My mother’s mother, my maternal grandmother, used to tell me stories, as I have mentioned in earlier blog posts. She also taught me how to draw an 8-pointed star. As she scribbled a star on a scrap of paper, she would say this poem, in German:
Kri Kra Kroten-Fuss, Gänse Laufen Bar-Fuss
The translation is as follows:
Kri Kra Toad’s Foot, Geese Walk Bare-foot
I think this nonsense poem was based on German folklore. It’s a totally unknown story that I’ve never come across anywhere else. Most likely my grandmother remembered it from her own childhood. But this was how I learned to make a star. And out of this memory of my grandmother’s story, of her showing me how to draw a star, along with a dream I had about a falling star, came my book, Draw Me A Star!
Now you too can try to draw an 8-pointed star. See if you can do it without lifting your pen from the paper!