It was a beautiful spring day outside. Majka sat on her bed, drawing with one hand and playing a sad melody with the other, as if it weren't spring at all. Every now and then she glanced at Maxík, who was sitting on his bed with a book in his hands. He kept bringing it closer to his face and then pushing it away.
"I don't know," Maxík burst out.
"But I do," Majka replied.
"What do you know?" Maxík kept fidgeting with the book.
"I told you, and Mom told you, that you shouldn't read under the covers and study your maps in the dark because it will ruin your eyesight," Majka lectured, continuing to draw.
"Okay, okay, I may have exaggerated a little, but..."
Maxík didn't even finish his sentence before Kaško flew through the open window into the room.
"What are you doing just sitting there?!" he shouted, landing on the lamp in the room.
"We're sitting because we want to," Maxík muttered.
"Well, well, someone's in a bad mood," Kaško said, looking closer at Maxík.
"I don't want to sit here, but I have to," Majka said a little sadly.
Kaško slowly flew off the lamp and sat down on his tail in the middle of the room.
"So, will someone tell me what's going on here?"
"Maxík's eyes hurt," said Majka.
"Then put on your glasses."
" I am wearing my glasses," explained Maxík, "but my eyes still sting and scratch a little."
"There's only one thing that will help," Kaško said triumphantly.
"Stronger glasses?" asked Majka.
"No," laughed Kaško.
"Then I'll put binoculars on my eyes," joked Maxík, whose eyes were already watering.
"A spa!" Kaško announced.
Majka and Maxík looked at each other, shook their heads in confusion, and looked back at Kaško.
"A spa?" they asked Kaško in unison.
“Of course.”
"We're just going to go to a spa for a few days or weeks, right?" Maxík kept wiping his eyes with a handkerchief.
"No, we're going to a spa with miraculous water, and your eyes will be cured there."
"Are you serious?" Maxík asked.
"Have I ever joked around?" Kaško asked seriously.
"Come on, I remember..."
"Have I ever joked about serious things?"
"No."
"Then pack your bags and let's go."
“But where?”
"To Karlovy Vary," Kaško pointed into the distance.
"Yay, I've always wanted to go there, but it's quite far."
"We'll fly," announced Kaško.
Kaško looked at the children, gave them a little of his magic herb, took them by the hand, and off they flew. They flew for a short while and landed in a beautiful place. All around them was beautiful nature and silence and...
"How do we get there?" Majka was burning with impatience.
"We're already here," smiled Kaško.
Majka looked around, and Maxík looked around too, but his eyes were still watering, so he squinted a little.
“Kaško?”
"Yes," Kaško breathed in the fresh air.
"It's beautiful here – the nature, the little ponds, and the villa."
"Almost like Pippi's villa, isn't it?"
"Well, the chapel is really beautiful too," Majka looked around.
"I like that too," said Kaško, settling down on the soft grass.
"But I've seen Karlovy Vary, and there are several spa houses, a colonnade, a promenade for spa guests, a swimming pool, walkways and..."
"Well, the chapel is really beautiful too," Majka looked around.
"Oh, so where are we?" the siblings asked at once.
"We're in the Sobrance Spa," Kaško spread his arms wide.
"Hmmm, peace, nature, the air is spa-like, but something is missing."
"Do you mean this?" Kaško pointed to something on the ground.
"What's that?"
"That's one of the springs here."
"Healing?"
"Of course. Imagine that 100 years ago, this was such a famous spa that the water was distributed throughout Austria, Hungary, and later throughout Europe."
"And why was this Sobrance Spa called the Hungarian Karlovy Vary?"
"There's this amazing water here that you can't find anywhere else," Kaško enthused, scooping up some water to drink.
"Only in Karlovy Vary in Bohemia," added Majka.
"Almost. One day they did an experiment - they boiled water from a pot that contained medicinal water, and there was salt at the bottom."
"They salted some bread and found that the salt was miraculous and transported them to Karlovy Vary," Majka said, scooping up some water.
"No, but the composition of the salt was the same as in Karlovy Vary."
"Uh, good," Maxík said after enjoying the cold healing water.
"And that's not all."
"Come on, tell us more," Kaško's friends teased him.
"Imagine that in the spa houses that used to stand here, there were bathtubs where people bathed in that water and they weren't cold."
