Do you know a village that hides in the shadow of the Eildon Hills? Here, once upon a time, long ago, there lived a nice man named Thomas Learmont. He was no different from his neighbors in anything special, except that it was a miracle how well he played the lute. Yes, he knew how to write poetry. Actually, like all the wandering singer-bards at that time.
One fine day, Thomas slammed the door of his hut behind him and went with a lute under his arm to visit a farmer who lived on the hillside.
“If I take a good step, this walk won’t take me long,” Thomas thought. But the day turned out to be so clear, so hot that when he reached the bank of Huntly Brook, which ran down from the Eildon Hills, he was already so tired that he wanted to quickly hide from the sun in the thick shade of a spreading oak tree and rest.
In front of him lay a small forest, along which paths, hidden by greenery, ran in different directions. He was looking into the cool canopy, absentmindedly plucking the strings of his lute, when suddenly, in addition to his own music, he heard distant sounds, like the ringing of a mountain stream.
But what is it? He jumped to his feet in great amazement - a beautiful lady appeared on one of the mysterious forest paths on horseback. I have never seen a more beautiful light.
She wore a dress of grass-green silk and a green velvet cloak. Blonde hair fell to her shoulders. The snow-white horse beneath her stepped gracefully through the trees, and Thomas saw that each strand of his mane ended in a tiny silver bell. Well, of course, he mistook the ringing of these bells for the murmur of a mountain stream.
He tore his hat off his head and fell on one knee in front of the beautiful horsewoman. But she, pulling on the reins of the white horse, stopped and ordered Thomas to stand up.
“I am the queen of the elves,” she said, “and I have come here to meet you, Thomas of Ersildurn.”
She smiled tenderly and extended her thin hand to him so that he could help her dismount. Thomas tied the horse to a thorny bush and led the lady into the shade of a spreading tree, enchanted by her delicate, unearthly beauty.
“Play the lute for me, Thomas,” she asked. — Good music and forest coolness are faithful allies, aren’t they?
Thomas obediently took up his instrument and began to play. Never before had he played so tenderly and cheerfully. He finished, and the elf queen did not hide her delight.
“I would like to reward you, Thomas,” she said. - Ask for any favor, I will give it to you.
Thomas took both her white hands in his and dared to say:
- Let me kiss you, beautiful queen.
The Queen did not take his hands away, but only smiled and said:
“Remember, Thomas, if you kiss me, you will have to serve me for seven long years, for better or worse.” Agree?
- What does seven years mean? - Thomas exclaimed. - I will gladly pay.
And he touched the lips of the elf queen.
The Queen quickly stood up, and then Thomas suddenly felt that from now on he would obediently follow her everywhere. However, the spell of love was so strong that he did not regret his daring act at all. Well, let him give the queen seven years of his earthly life.
The Elven Queen sat astride a snow-white horse, and ordered Thomas to sit behind her, and to the gentle ringing of silver bells they flew through green hollows and heather hills faster than all the winds of heaven. Finally they arrived at some very strange place. The Queen jumped off her horse and told Thomas that they would not rest here for long.
Thomas looked around with great curiosity: he realized that he found himself on earth not for mere mortals. Behind were impenetrable thickets of climbing bracken. And three roads ran ahead from this barren land.
One road, narrow and steep, was densely overgrown on both sides with thorny bushes and wild rose hips. Overhead the bushes met to form a long, dark tunnel.
The other road was wide and straight, sunbeams danced along it, jumping onto lawns of green velvet, embroidered with colorful flowers like precious stones. The third road wound upward, through the thickets of ferns. It was covered with soft moss, and crowned, like a high dome, with green foliage, which gave the traveler coolness.
Following Thomas's surprised gaze, the elf queen said:
— The narrow, thorny path is the Road of the Righteous. Rarely does a traveler dare to walk this road. The wide straight road leading past flowering valleys is called the Road of Vice, although it seems so bright, so elegant. And the third beautiful road, which winds along a hedge of evergreen ferns, is the road to the land of the elves. We will ride along it this night to Elfland.
She approached the horse, which was twitching its ears and beating its hooves in impatience to quickly set foot on this green path. But before setting off, the queen said to Thomas:
“If you listen to my advice, Thomas, and remain silent the entire time you spend in Elfland, no matter what you hear or see there, then at the end of seven years you will return to the land of men.” But if you utter a word, you will miss your happiness and will be condemned to wander forever in the barren desert that lies between the beautiful Elfland and the land of men.
They rode along the third path, and rode for a very long time before they reached the queen's domain. Through hills, valleys, swamps and plains. At night the sky above them turned black, and during the day the clouds glittered golden in the sun. It happened to them to ford fast-moving rivers filled with red blood. The Queen picked up the train of her green robe, and blood-red spots remained on the snow-white sides of her horse. For all the blood that had ever been shed on earth was collected here in streams that watered these strange places.
