7/ Fiction: The lady of the lake with the Fiery crown
It is said that, on the morning after the second equinox of each year, in late September, when the day and the night are of equal duration, at 5 am, the Lady of the Lake can be seen hovering in the northeastern part of the lake, standing amid the water lilies and lotus flowers that grow there.
The lady of the lake is said to have beauty so great, that no one ever matched her. With hazel green eyes, golden hair, and pale skin, she appears as a ghost. Legend has it, that if the sunset before her annual appearance is beautiful, she appears in a positive and kind mood, and if the sunset is obscured by weather, so, her mood is sad and angry.
It is believed that this stems from her losing her true love, a Voivode from neighbouring Transylvania, who was swimming in the lake a long time before, and during a fierce storm, he drowned in the lake while saving his dog. When the Equinox sunset is beautiful, she is reminded of the true love they shared and the sunsets they enjoyed. But when the sunset is obscured, she is reminded of her terrible loss and the fact she would never have the child they so craved.
When her mood is good, no harm comes to anyone on the lake in the forthcoming year. But when her mood is sad, tragedies are said to be more likely for the following year when lake visitors get into trouble on the water. Many have lost their lives for seemingly preventable accidents, and always, those times can be traced back to a time where an obscured September equinox sunset occurred.
One July day, a small girl was playing in the garden of a lakeside guest house and escaped her parents’ attention. Somehow, she was chasing the birds from the garden and into the water-bound reeds, falling into the muddy water, and tragically drowned. Her body sunk into the mud, completely out of sight. The parents and family searched endlessly in vain, believing their daughter was abducted. Naturally, they were devastated by their loss. Extensive police and volunteer searches of the neighbourhood and the lake were carried out using divers and tracker dogs, but alas, nothing was discovered since the girl was submerged in mud. Time passed and the mystery remained in the national interest.
At the end of that summer, at the second equinox, the sunset was once again hidden as it was the year before, this time by a thunderstorm and sure enough, at 5 am, Fishermen reported seeing the lady of the lake, as usual, appear to be standing on water, atop of the giant water lilies. Her crown was once again fiery, which is said to be a sign that her mood matches this. But as she stood looking around her queendom, the lake, she could sense all of the tragedies that had occurred in the year leading to that morning. One though, gave her a pain in her heart that she could not ignore. The loss of the little girl and she cried. She cried so deeply that it extinguished her fiery crown because it reminded her of the child she would never have.
She decided she could not leave the child in the mud, decaying. Fishermen reported seeing the Lady of the Lake drift across the water to the tragic spot but had no idea what the significance of that place was. They were unable to see what was taking place due to the presence of thick fog that suddenly descended as the Sun began to rise in the cold morning. But soon after, the joyous squealing of a happy little girl was heard once again running around the guesthouse garden. The little girl had been brought back to life. Later that day she was reunited with her family. There is no explanation for this and many dismiss the notion of any Lady on the Lake. But thereafter, in subsequent sunrises after the second equinox, she was seen amid the lilies without her fiery crown, even on occasions when the sunset of the equinox was shrouded by bad weather and locals believed the Lady of the Lake no longer exhibited anger or sadness, but only joy. If the unexplained drop in fatal accidents on the lake is anything to go by, the rumours appear to be true.
The end.
