A long time ago in a far off country, a small family lived on the edge of a large wood. The two young girls, Lily and Rose, were told constantly that they were allowed anywhere in the forest. Anywhere at all, as long as they stayed away from a certain clearing. They had never even seen the clearing but they were told if they ever came across a small perfectly circular lake in a small meadow, they were to flee the place immediately. This was a rule they had no problem with as they never came across any such clearing, and so they considered this particular rule, a moot point.
This was until the day of their sixteenth birthday, both beautiful young ladies, journeyed into the forest once more in search of berries for their birthday dinner. They soon came across a lake and pausing to quench their thirst they took off their cloaks and sat awhile on the grass. Rose realised this was the small meadow in the woods her parents had warned her of, she pleaded with Lily to leave, but she refused.
She had always had a burning curiosity about this particular place. She had spent nights lying restlessly in her bed wondering what dark secrets this place held, and this was her time to find out.
Rose left her there, taking her parents seriously and running to find help. Lily, however stared intently around the hollow, nothing seemed that dangerous or looked particularly interesting. The only thing that piqued her curiosity was a small yellow flower, like a daffodil but smaller, standing solitary on the waters edge.
Standing to leave, she stooped by the water and had a small drink. When she finished she sat down at the waters edge and looked around once more.
Startled, she realised that she was not alone in the clearing. A beautiful lady was looking out of the pool at her. Her hair billowed around her head, it was do pale it was almost silver, even int he bright sunlight. Her eyes were the colour of the sky surrounding her, she was the most beautiful women Lily had ever seen.
Lily wanted to ask her who she was and how she had come to live in the lake, but she couldn't speak.
Almost as if the woman knew what she wanted to know she opened her mouth and spoke.
"Hello, I am the spirit of this lake, ask me any question and I will give you the truthful answer."
"Why does everyone insist this beautiful place is cursed?" She blurted out. It really wasn't her best question but it was all she could think of.
"To answer that particular question," she replied, "I must tell you the story of a man, who lived a very long time ago. He was a beautiful man, but his beauty made him arrogant. Many women fell in love with him but he did not consider any of them worthy enough of him.
"He was particularly nasty to a woman who had long since confessed her love to him. He teased her until she ran home, crying.
"One of the famous goddesses of old witnessed this event. She was the goddess of love and took pity on the poor girl. She placed a curse on the man, he would fall desperately in love with the next person he saw.
"Blissfully unaware of his curse he stooped by a small pool to take a drink from the pond, but bending low over the glassy surface, he caught a glimpse of his reflection. He fell in love with the perfect image of himself he saw on the surface that he sat down by the pool and looked at his reflection.
"He soon discovered that whenever he tried to touch his reflection it would mist and disappear.
"Driven insane by his feelings, he did not eat, sleep or drink again. He wasted away in the small clearing, watched only by the Gods.
"But they felt compassion for him and, when he eventually died they created a new flower and placed it by that pool.
"You can now find that flower nearly anywhere on the world, near rivers or lakes. In honour of his death."
She had to ask the obvious follow up question, "What flower was it?"
The spirit looked sadly up at her, "It was a Narcissus," she replied.
Lily gasped and looked at the flower planted in the earth beside her.
"This is the pool... From the story..." She contemplated.
Lily sat there for a while and thought about that.
"But that still doesn't answer my original question." She said suddenly.
"If you think about it hard enough, it does. When that goddess, out of she annoyance at Narcissus, sent that curse down, she had no idea that it would affect the place where he died. She thought it would only affect him, but it didn't.
"When she did that, she sent a thing called vanity into the world. It swallowed men up and ruined their lives. They would throw away everything because they believe themselves to be better than others, and so they were disliked among many.
"They say that the place where Narcissus died is where the curse is strongest."
"Here," Lily sighed. "It isn't that bad is it?"
"No," the woman laughed and only when he laughed could she finally notice who it was. For when she laugh she suddenly had crinkles all around her eyes, just like Lily did. Her father teased her about this wrinkles daily, saying they would stay there forever. This was Lily's reflection, but as her family never had a mirror Lily just looked at herself, her mother had called her beautiful, and she hadn't been wrong. Lily sat there gazing at herself, she could remember she probably had to go home and talk to her parents, but she didn't want to leave. She sat by the pool for three days, gazing into the glassy surface. She felt lightheaded and her vision grew cloudy. She fainted by the pool and slowly rolled into it, disappearing from sight.
The surface rippled slightly and then returned to normal.
Another human had succumbed to a thing called vanity.
