Basic Trope: A naturally-occurring place where water comes up from the ground, and where the water has some sort of healing powers.
- Straight: Alice is Delicate and Sickly due to a Victorian Novel Disease, and her parents take her to a spa town or a shrine that has water reputed to heal. Within a matter of weeks, her illness is cured.
- Exaggerated:
- Alice is literally dying as she gets to the resort or shrine, and the water instantly restores her to full health.
- All of the land surrounding that spring is imbued with healing powers, not just the spring itself.
- Downplayed: Alice's overall health improves by drinking the water, even though she isn't sick or injured per se.
- Justified:
- Towns and cities in the Victorian Era were crowded and (since indoor plumbing and germ theory didn't exist) unsanitary. Being away from all that yuckiness (which probably caused her to get sick in the first place) improves Alice's health and vitality.
- The water contains a mineral or nutrient Alice is deficient in.
- The water really is imbued with power from (Depending on the Writer) nature spirits, God, magic, faeries, etc.
- The spring is a literal Fountain of Youth.
- Inverted: The spring's water is Grimy Water, and it makes Alice's health even worse.
- Subverted: Alice seems like she is feeling better after a dip in the spring, but her health soon gets worse.
- Double Subverted: After several more bathes in the pool, Alice soon recovers.
- It's because she drinks the water that her health is perfect.
- Parodied: The spring water is really just ordinary tap water.
- Zig Zagged: ???
- Averted: No springs are said to have any sort of mystical powers.
- Enforced: Going Cosmic
- Lampshaded: "Go to Spa Town, and soak in the springs there. The water's chilly, but it will cure what ails ya."
- Invoked: Alice's doctor has heard of this spring, and recommends it to her.
- Exploited: The Mayor of Spa Town is hoping to make money via Medical Tourism, so he starts a rumor that the springs have healing powers.
- Defied: Alice is unable to travel, either due to health issues or poverty or both, and no one is willing or able to bring back any of the water for her.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
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