The Princess Of Mount Corchia

SCUOLA PRIMARIA RONCHI T.P. MASSA, ITALY

n Mount Corchia, one of the imposing and majestic peaks of the Apuan Alps stood a beautiful castle. A princess named Rubina was imprisoned in a high tower of the castle. A bad witch, jealous of her beauty and of her voice, had taken possession of Rubinas castle and its treasures. A huge dragon with terrible eyes and a mouth of fire was guarding the castle. The desperate girl cried day and night, her tears fell into the mountain and, like magic, turned into splendid and glittering rock crystals, assuming strange forms (Even today all inside of the mountain "Antro del Corchia" you can admire the beautiful crystals formed from the tears of Princess Rubina). One night, the princess looked longingly at the sky. The sky was full of stars and a beautiful moon, so the princess began to sing a melodious song. The sound of the music, carried by the wind, reached the ears of a prince who was riding in the mountains. The prince, intrigued by the voice, went to the castle. The dragon, awakened by the noise, woke up and scared the handsome prince to death. The prince ran away as fast as he could, and forgot completely about the waiting princess. The girl, who noticed the prince through the window, couldnt believe it. How could he leave her in this castle completely alone? She still had a ray of hope that someday a really heroic man would arrive at her tower and defeat that fearless dragon. From time to time, a knight or a prince appeared near the castle, but none of them was brave enough to face the beast. But one day a young itinerant bard named William was wandering the neighbourhood near the castle. As he was travelling through the mountains, he found five strangely looking rock crystals. Two were kettle-shaped, three were lollipop-shaped and the one left was ribbon-shaped. Anyway, William was sure some merchant would pay him no less than three bars of gold for those. Suddenly the bard heard a beautiful melody; a womans voice singing the song. It was the ballad The Fall Of The Cursed And Insane King Roland Of The Highlands, the latest hit among the European arystocracy. The song was often performed by bards. Not thinking a lot, William decided to search for the source of the music and the woman herself. It led him to the castle. As he was crossing the gate, he reminded himself an old bards maxim The lute is more powerful than the two-handed sword.. Not much help in this situation, thought William. Then he saw someone standing just in front of him. It was definitely a dwarf. He had a long brown beard, was wearing a plate armour and also he had a nice tattoo showing a goblins skull and a crossed bones below. The stranger introduced himself as Bombur Beechenshield. - I was also intrigued by this voice said Bombur. So Ive come here. Im a treasure hunter in general. I couldnt miss an occasion of plundering some uninhabited castle! 21

- Do you really think its abandoned? Its always like this in the stories that such castles are guarded by some terrifying creatures. Dragons, for example! The Dwarf looked at William blithely. - These are just stories! Who would believe that we are in danger because of the presence of some dragon! Im absolutely convinced that we are completely... His last word was drowned out by a frightening roar. -...safe!? shouted William and looked terrified at the furious creature who was throwing flames out its nostrils and was rising above them with its tail hitting the ground. Oh my god! Am I dreaming ? It's ... It's ... It's a dragon! What shall we do now? The Dwarf almost dead with fear said to William : We have only one chance. Let's call the wizard Merlin to help us. They turned around and ran away as fast as they could to go looking for Merlin. It was a two day journey until they finally found the great Merlin. They told him that there was a castle where a beautiful princess was imprisoned by an awful dragon. Both of them were very fond of the princess and her beautiful voice and their hearts beat loud for this wonderful creature. They asked him to help them to save the young princess. Merlin was impressed by their courage and felt pity for the princess, so he decided to help them. Merlin and his two companions flew away by the wind and in a couple of minutes arrived in front of the castle... When Merlin, William and the dwarf arrived at the castle, they found a bright and colourful spot, and music could be heard there as it was a magical place. William found a small cave and when he entered in it, he checked that it was gigantic, and inside there was a enormous castle, so big that he thought it was a mirage. When he approached, he listened to the melody again and without hesitation, he jumped over the castle walls and he got close to the place where the voices came from. - Is anybody there? he asked - Help, help me they answered. Then, William turned toward the terrible dragon quietly and said to it All right, I forgive you because you didnt know who I am The dragon was surprised by these words, because he didnt know that anybody was going to come up against it so bravely. - Get ready to fight because I dont care who you are.-roared the dragon - Wait a minute; it seems to me that you dont know who I am. Following Merlins advice he said I am the Huge Swords guardian and you know that this sword has killed dozens of dragons and if I unsheathe it, it will fly directly to your neck to kill you.

