Intercultural stories book

The bullfighter Manuel

Looking for the
Santa Claus

A ghost in Colégio do Sardão

AN AMAZING JOURNEY

THE SECRET OF THE FOREST

Cultural Dinosaur adventure!

The bullfighter Manuel

El torero Manuel

English – Spanish

Manuel was a great bullfighter. Today
he had just had a spectacular bullfight. Also
he had been invited to inaugurate a museum
called: "Countries". As this name said, it was
about other countries. Inside were some very beautiful and valuable
things, such as:
The Mona lisa of Italy and a model of Big Ben in London.
However there was also something very strange - a small guitar,
which had a label that said:

"This guitar is called "Cavaquinho" of Portuguese
origin. It is a simple 4 metal string guitar. It's shaped like
a miniature guitar played by holding it in the air (not by
supporting it on the leg). It is held with the right arm and
left hand. It is used in folk groups of the northern half of
Portugal, and it is commonly used by strumming with
your fingers to accompany the voice".

Nobody was allowed to touch the exhibits in the museum. But
the bullfighter's curiosity to touch this small guitar grew and grew,
until he could not resist touching one of its brightest string. It caused a
great glow that nearly blinded him!!! What a surprise he had when he
opened his eyes to find....

Manuel era un gran torero. Hoy había tenido una corrida
espectacular.
El había sido invitado a inagurar un museo llamado “Países” que
como su nombre indica iba sobre los distintos países y tenía cosas muy
valiosas y bonitas como:
La Monalisa de Italia, una maqueta del Big Ben de Londres, pero
había algo muy, pero que muy extraño, una pequeña guitarra en cuya
etiqueta decía:
Esta guitarra se llama “Cavaquinho” es una guitarra de origen
portugués, tiene solo cuatro cuerdas de metal. Su forma es como una
guitarra en miniatura que se toca agarrándola en el hombro y no
apoyada en las piernas, apoyandola en el brazo derecho y agarrandolo
con la mano izquierda. Es usada por los grupos folklóricos de la mitad
norte de Portugal, usándola punteando sus cuerdas y acompañada por
voces.
Pero la curiosidad del torero por tocar aquella guitarra iba
creciendo y creciendo, el no podo resistirse a tocar una aquellas
brillantes cuerdas, y cuando la tocó un gran resplendor lo dejó casi
ciego. Qué sorpresa se llevó cuando abrió los ojos y se encontró...

... When the lights had been turned off, the bullfighter had lost
the small guitar called “cavaquinho”.
Meanwhile, the “cavaquinho” was all alone on the stairs outside,
longing to be played.
To pass the time, he decided to give a name to each of his four
strings: Domino, Reminder, Miracle, Face. He really liked the chosen
names because they all started with a musical note.
Suddenly it started to rain and he was afraid that he might be
damaged.
At that moment a Lollipop lady picked him up. She dried him
and to his great joy she started to play him. The music was wonderful
and the four strings seemed like they were alive. Even the rain seemed
to follow the rhythm.
After a while the lollipop lady tucked the “cavaquinho” under
her arm, took her black English umbrella, then she went down the
stairs and…

... Cuando se apagaron las luces, el torero perdió la pequeña
guitarra llamada "Cavaquinho".
"Cavaquinho" estaba solo en las escaleras, anhelando que alguien
lo tocara.
Para pasar su tiempo libre, decidió cambiar de nombre a cada una
de sus cuatro cuerdas: DOmino, REcordatorio, MIlagro, FAción. A él
realmente le gustaba el nombre elegido, ya que comenzaban con las
silabas de notas musicales.
De repente, empezó a llover y tuvo miedo de que pudiera dañarse.

En ese momento una señora (reguladora de tráfico) (Lollipop), se
le acercó y para su gran alegría ella empezó a tocarlo. Fue maravillosa
la música de sus cuatro cuerdas hacian como si estuviera viva, incluso
la lluvia parecía seguir el ritmo.
Después de un rato la señora Lollipop recogió el "cavaquinho",
tomó su paraguas negro Inglés, y luego se fue bajando las escaleras
y ...

To her amazement, the guitar started to play all by itself!
“What on earth is going on?” the lollipop lady thought to herself.
Suddenly an idea came to her so she grabbed the umbrella, put it up
and ran outside with the guitar. Next she hopped onto the London
underground, and then started playing it in the middle of Trafalgar
Square.

Soon a crowd had gathered around her to hear the beautiful
music from the “cavaquinho”, because the lollipop lady pretended that
she was actually playing it. But as she was playing, a strange rattling
sound started to come from the instrument until she had to stop
playing. At that moment everyone realised she was a fraud and
wasn’t playing it at all.

Everyone clapped and cheered and thought the guitar must be
magic. As the crowd cleared, the lollipop lady noticed there was a
man with a sly face, looking at her. Quick as a flash he grabbed the
guitar off of her and threw something at her feet. When she looked
down she saw a traditional game from Finland. She stared after the
man, “Moro” she shouted...

Para su asombro, la guitarra comenzó a tocar por sí misma!
"¿Qué diablos está pasando?" la señora Lollipop pensó . De repente,
una idea le vino a la cabeza. Agarró el paraguas, lo abrió, corrió fuera
del metro londinense con la pequeña guitarra, y luego empezó a tocar
en el centro de Trafalgar Square.

Pronto una multitud se había congregado a su alrededor para
escuchar la hermosa música de la "Cavaquinho", porque la señora Lollipop
hacía como si lo estuviera tocando realmente. Pero cuando ella intentó
tocarla, un extraño sonido comenzó a salir desde el instrumento hasta que
tuvo que dejar de tocar. En ese momento todo el mundo se dio cuenta de
que todo era un fraude y que ella no la tocaba.

Todos aplaudieron y vitorearon la guitarra y pensaron “debe ser la
magia”. Cuando la multitud se disipó, la mujer se dio cuenta que había un
hombre observándola con gesto astuto. Rápido como un rayo agarró la
guitarra y se la llevó, pero antes tiró algo a sus pies. Cuando ella miró
hacia abajo vio un juego tradicional de Finlandia. Ella miró al hombre y
gritó: “Boro”...

The man turned around and said:-
“MORO! My name is Kaapo. Would you like to come to Finland
with me? We could play a traditional Finnish game tonight at my
summer cottage.”
“What is a name of this game?” the Lollipop lady asked.
“It is Finnish “MÖLKKY” Kaapo answered.

A piece of wood is called the mölkky. The basic idea is to knock
down the numbered pins (made also of wood) with the mölkky. If you
knock down one pin you get as many points as it says on the pin. If
you knock down more than one pin, for example seven pins you get
seven points.

The Lollipop lady picked up the game and…SURPRISE…there
was a letter under the game.
It came from formula one driver Kimi Räikkönen. He also
wanted to play Finnish mölkky with them.
The Lollipop lady, Kaapo and Kimi were soon at Kaapo´s
summer cottage by Näsijärvi Lake, with the board game and the
guitar.
They played the funny game, but suddenly a Finnish brown bear
came from the forest. It took the guitar called “cavaquinho” and ran
away.
Later that night, the friends took a rowing boat and they rowed

over the lake Näsijärvi to the amusement park. There was a folk dance
group from Reunion. They also saw a player who was playing “a
cayamb” and…

El hombre se giró y dijo:-BORO! Mi nombre es Kaapo. ¿Le
gustaría venir a Finlandia conmigo? Podemos jugar un juego tradicional
finlandés esta noche en mi casa de campo de verano.
¿Cual es el nombre del juego? Preguntó la dama Lollipop . “En
finlandés MÖLKKY" respondió Kaapo.
Es un juego de madera llamado Mölkky, en el que hay diferentes
palos. La idea básica es derribar los palitos (también hechos de madera)
con el Mölkky. Si tumbas un palito tendrás un punto y si derribas más de
uno, por ejemplo, siete tendrás siete puntos.

La dama Lollipop recogió el juego y ... ¡sorpresa! ... había una
carta en el marco del juego. Venía la fórmula del conductor Kimi
Räikkönen. También le gustaba jugar con ellos al Mölkky finlandes.

La dama Lollipop, Kaapo y Kimi se fueron a la cabaña de verano
por el lago Näsijärvi.
Jugaron este juego divertido, pero de pronto un oso pardo
finlandés vino del bosque, tomó la guitarra llamada "Cavaquinho" y se
escapó.

Más tarde, por la noche los amigos tomaron un bote de remos y
remaron por el lago Näsijärvi al parque de atracciones. Había un grupo
de danza folclórica de Reunión. También vio a un jugador que estaba
jugando con un "cayamb" y ...

…what a surprise! The bear was also there and was playing the
“cavaquino” with them. They played all night whilst walking through
the forest. The Lollipop lady, Kaapo and Kimi decided to follow them.
Little did they know that the strange tune was magical! In the morning
there was no more forest, but instead there was very little vegetation.
They were at the border of the huge crater on the “piton de la
Fournaise”, the very active volcano. It was quiet and the group
decided to play again.

Meanwhile, at the museum, as Manuel was looking for the
guitar, he noticed a beautiful painting of a volcano on the wall so he
stopped to study it. Suddenly he heard the music of drums and the
cavaquinho, and he felt himself spinning. When the world had
stopped turning he found himself at Piton de la Fournaise, along with
the lollipop lady, Kaapo and Kimi.

As soon as the “rouleur” (big drum) the “cayamb” and the
“cavaquinho” started their rhythm they all felt a kind of vibration on
the ground. They kept on playing and the vibration was growing too.
Suddenly, the earth tore open and a big fountain of lava poured out…

... Qué sorpresa! El oso también estaba allí y estaba tocando el
"Cavaquino" con ellos. Ellos tocaron toda la noche caminando por el
bosque. La dama Lollipop, Kimi Kaapo y decidieron seguirlos.
Por la mañana ya no había más bosques, pero la flora estaba muy
baja. Ellos se encontraban en el borde del enorme cráter "Piton de la
Fournaise", un volcán activo, que hora estaba tranquilo y el grupo
decidió tocar otra vez. Tan pronto como el "rouleur" (tambor grande), la
"cayamb" y el "cavaquinho" comenzaron su ritmo todos sintieron como
una especie de vibración en el terreno. Continuaron tocando pero la
vibración fue creciendo demasiado. De repente, la tierra se desgarró y
una gran fuente de lava salió ...

