THE WANDERING FAIRYTALE
Written by students of Greece, Portugal, Spain, Malta
This fairytale is the last and best product of the eTwinning project:
“Princesses and Knights Travel in Europe for Days and Nights”
It was cooperatively written by all four teams that participate :
- 16th Primary School of Heraklion, Crete, Greece - Escola Básica e Secundária D. Sancho II, Alijó, Portugal - Ceip Manuel Fernandez, Spain - St. Clare College Gzira Primary, Malta
Introduction (Crete)
Hey, baddy, wake up!
I feel a small push, I open one eye, it’s dark around. No, Ι was wrong. It’s still very early. Ι stayed up late last night, playing a terrific electronic strategic game on my computer where some pirates beleaguer a castle and knights defend it bravely.
By the way it’s been weekend so I can sleep a little bit longer.
Hey, baddy, don’t you hear me? Wake up. I need your help.
Something is going wrong. I have now waken up for good and turn the lights on. Oh, my God! One of the game knights is standing opposite me in his shiny armor, full of life. He looks desperate. Don’t be afraid of me. I need you.
What can I do for you? I am just a kid.
War is not my whole life. I love a girl and I want to marry her. But her
father
doesn’t
give
his
permission. He wants me to prove cleverness and bravery. I must solve a puzzle:
“Dark blue around us, unites three countries. You must visit them. Also find the country beyond that blue which gave birth to famous explorers who discovered distant places. Each country will send a present to my daughter if you want her to become your wife�. I am incredibly confused. What does this puzzle mean?
1st chapter (Portugal)
I reflected a little and answered. - I think I know what Dark Blue is. In yesterday's playthrough when I accessed the map there was a huge area with that color. It's the Mediterranean Sea!
- See? You're already helping me! Keep going! Explorers ... famous explorers ...
Looking at the rider, who now looked more lively, I thought about yesterday's game and I remembered exactly what to do. I told him: - Come with me, I know how we're going to do it! And by pressing the F1 key in the keyboard we immediately went to the help section of the game.
The assistant laughed at me when I spoke of famous explorers and said to me:
I see that you have heard of King D. Afonso Henriques - named The Conqueror. Click the ENTER key and then you will go directly to Portugal, his country.
Look, Knight, this was the first king of Portugal, and this was his castle of GuimarĂŁes .
He was very brave and he became king only at the age of 19 and was named "The Conqueror". He was the main responsible for the conquest of the territory of Portugal. Notice that he wore a shiny armor like yours! His symbol is an imposing sword with which he fought many battles and always protected him. Take it with you. With it you will protect your beloved! I'm sure your future father-in-law will like it.
I hope so, my dear friend, I hope so!
He was very brave and he became king only at the age of 19 and was named "The Conqueror". He was the main responsible for the conquest of the territory of Portugal. Notice that he wore a shiny armor like yours! His symbol is an imposing sword with which he fought many battles and always protected him. Take it with you. With it you will protect your beloved!
2nd chapter (Spain)
"And now how can I go to Spain?" The knight asked tearfully. -Do not worry! I just I searched in my closet for my new virtual reality glasses and typed an application on my computer to visit, virtually, one of the nicest regions of Spain, Andalusia, just in the south of the Iberian Peninsula. had an idea!
Without wasting any more time I got up from my chair and forced the knight to sit down and put on his virtual reality glasses. He was very surprised when he entered the program and walked through the beautiful streets of cities like Seville, Cordoba or Malaga.
"What a marvel!" Exclaimed the knight. "These are places of incalculable beauty! I had never seen anything without equal!
- Look around to see if there is something that catches your attention and you consider appropriate to give to your beloved. - That's it! I have seen something that I am sure she will love. Look! He took off his glasses and offered them to me. When I put on my glasses I saw something surprisingly beautiful, and very typical of Spain. It was a flamenco dress in a bright red with white dots. I picked it up and carefully put it in a box and wrapped it with wrapping paper.
- You can be proud. You have done a good job, "I said to the gentleman." With this dress, you will surely conquer your beloved. He thanked me enormously. But again, he showed his concern. -And now, where do I go? Then I remembered a legend that my grandmother told me when I was a little boy. It was about a fearsome thirteenth-century pirate from Malta, named Enrico Pescatore‌
Epilogue (Malta)
The boy and the Knight knew they needed to travel to Malta to get their final present. They were not sure on how to do this. Then the boy remembered about the emergency button. He was convinced that this was the right time to use it! The boy pressed it knowing now what was going to happen. The knight looked at the game nervously. Suddenly an alert sound went on and both fell off the chair. The game asked them for their emergency, the boy put on his headset and said that they needed to get to Malta very quickly. All of a sudden they were transported to Malta and found themselves in Mdina, the old capital city of Malta.
The boy and the knight were not sure of what to do here. They started to stroll around the silent city, as it is known.
The knight found himself in one of the many souvenir shops confused. He saw many tiny statues of himself!
They boy burst out laughing at him.
All of a sudden one the knights began to move. They were both amazed and in shock! The small knight knew the knight’s mission and told them to go to Marsaxlokk and get a fishing boat as a present for the King and a Maltese cross necklace made from traditional Maltese filigree for the Princess.
They went to Marsaxlokk by bus. Being there, the knight was surprised to how colorful the Luzzu (Maltese traditional fishing boat) is. He knew that the king would be so pleased with this present!
The knight and the boy decided to sail back to Crete on the Luzzu.
They went straight to the king to give him the presents. They were still not sure if the King would allow the knight to marry the princess.
The king looked very well at the presents: the sword from Portugal, the flamenco dress from Spain and the cross necklace from Malta but they could not tell if he liked them or not.
Finally, he gave the knight a big smile! The king was very pleased with all the presents! He gave the knight the permission to marry his daughter.
The knight and the princess had a beautiful wedding at the castle of Koule in Heraklion. (Heraklion, the capital of the beautiful island of Crete, was the home town of the knight.) The princess wore the Spanish dress and the Maltese cross necklace.
After the wedding the knight and the princess visited all the places the knight went to get the presents for the princess together.
They both lived happily ever after!
Many thanks to mrs Katerina Froudaki, the mother of one of my students for the beautiful drawings.
Congratulations to us all for the fruitful collaboration all those months: My first graders from 16th Primary School, Crete & the English Teacher, Maria Froudaraki
Carla & Antonio Mansilha & their students from Portugal Eva Garcia and her students from Spain
Yana Mindoff & her students from Malta