Ceyhan Sepetci

Once upon a time, there was a little boy living in the most beautiful part of the country. It was called Istanbul. The boy was at the age of 9 and he really loved drawing and taking pictures. Each day, he got out of his wooden house and went sightseeing. Everywhere was great, everywhere was wonderful. He was amazed with all the beauties he had seen in İstanbul. Lots of people were walking on the streets, dancing, playing different kinds of instruments. He saw that everyone was really happy. Every streets had their own life styles, every people had smiles on their faces.The old part of the city was a UNESCO World heritage site.There were hundreds of museums and touring Ottoman palaces like Dolmabahçe explains perfectly why the Ottoman Empire was disbanded, called the sick man of Europe and left for broke. Hagia Sophia was one of the best places he liked. It had been a church, mosque and now a museum. He could find different religions and ambiance there.

This is the story of a Sicilian boy named Nicola but everyone called him “Colapesce”, Nick the fish, because he loved the sea and he spent his days swimming and diving.
He lived in Messina, a beautiful city in the east coast of Sicily, with his mother. She didn’t like Cola’s strange habits and she would tell him: “You will change into a fish sooner or later”!
Colapesce used to go out and tell everyone about the wonderful treasures he saw while diving.
One day Fredrick II King of Sicily, heard about Colapesce and about his strange adventures. The king was curious and asked him to have a look in the deepest sea to find out what can hold the Sicilian island up. Colapesce went down the sea and when he was back he said “Sicily is held up by three columns but one of them has been damaged by a magic big fire. I suppose that our Sicily will be soon submerged by the sea”. Both the inhabitants and the king were scared. They begged him to help them. Colapesce, even though he knew that diving that deep was extremely dangerous, decided to go.
Since that time the king and the inhabitants never saw him again.
Everybody said that Colapesce had became half man and half fish and had remained under the sea helping the third column to remain stable.
Up to now he holds up Sicily and prevents it to be submerged by the sea.

One day Anastasiya and her little brother, Fedir, were walking toward their village school. They lived miles from the school that stood near the Black Sea in the Ukraine, and the winters were long and difficult. But as the children walked, Fedir looked up at the bright blue sky and noticed a flock of golden birds winging their way home from the south.”It’s almost spring!” Fedir said with delight, for though he shivered at the chill in the air, he knew the birds’ migration north meant warm weather would soon return.When school was finished for the day, the two children began their long walk home. The children quickened their pace, but suddenly they heard a peculiar sound coming from behind a linden tree. Fedir looked alarmed. “It sounds like someone’s crying,” he said, and they ran to look.There on the ground, shivering and damp, lay the grounded flock of golden birds. The children quickly understood the freezing winds had wounded the poor creatures. “We have to save them,” Fedir said desperately, and he knelt beside one of the smallest birds and saw that it was nearly frozen to death.

Quick, let’s take them somewhere warm,” Anastasiya urged, and she picked up one of the birds and wrapped it inside her coat. But of course she could not rescue every one. “Go, Fedir, run and tell our teacher that she must bring people to help.”

Fedir ran as fast as the wind back to the village, and he hurried to explain to his teacher what had happened. She told the priest, and he told the villagers who were praying in his church, and soon a few dozen people were following Fedir back to the spot where the injured birds lay.

One by one they picked up the birds and wrapped them inside their coats and their scarves, inside their hats and gloves. They were gentle, careful not to bruise their fragile wings. They were silent as they worked, careful not to frighten the birds.

This was not unusual. The people of the village were kind. They loved their fellow creatures, and it broke their hearts to see the fear in the birds’ eyes.

“Let us take them to the church,” the priest said. “There we shall decide how to help them.”

Before long, every villager heard the story of the birds, and they hastened to the church, offering help. The priest opened the vestry and there they made a sanctuary for the birds. Warmed by the fire the villagers tended, and fed by the generosity of the village children, the birds gradually recovered.

Olena Lukianets

It was a long time ago. The Cossack was travelling from a long distance to his home. He stopped at a spring in the valley to make his horse drink, he got drunk himself and could relax a little. The bright summer sun was warming up. The larks in the blue sky were singing. Light wind was playing with young rye sprouts. Everything was calm and warm. Cossack, who was extremely tired, fell asleep. But he did not sleep for a long time. He heard a rustling of horses and a foreign language through the dream. He realized that the Cossack brothers could not come, and the Tatars were creeping round, looking for a throphy.
The Cossack leaped into the saddle and galloped in the field from the village. The enemies rushed for him. The horses were roaring, the earth was buzzing from horse hooves. It seemed that the black cloud was overtaken by the sun. When the Tartar pursuit stretched out on the field in a high rye, the smart and brave Cossack, pulling out the saber, quickly turned his horse towards the enemy. He saw the deadly fear in the eyes of the first chaser. The Cossack’s saber was shining in the sun. He waved it once and there was not an enemy’s head, yet another sword was waved – another enemy was killed. The Tatars were frightened and ran away. The Cossack saved his Mother Land.

Emiliana Rufo

Scuola Secondaria di I grado “Massimo Gizzio”- Rome, Italy –

class 1C – school year 2017/2018 

Here is a Jigsaw puzzle of our city: ROME

Let’s play!

48 Our wonderful city: Rome

Nida DEMİR-Nezihe Osman Atay Primary School  Gaziantep/TURKEY