Myths Made in Med+

Sea Myths were contributed by:

Primary School G. Rodari, Italy

10th Helioupolis Primary School

Orhangazi Primary School, Turkey

Poltava Gymnasium № 6, Ukraine

The Myth of Kotygoroshko

Ukraine 

Kotygoroshko was a brave and courageous hero of many Ukrainian myths and tales. Once he was going to sail across the Black Sea but there were really beautiful but dangerous female creatures, Mermaids in those waters who were trying to tempt Kotygoroshko and prevent his plans. So he got the idea and asked his men to cover his eyes with a scarf for he couldn’t see the alluring Mermaids. Thus, Kotygoroshko and his people sailed across the sea safely.

The Myth of AKANA 

Turkey

People  live  peaceful  and happy in the Mediterranean and sailed in the Mediterranean Sea. There is a woman  who  lives in an oyster. Her name is  Akana.  Akana is a young and beautiful lady. God and humans love her.

When sailor had been in a difficult situation, Akana got out oyster and helped  them. All the sailor have sailed safely in the Mediterranean Sea.

The Myth of Parthenope

Italy

Parthenope saw the black ship coming closer with the swaying white sail. She awakened her sisters, Ligea and Leucosia who did not need to know why Partenope had gotten them back. They could hear it in the air. They moved on the little hill of human bones, which the wind and the sea had made of a blinding and ghostly white. While the black ship was getting bigger and bigger, closer and closer, they were already feeling the taste of blood. The ship lowered the sail. Men put the oars at sea. By now the boat was very close to the small island where the sirens lived. Partenope was the first to sing. She first saw it: that would have been her prey. A harmonious, celestial, enchanting song. Load of promises of pleasure, of unconfessable desires, sinful but at the same time as much sweet as honey. No man had ever resisted his promises. And that time it would not have been different. A man began to scream. To implore for  letting him go and  try the celestial pleasures promised by the song. It always happened that way. That was the part that Parthenope liked the most. But the ship did not stop. On board  there was a man, with a thick beard  as black as his ruffled hair, turned mad by her song. But he could not reach her, even though he was begging men oaring. The tied man was screaming louder and louder. But the ship was implacable, like the men who ruled it. Parthenope sang even louder. But it was all useless. Soon the mean scream  and the ship itself disappeared on the horizon. Perhaps it was shame, or disappointment. Parthenope felt like a curse on her. She believed that her singing had lost its enchanting strength. She felt  there was nothing to do and she dropped from the cliff despite her sisters’ screams begging not to do it. A few fishermen retrieved  the body of the mermaid  with long silky hair , floating on the waves, and the face white as marble but still beautiful , on a small island that became the site of a large castle. A manor  still echoes  her song sometimes.

Click on the link to watch the dramatization of

the Italian myth of Parthenope the Greek pupils prepared.

The Myth of Odysseus

Greece

Odysseus and his companions sailed in the Mediterranean Sea . They were about to approach the island of the Sirens. Sirens were dangerous creatures who lured nearby sailors with their enchanting singing voices and caused them to shipwreck on the rocky coast of their island. Odysseus came up with a trick. He asked his companions to tie him to the mast of the ship so that he could hear the song of the Sirens without damaging his ship. He also asked them to put wax plugs in their ears. Odysseus and his companions passed by the island of the Sirens unharmed.

For this digital Book of Myths

we would like to thank all the children who drew or acted out the stories enthusiastically

and all the teachers who inspired them!