Who knows where green eyes of forest lakes meet brazen fiery sunrays and what comes of this? If you don’t know, I’ll tell you. There is a place where amber foxes are born, known under the old name of Amber Vulpes. Furthermore, you may be sure that every small creature like this is a beautiful red-haired maiden.
Why am I sure? Because I’ve heard a reliable story coming from the oldest druid Orkhus, who now lives like a hermit in the forest of Browood near the Mirror Lakes. Nobody wouldn’t argue with his words, since all know what he’s talking about. He told me one day when he happened to meet me in a forest, and I shared with him my joy of being engaged to marry the beautiful red-haired lady Mable from the House of Laverne.
This was in ancient times, when people were settling and exploring new lands. A girl named Glenis lived in one village. She was not like the others, because of her unusual generosity, kindness, empathy, and compassion. Sympathetic people called her a wise woman, for she had a rich knowledge of various forest herbs, and she knew how to prepare useful potions from them. Glenies saved so many villagers from incurable diseases and from certain death.
Time was passing. Plenty of young men tried to woo the beautiful maiden. However, she was unapproachable, repeating: “Better to remain alone than marry one I do not love.” She was clever and wanted to find the one man who would understand her instantly, and would value her, as she deserved.
Yet, no such man appeared. All rejected fiancés, bitter over her refusal, spread a bad rumor in the village. “She is too proud, heartless, and arrogant. Her gift is not from God; it is from the devil.”
There was no one to defend the maiden, because she was a full orphan and a stranger. Soon, people, even those whom she had saved, repudiated her and started spitting at her, calling her a witch. Finally, Glenies couldn’t stand this total hatred and defiance. She gathered her belongings and went to the forest, intending to spend the rest of her life in solitude.
The girl moved to a place near a small lake in the very heart of the forest, where she built herself a makeshift hut instead of a house. As time passed, she learned the language of birds and beasts. She started healing animals, and they appeared to be more grateful than people. For her great kindness and care, a deer one day brought her a basket with a baby girl. They told her that they’d found this marvel by the lake. Evidently, the forest itself wanted Glenies to give her gift of healing to someone. The happy woman named her little daughter Ignis, which means “fire”, because the baby’s hair was this fiery red color.
She was like the beauty of those lands where a gentle lake surrounded by green forests was illumined by bright and warm sunrays. The girl’s eyes were like deep emerald water, and her hair was like a garnet sunset.
Glenies and her daughter lived as one, far from everyone, far from every woe and grief.
Yet, time did not stand still. People from nearby villages were building their wooden houses, erecting whole cities from forest timber. The number of towns increased, and the forest got smaller.
Ignis was already about sixteen when one such town was constructed a few miles away from their lake. A young and comely alderman Halagan ruled over it. He loved to hunt wild animals more than affairs of business or sports. This youth was hot-tempered, strong, and hungry for sensations. Therefore, he would frequently go to fight a predator in single combat and would always emerge victorious.
But one day, during a routine trip, the alderman’s horse wandered over to the same lake where the wise woman lived with her daughter. Halagan was attacked there by a huge and vicious saber-toothed bear—guard of those places and the king of the forest. A bloody battle began, and the man was almost killed. Glenies and Ignis restrained the beast with difficulty, but managed to rescue the lad from the terrible predator’s clutches.
They brought him into their tent and treated the wounded man for several days with tinctures and ointments until he recovered. Afterwards, when the healer was seeing the man to the door, she firmly insisted that in gratitude for the help received, he never tell anyone about them and forget the way to their house forever. The alderman agreed and even swore to this, putting his hand on his heart. He lowered his head as a sign of assent to their agreement.
Yet, the human heart knows no laws. The good fellow fell in love with the red-haired beauty. He went home, but he couldn’t sit still. Wherever he cast his gaze, he saw her face. Whatever he heard, he imagined her voice. He was lovesick.
Unfortunately, by misfortune, the day approached when his engagement to a daughter of another alderman from a neighboring town was to be announced. He couldn’t love her in any case. It was just a marriage of convenience, the usual thing among the rich, a mutually beneficial agreement serving to strengthen a bond of labor and possessions.
Halagan could not afford to turn down such an important marriage, and, at the same time, he was unable to forget the forest beauty. Therefore, he decided to catch two birds—to marry the rich one and to take the poor one as a mistress. To make Ignis agree, he deceived her.
The alderman quickly completed his engagement to his rich bride and hurried into the woods. He found the red-haired beauty at the lake and put on her finger a fake engagement ring while making a false oath of true love. She accepted his "offer" without objection, since he was in her heart too, naively assuming she would become his wife. Thus, Halagan took Ignis away by ruse without telling her mother, and settled her not in his palace, but in his country house, making her his hostage and recluse.
A little later, he married the wealthy woman, believing everything would go well and the secret about his captive would remain safe forever.
However, this was not to be. The proud maiden learned the truth from flying birds and did not want to share him with anyone. She sent news of her confinement and betrayal to her mother, and poor Glenis decided to go to the lake and ask for help. There she saw a nymph emerging from the clear water, who said, “It is impossible to rescue a daughter from Halagan’s custody, from his seven locks. There is one salvation here for her: to become a beast and to get out of there herself.”
After some thought, the woman agreed. At the nymph’s suggestion, she gathered some lakeside forest herbs and cooked magic powder from them, imploring help: “Let the child of the forest better become a free wild animal than a beautiful maiden in a prison.”
Hence, she gave the powder to her daughter through the same birds, packed into a small sack.
After thanking the heavenly messengers, the girl drank it. Later, in the evening, Halagan came as usual to see his beloved one and didn’t find her in the chambers. He only saw a ring lying on the floor by the bed, from under which some small red animal came up and vanished, running nimbly between the legs of the surprised man.
Heartsore Halagan looked for his lost maiden throughout the whole palace, but he couldn’t find her. The next day he decided to go to her lake, but the undertaking was in vain, for he saw no one there, just the familiar formidable brown saber-toothed bear who had nearly taken his life the last time. This time there was no one to give the alderman a hand. The animal skinned the man alive, and the green water buried his remains forever at the bottom, mixed with sand and silt.
Soon, everyone forgot about Halagan, as well as about the women. People state, however, that an amber animal appears in their lands occasionally. It turns into a red-haired beauty away from human eyes, and when seen by men, hides inside the animal skin again, and no one could ever catch it. Those, who tried to do so, met a terrible death in predators’ paws. As a result, it is considered bewitched, crafty and dexterous, and today, men tend to see a fox in any red-haired woman. If you do not believe me, ask the men themselves!