…soon after that earthquake, as the lava came out of the
volcano, Manuel took the guitar and everyone present made a wish.
They had a secret dream to get to a peaceful place, without
volcanoes… When they opened their eyes, they were in the
Carpathians, in Romania. Manuel had dropped the cavaquinho
somewhere in the forest so they all decided to search for the guitar.
But before they had found it, they came across a herd of weird animals
which looked a lot like American buffaloes.
“These are called zimbri,” said Manuel.
He noticed that the guitar was in a strange position between the
horns of one of the buffaloes.
“Someone must get the guitar” said Manuel, while the white
faced man saw something colourful on a tree branch and climbed up
to get it. It was a red, yellow and blue flag, the Romanian flag. Manuel
fought the buffalo until he made the guitar fall on the ground. When
the Cavaquinho was down, the lollipop lady took it and…

... pronto después del terremoto y que la lava saliera del volcán.
Manuel tomó la guitarra y todos los presentes formularon un deseo.
Tenían el sueño secreto de llegar a un lugar tranquilo, sin volcanes ...
Cuando abrieron sus ojos, ellos estaban en los Cárpatos, en Rumanía.
Manuel había dejado el Cavaquinho en un lugar del bosque. Y todos
ellos decidieron ir a buscar la guitarra, pero antes de que sucediera
atravesaron de una manada de animales extraños, que se asemejaban a
los búfalos americanos, “son los llamados zimbri", dijo Manuel.
Él se dio cuenta que la guitarra estaba en una posición extraña entre
los cuernos de uno de los búfalos. "Alguien debe coger la guitarra" dijo
Manuel, mientras el hombre con la cara blanca vio algo de color en una
rama de un árbol escaló para cogerlo. Era una bandera rojo, amarillo y
azul, bandera de Rumania. Manuel luchó con el búfalo hasta que hizo caer
la guitarra en el suelo. Cuando estaba abajo el Cavaquinho, la dama
lollipop la cogió y ...

Then she thought that they had better go.
Whilst turning to Kaapo and Kimi, she said,
“Come on, be quick! Let’s do the same thing again. Close your
eyes and make a wish. Maybe, we can find ourselves in another
peaceful place and enjoy the music.”

They closed their eyes and when they opened them they found
themselves in a crowded place. There was a performance of a Turkish
traditional folk dance accompanied by the traditional instruments
bağlama, drums and shrill pipes.
After watching the show for a while, the cavaquinho and cayamb
couldn’t resist joining in and to their amazement they had a unique
music show embracing different cultures.
They couldn’t believe the harmony that was coming from
different cultures. They were amazed by the music and let themselves
be taken over by the charm of it. This took them…

... pensaron que seria mejor irse.
Mientras se volvió a Kimi y Kaapo, y dijo
"¡Vamos, ser rápido!, vamos a hacer lo mismo otra vez”.
Cierra los ojos y pedir un deseo. Quizás, podemos encontrarnos
en otro lugar tranquilo y disfrutar de la música.
Ellos cerraron los ojos y cuando los abrieron se encontraban en un
lugar donde había mucha gente. Era un espectáculo de danza folclórica
tradicional turca acompañada por instrumentos tradicionales Baglama,
tambor y flauta
Después de ver el show por un rato, el Cavaquinho y el Cayamb
no pudieron resistir y se uniron a ellos. Para su asombro se fundierón en
una sola música que abarcaban las diferentes culturas.
No podían creer la armonía que venía de diferentes culturas. Se
sorprendieron por la música y se dejaron llevar por los encantos de la
misma ...

....Back to each of their countries.
The next morning, when Manuel woke up, he decided to go back
to the museum to return the cavaquinho. When he arrived at the
museum, "COUNTRIES", and saw all those objects from different
parts of the world, he headed towards the place where he had first seen
the cavaquinho. Manuel left the cavaquinho in this place, but before
that he stopped, he turned around and thought:
If I have got to know so many places, people and different things
with a single object, imagine what I could get to know if I knew the
history of each of the objects found here?

De regreso hacia cada uno de sus países. A la mañana siguiente,
cuando Manuel se despertó, decidió ir a devolver al museo el Cavaquinho.
Cuando llego al museo “Países” y vio todos aquellos objetos
reunidos de diferentes partes del mundo, se dirigió hacia el lugar donde
había estado el Cavaquinho y lo dejó allí ,pero se detuvo, se dio la vuelta y
pensó:
“Imagina si con un sólo objeto he podido conocer tantos lugares,
personas y cosas diferentes ¿qué ocurriría si me dedicara a conocer la
historia de cada uno de los objetos que se encuentran aquí?”.

The End
fin
This story was written by children from Finland,
France, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Turkey and United
Kingdom in The Comenius project :

"We Europeans have a Bagful of Culture to Share."

Looking for the Santa Claus/Joulupukkia etsimässä

It was late February. Days were getting longer again after the
polar nights, a long dark season during winter. Liisa and Matti
travelled to Lapland for their winter holiday. When they finally
arrived at their little cottage they decided to go to the sauna
straight away, and then from the sauna they went snow swimming,
many times again and again. After their sauna Liisa and Matti
went to visit an old Sami man who lived in a teepee near their
cottage.

The old man said to Liisa:
“It´s a shame that some people don´t believe that Santa Claus
really exists.”
Matti laughed his head off, but Liisa wanted to believe. So Liisa
left Sami´s teepee and went looking for Santa to prove to the
whole world that he existed. Suddenly she found herself standing
in front of a huge door which seemed to head straight into a
mountain. Liisa felt exited and little scared. Then she knocked on
the door. First nothing happened, but after a while the door opened
very slowly…

Oli helmikuun viimeinen viikko. Päivät alkoivat taas pidentyä
pitkän valottoman ajan, kaamoksen jälkeen. Liisa ja Matti lähtivät
talvilomalle Lappiin. Matka oli pitkä.
Kun he tulivat perille, he menivät saunaan. He kävivät monta
kertaa lumikylvyssä. Saunan jälkeen he päättivät lähteä vierailulle
saamelaisten majaan. Vanhin saamelainen sanoi Liisalle: ”On
sääli, että monet ihmiset eivät usko joulupukkiin, vaikka hän
todella on olemassa.” Matti nauroi katketakseen, mutta Liisa ei
sanonut mitään. Hän halusi uskoa.
Matti jäi saamelaisten lämpöiseen kotaan, mutta Liisa lähti
etsimään joulupukkia, koska hän halusi todistaa koko maailmalle,
että joulupukki on todella olemassa. Yhtäkkiä hän huomasi
seisovansa valtavan suuren oven edessä. Se näytti johtavan
suoraan tunturin sisään. Liisa oli innoissaan ja hieman peloissaan.
Hän toivoi löytäneensä joulupukin suuren pajan. Liisa koputti
varovasti oveen. Ensin ei tapahtunut mitään, mutta sitten valtava
ovi alkoi naristen avautua…

And behind the door, Liisa met a weird character. He had a long
beard, was dressed completely in green and was wearing a hat
with a little spherical bell. He looked like a sprite. Behind him, she
could see the sprite village. They were all busy making toys or
packing small and large gifts.
Liisa, having greeted him, asked if he knew where Santa Claus
could be. She explained to him that she wanted to meet him to
prove his existence to the whole world. The sprite told her that he
was a friend of Santa Claus and that all the people of the village
were making gifts that Santa Claus would pick up and distribute
next Christmas. Also he explained that his friend was very tired
and he had moved to a sunny place to rest. Only one of the Snow
fairies knew exactly where he was.
“You have to go to the Snow fairy’s house,” said the sprite to
Liisa. “But to go to her home, you have to climb to the top of the
enchanted mountain.”

Oven avauduttua Liisa näki sisällä omituisen hahmon. Otuksella
oli pitkä parta, vihreä puku ja päässä hassu hiippalakki, jonka
päässä oli kulkunen. Hän näytti ihan tontulta. Tontun takana Liisa
näki kokonaisen tonttujen kylän. Kaikki olivat kiireisiä
valmistellessaan leluja ja pakatessaan niitä suuriin ja pieniin
paketteihin.
Tervehdittyään tonttua Liisa kysyi tältä, tietäisikö hän, missä
joulupukki on tällä hetkellä. Hän selitti haluavansa tavata
joulupukin siksi, että voisi kertoa koko maailmalle tämän todella
olevan olemassa. Tonttu kertoi olevansa joulupukin kaveri ja
sanoi, että pukki hakisi tontuilta kaikki heidän valmistamansa
paketit jakaakseen ne tulevana jouluna. Hän kertoi myös, että
joulupukki oli tällä hetkellä hyvin väsynyt ja oli matkannut
jonnekin aurinkoiseen paikkaan lepäilemään. Vain yksi
lumikeijukaisista tietää tarkalleen, missä pukki olisi. Tonttu
kehotti Liisaa menemään tapaamaan lumikeijukaista tämän talolle.
Sinne päästäkseen Liisan olisi kiivettävä lumotun tunturin
huipulle.

“Which is the way to the enchanted mountain?” asked Liisa.
“Don’t you know?” asked the sprite. “The mountain is towards the
light, from where the sun rises.”

“I see. I’ll follow the sunrise. I have time to rest.” Liisa sighed.
Liisa returned to the little cottage to relax after such an exciting
day.
Early in the morning the girl woke up and left for the enchanted
mountain. Reaching the foot of the mountain she was amazed by
the colours of the flowers and the light gleaming on the stones.
Each flower was opening its petals as if it was smiling at her. The
shiny stones were genuine sapphires, emeralds and rubies. Even
the birds were twittering as if wishing her “Welcome!”

The girl climbed the mountain so easily that it seemed to her she
was flying. So she reached the top in no time and saw the house of
the Snow fairy. She knocked at the door………………

”Mikä tie vie lumotulle vuorelle? kysyi Liisa.
”Etkö tiedä? kysyi henki. ”Vuori on sillä suunnalla, josta aurinko
nousee!”
”Ymmärrän. Seuraan auringon nousua. Mutta nyt minulla on aikaa
levätä”, Liisa huokasi. Liisa palasi pienelle mökille lepäämään
jännittävän päivän jälkeen.

