Waking Belinda

By Lynnette Wissink

High in the mountains of central Pennsylvania stands an abandoned estate alone amidst the trees. Some attribute its presence to a colorful history, which states that the commissioner of the house was a railroad tycoon, who built the estate to appease his wife Selina, the most beautiful woman in Pennsylvania. She had been trying to conceive a child, and at the age of 25 she feared it would never happen.

Selina turned to her mother Morgan for help. The old woman worked with many forms of magic and told Selina that in order to conceive a baby she must move to the country. There she must bathe in the stream on the night of the full moon for three consecutive months. Selina did as her mother instructed and asked her husband to clear the land for their country home. Six months after moving to the estate, Selina discovered she was with child.

When the baby was born, she surpassed even her mother’s beauty, and was so breathtaking that they named her Belinda, which means beautiful. Wishing for nothing but absolute happiness for her daughter, Selina asked her mother to hold a magical blessing for the baby, and Morgan enthusiastically agreed.

On the day of the blessing, the highest society arrived at the house for the event. While the women went with Selina to the stream for Belinda’s blessing, the men, who had no interest in such affairs, congregated indoors to smoke cigars.

The partygoers were joined at the stream by a distinguished group of magical guests. The griffon arrived with a gold-framed mirror from his own treasure, promising that Belinda would remain young and beautiful for as long as she possessed it. The siren appeared also, blessing Belinda with the gift of a beautiful voice so that she may sing and all would listen.

Then from the edge of the trees appeared another, uninvited guest. As all heads turned to watch, a figure detached itself from the trees, slowly revealing its form as that of a woman. The tree nymph glided slowly to the guests surrounding the infant, and spoke. “This child may well grow to have a lovely voice, but it will do her little good when others will not be able to hear it.”

Selina clutched her baby to her, trying to shield Belinda from the nymph, but the wooded creature only laughed. “Do not worry woman, my hand will not harm her.” She looked at each of those gathered. “The harm will come from her mother’s hand, as payment for the many wooded lives that were taken to build this house.”

Selina’s horrified look encouraged the nymph, and she continued to speak. “On the day of her sixteenth birthday, this child will be poisoned by her own mother’s hand, to fall into an unbreakable sleep until the end of her mortal life. Any attempts you make to raise her from her sleep, woman, will fail. That is my gift to you.” And with those words, the tree nymph faded back into her forest.

Petrified, Selina clung to Belinda and fled to the house. Bursting in upon the men, Selina cried out to her husband, describing the revengeful nymph’s curse upon their child. He sprang into action immediately, barking orders to the men surrounding him. “Huxley, get me the best woodsman around! We’ll find that creature and destroy her tree! Langdon, find me a hunter! If the child’s to be poisoned, we’ll need a unicorn’s horn!” Then he turned to his wife. “Not to worry, I’ll do everything in my power to stop this. It will never happen.”

Selina was mollified by her husband’s authority and dismissed the guests to their homes.

Over the years, Belinda grew ever more beautiful and had the voice reminiscent of a siren. But as her sixteenth birthday approached, her mother grew anxious. The nymph had never been found, leaving them unable to destroy her. Nor had the hunter been able to find a unicorn, and so they had no horn to defend against the poison.

The day before her daughter’s sixteenth birthday, Selina’s mother soothed her. “Sweetheart, you have only to make sure you do not serve the child anything tomorrow, and she cannot possibly be poisoned by your hand.”

Reassured, Selina threw Belinda the largest society party imaginable, though the house was filled with decidedly non-magical guests. Selina was very careful not to serve Belinda anything, and she relaxed enough to accompany her daughter on the piano.

After singing many songs Belinda became hoarse, and she sipped her mother’s tea to soothe her throat. Selina glanced up to see Belinda drinking from her cup and cried out, “No!” But it was too late. The cup crashed to the ground and Belinda crumpled to the floor, asleep.

World-renowned doctors came to see her, but Belinda remained asleep and unchanging for five years. At Morgan’s urging, Selina also sent many men out on quests to find Belinda a path to immortality. “Curses are very particular,” the old woman reasoned, “and Belinda is to remain sleeping until the end of her mortal life. Therefore, immortality should cure her.”

One quest led the men to Mount Mashu, where they sought to learn the secret of immortality from a man and his wife who been granted eternal life by the gods. The scorpion men who guarded the gate refused to let them past, however, scoffing that no mortal man may gain entrance to the center of the mountain, and turned the men with heavy hearts away.

Another venture found the men in a great garden by a pure river, as clear as crystal. They had heard of a wondrous tree, whose fruit granted its consumer everlasting life. After losing many men to the flaming sword that guarded the garden, one man succeeded in bringing back a piece of fruit from the tree by appealing to the winged creature that commanded the sword, and by vowing that Belinda alone would be allowed to taste of the sweet fruit. Sleeping Belinda could not eat the immortal fruit, however, and so the quest was in vain.

Selina was devastated that so many lives were lost in an effort to wake Belinda but, although she would gladly give her own life for her daughter, she dared not leave her side. She began to despair that Belinda would never be saved, and would indeed sleep until the end of her life.

Another in the household also despaired at each attempted quest that ended in futility. The young man who cared for Belinda’s beloved horse Mystic watched as each group sent out from the stables returned with heads lowered in defeat. He imagined the young Belinda lying forever immobile in sleep and became determined to wake her himself.

He approached Selina and proposed a solution to the curse. He would take Mystic on a quest of his own to find immortality for Belinda. If he failed he would never return to the home he’d always known, a form of self-inflicted punishment. If he succeeded, he requested Belinda’s hand in marriage in order to free her from those whom he blamed for the young beauty’s downfall.

The agreement was made, and the young man embarked on the journey that would lead him to far away mountains in search of a monster. Guided by the legends, he located a great dragon’s cave and cut the monster through the middle with a sword, killing it. He captured the creature’s blood as it died and carried it back to Pennsylvania.

When he returned, he burst into the house and charged up the stairs shouting, “Quickly! Bring an empty tub into Belinda’s room!”

The startled Selina stared as he filled the tub with blood. “What are you doing?” she demanded.

The young man bent over the still-sleeping Belinda, carefully picked her up and, cradling her in his arms, lowered her into the bath. “It’s dragon’s blood.”

Selina watched, amazed. She’d heard the stories of how bathing in dragon’s blood could make a person immortal, but she’d never seen a dragon, and so she’d dismissed the tales. Now she prayed they were true.

The young man and Belinda were wed as promised. Selina realized as she watched Belinda’s beaming face during the ceremony that she couldn’t have found a better protector for her daughter than the man before her, and she turned and walked back into the house.

Note: Find purse at BabastudioPrague.

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