ROSES AND LILIES MANOR
ROŽIŲ
LELIJŲ DVARAS
Translated
from Lithuanian by Gloria O’Brien
Eijo namo
vienas atitarnavęs kariuomenai kareivis.............
A veteran (let us call him Jonas), having completed
his tour of duty in the army, was on his way home, and happened upon an
enchanted manor. He walked and walked,
looking over the lands and through each room, and found no one. Finally, in one small room, he came upon a
young lady, whose body was all dark gray.
He asked if he could shelter there for the night. She said:
“This manor is accursed, and when darkness
falls, evil spirits play and disport
themselves here.”
Jonas answered, “I cannot go any further, and will
stay here overnight.”
“Well, alright,” said the lady, “If you are determined
to stay, then you may. I will give you a
book and two candles, and when darkness falls, light the candles, read the
book, and do not look up, even though all sorts of monsters may try to gain
your attention.”
That is what he did. As soon as it was dark, ugly serpents and
other kinds of monsters rushed into his room.
While he kept his eyes on the book, the serpents crawled around his
neck, though they did nothing more. When
the twelfth hour approached, the serpents and monsters rushed out of the
room. He then lay down and slept well.
The following morning, the young lady visited him,
and he saw that her skin, as far as her waistline, had become white. She thanked him, served him some food, and
asked him to stay another night. He
agreed.
As nightfall approached, he again lit the candles
and read the book. This evening, the
room filled with fearsome beasts, mouths agape, their jaws snapping, as if to
tear him to pieces. But just as he had
done the night before, he kept his eyes on the book, and the beasts did him no
harm. As soon as the twelfth hour
struck, again all the monsters disappeared.
The next morning, the lady again visited him, and
he saw that she had become white, down to her knees. She said:
“Thank you, sir!
I hope that you will stay a third night, though this night will be much
worse and more frightful than the previous two.”
Jonas agreed to stay a third night. As evening drew near, he lit the candles,
took up his book, and read. A large
group of soldiers entered the room and
began to shout:
“Why are you sitting here? This is not the place for you! Hurry – get out quickly, if you want to save
yourself from certain death!”
He heard the same frightful warnings shouted by
many voices, but he paid no attention.
As the twelfth hour drew near, all the spirits disappeared, just as
before, and he lay down and slept deeply.
Next morning, he was visited by the young lady, who
was now all white down to her toes. She
kissed him and said, “Thank you, my
dear savior……..now you are mine, and I am yours.” She gave him a gift, a valuable ring. Accepting it, he asked if he could first be
allowed to visit his parents. The lady
agreed, and gave him an elegant carriage with a team of horses, and a
coachman. She instructed the coachman:
“My intended will wish to stop along the way.
You must not stop, but drive even faster.”
And so they rode away. After they had a gone a few miles, Jonas
asked the coachman to stop, but he, as though he had not heard, drove even
faster. A little while later, he again
asked to stop, but instead, the coachman drove faster. After a few more miles, he asked, for a third
time, that the coachman stop, but he wouldn’t stop then, either. Some time later, the coachman, turning around, saw that Jonas
wasn’t there! The coachman returned to
the lady, and told her that his passenger had disappeared.
Jonas, feeling very thirsty, had jumped out of the
carriage and made his way to a nearby spring.
After drinking, he lay down, fell asleep, and slept for three
years. Once, a man passing by noticed
him, and saw that he wore a valuable ring.
He tried to remove it, but no sooner had he touched the ring, than Jonas
woke up, saying, “What a sweet sleep I
have enjoyed” The other remarked, “You
slept so well, that your clothing has decayed.”
Jonas was amazed and frightened to see that he was
clothed in nothing but rotting rags. He
didn’t know where his own home was, nor even how he might find his lady’s
manor, and he wandered through the forest for a long time, eventually meeting a
hermit. He asked if the hermit knew of
the Roses and Lilies Manor. The hermit
said, “I do not know, but I command the birds; I will summon them, and perhaps
they will know.” But the birds did not
know. The hermit then said, “My birds do
not know, but if you walk a bit further, you may meet my brother, also a
hermit, who commands the beasts, and perhaps he will know.”
He took his leave of the hermit. Walking further, he found the second brother
and asked if he knew of the Roses and Lilies
Manor. “No, I do not”, the man said,
“but I command the beasts, so I will summon them, and maybe they will
know.” But the beasts, when questioned,
said they did not know. “My beasts do
not know”, said the man “but if you go a bit further in that direction, you
will find our other brother, who commands the winds, and perhaps he can tell
you.”
So he went on his way, found the third hermit
brother, and asked if he knew of the Roses and Lilies Manor. “No, I do not”, he answered, “but I command
the winds, and will summon them. Maybe
they will know.” And he called all the
winds, and they responded, but one of the most important was missing. Shortly after, the missing wind flew in. “Where were you?” said the hermit. The wind answered, “At the Roses and Lilies
Manor. The lady of the manor was in
mourning for the past three years, but
now she is preparing to be married.” “Very
well” said the hermit, “now you can carry this man to the Roses and Lilies
Manor”.
So the wind took hold of Jonas, carried him
straight to the Roses and Lilies Manor, and set him down at the gates. The lady was on the point of leaving for her
wedding, the carriage standing ready. No
sooner had she entered the carriage, than a powerful gust of wind overturned
the carriage, doing considerable damage.
The wedding was postponed for another day.
The wind then swept Jonas into the manor’s kitchen,
where he asked the cooks to
call the lady to him, but they mockingly
joked: “A ragamuffin arrives and thinks
he should meet our lady”. Over and over,
he asked them to call the lady, and eventually, they tired of the game and sent
for her. As soon as the lady saw her
ring on his finger, she recognized him, embraced and sweetly kissed him, and
the next morning, on a day of joy,
beauty and happiness, they celebrated their wedding.
Source:
From “Lietuviškos Pasakos” -
“Lithuanian Fairy-tales”
Compiled by Dr. Jonas Balys
Published in 1951 by the Lithuanian Book Club,
© English Translation - Gloria O’Brien 2005
This article was printed in Bridges July 2005