The Shepherd’s Story of the Bond of Friendship

The house we lived in was made of clay, but the doorposts were tall and pretty, made of fluted marble. We found the marble near our house. The roof of our house was slanted and almost touched the ground.

Long ago, the house was made of beautiful olive and laurel branches that came from far away beyond the mountains, but now it looks dark, brown, and not pretty. The house sits in a narrow place with steep rocky walls that go straight up and are black and bare. Sometimes, white clouds sit on the tops of the walls and look like they are alive. In this place, you won’t hear any birds singing or people dancing to happy music. This spot was very important a long time ago, and it was called “Delphi”. People would go there to do important things. The tall mountains around it were very special, and they were covered with snow, especially the tallest one called Mount Parnassus. When the sun went down, this mountain looked red for a long time. The small stream that flowed from the mountains near our house was also very special. I remember everything about that deep and unique place. We used to build a fire in the middle of our little house and when the hot ashes turned red and bright, we would use them to bake bread. Sometimes, the snow around our house would get very deep and almost cover it completely, but during those times my mother would be very happy. She would hold my head in her hands and sing songs that she was not allowed to sing when our rulers, the Turks, were around. She sang:

“In a forest of small fir trees on top of Mount Olympus, there was an old deer who was crying. His eyes looked very shiny and were like tears that were blue and red. A young male deer came by and asked, ‘Why are you crying blue and red tears?’ The old deer answered, ‘The Turk has come to our city with his wild dogs for hunting, and they are a strong group.’ The young deer said, ‘I will chase them away and make them go far away into the deep sea!’ But, sadly, the young deer was killed before the day was over, and the old deer was hunted and killed before night fell.”

When my mom sang those songs, her eyes would get watery, and she would have tears on her long eyelashes, but she hid them and watched the black bread baking in the hot ashes. Then I would make a tight fist and shout, “We will defeat these Turks!” But she would just sing the words of the song again: “‘I will chase them away and make them go far away into the deep sea!’ But, sadly, the young deer was killed before the day was over, and the old deer was hunted and killed before night fell.”

We had been alone in our small house for many days and nights when my father finally returned. I knew he would bring me some shells from the Gulf of Lepanto or maybe a shiny knife. But this time, he had something different under his sheepskin coat. He brought a little child, a small girl who was only wearing a few pieces of clothing. The little girl was covered in a furry blanket, but when it was removed, she was in my mother’s lap, and we found three shiny coins in her dark hair. That was all she had. My father told us that her parents were killed by the Turks, and he talked about it so much that I had dreams about the Turks that night. My father was hurt, and my mother helped him by wrapping his injured arm. The wound was very serious, and his warm sheepskin coat was stiff with dried blood. The little girl was going to be my new sister. She was so beautiful and happy that even my mother’s eyes didn’t look more kind than hers. Her name was Anastasia and she was going to be considered my sister because her father had made a promise to my father when they were younger to become sworn brothers. This meant that they had to choose the most lovely and good-natured young lady in the village to perform a ceremony that would make them brothers for life. Now we were living together in our hut, and I loved giving her flowers and feathers that I found on the mountain. We also drank water from a special place called Parnassus. We spent many winters in our home, and my mother would sing a sad song about a deer who cried red tears. But I didn’t know at the time that this song was about the sadness of our own people.