The Magic Veil

The Magic Veil

A young farmer lived an impoverished existence in his little hut, but he never complained because the beauty of nature was more precious to his sensi­tive soul than any wealth.

One day his attention was caught by a lovely smell coming from the woods. He followed the sweet frag­rance until he reached a pine tree and saw, caught in the branches, an unbe­lievably beautiful veil, woven from rays of sunshine, beams of moonlight, and studded all over with stars. The young man had just disentangled the veil from the tree, when there appeared a young maiden who asked for it back. At first the young mail refused, at which the unknown girl burst into tears.

“I am a nymph,” she explained, “and without my veil I will never again be able to rejoin my sisters.”

“If you really are a nymph, then you can prove it,” said the young man, “by dancing for me as only nymphs know how to dance.” So the maiden began to dance in mid-air, her veil flying round and round the farmer, and from the veil there fell thousands and thousands of flowers.

Later, the farmer never could tell Ii he had dreamt it all, or if it had really happened, but from that day on the young man rejoiced even more in the beauty of nature.