Aikaisin aamulla tyttö heräsi ja lähti lumotulle vuorelle.
Kävellessään vuorelle hän ihasteli kukkien värejä ja kivien
hohdetta. Jokainen kukka avasi terälehtensä niin, että tuntui aivan
kuin ne hymyilisivät. Hohtavat kivet olivat aitoja safiireja,
smaragdeja ja rubiineja. Jopa linnut sirkuttivat hänelle toivottaen
hänet tervetulleeksi.
Tyttö kiipesi vuorelle niin helposti, että tuntui kuin hän lentäisi.
Hän pääsi vuoren huipulle todella nopeasti ja näki siellä
Lumikeijun talon. Hän koputti ovelle….

And the half open door creaked as it was opened further. Liisa saw
a woman standing in the room. She was wearing a pure white silk
dress that seemed as if it was
a reflection of snow itself

The little girl, who was
enchanted with the
atmosphere and music in the
room, was startled by the
words of the fairy.
“ I was waiting for you,” she
said.
Then the fairy, without
talking, held out a globe to
Liisa which had a figure of
Santa Claus and snowflakes
inside it. Whilst watching the

movement of snowflakes, Liisa found herself on the white endless
expanse on the top of Taurus mountains. She didn’t know what to
do, but luckily her feet looked as if they were showing her the
way. After she started to climb down the mountains, she passed
through some extremely green, orange scented trees and found
herself in a church in Antalya, Demre. She looked around
inquisitively. A statue of a man, who had a bag hanging from his
shoulder and down his back and had children smiling with
happiness around him, caught Liisa’s eye. Quickly she started to
follow the trail that might lead to Santa Claus.

Ja puoliksi avoin ovi narahti samalla tavalla kuin se oli avautunut
aiemmin. Liisa näki naisen seisovan huoneessa. Naisella oli yllään
puhtaan valkoinen silkkimekko ja hän näytti lumen heijastukselta.
Pieni tyttö, jonka huoneen tunnelma ja musiikki olivat lumonneet,
säikähti haltijan sanoja.

”Minä odotin sinua,” haltija sanoi.
Sitten haltija sanaakaan sanomatta antoi Liisalle maapallon.
Maapallon sisällä oli Joulupukin pienoismalli ja lumihiutaleita.
Kun Liisa katsoi lumihiutaleiden liikettä maapallon sisällä, hän
huomasi olevansa Taurusvuorten loputtoman valkoisella aavalla
huipulla. Hän ei tiennyt mitä tehdä, mutta onneksi hänen jalkansa
näyttivät tuntevan tien alas.
Kun Liisa oli aloittanut kiipeämään alas vuorelta, hän ohitti
joitakin uskomattoman vihreitä ja appelsiinille tuoksuvia puita ja
samassa hän löysi itsensä Antalyan kirkosta Demrestä. Hän katsoi
ympärilleen uteliaasti. Hän näki miespatsaan, jonka olkapäältä
alas selkään roikkui laukku. Patsaan ympärillä oli onnellisesti
hymyileviä lapsia. Patsas tuijotti Liisaa. Yhtäkkiä Liisa alkoi
seurata tietä, joka ehkä johtaa Joulupukin luokse...

The road was becoming more and more beautiful and it was
getting colder and colder, when she arrived at a huge house. There
was a lot of ice around its door. It was frozen. Liisa attempted to
open it, but couldn’t. So she went back along the pa

th,
but suddenly she heard loud shouts, “Warhh! ¡Warhh!” Liisa was
so scared, but she bravely went on. Suddenly a dragon appeared. It
tried to bite her but she said: "Lag-Patug-Amect", which were the
words her father had told Liisa before he died. Magically the
dragon was paralyzed and obeyed everything Liisa said. Carefully
Liisa climbed up onto the dragon and ordered: “Take me to the
house!” Then, when they got there, the mouth of the dragon
emitted a huge breath of fire and the ice melted. Slowly the door
opened and there was Santa Claus tied to a chair with a rope. Liisa
took it off and shrieked ....

Tie muuttui yhä kauniimmaksi ja kauniimmaksi, alkoi olla yhä
kylmempää ja kylmempää. Hän saapui valtavan talon luo. Talon
ovi oli yltympäriinsä jään peitossa. Liisa yritti avata ovea, muttei
onnistunut. Niinpä hän lähti polkua takaisinpäin, mutta kuuli
yhtäkkiä kovan karjaisun ”wrääh, wrääh”. Liisa pelästyi niin, että
oli saada halvauksen, mutta jatkoi urheasti matkaansa. Yhtäkkiä
Liisan vierelle ilmestyi lohikäärme. Se yritti purra Liisaa, mutta
hän lausui ”Lag-Patug-Amect”, mitkä olivat sanat, jotka hänen
isänsä oli lausunut kuolinvuoteellaan. Maagisesti lohikäärme
lamaantui ja alkoi totella Liisan käskyjä. Varovasti Liisa kiipesi
lohikäärmeen selkään ja komensi sitä: ” Vie minut talolle!” Kun
he tulivat talon ovelle, lohikäärme hönkäisi valtavan tulenlieskan
ja jää oven ympäriltä suli. Hitaasti ovi aukeni ja sisällä oli
joulupukki! Hänet oli sidottu köydellä tuoliin. Liisa vapautti pukin
köysistä ja parkaisi...

“Oh no…Santa Claus is seized!”
Lisa couldn’t believe her eyes, Santa was held to a chair. Then he
told Lisa that one of his elves had kidnapped him, just because he
wanted to be adored more than Santa. Meanwhile the elf had gone
to Serra da Estrela (Mountain Range of the Star) in Portugal for
a few days of sleeping. After freeing Santa, Liisa left and went to
meet Matii and Sami, and she told them that she needed help to
look for the elf that had kidnapped Santa Claus. She knew that he
was in Serra da Estrela.

There they went, in a wooden boat, pushed only by the waves.
After a few days, they landed on Miramar beach (next to Porto),
and they took a taxi to Serra da Estrela. It was summer in
Portugal, and they were not ready for such high temperatures, but
then they felt a breeze coming from a valley next to a little river
called Mondeguinho, where a Shepherd was walking with his
sheep. Liisa and sami asked the Shepherd if he could give them
three sheep to lead them to the mountain. As the shepherd was a
nice man, he accepted. So there they went, through the valley to

the mountain. It was a hard walk!
When they got to the top of the mountain, there was the elf with
the bag full of gifts from Santa Claus. The elf realized that Santa
had been found. Then he told Liisa, Matti and Samii that he was
very sorry for his behaviour and that he really loved all the
children of the world, and that he had only kidnapped Santa Claus
because he also wanted to be loved the way Santa was.
Meanwhile in Lapland the spell was broken and the dragon
escaped. In a blink of an eye he arrived in Serra da Estrela and
took the elf to…

”Voi ei… Joulupukki on takavarikoitu!” Liisa ei voinut uskoa
silmiään, joulupukki oli sidottuna tuoliin. Joulupukki kertoi
Liisalle, että yksi hänen tontuistaan oli kidnapannut hänet. Ja vain
koska halusi olla ihaillumpi kuin Joulupukki. Sillä välin tonttu oli
kadonnut Serra da Estrelaan Portugaliin muutamaksi päiväksi
lepäämään.

Vapautettuaan Joulupukin Liisa lähti ja meni Matin ja Samin
luokse kertomaan tarvitsevansa apua Joulupukin kidnapanneen
tontun etsimiseen. Liisa tiesi tontun olevan Serra da Estrelalla. He
menivät sinne puuveneellä, jota aallot kuljettivat. Muutaman
päivän kuluttua he rantautuivat Miramarin rannalle ja ottivat
taksin Serra da Estrelaan.
Portugalissa oli kesä eivätkä he olleet varautuneet niin korkeaan
lämpötilaan. Mutta sitten he tunsivat vienon tuulen tulevan
laaksosta, joka oli pienen joen vieressä, jota kutsutaan nimeltä
Mondeguinho. Joen rannalla lammaspaimen kulki lampaidensa
kanssa.
Liisa ja Sami kysyivät lammaspaimenelta, josko hän voisi antaa
heille kolme lammasta johdattamaan heidät vuorelle.
Lammaspaimen oli mukava mies ja suostui. Joten näin he menivät
laakson läpi vuorille. Se oli raskas kävely.

Vuoren huipulta he löysivät tontun, jolla oli säkillinen Joulupukin
lahjoja mukanaan. Tonttu tajusi, että Joulupukki oli löydetty.
Sitten hän kertoi Liisalle, Matille ja Samille kuinka pahoillaan hän
oli käytöksestään ja että hän todella rakastaa maailman lapsia ja
että hän kidnappasi Joulupukin vain, koska halusi olla yhtä
rakastettu kuin pukki.
Sillä välin Lapissa lumous oli rikottu ja lohikäärme paennut.
Silmänräpäyksessä lohikäärme saapui Serra da Estrelaan ja
nappasi tontun mukaansa…

A place brimming with magic, both good and evil. The frightened
elf looked around at the huge white castle with an enchanted lake
nearby and watched nervously as two more dragons circled
overhead. Quivering in fear, certain that his punishment for
kidnapping santa was to be eaten by ferocious dragons, the elf fell
to his knees and begged,
“Oh please don’t kill me! I have learnt my lesson and I never
meant any harm to come to Santa.”
Unfortunately his pleas seemed to fall on deaf ears as at that
moment six huge knights marched across the drawbridge from the
keep and roughly seized his arms before dragging him into the
Great Hall. As the elf peered up from under the brim of his hat, he
saw a man wearing a golden jewelled crown, sitting at a round
table.

The King looked curiously at the small man dressed all in green,
before asking, “What manner of man are you? Knight or
minstrel?”
“N-no your Majesty. I am neither. I am an elf,” he whispered.

“Stand and pay your respects to King Arthur, you worthless elf,”
commanded the nearest knight.
The elf gasped in shock. What on earth had happened? Could he
really have been transported back hundreds of years? He was in
fact in the mystical realm of Camelot!
“We have heard you work in a magical land. Merlin, our sorcerer,
is away at the moment and we have an important battle soon.
King Arthur has lost his mighty sword ‘Excalibur’. Can you help
us find it?” asked the dragon that had snatched him.
The elf scratched his head. Just as he was scared that he would be
thrown into the dungeon forever, he remembered the unusual
sword he had found in an abandoned workshop. Nervously, he
pulled it from his toy sack and laid it on the round table.
Everyone gasped with delight. “Your magic is strong,” they
exclaimed.
Suddenly there was a flash of blinding light and a strange old man
with a long white beard and flowing robes appeared in the room –
it was Merlin. He promised the elf a reward.
“Please let Santa forgive me and can I go back to being a simple
elf who works in Santa’s workshop?” asked the elf.
Merlin waved his hands and blue dust sparkled in the air. The
elf’s wish came true and of course Liisa proved Santa Claus really
existed.

