The Spring of Life
The story of a fisherman's family traveling to a healing spring in the Zuzlip Mountains in search of a cure.
Summary
The legend tells of a fisherman and his wife who lived south of the Seti Sielalnu Gulf. The wife was suffering from a debilitating illness that the healers could not cure.
One day, the fisherman found a strange, silvery-white fish with purple speckles washed up onto the beach. Much to his surprise, the fish began to speak and asked to be brought back to the water. The fisherman did so and was offered a reward in turn. When he told the fish about his wife's condition, the fish revealed that it knew the place where life itself emerged and offered to take them there.
After a long and dangerous journey across the gulf, the fisherman and his wife arrived at a foreign village. When the villagers saw the ill woman, they agreed to bring them to the Spring of Life up in the mountains, but demanded the talking fish in return. The couple was appalled, but the fish assured them that it was a small price to pay for the time it had spent with its new friends.
A band of villagers helped the fisherman carry his wife up to a temple near the source of a river. The priests bathed her in the spring's waters under the light of Larevok. After four days, her condition began to improve notably, and after four months she was healthier than ever before.
The couple returned to their home, happy about the recovery but still saddened by the loss of their friend. However, not long after they arrived, they had a daughter with silvery-white scales and purple feathers who grew up to be an excellent swimmer.
Historical Basis
The Origin of Life
Rilsu archaelogists were able to confirm that the oldest traces of Rul settlements are located near the northern coast of Seti Sielalnu. Scientists today agree that the moderate levels of Larevok's radiation in this region were the most likely cause for the evolution of proto-cellular organisms and eventually more complex forms of life. It is also known that low doses of radiation can trigger the body's self-healing mechanisms by causing a controlled amount of additional damage. Unable to ignore said damage, the body will begin repairing it and fix a number of unrelated problems in the process.Talking Fish
No evidence was found that fish were ever able to communicate with Rul. Although talking animals appear in many Nuorian tales, no living or extict species is known to have had vocal chords or articulate tongues. However, some fish are able to produce audible sounds that many people interpret as emotional expressions.In Literature
The story is one of many which were compiled into a work known as "Tales from the Southern Shore". Printed copies of these tales were found in many homes and libraries from before the Final War, as well as stored on the Guardian of Identity. Today, they form an important part of Rilsu culture, and most children grow up with these stories.
Date of First Recording
487 NZR
Telling / Prose
Related Ethnicities
Related Locations
Great article! The myth is original and was fun to read. I also like the scientific explanation you gave as to how the spring could heal. Is the child with scales and feathers also a result of the radiation?
Thank you very much, I'm glad you enjoyed reading it! Scales and feathers are natural features of the Rul species (they're inspired by feathered dinosaurs), but the silvery-white coloration is not. It's a bit more complicated, but for now let me say that yes, radiation did play a major role in the birth of that child. ;) (I'll probably add in a secret about that once I've decided how I want to organize them.)
Creator of the Kaleidoscope System and the planet Miragia.
Oh secrets are nice ^^ But indeed it takes a while to get them going. I still don't know how many subscriber groups I want xp