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The dragon didnt know of such a sword but he was afraid of it. William continued talking. Anyway, I want to give you a chance to fight against me. We will travel across the world to a snowy mountain, and on the top of it there is a big tower where there is a golden cage. It is the place where the wizard Merlin made this sword and that is the place where this sword will lose all its power. I will be there but I will only wait five days for you. After these words, he pretended to disappear in a dust cloud but he really was behind the bushes. The dragon was keen to fight this gentleman so he flew fast in a long trip which would last more than a month.. The dragon was now more terrible, his magic powers allowed him to move as fast as the wind, be as light as a feather and change into a simple sheep or a terrible ogre. As a cloud dragon he was the only able to throw fire and lightening bolts through his mouth. He attacked the villages only for pleasure, to hear the villagers screams when he appeared. Our young shoe maker was desperate because this was the second time he had been defeated by the dragon. So he decided to go back to his own village thinking about how to kill the dragon. One stormy day, a special customer came into his shop. This was a wizard in the disguise of a poor man and he asked him to make some shoes. The young man felt sorry for him and he made them very carefully. The wizard was so pleased that he gave him a bag of gold coins. The wizard then told the boy the solution for saving the village of Krakow from the dragon. He had to follow his orders strictly. Firstly, he would travel to Toledo to buy a sword and he had to look for a weird plant in the mountains called The poisonous Dahlia with which he would make a potion which would make the dragon sleep forever. Our young gentleman got to the mountains and after getting all the items, he had some coins left with which he paid some hunters to kill a golden eagle to make flying shoes with its skin. The young shoemaker made one hundred long spears to kill the dragon in the village. He hid them so when the dragon came he would get him. On the 2nd of January the dragon came but he missed narrowly and the chance was gone. Therefore, the shoemaker decided to make a dragon trap(to be continued) He thought about this for a long, long time. He had to invent a trap that would allow him to administer the poison from the Poisonous Dahlia. All he had to use was the sword, the poisonous plant and the long, sharp spears. But wait a moment! He had the flying shoes. Of course! That was his secret weapon. The dragon could be lured to the village by the sweet smell of the Dahlia then he would see the defenceless boy in the middle of the village. The dragon would lunge at him but would never expect him to fly off over the 23

rooftops! Now, how could the spears be used to help him immobilise the dragon? Could they be disguised as something else or maybe hidden in the wheat field? He felt so excited when he remembered the magic shoes but there were so many problems to overcome. First of all, he had to find someone who knew how to make poison from the Dahlia. He had heard a rumour about a magic book of spells. In this book was the recipe for the poison. But where was that book? Would the Wizard know?.... A week later , the shoemaker completed a cunning plan. He would make the trap. He had dug out a dragon size hole in the ground in a clearing and placed a large cover over it. Carefully, he placed light snacks on the cloth filled with the poison, he found the recipe in the magic book of spells as the week before he found the recipe book after speaking with the Wizzard. He hoped the dragon would be tempted by the sweet snacks and fall into the trap. His patience was soon rewarded when he heard a roar overhead and felt the draught from the dragons wings. Leaving the food trap, he ran to take cover as the dragon swooped down towards him. Suddenly the roaring stopped as the dragon spied the tasty treats. It landed feet first on the cloth and went straight into the hole below! The shoemaker punched the air and shouted, Yes! He hoped the dragon would eat the treats whilst trapped in the hole. However, the dragon didnt give in easily and sent fire and smoke out of the hole. There was a horrible smell of burning earth as the dragon twirled around inside the hole burning away more soil around him to create room to free his wings. The shoemaker covered his mouth with his hand as, ten minutes later the furious dragon soared out of the hole into the sky and shot flames from its nostrils at anyone it saw. The shoemaker looked on sadly as the dragon vanished...... While the dragon was trying to get out of the hole, some scales from its wings fell down to the ground. Scales were so birght that they attracted the attentin of shoemaker.Shoemaker put these scales in his pocket without knowing their magic then he set forth. When he arrived at home, he went his room to make plan so as to defeat the dragon. While he was thinking about his plans, the saceles were still in his pocket. Suddenly the little son of the shoemaker knocked the door and came in. He had been waiting for his father for a long time to play games.But shoemakers mind was still full of thoughts so he didnt even think about playing games with his son.But he remembered the scales that he forgot in his pocket and gave them to his little son to play. Shoemaker was still planning how to defeat the dragon while his son was playing with the scales. When the shoemaker was busy with deep thoughts, he just turned his head to look his little son but there was nobody in the room except the shoemaker. But he heard the laughing sound of somebody. He got out of the room quickly and looked for his son. But he couldnt find him anywhere. Laughing sound of his son was still in his ears. He was

