2. Do you believe in superstitions?
Undoubtedly, superstitions are an integral part of
a people’s culture. For this reason and for the
needs of Comenius “A Culture Rainbow Around
Europe”, students from Poland, Spain, Turkey
and Greece have written together an imaginary
story unfolding superstitions of these four
countries. While reading this story someone can
realize that the things that unite us are much more
than the things that divide us…

3. Chapter 1
Once upon a time … in
Spain!

4. The four friends were walking in the streets
of Manresa.
- Grandmother used to tell me a lot of fairytales
when I was younger, said La Pubilla while she was
guiding her friends into town.
- Really! Tell us one! Asked Hermes. I feel
nostalgic of the fairy tales my grandmother used
to tell me in Nea Karua, a village in northern
Greece, and I would like to hear one…

5. «Once upon a time», started La Pubilla, « it was a girl
called Mariam. She lived in a tree where there was a
big house. One day, while Mariam was cooking in the
kitchen, she poured the salt on the floor.
- Oh! My God! Seven years of bad luck, said Mariam.

6. She was sad. Mariam decided to stop her bad
luck. Without second thought she said to herself:
I’m going to go round the tree 7 times.

7. So she did. Mariam came back home and
touched the wooden table of her dining room. Her
Bad Luck stopped for ever and she lived happily
ever after! »

8. - Very nice story! commented Ali from Turkey.
While they were walking they saw a lot of
people gathered. La Pubilla immediately
volunteered to go and see what was happening.
She informed them that there was a competition
and the prize was a trip around Europe with a
balloon. Everyone happily agreed to take part
and … they WON!

9. - Let’s go to my country! Suggested Aria.
- I always wanted to go to Poland, Ali agreed.
- Me too! Added La Pubilla.

10. The only one who had
an objection about the date
of the travel was Hermes:
- I suggest that we should
start tomorrow.
- No! No! Let’s start
today. The weather is nice,
the others also disagree
and …
THE JOURNEY STARTED!!!

11. Chapter 2
First stop: Poland!!!

12. Soon Ali, Hermes,
La Pubilla and
Aria were flying over
Poland.
They admired the amazing views and
interesting architecture. They saw the Palace of
Culture and Science in Warsaw, they stopped
for a while in Torun to taste the traditional
gingerbread, they saw the Wawel Castel in
Krakow … until they noticed a group of children
playing football.

13. - What do you think of joining them? Ali
suggested.
- It’s a great idea!!! Everybody agreed.
The balloon landed and the kids get off.
- Hi! We travelling around the Europe. Could we
play with you? Aria asked.
-Sure!
After a while the match started and children had a
lot of fun.

14. At some moment Aria kicked the ball away.
As she went to bring it back, shouted to her
friends:
- Look what I found! A four – leaf clover! It’s
thought to bring luck. I hope I score more goals
now. Let’s go back to our play.

15. But the very
next moment the ball
fell on the Aria’s mirror.
- Oh no! My mirror! It’s broken!
- I’m very sorry. I did it by accident… the boy
apologised.
- Everyone who breaks a mirror is thought to have
bad luck for the next seven years!
- Oh, what I should do then?
- To avoid bad luck you have to throw a handful
of salt through your left arm.
- Let’s go to buy salt then!

16. On their way to the shop Aria stopped
them saying:
- Oh! Look! This is a chimney – sweeper! Grab
hold of the button! It brings good luck.
And so they did…

17. After their leaving the shop
with the salt they realised that
it was getting dark, so they decided
that it was time for them to leave.
So the children
got on to their balloon,
in order to continue
their adventure.

18. Chapter 3
Greece and its beauties!

19. The four friends while travelling
reached over Greece.
- Wow! What a beautiful city! Said Ali.
- Where are we? Asked Aria.
- What is this tall building by the sea?
Wondered La Pubilla.
- This is the beautiful Thessaloniki, the
second largest city in Greece, Hermes
started explaining, and this white
building that dominates the coastal road
is the White Tower.

20. Suddenly the balloon
started to lose height.
-I told you we shouldn’t have
started today… but you …
this day is bud luck.
Mumbled Hermes.
- Why, what day is it today?
Everybody wondered.
-It’s “Tuesday 13th”! Here in
Greece we consider this day
as bad luck.

21. Everybody panicked.
- Do you think that we will fall
and drown in the sea?
- Do you think that we will
land on a tree and be unable
to go down?
- Do you think…
- “Bite your tongue”! Hermes interrupted them.
- Why should we bite it?

22. - So as what you say will not happen. Greeks
when we want to avoid something bad we “hit
wood”, “move from our spot” or “we bite our
tongue”. Oh I just remembered! We still have one
bottle with helium.
-Whew! We are lucky! Everybody sighed with
relief!
After filling up the fuel they happily continued
their journey.