"Well, they heated the water because they figured out that cold water is good for you when you drink it and hot water is good for you when you put it in a bathtub."
"Wow."
Kaško began talking about how, during the heyday of the Sobrance Spa, there had been several spa houses here, how walking trails and a promenade had been built, and he recalled several artists and scientists and, of course, the aristocrats he had met here and who loved to visit.
Majka listened to Kaško with her mouth open, imagining the beauty that had been here not so long ago.
Maxík was also interested, but his eyes began to sting even more because the sun had come out.
"What shall we do about my eyes?"
"I remember there was a spring here that healed eyes," said Kaško, the little ghost of Haravara, flying around.
"Really?"
"Yeah, but I don't know exactly where it was."
"Were there more of them here?" asked Majka.
"There used to be 12 healing springs here," shouted someone from behind a tree that cast a beautiful shadow near Villa Vilôčka.
"And the one for the eyes is still here?"
"Sure, I just can't remember what you had to do to really heal your eyes."
"And how will we find out?"
"We have to visit the empress."
"What?!" Majka cried out happily.
"The empress," replied Kaško.
"The real one?" Majka couldn't believe it.
"Not the empress herself, but one of her ladies-in-waiting."
"Now it's getting complicated."
"I don't know if I ever told you about Aunt Gertrude."
"The one who lived in Vienna?" Kaško boasted a little.
"Not just in Vienna - right in Schönbrunn Palace."
"And Sisi lived there too?" Majka's eyes lit up again.
"And a certain Irma Sztárai lived there too."
"Who?" Maxík searched his memory.
"She was one of Empress Sisi's ladies-in-waiting," Kaško explained.
"Oh, and she'll help me with my eyes?" Maxík turned his eyes pleadingly to where he heard Kaško.
"Maybe..." Kaško replied cryptically.
"How come?" Majka didn't understand.
"Well, Aunt Gertrude told me that Irma used to bring things from Haravara..."
"She knew Haravara?" Maxík was getting excited.
"Irma was born in Haravara and she came back here."
"Wow," said Majka and started packing.
"And she used to bring various healing waters and healing rags from Haravara to Vienna."
"Oh, and did she heal eyes too?" Maxík tried to find out.
"That's what we have to find out."
"But how?"
"Aunt Gertrude put Aunt Irma's diary somewhere."
"A diary?" both children cried.
"Irma wrote a book about the last days of Empress Sisi."
"And there will be something about eye treatment," Majka reassured Maxík.
"And where will we find it?" asked Max.
"In this villa."
"Are you sure?"
"Or in the chapel."
“Are you sure?”
"And maybe even..." Kaško thought for a moment.
"Okay, let's start looking in the villa," said Max, heading towards the villa.
"Why in the villa?" Majka asked doubtfully.
"Well, because anyone could have gotten into the chapel. And Aunt Irma surely wanted her secrets to be found by someone who wouldn't keep them to themselves because they knew her," Kaško said, running toward the villa.
"Let's go to the villa!"
Kaško passed through all the walls of Varády's villa, which was the only one left standing in its original place, and opened the door for Majka and Maxík.
"Where could the book be?" Majka asked detective-like.
"Probably in the library?" added Maxík.
"A secret book?" Kaško looked at his friends.
"Well," Majka replied to Kaško's look, not understanding.
"Secret things are never where they should be," said Kaško, already rummaging around and wandering around the villa.
"I'll look in the library," Majka offered, "and you look in the house."
Kaško immediately set off, Maxík started wiping his eyes, and Majka began looking through books. Majka started reading an old book and began to frown.
"Kaško, you lied to me."
"Me?"
"No, Kaško senior," Majka frowned even more.
"How did I lie to you?"
"In this."
"And what is that?"
"It's a book where a man named Matej Bell talks about the Sobranecké Kúpele Spa, and look how he drew it!"
"The Matej Bell?" Kaško almost fainted.
"Don't try to make excuses," Maxík defended his sister.
"First of all, Matej Bell was one of the greatest scientists and writers in Historic Hungary, and he was born and did his research in Slovakia."
"And what's this?" Majka wouldn't give up.
"This is his book, where he describes the healing springs – and as you can see, he knew three hundred years ago that the water in Sobrance was unique..."
"But I'm talking about the dug-out ones... I don't know what they are?"
"Those dug-out 'I don't know what they are' things are bathing pits and bathing tubs," Kaško tapped Majka at her forehead with his finger.