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about to go mad.Suddenly, somebody pulled his lowest part of his trousers but he couldnt see anybody. Then his son decided to speak to his father. - Daddy ! Dont you see me? While I was playing with the scales that you gave me, I devoured one of them and I became hollow. It was good to make fun of with you but I cant make myself visible. I am so scared. Please help me. - Shoemaker was surprised. Suddenly he remembered the old wise man who lives in a cave by the river. He was such a wise man that he had knowledge about everything. Shoemaker decided to take his son to old wise man. When they arrived there, shoemaker wanted old wise man to help him. Old wise man looked at him and said: - There is only one way to make your son visible again. The only thing that makes your son visible is the sound of the princess who was captured in a castle in Corchia Month. If the princess sings with her beautiful voice, your son will be visible again. It was inevitable for the shoemaker to defeat the dragon. He would struggle against the dragon not only for his son but also for the princess. He decided to use last scale to defeat the dragon. The old wise man felt pity for the shoemaker and gave him a bottle of magical water. This water was so magical that if somebody says -burn water turns into fire, if somebody says -freeze it turns into ice. The Shoemaker and his invisible son left towards the mountain where the princess was said to be trapped. They took with them all the things needed for protection: the magical water, the flying shoes, the poison of the Dahlia and the huge sword Merlin told them to buy. They walked for one night and one day without stopping. They saw some lights and heard people talking and thought there might be an inn, so they decided to spend the night there. As they passed through the wooden door, they were hit by an unpleasant smell of food and smoke. There was a lot of rumor in the room. The shoemaker was looking for an empty seat, but none was available. Suddenly, he heard the words Mount Corchia coming from one of the tables behind him. Sorry, have I heard it correctly? Are you talking about Mount Corchia? the shoemaker asked. Yes. Why are you are asking? a dwarf with a long brown beard and a plate armor answered. Are you going there, too? he continued. Yes, Im trying to make my son visible again the shoemaker said. But where is he? I cant see him? he dwarf said intrigued. Im here, knitting your beard! Cant you feel it? a soft voice answered. Everybody at the table burst into laughter when they saw that Bomburs, the dwarfs beard, was all knitted. Come and sit with us! a young fair haired lad said. While waiting for the food to come, they discovered that everyone have the same goal- either defeating the dragon or rescuing the princess. After a few glasses of wine, the young lad revealed his real identity: he was the famous prince William, whose plan of 25

tricking the dragon had failed. Since then, he swore to take his revenge on the dragon and save his beloved princess Rubina. Im glad that youve finally met, my dear adventurers an old man with a dark cloak suddenly interrupted them. They immediately recognized him- it was Merlin, the wise wizard. You cannot defeat the dragon unless you fight together he continued. William- you have the great ability to handle the sword, so you must be the one to kill the dragon. Bombur your tricks and unique sense of orientation will help you find the right path to Mount Corchia. You, Mr. Shoemaker have all the ingredients for a successful plan: the magic water, the flying shoes, the sword and the poison. Last, but not least, your secret weapon - your invisible son. You will know when to put your son to work. Encouraged by Merlins words, the four men set off their journey. They decided to share their work and their responsibilities because Merlin had told them that they could use their abilities and their power only one time. The shoemaker took the responsibility to make a plan; Bombur drew a map how to reach Mount Corchia; William got ready to defeat the dragon. The three men and the invisible shoemakers son set off. They all were determined to kill the dragon and to save the princess Rubina and to make the shoemakers son visible again. They observed the map and set off. Their route was passing through picturesque glades covered with flowers and a lot of birds. They walked for a long time and they reached to some high fearful cliffs. There were rock crystals glittering among the cliffs and thus the men realized that they were in the mountain Corchia. They sat down in the ground to decide how to surmount the cliffs. While they were looking at the cliffs, they saw a nest of an eagle. There were some little eagles. Suddenly one of the little eagle fell off the nest heading to the precipice. The little eagle couldnt fly and it would die. But then the shoemaker put on the flying shoes and followed the little eagle. He grasped the little bird and saved its life. Then appeared the eagles Mother. - How can I return for this goodness?, she asked. What treasures can I give you? - We dont want any treasures. We did it because we have good hearts. - O.K. What favour can I do for you, then? First of all tell me what are you doing here? Mountain Corchia is very dangerous and inaccessible. The men told the eagles Mother where they were going and who they were looking for. - Can you tell us how to help princess Rubina?, asked the shoemaker. - Its very difficult task. But I am sure you will succeed because you are goodhearted. I will help you. - Tell us what make the dragon vulnerable? How can we kill him? - You should look for the bad witch. She is keeping the secret . "I know where he lives. The witch lives in a swamp not far from here. But it is really very dangerous. I never had the courage to go there. Who tried to reach is no longer came back to tell about it. But I will take the same, thank you for saving my baby. I'll take you up there on my back, I'll bring you over the cliff and the cave which is located inside the witch's house. But I will leave you there, I will not go: I'm afraid, are 26