23. - Do you want to see the Acropolis in Athens?
Someone suggested.
- Yes! Yes! Everybody screamed simultaneously.
- “Touch red” Hermes urged
them.
- Why?
- Because we said the same word
simultaneously and we might
quarrel. This is what people who believe in
prejudices argue.

24. The journey went on without
any difficulties.
- We arrived in Athens! Screamed
Aria.
- How did you get it? Asked Ali.
- Look down, it’s the Acropolis! It is
really beautiful!
- Why don’t we go for a tour in
Cyclades? Suggested Hermes. Of
course it is late. It is dark and we
won’t be able to dive into the crystal
clear water of the Aegean.

25. Everybody agreed and in a while they
were flying over the uncountable island with
the whitewashed houses and the imposing
windmills.

26. - Wow! Everything is so
beautiful! Let’s fly lower so
that we are closer to
admire the view, said La
Pubilla impressed. I am
impressed of the white
scenery I see everywhere.
In the houses, the
pavements, alleys…
- Look how nice the windmills
are! Admired Ali.

27. -Oh! What is this red bug
-that sat on my hand?
Shouted Aria while trembling.
-It’s a ladybug! Don’t send
it away! It is good luck!
Hermes calmed her down.
But as the sun was setting and casting the
last rays of daylight over the Aegean Sea, the
company decided not to lose any more time. So
they headed east towards their last destination.

28. Chapter 4
A special day in Turkey!

29. Now the balloon was flying over Istanbul.
The children were admiring the monuments and its
beauty. Bosporus, Sea of Marmara, the Golden
Horn… everything was magical!
As Ali was explaining to his friends about the way
of life in Turkey and his everyday life he
remembered one special day for him and he
started telling them about it:

30. “I will never forget the day that… almost
everything that could happen, happened to me! If I
am not mistaken it was last year, around this time.
As usual I left home to go to school. It was a usual
day for me and I was unaware of the things I would
live. I saw my best friends Nazlı and Zeynep. I said
“Good morning” to them. And they told me while
smiling: “Your hair looked nice, Ali”. You see, I
had my hair cut and had used hair gel to style it. I
felt very nice that my friends liked my hair.

31. I was so happy that I didn’t notice the ladder
and walked under it accidentally. All the children
on the road shouted: “Ali what have you done?
You have walked under a ladder, it is bad luck!” I
was surprised and fell down. The paper of my
poem, which was to be read that day, fall out of my
school bag and got dirty.
All the children were looking
at me with frightened eyes
and thought that bad luck
had started.

32. I stood up and went
to the class. The teacher
had already entered the
class and was angry with
me because I was late. I
was very sad. I sat down
on my chair and started to
think about the poem that
I was going to read in the
second lesson.

33. But the poem paper was so dirty that it became
illegible. Not only, in the first lesson, did I fail to
solve the Maths problem on the board, but also I
was furious with my best friend, Nazlı. My
trousers were dyed by his paint and I quarrelled
badly with him. It was break time.
When I was at the school garden, a ball
struck my face. I was in pain and started to cry. I
looked at the sky and asked myself: “Why me?”

34. At that moment a mad bird left its droppings
on my head. This meant good luck. I was
hopeful that bad luck would leave me from now
on.
I went into the class smiling. The teacher
wanted me to read my poem, but the paper was
still illegible. I walked hesitating to the board. I
tried to remember the first line of the poem
and… I DID IT!

35. I said the whole poem by memory because I had
memorised it without having a clue about it. The
other students applauded me with
enthusiasm, since I was the only one who said it by
memory. Eventually Nazlı made peace with me and
he wanted us to sit in the same desk. We also sang
together in music lesson.

36. At break we went to the garden. My sister
had made sandwiches and I brought them to
school. I shared them with my friends, Nazlı and
Zeynep and we were all so happy! I looked at the
sky again and remembered the last line of the
poem: “Life is feeling the taste of happiness at
every minute.” At that moment I decided to be
happy from now on.

37. I went home happy. My sister was sewing
trousers for me. Just as she was cutting the rope
with the scissors, I spontaneously took the
scissors from her hand.
- My dear, I can cut it by my own! I said wanting to
give a helping hand.
- Ali what have you done?
You received the scissors
directly from my hand, this
means we will quarrel.

38. - Nooo! You must stop believing in these
things!
My sister sewed the trousers and I wore
them at once. I kissed her and gave her a big hug. I
realised that believing in superstitions made me
unhappy. I told my sister that we must estimate the
real value of life. Superstitions aren’t true. I said:
“We live exactly as we would think.” I thought
about all the things I lived that day and looked at
the sky happily.»

39. - You are right! Everybody agreed with him.
It was too dark now. The four friends hugged and
looked at the night sky and
wished at a falling star
their friendship to be forever!