I have always dreamt of visiting the far regions of Europe, and to see the countries unknown to me. Even those which lay on my continent in a small piece of their area. I would like to visit the beautiful Italy, sunbathe in the sunny Portugal, taste Bulgarian grapes, meet Count Dracula in Romania, or see the Süleymaniye Mosque in Turkey.

Deep in my dreams, I’ve tried to visit the unknown places in my fantasies, and sometimes through literature. I have recently been visiting our school library more often, in search of a book right for me.  

This was also the case on that sunny December morning. I was wandering through the alleys of the library looking for the next volume which would take my imagination to some mysterious land, when suddenly I heard some unusual sounds coming from behind the third book case. I was very surprised because the library was usually a still and quiet place. Puzzled, I looked at the librarian who was sitting by her desk, entering some data into the computer.

‘Have you also heard that disturbing noise?’ I asked.

‘Haven’t heard anything.’ The woman replied, lost in her thoughts.

I decided to go to the place where the unusual noises came from. At first, I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. I got a little scared when one of the books began to move. I looked at the title. “120 Adventures of Koziołek Matołek” written by Kornel Makuszyński. I carefully picked it up.

‘Well, you silly billy-goat.’ I sighed. ‘You at least had seen the world during your search for Pacanów.’

And then, something remarkable happened. I noticed that the tapping sound was coming from the inside of the book.

‘Gosh, what’s happening?!’ I shouted out in horror, dropping the book to the floor.

The book opened and you won’t believe it - Koziołek Matołek himself jumped out of it! As if touched by hot iron, I spontaneously leaped aside.

‘Hello.’ The billy-goat said. ‘Am I in Pacanów?’

‘Nnnooo. Matołek.’ I stuttered in disbelief. ‘Pacanów is far away from here. You are at the Primary School Number 3 in Leszno.’

‘Oh, oh.’ He said. ‘I thought that this was Pacanów.’ At that point Koziołek looked at the map of the world hanging on the wall, and asked:

‘Can you show me please where Pacanów is?’

‘Oh, silly, it’s not the right map.’ I said. ‘After all, you don’t have to wander over the entire globe to go to Pacanów. Look!’ And I showed him the map of Poland, hanging on the wall on the other side. ‘You have to search in Poland!”

‘Oh, I see,’ said Matołek. ‘But that map is larger.’ He pointed at the world map. ‘My friends from the bookshelves promised to me that we would look for Pacanów together’

‘What friends?’ I asked, intrigued.

‘’Oh, Mary, Mary. You visit me so rarely that I got a bit sad, and decided to roam a bit through the books.’

At that moment I got a little ashamed and had lowered my head. It was true, it had been some time since I last picked up the book of which Matołek was the main character. And after all, I used to enjoy this story so much.

‘That’s how I got to know the other characters from children’s books, which are lying here on the shelves. They have also felt lonely. Sadly, children stopped reading their stories a long time ago. We’ve talked about it and we are really concerned’ Koziołek continued.  

‘Concerned with what?’ I dwelled on the subject.

‘I believe that they themselves will explain it to you better than I can.’

And before I could put my head around it, books were falling all around me, and from these books their characters jumped out one after another. There was the Snow Queen, Little Red Riding Hood, Pinocchio, Harry Potter, the Prince, the Little Match Girl, Hansel and Gretel, Mr. Kleks, and even Winnie-the-Pooh. Seeing the friendly and chubby bear in front of me, I immediately felt a warmness in my heart.

Just imagine the racket when all the characters tried to outshout one another, wondering:

‘What are we doing here? Who has called for us? Was it you, Matołek!?’ The shouting was coming from every direction. Pinocchio was the one shouting the loudest.

‘Calm down, calm down’ Matołek began to quiet the other characters. ‘I have called for you but, well, we can’t make such a noise in here. This is a library after all. We must be quiet or find some other place for our meeting.’

‘We know a place where we can go! A place where we can have our meeting!’ Hansel and Gretel shouted simultaneously. ‘Let’s go to the Witch’s hut. It’s a really delicious place!’ They both chuckled.

Then Harry Potter and Mr. Kleks stepped forward.

‘We’ll take you to the Witch’s hut - get ready: one, two, three!’ said Harry Potter, taking out his magic wand.

‘No problemo on my side.’ Mr. Kleks added, winking at Little Red Riding Hood, while eating some freckles off his nose.

They stood abreast and said loudly: „Wingardium leviosa to the Witch’s hut!!”

Before anyone could notice, something banged, then flashed, and the group was standing in a fairy-tale forest. However, Harry must have miscalculated because the gingerbread house was nowhere to be seen.

