Lenda da Serra da Estrela
(the legend of Star Mountain)
Serra da Estrela is the highest mountain in continental Portugal.
Legend has it that long, long ago there was a poor shepherd who lived alone with is dog in a far away place.
This poor shepherd dreamt of traveling, he lived in a secluded valley and longed to see what was behind the mountains that surrounded his village.
One day a star came down from the sky and morphed into a little child. The star child told him the Gods had granted him his wish, the moment he was ready to leave she would guide him.
The shepherd was still bewildered while the child flew back up to the sky.
Some days later the shepherd felt it was time to depart and summoned the star.
Off they went, shepherd, dog and star child.
They traveled for a very long time, so long that the dog died of old age. The man buried the dog and placed a tomb stone over his grave.
Finally, one day they reached the highest mountain, a mountain from where the man could see all around, without any other mountain blocking his horizon.
There he lived until a very old age with the star always above him.
The king himself heard about the star child and sent messengers to plea with the man to summon the star child to meet the king, to which the man replied: the star is not mine, she belongs in the sky not in our mortal world.
Old folks nowadays still say there is a brighter star that can be seen from the top of Serra da Estrela.
Tags:Portugal legends
Legend has it that long, long ago there was a poor shepherd who lived alone with is dog in a far away place.
This poor shepherd dreamt of traveling, he lived in a secluded valley and longed to see what was behind the mountains that surrounded his village.
One day a star came down from the sky and morphed into a little child. The star child told him the Gods had granted him his wish, the moment he was ready to leave she would guide him.
The shepherd was still bewildered while the child flew back up to the sky.
Some days later the shepherd felt it was time to depart and summoned the star.
Off they went, shepherd, dog and star child.
They traveled for a very long time, so long that the dog died of old age. The man buried the dog and placed a tomb stone over his grave.
Finally, one day they reached the highest mountain, a mountain from where the man could see all around, without any other mountain blocking his horizon.
There he lived until a very old age with the star always above him.
The king himself heard about the star child and sent messengers to plea with the man to summon the star child to meet the king, to which the man replied: the star is not mine, she belongs in the sky not in our mortal world.
Old folks nowadays still say there is a brighter star that can be seen from the top of Serra da Estrela.
Tags:Portugal legends
posted by DCveR at 3:57 PM
7 Comments:
There are lots of Hawaiian stories and legends like this. I should dig some out.
We should all have a star child. Guess we do, we just need to find her.
Oooh...and their cheese is the best!
They don't use deoderant either - nothing worse than star child BO.
(note to readers: DCver's blog hearby shifts off on a sudden and bizarre tangent.)
...and if you ever get into an auto accident with one of them, check their proof of insurance carefully, star children are known 'insurance document forgers'.
isis: Thank you. The new place is just about ready, but the red tape will take longer than expected. I probably won't close escrow before the beggining of April.
kris: I've got several of those here, in the books I bought at the Bishop Museum, but I don't think I am the right person to post those... ;)
GG: The Portuguese people have always had a bit of that shepherd. That's what keeps driving us to the farest places possible. But it seems we sometimes lack the star and thus end up kind of lost.
portuguesa: So you've tasted queijo da serra, huh? Delicious!!!
chill dad: Don't trust what people say, there is a lot of prejudice against star childs and other independent kinds of gal.
Which reminds me, I'm reading Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist about the shepherd boy going after his dream. I'm taking my time reading it, I can never gobble a book I'm enjoying. Wonderful story telling.
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