The Spring of Eternity
Hidden near the Staircase to the Sky in the Land of the Long Teeth, the Spring of Eternity bursts forth with magic mountain water. Anabell and Tarragon must find this spring to garner enough energy to traverse the nearby The Window on Sunny Mountain.
The Spring of Eternity draws inspiration from the real-life V Štengah healing spring¹. It is located just below the path to Zapotok Mountain from Zadnja Trenta (“Last Trenta Valley”), at an elevation of 1,086 metres. Marking the location is a cross, which was placed there by an unknown person who was extremely ill and was healed by drinking this water².
Not long ago, I made a pilgrimage to this remote healing spring, which is seldom visited. Getting down to the spring from the path is challenging as it involves scrambling down a small but almost vertical slope composed primarily of scree. Making it back up to the path is even more problematic. I must admit that at least once, I did not think I would make it back to the path. Is it this “test of faith” that makes the water magical? Perhaps it’s just reinvigorating due to the water passing through nature’s filter? Maybe it is the remoteness of the place, which allows one to ponder all things great and small. I like to think it is for all of the above reasons. Whatever the real reason, it is some of the best mountain water I have ever tasted.
Jože Munih, Zdravilni izviri, (Tolmin: Samozal, 2012), 30.
Ibid.
Albert Szent-Györgyi, “Biology and Pathology of Water,” Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, 14(2), 239.
“Life was born in water and is carrying on in water. Water is life’s mater and matrix, mother and medium. There is no life without water. ”