But at last they reached the gates of Elfland. Thousands of magical trumpets announced their arrival. To the accompaniment of welcoming sounds, Thomas entered an enchanted country filled with wonderful light.
And somewhere far away, in the land of mere mortals, the inhabitants of Ersildurn whispered to each other the mysterious news that their neighbor Thomas Learmont had disappeared one fine summer day. And his trace disappeared.
While Thomas remained in Elfland, he did not dare to say a word to anyone about the wonders that he managed to see or hear. Seven years flew by like three days, and when his term of service with the elf queen ended, the moment of parting came. The Queen herself escorted Thomas through the gates of the magical land into the sunlit garden that lay on the other side of the gate. Graceful lilies and all the most beautiful flowers of the earth grew there, and graceful, gentle unicorns walked under them.
The Queen reached out and picked an apple from the tree and gave it to Thomas.
“Well, you can finally speak, Thomas,” she said. “And as a reward for seven years of faithful service to me, take this apple for yourself.” It is magical and will reward you with the gift of always speaking only the truth, the true truth, the only truth.
But Thomas was a smart little guy and immediately realized that this gift of speaking only the truth and nothing but the truth was not a great happiness in the country to which he was returning. And he tried to explain this to the elf queen.
“When you live among people,” he said, “sometimes you have to embellish something, when, for example, you are courting a girl.” Or if you want to make a profitable deal with your neighbor. You can't do this without eloquence.
But the queen just smiled (once again!) and said:
- Put all your worries aside, Thomas! And take care of my gift - it is not given to everyone. He will bring you glory such as you have never dreamed of. The name of Learmonth will be remembered forever as long as the country of Scotland exists on earth. And now you must return, Thomas. Just listen to my words first. The day will come when I will call you to me again. So swear to obey my order, wherever it finds you. I will send my messengers for you. There will be two of them. You will recognize them immediately - they will come from another world, not from yours...
Thomas looked into the deep eyes of the beautiful queen, as if into a pool, and realized that the spell of love that had lain on him for seven long years would never let him go. But he was only too happy to give the queen an oath that he would carry out her orders.
Before the words of the oath had left his lips, Thomas suddenly fell into a deep sleep. The green garden, flowers, gentle unicorns - everything disappeared instantly into a milky haze that descended from the clouds onto the ground, dusted with the fallen white blossoms of apple trees.
When Thomas woke up, he saw that he was lying under a large oak tree that grew on the very bank of Huntly Creek. Still in doubt, he peered intently into the deserted paths of the forest, vainly hoping to catch the sound of silver bells. The journey to Elfland, which had dragged on for seven long years, now seemed to him like a short afternoon nap.
Thomas shouted:
- I'll be back!
And, picking up the lute, he walked into his Ersildurn. He really wanted to know what happened there during those seven years. But even more, Thomas wanted to check whether the promise that the elf queen gave him would come true: would he really tell only the truth from now on?
“I’m afraid I’ll only anger my neighbors,” Thomas reasoned to himself, “if I can’t tell them anything but the truth.” After all, they will not hear such a flattering review as they expected. And they won’t get the advice they expected.
Before he could appear on the streets of his village, he heard screams and screams. Some poor old man decided that Thomas had risen from the dead and returned to his native village from the other world. However, Thomas quickly proved to everyone that he was alive and well, and the good people of Ersildurn were no longer surprised to see him again. But they did not cease to be surprised, ooh and aah, when he told them about his journey to Elfland. The children were constantly spinning around his feet, climbing onto his lap to listen again and again to his wonderful story about how they had fun in that magical land. And the old men shook their heads and quietly talked among themselves about those who were also carried away by the queen of the elves. Only they didn’t come back.
But Thomas told no one about his promise to return to the queen as soon as she sent two messengers for him.
For his part, Thomas could not help but be surprised that nothing had changed in Ersildurn, as if he had been absent not for seven years, but for three days. Of course, I had to repair my house, because the thatched roof had become weak in some places due to the rains, and the wind had made holes in the walls and it was necessary to put stronger stones in their place. The neighbors have more wrinkles on their faces and gray hair. Seven hot years, seven harvests, seven frosty winters, seven sunny springs flew by, but everything remained in its place.
From the day Thomas returned, he kept waiting: whether the promise of the elf queen would come true or not. Will he really now speak only the truth?
However, as before, he calmly treated the farmer’s daughter. And he could easily persuade his neighbor to buy a cow or a sheep from him.
But one fine day at a village meeting, when they were discussing a terrible disaster - the death of livestock in all the surrounding villages, Thomas suddenly felt that he had to stand up and say something. And to his own amazement, he predicted that the pestilence would fall on all the villages except Ersildurn. The villagers were very surprised by such a strange prediction, but deep down they believed it. Something in his words inspired their confidence even before Thomas's prediction came true. It’s a miracle that not a single cow, horse or sheep got sick in Ersildurn.