"And what are those?" Majka and Maxík didn't understand.
"At that time, there were no bathtubs or bathrooms as we know them today."
"Oh, so they dug holes," the children laughed.
"No, but when they found healing springs and didn't know how to bring the water into their homes, they built wooden tubs next to them for bathing and warming up."
"Oh," murmured the children.
"Or they dug holes like these where people went to bathe and heal themselves."
"And that was the beginning of the spa?" asked Majka, examining Matej Bell's pictures.
"Sort of, although we know that people had come here to heal long before that, just that there weren't any buildings here."
Kaško began to take other books from the library and showed Majka and Maxík how the spa buildings, paths, and walking trails were gradually built. He also showed them postcards and photos that were lying next to the old books, showing what the spa looked like when Irma, Empress Sisi's lady-in-waiting, lived there.
"If it weren't for her, there would never have been such a spa in Sobrance, and we wouldn't have the springs preserved like this, or the Villa Vilôčka, or this chapel, or this cave."
"What?" Maxík didn't understand.
"And... here it is - the cave and the secret door!" Kaško shouted.
Kaško opened the secret door and there was a book – dusty, but it was the one. The secret diary of Irma Sztáray, known only to the ghosts of the Haravara region, and he began to read it.
"Here it is," Kaško pointed to the book with his finger.
"What?" Maxík exclaimed, trying to find Kaško by his voice.
"Irma brought healing springs from Sobrance to Vienna to cure many diseases."
"Did she cure anyone interesting?" Majka continued to hope for an encounter with Princess.
"Fuuuuhhh – Sobrance water was known everywhere back then," Kaško replied dryly and continued searching for a way to help Maxík.
"Well, I don't believe it," Majka shook her head in disbelief.
"Here it is."
"What?" Maxík shouted full of expectation, looking as if he was about to jump out of his skin.
"Dear Maxík, this spa was used to treat damaged nerves," Kaško began teasing Maxík.
"That's just what I need right now, because I'm starting to worry a little about my eyes and my nerves."
"But they also treated stomach discomforts here, and if someone had various inflammations."
"I think I need to treat my stomach," sighed Majka, "because I'm pretty hungry."
"And," continued Kaško, "there's also a spring called Eye."
"Oh, and what's that spring good for?" Maxík slowly began to smile.
"Pass me my scarf," Kaško asked Maxík.
"Here you go."
Kaško dipped a scarf in the water and Majka held it over Maxík's eyes.
Here, in the Sobranecké Kúpele Spa, there is such effective healing mineral water that it was said to be the most effective in the entire empire.
"What kind?" asked Majka.
"The most healing in all of Austria-Hungary."
"Wow."
"And when someone couldn't come here, this water was bottled and distributed throughout Europe."
"Oh, so that's what Irma was carrying," said Majka, looking like a detective who had solved a case.
"How long do I have to wear this scarf?" Maxík asked impatiently.
"You can take it off now."
"Okay, I'll take it off," Maxík said and took off the scarf.
"No, don't put it on your forehead."
“As you say.”
"Not even in your pocket," Kaško approached Maxík.
"Where should I put it?" Maxík fidgeted, still afraid to open his eyes.
"Here, on the bush," Kaško pulled Maxík's sleeve.
"Is it sick too?" Majka stroked her neck.
"I hope not."
"And why should I leave it here?"
"Because people used to come here, and I'll tell you a secret, not just people," whispered Kaško mysteriously.
"Animals too?" Majka moved closer to Kaško.
"And ghosts, and they healed their eyes here - they rubbed their eyes and left a scarf hanging here."
"But why?"
"Because they wanted their illness to stay here in Sobrance on the scarf..."
"Where the good water will cure them."
"Oh, and are those the springs?" Majka looked around.
"Of course, that's why people still come here to collect water and take it home."
"Kaškooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!" Maxík screamed as if he had lost his mind.
"Did something happen again?" Kaško shouted even louder than Maxík.
"No, I just saw you," Maxík ran around happily.
"I think I had a mini heart attack."
"Drink some healing water from Sobrance - it's good for high blood pressure, as you mentioned."
"And take us high up."
"And straight home."
"We have to collect our parents." The siblings agreed, and everyone was very happy that Maxík's eyes could see everything again thanks to the healing water from the Sobranecké Kúpele Spa spring.
