Legend of the Lover's Vigil stone

The Stone of Oldner...locally known as the Lover's Vigil

Whispered by villagers, told to guests, and carried gently through the valley’s folklore.

Long before Oldner Barn or Bothy stood, the valley was home to two neighbouring communities divided by old quarrels. In spite of this, a young stonemason named Elden, known for both his skill and quiet heart, fell deeply in love with Mara, the spirited daughter of a respected farmer across the ridge.

Their love grew in secret on a hill where wildflowers grew in moonlit drifts and Elden carved a small stone pendant into a heart shape; beautiful, smooth and shaped with care. When he placed it in Mara’s hands, she whispered a promise:

Wherever time carries us, love will bind us forever.

But when Mara was promised in marriage elsewhere, their world fractured. Their final night together was filled with tears and hope in equal measure. Mara pressed the pendant to her own heart, vowing she would find her way back, not in defiance of duty, but in honour of the love they shared.

She left at dawn…

Unable to let go, Elden kept vigil on their hill for seven nights, watching the path where he last saw her. On the morning of the eighth day, as the sun lifted over Oldner Hollow, a warm golden light washed across the valley. When the villagers went to the valley to bring Elden home, they found him gone and in his place stood a pale stone, shimmering softly as though holding its breath.

The villagers mourned. But the story did not end there.

Seasons later, on a still summer evening, several villagers swore they saw a figure standing beside the Stone of Oldner. A woman, serene and composed, her hair lifted by a wind no one else could feel. Around her neck hung Elden’s stone heart pendant, glowing faintly in the dusk.

As they watched, she placed her hand upon the standing stone, her expression peaceful, almost joyful and then, with a soft shimmer of light, she simply vanished, as though stepping gently into the stone itself.

From that day on, the valley changed.

A deep tranquillity settled over Oldner. A quietness people feel in their bones, a stillness that travellers remark upon without knowing why. The villagers say the valley carries the echo of Elden and Mara’s devotion, not as sorrow, but as a legacy of love that endured across time and beyond the world as we know it.

The Tradition Today

Visitors who stand in the valley of Oldner often speak of a sense of peace washing over them, a subtle reminder of connection, of what matters, and of the promise that love, in its truest form, does not end; it transforms.

And so the quiet saying remains:

“Those who stand in Oldner carry love forward, wherever it must go.”

A promise once whispered by two young souls, now woven forever into the valley’s calm.