After this, Thomas often made correct predictions. And since he could rhyme easily, he spoke them in verse. Therefore, they were quickly remembered and began to walk around the world. But the most important thing is that they all came true, and the fame of Thomas the Rhymer, Thomas the Soothsayer soon spread throughout Scotland. And yet, even though he became famous and was invited to all parts of the country, he did not leave his native Ersildurn. Having become rich, he built a castle nearby and received there all his neighbors, famous warriors, and eminent lords and counts. He was very upset when his prediction came true:
While the blackbirds sing in the thorn bushes,
Ersildurn cannot be deprived of his treasury.
And indeed, one evil spring, the blackbirds in the thorny bushes around Ersildurn did not sing, as always. The summer was rainy and cold. The harvest was poor, and almost all the villagers went bankrupt, and they had to mortgage their lands to rich landlords.
But Thomas made the most amazing prediction on March 18, 1285. At that time, the wise King Alexander III sat on the Scottish throne. The next day, the Earl of March was going hunting and sent for Thomas to predict the weather for him.
Tomorrow at noon a storm will arise.
Scotland never knew,
That so much blood will be shed -
Thomas predicted.
And Earl March did not dare to go hunting. The next day, around noon, he again called Thomas to him.
- Well, where is your ominous storm? - he reproached the soothsayer.
“It’s not yet noon,” Thomas answered calmly.
At that moment, a frightened messenger burst into the count’s chambers. He said that the great king had died. He accidentally fell off his horse on a steep mountain path and never got up again.
“Alas, this news means a storm that will cause severe damage to our Scotland,” said Thomas.
To the grief and sorrow of all honest Scots, his prediction came true.
But people’s rumors also repeated those of his predictions that were yet to come true. Here is one of them:
When the Gauri Cows come ashore,
The day of judgment will come for our souls.
And I must tell you that the Gauri Cows are two giant boulders standing beyond the full high tide line in Tay Bay, which is behind Ivergauri. And every year they inch closer to the land as the sea recedes.
Another of Thomas's predictions is yet to come true:
York was, London is, Edinburgh will be -
To be considered the most glorious, the most important of the three.
But the Scots themselves created a legend about Thomas.
Twice seven years have passed since Thomas the Rhymer returned from the Elven Queen, when Scotland was drawn into a grave war. The English king, after defeating John Ballol at Dunbar, defeated Scotland. But the valiant knight William Wallace raised the Scots to fight back.
It so happened that an army of brave Scots was camped near Thomas's castle. And Thomas decided to arrange a great feast for the glorious warriors. Ersildurn Castle has never known such a great holiday. Guests filled the large hall of the castle - noble knights in thin chain mail, beautiful ladies in rustling silks. The wine flowed like a river, wooden goblets were constantly filled with cheerful Scottish ale.
Musicians delighted the ears of important guests, storytellers entertained them with stories about the exploits of war and hunting. But the main thing awaited the guests ahead. When the feast was over, the owner of the castle, Thomas himself, ordered his favorite lute to be brought and began to sing. With bated breath, without uttering a word, the guests listened to his songs about the glorious past of the British land.
He sang about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. About the brave Gowain and the wizard Merlin, about the sad love of Tristan and Isolde. And everyone who listened to him thought and felt that they would never hear such a bard again.
They turned out to be right.
That night, when the guests had dispersed and fog had descended over the river, the warrior, who was on duty in a tent on the hillside, woke up from the strange clatter of light hooves on the dried grass.
He looked out of the tent and saw an extraordinary sight.
In the light of the bright August moon, a snow-white deer and a doe were approaching him along the path. They walked majestically and proudly. The warrior called his friends, everyone surrounded the unusual couple, but they continued to walk forward, not paying attention to anyone.
“We need to wake up Thomas Learmonth,” someone suggested. “Maybe he’ll tell us what it means.”
- That's right, we need to send for Thomas the Soothsayer! - everyone shouted and sent a little page to the castle to wake up Thomas Learmonth.
Hearing the news, Thomas immediately jumped out of bed and quickly got dressed. He was pale, even his hands were shaking. No wild animal had ever left the forest or appeared on the streets of the village before. And then, has anyone ever heard of white deer? No. This means that these are messengers for him, Thomas the Rhymer, from the queen of the elves. He was happy: soon he would see the beautiful queen again, but he was also sad - the thread of his earthly life was broken.
Taking his lute, Thomas left the castle and, with a white deer on his right hand and a white doe on his left, walked through the streets of the village, illuminated by the silver moon, and disappeared into the forest, leaving his native Ersildurn forever.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru