The flowers of Lagorai

Lagorai is a mountain massif bordering south and west the Eastern Dolomites, dividing the Fiemme valley at the north from the Valsugana valley at the south.
During the WWI, it marked the border between the Austrian (north) and the Italian (south) lines, with fierce fights between the two lines, as remembered in the Alpine troops song "Monte Cauriol".
This is one of my favourite tales of the Dolomites. Its simple, delicate, heart-breaking plot of young love is intertwined with the German theme of warriors living in their paradise after their death.

One of the valleys cutting through the harsh peaks of Lagorai is called "Valfloriana", the valley of flowers, as in spring and summer it is covered by a carpet of meadows and flowers of all colours.
A legend says that the blue flowers are the souls of warriors, killed in battle, that were collected by the ravens and brought in the form of flower.

Dina was a girl of Valfloriana. She was very beautiful, with blond hair and dark eyes, and was promised to a handsome man of the same place.
Their love was happy, and they were planning to get married, and move to, and have many beautiful children when, unfortunately, a war broke out.
The man had to leave Dina and join the army that would defend their beautiful land from the hostile neighbours. He left, promising to come back once the war was over.
Days, weeks, passed by, but her fiancée was not back yet. Dina heard that the war was eventually over, but her man was not returning home. Dina thought that he must have died, and willing to talk to him one last time, she started to water each of the blue flowers, hoping to find the one holding the soul of her beloved man.
Day after day after day she would fill her bucket with water, and walk along the valley through the flowers, speaking to them while gently pouring water on them, but she couldn't find the one she cared about.
One evening, while she was walking in the valley, a woman with a green cloak appeared and addressed her with prophetic words  "Dina of Lagorài! Your love is vain, your fidelity useless. The warrior you are looking for here married another woman" - The strange woman brought Dina in front of 5 flowers. Two large and two small flowers were yellow; the fifth was small, blue with a red border. - "Take them if you like" she said. But Dina wet the three smaller flowers and replied "I never pick flowers. I feel sorry for the little ones, the largest flowers I think they are poisonous" Then the woman explained that the large flowers represented her fiancee and his bride, and the smaller their children: everyone of them would be affected by much grief, but the more terrible sorrow would be spared, because she had not picked them.
 
At the foot of the mountains of Lagorai, in Val di Fiemme, lies a large forest with the ancient name of "Treselùm". While Dina was walking in the forest of Treselum, she found a weeping child. She knew that the only neighboring house was the Nadaròl castle at the foot of the mountain, so she took him to the castle.
Walking back from the castle, among the flowers that she had uselessly wet, she felt more lonely and sad than ever. She looked up, and it seemed to her that the peaks of the Lagorai suddenly paled; in the deep silence she seemed to hear the tolling of bells and small-pitched sounds. She felt sick, and walked to a stream to wet her hands. Everything was now quiet, and she felt better. Then the strange woman with the green mantle appeared again, saying "The souls of the warriors, who you have awakened, are now calling you. Your place will be on the highest peak of all, the one that at night becomes silver in the light of the moon and has clouds and forests beneath. Soon you will be with us...". From that day, every time she walked through the Treselum, she felt sick, and only the water of the stream could make her feel better.  
Time passed by. One day she met again the child, and from that day they met every day; the boy had taken such a liking to her, that he said that if she died, he would die with her. The boy became a young man. When she felt bad, he knew what to do, and would immediately bring some water of the stream to her.   
But the boy had a father, of course, and he started to wonder where his son was spending all his afternoons. So, one day he followed his son, until he found himself in front of her... her, the lovely beautiful girl once he had promised to marry and had instead abandoned. At that vision, she stood still and speechless. Big tears appeared at the corners of her eyes, she paled and once again fell down, sick. The boy moved to go and fetch the water, but his father thought it was an excuse, so grabbed him and tied him to a tree. But when he saw that she was getting worse, with the son screaming desperately that she needed water, he decided to run and get some. But -alas!- he did not know the places, wandered uselessly through the forest to find the stream, and when he returned it was too late. Dina was lying down, dead, her pale face surrounded by a cloud of blond hair. The boy was still crying, trembling and desperate for the loss of his friend. The father, now afraid of what he had done, and unable to stop his son from crying, took him on his shoulders and carried him away to the Naradol castle. The way seemed endless; he was tired, scared, and his son still crying and struggling to get free of his hold. When he finally got home, it was too late: his son was dying, too, of sorrow and convulsions.
Having seen the scene, his mother came out of the castle crying, and kissing her motionless son, and asked to be told everything. She thought Dina was a witch, so she ordered the servants to go and burn her body. Her husband, however, moved to compassion, ordered other servants to go faster, and bury her under a tomb of flowers.
When the servants came back, they told in shock and awe what they had seen: the shadows of thousands and thousands of warriors descended from the mountains, put Dina in a coffin of blue flowers and carried her with honours to the highest peak of Lagorai. 

The following night the same warriors, with helmets adorned with blue flowers, crossed the ditches and walls of the castle, took the child and brought him close to Dina, on the highest peak, the one that at night becomes silver, with clouds and forests beneath.