‘That’s great. Not only am I talking to fairy-tale characters but now I’m also lost with them in the backwoods...’ I whispered.

Then, all of a sudden the seven dwarves came out from behind a tree, singing ‘High Ho, High Ho. It's off to work we go!’ 

‘That’s true. Let us all sit in a circle now because the matter is very important. Well, one might say that it’s a matter of life and death’ Matołek longed. “It was I that had called for you. It is a special meeting because we do have a special guest. Yes, I mean you, Jagódka. Our faith lies precisely in your hands.’

‘What do you mean, in my hands?’ I could not believe his words. ‘Please explain! What is this all about?’

‘Our situation is very serious. We’ve already talked about this by the shelves in the library. No one wants to read about our adventures anymore. Not in Poland, not anywhere in the world do children reach for our stories.’ Little Red Riding Hood complained.

‘Are you lost?’ The one with the largest hat asked kindly, while halting his friends with a strict gesture of the hand.

‘Yes, yes.’ said the Little Match Girl. ‘We are looking for the gingerbread house on a chicken’s foot. Could you show us the way? As a reward, you’ll receive quite a generous amount of matches.’

‘Thank you for the matches, and of course we’ll show you the way. Turn right behind that large oak tree and then go straight ahead, make a left, then two rights, go diagonally and you’ll be there.’ The dwarf smiled.

And just as they appeared singing ‘High Ho, High Ho. It's off to work we go!’ they now disappeared behind the corner.

Against all odds – thanks to Mr. Kleks – we’ve found the hut very quickly.

We were already a bit tired (you understand, so much has happened), and on top of it all very, very hungry. Unscrupulously, we went for the gingerbread delicacies.

‘Yummy, yummy, what a treat!’ said Koziołek.

‘Really, as good as my honey.’ Winnie-the-Pooh added.

Then, all of a sudden, the Witch jumped out of the hut.

‘Why ya blighters, ya buggers! Who had told ya to gnaw on my house. Oh well! Who do I see here! Hansel and Gretel! I’ve already caught ya once on guttlin’ Off ya go!’

‘Stop! Don’t be angry, we have an important meeting here. We promise that we’ll fix your hut and mend any damages.’ The Prince tried to calm the situation.

‘Can I say a word?’ asked Pinocchio. ‘The matter is serious, as we don’t have much time left. In 100 days we will disappear from your world. I’m not lying. See? My nose is not growing.’

‘But how?’ I could not believe what I was hearing. ‘How will you disappear?’

‘That’s how the magic of literature works. If people read the books which describe our stories, nothing happens to us but recently, things have got much worse - those tablets, computers, mobile phones, games! We are losing the fight against them. You wouldn’t believe how few children read nowadays.’ Mr. Kleks explained.

‘How can I help you? Just tell me, and I’ll do what I can - I will do my best’ I assured them.

‘That is a difficult task, but we believe you will manage to do it.’ the Snow Queen spoke for the first time, enfolding my face with her cold breath. ‘You will visit the countries selected by us, with a mission to save the fairy-tale characters. You must influence the children so that they will start reading again. How will you do it? We believe that you will come up with some idea. After all, you yourself are a child. We don’t know a thing or two about this. The first country you will visit is going to be Portugal. Can we count on you?’

‘Yes, of course. I will do whatever I can. But, tell me, when I arrive, what should I do, who should I look for?’

‘Don’t worry. There, you will be welcomed by fairy-tale characters which you are surely familiar with. Perhaps even one of us will accompany you there.’ Winnie-the-Pooh cheered me up. ‘I would however have to take a large barrel of honey with me.’ He whispered to himself.

‘I’m ready. Don’t worry. I’ll be back within a 100 days. Then, we’ll meet again.’

‘Farewell, Mary, we hope you will succeed’ Said Koziołek Matołek.

Suddenly something banged and flashed forcefully. And then, all was dark and quiet.

Erasmus +

Project Group - Portugal

CHAPTER II

IN WHICH CHARACTERS TRAVEL TO PORTUGAL AND FIND SOME HELP

At this point I realized it was Harry Potter who used his magic to take me and Winnie-the-Pooh to the room where we were.

‘Where are we?’ I asked.

‘I don’t know, Mary.’- Winnie-the-Pooh answered.

 We stood quietly there in the dark waiting for something to happen when suddenly someone opened a door letting the light fill up the whole room. A short dark haired woman, probably in her fifties, came in and welcomed us; she introduced herself as Maria and told us she had been waiting for us.

‘I'm very relieved you came and arrived safely, we don’t have much time!’ she said. ‘In fact, if we don’t hurry, the magic of fairy tales is doomed.’- obviously I was surprised to see that she knew all about the fairy tale characters destiny.

