An Sgeulachd Mu Uisge Na Beatha
The Story of the Water of Life
Long ago,
A young girl, yet to see her sixth birth year, was dying,
She had fallen ill of a sickness with no known cure,
Every physician and doctor on the Island of Fear had failed to save her from her demise.
Her father was distraught and begged and pleaded to the gods and goddess of the island to save his daughter,
He begged Earrach, the goddess of spring and birth, to help his daughter,
However, Earrach shook her head sadly, for since his daughter was already born, she had no domain over her life.
He pleaded the Ùine, the time keepers, to save her.
However, the Ùine firmly denied for since they had already weaved her fate, they could not change it.
He finally begged Gliocas, the goddess of wisdom, to provide him the knowledge of how to cure his daughter,
However, Gliocas denied the poor father, for since death was natural there is no escape from it.
The father had almost given up when Mì-fhortanach, the goddess of fortune appeared before him,
She had heard of his plight and told him of a spring west of the island that flowed water that may cure his daughter of her ailments,
Knowing of her mischievous nature, the father questioned the goddess of any trickery if he perused this cure,
Mì-fhortanach laughed joyfully and told him that the spring was upon an island in the middle of a lake,
The lake water was silver and deadly, living creatures perish if the water touches them like a poison,
No boat can travel across the waters, nor can any bird or beast can fly over it,
The father would have to swim the poisonous lake water.
In his desperation, the father searched for the spring and soon found it,
As Mì-fhortanach had said, the spring was on a small rocky island in the middle of a grand lake,
The lake water was vile and smelt of rotting corpses,
It bubbled and spat like hot tar and scolded and burned the ground around it,
Yet the father, fuelled by the determination to save his daughter, dived into the silvery water.
It burned and scorched the father, his body racked with pain,
But he continued to swim,
By the time he made it to the island, his clothes and hair had burned off and his skin was starting to peel,
He collected the water in small vial and held it above his head as he swam back towards the mainland.
As he reached the edge, the father was no more than a living skeleton,
His bones were bleached white, and his eye sockets were dark and filled with pain,
But yet he lived.
He ran back to his daughter and made her drink the Water of Life,
Almost instantly the young girl was cured,
The father was joyous of her recovery, but soon succumbed to his injuries and died soon after.
The gods and goddess admired the father's bravery and determination and rewarded him for his effort,
They came to a decision to deify the father and granted him immortality,
The father became the Phobos god Stiùireadh, the living skeleton who guides those who had died to the afterlife.
The daughter grew up and had a happy life,
But at the end of her life, when she was too old and frail to continue,
The gods immortalised her by turning her into red chrysanthemum flowers and reunited her with her father and helped him lead those who have died.
Since then, the chrysanthemum become the symbol of guidance through death and every Phobian funeral is decorated with these flowers, its petals laid on the ground to guide lost spirits,
However, not only is it a symbol, but its nectar contains the Water of Life,
The water is extracted and given as a gift to every young Phobos for when they meet someone in dire need, they shall give them its nectar and restore their vitality,
And thus concludes the story of the Water of Life
(An excerpt from the 'Leabhar a 'chinnidh phobos' or 'Tome of the Phobos Clan'. Acquired and translated from Tomorin into common speak by Victor Soul.)