Saturday Rave: East of the Sun, West of the Moon.

East of the Sun, West of the Moon...somewhere where we can find our heart's desire.

That's what we all need to find, isn't it. We need first to discover our heart's desire, and then set out bravely to find it guided by our native wit and the wisdom of a thousand stories.

And that's what this story is about.

This wonderful Norwegian folk tale that was collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe. It has a white bear, a love story, a quest, and a cunning ruse to outwit a prospective mother-in-law.

Even without all these wonders, could anyone not be bewitched by the idea of a place so far away it can't exist in our world? It certainly bewitched JRR Tolkien:

Still round the corner there may wait

A new road or a secret gate,

And though I oft have passed them by,

A day will come at last when I

Shall take the hidden paths that run

West of the Moon, East of the Sun.

An infinitude of wonders, only a step or a page away.

Word To Use Today: explore. This word is from the Latin plōrāre, to cry aloud. The people making all the noise were probably hunters sighting their prey.

I have to say that some of East of the Sun West of the Moon is very similar to the ancient Greek story of Cupid and Psyche. But it's none the worse for that.