A story by the students of:

CEIP San Benito de Lérez from Pontevedra, Spain

St. Mary’s Catholic Primary School from Stoke-on-Trent, Great Britain

Istituto Comprensivo n.3 from Imola, Italy

Szkoła Podstawowa nr 2 from Leżajsk, Poland

Below the town of Ravacallos, in Lugo, there is a large rock in the

middle of the river and upon this rock lies the gold necklace of

Castriño.

One very rainy night the Moors sought to take this necklace, but as

they neared the river, a tremendous thunderstorm broke out, splitting

open the rock and sealing the necklace inside.

The people of Ravacallos felt and heard the great noise and went to see what

had happened. Although it was a rainy night, they saw very clearly the scar

left upon the rock and suspected what had occured. It was the necklace of

Castriño that had caused the noise, escaping the hands of the Moors.

Two days later a storm broke out again and a lightning stroke the rock and let

the necklace go. The next day it was all quiet. A poor man who came from Italy

went round the rock and noticed the necklace. He thought that the necklace was

magic so he picked it up and brought it home in his country in Romagna to

protect his family from a terrible bandit called "Passatore".

They would sell the necklace to the highest bidder so they can escape away. The

first bidder was an old poor man. He offered 50 coins. They didn't accept the

money. Afterwards a pilgrim arrived from a remote country. He saw the necklace

and offered three thousand coins.

The pilgrim was a Polish king named

Leszek who ruled over a vast area of

land situated on both banks of the

Vistula River. The Italian family liked

his bid instantly and the necklace was

taken to Poland as a gift to the king’s

only daughter Marianna.

The princess was a twenty-year-old

woman well-known for her beauty and

wisdom. That is why a great number of

wealthy European princes tried their

best to marry her, but to no avail.

Marianna had deeply fallen in love with

Robin, a noble but unpropertied English

knight, sent to Poland as his lord’s

envoy. Marianna’s feelings were truly

reciprocated by her sweetheart.

Leszek was not pleased with her daughter’s choice at all and he demanded that she

should marry a German king Ludwig so that Poland would tighten bonds of

friendship with the neighbouring state. Marianna, being in despair, decided to

drown herself rather than marry a man she did not love. She jumped into the

Vistula River, with the gold necklace of Castriño on. It was the magic of the

necklace that saved her life, making all her body stay safely on the surface of the

water.

At last Leszek realised he had made a big mistake and agreed to his daughter

getting married to Robin. The happy couple would leave for England, with the

necklace accompanying Marianna.

On their quest to keep the necklace hidden from prying eyes, Robin and Marianna

travelled down to the south of England looking for a location for their wedding.

When they arrived, they stayed in Wardour Castle in the beautiful Wiltshire

countryside, which belonged to King Richard, an acquaintance of King Leszek.

They planned to marry in the sumptuous castle with its vast gardens.

Marianna wore the necklace every night to symbolise the wealth and happiness of

her country’s wellbeing. Whenever she wore the necklace, she noticed something

peculiar; a bright golden star appeared, in the middle of the sky. Marianna thought

this star had significance so one night after seeing the star for several nights in a

row; she convinced Robin that they should follow the star and see where it led them.

Off they trudged across the countryside, following the star which brightly shone

above them. As they travelled the necklace began to glow. The glow continued to

become brighter and brighter until they reached a circle of stones, which Robin

quickly realised, was the infamous Stonehenge.

As they stepped into the centre of the stone circle the necklace shone even brighter

and Robin and Marianna were suddenly surrounded by a circle of bright lights and

a sense of happiness engulfed them. They agreed that the magical necklace which

had brought them together had brought them to Stonehenge for a reason and that

reason they decided was for them to be married there. So Robin and Marianna were

married the next day at Stonehenge and lived happily together in England.

This work is a result of four schools’ (CEIP San Benito de Lérez,

Pontevedra; Mary’s Catholic Primary School, Stoke-on-Trent;

Istituto Comprensivo n.3, Imola; Szkoła Podstawowa nr 2,

Leżajsk) joint actions connected with the implementation of one

of the Comenius projects – ‘Exploring our culture through the

eyes of our European partners in the interactive world’.