"Moltina and the Blushing Mountain" by Cristina Marsi

The Dolomites are known as "pale Mountains" because of their silvery color that however turns into the most incredible shades of pink, red and purple at sunrise and sunset. But there is one of them, the "Croda rossa" (Rotwand in German, both meaning red wall/mountain) that mantains her red color all the time. This is the legend of this mountain.

Once upon a time there lived, at the feet of the Croda (not yet Rossa) an old Anguana (wise woman dwelling near the water) who was able to talk with marmots. One day a woman called Molta arrived to her with her baby daughter. The woman was so tired for the travel that she hardly managed to entrust the baby to the anguana before she died. So the anguana called the girl Moltina and brought her up in her mountain dwelling, afar from human beings. Moltina grew with marmots, she learned their language and sometimes she was even able to turn into one of these creatures herself.

One day there arrived a prince from a far away land who had got lost while hunting. He met Moltina an the two of them fell in love. After living for a while with her, the prince wanted to go back to his realm, bringing Moltina with him as his wife and queen.

But the life in the royal palace didn't suit Moltina who became sadder as days went on. However she stayed, for the love of her prince.

But one day there was a royal gathering. Kings and queens from all the neighborhoos met and while the kings were discussing royal affairs, the queens got bored. One of them so suggested each of them should reveal her origin and her ancestors. Moltina felt very ashamed, because she had no ancestors, and her origin was as far as she knew, nothing more than a marmot hole, so blushing violently she run away from the royal palace, back to her old land were marmots played in the mountain meadows. And the Croda shared Moltina's shame and blushed vividly.

Some time later there arrived the prince. He had understood everything and for the love of his wife he accepted to live with her in the mountains. So they lived happily, but the mountain is still blushing ;)

Watercolor pencils on Fabriano Drawing paper. 30*40 cm.

This is actually chapter 0 in the Fanes Saga, since Moltina is known to be the first Fanes queen. Her story howerver is a bit apart from the main stream of the lore.