too large and the entrance is small, also waiting for me and my children are hungry. You are small enough to pass through the cave, but do not know if I can do: the entrance of the cave is guarded by two monsters dire, the Koopias, turtle-headed lizard and crocodile teeth, greedy of living beings. "He said the eagle. "But we have a secret weapon ...." replied the prince, turning their eyes to the invisible son of a shoemaker. "This little boy will be very useful." He also said Bombur. The shoemaker, initially reluctant for fear that his son could take risks, eventually agreed, reassured by the words of the child who reassured him, promising that it would be very careful. Climbed on the back of the giant eagle flew up to the entrance to a small cave, and immediately noticed the entrance of Koopias. It was really terrifying. The child bravely jumped from the back of the eagle, and being invisible, passed quietly between the two guards. Soon after, however, he stumbled over a stone and fell on the dusty ground .... And the imprint of his body was visible on the ground! The guards immediately turned to control the source of the noise and saw him .... but ... they ran ZACKK! They fell to the ground lifeless, hit by poison darts lightning thrown to the shoemaker. "Hurrah! Well done! "They all cried together," Hurry, hurry, let's go! ". They saluted the eagle, and walked inside the cave. Before leaving, the Eagle said, "I wish you good luck. Hold this feather in my head. Can come in handy. "And flew away. Inside the cave was totally dark. Suddenly the four adventurers found themselves in an immense forest, dark, terrifying, full of carnivorous plants, strange birds and reptiles giant scary looking .... And in the middle there it was, could see it, though it was so far away, the SWAMP, and a decrepit house next to it, from whose chimney came a terrible black smoke ... They decided to rest a bit 'in a large hollow oak. Upon awakening they found themselves in total darkness and realized they had come the night. Trsch ...... ...... Trsch Trsch ". The shoemaker heard heavy footsteps moving towards them. The footsteps were getting closer, the trend was uncertain, left. The glow of a lantern suddenly rose up between long skeletal trees and charred roots. Then, here is the looming shadow of gait curved and hooded. The mysterious and shady character seemed to go right where they were our heroes. Then, suddenly, the hooded shadow began to emit strange noises, grunts seemed wild boar. Under the dim light of the lantern that unusual individual, the shoemaker and his son, the prince and the dwarf watched, shocked a horrific mutation that appeared in their eyes: the cloak and hood, dark blacks as the same , began to vibrate and shake with increasing fury, as if he wore them was growing dramatically, dramatically, in size. If the mysterious stranger was about five feet tall, he had now become about three meters and weighed about a ton. At the sight of that great mass of dark hooded young people decided to hide behind a bush and waited, terrified, fearful that the demon to leave. A superhuman scream broke the agonizing minutes of high tension, and throughout the area were heard suddenly calls, echoes and whispers of animals, of which up to that time our heroes had no knowledge.

