The Crying Woman

Athens, Greece

I have an image in my head—a statue of a crying woman.

A woman made of white, weathered marble stands ten feet tall in the center of a bustling market square. She cries streams of simulated tears as she spills water from her oversized vase onto the pond lilies that fill the fountain below. Gleaming coins litter the bottom of the fountain like flour on a baker’s shelf. Well over a hundred dollars could be counted in the fountain, but no one reaches in to fill their own pockets. Instead, they stop to feel the spray of the water on a hot, summer’s day and toss in another coin with a splash.

Vera’lyn was a gardener, who lived in the fields east of the city hundreds of years ago. It’s said that she grew the most beautiful flowers. Every week people would stand patiently in the streets of the market, waiting for her cart to roll in, so they could buy them. 

Some people say that the flowers were more brilliant than those that grow in the fey realm. Some say that those flowers came from the fey realm, and the spring that supplied her garden with water was home to a water nymph. The nymph would give Vera’lyn seeds to grow her flowers, and Vera’lyn kept their home lush and the water clean. Over the years, the two of them fell madly in love.

But one year, there was a terrible drought, and the spring ran dry. Without any water, the nymph disappeared. Vera’lyn continued to grow flowers, carrying water in her vase from a river that flowed miles away from her home. But her flowers were not as vibrant as they once were, and they did not sell as well. Maybe it was because the water was different. Maybe it was that her heart was no longer in it. 

Vera’lyn decided that she would try to refill the water in her spring, then the nymph might return to her. She went to a nearby hag and asked her to enchant her vase. She wanted the vase to never stop pouring water, so that she could use it to refill the spring. To have such an enchantment costs a lot of money though, and Vera’lyn did not have enough. She promised to pay the hag back as soon as she could, but she couldn’t wait any longer to fill the spring. The hag agreed to enchant the vase for the little gold that Vera’lyn had, so long as she was willing to give something else as collateral until she could pay the rest. Vera’lyn agreed. The hag enchanted the vase and took her memory of the nymph.

Vera’lyn cries because she doesn’t remember why she must keep pouring the water from her vase, only that she must. And she never stopped pouring. Her gardens flooded, and all her flowers drowned. All the people in the city throw coins into the fountain, so that one day, Vera’lyn can pay her debt, and she can remember the nymph whom she loved.