Once in the beautiful mountain basin of Tallinn, there lived a quarry worker, her husband, and their three sons. Happy were their lives until upon returning from work one day, the mining wife fell very ill. No present treatment could relieve the raging fever, the hacking coughs, distant hallucinations, and the obvious deterioration of her body. But then, upon awakening from a twisted reality of a dream, she beckoned her sons over to her bed.
"My sons, do you want me to live?"
All three chimed in at the same time, "Yes, Mother. Very, very much."
"There is…a way…but it is dangerous on the way there; maybe even deadly. Do you want me to tell you?"
"Oh, yes. Anything," they begged, leaning in to listen to her fading voice. Coughing a bit, she spoke in a strained voice, "Beyond our humble home, far into the mountains, is the highest peak. So grand it is that it has no name to satisfy its majestic being here on the land. On the summit, higher than the clouds, where even the royal city looks like a speck of dust, is the Well of Healing Waters." All three sons gasped.
"So your tales are true? The blessing waters of the gods themselves actually exist?"
"Yes, my dears, and it is a secret that our community have kept for a long time. It is the only thing that can heal me now. But," she looked them straight in the eye with a fire still not snuffed out from her illness, "The path to this mystical place is very dangerous, filled with trickery and death. But if your cause is just, beings of light will try to help your journey to the top. Try to recognize their youthful magic. And at the top," she started, but fell into a coughing fit, "T-take not the…god's…dipper."
Leaving their mother to sleep, the three sons planned at the rough table away from her worrying ears.
"Do you think she was sane when she said that?" asked the eldest son.
"I think so. At least she was not lying about the lack of treatment," replied the middle son.
"True, so what are we to do?" wondered the youngest out loud.
"I think we should follow the path Mother described," said the middle son, "For even if we do not find the legendary well up at the summit, we might as well be known as the first to be at the summit known as "too high to reach" for any proper Naurasian."
"True, true. Then I will go first," said the eldest, flexing his quarry-built arms, "since I have the most experience, and the most likely chance to reach her cure."
"You really do not believe in that, do you? You just want the fame of climbing to the top before anybody else," accused the middle son.
"Well, a little," his brother admitted, "But I care more about Mother."
---
"Return safely, Brother," yelled the youngest, as his oldest brother started along the path into the cavern known to lead to the peak of the great mountain. He waved back, a great pack slung across the breadth of his back. "And don't forget not to take the Gods' Dipper!"
---
The path to the cavern was no problem, well worn and smooth from the caravans of traders who take the path around the mountain to the towns beyond. Upon reaching the base of the giant, he left the path for the rocky forest. It didn't take too long to find the gaping hole in the (seemingly whole) surrounding sheath of stone protecting the secret tunnels inside.
The hollow pathway inside was pitch dark. The eldest son reached into his pack and struck a flint for flame. The little spray of sparks met the small wick in the waiting lantern, and illuminated the craggy walls, as well as a brown, furry face. He cried out, and shrunk back as the floating creature silenced his echoes and sat itself in front of his shaking form. "Can I help you?" it asked. By the flickering firelight, the new arrival had a round, fuzzy face with short ears and a slim, tan-furred body and four limbs, a rather cute look for a cave dweller, not to mention that it spoke in clear voices not too common among the creatures of land, sea, and sky.
Shocked at this turn of events, the son was slow at answering, "Um, yes. I'm looking to get to the top of this mountain. My mother is sick at home and she says that the water up there is the only cure."
Nodding like it approved of his words, it said, "Well, I can take you to a friend of mine at the middle of the path up to your destination. Do you want me to?" Remembering his mother's warning of tricksters, he politely refused, instead taking the steep, winding pathway into a large cavern set in the middle of the mountain.
Tired out from the climb, the small rockslide, and the many beasts that attacked him on the way, he slumped down on the cavern floor and was about to eat his lunch when the last of his lantern wick was burned, plunging him once again in darkness. Out of habit (for this happened three times already), he quickly strung the new twine of fiber onto the puddle of melted sap and lit it, again coming face to face with another creature. Keeping his mouth shut, he scrambled back onto the wall behind him, preparing to flee if the strange being thought to attack. But it didn't. In fact, it just lumbered up to him; a giant, curly-furred something with spines around its neck and feet big enough to cover his whole face. "I'm hungry," it said out loud, in a clear voice not unlike the other fuzzy thing at the entrance of the cave, "If you give me something to eat, I'll help you somehow."
The son, realizing that this creature was only trying to snag a quick meal, ran to his pack and threw some fruits to it from afar. Gobbling them up quickly, it asked a queer question, "You want to go to the peak, yes? Well, why?" He gave the same answer he gave the other furry creature at the opening to the path and this…thing replied in much the same way.
"Well, I can take you to the peak of the mountain up at your destination. Do you want me to?" Again keeping the warning in mind, he refused by running full-on into a new crevasse in the cave, trundling again into another upwards path and into the lairs of more ferocious beasts before seeing a light at the end of his tunnel. Closing his eyes, he ran far up, oblivious of the claws raking his flesh and the cold wind bearing down on him and flew out into the open snowfield. Sliding along the powdery flakes, he stopped by having his side bash into the side of some stones. Looking up, he saw the well, but even if he used the longest rope to wet it, the water by itself just receded from his items. It was while he was pacing the cylinder of stone when he spotted the two dippers.
