Sleeping Beauty is a mountainous chain formed by the Verzel (2,444 meters) and Quinzeina (2,344 meters) mountains. The mountainous chain silhouette reminds that of a sleeping woman and can be seen from MyVilla.
Enrico Trione first told us of the legend, summarized in fable form below.
It was a time when powerful wizards lived in the Canavese area. The worst of them was a certain Nestòrh, an immortal creature, the only one who could talk directly to Gods without any fears and the only one who could know deeply Life and Death. Although Nestòrh was a Gods creature, Gods feared him for his power and arrogance. The local people dreaded him too and worshiped him as a real and powerful god.
Gods gave him enormous powers, like the possibility to change his appearance and essence, but not his emotional vulnerability. Thus, the Gods used Nestòrh’s only human weakness to remind him that he was not equal to the Gods.
The legend says that the Gods gave to a farmer, Gustavo, a beautiful and cheerful daughter, named Eloise. Nestòrh saw Eloise and immediately got trapped by her beauty. Nestòrh did not anymore turn himself into a rock, rolling down the mountain, or into a hare running through the fields; instead, he could not help but to turn himself into a wisteria to be picked by her hands or into an owl to look at her from the sky and protect her at night from her balcony. One day, Eloise was very sick and was close to dying. Nestòrh implored the Gods to save her. The Gods stated their condition: Nestòrh had to recognize the Gods’ power as being different from his own. He immediately accepted but, after Eloise’s recovery, Nestòrh understood he had been betrayed. He now was completely human.
After this, Nestòrh decided to punish the human weakness which destroyed his divine power. One night, while Eloise was sleeping, he carried her to the mountains, and he decided she should forever be seen as he saw her that ultimate night. Nestòrh gently laid Eloise on the edge of a cliff and turned her body into a mountain, the so-called “Sleeping Beauty”, and made a powerful spell. The spell was that every time a human being would look at the mountain, Eloise’s sleep would be deeper and deeper. Then, Nestòrh dove into the precipice, without trying to save his life by turning into an eagle. No one heard or saw Nestòrh again.
Annotated Bibliography
http://montagna.tv/25427/la-bella-dormiente
http://www.unafiabaperlamontagna.it
Enrico Trione, in 2001, with his text “Una favola” won the second position in the contest “Leggenda cercasi - La Bella Dormiente” promoted by “Canavese Web”.
