A treasure from our mountains

This morning, opening my shutters, I saw that the first snowflakes had fallen during the night. The snowy peaks reminded me of a story my grandmother used to tell me:

Once upon a time in Savoy, there lived a young prince who spent his nights contemplating the celestial vault. He never left his observatory without saying goodnight to a tiny white star, which was shining shone* like no other. He was in love. 

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If the shining lasted for a set period of time you'd say "was shining", but, in this example, the star always shines like no other so you'd use 'shone'. He's another example:

He drank tea like a fish (ie. he always drank tea like a fish)

He was drinking tea like a fish yesterday (ie. for a temporary time period)  

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At the same this time, An old shepherd lived at the foot of the Aiguilles d'Arves. The old man was very familiar with the sky and could talk to the stars. 

Learning that this, the young prince went to see him and asked him to tell the little star that he loved her. Once the shepherd had done this, the star turned into a beautiful princess, joined her prince and both lived happily.
Some time later, the queen of heaven asked the star to take its her place back up there in the sky but the princess refused.

The angry queen threw a flash of light on the castle, which turned the princess into a bunch of small white stars which were scattered on the highest mountains of the Alps. 

Thus was born this mythical flower: the edelweiss.
Simply wearing a beautiful dress of white wool, it blooms for a few days at the border of heaven and earth…