The Myth of Needle
Before anyone came to live in the Shrouded Forest, there lived the sprites, a lower tier of spirit. The little beings inhabited the trees and the earth and all living things. Together they spent their days frolicking in and out of the many great trees, all happy and at peace with all. One day they were playing in a field when all of a sudden a man fell out of the surrounding brush. Startled, the sprites vanished, but one of them stayed behind. This sprite was Needle. Needle was a sprite of the pine trees and had never seen a human before, so naturally she was curious.
She moved closer to the man and discovered him wounded, for he had been in a battle several days before not far from the fringes of the great forest. This man was the great Lord Cuthbert who had so bravely defended Forhas from the tyrannical Nobles and their armies. Wounded during battle, his faithful steed Carrion carried him deep within the trees of the forest until the poor thing had died of exhaustion. Cuthbert had crawled the rest of the way. As soon as her eyes fell upon the wound, Needle promised to save the man.
For three days and three nights little Needle cared for Cuthbert tirelessly. The other sprites called her wasteful and stupid for tending to a human, but Needle did not care, for her heart had gone out to the fallen lord. On the night of the third day, Cuthbert finally opened his eyes and gazed at the little sprite next to him. He smiled and gave his thanks to the creature. Seeing his eyes and hearing his thanks made Needle all the more dedicated to aiding the lord but it was futile- That night, Lord Cuthbert died from his wounds and poor Needle buried him.
The other sprites were furious that a human should be buried within their sacred forest and tried again and again to exhume the body, but Needle stood bravely atop the grave, still crying from her loss and refusing the sprites their anger. Where the little thing’s tears fell, they carpeted the land with pine needles, hiding the grave from the sight of the evil sprites. This is why the pine trees cry every autumn in a ring beneath their boughs- to protect the grave of the sprite’s lost love from those who would see it destroyed.
The Myth of Lamia
Just outside of the great city of Hyrule, the capital of the world, there was a small cave among a grove of rocks near a stream. Few Hylians ever visited this secluded, sacred spot and for that reason, it is loved by the nearby spirits who spend their days playing within the crawling waters of the stream and flitting happily in the shimmering air above it.
Among these spirits lived the lovers Herod and Lamia. Together they would spend their days playing along with the other spirits, enjoying their lives to the fullest, Herod and others often listening to Lamia’s beautiful singing without a care in the world. They intended to live out their days along the stream together. For them, live was perfect.
But the gods had in store for the happy lovers a very different fate.
One day the serenity of the grotto was disturbed by an unexpected visitor: a Hylian child.
The arrival of this child in the midst of the games of the spirits caused massive confusion, as no other Hylian had ever so much as seen the grotto, let along stepped foot within its sacred borders. The spirits were intrigued by the new being and at the same time scared by its strange appearance and whether it was the first of many of its kind to walk upon the hidden area.
Some wanted it to be accepted as one of them, to grow up among the spirits as one of their own children and to learn how to cast spells and fly, becoming immortal and happy for eternity; but others were much more cautious. They wanted it destroyed lest it grew too powerful with their magic and overcome its hosts.
So wide was this split among the peaceful grotto spirits that even Herod and Lamia landed on different sides of opinion. Lamia wished to take the child in and raise it, she even volunteered her home as a temporary housing for the lost one so as to keep it near her as if it were her own child. Herod was aghast at the thought of such a being living under his roof and went into a rage; he wished the child to be expelled from the grotto and forbidden to ever return. It was a danger to the spirit’s way of life and had to go.
All the grotto’s residents gathered around the home of Lamia and Herod to hear their arguments going back and forth on the issue and indeed, both gave very good cases but in the end, the spirits elected a council to decide the ultimate fate of the child.
After many hours of debating, the council came to a resolution: expel the child out into the unknown wilderness from whence it came, but with a guardian to protect it.
To Herod’s dismay, it was Lamia who immediately volunteered to accompany the child. Frightened at losing his lover, Herod approached his mate and pleaded her to remain with the peaceful spirits and live life as they had before the coming of the child. Lamia tearfully refused, saying: “I go unto the unknown with nothing but my child and the hope of my love’s companionship.”
