Tag Archive for The Sunday Observer

Lovers Leap – Sri Lanka

Ravana’s Cleft, Trincomalee. Seen from the Swami rock (West). credit AntanO/Anton, 2014. Used under creative common license

Courtesy of Google Alerts–a far flung (pardon the pun) Lovers Leap to add to our ‘inventory’ of world Leaps: Sri Lanka in the 17th century. Among destinations featured in The Sunday Observer, “the oldest and most circulated weekly English-language newspaper in Sri Lanka since 1928,” is the dramatic plunge of a heartbroken maiden into an angry sea:

“The story of Lovers Leap is a sorrowful tale of unrequited love in which Francina Van Rheed, the daughter of a Dutch official, engaged to a young Dutch officer who broke off the engagement upon the end of his foreign service. Forsaken and distraught, she watched atop Swami Rock as the vessel carrying her faithless lover passed beyond the horizon in 1687. Overcome by sorrow, she flung herself into the violent sea – a drop of 400 feet.”

Had we known of this dramatic location and heart breaking tale, it would have made our book, Lovers Leap Legends: From Sappho of Lesbos to Wah-Wah-Tee of Waco.

Lens & Pen Press is having a half-price sale for all titles. Lovers Leap Legends: From Sappho of Lesbos to Wah-Wah-Tee of Waco is now available on our website at www.dammingtheosage.com for $17.50 (half the original price of $35), postage paid.