"The
Angry Forest"
A Transylvanian folktale
Deep in
an ancient Transylvanian forest a crew of woodsmen sat in discussion around
their fire. They had worked all summer, and cleared most of one slope, rolling
the logs into the swift, hazardous river.
The eldest
of the loggers, Peter, poured the last of the wine they had been sharing, and
intoned, "Look!! We have given you the first of our wine, and now the last!
Please spare us!!"
"Who
are you talking to?" demanded Matthew,
though he was old enough to know, but stubborn enough not to say. His two sons,
Benjamin and Constanin, were as "modern" and stubborn as he
was.
"You
know," Peter said patiently, "The spirits have been generous this
summer, but fall is coming ......and ....."
"You're
just trying to scare us more so we'll believe your old tales," Matthew
answered, "I have no use for them, and say we cut the last stand of trees
to get another day's pay."
His sons
nodded their agreement, but the other woodcutters shifted uncomfortably; some
were old enough to mostly believe as Peter did, and the youngest were new enough
to be unsure of everything.
"Tales
that are truth," Peter answered sadly. He knew that no words would make
a man like Matthew believe, and what he believed so did his boys.
So uneasy
they all went to bed.
And before
dawn they were awakened to the familiar sounds of axe blows against solid tree trunks.
Worriedly
the crew dressed and went out to see what Matthew and his boys were about.
At the
edge of the last tree stand rested Matthew, leaning against his axe handle.
He waved to them and grinned. "About time you were up!! We've nearly got
a day's work done!"
Still
the woodcutters looked fearful and unsure, and watched as Matthew shook his
head in annoyance and lifted up his axe in order to go deeper into the trees.
An inhuman
shriek made all of them jump and Matthew dropped his axe to rush towards where
his sons had been working.
When the
rest of the crew arrived they found him holding his youngest boy, Constanin,
in his arms. The boy's leg had been severed by a bear trap beneath a great,
black oak, and the lad had bled to death in moments. Not a man said a word,
particularly about Peter's warning, though each one of them thought about how
the forest spirits demanded a sacrifice.
They gave
the boy an overnight wake in their cabin, and a simple burial the next day.
After reading from the bible Peter murmured, "Please be satisfied with
one life ...let the rest of us go in peace."At the words Matthew roared
in blind rage and bellowed to his remaining son, "Grab your axe!!"
Benjamin,
as grief-stricken as his father, grabbed up his axe and joined his father in
hacking madly at the trees.
The crew
tried to run to stop the men, but were horrified to find that their muscles
frozen; they could only watch as a wispy phantom rose behind Benjamin, grasped
his axe, and pulled it back into his skull.
They watched
as Matthew howled like a beast gone rabid. He grabbed up Benjamin's bloody axe
and seemed to hack at something only he could see; he kept swinging as he rushed
at something by the river.
Only after
he splashed into the foaming river, struggling between the floating logs, were
the crew freed from the spell. They rushed to the water's edge, but all they
could do was cross themselves as they watched Matthew fighting the current and
the spinning logs.
Nor did
they hold out much hope as they saw a raft skimming between the logs, being
poled by an old man. They watched as Matthew desperately grabbed hold of the
edge of the raft, and noted that the old man took no notice of his passenger.
They murmured prayers as they watched as the maddened woodcutter fought to pull
himself aboard, and they could see a large tree trunk sweeping through the old
man as if he wasn't there.
The trunk
struck Matthew hard in the chest as he struggled to stand, and drove him beneath
the water.
The next
day, after burying Benjamin, the crew found his father's body washed upon the
shore, and they laid him next to his sons.
Then the
crew prayed that the spirits had drank enough blood before making the long journey
through the forest towards home.
Spariosu,
Mihai I. and Dezso Benedek. _ Ghosts, Vampires, and Werewolves: Eerie Tales
from Transylvania_. New York: Orchard Books. 1994.