To my grandson's Dean ninth birthday
Atheneaia
When Mum and Dad went to Cyprus to
get married, they made a long walk on the beach, and suddenly they saw
something weird coming towards them from the horizon, something orange and
blue. It came nearer and nearer to them, and then they saw a beautiful young
lady sitting on a huge salmon fish. She was wearing a blue dress, and on her head
she wore a blue crown, because she was a princess, a real princess. When the
salmon and the princess got very close to the beach, the princess jumped into
the water and began to swim to the beach, and the huge salmon turned and swam
into the sea. He raised up his tail, as if saying goodby, and then disappeared
in the water.
When the princess, Atheneaia was her
name, put her small legs on the shore, she was wet and shivering. She sat on a
rock and tried to warm herself and dry her wet clothes in the sun. Fortunately
it was rather warm on Cyprus, and rather quickly she was warm and dry.
Mum and Dad approached her and asked:
can we help you? And Atheneaia said: I am very hungry. I sailed with the salmon
so many hours, and we ate only some small shrimps that we caught on the coast
of the island of Crete, and since then I ate nothing.
Oh, said Mummy and Daddy together,
there is a lot of good food on Cyprus. We are going to take you to a
restaurant. All the three of them went together to a near restaurant and ordered
a table for three.
We must drink some wine, said Daddy,
and ordered some red wine. Would you like some red wine too? He asked
Atheneaia.
I don't drink wine, said Atheneaia,
I drink only shrimp milk. Daddy asked the waiter: do you serve here shrimp
milk?
We do, said the waiter, and soon he brought
a bowl full of shrimps in a very creamy souce. Atheneaia ate it all very
quickly, because she was very hungry.
Thank you, dear friends, said
Atheneaia, now I must call my fish to take me away. She took out from a small
pocket in her dress a whistle. It was a very special whistle, that only a fish
could hear.
I must return to the beach, she said.
My ride will be here right away.
Mum and Dad accompanied her to the
beach and saw the huge salmon arriving on a big wave.
Goodby, dear friends, said Atheneaia
and jumped into the sea. She swam so quickly, much quicker than she walked on
her tiny legs. Soon she sat on the salmon's back and they both disappeared
behind the horizon.
What a beautiful story to tell our
kid, said Mum and Dad to each other.
They sat on the beach and looked at
the sun sinkinging down into the sea.
