the gold necklace of castriño - a story
TRANSCRIPT
A story by the students of:
CEIP San Benito de Lérez from Pontevedra, Spain
St. Mary’s Catholic Primary School from Stoke-on-Trent, Great Britain
Istituto Comprensivo n.3 from Imola, Italy
Szkoła Podstawowa nr 2 from Leżajsk, Poland
Below the town of Ravacallos, in Lugo, there is a large rock in the
middle of the river and upon this rock lies the gold necklace of
Castriño.
One very rainy night the Moors sought to take this necklace, but as
they neared the river, a tremendous thunderstorm broke out, splitting
open the rock and sealing the necklace inside.
The people of Ravacallos felt and heard the great noise and went to see what
had happened. Although it was a rainy night, they saw very clearly the scar
left upon the rock and suspected what had occured. It was the necklace of
Castriño that had caused the noise, escaping the hands of the Moors.
Two days later a storm broke out again and a lightning stroke the rock and let
the necklace go. The next day it was all quiet. A poor man who came from Italy
went round the rock and noticed the necklace. He thought that the necklace was
magic so he picked it up and brought it home in his country in Romagna to
protect his family from a terrible bandit called "Passatore".
They would sell the necklace to the highest bidder so they can escape away. The
first bidder was an old poor man. He offered 50 coins. They didn't accept the
money. Afterwards a pilgrim arrived from a remote country. He saw the necklace
and offered three thousand coins.
The pilgrim was a Polish king named
Leszek who ruled over a vast area of
land situated on both banks of the
Vistula River. The Italian family liked
his bid instantly and the necklace was
taken to Poland as a gift to the king’s
only daughter Marianna.
The princess was a twenty-year-old
woman well-known for her beauty and
wisdom. That is why a great number of
wealthy European princes tried their
best to marry her, but to no avail.
Marianna had deeply fallen in love with
Robin, a noble but unpropertied English
knight, sent to Poland as his lord’s
envoy. Marianna’s feelings were truly
reciprocated by her sweetheart.
Leszek was not pleased with her daughter’s choice at all and he demanded that she
should marry a German king Ludwig so that Poland would tighten bonds of
friendship with the neighbouring state. Marianna, being in despair, decided to
drown herself rather than marry a man she did not love. She jumped into the
Vistula River, with the gold necklace of Castriño on. It was the magic of the
necklace that saved her life, making all her body stay safely on the surface of the
water.
At last Leszek realised he had made a big mistake and agreed to his daughter
getting married to Robin. The happy couple would leave for England, with the
necklace accompanying Marianna.
On their quest to keep the necklace hidden from prying eyes, Robin and Marianna
travelled down to the south of England looking for a location for their wedding.
When they arrived, they stayed in Wardour Castle in the beautiful Wiltshire
countryside, which belonged to King Richard, an acquaintance of King Leszek.
They planned to marry in the sumptuous castle with its vast gardens.
Marianna wore the necklace every night to symbolise the wealth and happiness of
her country’s wellbeing. Whenever she wore the necklace, she noticed something
peculiar; a bright golden star appeared, in the middle of the sky. Marianna thought
this star had significance so one night after seeing the star for several nights in a
row; she convinced Robin that they should follow the star and see where it led them.
Off they trudged across the countryside, following the star which brightly shone
above them. As they travelled the necklace began to glow. The glow continued to
become brighter and brighter until they reached a circle of stones, which Robin
quickly realised, was the infamous Stonehenge.
As they stepped into the centre of the stone circle the necklace shone even brighter
and Robin and Marianna were suddenly surrounded by a circle of bright lights and
a sense of happiness engulfed them. They agreed that the magical necklace which
had brought them together had brought them to Stonehenge for a reason and that
reason they decided was for them to be married there. So Robin and Marianna were
married the next day at Stonehenge and lived happily together in England.
This work is a result of four schools’ (CEIP San Benito de Lérez,
Pontevedra; Mary’s Catholic Primary School, Stoke-on-Trent;
Istituto Comprensivo n.3, Imola; Szkoła Podstawowa nr 2,
Leżajsk) joint actions connected with the implementation of one
of the Comenius projects – ‘Exploring our culture through the
eyes of our European partners in the interactive world’.