Illustrations by

I am Sophia Politou-Ververi. My kids call me mummy douce, that means sweet mum.

You can call me as you wish, but first let me Introduce myself.

Inside me there are:

Many notes as I am a piano teacher.

Many letters as I have been writing fictional stories

Since I was a child.

Many images as I read many books.

Many voices as I am talking to the fairytales’

heroes.

Many colors like the voices and the emotions.

A few numbers as I was never good at maths

Although I can remember numbers easily.

Enough sugar as I am a sweets lover.

All the things in blue because I love the sea And dolphins.

The sky’s voices because I talk to a Bird named Xeriola (he knows everything) Come and fly with Xeriola’s

wings,

Through the fairytales, we will travel everywhere

So as to find the truth!

E-mail: spolitou@yahoo.gr

SOPHIA POLITOU-VERVERI

WATER AND

SOIL

Illustrations by:

Vivi Markatos

Translation from Greek by:

Andromahi Velonaki

Sophia Politou-Ververi,Water And Soil ISBN: 978-618-5040-86-4

August 2014

Original Title: Το νερό και το χώμα

Illustrations by:

Vivi Markatos,

vmarkatos@yahoo.gr

Translation from Greek:

Andromahi Velonaki

mahi.velonaki@yahoo.gr

Editing:

Tina Moschovi

tinamosch@hotmail.com

Cover-page layout:

Iraklis Lampadariou

www.lampadariou.eu

Saita publications

42 Athanasiou Diakou str, 652 01, Kavala, Greece Τ.: 0030 2510 831856

M.: 0030 6977 070729

e-mail: info@saitapublications.gr website: www.saitapublications.gr Note: The font is offered by Aka-acid (www.aka-acid.com) Creative Commons license

Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivs 3.0 Unported

With the agreement of the author and publisher, you are free to share, copy, distribute and transmit the work under the following conditions: attribution, non commercial use, no derivative works.

Detailed information on the license cc can be found at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0

To my family, Panagiotis, Dimitris and Myrsini-Katerina, without their support I wouldn’t be here, to all my nephews, to my restless aunt Theodosia Svolaki-Bantzou,

to Vivi Markatos, to Saita Publications, to all the children of the world!

Once upon a time there were two kings, One and Other. Their kingdoms were side by side, and while the most natural thing would be for them to be beloved friends, these two had managed to be loathed enemies!

And the reason for this plight was. . a river!

These two kingdoms were divided by a strong, lively, filled with clear water river, which turning and curving, diving and splattering, carried away everything that was in the way, tree branches, villager’s hat taken by the air, logs, rocks and of course soil from its river bank. Water and soil were sliding, meeting at the sea and disappearing in its embrace. So, the river was becoming wider and wider but its level was becoming lower and lower. But for this natural change, king One was blaming king Other for stealing his water and king Other was blaming king One for stealing his soil!

They were screaming and screaming, One to Other, and their screams were never ending.

One was pointing Other with his finger, the known as index finger, as if he wanted to claw the Other’s eye out. In the end, since they couldn’t find a solution, and they could neither find the stolen soil nor the stolen water, they decided to start a war and whoever won would take possession of the defeated king’s kingdom and the river!

They immediately ordered generals and warriors, who began to prepare in both kingdoms huge canons, the canons of the Mud War! These canons were very effective. Last time thanks to their mudfires, they repelled a huge swarm of hungry locusts that were craving the valley’s grains, which the villagers of both kingdoms were living on.

So, the soldiers of the one kingdom went to the bank for water and soil, while on the same bank opposite, the soldiers of the other kingdom were trying to gather…

soil and water too, because mudfires were made of these two ingredients. So, they began fighting each other and as they were ready to attack each other, they realized the obvious; that instead of both fighting for the same things, they could be friends again for the same things. Water and soil belong to everyone, so they could share them instead of fighting over them.

In order to make mudfires you need cooperation, water and soil together, that means the one kingdom and the other. Why are they fighting, then?

The warriors, then, called their fellow warriors, and they called all the others, and they built a bridge, and they began back and forth from one camp to the other.

And once they made together enough mudfires, they began throwing them to the two kings!

The kings were in shock, got scared and while they were running around, One bumped into Other, fell down with a huge “bam” and when they saw their faces covered in mud, then…they burst out laughing!

They were laughing and laughing and they couldn’t stop laughing, and then the soldiers began laughing too, and the horses, and the donkeys, and the rooster on the roof, and the canons and all the villages in both kingdoms, until the night began to fall. Then, they made the greatest feast in the history of fairytales.

The two kings made

up, united their

kingdoms and since

then, every year

around this time,

they celebrated

their union and their

love with mudfires

and a feast!

And, of course, they

lived happily ever

after and as for us,

we are still looking

for it…!

Vivi Markatos is an Award-winning playwright with

many

panhellenic

distinctions in Painting and

Comics

and

an

award

winning

radio

producer

under the auspices of

UNESCO for a cultural

tribute done in 2009. She

has participated in literary

book presentations and

has

directed

five

performances

for

The

University of Athens. In

her spare time she likes

painting, listening to music

and going for a walk with

her friends. She works as

a journalist in the cultural

sector with an also distinct

presence

and

with

significant interviews in

Galaxy Radio FM 92,1. She

is also the first radio

producer

in

Greece

presented in a show the

"anime", which now have a huge number of fans in

the country.

The idea of Saita publications emerged in July 2012, having as a primary goal to create a web space where new authors can interact with the readers directly and free.

Saita publications’ aim is to redefine the publisher-author-reader relationship, by cultivating a true dialogue

and

by

establishing

an

effective

communication channel for authors and readers alike.

Saita publications stay far away from profit, exploitation and commercialization of literary property.

The strong wind of passion for reading, the sweet breeze of creativity, the zephyr of motivation, the sirocco of imagination, the levanter of persistence, the deep power of vision

guide the saita (paper plane) of our publications.

We invite you to let books fly free!

Why do we always have to fight without using our brains? Is that the human nature after all? And those knights? Thank goodness, they and their kings came to their senses at the last moment! Life is joy and celebration, we have nothing to share with each other except for a nice meal, a dance, a song and a hug! This is the real world and it makes some people feel really uncomfortable! In the end, what did the two kings accomplish? Which path did they choose?

ISBN: 978-618-5040-86-4