The legend of the Christmas spider

Once upon a time,

in a beautiful house in Italy, the mum decided to do the big Christmas cleaning .

The little spiders ran away and climbed into a corner of the attic.

After finishing the cleaning, the mother decorated the Christmas tree and the spiders were very sad because they wouldn’t be able to watch the beautiful scene on Christmas morning.

The spiders had an idea: they hid inside the Christmas tree.

That night, when Santa Claus came down the chimney and walked toward the tree,he realized it was full of spiders.

Santa felt sorry for the little spiders, because they are God’s creatures, with a touch of magic, he gently tapped the tree and turned all the spider webs into long, shiny, sparkling strands.

Since then, every year in Italy, grandparents tell their grandchildren the Legend of

the Christmas Spiders and put lots of shimmering tinsel on the Christmas tree.

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful nymph named Arethusa. She loved the forest and protected nature. One hot day, after running for a long time, she found a clear, cool river and decided to swim.

While she was in the water, she felt the river move around her. It was Alpheus, the god of the river, who had fallen in love with her. Arethusa was surprised and started to run away. She ran across mountains and fields, but Alpheus followed her everywhere.

Arethusa was tired and asked the goddess Artemis for help. To protect her, Artemis turned Arethusa into a silver cloud and then into a fresh-water spring. The spring traveled deep under the sea and came up on the island of Sicily, at a place called Ortygia.

But Alpheus did not give up. He turned himself into a river again and flowed under the sea to find her. In the end, their waters mixed, and they stayed united forever.

As the rich man came out of his house, he saw Keloğlan at the door and asked, “What do you want?”

Keloğlan said: “I had five hundred camel-loads of chickpeas. While traveling to Aleppo, we were attacked by bandits in the ruins. They took my chickpeas, killed my men, stripped me of my clothes, dressed me in rags, blindfolded me, and left me on a mountain. I managed to escape and came here.”

The rich man took him in immediately, gave him new clothes, and hosted him. After staying for five or ten days, Keloğlan said, “Let me go now.” The rich man gave him a horse.

Keloğlan set off and eventually arrived in Aleppo. There, he told merchants, “My five hundred camel-loads of chickpeas are on the way,” and collected money from them. People began praising him as a very wealthy man.

One day, the governor of Aleppo invited him to dinner, and Keloğlan accepted. He gave his servant twenty coins and said: “Distribute this money to the governor’s servants.”

When leaving the dinner, his servant gave five coins to one servant, ten to another, and smaller amounts to the rest. A few days later, the governor sent word: “If he marries my daughter, I will give her to him without any expense.”

Keloğlan accepted, and their wedding lasted forty days and forty nights.

One day, the governor’s daughter asked her husband for five coins to go to the bathhouse, but no merchant would lend him money. By then, Keloğlan had become very poor. They had no firewood left and were surviving by cutting a large mulberry tree inside their house.

One day, as he was cutting the tree, gold began to flow out from inside it. He quickly took a stick and struck the wall.

Hearing the noise, the governor rushed to their house and asked, “What is happening?”

Keloğlan said: “They sold my five hundred camel-loads of chickpeas and brought me all this gold, so I am beating the walls out of anger.”

They gathered the gold and took it inside.

Keloğlan opened a shop and started trading. Then he took out the single chickpea he had saved and said, “This chickpea made me rich,” and ate it.

And they lived happily ever after.

Hacivat says, “My dear Karagöz, let’s start a business together and earn some money.”

Karagöz replies, “Okay, but it should be an easy job!”

Hacivat suggests opening a shop. Karagöz agrees, but he gives strange answers to the customers.

A customer comes and asks, “What time is it?”

Karagöz answers, “We don’t sell clocks!”

Hacivat gets annoyed and says, “Karagöz, speak properly!”

Karagöz replies, “I am speaking properly, but you are asking the wrong questions!”

In the end, they have to close the shop.

Hacivat shakes his head and says, “It’s hard to work with you, Karagöz…”

Karagöz laughs and says, “Maybe hard, but it’s fun!”

Message: Everyone is different, but being together makes life more enjoyable.

During a journey, Nasreddin Hodja arrives in a town. There, he notices some strange things. One of them is that flags are placed on top of certain houses. Taking the opportunity, he asks:
“Why are there flags on some houses?”

Everyone replies together:
“Teacher, in those houses with flags, there are jars full of gold.”

After learning the reason for the flags, one day Nasreddin Hodja buys a large jar from the marketplace and brings it to the house where he is staying. Then he fills the jar with pebbles. As it is the custom, those who have gold in their homes talk about their jars. When it is Nasreddin Hodja’s turn, they see that his jar is filled with pebbles instead of gold. One of the guests says:
“Hodja, what is this? Your jar is filled with pebbles instead of gold.”

Nasreddin Hodja replies:
“My dear neighbors, why are you upset? After lying in the jar, what difference does it make whether it is gold or stone? What does it change?”

It was said that in the springs of Arethousa in Chalkida lived a beautiful fairy who appeared on summer nights, bathed in water and perfumed, combing her hair. Any young man who saw her - they said - was enchanted and followed her into the water, from which he never returned. This legend seems to preserve the ancient motif of the love between a mortal and a nymph of the spring.