‘Maria, thank you so much for receiving us...I’m completely lost...the other characters told me that I was the only one who could save them...but...I really don’t know what to do...’, I said

‘Calm down, my dear. Follow me!’, she interrupted with a reassuring smile.

 Winnie-the-Pooh and I followed her through a maze of corridors which led us to a huge hall. A rusty iron key appeared out of nowhere and Maria grabbed it and opened the heavy wooden door.  It was when that magical thing happened: we were inside a huge bookstore, with shelves filled with colourful books everywhere we looked. I immediately recognized the stairs in the middle of the room: the red steps, the wooden railing and that point where the stairs divided in two flights of stairs changing their directions, both leading to the second floor...

There were no doubts we were in the bookstore Lello & Irmão in Oporto, Portugal. But another surprise was yet to come:  Peter Pan, Belle, Aladdin holding his Magic Carpet, and the Evil Queen line up on the top of the stairs staring at us. 

The light coming through the numerous windows and the stained glass up above conveyed an impressive wonderful atmosphere where books and fantasy intermingled.

‘Have you already been here, my dear?’, Maria asked.

‘No, I haven’t. But I’ve already heard about it, it’s wonderful...’

 ‘I’ve been working here for years and I know the deepest secrets of this place...’ she added ‘Now it’s time for us to start looking for a solution and they might help you to find a way.”, she said pointing at the fairy tale characters.

‘Mary you have arrived at last! We’ve been waiting for you for so long!.’ ,Peter Pan remarked.

 ‘Hello everyone! My fellow characters told me to help you to find a solution..., but I really don’t know what to do, I myself have deserted my books of fairy tales at some point...even those who had made me so happy ’, I admitted.

‘Don’t worry, we’ll find a solution, but it’s time to start thinking about something’ ,Belle said ,‘since kids are quitting the books for the technology, we’ve been thinking on how to use the internet to promote fairy tales and revive the love of reading’

 ‘The fact is that nowadays there are already plenty of E-books and films about fairy tales available on the Internet.’ – announced Aladdin– ‘ which means that if we want to promote passion for reading we must do something big  to attract kids.’

‘Well, maybe we could create a website with book trailers of all the fairy tales. Kids would get interested in them and eventually they would read the books ’ I suggested.

‘It’s a good idea but it will take a long time...’Winnie-the-Pooh told me.

 There was silence as if everybody had to give up from life!

‘Listen to me!’ Maria said. ‘There is a book in this bookstore that can help us! It’s kept on a secret shelf and it has got a prophecy which may help us to solve this problem.’

‘Then let us see that book.’

And Maria went seeking it.

A few minutes later she returned with the book ‘The unnamed lords of divination’ that was written by S.R. Woods.

‘The author wrote this book about anonymous shamans and clairvoyants who made prophecies about the future and some of them became true.’ she explained while opening the book . ‘And there was this one...’ ,she said showing us the page ‘An anonymous clairvoyant predicted the taking over of technology and how it would rule our lives and made this prophesy’ –she said pointing to the page where it was written:

When the machines take control over the future

All the paper pages where the fairy tales lay on will be forgotten

until a girl with a teddy bear comes and seeks a hope in a Portuguese school

 which will lead her to other places.

 There she will rewrite the pages of destiny!

‘There’s no doubt that ‘the girl with a teddy bear’ is you, and you have to go to a Portuguese school to find a possible solution.’ Belle turned on to me.

‘But we don’t know which school it is.’ Peter Pan said.

‘Then I will ask my magic mirror.’ the Evil Queen spoke for the first time.

Then she picked up her cell phone and summoned the spirit of the mirror:

‘Mirror mirror on the phone screen, for our safety, which school has the anonymous clairvoyant seen?’

And then, all of a sudden, the face of the magic mirror was shown in a holographic-like image in the space above the screen, and replied:

‘The school that the clairvoyant has just seen is the primary and secondary school of Macedo de Cavaleiros, which is doing some unusual activities with students. But, if you want to make kids read fairy tales again, you’ll have to improve those practices and make it international, creating more interesting activities for them.’ –the spirit said soon before vanishing.

It was then clear what we had to do next.

‘Then let’s go to Macedo de Cavaleiros and find that school. We can fly on my Magic Carpet to get there!’ said Aladdin excited. ‘But I am afraid I can only take three of you! ”

‘That’s fine, I’m going and so is Winnie-The Pooh!’, I said determined ‘ Belle’ better go too since she can help us a lot.’

We thanked Maria and headed to the flying carpet. Although it was a ten- minute trip, we were able to sunbathe and enjoy the breathtaking view of Portugal from the blue skies.

