first competition in literature -NUOVA DIREZIONE DIDATTICA VASTO, ITALIA:1ST PRIZE,2ND,3TH(ROMANIA,GREECE,TURKEY)

WINNER TEXTS:

1ST PRIZE:COLEGIUL NATIONAL "MIHAI EMINESCU" ORADEA, ROMANIA

"FANTASY" by Antonia Ganea(isabela_ganea@yahoo.com)Class V A

Teacher: Magda Botezat

Once upon a time there was a young woman called Lie. She was always lying. Her face was as ugly as her soul and her eyes were like fire.

In a rainy day, Lie gave birth to two little girls. The first girl’s name was Faith and the second girl’s name was Justice.

The two girls grew up and ironically they became two big liars.

After a while, the girls’ mother died because she was ill. The two girls were very sad but they continued their lies.

In  Wiseland, the country where these two girls lived, the weather was always rainy and foggy, as dark and as gloomy as their souls.

When they were little girls, Faith and Justice used to be very beautiful. Faith was blonde and she had black eyes, Justice had blue eyes and brown hair. They seemed to be angels.

But since they started to lie everything changed, day by day. Faith’s legs got smaller and Justice’s nose became longer.

And so happened with Wiseland: before they were born, there was the most beautiful and peaceful place in the world, but after they became liars, this blessed land got uglier and uglier.

The people who lived there were worse and worse and the houses were ugly and grey. Everything was decaying.

One single day, Faith lied not more or less than one hundred people and Justice did the same, but they didn’t know what was going to happen.

Unexpectedly, people found out that they were tricked. Then they understood that the two girls were big liars and they became very angry.

Next morning, when Faith and Justice got up, the sky was full of clouds and outside there were waiting a lot of angry people with angry eyes and lighted torches. The crowd asked for Faith and Justice.

People chased them into the woods and the two girls ran in different places until they turned into bad witches.

Faith became ugly and her eyes were grey while Justice was black and she had fire eyes.

And since then, Faith is called “Short legs lie” because when she was chased her legs became smaller and smaller, second by second.

And Justice is called “Long nose lie” because when she was hunted her nose grew bigger and bigger, second by second. Now they had their mother’s name: Lie.

Nowadays, in Wiseland there are three big ways: one of them is so attractive and beautiful. That way is the way of “Short legs lie” and most of the people go there. And so is the way of “Long nose lies” where people go often, also attractive and easy to take.

The opposed one, the last one and the only one is beautiful but it’s not so attractive than the other two. This is the Truth and Wise way. There are only few people that choose this way.

This Wiseland is a land for everyone, but only people who love wisdom and truth go on that way and they have a good life. That makes the difference.

Contemporaneously with the work “ LIES ARE OF TWO KINDS: THOSE THAT HAVE SHORT LEGS AND THOSE THAT HAVE A LONG NOSE”, ANTONIA GANEA  claims to be the author, not to have sold to third parties the rights of publication or distribution or other rights related to copyright in and to be able to have full and absolute freedom. The author also authorizes the organizing committee of the competition to the processing of personal data under DL196/2003 and subsequent amendments and additions, solely for the purposes of the competition in question.

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2ND PRIZE: JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL OF KORINOS,PIERIA,GREECE

"AND THE WATER WAS STAINED RED" by Ilias KOUMPRIDIS,Class C

Teacher: Paraskevi MANTA

“Why did this happen to me?” said Anna as she gazed at the ceiling. “Why?” Quiet. The door breaks with a clicking but it is too late.

Two months ago, Anna was an ordinary 17 year old girl. She was an excellent student and loved school and most of all she was gentle and kind-hearted. Nobody was perfect though. Like everyone, she made mistakes, little ones, insignificant ones, but also big ones. One of her biggest mistakes was that she loved Sam more than she should.

