The golden mushrooms' lady
To escape the
terrible war that had involved also the city where she was born, Marisa
Favalli, an Italian young girl, emigrated from Italy to Canada, losing contact
with her family. There she met a pleasant family, composed of father, mother
and a son, James. As time passed, James
fell in love with Marisa and soon they married. From their marriage, were born
two twin brothers, Mark and Paul. The house where Marisa and James had lived
until then was too small for four people, so they began to look for a new
accommodation. Finally, they bought an old farmstead, at the edges of the
forest and Mark and Paul grew up there.
One morning, the
two boys went into the forest to pick some mushrooms for lunch. During the
walk, under a bush, they saw some mushrooms of a characteristic yellow-gold
colour. The boys thought the mushrooms were poisonous, so they did not touch
them and they continued along the road.
When they
returned home, they told their parents about the strange colour mushrooms;
James told them an old popular legend and according to it, in a simple little
cottage in the forest, there was an old lady, known as "the golden mushrooms
lady", who lived alone with her mushrooms.
Mark and
Paul began to daydream about this mysterious lady and, the next day, they
returned into the forest to look for those mushrooms. After two hours' walk,
they found a clearing that they had never seen before. Here, surrounded by a
lot of mushrooms, there was a simple little cottage. The two boys were as much
curious as frightened, so they decided to return home and speak with their
parents.
A week
later, the family went into the forest and, led by the boys, arrived at the
clearing of the mysterious small house. This time the mistress of the house was
watering her mushrooms. After a short talk, the family decided that they wanted
to know the woman, so the while family went up to her to introduce themselves. 'Good morning' said Marisa 'We
live near your house, and we'd like to know you. My name's Marisa Favalli and
these are James, Mark and Paul, my husband and my two sons' as soon as
Marisa said her name, the woman's eyes lit up with a strange light.
Marisa
thought she had said something strange and she asked her 'Are you
ok?', but the lady answered ' sto benissimo tesoro. Sono Caterina Rinaldi, tua madre!"
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