Most people when the think of Edelweiss, think of the song made famous by “The Sound Of Music”. But there is a romantic story behind the lovely flower.
“In German, “edel” means noble and “weiss” means white. The symbolic meanings of the edelweiss flower are daring, courage and noble purity. These meanings are derived from the plant’s ability to grow in harsh mountainclimates and from its pure white coloring.” {1}
Edelweiss is a protected plant in many countries; including Poland, Italy, Serbia, Austria and Germany. My mother explained the reason the flower is protected is because it is only grown in inaccessible places, in many dangerous alpine regions. Young men would climb the Alps often in the most dangerous paths to bring some edelweiss to their special girl. It was a symbol of true love. For the lucky young women whose handsome man would return with a flower, she would dry and press it and often times frame it to be used as a pendant – to remember the man who had found this flower and presented it to her to show his devotion. Mom said there were many stories about these men who died while climbing the mountains in search of this romantic flower and their abiding love and devotion for their one true love. It was these stories that created the romantic myth of the Edelweiss.
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The Legend of the Edelweiss
There is a legend that, once upon a time, a beautiful fairy, the Snow Queen, lived on the highest, most solitary peaks of the Alps. The mountain folk and shepherds climbed to the summits to admire her, and everyone fell head over heels in love with her.
Every man would have given anything, including his life, to marry her. Indeed, their lives are just what they did give, for Fate had decided that no mortal would ever marry the Snow Queen. But in spite of that, many brave souls did their best to approach her, hoping always to persuade her.
Each suitor was allowed to enter the great ice palace with the crystal roof, where the Queen’s throne stood. But the second he declared his love and asked for her hand, thousands of goblins appeared to grasp him and push him over the rocks, down into bottomless abysses.
Without the slightest emotion, the Queen would watch the scene, her heart of ice unable to feel anything at all. The legend of the crystal palace and the beautiful heartless Queen spread as far as the most distant alpine valley, the home of a fearless chamois hunter. Fascinated by the tale, he decided to set out and try his luck. Leaving his valley, he journeyed for days on end, climbing the snow-clad mountain faces, scaling icebound peaks and defying the bitterly cold wind that swept through the alpine gullies.
More than once he felt all was lost, but the thought of the lovely Snow Queen gave him new strength and kept him moving onwards. At last, after many days climbing, he saw glinting in the sunshine before him, the tall transparent spires of the ice palace.
Summoning all his courage, the young man entered the Throne Room. But he was so struck by the Snow Queen’s beauty that he could not utter a word. Shy and timid, he did not dare speak. So he knelt in admiration before the Queen for hours on end, without opening his mouth. The Queen looked at him silently, thinking all the while that, provided he did not ask her hand in marriage, there was no need to call the goblins.
Then, to her great surprise, she discovered that his behaviour touched her heart. She realised she was becoming quite fond of this hunter, much younger and more handsome than her other suitors. Time passed and the Snow Queen dared not admit, not even to herself, that she would actually like to marry the young man.
In the meantime, the goblins kept watch over their mistress; first they were astonished, then they became more and more upset. For they rightly feared that their Queen might be on the point of breaking the Law and bringing down on the heads of all the Mountain People the fury of Fate.
Seeing that the Queen was slow to give the order to get rid of her suitor, the goblins decided to take matters into their own hands. One night, as dusk fell, they slipped out of the cracks in the rock and clustered round the young chamois hunter. Then they hurled him into the abyss. The Snow Queen watched the whole scene from the window, but there was nothing she could do to stop them. However, her icy heart melted, and the beautiful cruel fairy suddenly became a woman.
A tear dropped from her eye, the first she had ever shed. And the Snow Queen’s tear fell on to a stone where it turned into a little silvery star.
This was the first edelweiss … the flower that grows only on the highest, most inaccessible peaks in the Alps, on the edge of the abyss and precipice (cliff )