The Woman of the Seven Springs

by

Diego Manca

Beyond the tourists' Sardinia there is another Sardinia, which is archaic but as much alive as the Sardinian language. This is the Sardinia unveiled in these pages, which trace a path back towards the balance with nature that once existed.
The Woman of the Seven Springs is a story of healing: the healing of a young woman and of the Earth.
Maria Antonietta Matta lives with her mother in Cabras, a fishing village on the west coast of Sardinia. She has barely entered adolescence when she discovers that she has a form of leukaemia which will apparently leave her only a few more months to live. However, she succeeds in regaining her health. Through dialogue with "her" soil and "her" water she attains the ability to face the struggle for live -- her own and that of the places she loves -- and to win.
The title of the novel is borrowed from San Leonardo de Siete Fuentes, a hamlet in Montiferru, surrounded by woods of oak and ilex and famous for the excellence and lightness of its waters. This is the setting of the first part of the novel. It is the home of Tia Nanna Frore, the old woman who is entrusted with the girls' treatment. She shows her how to cure herself of the disease that is killing her, and above all she teaches her to "nourish her dream" and make it come true.
"When you really begin to think that the Earth is yours and that the water and the air are part of your endowment, your life really will begin to change." This is Tia Nanna Frore's simple message. Maria learns from her guide to know and respect the precious waters of Sardinia - streams, springs, waterfalls, pools, seas and holy wells, waters violated and polluted by the negligence and greed of human beings, just as her blood is polluted by disease -- and she undertakes to protect them once she is cured.
The pace of the narrative is leisurely, allowing ancient myths and truths that are still living to reveal themselves. The language is the language of daily life. (All the dialogue in the first part of the book was written in Sardinian and then translated by the author into Italian).

The book is dedicated to the Goddess of all the Waters: the Rivers, Lakes, Springs, Seas and Oceans of the Earth.

Biography
Diego Manca was born in Santulussurgiu, Sardinia, in 1949.
Writer and poet, he has published a volume of poems titled HAIKU in Italian, with Japanese translations on the opposite page, and has written several short stories and an unpublished second novel, HEART OF EUROPE, dedicated to the Goddess earth.
He lives and works in Florence.

CHAPTER 10

ÉLIGHES UTTIOSOS

A few miles after Santulussurgiu, Tiu Brotu told Lucia to turn right into a lane that climbed steeply up the mountain. To tell the truth, it wasn't even a lane but a mule track and in that little car they had some difficulty in getting to the top, where the track came to an end. From there on they went on foot.
Lucia was carrying the plastic bag containing the little tree and a trowel. She and Maria walked behind Tiu Brotu who, in spite of his age -- he was eighty-three -- had set off briskly along a narrow path. After a few minutes Maria felt very tired. Far away they could see the sea, and the blue of the water gave them a sense of serenity that repaid them for all the effort spent on getting thus far. After ten minutes' walk Tiu Brotu stopped and turning to Maria pointed to the distant coast with his stick.
"D'you see the village down there, beside the sea?"
"Yes."
"That's Santa Caterina di Pitinnuri and the village next to it is S'Archittu. Between them there's a little hill. D'you see it?"
"Yes, yes."
"Tia Nanna told me to tell you that the city of Cornus was built on that hill and that the ancient Sardinians fought the Romans there."
Without adding anything further the old man walked on. The two women stayed a moment longer looking at the magnificent view before following him.
Maria didn't see the spring immediately. A number of ilex trees on either side of the path made a kind of green cavern. Ropes of moss hung down over their heads. Half hidden by vegetation the water welled up silently from walls of tufa.
Maria had the impression that the precious liquid seeped from Nature's body, dripped to the ground and formed a little well from which it flowed across the path to feed a tiny brook which thereby began its journey to the sea.
Tiu Brotu pointed out that the surrounding wood was composed chiefly of ilexes, and for this reason the Sardinian name of the spring was Elighes Uttiosos, meaning Dripping Ilexes. The old shepherd urged them to quench their thirst, and he himself drank from his cupped hands. He had taken his cap off and drank in little sips, savouring the goodness and coolness of the water. It was almost eleven o'clock and already very hot.
Tiu Brotu moved away, saying that he would wait for them beside the car.
Lucia advised her young friend to look for a suitable place for planting the little ilex.. Maria had noticed a little clearing crossed by the tiny brook coming from the spring, and dug a hole close to the edge of the water, so that the roots could reach it easily. She took the plant out of its pot, put it in the hole and covered the roots with earth. She sprinkled a little water round it and then asked Lucia what else she ought to do.
"Spend a little time with her," was Lucia's advice. "Then find a place in the shade where you can sit and think what Tia Nanna told you to do." Then she moved away, to lie down under an oak tree.
Maria looked around her and decided to sit beside the spring; from there she could see as far as the sea. She closed her eyes and began to imagine her personal battle against the disease.
When she reopened them the sun was high in the sky. The palms of her hands were so hot that it was almost unpleasant, but there beside the spring the air was cool. She approached the spring and leant her hands on the wet moss. The spring communicated not only a delicious coolness but also an inexplicable joy, a desire to sing, laugh, run, that she hadn't felt for a long, long time. She was grateful for the gift,, because this was her thought: that the spring had given her some sort of present, perhaps its love. She expressed her gratitude aloud, aware of speaking to a being whose existence she sensed for the first time. It didn't embarrass her to speak aloud; she didn't think she was ridiculous; she loved that water.
She decided to go over to Lucia and share with her what she was feeling. First, though, she drank again and again, savouring every sip until she had drunk her fill, and before going away bathed her face.
She was happy.
When she reached the oak tree where Lucia was sitting her eyes shone with joy.
"How lovely!" she exclaimed. "I'm ... I'm ..."
"Don't say anything," Lucia whispered, beckoning. Pointing to the horizon she added, "Sit by me. Look at the sea."
The two women stayed there motionless for a long time. When the rays of the sun made the shade that sheltered them disappear they got up and walked back towards the car, where Tiu Brotu was waiting for them.
Maria was radiant. On the way home Lucia talked about the water and of how this essential element, essential to all living beings, was so little appreciated by almost everyone, who nevertheless used it, and misused it, throughout their lives. Maria retorted that she appreciated water and moreover was really learning now to know and love it. Lucia persisted: to appreciate it properly Maria ought to remember water and thank it every time she cleaned her teeth or washed her hands or had a shower.
They got home round about two o'clock. Tia Nanna had prepared a plate of macaroni for them.
As they ate, Tia Nanna asked Maria if she had learnt anything at Elighes Uttiosos. The girl told her about the feelings she'd had as she sat beside the spring and about how, for the first time in her life, she had encountered a being she could call "divine".
Tia Nanna asserted that, from the very first day they met, she had tried to make her understand that water was a divinity which had been worshipped all over the island for thousands of years.
"But you're only pretending not to know what water is," she added. "Have you never drunk water until today? Try to go without it for seven days and you'll soon see! Or try to go seven minutes without breathing. Do you need someone to squeeze your neck and deprive you of air to realise that air exists? Don't tell me you didn't know what water was!"
Maria didn't dare to reply and as soon as she'd finished eating went to her room.