Lady of the Tree - SS13 Traditional Cache
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(other)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
Placed for the Spring Stomp 2013
A simple play on the Lady Of The Lake
When you arrive at GZ, you will realize that there is no lake here, therefore the name of the cache.
The legend of the Lady Of The Lake is as follows:
The Lancelot-Grail Cycle provides a backstory for the Lady of the Lake, "Viviane", in the prose Merlin section, which takes place before the Lancelot Proper, though it was written later. There, Viviane learns her magic from Merlin, who becomes enamored of her. She refuses to give him her love until he has taught her all his secrets, after which she uses her power to trap him either in the trunk of a tree or beneath a stone, depending on the story and author. Regardless of the specific version, Merlin is unable to counteract Viviane because of his foresight; because of such an ability and the "truth" it holds, he decides to do nothing for his situation other than to continue to teach her his secrets until she takes the opportunity to entrap and entomb him in a tree, a stone or a cave.
The Post-Vulgate Cycle's second Lady of the Lake is called "Ninianne", and her story is nearly identical to the one in the Lancelot-Grail, though it adds her bestowal of Excalibur to Arthur. Sir Thomas Malory also uses both Ladies of the Lake in his Le Morte d'Arthur; he leaves the first one unnamed and calls the second one Nimue. Malory's original Lady is presented as an early benefactor of King Arthur who grants him Excalibur when his original sword is damaged. She is later beheaded by Sir Balin as a result of a kin feud between them (she blames him for the death of her brother and he blames her for the death of his mother) and a dispute over an enchanted sword.
Our version of the Lady Of The Tree is as follows:
The Lady of The Tree is a dryad, also known as a tree nymph, that is a female spirit of a tree, in Greek mythology. In Greek drys signifies "oak". Thus dryads are specifically the nymphs of oak trees, though the term has come to be used for all tree nymphs in general. "Such deities are very much overshadowed by the divine figures defined through poetry and cult," Walter Burkert remarked of Greek nature deities. They were normally considered to be very shy creatures, except around the goddess Artemis, who was known to be a friend to most nymphs.
This dryad was once ensnared by a powerful wizard in many time past, and forced to live out her eternal life entrapped forever as the guardian of the tree. She bestows smiles upon those who discover her, and let's them sign her parchment contained within her home.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ybbx ybj