Sidhari

A father had a beautiful daughter, slender and graceful as a cedar, and that was her name: Sidhari. He was very proud of her, and rightly so. She was not only beautiful in appearance, but had a gentle and loving soul as well.

Naturally, the young men noticed this too, and she had countless admirers. But there was only one man who mattered to her: Kendros. He was the son of a merchant from their town, not rich, but comfortably well-off enough to start a family. They loved one another dearly and never missed an opportunity to see each other.

Her father took great exception to this. He wanted at least a prince for his beautiful daughter; no man of lesser rank was good enough for her in his eyes. When a young man from a distinguished noble family asked for her hand, he gladly agreed and ordered his daughter to consent. He had only her best interests at heart, after all ...

But Sidhari loved her Kendros and refused to marry the man her father had chosen. Her father flew into a terrible rage and forbade her ever to see Kendros again.

So the two young lovers were forced to meet in secret, and naturally their secret was soon discovered and brought to the father's attention.

His fury knew no bounds. He had his daughter taken to the old tower of his castle and locked inside. From then on, she saw no one but the servants who brought her food and kept her room in order. They had been strictly forbidden to speak to her. And because they feared their master, they obeyed.

After some time, her father came to her and asked whether she would now submit to his wishes. She refused. Her heart belonged to Kendros and to no one else.

Kendros, meanwhile, went to her father and begged for his daughter's hand. He was rudely dismissed. Yet he tried again and again, until at last the father forbade him ever to set foot on his estate again and informed his servants that the young man was to be denied entry, by force if necessary.

Thus he succeeded in separating the two young people, but he could not put an end to their love.

Time passed, and Sidhari remained in her tower. The only friends she had were the birds that perched in the cedars outside her window. But when winter came, they flew south, and then Sidhari was completely alone.

From time to time her father came to see whether she had changed her mind, but each time he had to leave again without success. The bridegroom he had chosen for her eventually found another wife, and all the young men who had once courted the girl turned away and gradually forgot her.

Still, her father remained stubborn, and after a while he all but forgot his daughter.

But she sat alone in her tower room, growing paler and thinner with every passing day.

One day, after a very long absence, her father came to her again and told her that Kendros had joined the army a year before and had never returned from the last war. He thought Sidhari would now burst into tears and finally yield. But she merely turned her back on him and said nothing.

So her father left, and he never visited her again.

Thus the years passed, and the birds alone were her friends. The birds took pity on her and flew to the Guardian of the Cedar Forest. There they told her the girl's sad story and begged her to help. The fairy listened attentively and thought for a long time.

One day she appeared in the girl's room. She silently regarded Sidhari and looked deep into her heart.

Then she said:

“You are called Sidhari, and that means cedar — and you are like a cedar indeed. Then you shall no longer be lonely. Sister among sisters you shall be.”

She drew a mysterious sign upon the girl's forehead and departed. But a change came over Sidhari. She stretched upwards. Her arms grew longer and put forth branches and leaves. All around her, the tower began to crumble, while roots sprang from her feet.

And before long, a magnificent cedar stood among the ruins of the tower. The girl had disappeared. The trees all around her welcomed her as a sister, while the birds built their nests among her branches and sang for her.

The following morning, when the servants came, they found nothing but ruins and a tall tree standing among them. They ran to their master and excitedly told him what they had found. The father hurried to the place where the tower had once stood, and his hard heart broke when he saw what had happened.

But it was too late to change anything.

Sidhari was no longer lonely and imprisoned. She stretched her branches towards the sky and rejoiced in the wind, the sunlight, the company of her sisters, and the busy lives of the birds. And little by little, her spirit became more and more like that of the trees.

Only sometimes did the image of her beloved Kendros rise within her heart.

And then a tiny resinous tear would find its way down the bark.