Sam was captain of the school’s football team. He had it all-tall, handsome, charming with an athletic body, full of confidence, from a wealthy family. Anna used to watch him when he was having football training. She was sitting on the benches and her eyes were fixed on him, mesmerized, enchanted. She was always carrying a red diary in her hands. There, she wrote every aspect of her life in detail, from the most meaningless to the most important. She never left this diary anywhere because she was writing the story of her life in it. One day, Anna was walking down the school corridor, when Sam- the boy of her dreams- approached her. She felt her heart beating loudly and her legs started trembling, until she suddenly felt his hand touching her shoulder.

“Hi! Anna? Right?” Anna stared into his eyes for a few seconds and seemed to be lost in her thoughts, until she finally replied.

“Hi! Yes. And you must be Sam.”

“Yes. I have seen you many times in training, sitting on your own and I thought that it is a shame for such a beautiful girl to be alone. “Well, do you want to meet me tonight?”

Anna felt dumbfounded. She couldn’t believe it. Suddenly her most incredible dream became a reality. She immediately replied: “Of course, I do.”

“Perfect. We will meet at 8, at the entrance of the park. See you there.”

When Anna returned home, she was confined into her room and started to write in her diary. Finally darkness fell and the time of their meeting finally arrived. She came out of the house and started walking fast towards the park. From afar, she was able to distinguish Sam’s figure, next to his car, waiting for her. After two hours of debate, Sam led Anna to his car and they started kissing in the back seat.

“You’ve done it before, right?” asked Sam. Anna hesitated to answer, because the answer would be negative. So, she decided to tell a little lie: “Yes, of course” she replied. The rest was history.

The next morning, Anna woke up feeling really happy. She got ready quickly and went to school. She didn’t realize what she had done the previous night. For the next two months, her relationship with Sam was ideal until….. she began to feel dizzy and nauseous. She was suffering for several days. Her parents began to worry. She continuously said that she was fine but only she and God knew what secrets she kept well hidden. She kept on telling lies to cover up the truth. Lies, lies, lies. Lies to her parents, to her friends , to Sam, to her teachers. Her whole life was a lie. Each time she was running to the toilet with her hand in front of her mouth, her parents asked her confused how she was, but she always answered that she was fine. But how much pain and despair may have been behind this “Fine”. More lies every day. She told so many lies that the burden was too much to endure. She couldn’t take it any longer. She didn’t go to school, she didn’t eat, she didn’t even talk to her parents.

It was Wednesday evening. Anna took out her little red diary, the existence of which, she had forgotten for a very long time and began to write again. Her tears were soaking the pages of her diary. She continued her story, which she had so unexpectedly stopped. However her story would stop there. She left her diary on the bed, open right on the page she was writing a while ago. She entered the bathroom and locked the door behind her. She filled the bathtub with cold water, took off her clothes and got inside. Her life had been destroyed.

“I can’t do this any more. I can’t mock myself any more nor the others. I am sorry my baby, but I CAN’T STAND IT. I want you to know that I will never hold you, but I feel you. You never spoke, but I hear you. I never knew you, but I LOVE you!” she said holding her belly. These were Anne’s last words before she got the razor to cut her wrists.

“Why did this happen to me? Why?” Anna said as she gazed at the ceiling. She left her last breath, as another tear rolled down on her white, lifeless cheek. The door was broken down by her parents and Sam but it was too late. The water had already been stained

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3TH PRIZE: ÇANKAYA AYTEN ŞABAN DİRİ İLKOKULU  ANKARA, TURKEY

"DREAMS THAT CAME TRUE" by Bera TABAK -CLASS  5/A

Teachers: 

English  Teacher: Rüyam SAYDAM 

Turkish Teacher: Orhan ÖZDEMİR

            Pinocchio’s  father Gephetto and Nasrettin Hodja* were childhood friends. They used to love each other very much.  As they were living in different cities, they couldn’t see each other for a long time  .

