Strawberry Story: The Land of the Pale Mountains

Poem and art by Jon Leydens.

The Land of the Pale Mountains

Once upon a time, the mountain prince fell in love with the moon princess.  But the dark, gloomy mountains made her so ill that finally she returned to the moon.


Fortunately, the Salvans, the diligent mountain dwarves, knew the answer.  They laboriously spun the bright moonlight into glittering silver threads and wove them into a thick net, covering all the rocks.


Ever since, these rocks have been pale and the moon-princess has lived happily among them.

Jon was a friend of my mom's who was older than me but younger than her.  She saw him first, but we both claimed him as a friend.  The framed construction paper work shows the rocks atop the mountains that inspired Jon when he traveled to Italy one summer.  He met his true love and a wonderful romance ensued.  In High School I wanted to grow up and be Jon.  I think mom did too!

He gave this copy of the poem to my mom with a rock from the Dolomite mountains.  It hangs in my children's room today.

Chapter 3: I'M A SWAN!

Mom begins chapter 3 saying she always listened carefully when anyone talked about swans.  She loved Hans Christian Anderson's story of the Ugly Duckling, but also references a fairytale of a different sort:

A Hindu story says that swans, as represented in the order of Saraswati, represents the priceless skill of discrimination and discernment.  Supposedly a swan is able to drink in fluid but spit out the water while swallowing the milk that was in the mixture.  It reminds me of Virginia Satir's advice to "taste everything, but swallow only that which fits you."