It wasn’t difficult to find the school. In fact, all happened so quickly that we became a bit more hopeful, but there was still a long road ahead!

Belle disguised herself as a school inspector and pretended to be investigating what the schools were doing to promote reading habits. 

Belle ‘interviewed’ the headmaster of the school and he said:

‘Not only are our kids reading more fairy tales but also they are trying to write different endings for the stories or create their own.’

Belle took some notes and the headmaster continued:

‘Kids are very excited about competing with the other schools of the district, and their desire to win is so big that the kids are improving their reading and writing skills.’

‘It’s an interesting idea’ Belle said, ‘But what about the students in the high school and the secondary school? Do they do any activities to promote reading habits?’

‘Yes, the older students are also doing other activities.’ The headmaster explained- ‘They are a digital tool called ‘Kahoot’ where they can play educational games with multiple choice questions with people all over the world. In this case they are using it to study the stories of the books they have to read, by answering questions about the characters and the plot. They found it very useful to train for the reading evaluation tests on school.’

‘I see...’-Belle said, behaving like the typical school inspector.

‘But there’s more...’ the director added ‘We created a scavenger hunt in which students use an app called ‘ActionBound’ to find the ‘treasure’ we hid; and the clues are hidden in books we provide to the participants. It’s being a success; they are reading more and improving their writing skills as well.’

I can’t express how happy I was, we could find some suitable solutions for our problem, there was still some.

So that was the key to rewrite the pages of the destiny, not only of the characters, but also the destiny of children and teens! 

We stayed in that district just for two days but we could enjoy the beautiful scenery of the mountains, go for a swim in the dam of Azibo and meet the welcoming people of Trás- os – Montes.  Then we flew back to Oporto where Maria and Harry Potter informed us about our next mission.

‘Now it’s time for you to go to Bulgaria where we can find more solutions.’ she said hopefully ‘Good luck, dear, the destiny of the characters is in your hands.’

‘I will do my best, I’m sure we’ll succeed, goodbye Maria, thanks for everything.’ I said quite nostalgic and some tears blurred my eyes because I really hate saying good-byes.

‘Goodbye, my dear, you can always count on me!’

‘Are you ready, Winnie-the-Pooh?’

‘I will, once I ‘ve stuffed myself with honey!’ and everybody  burst out laughing.

Harry Potter waved his magic wand and once again something banged and flashed forcefully...and then there was I again with Winnie-the-Pooh and Belle  in a strange place somewhere... 

CHAPTER III

in which we understand that books hide

priceless treasure

Erasmus+

Project Group - Bulgaria

It turned out that we are in Bulgaria, the home of Clever Peter. I have read many stories about him and I am glad that we will meet. I realized that his mind and wit are what we need at this time. That's when he went out with his nephew. We hid by a bush and began to observe. We heard how Clever Peter said to his nephew:

- Come on, little Peter, go and wash yourself then we will have lunch!

- But, Uncle, why wash if I will get dirty again?

- If you say so, my boy - Clever Peter answered and they went home.

Some time passed. At noon Peter instructed his wife to hide the bread. Little Peter was hungry and looking sadly at his uncle. He was waiting to be invited at the table. More time passed. The boy did not resist and asked:

- Uncle, when are we going to eat? I am very hungry.

- We are no longer going to eat, because what's the point to eat if we will get hungry again? - Clever Peter said.

The boy bowed his head sadly and walked to the bathroom to wash.

At this point we with Harry Potter and Winnie the Pooh decided to show because we had to hurry. When we stood in front of the home, I presented myself and my companions:

- I am Mary, and these are Harry Potter and Winnie the Pooh. We left Poland with a very important task - to find a way to save the fairy characters and get children to start reading again. We went through an interesting country. Fairy characters from Portugal advised us to use modern technology because children love them dearly.

Then almost unanimously We with Harry Potter and Winnie the Pooh uttered:

-Clever Peter, we are asking you to help us! You're smart and very wise man; would you advise us how to cope with the task?      

Peter liked the idea and answered us with amusement:

- This idea of electronic books and Internet is very good. In fact, my nephew is very intrigued by the present technologies but does not use them for reading. Of course I will help you. I want to show the children that books have many useful lessons. Knowledge and lessons learned in fairy tales help people in difficulties and trials. I have an idea that you might like. Do you want to teach Little Peter a lesson?

- Of course!

        After little Peter emerged from the bathroom, he saw us and was overjoyed:

- Wow, this is Harry Potter and Winnie the Pooh! Oooh, I cannot believe it!! And who are you?

- I am Mary and these are my friends - I replied.

- Uncle, can I go out for a walk with them? - Little Peter asked.