            One day, Gephetto somehow made a puppet using the wood pieces in the cellar which were said to be bewitched. He called the puppet ''Pinocchio''. One night, he saw some light coming out of a room and he went towards the light, what do you think he saw? The puppet, just like a human, was moving and speaking. In the passing years, he hugged him as his own son. But although Pinocchio was a good boy, somehow he started telling lies and being naughty. While Pinocchio was telling lies his nose and legs were getting longer and longer. Pinocchio was annoyed because of that. Seeing that, his nose and legs growing longer and longer, many times he had decided not to tell lies but as soon as he saw his friends he forgot his promise. Since Gephetto was fed up with the happenings, he started to think what to do with Pinocchio. And, one day he remembered  Nasrettin Hodja, he said:

•  I think Nasrettin Hodja is the only person that can help me.

He immediately wrote a letter to him and asked for his help. Nasrettin Hodja received the letter and he answered that he accepted to help him. After that Gephetto decided to send Pinocchio to Nasrettin Hodja’s village.

            A while later...

            Pinocchio knocked Nasrettin Hodja's door with a bag in his hand,  introduced himself and told him about his story. Nasrettin Hodja said:

Look kid, it is not easy as you think. If you want to be a real human you should listen to me very carefully and do exactly what I tell you. After that I’ll give an exam to you. Now, come inside with me.

            They started living together. He tried to teach Pinocchio how to write and read. One day Pinocchio met Pussy in Boots and made friends. After a while Pinocchio started fooling Nasrettin Hodja and skipping classes as he wanted to keep up with the Pussy in Boots. It was really impossible for Nasrettin Hodja to deal with Pinocchio. One day Nasrettin Hodja gave some money to Pinocchio and wanted him to buy some salt from the local bazaar. On the way to bazaar he met the Pussy in Boots:

• Hey Pinocchio, where are you going?
• To the bazaar to buy some salt.

*Nasrettin Hodja was a Turkish legend known as his wisdom and good sense of humour who lived in the 13th  century

• Have you got any money?
• Yes, I have indeed
• Come on, never mind the salt, let’s get on a flying balloon and fly like birds...

            Pinocchio accepted his offer. They got on the flying balloon with a great excitement  . While they were flying, Pussy in Boots asked what Pinocchio would tell to Nasrettin Hodja about the money. Pinocchio answered:

• I’ll say I lost it.

            As he told a lie his nose and legs started getting longer and longer . His nose was so long that it exploded the balloon and his legs were so long that they broke the basket. They started to fall down and they found themselves hung on a tree’s branch. And the Pussy in Boots easily jumped down the tree leaving Pinocchio there. Pinocchio was in a very bad situation that he couldn’t even move his body.

            As it was getting dark, Nasrettin Hodja was worried about Pinocchio and send a message to Gephetto too. As soon as he heard the bad news, he went near Nasrettin Hoca. They tried to search the village to find him. All the villagers helped them too. After two days there was no news from Pinocchio.

            In the mean time, Pinocchio was very sorry and he thought that telling lies were really a bad habit. He was very angry with the Pussy in Boots who has just left him there in danger. He then promised himself not to tell any lies again and to behave as Nasrettin Hodja wanted him to.

            After a while, they saw the balloon, they immediately took Pinocchio down who was not feeling well at all. They prayed all the time for Pinocchio to get well and to be a real human. And, as they were so tired they fell asleep beside Pinocchio’s bed.

            In the morning, when they opened their eyes they were very much surprised because there was a real boy in the bed, they thanked god as their wishes became true. In any way Nasrettin Hodja and Gephetto kept on telling Pinocchio about the benefits of the honesty all the time. They were very happy and they hugged each other.

            After that, Pinocchio was very happy and he had a very good lesson out of it. He never told lies again. He became a hard-working boy. He learnt every lesson Nasrettin Hodja and Gephetto taught to him. Nasrettin Hodja and Gephetto loved him as their son. And they lived happily ever after.