"How Waterfall came to Thirsting Mountain" - A fairytale from Roumania - Soul Story Mandala 2026

 

April 22nd 2026

Eco - Feminine Tales  are turning out to be quite challenging !! As it is difficult to find tales that are not macabre and filled with violence against the feminine!)

This April found a fairytale from Roumania (an audio recording in Internet Archive is the only documentation of this tale)

"How Waterfall came to Thirsting Mountain"

The story started off very simple and innocently, but true to a fairytale it took us, here and there and everywhere!!

From Old man in the Mountain asking Fairy of the Meadow to bring waterfall to the parched mountain,

to Maiden with Streaming Hair who goes in search, to rescue her missing Father,

 to discovering Sword Knight who is released from his prison by the Maiden with Streaming Hair,

to Bee Fairy ( previously Fairy of the Meadows) who turns tears into a Tear Child and finally defeats the Evil Wizard whose only way to redemption is to look deeply (trapped)  into the eyes of Tear Child until his tears of sorrow turn to joy,

to finally Maiden with Streaming Hair(waterfall) gifting her hair to the old Mountain of her free will!!!

Wow!

Quite a journey....it left all of us wondering at all the symbolism and Personal meaning we could make from it....

A tough story ...but really remarkable tale of transformations and rescues by the Feminine 

One reflection was that the Old Man was the Wizard...and that they were connected...bringing it a full circle!!

Another meaning was all the masculine appeared trapped in some way and had to be rescued by the Feminine! 

It became curiouser and curiouser!

Thank you all those who came as the story called you!

What a delightful tale to tell (needs a little more polish!)







  Find this on Insta :

  https://www.instagram.com/p/DXd4rcpAeQQ/?img_index=1&igsh=YjJ3Zm5nMXg4amlz

  Original Audio Recording of the story can be found here:

https://archive.org/details/throughfairyhalls_1303_librivox/throughfairyhalls_79_miller.mp3

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

An Object, A Story and Eco Feminism - Joymala an Assamese folktale, Soul Story Mandala Marc 2024

Image
 Update:  You can watch a telling of this story on the Federation of Asian Storytellers Story Spotlight 2026: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_THJaxcxaY&t=1s ~~~  This is a story of Serendipity- of finding something valuable by chance! Recently at CSF 2025 (Chennai Storytelling Festival), I shared a folktale from Assam, an eco - feminist retelling of Joymala - The Elephant Queen - As I delved into the story many images stayed with me, the woman - nature bonding and even her passivity until she is pushed to the brink...literally! There was a word that became the fulcrum of the story - Jhari - and I went on an adventure trying to find out what it means. Some authors had interpreted it as silk threads (Tamil origin perhaps), while others called it a vessel used for worship.  I caught this thread and saw images online of bronze/ silver vessel used in Newari culture and worship.... In the folktale, A Golden Jhari is carried by Joymala into the kingdom of elephants, a...
Read more

625 Moons and counting! - Externalising the story of my past, present and future through the landscape metaphor!

Like all stories, mine is a nested story.  Stories within stories. Yet it starts at the very beginning - a very good place to start. When you sing we begin with DO RE ME , when we read we begin with ABC, when we tell a story we begin with One upon a time.... there lived a person who knew a huge big tree! Let me open the door to the landscape of my birth and growing up. It was a Forest of Adventure! We had a huge tree near our lunch ground in school and the moment bell rang we would call dibs on who would get to climb the tree and eat while sitting on it. Life was full of adventure. The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton was my favorite book growing up and climbing trees was my favorite thing to do. Every day was an adventure. I eagerly looked forward to the new day – not for the studying part, but for the newness that awaited me at school and dance and sometimes music class! Dance class was in a community hall with place to play in front and even huge gulmohur trees! My dance teach...
Read more

50 Things that make me Happy - a Birthday Gift to Myself - 3rd Dec 2024

  50 things that make me Happy!  Gratitude rewires our brain and so does affirmations and positive statements. As I give Thanks to all that I have, this human mind will also wish for that little bit more. I wish that every positive dream of mine comes true and this list of 50 things, that is what I gift myself this year as I turn another year older!  50 Things that Make me Happy!! 1) Drinking sweet Ginger Tea! 2) Watching a mesmerizing sunrise or a sunset on the beach! 3) Sitting and talking to a friend on the sandy beach,watching the waves crashing onto the shore! 4) Taking long car drives with music playing! 5) Chatting with my daughter and son and loitering in the land of myriad meanderings! 6) Sipping hot coffee from my husband's steaming cup - just a sip! 7) Wearing a new dress that looks good! 8) Making and serving some delish food to my family or friends! 9) When friends and family enjoy what I make for them! 10) Choosing and buying a gift for a friend and they lik...
Read more