The glass mountain.

Hello readers

Hope you enjoyed the week.

Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.
-Rudyard Kipling.

We all like nature ,some of us just like to spend time at a beach which is a timeless experience ,some of us just like to go on a road trip to a hill station .I am sure we would have visited some mountain range at least once ,the experience is quite different and memorable .

The glass mountain is actually a fairy tale that I had read many years ago in the popular fortnightly comic book in India called “Tinkle” this is one of the best books we the 90s kids and also the later generations love to read, published by the popular and creative Amar Chitra Katha Pvt LTD which was created by the best writer Mr.Ananth Pai and who was popularly known as Uncle Pai.

I would like to narrate the story again, here it goes.

There was once this princess who was trapped on a glass mountain and was kept in captivity by an evil witch, the reason behind this dreadful act was the beauty of the princess and according to the  story, the witch would die if this princess got married.

So days passed by, the princess had a talking parrot which used to Vander over the vast lands and shout “help the princess”! all day long ,hearing this cry  many brave men and princes of many countries tried to climb the glass mountain and save the princes ,but perished or were injured in this attempt ,as the mountain was too slippery and sometimes an evil bird ,which was a huge vulture , was sent by the witch used to eat them.

Finally a day came, when the parrot wandered in the royal gardens of the bravest prince of that land and pleaded  the same ,upon hearing this, the great prince decided to help the princess.

As he entered the forest which was the only way to reach the glass mountain, he met a group of dwarfs, an old man and 3 ghosts who were trapped in an old steamer trunk.

The dwarfs had a problem, they were too short and were struggling to get water from a river which was known for violent currents, the prince directed them to construct a channel just before  their homes and helped them dig a huge pond, with the help of his soldiers he accomplished this task and, the dwarfs were very happy and gifted the prince a suit that would never get dirty and it can protect him from the worst winter.

The prince moved on and  he came across an old cabin where he could hear  3 voices who were crying as he went closer ,he understood that these voices came from 3 ghosts ,who pleaded him to realise them from a steamer trunk in which they were trapped inside by an evil witch for trying to attack her ,the prince helped them ,in return for his help the ghosts gave him a magic carpet that could take to the foot of the glass mountain.

The happy prince alighted this carpet and directed it to go to the glass mountain ,on his way he saw an old man struggling to walk ,he stopped at him and asked what was his misery the old man had a nail stuck in his leg ,which he was not able to remove ,the prince removed the nail, now the happy old man gifted the prince with a pair of shoes that had an iron sole ,which would never wear out.

With all his precious gifts ,the prince left for the glass mountain to rescue the princess ,which was a very windy and cloudy place ,so the prince wore that suit , which protected him from this harsh weather, then he wore the iron shoes and started to climb the glass mountain ,as expected the evil vulture tried to kill him and throw him into the deep valley ,but the prince carried on by clinging on to the legs of the vulture and finally killed it as he reached the surface of the mountain.

He released the prince and killed the witch, and returned to his kingdom with the princess and his soldiers with help of his magic carpet and  married the princess and they all lived happy ever after.

Well it is a very good story and one of the best ,published in the magazine and majority of the times, these stories were written by young talents, for which the illustrations were created by great illustrators like Ram Waeerkar whom we cannot forget.

Actually I have read this story many times till now ,and recently when I was just thinking about the by gone days of my childhood I got this brainwave ,that the glass mountain is not only a fairy tale but it can be implied in all our lives .

If we take that glass mountain as the problems in our life, the princess as the goal that we want to achieve and the witch as the hurdles we face when we try to solve a problem, we can approach life with a new dimension and hope.

If we look at the beginning of the story where many doyens try to rescue the duchess, they were unsuccessful due to various reasons.

If we correlate this story to the problems we face in life, we can climb any glass mountain, we come across no matter how steep it is, if we have the correct tools and the patience to first understand the problem and works towards the solution.We will be the champions of life .

like the prince we must have the quality of bravery in us ,the power of analysing the problem and determination that is required and should not fluctuate until we reach our goal.

Let’s learn more from such beautiful stories and live life a combatant.

Thanks for your time, have a great weekend ahead.