A legend survives on Mount Carrier, the undisputed king of the Sibillini mountains, has been hiding and whispering for millennia.
Up there where in the mists of time was born the myth of the cave of the Sibyl, also called the cave of the Fairies, according to which this cave was the access to the underground kingdom of Queen Sibyl, a priestess able to predict the future.

legend of the Apennine sibyl

For centuries, necromancers and knights errant from all over Europe climbed Mount Carrier to consecrate their books, going up to where there is the equally mysterious lake in the shape of glasses, called Pilate's.
The story tells that two unguided oxen carrying the body of Pontius Pilate climbed Mount Carrier and threw themselves into the lake, disappearing forever.
In that blue body of water lives a shrimp, the only species in the world that swims in reverse with its belly upwards, and sometimes the waters suddenly turn bright red.
But the myth mixes with reality, as archaeologists have found a flat stone with esoteric symbols near the lake, probably used to magical rites, much practiced for centuries up there.

Sibilla and her legend
According to the legend, the Sibyl was good and enchantress, a connoisseur of astronomy and medicine, and bestowed prophetic responses with a language that was not easy to interpret.
She surrounded herself with fairies who came out at night, and went up before dawn so as not to be excluded from the reign of the Sibyl.
These creatures hovered around the lake of Pilate, where they went for the foot bath, since only away from prying eyes did they raise the skirts showing the goat foot.
The fairies, however, had contact with man, going downstream to teach the young women the spinning and weaving of wool, and to meet the young shepherds.
Hence the legend of bewitched loves that bound them to some men, who, once in contact with the fairies, were sometimes ensnared and stolen from the human world, and remained alive until the end of the world, although forced to live in the cave, in the manner of night with the fairies and the priestess.
The fairy creatures of the Sibillini mountains are described as handsome young people, and the trampling of their footsteps recalls the sound of hooves on the stony ground of the mountains. However, they had to be careful not to show their goat features in order not to reveal themselves.

Monte Carrier in history
Sometimes they left traces by slipping the paths with the goat foot, or sometimes the free animals on the mountains grazing came back with their mane combed in braids and the people of the valley believed that the creators were really the fairies.
Over time, these creatures were demonized by the sermons of priests and friars, and finally forced to take refuge in the bowels of the mountain, they disappeared almost completely in the invisible world, perhaps also punished for having demonstrated the knowledge of man at that time monopoly.
The myth still mixes with the real world and the legend, relegating the fairies, completely assimilable to female figures, to remain hidden, thus imprisoning the woman in the shade, segregated within precise boundaries, probably because with her own peculiarities, she threatened the rational stability of the male and his supremacy, in fact, if the woman dares to make her own wisdom visible and highlights the limits of the male.
They still survive tales reminiscent of fairies of a changeable and vain character, sometimes self-centered, touchy and short-tempered, since a wrong could unleash their anger and spite, causing them to become angry and implement punitive spells by casting curses.
Forks were erected on the Carrier for centuries and barriers were built to prevent necromancers from climbing up there, but still today the bowels of the Sibillini mountains where unexplored caves stand out in the darkness, recurring earthquakes still frighten man and remind him of the Sibyl.

Legend and myth of the Apennine Sibyl and fairies last edit: 2018-05-14T09:30:47+02:00 da simona help

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