Week 7 Story: The Waterfall Cave and the Secret Garden

Bibliography: This story was inspired by Uraschimataro and the Turtle, the last story in the Japanese Fairy Tales unit, translated by Andrew Lang.

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    In the sunny countryside lived a young man and his wife. They were newlyweds, and they loved each other dearly. The man, Elliot, was a man of science and adventure. He searched for and observed unusual critters, drawing them and documenting his findings in many leather journals. He had blonde hair that fell about his face in a silly, boyish way, and brown eyes dark like the bark on trees. The woman, Jane, wrote poems and enjoyed painting. She had long, straight black hair that was as soft as silk, and her eyes twinkled a greyish-blue. Most days the two would picnic together or hop along the rocks that stuck out from the riverbed, snacking on packed berries and cheese. Often anything they did, they did together. Just enjoying the same space was enough for them.

    On one particular morning, after several days of rain, the sun shone brightly with not a cloud in sight, and Elliot wanted to walk along the river and picnic at the waterfall. Jane felt under the weather and encouraged him to go while she slept a little longer. He kissed her forehead, packed himself some berries and cheese and of course his journal, and went on his way.

    They'd walked this path so many times that the grass was worn thin and a trail line could be seen. The path was lost, of course, when one reached the river as they'd preferred the much harder route of jumping rock to rock in the river than walking alongside it. When Elliot reached the base of the waterfall, he sat on a rock and ate some of his berries and cheese, admiring the scene. This is when he saw a bright blue lizard scaling the rocks and disappearing into a cave that he'd never noticed until today. He got up and walked over, squeezing in-between the rushing water and the jagged rocks until he was behind the waterfall looking into the depths of the cave.

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    A dozen feet in and he was surrounded by darkness. As his eyes adjusted, he noticed a shining, glowing substance along the cave wall. It was some sort of moss, and it was only in one line for as far as he could see. His curious nature urged him to follow the glowing moss, and he took caution to not trip over rocks and dips in the floor. As he ventured deeper and deeper into the cave, he saw a yellow light glowing on the other side. This made him forget all about the unusual glowing moss; he wondered what that light could be. As he neared the light, he saw that it was an exit from the cave. The light was so blazingly bright he had to shield his eyes for a few moments. But as his eyes adjusted, his mouth dropped in amazement.

    It was like a whole other world. He saw the same colors but they were more intense than he'd ever seen in his life. The trees were twisty and in place of leaves were enormous, colorful fluffs. The water was clearer than the clearest day, and the shiny, smooth rocks in the stream were all shades of purples and blues. The flowers grew six feet high, and red and white mushrooms were as large as stepping-stools. Birds of all colors chirped and sang to one another, munching on bright yellow berries with pink dots. Elliot sat down right where he stood and took it all in for quite a while before taking out his journal and attempting to sketch what he saw, excited to show Jane and bring her here.

    Hours later, he'd sketched as much as he could and couldn't stand to wait any longer before going home to tell Jane all about it. He retraced his path through the cave and squeezed between the waterfall and rock wall again, his stomach growling for food. Silly of me to leave my food here and not take it with me, he thought. But where he'd left his food sat only the rock. Jane must have brought it back home. 

    And so he walked the path back to his small house to Jane, but something was different. The air was colder, and the grass and leaves were all turning brown. It was as if Spring changed to Autumn in a day. He quickened his pace and called out to Jane.

    Jane, sitting alone in the kitchen reading, thought she had imagined her husband's voice. So many months had passed by, she wondered when her grief would end. But he called out again, and it sounded so real that she looked out her window and saw Elliot jogging towards their house. She was speechless. 

    He entered the house and tore off a piece of bread, excitedly rambling about this hidden place he'd found. Jane was still trying to process that he was alive and before her. He asked if she noticed anything strange about the grass and the trees, and she laughed.

    And so Jane told him how long he'd been gone, and Elliot told her about the magical place he found. And from then on, everything they did, they did together.

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Note: This story was inspired by Uraschimataro and the Turtle, the last story in the Japanese Fairy Tales chapter. In the original story, a young man is brought to an underwater city via a giant turtle where he falls in love with the princess. After a few days, he wants to return to make sure his old parents are okay, but when he returns, he discovers that 300 years had passed. Two major elements from the original story made their way into this one. First, the main character gets entangled in the wonders of his exploration. Second, the main character discovers that time back home works a lot differently, so they've actually been gone quite a long time. Although I considered making the ending tragic like the original, I decided to keep the time he was away to only a few months so that Elliot and Jane could be reunited. At the end you'll notice also that everything they do, they do together. At the beginning, this line was similar, but it was only most things.