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The unusual creature, sniffing the breeze of the night, put on show his fangs: two strong fangs dripping saliva from which greenish. After getting up on two legs as a sign of grand master, the huge beast stopped suddenly. The giant creature seemed to have stopped, as if something had paralyzed him. With Voltage, our adventurers hidden threw a quick glance over the shoulder of the big boar superhuman and saw in the distance, where leafless trees, wires and trees are entwined in a tangle inaccessible mingling with the darkness of the night, a figure which is also whitish hooded and fluffy. This, floating in midair, playing a flute. It was the witch! The terrible melody, sad and heartbreaking at the same time, made creepy to the shoemaker, who, in terror, recognized that sound like the grim dance of "The Call of the Night Eternal". According to an ancient legend of the bards, that dance to the sound of ghostly melody was intended to bring back literally from the other world to capture the restless souls of the young children who were away from home. The shoemaker was afraid for his son, which, though invisible, giving off a terrible smell that those creatures could be heard. Everyone understood that it was time to face the witch with all the magical weapons at their disposal to save themselves, but especially the children ........ The horrible witch was now dangerously near! She had a round hairy face, a long curved nose, a large mouth with only one tooth, and her breath was stinky. Her hair was as grey as ash and as dry as twigs, and she had ears that were so long that they brushed the ground. She was short and stout, but the most terrifying thing was her skin: it was green!! When she spotted the five intruders her glance made the blood run cold in their veins. Our heroes decided to forumulate a plan which would overcome the evil witch. At the top of his voice the Wizard Merlino shouted a challenge to the witch in a contest of throwing dice. Certain of victory the witch sneered evilly, Ill go first. The witch, who was cruel but less cunning than Merlino, did not realise that the wizard had got the shoemaker to give him the magic dice. Thanks to the magic dice Magic Merlino won the challenge. When the witch realised that she had lost, she was furious and stared at the wizard with eyes of fire and began to throw jets of steam from the palms of her hands. Soon the prince drew out his sword which drove back the steam, and the witch was burnt. Defeated now, she whispered, I surrender, you have won!. The shoemaker said to the witch, If you want us to save your life, show us the vulnerable part of the dragon or I will make you drink this water which will turn you into ice!. Since the witch saw no other option, and, in particular, not wanting to become a block of ice, she declared You must know that the dragon is big, strong and frightening, but he has a weakness: it is ticklish. If you can approach him and tickle him, youll manage to have him in your grasp! Knowing the dragons secret, our adventurers kept their promise to spare the witchs life, but decided to deprive her of her flute so that she would no longer be able to

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play the horrible tune which brought back from the other world the souls who were frightened because little children had been snatched outside their houses. Now without her flute, the witch was put in the vaults of a castle and remained there until the end of her days, with spiders and bats for company, while she read books of spells and wrote fables for children whom she had previously captured. Bombur, Magic Merlino, the prince, the shoemaker and his son now had to get themselves to the Rubina Castle: it was a challenging undertaking, they now knew the dragons weakness, but how could they approach him? Absorbed in this thought, they walked for days on end, through shadowy woods, narrow twisting paths, and enchanted forests inhabited by poisonous spiders, which had woven enormous webs ready to capture any distracted wayfarers and bring them to an unpleasant end. The five friends did not have a compass, however a disgusting smell led Bombur to Corchia mountain, where the evil dragon was keeping Princess Rubina prisoner. Despite encountering numerous difficulties on a daily basis, our heroes did not lose courage, not even when they found themselves facing a ghostly black swamp, with quicksands from which skeletons emerged ready to swallow anyone up who was passing. Having negotiated the swamp they found themselves in front of the Rubina Castle, which was enclosed by a grey mist, and all around the smell became more and more disgusting, a sign that the dragon was near. The dragon was a terrifying creature, his body was covered in purple scales and his feet with sharp curved talons. At the bottom of Corchia mountain, the monstrous creature saw to it that no-one was able to climb up and approach the castle where Rubina was locked up and crying piteously. Our heroes absolutely had to find a way of reaching the tower to free her, but first they had to overcome the dragon. Taking advantage of an instant when the dragon was further away, they made a track through the bushes and tangled branches and now that the way was clear the friends were able to climb up the sides of the mountain and reach the princess. But. a dark smelly cloud suddenly hid the sun, the whole countryside was covered by mist, and the feet of the malevolent enemy were approaching the crowd of friends. Terror spread among them, tongues of fire lit everything around them, and it seemed almost impossible to find any way to overcome the powerful creature. From the top of the tower Rubina realised that her people were running a great risk to try to rescue her, so, since the dragon was madly in love with her, he started to play sweet songs. The monster could not resist the lure and he started to fly around the tower, passion distracting him, and he was no longer in charge of his territory - all his attention was on his loved one. The invisible son of the shoemaker approached him from behind and with the eagle feather began to tickle him. When the dragon had stopped laughing he fell to the ground, and immediately the prince raised his sword and pierced him in the heart. The laughter changed into strangulated howls, and as the prince looked on with pride and satisfaction the dragon died. Finally Princess Rubina could be freed. In a flash Wizard Merlino flew up to the entrance of the tower, and with magic water he lit the wooden door of the tower he liberated the young princess, who started to hum a gentle melody, which made the shoemakers son visible again.

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Through hugs and shouts of joy Rubinas wonderful eyes met those of the prince, who fell in love with her. Rubina and the prince decided to get married and to live in the castle, surrounded by their friends. And what about the witch, who had imprisoned Rubina? If you wish, you can still see her imprisoned in an enormous block of ice positioned in the middle of a well. Terrified by the death of the dragon she had fled and the shoemaker had poured all the remaining magic water over her.

The end

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