"There are few things that smell as wonderful as a deep breath of warm, morning country air, full of the sweet smell of growing things all around", commented Janet and send my little grey cells-those that still work-in a frenzy. There had been a time when people believed that inside every majestic tree, in every holy grove, in the deepest parts of the woods lived a Nymph. A Dryad to be presise, as Nymphs had many sub-categories: nymphs of the sea, nymphs of streams and freshwater springs, nymphs of groves and sea caves etc. |
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| Hamadryad by John William Waterhouse |
Some of the Nymphs lived as, lets say, souls and protectors of trees. Meliades took care of orchard trees such as apple etc but their sisters Dryads or Hamadryads were the souls mainly-but not exclusively- of oak trees
(drys is the Greek word for oak....notice the use of almost the same linguistic root in the word druid ).
Dryads were somewhere between Gods and humans. They were not immortal, but they died when their tree died. Thus it was a sacrilege to harm in anyway the sacred trees.
“Goddesses mine, ye Mousai, say did the oaks come into being at the same time as the Nymphai [Dryades]? The Nymphai rejoice when the rain makes the oaks to grow; and again the Nymphai weep when there are no longer leaves upon the oaks.” - Callimachus, Hymn IV to Delos 75
Nymphs in general were quite wild creatures.
They fell in love with young men luring them to their doom,they had affairs with gods, run naked following Pan, gave birth to semigods and heroes like Achilles, hunted with virgin Artemis, rode dolphins around Poseidon's chariot
(and had a hell of a good time :)
But some-not many-of them were a bit more reserved. Best known is Daphne who run in terror when Apollo declared his love for her and prefered to be turned into a bush-the Apollo laurel-rather than having an affair with the most handsome and charming of the immortal gods...can't say I understand her choice...sigh*
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| Ylas and the Nymphs. Companion of Hercules, he went to bring water and I m sad to report he never came back. The Nymphs of the pond fell in love with him and kept him there. By John William Waterhouse. All this wildness gave them a very bad reputation indeed and even today their name is used in the word "nympho-maniac". But I have to point out that Dryads were in general realy good girls, just taking care of their trees, unlike their water/sea/spring sisters. |
Nymphs survived the coming of the Christian era by hidding in fairytales and folk myths. Up till the middle of last century there were people in villages "able to see the fairies". Grandmothers told bed time stories about the "Neraides" and gave council to the children, if they meet one never never never to talk to her or she would steal their sanity and/or their voice.
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There are countless folk tales about young men who happened to sneak up on a fairy taking her bath. If the guy kept his wits and managed to steal her garments, she would follow him meekly and be his for ever. But many tales end with the fairy discovering her clothes hidden in the house. She would then abandon her husband and children and go back to her own kind. A prominent Greek politician in the 1800s was seriously reputed to have a fairy as a great-grandmother :) Maybe (I wish) Dryads will be back one day. Maybe we mortals will remember then what a huge part of life on this planet we owe to plants. Till then they will continue to hide deep in the forests... (just an after-thought : maybe they are the Entwives Treebeard was searching for...if you meet him tell him about them) |
