Erasmus project “TogEUther”
Short Story: the German Part (I/IV)
In a galaxy, far away from us, there is the planet Globania. The planet is completely covered with land except for a little sea in the middle of the land. Of course, there are more little lakes and rivers, but this sea is something special because a different folk live in the sea. Their name is Glubkons. The Glubkons have just one eye, blue skin and they only eat fish from the ground of the sea and a jelly that they get from mussels. On the rest of the earth´s surface live different other folks. The biggest group are called the Europaniens. They are on old folk made up of many smaller tribes and their land is called Europania. Their special features are that they have green skin and three eyes. They only eat self-grown plants and no meat. Nonetheless, they have animals for milk, eggs and their pelts when they have died.
Why am I telling you this? Well, I´m a Glubkon and we had to leave our home and go to the Europania because of the fish and the mussels. We have eaten too many of them without caring for the sustainability and now there aren´t enough for us. But, most importantly, we fighting against giant turtles, who have been trying to take over our house for years. Unfortunately I´m not allowed to take part in the combat because I´m only 15 years old. However, when I am older, I will be allowed to fight against the five-meter long turtles, great! Over the years, the turtles have mutated. Now they have thicker skin and it´s hard to force them away so they don´t eat our houses. The elderly, like my grandpa Phill, didn’t have any chance against the horrible creatures.
So we were forced to leave our little city called Glubio. We could only take a few things like clothes, a bit to eat in case the Europaniens wouldn´t take us in, and my Crab Max. We packed my uncle’s Bubble-Scooter, which was very slow. Moreover, you must imagine, the giant turtles were like everywhere! On the top of all that, we did not know the way, so we had to pay to some sharks to take us to the surface. It was almost all we had, but we gave them everything. They showed us the way, but it was the wrong one! We did not know what to do. In addition, my little brother fell ill and we had no medicine. Then, like a miracle, out of nowhere we saw some more Glubkons and they took us with them, they had a good map. We would have dies without them, that’s for sure.
So it took us a long time to see the sun. My sister and I volunteered to search for the villages and towns of the Europaniens. I asked myself if the Europaniens would take us in or leave us to fight for ourselves. I would have understood if they had not let us in: we are so different in so many ways!
I also asked myself how I would live there, in this strange country, with different food, language, traditions. So yes, we all were very tired, nervous and worried.
However, the Eropaniens are known for their solidarity and their readiness to help others. That´s why we risked everything we had, our lives, just to get to them. Will they take us in? My heart pounded…
Milly and I headed off on our search for the Europaniens. When it was getting dark, we wanted to go back but then we saw a fire. It was the first time that we had seen a fire…
To be continued by Italy, France and Spain.
Short Story: The Italian Part (II/IV)
We went closer to the fire, it was very hot and beautiful, but it wasn’t the only new thing that we saw… we met two young Europaniens too. We didn’t know if they would receive us. We were lucky because one of them, whose named was Billy, was really friendly, but the other one, Jo, was rather quiet and careful.
We looked at them with anxiety… Would they help us? I looked at Mildly and saw despair in her eyes: “Tom, my dear brother”, she said to me, “You are so pale, you face is full with yellow pimples… Are you OK? You look tired and sleepy and your eyes are red!” I really didn’t feel well… I could hardly speak… I looked at the Europaniens…
Billy looked at med, too. Then he started preparing something that looked like an infusion. “It’s called Plextritos,” he said, “and I will make it in a cup of jolto, a glass that can be only found underground, so it is pretty rare… So now I put hot water, proxityoh, which is a resin obtained from okctinhio trees, a sacred tree with red, yellow and blue leaves. The resin is used to give a sweetish taste and to flavor the infusion. We also gathered some special herbs in the Kristallìa plain. These herbs contain pixitin, a substance that is able to cure all diseases… Wait a bit, it will help, I promise”.
As soon as I drank the infusion, I fell asleep for a few minutes and, as I woke up, I felt better immediately. Mildly was crying softly, but I saw that those were the tears of joy. Meanwhile, I heard Jo trying to convince Billy not to trust us because of our “one eye and blue skin”. There it was, exactly what we feared! We looked different and Jo was afraid of us. How can we help him to see us the way we are in our hearts and not the only our looks, I asked myself. Well, there was no time to think…
We didn’t notice how a huge turtle, that had the ability to blend in like chameleons, had followed us furtively along the way. The gigantic monster came sneaking up and tried to attack Jo, who was standing with his back to the monster and so could not notice the danger.
