The Witch of Hex River

Long ago, in a lovely valley between the Cape and the dry old Karroo, lived a beautiful girl. Her name was Eliza and everyone called her lovely Eliza for she was, without doubt, the prettiest girl for miles around. Which is why all the young men of those parts came along to Buffelskraal, her father's farm, to pay their respects.

Now, Eliza had one fault. It was a bad fault - one that made her parents sad and drove the young men to despair. Eliza was proud. Not just a little conceited, giving herself airs and graces, but so proud that she was quite impossible. She would look down her pretty nose at any young man who came to court her and say, with a little sigh: "Dear me, and what have you got to show for yourself? I wouldn't look at a man who isn't brave enough to climb the krans of Buffelskraal and bring me a bakkiesblom, the red disa that grows only at the very top!"

And the young men would look up at the towering krans with its sheer cliffs and their hearts would turn cold. It would be death to try and scale the krans. Not even Eliza Meiring was worth that. And Eliza would watch them ride away and say, with her nose in the air: "One day a real man will come along and bring me a disa from the krans. None of these others are worth my heart. I shall wait."

And wait she did. Till her parents begged her to forget her pride and marry a nice young fellow from nearby. "No one," they said, "will ever dare do what you ask. And who are you to make such harsh demands anyway?"

"Huh!" said Eliza. "No man I've met is worthy of my love. The man I marry will have to be a hero."

One fine day, long after her parents had given up hope, a young man rode singing to Buffelskraal and his name was Frans. He was young and strong, handsome and clever and, though from a good family, he was no idle boaster and no stranger to hard work. His laughter was infectious and his eyes kind and all those he met became his friends.

Eliza had hardly set eyes on him when her heart missed a beat and she knew that this was the young man she'd been waiting for. It was not long before Frans asked her to marry him. In her heart Eliza said yes, for she loved him and she knew that he was worthy of her love. But her pride made her say: "If you want me as your wife, Frans, you must climb the high krans behind Buffelskraal and bring me a bakkiesblom from the very top. Then all the world will know that I'm marrying a hero - only the best is good enough for Eliza Meiring!"

Without a moment's hesitation Frans replied, "If that's the way to make you my bride, the I'll climb the krans and pick that disa!"

They were no idle words. Up and up climbed Frans and as he climbed you could hear his happy voice echo among the crags. He sang a song of love and courage and it rang bright and clear from the great krans, where high, high above the valley Frans stood perched on a ledge of rock, reaching for the disa lily. Far below Eliza stood and heard him sing and knew in her heart that Frans indeed loved her more than she deserved...

But, as he reached to pluck the lily, the rock under his feet crumbled and he fell. Down, down the cliffs with the disa in his hand, into the abyss below.

When she understood that she had sent Frans to his death, Eliza went mad with grief and remorse. In the end her parents had to lock her away in an upstairs room for fear that she would do herself harm.

Here in the dark room lived lovely Eliza Meiring alone and mad, and here she carved her initials, EM, in the teak windowsill. Later she added the year - 1768. Then one night, as a full moon sent a white beam through her window, she broke out of the room and ran away into the darkness. Up the steep rocks she climbed to where the blood red disas grew on the summit. There she perched on the rocky ledge and when it crumbled beneath her feet she fell to her death with the name of Frans on her lips.

But they say that not even death released Eliza from her terrible remorse. On moonlit nights when snow and mist lie on the mountains - so the old people of the valley will tell you - Eliza goes searching for Frans.

It is then that many people bolt their doors to keep her out. You can hardly see her for she is only a pale ghost and you scarcely hear her voice which is a soft as the night wind. But she is there.

She died more than two hundred years ago. Today they remember her as a witch, or hex, for her pride cost her life and the life of the man she loved. And the lovely valley where she lived, between the green Cape and the dry Karroo, is called the Hex River Valley.



Story Time � 1984-1989 by Rubicon Press CC

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