One was a regular beaten-tin dipper, and the other was a sparkling, polished wood dipper with tiny gems embedded in the stone-hard wood, capped with quar'z and rimmed with it, too. All of his thoughts vanished as his hands reached for the shimmering handle of its own accord, but when he touched it, the wood glowed, and the eldest son was trapped as a ruby in the handle of the dipper.
---
Far below, back in the basin, the middle son began to get impatient, and prepared for his own trip up the mountain. The youngest was worried, for his eldest brother has not yet returned. Perhaps he never will?
Either way, the middle son left home to "find Mother's cure", as he put it. "Return safely, Brother!" cheered the youngest yet again, "And don't take the Gods' Dipper!"
---
Like the brother before him, the middle brother came face-to-face with a furry somebody in the opening to the cavern tunnel. But his younger eyes found the small, nearly undistinguishable flow with all the messy fur. "Young sir, can I help you?"
"Well, my mother down at the basin has caught ill, and the only cure is the water from the well at the summit from this mountain," he said carefully, trying to decide if this something can be trusted.
The furry face brightened at the words. "I can not take you to the summit, but I can bring you to a friend near the center of the path you are willing to take. Do you want me to?" The brother was somewhat hesitant, warnings ringing in his mind, but he finally relented with the aura he faintly saw in its fur and clambered onto the comfortable, furry shoulder…
It was about five minutes later when the creature burst through the stone wall with its passenger still clinging on for dear life, trying hard not to slip off and become of the rock they were passing through with great speed. "Here you are; now enjoy what ever you mortals do while waiting. My friend will be here shortly." With that, the great creature turned and leapt back through the rock.
He was about to take a bite out of his bread when his lantern went out. "Drat," he said, fishing through his pockets for the wick, and upon relighting it, found a flat-footed, spiky-mane something studying his fallen loaf of bread not too far from his feet. "You want this?" it asked. Not shaken by the innocence of its voice, the son quavered, scared to make a sound. "N-no."
"Oh, then I'll have it. Can't waste food in a place like this," it said, gobbling up the bread in no time at all. "By the way, what are you doing here?"
"My mother is ill, and needs the well water at the top of this mountain."
"Ah…Do you want me to bring you up there?"
I can't be this lucky going up the trickiest mountain in all of Naurasia, thought the youth, so he politely refused and walked on.
---
The brilliant snow was splattered with blood as he stepped foot on the summit, clutching the shallow wound on his arm. It wasn't too long until he too found the well and its two dippers. Unlike his brother, he had a slightly larger memory, and didn't grab the dipper for a while, but greed sealed common sense and his hand met the carved handle.
I supposed it can get worst, thought the ruby to the new emerald.
---
As the emerald joined the gems of the dipper, the youngest son was trudging up the hill to the opening of the mountain. Upon lighting his first wick, he too found the furry creature and was petting it softly after seeing the aura of light around the fluffy fur. "Young one, what are you doing here?"
"Mother is sick and needs some magical water. My two older brothers left to get it, but didn't return."
"Let's see…pet me around the ears once more and I'll take you to the middle of the mountain. A friend there can help you the rest of the way."
"Yes, please kind one." Smoothing down fur from its head, the boy clambered onto the shoulders and flew off. He found the ride exhilarating and was upset to see the creature go. He gave it some of his lunch for thanks.
Eating alone in the cavern was frightening; eating in the dark after the lantern went out was just horrible. It took the good part of ten minutes to calm down and replace the flaxen thread. He shrieked again as the spiny-neck thing found itself in his face, so to speak. His great head recoiled at the echoing sound emitted by the small throat. "Easy, I'm not going to harm you," it said, covering his rabbit ears with the flat paws. Eventually the scream died down as the boy realized that it too was glowing with a bright aura. The lunch exchange was made (or dinner exchange, since it was dark outside), and the boy flew through the rock.
Moonlight outlined every bend, every dip in the snow, so the little boy was able to follow the almost-buried footsteps of his brothers to the well. There the two dippers shone ghostly in the pale waxen light, tempting the boy to seize the golden glow for as much comfort as a favorite blanket. But his mind was well set; able to remember the warning his mother gave him at the start of this harrowing mess of missing persons.
Trying his best not to go anywhere near the glimmering handle, the youngest son lifted the tin handle…
…and nothing happened. Sighing with relief, he bent forward and lifted the dipper now full with aurora-laced water, glistening like the stars above. Smiling with triumph, he uncorked a small bottle at his waist and filled it to the rim with that single cup of water. For some reason, he again filled the dipper and splattered the water onto the goldwood handle still propped up on the well. The gems disappeared, spraying themselves across the sky, two falling to his town.
"Well, I'm coming home, Mother."
---
The revival was instantaneous as the three drops of crystalline liquid fell into their mother's mouth. She sat up so fast, she nearly fell over as the youngest son took away the bottle and dropper. Although they didn't doubt the miracle before them, the other sons tried to force their mother back in bed, to no avail. But she wasn't looking to strain herself.
Mother and son embraced in the room, the aurora water between them.