival finally came she did just as she planned. She made the wreath earlier and brought it to the woods to show it to her boy. And when the time came to throw it into the river she was sure that he will find it and bring it back. But the flowers of the wreath were not fresh enough anymore, because she gathered them to soon. And as soon as the wreath drifted just around the bend of the river where all the boys were waiting - it just fell apart and drowned. So when Nightingale came searching for the wreath, there was nothing to search for anymore. All of the other village girls have had their wreaths returned to them by the boys. Some of the girls were satisfied with the boys who found their wreaths others not that much - but it was the festival of life and such small matters couldn't get in the way of the young peoples' joy.

The bonfires were slowly burning out and the sky was beginning to turn brighter with the coming dawn. The beautiful, black-haired girl was left alone by the riverside. The Nightingale wouldn't come with her wreath, even though he made a promise to do so. She sat there until the morning, singing a song about lost hope, broken promises, cruel fate and broken heart. She blamed the boy, because she thought that he took her words lightly - just as lightly as anything else in his life. She blamed the old woman, because she gave her false hope. She blamed the goddess of fate, because she trusted her with her love and she took the only chance she had away. She decided to forget about her Nightingale, forget about the misfortune, forget the night of the festival, which now she cursed, and forget the whole village. She wanted to go away to the merchants home as soon as she'd become his wife. And the day finally came when the two were supposed to get married and up to that day not once has she thought about her beloved boy of the woods. But when the marriage has been made and the wedding celebration was in the midst the wise woman came to speak to her.

"I see, child, that you're to be just another of those women who don't know how to trust their fate in the hands of the goddess. Why did you abandon your faith in love?" asked the crone with sadness in her wise, old eyes. "Why you wicked old hag! How dare you say so? I did everything just like I was supposed to do and all the reward your cruel goddess bestowed upon me turned out to be disappointment and sorrow. But I'm not a child no more, and dare not call me that, for now I know what is real and what is but a young girls whim and fantasy. I'm leaving this village and I will never see you again!" the girl said furiously.

The old midwife just nodded sadly, turned back and walked away. But before she did, she said just one more thing - because old women always have to have the last word - "so you won't even visit your mother?". And the girl was so angry that she exclaimed "I will never set foot in this village again, and I don't care about my mother!" and everyone would hear that. The girls mother felt like a ice cold knife pierced her chest but she acted like nothing happened. "She'll be leaving in a rich home now and she will be the hostess - she'll have lots and lots of things to attend to. It's understandable that she won't have time to visit us. That's alright, we'll visit her as often as we'll be able to" - she later told all of her neighbors.

The merchant was also sad to hear that his beautiful, newly wedded wife had what had to be - a piece of ice for a heart. But he loved her madly and never said a word about it. And he did as she wished - he took her away the day after the wedding. A year passed. The girl and the merchant lived in wealth, and there was nothing that seemed to be missing in their life. And then the girl told him one day that she was with child. The merchant was so happy that he invited a hundred guests and served them the best liquors and food for three days. But on the third day a messenger came with a sad news. The girls mother was so sad that all the joy have left her heart and she felt ill. Her illness was getting better and worse for a whole year, but then, finally she lost her will to live and passed away. And so it seemed, that the girl would have to return to her village once more - even if just to accompany her mother in her last journey. And when the funeral was over, she wanted to be alone. So she went to the riverside and sat there until it was dusk, singing a song of sorrow, regret and remorse.

And when the moon came up shining on the waters of the river, the same river by which side she grew up, she fell a presence of someone. She looked around but there was no one to be seen anywhere near. She thought that it must of been the wind. But then she heard a familiar voice calling her name gently and quietly. She knew this voice, oh so well, because it was the voice of her Nightingale. "Oh, my beloved, what have you done... Why didn't you have enough faith? Didn't you believe we were meant to be together? Did you have to offend the river by offering it withered flowers?" The girl was scared, because even though she heard him speak, she couldn't understand what was he trying to tell her and she still didn't know where he was hiding. Or why he was hiding from her at all.

"Once you were my life, but then you were my death..." whispered the voice. "I looked for your wreath in the river for so long, that I fell to weak and weary to fight the current. And then I was left in the dark and I was alone in the world where no man lives. And no one would know, no one would remember, because the only person in the world who knew me, chose to forget me. But now, you came back to me. And that way or another, the fate will fulfill". And the girl saw her beloved boys face in the water, his long golden hair flowing in the current, his skin pale and his eyes white. And she finally understood what has happened on the night of Kupala and how much suffering she has caused. She didn't hesitate even for a heartbeat as she stepped into the cold water.

When the merchant and the villagers came looking for her, the river bank was empty and the water was calm. The merchant's heart was broken but he was a wise man who knew that one should accept the fate's gifts but never get to attached to them. He never remarried and he always remembered the beautiful wife he once had. And the old midwife made sure that the story of the fair girl from the village by the river would be passed on from one wise woman to another. Because it bears an important lesson. Fate favors those, who have faith.