The pagan nymph to this day owns three springs located in one of the Belarusian forests. The village of Gamarnya in the Mogilev region is cut off from large roads by a dense forest, in one part of which a person does not feel very comfortable.
Everything here reminds the uninvited visitor that he is an outsider. Tall pines here side by side with century-old oaks, and they stretch their gnarled branches over a ravine, at the bottom of which three transparent springs sprout, located exactly along the tops of an equilateral triangle. This place is called Zakharenka. It is not known where this name came from.
Local residents claim that the springs were called so by their grandfathers and great-grandfathers. They are used to talking about Zakharenka in an undertone and with respect. There are plenty of reasons for such an attitude …
The sun has just risen over the treetops. Drops of dew that did not have time to dry seemed to have absorbed all the colors of the rainbow, and the chirping of birds sounded like a timid morning. To catch the haymaking, four men left the village after dark. The road to the meadow lay through the forest, past a place about which there were various rumors. Approaching Zakharenka, the travelers, imperceptibly for themselves, switched to a half-whisper.
-Is it true, Uncle Prokop, that different miracles happen at the springs? - asked the youngest of the mowers.
- Old people say everything. They say the church was once here. Then she went underground …
-So you left? Failed?
- Of course, not just like that, - Prokop crossed himself. - For human sins.
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The third of the men contributed to the conversation.
- Exactly. Many have heard that bells are ringing out of the ground.
- Nonsense, - the peasant, who had been silent before, waved his hand. - Woman's inventions …
- No fiction! - Prokop objected to the skeptic.
The argument ended with the four of them deciding to descend into the hollow.
- We won't hear the bell, so at least we'll have some water. She is delicious and cold here, she even brings her teeth together!
Parting the bushes that grew on the way to the springs, everyone froze in amazement.
Against the background of the intricate branches of old trees, a naked girl was standing, and, scooping up handfuls of water, poured it onto her seemingly transparent body. Long blond braids gleamed wetly, and all gestures were filled with graceful slowness.
The first to return the gift of speech to Prokop.
- Hey beautiful! Where did you come from?
The strange bather turned around. There was not even a shadow of fear on her face, only a slight surprise was read. The voice sounded like a silver bell and almost merged with the murmur of springs.
- Can you see me?
- How not to see? - the young man, reddened with embarrassment, laughed. - Not blind! Would hide behind, shameless!
Silence reigned in the clearing for a few seconds, and then it was broken by a scream, amplified by the forest echo many times over.
- I am blind, good people! the young man rubbed his eyes with his hands.
Prokop managed to notice how the pink body of a mysterious stranger merged with the surrounding greenery until recently. Then his scream joined the desperate lamentations of the others. The girl disappeared, taking with her the light of a summer morning and the warmth of its colors.
By the evening, fellow villagers found the missing mowers. They wandered through the forest, falling and bumping into trees. Their faces, which were scratched with sharp boughs, had the same expression of horror. Until the end of their days, people who saw the mistress of the three springs remained blind.
This is the brightest of the legends, telling about the relationship of a person with the mysterious forest nymph Zakharenka.
Rumors about a church that has gone underground is most likely fiction and a tribute to tradition. Almost in every locality where the majority of residents adhere to the Christian faith, there is a “personalized” legend about the ringing of underground or underwater bells.
One cannot discount the version that Zakharenka is a pre-Christian, pagan deity who managed to peacefully get along with the characters of later religions.
Another of the legends about Zakharenka tells of a sudden cattle disease that struck the neighborhood. The animals went blind. On the advice of a local healer, desperate people took the cattle to the spring and began to rinse the eyes of horses and cows with water, which, to everyone's joy, turned out to be healing. In honor of the miraculous deliverance of livestock from blindness, a small stone chapel was erected at three springs.
The recent history of the relationship between man and forest nymphs has more sad shades. So, after the revolution, it was decided to demolish the chapel as a symbol of backwardness and an obstacle on the way to a new life. Such a radical decision angered local residents. Then the commissars and their henchmen went for a roundabout maneuver. A subspecies of landscaping (it is important to emphasize that the chapel was in the forest!) Was cut down by a huge oak tree, which collapsed right on the innocent stone structure.
It was here that Zakharenka showed that she is capable not only of helping, but also of revenge. According to local residents, none of the four chapel demolition activists survived for more than six months. One died under a cart that fell from the bridge, the second drank himself to delirium tremens and hanged himself, the third was beaten to death for some offense, and the fourth was burned to death in his own house. For many years the three springs were left to themselves, and only in 1994 it was decided to pay tribute to Zakharenka. Near each of the underground springs, nice log chapels were built, comfortable approaches were made.
A funny incident happened at the grand opening of this mini-complex. One of the local chiefs decided to stock up on healing water seriously and for a long time. If all the other people collected spring water with cans and bottles, then the playful citizen loaded several 40-liter cans into his UAZ.
Zakharenka again demonstrated her strength and showed that she does not tolerate consumer attitudes towards herself. On an ordinary forest road, the car could not budge until the cans were unloaded.
Mutual reconciliation of people and forest nymphs was not destined to last long.
In a neighboring village there was an idiot who for no reason one night; burned down the wooden chapels. The further fate of the vandal recalled what happened to his predecessors, who attempted to assassinate Zakharenka. The court found him partially sane and sentenced to 5 years in prison. He was never released, he was killed in the colony.
Today, those who do not know the exact location of the three springs will not be able to find their way to them on their own. The ravine was overgrown with huge ferns, and the surrounding bushes reliably hid the underground keys from prying eyes.