*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.