Willow by Traveller

Ariel followed me into the spinney and took a long drink from the spring and then lay down on the grass and promptly went to sleep - without even a 'by your leave'. I sat down beside him and leaned against his warm side. I was tired now .............

I hadn't intended to close my eyes, honest I hadn't but well, you know what it's like. When you think you have reached your destination and you were anxious about the journey. Would you know where you were going? Would you recognise the destination when you got there? My thoughts started to drift off when I was aware of another presence in the clearing.

I looked up to see a tall woman standing on the other side of the spring. Her hair was a mass of leaves and she wore a long green gown and her skin had a greenish cast to it. "I am the spirit of the willow tree" she explained by way of an introduction. "My boughs bend in the wind but my roots go down deep". "Your boughs too, have been bent in recent winds and you are struggling to hold things together. You need a rest to restore some of your energies. Come with me" she said, offering me her hand as she walked round the spring towards me. I was grateful that she helped pull me to my feet for, without her, I don't think I could have managed it. She led me to a huge, gnarled, willow and a large rift in the bark allowed us passage through. She led me through green cathedrals of dappled light to a chair made of living, twisting sallow strands, suspended from a tree branch. Sit and rest yourself for a while and I will bring you some refreshment. She promptly disappeared. I settled myself into the chair which seemed to mould itself around me. I heaved a sigh of relief and let myself go. I felt as if I was becoming a willow strand as my body elongated and leaves appeared where my fingers usually are and new roots rushed away from my feet into the watery earth surrounding me, eagerly seeking nutrients. I could feel a new charge entering me, tiny prickles of sensation like when feeling returns to your body when a limb has gone numb. The prickles started at my feet/roots and flew into my body, racing along my arms, squirming up my neck and bursting out, like sparks, from the tips of my hair. I felt as if I was on fire. I don't know how long this lasted - it could have been seconds, it could have been more, but there she was, standing in front of me again, a goblet in her outstretched hand. "Drink this". "It will heal and strengthen you for it contains essence of willow and holly". I have a gift for you too. So saying she strung a necklace of grass strands around my throat, from which hung a piece of carved wood. "This is made from holly wood, wear it at all times for it will give you strength when your own fails". With this, she took my hand and led me back to the spring. "You have not yet reached the blind spring you are seeking but it is not far. Ariel will guide you now". "Travel safely" and with that she began to fade until all that was left were a few of the leaves that had fallen out of her hair. I bent down and gathered them up and put them carefully into my knapsack, wrapping them in a handkerchief for safekeeping. Further on in my journey I would be able to take them out and touch them in wonder.