Paikka oli täynnä taikuutta, sekä hyvää että pahaa. Pelästynyt
tonttu katsoi ympärilleen. Hän näki valtavan valkoisen linnan,
joka oli lumotun järven lähellä. Tonttu katsoi hermostuneesti, kun
vielä kaksi lohikäärmettä ympäröi hänet.
Pelosta vavisten, varmana siitä, että rangaistus joulupukin
kidnappauksesta olisi tulla julmien lohikäärmeiden syömäksi,
tonttu laskeutui polvilleen ja aneli:”Olkaa kilttejä, älkää tappako
minua! Olen oppinut läksyni, enkä ikinä enää aiheuta mitään
harmia joulupukille.”Valitettavasti hänen anelunsa näytti kaikuvan
kuuroille korville.

Samalla hetkellä kuusi mahtavaa ritaria marssi yli nostosillan. He
sieppasivat tonttua käsivarresta kiinni ja kiskoivat hänet suureen
saliin. Kun tonttu siristi silmiään, yrittäen nähdä hattunsa lierin
alta jotakin, hän näki kultaisin jalokivin koristettuun kruunun
pukeutuneen miehen istumassa pyöreän pöydän ääressä. Mies oli
kuningas. Hän katsoi uteliaana pientä, vihreään asuun
pukeutunutta miestä ennen kuin kysyi: ”Mikä ihmeen mies sinä
olet? Ritari vai trubaduuri?” ”Ei, ei teidän majesteettinne. En ole
kumpikaan. Olen tonttu”, hän kuiskasi.
”Osoita kunnioitusta kuningas Arthurille, sinä mitätön tonttu”,
komensi lähin ritari. Tonttu veti kauhuissaan henkeä. Mitä ihmettä
oli tapahtumassa? Olisiko hän todella voinut siirtyä takaisin
satojen vuosien päähän? Hän oli itse asiassa Camelotin alueella
linnassa.
”Olemme kuulleet, että työskentelet taikuutta täynnä olevassa
maassa. Merlin, meidän velhomme on tällä hetkellä poissa, ja
meillä on pian tärkeä taistelu. Kuningas Arthur on menettänyt
mahtavan Excalibur-miekkansa. Voitko auttaa meitä löytämään
sen?”, kysyi lohikäärme, joka oli siepannut tontun.
Tonttu raapi päätään. Juuri kun hän pelkäsi joutuvansa ikuisiksi
ajoiksi tyrmän uumeniin, hän muisti epätavallisen miekan, jonka
oli löytänyt hylätystä pajasta. Hermostuneesti tonttu otti kyseisen
miekan lelusäkistään ja laittoi sen pyöreälle pöydälle. Kaikki
huokaisivat ihastuneena. ”Sinun taikuutesi on vahva!”, he
huudahtivat.

Äkkiä huoneen täytti sokaiseva valonleimahdus. Heidän eteensä
ilmestyi vanha, pitkäpartainen, viittaan pukeutunut mies. Hän oli
Merlin. Merlin lupasi tontulle palkkion. Tonttu sanoi: ”Anna
joulupukin antaa minulle anteeksi. Ja voisinko minä,
yksinkertainen tonttu, palata takaisin työhön joulupukin pajaan?”
Merlin heilautti kättänsä ja sinistä pölyä pöllähti ilmassa. Tontun
toive toteutui ja Liisalle osoittautui todeksi, että JOULUPUKKI
TODELLA ON OLEMASSA.

This story has been started from Finland and is written by children
from Finland, France, Portugal, Romania, Spain, UK and Turkey.
This is a part from our Comenius project.

Thank you all!! It was fun!!

Tämä kertomus on aloitettu Suomesta. Sen ovat kirjoittaneet
Suomen, Ranskan, Portugalin, Romanian, Espanjan, Iso-Britanian
ja Turkin lapset.
Tämä on osa Comenius projectiamme!
Kiitos kaikille osallistuneille!

A ghost in Colégio do Sardão

On a bright sunny day, some pupils were chatting in front of the
main entrance of Colégio do Sardão…

Maria: Last night I slept so badly. I couldn’t forget what my sister
had told me...

João: What did she tell you? Don’t tell me that it’s the Colégio do
Sardão old ghost story of a man holding a big bottle of Porto wine
and a typical British umbrella in his hands? That’s a silly old story, I
don’t believe in such ridiculous gossip.

Maria: My sister swore it was true. She told me that one night while
they were having a party in the school canteen, they saw someone
at the balcony…and then suddenly the lights were turned off, and
they heard a scary scream…

The next thing they knew, Maria and João were flying through the
air holding tight to the umbrella.

They landed with a bump and looked around.

Maria : What happened?

João: Where are we? It looks like we are in a castle, and look there
is the flag of England.

A Yeoman Warder (beefeater) marched over to the children.

Beefeater: Come with me to the Tower of London and I will show
you a painting, it is of Anne Boleyn, wife of Henry VIII. She had her
head chopped off by this sword.

Maria: Look João, on the wall behind Anne Boleyn. There is a
moose head.

With that there was a scream........ a shadow of a woman passed
along the wall...

Maria and João ran away, but unexpectedly the moose’s head
sucked the children in!

Maria: Aah! I feel so dizzy, what’s going on?

João: I don’t know, but it doesn’t look as if we are in the Tower of
London anymore…

Soon they found themselves in Finland, in the middle of an art
museum in Tampere. Maria and João walked a little and looked at
some beautiful paintings which were hanging on the walls. When

they were near the painting which portrayed the Kalevala, they
stopped.

João: Look, the information board next to this painting tells us about
Wäinämöinen and his Finnish zither.

Suddenly they heard footsteps.

Guard: What are you doing here?

João and Maria: Quick, run!

The children got scared and escaped from the museum.
Outside they saw a big door which was opposite the Museum. As
the children entered through the door they found themselves in a
middle of a hockey match.

Two teams called Tappara and Lukko were playing. Tappara’s
player Jori Lehterä scored a goal.

After match children went to an observation tower called
Näsinneula. There they ate some black sausage, a traditional
Finnish food from Tampere. From the window Maria and João saw
a helicopter which was flying above the Näsijärvi…

In this helicopter the children saw that, as well as the pilot, there
was someone climbing down a rope ladder. Suddenly, this person
dropped herself down into the water.

Maria and João: Oh no! Come on, we must rescue her or she’ll
drown!

They used a net and when they managed to pull it up to the
surface; they saw a big ice cube.

João: Hey Maria, look at this. Something really strange is going on.

Maria: Wow! In the ice, there is a woman of mixed race wearing a

blue dress with red and yellow flowers printed on it. She looks as if
she comes from a distant island.

João: Hold on, I have an idea…

He went back and made his Finnish black sausages very hot then
put them on the ice, which quickly melted. They discovered the face
of the mixed race woman, who looked strangely like Anne Boleyn!

As soon as she managed to open her mouth she said:

Anne Boleyn: Who are you? Where am I?

Maria and João: We are Maria and João, two good friends. We are
above The Black Sea, near Constantza, a city in Romania.

Anne Boleyn: How do you know that?

Maria and João: Well, the map of Romania looks like a bunch of
flowers. There are mountains, hills, plateaus and fields. The bunch
has its stems in The Black Sea.

Anne Boleyn: What about the pelicans and the swans around us?
Where do they lead us?

Maria and João: To a magic place - The Danube Delta, the fishes
and birds’ paradise.

Anne Boleyn: Are we going there?

Maria and João: Yes, we are. We have some good friends in
Constantza. Here they are! The children from “Gheorghe Titeica”
School. They are waiting for us on “Bricul Mircea”, which is a ship.
Led by the birds and surrounded by friends, the three travellers
found out many facts about the Romanians’ history and about the
beautiful traditional folk costumes.

In the Danube Delta they danced a Romanian chain dance dressed
in traditional peasant blouses and wearing traditional leather shoes.
While dancing a Dobrudjan chain dance, called “Geampara” the
three travellers were taken by a flying carpet…….

Maria and João: Oh no! I hope we don’t fall off this carpet. Don’t
look down...

Anne Boleyn: I wonder where we are going now?

The pleasant journey, which started from the Danube Delta,
finished in Istanbul. They enjoyed the view of Istanbul from one of
the hills on which the town was situated.

At that moment, they noticed a man who looked half human and
half bird.

João: Look over there at the top of that tower. What kind of strange
creature is that?

Maria: He looks like a man, but are those wings coming from his
back?

He let himself down from the tower of Galata. As they looked in
amazement at the man, they witnessed that he succeeded in flying
and they couldn’t believe their eyes. They learnt that the man was
Hazerfen Ahmet Çelebi who had managed to fly with artificial wings
that he had made.

When Anne Boleyn saw that man, she strangely likened this man to
her daughter in terms of what they had done for their countries.

Anne Boleyn: I wish I had more time to see what was happening in
the world.

Whilst trying to decide the last place that she could visit, her
thoughts were interrupted by the shouts of the children. When she
turned her head to see what Maria and João were looking at...

She saw a herd of bulls.

João: Where are they going?

Maria: I’ve no idea, but right now we might have bigger problems.
That man with wings is going to land next to us!

Hazerfen Ahmet Celebí: Don’t be afraid. Do you want to fly with me
to see where the bulls are going?
So Hazerfen Ahmet Celebí rode them on his wings and they

followed the animals.

Soon they arrived at a fortified city on the shore of the
Mediterranean Sea, it was called Melilla. Hazerfen left them in a
house where Sir Pedro de Estopiñan lived.

The house was decorated with many armors and amphoras. María
and João told Pedro de Estopiñan all their adventures whilst they
were having a cup of tea and some biscuits.

But, although they were having a good time, they told him that they
wanted to go back home.

João: Thank you for the tea and biscuits. We have really enjoyed
ourselves but now I am feeling a bit tired. I’d like to go home now.

