The Shining Mountain

1. Write down fairytale elements you find in the story.

·         The mountain witch came 3 time.

·         "once there was..." beginning.

·         Home-out-home model.

·         Magic.

·         Opponent (mountain/the witch).

·         A challenging trial.

·         Unique names.

·         Pagma-La dreamt that this would happen.

3. Take questions to ask and answer the following question: (pp. 18-20)

a) She is named after the mountain. And it's a prediction of the future, and what her father expects from her (to climb it together, even if she doesn't want to).

b) He is a very good and brave mountaineer, and has been filmed during his endeavours.

c) He wants her to be happy, but their happiness is very different, and she isn't happy climbing mountains. He doesn't realize that, and unwittingly puts a lot of pressure on her.

d) He has been preparing her all her life. Training her strength and balance before they set out, so she doesn't go in blind.

e) She is fussing, and worried about her daughter's safety. Her mother is more aware of the pressure Pagma-La is put under. For example, when she wakes up from her dream, she wants her mother, because she doesn't want to disappoint her father by being scared.

f) He's too proud. If they don't do it all by themselves, it's not really their achievement.

g) He feels superior. He doesn't need any help, and definitely not from strangers. The way he declines their offer is quite rude.

h) She looks up to her father, but is scared that she isn't worthy of being his daughter, "She was afraid her father would be disappointed in her."

She feels closer to her mother, for example, she really wants to hug her mother when she wakes up from her nightmare. "Pagma-La woke up frightened and wanting her mother..."

i) The Sherpa woman isn't seen by the father because she is magic, and he doesn't believe in it. She chooses when to appear, and to whom.

j) She helps carry her heavy loads, so Pagma-La's father will still think she is doing all the work, and he won't be disappointed.

k) She wants to live up to her father's expectations, but she's too tired to carry on.

4. Why has the author chosen to let them take off in a white plane?

a) Because the white plane symbolizes the swan Pagma-La will later turn into.

b) White, deep blue prints in the snow, gold, natural colours.

c) The author uses a lot of natural colours to describe the landscape, which makes the goddess contrast more strongly with her unnatural gold skin and animal-like eyes.

White symbolizes purity, which is what Pagma-La is in this story, since all she wants to do is please her father, even at her own expense.

5. Discuss the significance of the following sentence: "... they were high in the crystal blue sky where the sun hurts your eyes."

Besides the obvious rhyme in the sentence, it tells the reader that she is far on her journey, and that the view is supposed to be beautiful, but she can't appreciate it because she is sad.

In this case, the crystal blue sky is her, and the sun blinding her is her father's expectations.

6. Below you will find three interpretations of Pagma-La's dream. Which of them do you find most appropriate and why?

a) Because she is so afraid of disappointing her father, her biggest fear is not being able to climb the mountain that she was named after. She does feel lonely - she can't talk to her father about this, and her mother isn't there.

It is a bit extreme, but she does feel like if she doesn't fulfil the task, she will lose her father's respect, because she has been told all her life she needs to do this.

7. "... my boots are too big and I can't fill them..." Compare the meaning of the quotation with the following statemends and identify the one expressing a different idea.

b) I've got the wrong size boots.

Because that metaphor clearly isn't about her actual foot-size, but about all the aspects of her life in which she feels inadequate.

8. How do the various characters describe the mountain?

Pagma-La describes it with fear, because the mountain holds the key to her father's approval.

The father is awestruck by the mountain, and sees it as unconditionally beautiful. He loves how it's challenging, whereas that is frightening and hard for Pagma-La.

9. Sum up the three tests.

The first test: the Sherpa goddess offers to carry her heavy sack. The first time, she declines, and even tells her father of it, but he didn't see any woman, so she doesn't mention again.

The second test: She switches out the things in her rucksack with feathers.

The third test: She switches out her heavy clothes with feathers to keep her warm.

(The fourth test): She hands over her heavy heart, to be freed of the burden her father has laid upon her.

There are four tests, because the all of these are testing Pagma-La's willpower and how far she is willing to go to please her father.

10. Describe the mountain goddess.

She is a deity of the mountain, in a way she is the mountain. She is tall and straight, and her skin is made of gold, and she has the eyes of a snow-leopard, so she can see in the dense weather and snowstorms. She is strong where Pagma-La is strong, and instead of using that against the humans, she actually helps them, and teaches the father a valuable lesson.

11. How does she talk to Pagma-La's father?

She is disapproving, and she wants to give him a hard lesson. She coldly shows him how he has failed. She is cold, sharp, firm and stern.

12. What is the lesson Pagma-La's father has learned?

Not to pressure his child. He shouldn't expect her to be like him, she needs to choose her own path.

13. Why has the author chosen to let Pagma-La be changed into a swan and not another bird?

A swan is a majestic bird, and it's a pure animal. Just like Pagma-La is a pure child. It is white and innocent, which shows that she has no bad intentions, she was just trying to please him.