Ae Mere Nicht (One More Night)

A few years back Momma told me we were going on a trip, to the land of her forefathers, deep in the country, where forests hide fields of dreams and sometimes even black bears.

I was not expecting to like it so much, being an urban suburban myself, but hey, I admit, I was smitten.  The grass was so long and green, the mountains high, the ocean waves so inviting.  I could sit on the top of an easy chair, taking it all in, staring out the bay window hour after hour, without blinking. It made me curious, tell me

more.

Momma’s great great grandfather’s family actually left the majestic Kintyre behind and traded it in for the beauty of another peninsula in the  New World, with very similar scenic views.

Their new home hugged the bay to the south, the majestic mountains to the west, the ocean to the east and the dense woods to the north.  Years earlier the settlement had been named  ‘Dark Capes’ supposedly because of the massive cliffs that jutted in to the Bay. Those on board the ships from the crew to weary passengers saw the massive, menacing cliffs on shore, wave carved and shiny black, from the tides rolling in.

However there was another story (isn’t there always) about how their settlement got named.  It would seem that a Captain that manned a ship from the ‘old country’ had a beautiful but wilful daughter that went to sea with him, after the death of her mother. Unfortunately kids were expected to do as they were told in that era. She refused to conform to her father’s authority.  Although forbidden to befriend the crew, she fell in love with a lowly deck hand.

The Captain pleaded with her to desist, to no avail.  With the fear that the rest of the crew would spot a weakness in him, the Captain felt he had no choice except to throw his beloved daughter and her lover overboard. Say What? If they reached the shore, they could live together happily ever after.  The story goes that they never made land. At least, in a community where everyone knew everyone and their business to boot,  no one in the new world ever claimed to meet the live version of the Captain’s daughter or her Lover.

However, it is said, even today, when the bay is calm, the ghost ship returns with the Captain, her Father, periscope in hand, searching the water and the beach beseechingly, for his daughter.

Although, Momma never saw it, she was told, when the wind whips up the white caps on the waves, the Captain’s daughter and her Lover have been spotted by the locals, walking back and forth on the sandy beach, their Dark Capes flowing behind them, as they wait for Father to have a change of mind and return.  But when you look again, it is already too late. Have they melted in to the shadows to become one with the Dark Capes or have they found shelter in the cave, as they wait patiently for their ‘ship to come in’?

Wow, that is hard-core, they practised tough love to the extreme in those days, Momma!  It is sadder than our Sophie Alert.  No Daddy can be that heartless…can they???  Don’t tell me stories like that again, okay, Momma because I can’t handle the truth….or even old wives tales…..