One upon a time, high in the Southern Alps stretched
a kingdom of green meadows, shady woods and dark peaks. The inhabitants were
hunters and shepherds, who loved their lands. The only unhappy person there was
the king’s son, who dreamed of the moon. With the full moon in the sky, the
prince wandered the mountains until dawn with his eyes high on the moon.
One day, during the hunt, the prince got separated
from his companions. He searched for them, but with tall thick trees, he couldn’t
find or hear them. As he stumbled upon a clearing with Alpine roses, he made
his rest for the night. In his deep sleep, he dreamed of a beautiful maiden in
a land, where everything was bright. When she told him that she was the
daughter of the King of the Moon, he woke in that instance.
The prince sprang up, disappointed it was just a
dream. As he looked around trying to decide which way to proceed, a voice
reached him from the woods. He restrained his right ear, and then heard more voices.
He followed them and upon reaching and startling two men he explained, “Don’t
worry. I’m a hunter. I got separated from my companions.”
The two men replied, “We are people of the Moon. We
don’t know your woods. We’re on our way back home.” The prince’s face turned
from radiant to pale. He explained his wish. The men laughed and invited him to
come with them. “But,” they said, “Remember the earth people can’t stay long in
the moon as the light is too bright and you can go blind. On the other hand, we
can’t stay long on the earth, because the darkness makes us sad.”
The pleasant talk among the men filled the time it
took them to get to the moon. Upon reaching it, the men directed the prince to
the castle and they went in the opposite direction. The white grass and flowers
stretched as far as the eye could see. Everything was white and bright. Just
then, the prince realized he was holding the Alpine roses he picked on earth.
As he was approaching the castle, the first person he
met was a gardener, who right away noticed the cheerful flowers, “Where did you
pick them?”
“On earth, where I just came from.”
“The princess will certainly reward you well for
those flowers,” suggested the gardener.
The prince followed the path to the castle, where he
presented the flowers to the princess. He didn’t want any reward as he was a
prince himself. The charmed princess asked the prince many questions about the
earth.
The king seeing his daughter very happy invited the
prince to stay with them, which he did. But as the wise men said before, he
couldn’t stay there for a long time or he would go blind. Therefore, after a
few weeks, the prince returned to the earth with the princess, who was thrilled
to see the colors.
She of course was enchanted with the colors of the
flowers. Many happy days passed, but one night the princess stood out on the
balcony looking toward the moon. The prince knew right away what bothered her.
He tried to convince her that she would get used to the dark peaks of the mountains,
which she didn’t find happy. She grew paler and weaker with every day.
As soon as the Moon King learned the news, he
travelled to earth to take his daughter back home. “You’re welcome to come with
us,” the king invited the prince. Nobody wanted to see the prince go, but he
was too much in love with the princess to let her go. So he followed.
As the princess was getting better on the moon, the
prince’s vision was getting weaker. Maybe the fate was trying to show them that
it wasn’t meant for them to be together. There was no other choice for the
prince, but to return to earth.
Upon doing so, he was very unhappy. Day and night he
wandered the low meadows and high peaks to find rest or peace, but none of it
was to be found. Until one day, he came across a small cave from which came out
a little man about three feet tall with a long white beard and a red cone-shaped
hat. Both men startled each other, but seeing each other’s unhappy face they
knew they had something in common. They spoke and told their sorrows. “We hide
in the caves, because nobody will give us a piece of land to live in
peacefully,” said the little man.
The prince added, “I dreamed of the moon, but the
light was too bright for my eyes. So the princess came to live with me, but the
black peaks made her too sad to live on earth.”
An idea sprang into the dwarf’s mind, “What if my
people covered the black peaks with the white light of the moon, would you give
us some land in exchange?”
It’s too good to be true thought the prince to
himself, “How are you going to do it?”
“Leave it to us. I just need your word that we will
be left in peace on our land.”
Doubtful prince replied, “You have my word.”
In a blink of an eye, the dwarfs spanned the
moonbeams around the black peaks, covering them in white light.
Meanwhile, sad news reached the prince of the dying
princess and her wish to see him for one last time. Without any delay, the
prince rushed to the moon and to the castle, where he announced, “Our sorrows
are over. The black peaks beam with white light now. You can come back to the
earth and we could be happy there.”
His excited words motivated the princess to get well
and give it another chance. Soon her lips and cheeks grew rosy again. After a
short time, the prince was able to take her once more to his earth kingdom.
The shining landscape with its white peaks, green
meadows and colorful flowers filled the princess with so much joy that she was
never again stricken with nostalgia. She noticed the beautify of the pale
mountains, which were far more beautiful than her native land.
The prince and the princess lived happily ever
after. The little men lived in peace. The pale mountains, which are today
called Dolomites, until today glow with their magical light. And whoever once
takes a look at them, the longing will keep bringing them back to the
Dolomites.
Source: The Pale Mountains by Carl Felix Wolff
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