A story about the beauty of the truth that is often beside us, as long as we discover it...
Among the children's favorite fairy tales, a type of folk tales of particular interest are the eutrapelas or satirical tales. Fairy tales that, as they tell about the weaknesses of people, contain a strong element of satire. They castigate laziness, greed, ridicule the brash or the boastful, punish the liar or the miser, ultimately leading the reader to findings both about society and about human relationships.
This particular fairy tale, recorded from our oral tradition by the great professor of folklore Georgios Megas and adapted by Filia Dendrinou, also belongs to this category of fairy tales. It is a story through which the thymosophic people, with almost Aristophanic mastery, lead the hero to the discovery of meter. This adaptation developed as a folk tale about wealth and intemperance.
For the story songs, lyrics were rewritten on familiar traditional motifs so that children can easily sing them at school, at home, with their parents, grandma or grandpa. Thus, the song of the reapers is none other than the Kalamatian of Samiotissa, while what the noble birds sing is none other than the popular Corfu song, known as Rouga or Perdika, while the Wedding song follows the rhythm of the Ball. The characters of the fable speak in unmetered speech, both because the verse is easy to remember, and because the intention of the adaptation was to stay as close as possible to the orality and the popular narration of the eutrapelo.