Sir Pedro: Well I have a ship in the harbour, come with me and I’ll
sail you all home.

Sir Pedro boarded them on his ship and they sailed across the
Strait of Gibraltar to Oporto.

However, when the children arrived at Vila Nova de Gaia and they
came to the front door of their school, they awoke from their
wonderful dream and everything disappeared, including Anne
Boleyn and the Ghost.

ROMANIA’S INTERCULTURAL STORY
AN AMAZING JOURNEY

Once upon a time there was a little country on the Black Sea
Coast. Ana and Matei were two friends who enjoyed playing on the
beach and collecting all kinds of things brought ashore by the sea.
Ana was a dreamer, who liked inventing stories for the objects they
found. Matei was the practical type, who analyzed the materials and
the structure of everything around him. Although they were very
different, they got along very well and did everything as a team.

One day, as they were digging a ditch to protect their
sandcastle, they touched something hard. What could it be? They
asked in unison. Their hearts were pounding as they were removing
the sand covering the object. When they finally took it out, they saw
it was an old, rusty metal box. Inside it there was an odd looking red
hat: a turban. Ana was sure a magic world would open for them
once they put it on, but Matei laughed at her. She put the hat on
and immediately something extraordinary happened! The beach
disappeared and they found themselves …

A fost odată ca niciodată o ţară mică şi frumoasă pe litoralul
Mării Negre. Ana şi Matei erau doi prieteni cărora le plăcea să se
joace pe plajă şi să colecţioneze tot felul de obiecte aduse de mare
pe mal. Ana era o visătoare, căreia îi plăcea să inventeze poveşti
despre obiectele pe care ei le găseau. Matei era tipul practic, care
analiza materialele şi structura lucrurilor din jurul lui. Deşi erau

foarte diferiţi, cei doi se înţelegeau foarte bine şi făceau totul ca o
echipă.
Într-o zi, pe când săpau un şanţ pentru a-şi proteja castelul de
nisip, ei au atins ceva tare. Ce-ar putea fi? s-au întrebat ei curioşi.
Inimile le băteau în timp ce îndepărtau nisipul care acoperea
obiectul. Când l-au scos la iveală, ei au văzut că era o veche cutie
ruginită, de metal. În ea era o pălărie roşie, ciudată: un turban. Ana
era sigură că o lume minunată se va deschide pentru ei dacă îşi vor
pune turbanul pe cap, dar Matei a râs de ea. Ana şi-a pus totuşi
turbanul şi imediat s-a întâmplat ceva minunat. Plaja a disparut şi ei
s-au trezit...

CHAPTER 2- TURKEY

In a photographer’s studio in Istanbul. The studio was in
Sultanahmet square. Whilst the photographer was taking Ana’s
photo she was dressed in clothes of the old Ottoman Sultans’ times,
complete with a turban on her head, a caftan and a sword. After the
children left the shop, they started to walk in the street. Looking
around through curious eyes, they were fascinated by the beauty of
the place, especially the Blue Mosque facing Hagia Sophia,
Topkapı Palace and the great Bosphorus view. While they were

walking in the street, Ana and Matei suddenly realized a dog was
about to chase after them. They started to run. Ana and Matei ran
so fast that they were nearly out of breath, but he dog was still
chasing them. As they were running, they caught sight of a little girl
in front of them. She was holding her mum’s hand and wearing a

red cape. The cape was swinging in the wind as she was walking.
Suddenly, the wind threw the cape towards them and they were in
…….

...în studioul unui fotograf din Istanbul, în piaţa Sultanahmet,
chiar în timp ce artistul îi făcea Anei o fotografie într-o rochie veche,
de pe vremea sultanilor din Imperiul Otoman, cu turbanul pe cap,
cu caftan şi sabie. După ce au plecat de la studio, ei s-au dus să se
plimbe pe străzi, privind în jurul lor cu ochi curioşi, fascinaţi de
frumuseţea locurilor. Ei au văzut Moscheea Albastră, Hagia Sofia,
Palatul Topkapi şi minunata privelişte a Bosforului. În timp ce se
plimbau, ei şi-au dat seama că erau urmariţi de un căţeluş şi au
început să fugă. Ana şi Matei alergau necontenit şi căţelul îi
urmărea. La un moment dat, au văzut o fetiţă în faţa lor. Ea o ţinea
de mână pe mama ei şi purta o pelerină roşie care flutura în vânt
atunci când mergea. Trecând pe lângă ea, vântul a umflat pelerina
spre ei şi i-a învăluit. Când au deschis ochii, copiii erau în...

CHAPTER 3- SPAIN
... Spain, in Andalusia. In
Jaen, Ana and Matei visited the
castle of Santa Catalina and
saw the extensive olive groves.
Then they went to Sierra
Nevada (Granada) to ski, and
also visited the Guadalquivir River in Seville. At last the two friends
arrived in Madrid, the capital of Spain, where they saw “La Puerta
del Sol” and many more famous sights. Matei paid particular
attention to the bullring, “Las Ventas”, in Madrid, which was called
the Mosque of bullfighting by the Spanish people. Ana imagined
herself being a bullfighter with the red cape she had found. They
decided to go to watch the bullfight. Once inside they noticed many
people were waiting for a great man wearing a black hat, a light suit

and very shiny shoes. People cheered “torero, torero, torero!”. A
huge cheer went up as a big black bull entered the ring with the
man. Each time the “matador” took the bull in front of him,
everybody said olee!. They loved the performance. People, wearing
flamenco costumes, sang with powerful voices and Spanish guitars.
The Bullfight is a traditional ‘art’ in Spain!.
When the show ended Ana and Matei went to visit the bullfighter
but he wasn’t in his dressing room. Matei became impressed by a
magnificent picture of the Monastery of “Jerónimos” in the hallway.
However, when they approached the picture they were transported
to....

...în Spania, Andaluzia, în Jaen, vizitând castelul din Santa
Catalina şi admirând crângurile de măslini. Apoi au mers în Sierra
Nevada (Granada), la schi, şi au poposit pe malul râului
Guadalquivir din Sevilia. În cele din urmă, cei doi prieteni au ajuns
în capitala Spaniei, unde au văzut „Las Ventas” din Madrid, care
mai este numit şi Moscheea coridelor. Ana îşi imagina că este un
toreador cu o capă roşie. Mulţi oameni îl asteptau pe cel care purta
o pălărie neagră, un costum subţire şi pantofi lucioşi. Mulţimea
aclama: „toreador, toreador, toreador!”. Un taur mare şi negru a fost
eliberat. De câte ori toreadorul păcălea taurul, toată lumea striga:
„olee!”. Tuturor le plăcea spectacolul. Un grup de oameni purtând
costume flamenco cântau cu voce puternica acompaniaţi de
chitarele spaniole. Arta se afla în rădăcinile acestei ţări!

Când spectacolul s-a terminat, Ana şi Matei au mers să-l vadă
pe toreador, dar acesta nu era în camera lui. Matei a fost însă
impresionat de o minunată pictură a Mânăstirii Jeronimos din hol şi,
când s-au apropiat de tablou, ei au fost transportaţi în ...

CHAPTER 4 - PORTUGAL

…the place in the picture!
The children, Matei and Anna were in Jeronimo’s Monastery, when
an old man wearing the robes of a king suddenly appeared in front
of them and said, “Children, you are in a very important building. In
the year 1496, the King Manuel the 1st, asked the Vatican to build a
big monastery just at the entrance of Lisbon, right next to the Tagus
River, so now this building is one of the most important landmarks
in Lisbon and the whole of Portugal.”
“We didn’t ask you anything, and by the way, who are you?” said
Anna.
“I am the ghost of the 1st Portuguese king, Afonso Henriques,”
laughed the man.
“A ghost? We are not afraid of ghosts,” said Matei.
“I am not a real ghost, just a guide of this monastery. Do you want
to come with me to visit the beautiful and historical city of Évora?”
asked the man.
“Sure we do!” said the children.
The man embraced the children and with a blinding flash of light
they were transported to Évora. They visited the temple of Diana, a
remarkably well-preserved Roman temple in the city center, and
also the chapel of bones. Matei and Anna were thrilled with that
chapel. When they both tried to get a bone from the chapel…

... Mânăstirea Jeronimos, şi un bătrân îmbrăcat în port de rege
apăru în faţa lor şi le spuse:
„Copii, în anul 1496, Regele Manuel I a rugat Vaticanul să
construiască o mânăstire mare la intrarea în Lisabona, chiar lângă
râul Tagus; astfel, mânăstirea este acum unul dintre cele mai
importante momumente atât din Lisabona, cât şi din Portugalia.”
„De ce nu ne-aţi întrebat nimic şi cine sunteţi dumneavoastră?”
întrebă Ana.
„Eu sunt fantoma primului rege portughez, Alfonso Henriques”,
a râs bărbatul.
„O fantomă? Nouă nu ne este frică de fantome”, a spus Matei.
„Nu sunt o fantomă adevarată, sunt doar ghidul mânăstirii.
Vreţi să veniţi cu mine să vizitaţi frumosul oraş istoric Evora?”,
întrebă ghidul.
„Desigur că da”, au răspuns copiii.
Bărbatul i-a îmbrăţişat pe copii în pelerina sa şi într-o clipită ei au
ajuns în Evora. Acolo au vizitat templul Dianei, un templu roman

foarte bine păstrat din centrul oraşului şi Capela oaselor. Ana şi
Matei au fost încântaţi de acea bisericuţă. Când Matei a încercat să
ia un os din capelă...

CHAPTER 5 - ENGLAND

A very strange thing happened!
As Matei lifted the bone from the floor a
bright white flash illuminated the chapel.
As their sight returned, they realized they
were at a completely different place!
“Where are we?” asked Ana.
But as Matei was about to answer, they were approached by one of
the Queen’s beefeaters.
“You two are at The Madame Tussauds Wax Museum,” replied the
Beefeater as Matei went over to one of the wax models.
Ana looked at Matei as he examined one of the model’s hands. He
scanned the name plate reading “Sami Hyypia,”
“Wow! Look at this Ana!” exclaimed Matei, waving his arms about
wildly.
“Look out!” screeched the Beefeater, but it was already too late.
Sami Hyypia started to wobble until it finally collapsed, knocking
Princess Diana who started to judder. One by one they all began to
slip, knocking the one next to it. Matei and Ana watched in horror as
the models fell and the beef eater panicked and went bright red in
the face.
“RIGHT YOU TWO! GET OUT OF HERE NOW!!!!” screamed the
Beefeater, his hat falling over his face. He began to chase after
them going even redder.

