There is a stream that flows from Tervuren to Leuven.
Spring had been quite wet and Hubert decided that a river passage up the Voer would be easier than the road. It was against the current and he hired a couple of oarsmen and hoped to make steady progress.
Consecrating a church in Leuven had proved tiring for Hubert, a former Duke of Aquitaine, and the bishop had decided to visit his son, Floribert, who lived upstream in his late wife’s house. Floribert would later become Bishop of Liège.
Hubert was not well, his fever caused him to fall asleep and, without sufficient guidance, the boat had already passed the house.
Hastily engaging horses, the three men mounted and, with fresh directions, made their way to the family home. He took to his bed immediately. Sunday dawned, his condition worsened, and Floribert hastened to his bedside.
Hubert’s mind wandered, he witnessed the Forest. Birdsong filled the woods. Deer were calling in the distance. Swans beat their wings across the lakes, while a cool northern breeze stirred the newly opened leaves. There was heavenly scent in the air. With each breath he took the leafen veil seemed a little fuller, the trunks greener with moisture and the anemones bloomed. He was transported back to his youth and remembered the encounter with the stag.
Hubert, once a pagan, had embraced Christianity, and much of his earlier reverence for the natural world remained. He noticed the smallest things. He found God not only in churches but in the life of the Forest itself, in the passages of time. The changing sounds, the movement of the treetops and the rhythm of the seasons became a kind of prayer.
As he lay there, he imagined the great Forest of Soignes stretching away before him, not as somewhere to be hunted, but as a place of peace. The swaying crowns of the trees became almost protective, as though watching over him. He died, his eyes full of beauty, not knowing that monasteries would later rise amongst the trees.
Footnote. This was translated from a version of the tale in La Forêt de Soignes - Monographies Historiques, Scientifiques et D'Esthétique edited by René Stevens and Louis van der Swaelmen, published in 1920, related by Sander Pierron. This is not a literal translation of the text, but close enough. Tervuren is named for the river and has nothj