- Yes, but under one condition - to help Harry Potter to find Viktor Krum, the greatest player of Quidditch because he keeps priceless treasure that will be helpful - said Peter.

- That would be great!!! When will we go? What should I take? I just cannot wait! But wait, who is Viktor Krum?

- Ahh ... - they shouted - how can you not know who he is!!!

Then his uncle offered us to go to a school where the children are very curious and certainly know all about Viktor Krum - Dimitar Talev Secondary School in the city of Dobrich. There we saw two children and little Peter asked them:

- Hello! Can you give me a hand? How to learn more about the famous Viktor Krum? Do you know who he is?

The children certainly knew who is the greatest Quidditch player and were very proud that he is Bulgarian. They willingly showed us the library of the school, where there were many books, which were hiding knowledge and wisdom. There we met a polite and smiling woman. She was glad that the children were interested in books which filled the shelves of the library. After all, fewer people were reading nowadays. The woman gave us one of the books, entitled Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire ''. Little Peter put it in his bag. Suddenly my attention was caught by a few more books. I asked to take them too. The boy at first was not very willing to carry the heavy books, but then remembered that he had promised his uncle to help us, so we took them too.

We left the school. The two students spoke for a while and then confidently said they wanted to go with our new friend Little Peter and me in this exciting adventure - to find Viktor Krum.

Even Pooh philosophical saying:

- The more, the better. And I agree you should come with us. When we are more and stick together, we might be able to find him easier.

We agreed with joy.

- Harry, why do not use your power in order to discover him sooner? - Asked Little Peter secretly thinking about the heavy bag on his back.

- We must go through the enchanted forest, and if you use magic, evil forces will detect and find ourselves in a difficult position before find Victor. We will need to cope alone and without magic, using only books that we took from the library. - Harry said.

- Well, they weigh so much that probably just need to hit someone on the head with a full bag! - Groaned the nephew of Clever Peter.

Carefully we've come a long way. At one time Pooh said:

- You have to look for a well, I'm very thirsty.

All we agreed and soon noticed a well, which could quench our thirst.

We rushed to it, but suddenly appeared a witch.

- You cannot drink here, because I have bewitched each well and you will all die of thirst! - Chuckled the evil witch.

- We can help! – said the students to their friends. - In the book ,,The Wizard of Oz" we read how Dorothy and her companions the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion have dealt with the evil sorceress.

All hid behind the trees. Little Peter opened "The Wizard of Oz" and found that part, which spoke of the evil sorceress. We understood that we needed a bucket with water, just like Dorothy did.

- Great idea - all agreed.

While Winnie the Pooh and Harry distracted the witch, I and Little Peter lifted from the well a bucket with water. Immediately we gave signals to Harry that we were ready, but the sorceress saw us and walked towards us without understanding that we had a bucket of water. She came even - close. Then I shouted:

- Now!

And with the boy we poured the water on her. Then the evil witch writhed in pain and melt.

 Once we drunk some water and slaked our thirst, we continued forward. It grew dark. At night we were lost in the woods. At one time I and the children from the school saw a nice big castle. We told the others, and they headed there. On the path we met the Cat in Boots.

-Hello! Where are you heading and who are you?

-Hi! We are travellers from Poland and the nephew of the Peter Sly and those kids there are from Dimitar Talev Secondary School in Bulgaria. We are headed to the castle to ask to spend the night here. Who are you?

-I am the Cat in Boots. You should not go there.

-But why?

-In this castle lives a bad ogre - giant. He can turn into every animal.

-This is terrible where will you spend the night then?

-I will help you. I'll go talk to him and challenge him to become a mouse. Once he do, I will eat him.

And just as in the fairy tale by Charles Perrault, the clever cat managed to outwit the man-eater. All entered the castle and rest until morning. 

The coolness in the forest and the clean air made us feel great and sleep quickly. In the morning again we went on the road. We had to climb heights and ridges, then descend a steep screes to bypass rocks. The way was not easy but we walked and walked. We knew that we have an important task and should not give up for the world. As if the voices of the forest songbirds supported us, and there were hovering eagles high above, which seemed to guard us. Only Pooh occasionally asked us to stop for him to eat some honey, otherwise he could not continue.

At one point we reached a lake, but not just any lake. The rocks on the

shore gleamed, the water was wonderful emerald colour. Our attention was drawn by the figure of a girl with delicate beauty, long fabulous hair that was knitting something. I asked:

- Excuse me, can you guide us?

What was the girl doing? She looked so sad and focused. We greeted and asked her what she knits. She did not answer. She did not even returned our greetings. She was only knitting and knitting. Nothing could distract her from the needlework. Little Peter then explained that there was nettle in her arms. All at once we exclaimed:

- This is Eliza from the book ,,Wild Swans".