Frightened, Herod ran from Lamia, leaving a trail of tears behind him. Lamia wept bitterly at her abandonment by her love, but nevertheless remained with the lost child, holding it close to her breast and drying her eyes with its hair.
Wordlessly, she and the child turned from the grotto and walked away into the darkness, her moaning song drifting throughout the land reaching all within, especially poor Herod whose cowardice haunts him to this day and whose tears have never once stopped since, causing such a great swelling of water, his tears flooding the small stream to make it into the great river of Hyrule.
For Lamia, her child long dead, she wanders the world aimlessly, looking for her lost lover in vain, always moaning as she drifts through the plains and mountains, her mournful song galloping throughout the hills and valleys in search of her Herod. Her song becoming the wind and howling its tormented heart to all who pause to listen carefully.
Myth of the Faerie Queen
Once, the faeries who now serve Hylians and Man were among the Sacred, sharing their bowls with the great Lesser Goddesses. They held a special place within the halls of the Holy and they enjoyed their privilege. The queen of the faeries held total power over her subjects and was a just and wise ruler, ruling her people for eons and eons with the guidance of the gods just over her shoulder.
One day, while joining the Holy Ones to look upon the world, she caught sight of a beautiful Hylian man out for a walk in the countryside. So enamoured was she by his face that she sat and stared upon him for hours and hours, even after the gods had bored of their mortal-watching. She watched him when he ate and when he slept; morning and night she held his face with her eyes.
It was when he was sleeping one night that he was set upon by bandits. Robbed and beaten, the man was left for dead in a ditch along a road, his beautiful face scarred and covered in dark blood.
Horrified at the thought of losing her newfound love, the faerie queen cast her eyes around the house of the gods, searching for any god who may help her love. Her roving eyes fell on the small god Keaton.
“Keaton,” she said, throwing herself before him, “please save that man down there from his certain death!”
Keaton looked down his long snout at the faerie before him and sniffed. “Why should I save your love? He means nothing to me.”
“I will do whatever you ask of me, so long as he lives!” cried the queen.
The fox-god smiled a toothy smile. “Very well, O queen. I shall save your man.” The fox reached into a pouch and took a pinch of magic dust between his paws. “With this powder I give to you and your kind, the power of life will be yours and your man will be saved. However, this all comes at a price- You and your subjects must give up your place among the sacred, living forever there on the mortal realm.”
The queen was horrified. “Why would you ask me to leave this place?” she cried.
Keaton danced happily before her. “I give you the choice: live with the gods forever, or live among the mortals forever alongside your love.”
The tearful faerie queen looked between the god and the viewing pond in dismay before making up her mind.
“I choose to save the man and live among the mortals. An eternity with him will more than make up for an eternity among the gods.”
The fox laughed and gave her the powder. “Very well, queen. I hope your life with this man will be worth it.
With that, the faerie queen came to earth and approached the near-dead body of her love. She sprinkled the powder over him and in an instant he was healed of his wounds.
His eyes opened and lay upon the beautiful form of the faerie and he smiled. “To you, o beauty, I owe my life,” he said. With that the two began a life together that was happy for them both beyond either of their imaginations. Together they raised many strong and healthy children until one day the Hylian fell ill.
For three days and three nights he lay ill in bed with the faerie court hanging over him in concern. On the last night he died and there was much wailing and moaning of despair.
Shocked and dismayed, the faerie queen called to Keaton, remembering their promise.
He appeared before her and she spoke: “Keaton, trickster of gods! You deceived me of my lover and broke our promise! He lies dead in his bed despite the powder you gave me. I cannot live forever with him as we promised.”
But the fox-god only smiled his toothy smile. “We only agreed that you shall live among the mortals forever, not live with your love forever. There is a difference. You wished to love a mortal- your love blinded you to the fact that you are immortal and one day he would leave you behind. You traded an eternity with the gods for an instant with a mortal.”
With that he vanished leaving the faerie queen standing alone, crying at the foolishness of being tricked by the fox.
From that day forward, the faeries have aided the wounded whenever they could, using the magic passed to them by their queen to heal the wounds and calm the minds of those who come to them. The faerie queen, it is said, still lives where her lover fell, pleading in vain to the silent gods to return her love to the living.
