File SMTH218

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*20
/        "THE CURSE OF TONDO"
/  WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A PLACE IS CURSED? DOES THE CURSE
/LINGER ON THROUGH THE AGES, BRINGING EVIL TO ALL WHO FALL
/UNDER ITS SPELL? IS THIS TRUE OF LAKE ELSINORE IN
/SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA? 
/  THIS BLUE, MYSTIC LAKE LIES IN AN INLAND CALIFORNIA
/VALLEY WHICH IS TEEMING AND STEAMING WITH HOT SPRINGS.
/RIMMED BY SHAGGY MOUNTAINS WHOSE FORESTED CRESTS ARE
/REFLECTED IN ITS CLEAR WATERS, LAKE ELSINORE IS THE VERY
/PERSONIFICATION OF PEACE - BUT ON IT RESTS THE CURSE
/OF TONDO.
/  LAKE ELSINORE HAS HAD A COLORFUL HISTORY. MUCH OF IT
/LIES BURIED IN LEGEND, AND IT IS DIFFICULT TO SEPARATE
/FACT FROM FICTION. THERE HAVE BEEN STORIES OF UNDERGROUND
/VOLCANOES ON THE LAKE BOTTOM, ERUPTING, KILLING FISH AND
/DISCOLORING THE WATER. THERE HAVE BEEN TALES THAT,
/ALTHOUGH PORTIONS OF THE LAKE WERE SHALLOW EVEN IN WET
/YEARS, OTHER PARTS ARE BOTTOMLESS ABYSSES. THERE HAVE
/BEEN STORIES OF A PLAYFUL SEA SERPENT THAT LIVED IN ITS
/DEPTHS.
/  LONG NOTED FOR ITS SCENIC BEAUTY AND HEALTH-GIVING
/WATERS, THE LAKE WAS A FAMOUS RESORT IN THE NINETIES.
/  BUT LONG BEFORE THE FIRST WHITE MAN HAD SET FOOT ALONG
/THE SHORE OF THE LAKE, THIS PART OF CALIFORNIA HAD BEEN
/THE HOME OF THE SOBOBA INDIANS. THEIR CHIEF WAS TONDO, A
/STERN AND UNFORGIVING MAN.
/  HE HAD A DAUGHTER, MORNING STAR, WHO WAS IN LOVE WITH
/PALO, SON OF THE CHIEF OF THE PALAS, A NEIGHBORING TRIBE.
/THE SOBOBAS AND PALAS WERE SWORN ENEMIES. FOR A TIME THE
/LOVERS MET SECRETLY. THEN ONE DAY THEY WERE DISCOVERED BY
/TONDO. HIS RAGE WAS TERRIBLE TO BEHOLD. HE FORBADE THE
/LOVERS EVER TO MEET AGAIN.
/  MORNING STAR TRIED IN EVERY WAY TO APPEASE HER FATHER"S
/ANGER, TO SOFTEN HIS HEART TOWARD PALO. BUT IN TIME SHE
/SAW THAT IT WAS USELESS; THAT HE WOULD NEVER GIVE HIS
/CONSENT TO THEIR MARRIAGE. VOWING THAT THEY WOULD NEVER
/BE SEPARATED, THE INDIAN MAID AND HER LOVER WALKED HAND
/IN HAND INTO THE LAKE, AS THE DREARY NOVEMBER SUN CAST
/LONG SHADOWS ON THE LAND. THEY WERE FOLLOWED BY A GROUP
/OF ORPHAN CHILDREN WHOM MORNING STAR HAD BEFRIENDED. ALL
/WALKED INTO THE LAKE, SINGING THE MOURNFUL DEATH SONG OF
/THEIR PEOPLE, WHILE TONDO STOOD ON THE SHORE AND CURSED
/THE LOVERS, CURSED THE BLUE WATER INTO WHICH THEY ALL
/WALKED TO THEIR DEATH.
/  EVER SINCE THAT DAY IT WOULD SEEM THAT A JINX HAS BEEN
/LAID OVER LAKE ELSINORE. OLD-TIMERS TELL OF A GREAT
/UPHEAVAL WHICH CAUSED WATER TO SPOUT INTO THE AIR LIKE A
/GEYSER AND TURN BLOOD-RED. LATER, IT BECAME KNOWN THAT
/THREE HUNDRED SPRINGS OF BOILING MUD AND WATER WERE BORN
/IN THE VALLEY DURING THAT UPHEAVAL. THE SPRINGS REEKED
/WITH SULPHUR.
/  SHORTLY AFTER THIS, MYSTERIOUS LIGHTS WERE SEEN DANCING
/OVER THE WATER. THE INDIANS DECLARED THAT THE SPIRITS
/WERE HAVING A POWWOW.
/  FOR MANY YEARS AFTER THIS PHENOMENON THE LAKE REMAINED
/PEACEFUL. THEN BOATS WERE OVERTURNED FOR NO APPARENT
/REASON, AND FEW OF THEIR OCCUPANTS EVER RETURNED TO TELL
/THE STORY. THIS CONTINUED FOR SEVERAL YEARS. AT THE SAME
/TIME, STRONG SWIMMERS DIVED INTO THE LAKE NEVER TO
/REAPPEAR. 
/  IN 1833 AND AGAIN IN 1846, FISH IN THE LAKE SUDDENLY
/DIED.
/  IN THE SPRING OF 1850 CAME THE BATTLE OF THE GNATS.
/THEY BRED IN THE WATER OF THE LAKE AND SWARMED OVER THE
/LAND. THEY INVADED THE COUNTRYSIDE UNTIL THE HARASSED
/INHABITANTS CALLED FOR HELP.
/  AND IN THIS CENTURY, IN JULY 1951, THE SKY-BLUE WATERS
/OF THE LAKE VANISHED LIKE MIST BEFORE A NOONDAY SUN. WHEN
/THE BOTTOM WAS LAID BARE THERE WAS NO TRACE OF A VOLCANO,
/THE BOTTOMLESS PIT, OR THE OTHER DISTURBANCES OF LEGEND
/OR FACT.
/  THE COPIOUS WINTER RAINS OF 1951-1952 HAVE REPLENTISHED
/THE LAKE. BUT WHAT MENACE DOES ITS HAUNTING BEAUTY HOLD
/FOR TODAY? FOR TOMMORROW?
/  THE ONCE MIGHTY SOBOBAS ARE FEW NOW. BUT THE OLD MEN
/SWEAR THAT THEIR ANCESTORS STILL HAUNT THE LAKE; THEY
/CLAIM TO HEAR THEIR VOICES IN THE RUSTLE OF THE TREES - 
/SEE THEM WALK ACROSS THE WATER, BEARING IN THEIR HANDS A
/SPIRIT LIGHT. THEY NOD GRIZZLED HEADS AND MURMUR THAT THE
/GREAT TONDO"S CURSE WILL FOREVER REMAIN UPON THE LAKE.
/ONLY TIME, THE WISE AND SILENT ONE, CAN TELL.



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