Hylda and the Elder Mother

Hylda had been hiking all morning along the bank of the river.  She had stopped over and over again to look at the plants that grew along the path.  She greeted each one by name and stopped to admire what she found special about each one.  It was late spring and the Red Baneberries and False Solomon’s Seals were flowering.  The Coltsfoot flowers were gone but their leaves were emerging along the side of the trail.

The sun was high in the sky and she was getting very warm.  She spied a large Elder Tree up ahead.  It was covered in the beautiful white flowers that grew in umbrels all over the tree. Each tiny flower had five white petals and five long stamens reaching out to the bees that spread the pollen. Stopping to breath in their beautiful scent, Hylda decided that this would be a fine place for lunch.  Spreading out the jacket that she no longer needed for warmth, she sat in the shade of the Elder Tree and slowly ate the food that she had brought with her.  The scent of the Elder flowers was so heady that she found herself breathing deeply.  With the food in her stomach, the warmth of the sun and her deep breathing, Hylda soon curled up on her outspread jacket and fell asleep.

It wasn’t long before a kindly old woman stepped out from within the Elder tree.  She wore a green dress that was bordered at the neck line with Elder flowers.  Her curly wild white hair gave off the perfume of the flowers.  Her eyes were a deep blue.  Smiling, she took Hylda’s hand and indicated that they should start walking.  The woman followed willingly.  She felt like a little girl holding her mother’s hand as they walked along.

The Elder Mother and Hylda followed the river which curved to the right.  As they rounded the bend, the woman could see people ahead of them standing by another Elder Tree.  The people were dressed in clothes from a long, long time ago.  Together they sang out “Lady Ellhorn, give me of thy wood, and I will give thee of mine, when I become a tree.”  The Elder Tree was covered in berries and one of the women began picking them and putting them in a rough basket.  “I will make a tonic for my sick child with these,” she told the tree.  One of the men cut a length of wood from a branch of the tree.  “I will use this to blow on the fire and to make a whistle,” he told the tree.  Another woman took a piece of bark.  “I will use this to bring down the swelling in me old dad’s legs,” she told the tree.  “Our Elder Mother surely takes good care of us all,” she murmured. 

Hylda thought she caught sight of the kindly old woman smiling from within the branches.  But when she looked beside her, the Elder Mother was there, smiling just the same.  She tugged on Hylda's hand and they walked past these folks as though they were invisible and followed the serpentine curve of the river.  Up ahead, Hylda saw a priest standing with his back to an Elder Tree.  He was speaking loudly to a small group of women.  The women were dressed in clothing from long ago as well but not as long ago as the first group.  “Witches live in this tree.  Stay away from it or the devil will take up home on your roof!”  He cried.  “If you take any wood from this tree, you will be cursed!”  The women turned and sadly walked away from the priest. Hylda looked at the Elder Tree and saw the kindly old woman in its branches begin to shrink in size until she could barely be seen.

When she looked beside her though, the Elder Mother was still large as life but she was not smiling anymore.  Tugging on her hand once again, the Elder Mother drew Hylda forward.  Around the next bend, she could see a group of women dressed in the same kind of clothing as herself.  They were standing in front of a huge Elder Tree covered in dark purple berries.  The berries were so heavy that the umbrels were now upside down as the berries dangled over the earth.  “Elder Tree, would you allow us to pick some of your berries to use for our health?” one of the older women asked.  She began nodding her head as if hearing an invisible voice.  She placed something from her hand onto the earth under the tree.  The women very carefully picked one umbrel after another and put them in baskets.  They traded recipes for Elderberry Syrup, dried Elderberry tea and Elderberry wine with each other as they picked.

Hylda looked at the Elder Mother who still held her hand.  The Elder Mother was smiling.  She let go of the woman’s hand and disappeared.  Looking at the Elder Tree and the happy women, Hylda saw the broad grin on the face of the Elder Mother in the tree before she receded behind the leaves and disappeared once again.

Suddenly, with a jolt, she was under the first Elder Tree again, lying on her jacket. She looked up to see the Elder flowers but they were gone.  Instead, she saw dark purple berries hanging down towards her.  Standing, she looked around her.  The spring flowers were gone.  In their place were bright yellow goldenrods and purple asters.  The sumacs were turning red.  Confused, she turned back to the Elder Tree.  She thought she saw the dark blue eyes of the Elder Mother deep in the foliage.  One of the eyes winked at her.  Picking a few berries, Hylda popped them in her mouth.  The juice woke up her tongue and she felt more alive than she ever had before.  A deep gratitude filled her heart and she felt at home for the first time in a long while.  She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. 

When she opened them again, she was lying once again under the Elder Tree.  The sun was much lower in the sky.  Shielding her eyes, she looked up at the tree and saw the milky white flowers reaching up to the sky like clouds.  Getting to her feet, she saw the spring flowers along the trail once again.  She picked an umbrel of sweet smelling Elder flowers and put it in her hair.  Smiling like the Elder Mother she began walking back up the trail.  She wasn’t going home though.  She was already there.