The well and the Harp

Come, my friends, and sit by the fire to relax your weary bones.

Indeed, it is a cold night. perhaps you would like to hear a story?

I have a story that will warm your heart and chill your blood:

Once upon a time, in another place in ancient days, a fair prince arrived at a deep forest. He has galloped in the backcountry for fourteen days, engaged in a hunting trip.

And so it happened, that the elk the prince went after, had escaped him.

The elk was quick and smart, and the prince did not intend to surrender so easily,

So he went deeper inland, leaving his entourage behind.

The elk entered a forest, which was very thick, the sunlight hardly penetrating its foliage. The prince tried to follow the elk, when suddenly he heard a noise, it sounded like crying.

The prince spurred his horse towards the voice, and found himself in a clearing. There, in front of him, was a small wooden shack. Not far from it stood a young girl, lifting water from a large well using a wooden bucket, she was sobbing.

She took the water filled bucket and emptied it on a small flower garden.

The prince sat on his horse, fascinated by the girl’s radiant beauty. A few seconds passed before he remembered he should introduce himself.

The girl, who did not pay attention to him, so self absorbed in her chore, backed away at the sound of his voice. The bucket fell from her hands and crushed some of the daisies.

"My sincere apology if I had frightened you, madam."

The prince alighted his horse and took another look at her. She was dressed in rags, and her hands were covered with lacerations. He approached her and she told him that the wood and everything in it are under a spell, and that she was forced to live in the shack and obtain water from the well in order to nourish the flower garden. If the flowers shall die, so will the forest. The doer of all this is an evil witch. The girl’s father had stolen a precious elixir from her, and fled to a faraway land. In her wrath, the witch decided to take revenge upon the greedy man’s daughter.

"The water in the well never runs out, and I cannot run away from the forest, I will never make it. The flowers wither and die too fast."

The prince, who forgot about the elk altogether, said to her:

"If there is a way that I can set you free, Please tell me!"

"There is a way, but it is dangerous." said the girl.

"What is it?’ asked the prince.

"The evil witch lives in an obsidian tower on the mountain side, if you will go there and destroy her, the spell will be lifted," said the girl and went once more to the well, lowering down the bucket. The prince promised her that he would do so, and without hesitation he mounted his battle steed, and headed for the mountain, to the obsidian tower.

The prince reached the foot of the tower at dusk. He got down from his horse, drew his sword, and entered the tower through two massive steel doors, which apparently weren’t guarded, yet he kept his eyes and ears open, in any case.

A narrow staircase spiraled up and the prince started climbing, determined not to let the witch turn him into a frog or a rat. Finally he reached the end of the coal dark stairs, and then he heard a sound, it was some kind of melody and it emanated from within the room at the end of the stairs. The prince stood in front of the wooden and pushed it forward with surprising ease.