“Quick! Run!” Ana screamed and they ran to the London eye.
“In here!” shouted Matei as they scattered through the crowd and
pounced into the carriage. As they went up, they spotted a hot air
balloon (empty for some unknown reason). As they neared the top,
they came nearer the balloon.
“It’s our only way,” Ana said, feeling worried, and they pounced onto
the rope hanging from it. Reluctantly, they clambered up the rope
and waited. The air was getting colder as they found themselves
in…

... o lumină puternică a inundat capela. Când au deschis ochii, ei şi-
au dat seama că erau deja în alt loc!
„Unde suntem?” a întrebat Ana.
Dar când Matei se pregătea să-i răspundă, s-a apropiat de ei un
soldat din garda reginei.
„Sunteţi la Muzeul de Ceară Madame Tussauds”, a răspuns
soldatul, în timp ce Matei se apropia de unul din modelele de ceară.
Ana se uita la Matei, care examina mâinile unei statui. El citi
numele de pe plăcută: „Sami Hyypia”.

„Wow! Uită-te la asta, Ana!”
exclamă Matei, fluturându-şi mâinile
agitat.
„Ai grijă!” strigă soldatul, dar era
deja prea târziu.
Sami Hyypia se clatină şi se prăbuşi,
lovind-o pe Prinţesa Diana, care începu
să se mişte şi ea. Una câte una, statuile
au început sa alunece, lovindu-le pe cele
de lânga ele. Matei si Ana se uitau cu
groază cum statuile cădeau şi soldatul se
înroşea de furie.
„Voi doi! Ieşiţi afară imediat!” strigă soldatul furios, cu pălăria
căzută pe faţă. Începu să alerge după ei, înroşindu-se şi mai mult.
„Repede! Fugi!” ţipa Ana şi copiii fugiră spre Ochiul Londrei.
„Aici!” strigă Matei şi se amestecară în mulţime, apoi săriră
într-o cabină a Ochiului Londrei. Pe când urcau, au văzut un balon
cu aer cald (gol din motive necunoscute). Cu cât se apropiau de
vârful Ochiului Londrei, cu atât mai mult se apropiau de balon.
„Este singura noastra şansă!”, spuse Ana îngrijorată şi săriră,
prinzându-se de funia balonului. Încet, se căţărară pe funie şi
urcară în balon. Aerul se răcea din ce în ce mai mult, pe măsură ce
se apropiau de...

CHAPTER 6 - FINLAND

… a much colder climate.
The Hot-air balloon had landed in Helsinki in the yard of the
presidential palace.
“Where are we?” asked Ana.
“I don´t know,” Matei answered.
So Ana turned around and saw a huge castle.
She said, “Let´s go in and find out, who is living in the castle.”
As they entered the castle, they saw a big spiral staircase and on
the ceiling there were beautiful paintings.
Suddenly they heard woman´s voice.
“This castle is mine,” She said.
“Who are you?” Ana and Matei asked.

“I´m the president of Finland, Tarja Halonen. Welcome to the
castle!” She said. Tarja Halonen offered them buns, juice and hot
chocolate.
The next day, Ana and Matei travelled by train to a city called
Tampere. They went to the Näsinneula Tower. There was a good
restaurant and they ate a delicious dinner.
Then they went to the Ratina athletics stadium where they saw a
man throwing a javelin.
Matei shouted, “Who are you?”
The man answered, “I am Tero Pitkämäki. I am a Finnish javelin
thrower. Do you want to see around the stadium?”
“Yes, please,” the children answered.
They followed Tero. In the locker room Matei noticed a huge mirror.
Ana and Matei went towards the mirror and suddenly the mirror
sucked them in!

…Helsinki, unde au aterizat în curtea palatului preşedintelui.
„Unde suntem?” întrebă Ana.
„Nu ştiu”, răspunse Matei.
Ana se întoarse şi văzu un castel uriaş.
„Să intrăm şi să aflăm cine locuieşte în acest castel”. Au pătruns în
acea cladire şi au văzut o scară mare în spirală şi picturi minunate
pe tavan.
Deodată, au auzit vocea unei femei:
„Acest castel este al meu”.
„Cine sunteţi dumneavoastra?”
întrebă Matei.
„Eu sunt preşedintele
Finlandei, Tarja Halonen. Bine
aţi venit în castel!”, le-a spus
ea. Tarja le-a oferit prăjituri,
suc şi ciocolată.
Apoi, Ana şi Matei au călătorit
cu trenul până într-un oraş
numit Tampere. Au vizitat aici
turnul Näsinneula. Acolo era
un restaurant minunat unde au luat o cină delicioasă.
După aceea, au mers la stadionul de atletism Ratina. Au văzut un
om aruncând suliţa. Matei a strigat:
„Cine eşti tu?”
Omul i-a răspuns”

„Eu sunt Tero Pitkämäki. Sunt aruncător cu suliţa finlandez. Vreţi să
vizitaţi stadionul?”
„Da, te rugăm”, au răspuns copiii.
Ei l-au urmat pe Tero. În vestiare, Matei a observat o oglindă
uriaşă. S-au îndreptat spre ea şi deodată aceasta i-a tras spre ea ...

CHAPTER 7 – REUNION ISLAND

They arrived on the top of the highest mountain on a wonderful
island, where they met a jogger.
They asked him, ‘Please Sir, can you tell us where we are?’
The jogger replied, ‘Oté mounoir! Ou la fin arrivé en haut lo piton
des neizes! Ou vien pou entraine à ou pou lo grand raid?
Ana and Matei looked at each other in surprise. He was speaking a
kind of French, but with a special accent. After trekking along the
mountain for ages, they managed to reach a big city in the south of
the island, called Saint Pierre. There, they went into a big library
and began browsing between the rows. They chose one book
called “Poems of the world”. While they were going from one text to
another one, they found a poem written by Mihai Eminescu. They
were absorbed by the words and felt a little cold…
Suddenly they woke up on their beach. It was night and the children
realized that they had fallen asleep while they were learning the
poem for tomorrow’s lesson at school. They raced back home, so
pleased to have travelled so far… thanks to a text…

Hey guys! You have just arrived at the top of the Piton des neiges!
Have you also come to train to race “the grand raid”? (a famous
international trekking race in Reunion Island)

...şi au ajuns pe
vârful celui mai
înalt munte al
unei insule
minunate. Au
întâlnit un jogger
şi l-au întrebat:
Domnule, ne
puteţi spune unde
ne aflăm, vă rugăm?
El le-a răspuns:
Oté mounoir ! Ou la fin arrivé en haut lo piton des neizes ! Ou vien
pou entraine à ou pou lo grand raid ?(1)
Copiii s-au uitat unul la celălalt, puţin surprinşi. Omul vorbea într-o
limbă care semăna cu franceza, dar avea un accent special.
Au reuşit apoi să ajungă într-un oraş mare, din sudul insulei, care
se numea Saint Pierre. Acolo, au intrat într- o mare librarie şi,
căutând printre rafturi, au ales o carte intitulată „Poezii ale lumii”. În
timp ce răsfoiau cartea, au găsit o poezie scrisă de Mihai
Eminescu. Au fost absorbiţi de cuvintele magice ale poetului, au
simţit puţină răcoare şi… Deodată s-au trezit pe plaja lor. Era
noapte şi copiii şi-au dat seama că adormiseră în timp ce învăţau

poezia pentru a doua zi. S-au întors acasă, fericiţi că au călătorit
atât de departe…în locuri atât de minunate…datorită unei poezii…

− Bună, copii! Tocmai aţi ajuns pe vârful Piton des Neiges! ţi voi vă
antrenaţi pentru cursa „The grand raid”? (o cursă faimoasă de
maraton din Insula Reunion)

This story has been started from Romania and it was
written by children from Finland, France, Portugal,
Romania, Spain, UK and Turkey. This is a part from our
Comenius project.
Thank you all!! It was fun!

Această poveste a fost începută de copiii din Şcoala
Gheorghe Ţiţeica - România şi a fost continuată de copiii
din Şcoala Sans Souci-Insula Reunion- Franţa, Colégio do
Sardão - Portugalia, C.E.I.P. Reyes Católicos - Spania,
Şcoala Mutalan Koulu – Finlanda, Springfield Primary -
Marea Britanie şi Tevfikbey Primary - Turcia.
Aceasta este o parte a Proiectului Comenius „We
Europeans have a bagful of culture to share”.
Vă mulţumim tuturor!!! A fost distractiv!!!

ORMAN IN SIRRI
“Wow, this place is great! It’s so good that we have decided to come
here” said Ayşe.
Ayşe and Mehmet had come to Çatalca to have a picnic with their
families and friends from their school. It was May and the weather was
great.
“Look! everybody is having fun” said Ayşe pointing out their friends
who were playing with a ball and making a fire.

“I know even more enjoyable things to do,” uttered Mehmet in a mood of

excitement. They exchanged glances for a while and Mehmet said,
“let’s explore the forest.”
While they were walking through the depths of the forest, Mehmet tripped
over a stone and was about to fall. When he looked back, he realised that it
wasn’t a stone but castanets. He held them in bewilderment and with the
rhythmic sound that came from the castanets , everything began to change
and they found themselves …….
“Burası harika bir yer. İyi ki buraya gelmeye karar verdik” dedi Ayşe.
Ayşe ve Mehmet aileleri ve okuldan arkadaşlarıyla Çatalca’ya pikniğe
gelmişlerdi. Mayıs ayıydı ve hava harikaydı.
Bak! “Herkes eğleniyor” dedi Ayşe top oynayan ve ateş yakan
arkadaşlarını göstererek.
“Bundan daha eğlenceli şeyler biliyorum” dedi Mehmet heyecanla. Bir
süre bakıştılar ve Mehmet
“Hadi ormanı keşfedelim” dedi.
Ormanın derinliklerine doğru yürürlerken Mehmet bir taşa takıldı ve az
kalsın düşecekti. Geri dönüp baktığında onun bir taş değil kastanyet
olduğunu fark etti. Şaşkınlık içinde onları eline aldı ve kastanyetlerden
gelen ritmik sesle her şey değişmeye başladı ve kendilerini

in a country called Spain. The children discovered the beauty that was
there. But Mehmet was not distracted, and was thinking about the power of
these strange giant castanets. Initially the castanets were red in Turkey and
now they had turned yellow. Why was that?. The children visited many
communities all over Spain, even Madrid, the capital of Spain, but the kind
of rocks shown on the castanets were in Catalonia, Girona, so the children
tried to go there. Mehmet and Ayse wanted to go back home.
In the AVE (train) they met a man called Juan.

