Rosewood and Lavender soap
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This legend comes from Ruisseau Danseur, a charming village in the Mauricie region. It was the birthplace of a girl who very early in life came to be known as Lady Mellow for her gentle, generous spirit. Of distant Irish heritage, she and her six sisters grew up in a Francophone family. Barely out of adolescence, she met a handsome suitor and soon they were wed.
After just a few months of wedded bliss, terrible misfortune struck. Her husband was crushed under a tractor as she watched helplessly. She was so terribly heartbroken that she decided to never again fall in love.
Each morning to assuage her spirit of her nightmares, she would wander the gardens around the huge house her loving husband had built with his own hands, inhaling the scent of her favourite flowers, rose and lavender. These walks would leave her feeling strangely calm but always alone, so she decided she needed company. One by one, seven cats appeared in her home. Over time, she came to believe that cats had a connection to the netherworld.
Lady Mellow dedicated much of her time to helping the destitute – so much so that people began to say that just a touch of the widow’s slender hand to the shoulder of a suffering soul would bring an immediate sense of well-being. It was only in the final days of her life that she learned that her most affectionate cat, Minaura, had given her that amazing gift.
The story of Lady Mellow became part of the village’s collective imagination, and many years after her passing, strange sounds similar to a baby’s cry – or a cat's meow – could be heard around her house.