We looked in the bag. The books had already helped us a lot. Were they going to do it one more time? We flipped through the tales of Andersen and found "Wild Swans".

-Eliza must knit 12 shirts in order to free her brothers who are turned into swans. We need to find more nettles to help her finish her sewing; otherwise we will not know which way to go. - I suggested.

We parted and entered the forest to find more nettles. When we returned, Eliza finished the twelve shirts. He rejoiced that she could save her brothers from the bad spell. In gratitude when she learned what we were doing in this wilderness, she told us which path to continue in order to go to Viktor Krum and how to find him. We were so glad so we did not even think to ask how she knew about him. We thanked and continued our journey.

Finally we found a cave in front of which stood Viktor Krum. Immediately he recognised Harry Potter and they greeted. Harry introduced us and I stepped straight to the task. Time was moving on, and we had only 100 days to complete the task.

- Nice to meet you. There are a few Bulgarian students with us. So far they are doing very well and helped us a lot. We have a mission - to get children back to loving literature and begin to read more. Can you now show us the treasure?

- You will be surprised, but it is already in you! The real treasure, dear heroes was always with you - these are the books which advised you on the road, overcoming with their help difficulties and trials, because knowledge is the most valuable wealth.

Winnie the Pooh rejoiced with us, but then glanced mischievously and said:

- Oh, so you did not let me put a little honey in the bag? What will I do now, how will I go back on the road?

The children from Dimitar Talev Secondary School said:

-Our native land bears very aromatic herbs - lime, lavender, clover. Bees here are very hardworking and honey which farmers produce is the best in the world. So be calm. You'll have your honey. We had already dealt with the evil forest forces, so do not be afraid.

 Harry Potter used his magic and we came back for seconds back in Dobrich. There Pooh received as a gift his honey.

It was now time for me, Harry and Winnie the Pooh to go to Italy. Our stay in Bulgaria was rewarding, but what awaited us on our way forward?!

With a few words and a twitch of the wand Harry sent us on next adventure.

Erasmus+

Project group - Italy

Chapter4

Special delivery

Handle with care: read with imagination!

We arrived in Italy in the morning.

Flying with Harry was exciting

but not so comfortable!

We were carrying the books

which Little Peter gave us in Bulgaria and, from time to time, we had to fly quickly back and downwards to catch them before they hit someone’s head. We were tired, not to mention that we hadn’t eaten much, so we were hungry too.  

We were looking for a place where we could buy some food when something happened. A white rabbit with pink eyes, wearing a pair of gloves and carrying a fan, appeared in front of us saying:" Oh dear, oh dear, I'm late!" He took a watch out of his pocket and at that point I had no doubts. "He's the White Rabbit from the Alice in Wonderland tale! Let's follow him!" I told Harry and Winnie.

"Are you sure it's a good idea?" Harry asked doubtfully.

“Not at all, but Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is my favourite book. And I’d love to meet some other characters so much!”.

“And I could find a little honey for me,” sighed Winnie, who had quite finished the jar he got as a present in Bulgaria. 

The White Rabbit led us to the March Hare’s house. Under a tree in front of the house there was a long table with a selection of sandwiches, scones with cream and jam, big slices of cake, little jars of honey... and tea, of course.

Winnie was just about to grab a jar of honey when a tiny voice behind us made us jump.

“You are here, at last! There are so many photos of you on Facebook,” said Alice, who had moved to Italy just to meet the three travellers, especially Harry! “My name’s Alice. Nice to meet you!”

“Nice to meet you too,” we answered in turn while the Mad Hatter was staring at us suspiciously until he asserted with great authority: “Yes sure, I know you too.

Mary, you are a new student at Hogwarts and you, Winnie, you’re campaigning to save bees from extinction, while you... you must be Harry, the owner of the new travel agency ’round the corner.”

“Not exactly,” I pointed out. “We are travelling around Europe, looking for a way to help fairy tale characters. If we don’t, they’ll disappear.”

 “If you don’t, you’ll disappear too,” specified the March Hare, pouring some tea in the cups.

I didn’t like the Hare’s comment at all and I was going to tell him what I thought when Alice interrupted me: “To tell the truth, books can be boring sometimes. I myself fell asleep when my sister read me stories.

But if you use your imagination, everything becomes more beautiful and funnier. I had a lot of fun, when I became the protagonist of my own fantasy tale”

I wanted to ask her how it could be possible that real children became the protagonists of fantasy tales, when Alice drank from a little bottle and disappeared together with the table, the Mad Hatter, the March Hare’s house and its owner.