He told them: "In Catalonia there is a strange forest. These rocks have so
much moss that it is not difficult to find the place they come from."
The children climbed on top of the mountain, Monserrat. They started to
hear the same sound as before. It was the castanets, and suddenly they

were transported
İspanya denen ülkede buldular. Çocuklar oradaki güzelliği keşfettiler.
Ama Mehmet şaşırmamıştı ve bu muazzam kastanyetlerin gücünü
düşünüyordu. Başlangıçta Türkiye’de kastanyetler kırmızıydı ve şimdi
sarıya dönmüştü. Niçin böyle olmuştu? Çocuklar İspanya’da birçok yeri
İspanya’nın başkenti Madrid’i dahi gezmişlerdi ama kastanyetlerin
üzerinde görülen bu tarz taşlar sadece Girona, Katalonya’ da vardı. Bu
yüzden çocuklar oraya gitmeye çalıştılar. Mehmet ve Ayşe eve geri
dönmek istediler.
Trende Juan adında bir adamla karşılaştılar.
Onlara “Katalonya’da garip bir orman var. Bu kayalarda öyle çok yosun
var ki onların geldiği yeri bulmanız zor değil” dedi.
Çocuklar Monserrat dağına tırmandılar. Aynı sesi duymaya başladılar. Ses
kastanyetlerden geliyordu ve aniden …
Portekize götürüldüler.

When they heard the sound of the castanets that had changed
colour (on one side green, on the other side red and yellow in
middle), they were transported to Portugal. But there was an error in the
transporting process. Instead they went to a beautiful place, whose name,
in Portuguese, means “planted” by the sea. They met in a huge labyrinth
garden. And now? They wondered which way they should go? Everything
was like an enigma to solve. But calmly they were answered those big
earth enigmas: why do we have the seasons of the year? Why don´t the
stars fall from the sky? ...And so many others. Step by step they came to
the end of the labyrinth, and surprise, surprise, a wonderful, coloured and
typical Portuguese cockerel was expecting them, with a large smile. It was
the Portuguese “Barcelo’s cockerel.”
He happily sang:
-Congratulations! You were amazing! That’s why I gave
you these blue and red castanets.
When the children picked up the castanets, instead of the
traditional sound, they heard a big ‘dlim! Dlam!’ and a sound of a bell
clanging. They looked carefully and they saw, in the middle of the
castanets, a wonderful English monument - Big Ben.
Quickly they were teleported to another country…
Renk değiştiren(bir tarafı yeşil bir tarafı kırmızı ve ortası sarı)
kastanyetlerin sesini duyduklarında, Portekize ışınlandılar. Fakat ışınlanma
sürecinde bir hata vardı. Gidecekleri yer yerine, Portekizcede denizin

yetiştirdiği yer anlamına gelen güzel bir yere gittiler. Büyük, labirent
şeklinde bir bahçeyle karşılaştılar.
Ve şimdi? Hangi yoldan gitmelilerdi? Her şey çözülecek bir bulmaca
gibiydi. Fakat sakin bir şekilde dünyanın büyük bulmacalarına cevap

veriliyordu: niçin mevsimler var? Niçin yıldızlar gökyüzünden düşmüyor?
Ve daha birçokları. Adım adım labirentin sonuna geldiler ve büyük
sürpriz… onları renkli ve harika tipik bir Portekiz horozu bekliyordu.
Portekiz “Barcelo horozuydu.” Ve neşeli bir şekilde;
Tebrikler! Harikasınız! Bu yüzden size bu mavi ve kırmızı kastanyetleri
veriyorum. Kastanyetleri aldıklarında geleneksel ses yerine, büyük bir “tik
tak!” sesi ve bir çanın tıngırtısını duydular. Dikkatlice baktıklarında
kastenyellerin ortasında harika İngiliz eseri Big Ben’i gördüler.Ve
birdenbire başka bir ülkeye ışınlandılar.

As they landed on the ground they realised that they were in
London, England’s capital city. What a fabulous place it was!
In front of them was a huge tower with a clock on it and when it was time,
a beautiful sound of bells could be heard all over the city.
Mehmet and Ayşe couldn’t believe how busy London was with big red
buses and black taxis zooming past.

They walked around the crowded streets and were amazed
by the lights and sounds of the city. In the distance, near the
flowing river Thames, they could see a strange wheel
turning in the sky. It had coloured lights and pods where
people sat to look at the view. As they got to the top of the
wheel, they noticed a thing rolled up like a treasure map.

They opened it and saw that it was a white flag with a blue cross on it.
They heard the tapping sound of the castanets and they found themselves
in a strange and foreign land....

Yere indiklerinde İngiltere’nin başkenti Londra’da olduklarını fark ettiler.
Ne şahane bir yer. Önlerinde, üzerinde saat olan büyük bir kule vardı ve
zaman geldiğinde zillerin güzel sesi tüm şehirden duyulabiliyordu.

Ayşe ve Mehmet Londra’nın kırmızı otobüsler ve siyah taksilerin
geçişleriyle bu kadar yoğun oluşuna inanamadılar. Kalabalık sokaklarda
yürüdüler, şehrin ışık ve sesleriyle büyülendiler.

Uzakta, akan Thames nehrinin yanında gökyüzünde dönen garip bir
tekerlek görebiliyorlardı. Renkli ışıkları ve insanların manzara izlemek
için oturdukları bölmeler vardı. En tepeye çıktıklarında, hazine haritası
gibi sarılmış bir şey fark ettiler. Onu açtılar ve üzerinde mavi haç olan
beyaz bir bayrak gördüler. Kastanyetlerin tıkırtısını duydular. Kendilerini
garip ve yabancı bir diyarda buldular.

Mehmed and Ayse stood in the market place. It was full of noisy, happy
people. Some people had the same kind of white hats, some people had
wigs on their heads and some people had a funny mask on their face. The
finnish flag was flying in the flag-staff. There was a lot of things to buy;
balloons, t-shirt, masks, food, sweets etc..

Mehmed and Ayse felt hungry so they bought some mead and donuts. The
salesman told them that the finns were having their May celebration.

Mehmed and Ayse decided to buy a balloon. They chose a blue balloon
with a picture of Moomin on it.

The market place was crowded. Suddenly Mehmed stumbled and their
beautiful balloon escaped into the sky...
Mehmet ve Ayşe markette durdular. Burası neşeli ve gürültücü insanlarla
doluydu. Bazı insanlar aynı tip beyaz şapka giyiyorlardı, bazılarının
başlarında peruk ve bazılarının yüzünde komik maskeler vardı. Fin bayrağı
gönderde dalgalanıyordu. Satın alınacak çok şey vardı; balonlar, tişörtler,
maskeler, yiyecek, tatlılar…

Mehmet ve Ayşe acıktıklarını hissettiler. Biraz bal likörü ve çörek satın
aldılar. Satıcı onlara Finlandiyalıların Mayıs kutlamaları yaptıklarını
söyledi.
Mehmet ve Ayşe balon almaya karar verdiler. Üzerinde Moomin(Fin yazar
Tove Jansson’ın yarattığı çizgi kahraman) resmi olan mavi bir balon
seçtiler. Market kalabalıktı. Aniden Mehmet sendeledi ve güzel balonları
gökyüzüne doğru uçtu.
Suddenly, the balloon exploded and the castanets fell down from the sky.
They heard the familiar sound of the castanets and everything began to
change…
They were next to a stream of ice water. When they looked around them,
there were only mountains. Mehmet was disappointed. Where was the
road?They took a small trail and arrived in front of a house with a red roof.
It was a school where they saw pupils learning multiplication.

Ayse asked one pupil: “Hello! What’s your name?
“My name is Jean-François. Where do you come from?”

They told him their story and asked,
“Where is the nearest road?
- « o té marmail! Na point de route! »
Mehmet and Ayse didn’t understand anything. Then the teacher explained
to them that there was no road to Mafate, but they could take the
helicopter.
They got into the helicopter which flew over the island. During their
journey they saw a volcano, Cilaos, Salazie… The helicopter left them in
Etang Salé’s forest. They heard some music and headed towards the
musicians.
“Would you like to play some music?” asked one musician, giving them a
package.
When Ayse and Mehmet opened the package they were surprised to see
the castanets. They were blue, red and white. Suddenly, the white became
yellow and everything began to revolve around them and the forest
disappeared…
Aniden balon patladı ve kastanyetler gökyüzünden yere düştü.
Kastanyetlerin tanıdık sesini duydular ve her şey değişmeye başladı.
Akıntının yanındalardı, etrafa bakındılar. Sadece dağlar vardı. Mehmet
hayal kırıklığına uğramıştı. Yol neredeydi?
Bir patikadan yürüdüler ve kırmızı çatılı bir evin önüne vardılar. O bir
okuldu, çarpma öğrenen öğrencileri gördüler. Ayşe bir öğrenciye sordu.: “
Merhaba! Adın ne?”
- Benim adım Jean-François. Nereden geliyorsunuz?
Ona hikayelerini anlattılar ve sordular
“en yakın yol nerede?

- « o té marmail! Na point de route! »
Mehmet ve Ayşe hiçbir şey anlamadılar sonra öğretmen onlara
Mafate’ye yol olmadığını ancak helikoptere binebileceklerini açıkladı.
Helikoptere bindiler ve adayı geçerek uçtular.