Without thinking of the risk, I grabbed a big wood that burned in the fire and I threw it at the terrifying turtle, who, burning, ran away. Jo looked shocked:” Why did you save me?!” “Why wouldn’t I?”, I asked and this time I was the one to be shocked: “Who would I be if I don’t help the one in need, in danger?” Jo looked at quietly and then he said “I was wrong, sorry, I had prejudices about you, please, forgive me! And welcome!” As we hugged each other, it was the first time for so many months that I was happy because we were finally safe.
I still missed my country though; and I hoped to return to Globania, soon. Of course, it was great with the nice Europaniens, but in this area, I feel a little bit insecure, giant turtles could come back.
So I went to talk with Jo and Billy, I said: “We are too scared to be here, what if turtles come back, you would be in danger too”. But Jo calmed me by saying: “We know a little town, it’s called Ailicis. There you’ll be welcomed and accepted, turtles won’t never find you and will start a new life, let’s go, or no, it is too far away! So let’s fly over there”
Suddenly, we saw an animal that could fly quickly! Unbelievable! It was a fantastic animal called rhinfly. It had a blue skin, rainbow-colored wings, two golden horns and green eyes. It was 5 meters long and 3 meters tall. Its wingspan was 4 meters and the wings were in the middle of the back. It had a small tail. The Rhinfly weighed so much and could really fly! Strange animal…
Written by a 12-year-old.
Short Story: The French Part (III/IV)
As we arrived in Ailicis, I started doubting if it was the best place for us. There were plenty of various creatures of different colours. It was early in the morning and we wanted to find some water, so we walked and walked until I saw a little lake. I ran to it to drink some water and to get some food.
Suddenly, there came a bear from behind a small bush, he approached slowly and offered us some fish to eat. I wasn’t sure if it wasn’t a trap but we were so hungry that we accepted. After introducing himself, the bear offered my family to invite us home. Though we hesitated a little because we did not want to disturb, we finally accepted. On the way, each of us was astonished by what we saw. Flowers were blossoming. Trees were gleaming with the sunrays. Animals and insects were teeming with activity. Yet none of them really paid attention to us.
Once we eventually reached the house of our host, the bear showed us around and then asked us to have a sit in the living room. In the middle of room, there was a dusty brown sofa and in front of it a round table with three green armchairs. The bear took position in one of the armchairs in front of us. After a slightly awkward moment of silence when none of us knew how to start the discussion, he told us that he wanted to speak about something in particular. He had had this ‘something’ in mind for a long time but wasn’t sure how to mention it to us in the first place. Well, apparently, this ‘something’ had to do with an institution called ‘loohcs’. We were rather surprised because it was the first time for us that we ever heard about such a thing. I was really curious so, seeing that the bear was not ready to continue his story and after waiting for a while, I decided to ask him what ‘loohcs’ was. The bear who had been kind of dozing off a little bit, woke up and continued. He explained that ‘loohcs’ was a place where children went when they wanted to learn. I was dumbstruck. So many questions were popping up in my head. What did he mean by learn? Learn what? Why only children? For sure, adults needed to learn things too from time to time. This concept of ‘loohcs’ was to say the least pretty odd.
My parents did not seem to be bothered at all. They sat sill and did not move a muscle. I was the only one to be in such a state of amazement. And it was just the beginning. Noticing my change of behaviour, the bear continued with what would be an even stranger concept for me. This concept he referred to was friendship. Not quite understanding by what he meant by friendship, he told me that at loohcs I would be able to have friends. According to the bear, friends were people I get on with, people I wanted to spend time with but also people I also had arguments with. On these words, he stood up from his armchair and walked to the fireplace to put some wood and light a fire. The air was cold and the warmth of the fire soothed my body and spirit. Yet after listening quietly to all this, I was in a great state of turmoil.
I could hardly believe that there could be any shred of truth in what the bear had just said. So I turned and asked my parents and the bear if there was any chance for us to visit such a place. I was now eager to see if this « loohcs » did exist. And if it did, would it live up to my expectations? My parents were somehow fearful and agreed reluctantly. I think that they were still under the impression that I was too young for such a bold move. Nonetheless, my mother gently kissed my forehead and made me understand that if our host, the bear, did not mind to take us to loohcs, they would accept. The bear nodded and led us out of his home. We climbed up on Rhinfly. After flying for almost half an hour, we reached an enormous building surrounded by heavy metal gates. The bear got off Rhinfly and urged us to follow him. He showed us into the loohcs …