"Wow! I feel at home in this crazy country!” Harry had just the time to exclaim, that we found ourselves surrounded by the city traffic and we had to cross the road quickly not to end our mission miserably before its time.“Eek!” shouted out Winnie the Pooh.“I was about to drop my jar of honey. I need to stop and have some of this delicacy.”

“Not now, Winnie. You can have it later,” I replied while pointing to a big sign saying:

Istituto Comprensivo Pescara 4

“Yeah, it’s a school and children are getting in right now. We have to mix up to them if we want to find out what teachers and children are doing here to keep fairy tales alive,” added Harry, who didn’t feel like becoming invisible.

“ And I also want to leave the books Little Peter gave us, in a safe place. This school might be the right place” I added.

“I’m not a student!” complained Winnie the Pooh.

“Well. I’ll hide you in a basket of toys in the kindergarten and I’ll come and pick you up at the end of the lessons.” I reassured him.

Five hours later...

Riiing riiing. The sound of the bell called out all children, younger and older, in the schoolyard, where Winnie and I met Harry again.

"Well Winnie, how was your school day?"

“It was so funny,” said Winnie, excited. “Children in the kindergarten dressed up as elves and rehearsed a play. They were so expressive that I thought I was in a fairy tale, for a moment”

“I went to the secondary school - said Harry- and I saw students inventing a story they are going to translate into Braille and, in the corridors, I heard there will be a fantastic show at the end of the school year. What about you Mary?”

 “I listened to an actor reading Matilda by Roald Dahl to children in the primary school. Everyone listened in silence. It was captivating. Then I went to the secondary school too and I met a talented teacher who teaches her students the art of reading through creative workshops and expressive reading activities.

I told them about the risk that fairytale characters could disappear because children don’t read fairy tales any more and they offered to read them to all children in the kindergarten.

In that class there were also Romanians and Albanians and a Bulgarian girl who offered to translate the books I had with me, for her new friends. So I left her all the books we carried with us from Bulgaria. Fairytale characters are safe and sound here. We can be happy and hopeful. Students love reading and use their imagination to keep fairytale characters alive by reading and acting.

This is what Alice meant when we were at the March Hare’s house: learning to read with imagination can make reading funnier and more interesting and it can keep fairytale characters alive!” I concluded, satisfied with our research.

“Well, our mission here is over, my friends,” said Harry, eager to show off his magic powers again. “It’s time to leave...”

“No, please, not yet!” I interrupted him. "Before leaving Italy I’d love to see Venice. It’s carnival time and I know there’s an amazing street party with people in extravagant clothes and gorgeous masks. Let’s go and have a look!”

“But our mission?” asked Harry surprised.

“We are doing very well. A day in Venice won’t spoil it” I assured him.

“Come on Harry, let’s go! I want to see if someone dresses up like me too,” added Winnie the Pooh.

“OK. I give up, you win.”

In less than no time Harry, Winnie and I found ourselves in a very colourful and lively Saint Mark’s Square. Beside spectacular Venetian masks and costumes there were also characters from the Italian Commedia dell’arte: Harlequin, Pantalone, Gianduia, Colombina. Like fairytales these characters had been neglected over the years both by children and adults who preferred movie characters to them, but someone still liked to dress up like them.

“Thank you for the lift, Harry! See if I wasn’t right. These masks are awesome” I stated proud of my idea. “And also the city is wonderful” Harry had to admit.

As a matter of fact the city was completely different from the others because there weren’t any streets or cars, there were channels and strange boats called “gondole”.

We took one and we soaked in the magic atmosphere of Venice and its magnificent historic buildings. While our gondola was gliding under the sixteenth-century Rialto Bridge, Harry and Winnie drew the attention of tourists. Everybody wanted to take a photo with them.

“Harry, Winnie you are the Carnival stars! This afternoon there will be the best masked costume contest. Why don’t you parade with all the other masks?”

"I’m not masked I am Harry Potter”, “Me neither ” Harry and Winnie complained.

It was not easy to convince them but – a bit for fun, a bit for my insistence - they finally took part in the carnival parade on Saint Mark’s Square .

At the end of the parade a jury of experts proclaimed the best masked costumes of the 2017 carnival edition and ... guess what!

Harry and Winnie were awarded the first prize, a golden cup with 500 euros each, because their costumes were completely and amazingly faithful to the original ones.  We couldn’t believe what was happening! I was beside myself with delight. I hugged my friends and exclaimed: “Now we can do something for fairytales too! With this money we can buy a lot of fairytale books and hand them out to all the children who have come here for the carnival from all over the world.”

“Great idea”, said Harry, “and I can take you to a very special bookshop called Acqua Alta. I saw it while we were travelling by gondola”.  Quick as a flash we got to the bookshop.  