Yolculukları boyunca Cilaos, Salazie volkanını gördüler. Helikopter onları
Etang Salé’nin ormanına bıraktı. Bir yerden müzik duydular ve
müzisyenlere doğru yöneldiler.
« çalmak ister miydiniz » dedi bir müzisyen onlara bir paket
uzatarak.Pakette kastanyetler vardı ve mavi, kırmızı ve beyaz
renkteydiler. Aniden, beyaz sarıya dönüştü ve etrfalarındaki herşey
farklı şeylere dönüşmeye başladı ve orman ortadan kayboldu.

they found themselves on a little ship on the Black Sea. The journey
continued on one of the three arms of the DANUBE. They reached the
DANUBE DELTA, an enchanting land with pelicans’ voices and the
gentle caress of the reed. Then the ship took them further along the
Danube.
Suddenly they heard music so they left the ship. To their delight, Ayse
and Mehmet discovered the fascinating and spectacular dance of the
CĂLUŞARI.They were in OLTENIA.
In the distance the tall mountains seemed inviting. A winding road, the
TRANSFĂGĂRĂŞAN, cut through the mountains and could carry them to
wonderful places. Here, history was hidden in palaces, castles and
monasteries. BRAN CASTLE, the PELEŞ CASTLE and the VORONEŢ
MONASTERY, they all talked about the sensitivity and bravery of this
little country.
After following the road through the mountains and discovering all the
wonderful places along the way, a melancholic Romanian folk song led

them back to the seaside. Here, stood the statue of the great poet MIHAI

EMINESCU, as if whispering a love poem to the sea. Near the statue, the
children found the colored castanets, which were now red and had a white
half moon and a little star on them. With their clicking sound, they seemed
to accompany the sea’s love poem an the children began to feel dizzy.
Magically the children found themselves in the forest of Çatalca, again, in
the middle of their friends. Mehmet and Ayse rushed over to their
families. They hoped they hadn’t missed the picnic!
Kendilerini Karadeniz’de küçük bir gemide buldular. Yolculukları
Danube’nin üç kolundan birine kadar devam etti. Pelikan sesleri ve
kamışların nazik okşayışlarıyla mest olarak Danube Deltasına ulaştılar.
Gemi onları daha uzaklara götürdü.

Aniden, müziği duydular ve gemiden ayrıldılar. Etkileyici ve harikulade
CĂLUŞARI dansını keşfettiler. OLTENIA’dalardı.
Uzaktan yüce dağlar davetkar gözüküyordu.. rüzgarlı bir yol,

TRANSFĂGĂRĂŞAN, dağları aşarak onları harika yerlere götürdü.
Burada, tarih saraylarda, kalelerde ve manastırlarda gizliydi. Bran
Kalesi, PELEŞ Kalesi, ve VORONET Manastırı, hepsi bu küçük ülkenin
kahramanlığını ve hassasiyetini anlatıyordu.
Hüzünlü bir halk şarkısı onları deniz kıyısına geri götürdü. Burada, büyük
şair Mihai EMINESCU’nun heykeli denize bir aşk şarkısı fısıldıyordu.
Heykelin yanında, çocuklar renkli kastanyetleri buldular. Kastanyetler
şimdi kırmızıydı ve üzerinde yarım ay ve küçük bir yıldız vardı.
Kastanyetlerin sesiyle denizin aşk şarkısına eşlik ettiler ve kendilerini
yeniden Çatalca ormanında arkadaşlarının arasında buldular.



One day, Elizabeth, and her younger brother Harry were excited
as they were going to visit the Natural History Museum in
London.

When they got to the museum, Harry found a dinosaur exhibit
and ran off!
He ran past the tyrannosaurus – rex and got a
massive scare!
Then he ran so fast he bumped into one of the
dinosaur bones and he knocked it all down to the
floor.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth was looking at rosy red rubies, shiny green
emeralds and lots of very pretty diamonds.
Harry came running back to Elizabeth and she asked him, “Would
you like an ice-cream?”
“Yes please!” Harry replied, “I would like chocolate!”

After they finished their delicious ice creams, the children went to
a new part of the museum.
On the wall they saw a photograph of the northern lights with a
reindeer standing in the snow.
As they look curiously, the Northern lights seemed to move.
Suddenly the picture shot out a blinding light and the children felt
soft snow on their face.....

They found themselves in Finland. Elisabeth and Harry lay on the
snow. They made a snowangel and a snowman.
A little later the children saw some iceskaters on the lake.
Someone drilled a hole in the ice and started ice-fishing. The
temperature was -10 celsius (14 farenheit).
Suddenly Elisabeth saw a sturdy man. The man was dressed in a
red jacket. “Father Christmas!” Elisabeth yelled. Carefully, Father
Christmas sat on the sledge before six reindeers pulled it.
The sledge with the reindeer moved beautifully like a swan. Its
glide brought to mind a warm summer breeze. Because it was
cold outside, the children dreamed about a warm place, an island
in the Indian Ocean.

As soon as they looked each other right in the eyes, they felt
themselves vacuumed into the air. All was black around them and
when they stopped, they were laying on something warm and
soft. As they had their eyes closed they were wondering what this
hot wind on their face could be. They opened their eyes and
discovered a wonderful golden sand beach with a marvellous
lagoon. They were so pleased that they got completely naked and
jumped into the 30° water…The colours of the fishes and the
corals made such a contrast between the white landscapes they
had come from. When they came back from their bath, they
noticed strange footprints on the sand going into the forest just
beside the beach. Harry’s face turned grey and when Elisabeth
asked him what the problem was, he stammered:
“It looks like the footprints of the T-rex I saw in the museum...”
“Do you mean one of them could have come back into life and
had followed us?” she asked.
They decided to be sure of this and entered bravely into the dark
forest…

A while after they went into the forest Elisabeth and Harry
reached the gates of a huge castle. They looked closely and
discovered that the T-rex footprints were leading inside. They
followed the footprints and they stopped in front of a wall on
which a colourful portrait was hanging.
The man in the portrait seemed imposing and distant and
somehow frightening.

Elisabeth recognized the man and she told Harry,
“This man in the picture was the king of this castle. He was very
harsh and feared, but also honest and fair. He was also named
Vlad Dracul (Devil); because he punished his enemies badly.”
Harry leaned against a wall quite bored by his sister’s detailed
explanation. Suddenly, the wall moved and Harry slipped on a
slope before sliding through a dark corridor, with a few lights
from torches here and there. The walls were covered in paintings
of battles and men hanging on the top of some big, strong sticks.
Harry could not take it anymore, so he closed his eyes in fear.
When he opened them again, he was sitting on a soft,
comfortable pillow, in front of a small, low table. There, on a
golden plate there was a weird dessert with honey and nuts. All
of a sudden, Elisabeth was next to him, on another cushion. She
saw the cake and exclaimed: “It’s a baklava!”

While Harry was enjoying baklava which was filled with nuts,
Elizabeth thought that each fold of it was kneaded with affection,
tolerance and goodwill. As the kids started to eat the dessert they
noticed a man in the room. The man, who had been standing
there for a while, told them that they were in the city of
Gaziantep and this city was famous for its baklava and known as
the sultan of baklava.
The man (afterwards they learnt his name was Mustafa)
suggested that they take a walk in the city and Harry and
Elizabeth accepted his offer with great excitement. Whilst walking
in the streets of the city they realised some special preparation
was happening in the yard of a nearby house. Mustafa told them
that it was the preparation for henna night which was the
ceremony held before a wedding.
When the ceremony started, they were thrilled by the music
which was accompanied by drums and shrill pipe. Then, they
focused on the girl whose face was covered with red tulle and the
women holding candles in their hands and singing a song while
turning around her. Harry and Elisabeth learnt that the girl in the
circle was the bride. They were both turning around the girl and
felt impatient about what was going to happen in the next step.

After a while, a woman stood next to the bride and rubbed
something green on her palm before covering her hand with a piece
of cloth.
Then, the women offered the guests thee same green wet thing to
put on their palms.
The green thing on Harry and Elizabeth’s palms turned into red.
While they were examining it inquisitively, the red colour became
more and more reddish and it took them away to ....

.... the reddish lands of “Las Medulas” in Leon, Spain.
“Why are we here?” Harry asked.
“Maybe we imagined something hot and red and... here we are,”
answered Elisabeth.
The children began exploring that wonderful rugged landscape.
There was something strange about the place; it was like a huge
maze of caves, tunnels and galleries inside high cliffs eroded by
the water and the wind. But when they got to this place, Harry

and Elisabeth discovered that they were old Roman gold mines
dug by slaves for two hundred years.
It could have been a good place for the dinosaurs to live if they
had still been alive, Harry thought.
“How are we going to leave this place?” Harry asked nervously.
“I Know!!” Elisabeth exclaimed.
“We must imagine another place and we’ll get there,” Elisabeth
answered.
“It’s funny!!” Harry replied.
“Imagine - Imagine the wonderful and beautiful beaches on Ilha
de Tavira in Portugal,” Harry said.
And then.....

Suddenly ... a hidden force shook them and carried them to
“Póvoa de Lanhoso”, in Minho, Right into an adventure park
called “DiverLanhoso”!
When Harry and Elisabeth stood up and shook off the dust, they
could hardly believe they were surrounded by so much adventure
play equipment.
Elisabeth said, “Let's try the slide?”
Harry was a little scared but said yes.

When they were on the slide, they heard a great roar. They
Looked back to find themselves pursued by the T-Rex. Screaming
and scared, they let go of the rope and fell in a labyrinth mine.

Walking through dark tunnels, full of obstacles and spider webs,
all of a sudden Elisabeth remembered a story about the legend of
Barcelos Cockerel. She knew that, if she could light a match, the
cockerel would sing and the T-Rex would disappear.

Suddenly, Harry screamed because T-Rex had caught him! Just in
time, Elisabeth lit the match, and the cockerel sang making the
T-Rex disappear.
Immediately, the earth began to tremble and they felt
themselves tumbling. When they stopped, amazingly they were,
once again, in front of the dinosaur exhibition in the Natural
History Museum.
Harry and Elisabeth
looked at each other
and start ed to
laugh - The T-Rex
was still there,
static...!

This story was written by children from:

Mutalan Koulu Finland

Ecole Primaire Sans Souci, Reunion, France

Colégio do Sardão, Portugal

Şcoala Gheorghe Ţiţeica, Romania

C.E.I.P. Reyes Católicos,Melilla, Spain,

Tevfikbey Primary School, Istanbul, Turkey

Springfield Primary school, United Kingdom

in The Comenius project :

"We Europeans have a Bagful of Culture to Share."

Intercultural stories book

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