The Pond Goddess

The Introduction

I could begin this story with a descritpion of Adriana but there are always descriptions. Her age really doesn't matter, what country she lived in, what color her skin was, if her hair was brown or yellow or black is of no importance because this is not a story about appearances. After all, underneath the obvious, the real us is hidden from other's eyes anyway. So I will begin differently.

Adriana smiled as she watched the bumpy green-brown frog resting on a submerged rock in her pond. Every so often he would puff up his chest and croak. She was lying in the soft, dampish grass of the bank propping her head with one arm. unconsciously atuned to the sounds around her as she observed the frog.

This pond, in the woods in back of her house, was the center of her world. She loved the dark pond water, the rapirian foliage, the plants and rushes, lillies and cottonwoods and watching water skippers making ripples and little red snakes swimming and slithering.
She closed her eyes and rested for awhile. The sounds of her pond world relaxed her mind and she drifted into quiet sleep. Adriana didn't think about anything else when she was at the pond. She just experienced it. When she wasn't there ..and that was the other part of her life..she always thought about the pond and its creatures and they lured her back as soon as possible.

When she fell asleep there, her dreams were mostly strange adventures that carried her away from her home and routine life. She dreamed of rivers, oceans, mountains and forests and she roamed them happily at will, never encountering anything to be afraid of. She never wanted to come home but she always did. Sometimes when she awoke it was getting dark and chilly and she would reluctantly follow the well-worn path back to her house.

At Adriana's house lived another person who was an important part of her life but sadly, he was not as important to her as the pond. As with Adriana, I will not describe what he looked like, but I will describe other things about him, like what he liked to do mostly or what Adriana thought he liked to do mostly. His name was Damon and Adriana used to think he was very handsome but that is a surface description so we won't elaborate on it. We can learn more about Damon by knowing what he liked to do when Adriana was out at the pond.

Damon had a tremendously huge collection of history books. He studied about wars and agreements between governments and political decisions between this president or that chancellor. He studied the histories of nations and religions and cultures. He would rather pour over an old antique map then have strawberry ice cream! When he was at home from work, on would go the computer, and out came the books and Damon would be submerged in the past for hours. He scarcely noticed when Adriana slipped out the door and wended her way to the pond.


Damon found a little more to peak his interest than history itself, although he did dearly love it. He discovered he had a special excitement when studying events during the Roman Empire period. He sometimes envisioned himself dressed as a Roman soldier wielding a huge sword and atired as a soldier of that era would be. He imagined riding his gallant steed to the rescue of beautiful maidens and princesses. He often imagined himself owning a beautiful Roman palace with courtyards, gardens and baths and often entertaining Royalty. It was so much easier than trying to understand the elusive Adriana with her softly sad eyes. He had given up trying to understand her infactuation with the pond quite some time before.
Sometimes late at night he would fall asleep with a book open on his lap and his reading glasses falling lopsided across his nose. He seldom was aware when Adriana came in from the pond, cool from the night air with the aroma of grass and water lillies clinging to her. One time he awoke to see her and he thought she was the Lady of the Lake. She seemed truly beautiful to him but so untouchable.


It was an enchanting, lovely summer night. The silvery reflections from a glowing almost full moon made the dark water of the pond glow mystically. The mournful cry from a distant loon and little splashes from some water creatures playing by the bank was enough for Adriana to feel the magic of it all deeply in her soul. She lay on the grass, hair spread about her head and eyes and ears taking in everything as though she were living this moment forever. After awhile her eyelids began to close and her breathing became so quiet yet everything around her became more and more real and intense as she fell asleep.

As she slept, she sensed movement, and felt shadow, it fell over her softly and she was aware of something alive near, so close she could almost reach out and touch it but her arms wouldn't move. The sounds, smells and visions of the pond followed her in sleep and lulled her into its comfortable spell, offering her quietness of soul and safety in its familiar oblivion, but this time she resisted the lure of the pond and let her consciousness seek the shadow. She had no sense of fear, its presense was somehow calming yet a power came from it, not of the pond, but from some other place and had an element of danger some small spark, back in her mind warned her to be aware...beware lest she be overtaken when her guard was down...then she aquiesed as the pond took her in its familiar embrace and she fell into its deep and full serenity.

Warm rays of late summer sun filtered through the topmost branches of the trees surrounding the pond, drying the last droplets of morning dew that had found spots to linger on leaves, petals and blades of grass. Dappled light played across the face of Adriana, the pond goddess. At some point in time as she had fallen in love with the pond, love between them had merged with adoration, and the pond, the moon, the trees, even the frogs, night birds and dragonflies had made her their goddess, worshiping her with their beautiful or gruff sounds of fulfilled nature. How often does nature find a true goddess it can worship, one who is worthy of that worship by completely loving and deeply caring for all of its aspects? As Adriana very slowly began to move and awaken into her new day, she felt the soft, warm energy of her adoring subjects surround and fill her with peace. As the light dispelled the dark, so the shadow had slipped away into the shelter of the trees, the moment the sun began its control of the day. She did not remember it.

Damon woke early and still sleepy, made his way to the kitchen to put on the coffee. He barely noticed all the books and scattered maps across the dining room table where he worked. He had forgotten to turn the computer off last night and it was rolling eternally on with his latest screensaver. As he scooped coffee, poured water into the coffee pot well and pushed the button, thoughts returned about his research that had carried him into the early morning hours. In his imagination he had vividly seen a lone Roman soldier standing by a huge pricipice waiting for something. For some reason, he had felt a real connection between himself and the soldier. He was a strikingly handsome and powerful warrior, with red clothing, black boots and shiny silver engraved helmet and shield. His sword was tremendous. Beautiful, he thought. He loved swords. He had several displayed in the living-dining area of their little cottage. Ones of Roman vintage as well as Excalibur of the Pendragon lore of England. This vision of last night, still clear as a bell this morning, had caused him to start researching Roman weaponry and the war skills of common soldiers of the Roman army, not that he hadn't before in different aspects of the subject. Far into the night, one website after another, searching for he knew not what. He barely noticed when Adriana had left to the pond, and he never realized that she had not returned.