The Legend of Sorapis

Lake Misurina It is one of the most beautiful lakes in Italy. It is a natural lake which is located in Cadore , in the province of Belluno , at 1,754 meters above sea level and is very large. It has a perimeter of 2.6 kilometers and is about 5 meters deep. In summer it is an important tourist destination , but even in winter the lake usually freezes completely and becomes completely walkable.

The legend

Around this lake there is a legend which increases its interest even more. Legend tells the story of Misurina, the only daughter of the King Sorapiss , governor of the lands between the Tofane, the Antelao, the Marmarole and the Tre Cime di Lavaredo. Misurina was a spoiled child , very capricious and naughty, but she was also a very pretty child. For King Sorapiss, who had become a widower, she was the only reason for living. The king therefore justified the child's behavior by blaming everything on the suffering that the little girl felt due to the lack of a mother figure.

When he turned eight, Misurina learned of the existence of a fairy who lived on Mount Cristallo and that he owned a magic mirror , which gave the power to read the thoughts of anyone who looked in it. Misurina begged her father for a long time to get her the mirror, which she wanted at all costs, until Sorapiss gave in and accompanied her.

The fairy resisted for a long time, because she did not want to please that capricious little girl but, faced with Sorapiss' tears, she ended up agreeing, but she put a condition , in the hope that the king and his daughter would give up. The fairy owned a beautiful garden full of wonderful flowers on Mount Cristallo, but the excess of sun withered them prematurely. So she asked, in exchange for the mirror, that Sorapiss agree to be transformed into a mountain , which would protect the fairy's garden with its shadow. The king agreed.

When Misurina received the mirror and was informed of the pact, she was not upset, indeed, she was enthusiastic at the idea that her father, to make her happy, would become a mountain, on which she could run and play. But in that same moment, while Misurina was contemplating the mirror, Sorapiss began to transform, swelling and changing color: the hair became trees and the wrinkles crevasses.

Misurina suddenly realized that she was high up on the mountain that had been her father and, looking down, she was struck by dizziness and fell into the void . King Sorapiss, in his last moments of life, had to helplessly witness the tragic death of his daughter, so that from his still open eyes so many tears to form two streams , which gathered downstream forming an immense lake , which took the name of Misurina. The mirror, falling, shattered among the rocks and the fragments were dragged downstream by the streams of the king's tears, where they still give multicolored reflections and which still make Lake Misurina a unique place in the world today.