There was once a girl named Gena who had very fine hearing.
She could hear birdsong three miles away and beyond. And she could make out all sorts of noises and sounds. The mice in the loft, the wind among the spruce branches at night, even when she was tucked under heavy blankets.
She could hear the little screeches, and the long chased of predators out in the darkness.
One day, she realised, she could hear people's thoughts. At first, she thought she had an advantage, but day after day these thoughts felt always more intrusive and unwanted: she didn't want to know all the unpleasant, harsh, cruel thoughts behind smiling faces.
She didn't want to be pestered with harsh voices in the middle of the night, so she decided she would go to visit the water-carrying Lady Star-Light: a magnificent, kind woman who would know how to help her.
It was so that on a clear winter night, Gena went to the river ambling around the village like a huge, grey ribbon. She saw that the North Star was shining just above the place where two different streams ran and merged into the river.
She waited and waited, for she knew the water-carrying woman from the stars would come.
At length, she appeared out of the adjacent woods at midnight.
Her skin sparkled with starlight, and her long, blond hair was her only ornament.
She carried two gold enamelled jugs, and tiptoed into the river, where two rocks jutted out, to gather water in her jugs. Then, she put them on the flattest rock, under the starlight.
At that point she saw Gena behind a bush.
"What are you doing here, girl? Is it not too late in the night for you?"
Gena came out, shook her head and said: "Forgive me Star Lady, if I intrude on you while you are gathering water, but I really need your help."
"What is your name?"
"Gena."
"How could I help you, Gena?"
Gena explained her plight, and felt exhausted by the end of her account."
"I see" - said Lady Star-Light, "You have been hearing and carrying too much inside."
"But what other people's thoughts and opinions? Why should I be hearing them straight from their heads?"
Lady Star-Light took her jugs.
She poured the content of the first on one of the rocks, while she commanded Gena to take the other jug and pour the water in the river itself.
"But why? Why pour river water in the same river we filled a jug from? It doesn't make sense to me!"
"Do as I say, and keep on carrying water in the jug and pouring it again until I tell you to stop."
Gena did so, even if she was baffled and perplexed.
As she emptied the jug in the river, she noticed the slight changes in the very spot, how the water from the jug helped the river become clearer, sometimes more luminous, or simply less muddy.
"Now"- said Lady Star-Light - "take my place and pour water on the rock."
Again, Gena obeyed, but inside she felt a sort of rebellion for such senseless tasks.
"Every night, I come here" - said Lady Star-Light, "and gather water from this river, at the very juncture between these two streams. One is clean and transparent, the other is rich of ferns and water plants that make it murkier."
"But why?" whined Gena at the end of her patience.
"Can't you see?" said Lady Star-Light pointing to the waters in the two jugs.
Gena shook her head.
"Look closer", said Lady Star-Light.
At length, Gena saw that the water in the jugs was filled with the very elixir of starlight: it sparkled, glistened, and shone like the very stars above. Then, she looked at the river, and saw that it was not half as bright , and she marvelled.
Lady Star-Light guessed her thoughts and smiled.
"Can you see now the reason why I come here and perform my libations every night?"
Gena nodded only half-convinced.
"you see, this river is rich of all the combinations and conditions of life, but it is my task to imbue it with starlight: the flow of beneficial dreams, ideas, sentiments, and aspirations. By performing my task every night, I make sure the river, and the village, in the morning are supplied with the energy of the stars, to cope with everyday difficulties, but also to make love and art. This way life can be transformed. If you want to stop hearing the harsh voices and thoughts of other people, come here for nine nights in a row, and help me carry out my task. As you attend to your part, pay attention to every single drop of water, in the river, in the jugs, and when it flows on the surface of the rock. Ask yourself questions: what belongs to you, what to the river, what to the rock?"
Gena went back nine nights in a row as she was told.
On the last night, as she contemplated a murky spot in the river, she realised: it was then that the North Star plunged into the river, falling from the sky, making the whole water a luminous mirror.
Delight surged throughout her body, limbs, chest, and mind.
At dawn all the stars were gone, Lady Star-Light blinked, Gena thanked her on her knees, before she disappeared in the sunrise.
