a special something

I've been tagged by Bibbi "Show me a special something, important or beautiful or meaningful or full of memories for you - or all of that - and tell me about it."

So: I inherited this mortar from my father. Not only is it beautiful, but it has a story:

This is the story about my father's aunt Nanny as a little girl. One beautiful summer day she was playing in the forest when a group of soldiers came to rest in the very same place (this being Sweden in the 1880's, it was in no way something scary - the country hasn't been to war for centuries). The soldiers were thirsty and asked Nanny to bring them water. They were all in a good mood and when leaving they gave her a silver coin each. Nanny's family was very poor and she knew she would never be allowed to keep this treasure for herself - so she buried the silver coins next to a special birch tree.

Much later she came back to look for her hidden treasure. She found the tree, or so she thought, and started digging. She didn't find the coins. She found this mortar hidden in the soil. She kept coming back to dig and look for the coins, but never found them. The only thing she ever found was that mortar.