"Harry did you take us into a film or it’s all true?”

I couldn’t but express my surprise at seeing thousands of books stored in the most unusual ways inside gondolas, boats, tanks and canoes.

“Actually this bookshop reminded me of Diagon Alley as soon I saw it” conceded Harry.

"Come on you two. Stop looking around! There are fairy tales from all over the world here. Some books are new and others are second hand. Let’s choose the best ones ” urged Winnie.

“Right,” I replied,  “there’s a wide choice and we have to hurry up if we want to get back in time.”

“I’ll go and look for a trolley. We can’t carry them in bags” Harry suggested and left.

As usual he was back in the blink of an eye.

We put the books in the trolley and walked towards the square. On the way we found another bookshop called Feltrinelli bookstore and stopped again to buy some more books but it got dark soon.

“Mary, Winnie, it’s getting dark and there won’t be any children when we reach St Mark’s square. What shall we do now?” asked Harry.

Actually we didn’t know where to sleep and we had spent quite all the money. While considering all the possible solutions two figures in the costume of The Fox and the Cat - Pinocchio’s bad advisors - stole our trolley.   “Hey you two! Where are you going with our books?” I shouted starting to run behind them when I heard Harry casting some kind of spell and all at once the Fox and the Cat disappeared and the trolley magically moved back to me.

I stared at the trolley, then at Harry and I was about to congratulate him for the enterprise when I noticed that Winnie had disappeared too. He was a little bear, after all, and Harry’s spell didn’t make any difference between a fox, a cat or a bear. As a matter of fact while looking for Winnie we saw that not only him but all the animals seemed to have disappeared within the range of a kilometre.  A man was looking in astonishment at his empty leash while a woman was arguing with her husband because he had unleashed their dog and now they couldn’t find it and on top of that we could hear children crying from some houses for their missing pets.

Harry and I wandered around all night looking for Winnie, until we fell asleep on a bench.

The cold and the first lights woke me up. Silence was all around and nobody in the streets. I rubbed my eyes and looked hard.

In the distance I could see a little dog sniffing here and there until it started to head towards me. Behind him there was an electric train with its driver, a guard and a station master. At first I thought it was a remote controlled train. There must be a child nearby, I told myself, even though I knew it was too early to be true. And behind the train there was a tribe of little indians with their chief.

What was happening?

“Hey, Harry wake up! Can you see what I see?”

“Gosh they are toys and are coming here.” exclaimed Harry.

“ What else did you do? Any other spell?”

“No, I was sleeping!” Harry assured.

The dog approached the bench where Harry and I were sitting, sniffed us hard and started to bark.

At that point the Indians’ chief stepped forward, took his pipe from his mouth and said: “ Dog Spicciola say you be Mary and you Harry. Yellow bear look for you desparately. He be waiting for you in front of the Befana’s toyshop.”

“The Befana’s toyshop? What’s that? Where is it, Mr Station master?” asked Harry. He didn’t know anything about this shop but he was used to living in a fantasy world where pictures can move and speak, so he was at ease talking to normally inanimate things.

“You must come from a far away country if you don’t know it” said the station master. “All Italian children have known it since Gianni Rodari made it famous in his book “La freccia azzurra” whose protagonists are living toys who can speak and organize an escape from the Befana’s shop.

That shop is open all year round because the Befana works 365 days a year to prepare the toys, and keeps them on exhibition in her shop until the Twelfth Night, so that children can fall in love with them.

This year video games, game consoles and tablets stand out on the best-lit shelves, but on the lowest ones there are still more traditional toys like us” explained the station master.

"Hurry up" concluded the Indians' chief, “Yellow Bear be waiting for you”. Silver Feather pointed to a small toy plane twirling in the air above their head and added “Follow the seated pilot”

“Thank you Great Chief and thanks to you too, Spicciola!”

We ran to the so called  Befana’s toyshop and there we found Winnie blubbering like a kid in front of the shop window: “Sob, sob! Mary, Harry! Where are you? I feel so lonely and weak, as if I was about to disappear with all the fairytale characters!”

“Poor Winnie, it was my fault, you know ....  the spell ...”  apologized Harry while hugging his little friend. “You are here at last!” said Winnie with a big smile, drying his eyes.

“Oh Winnie! Yes, we’re all together again!”

 “I was lucky to end just in front of the Befana’s toyshop", started to explain Winnie, "the toys heard me sobbing and decided to help me. When they heard my story, one of them, Captain Halfbeard, from the deck of his two-mast sailing ship, burst out in his typical exclamation: “For a million missing whales! We must do something to help this fellow!” After a heated debate Silver Feather, the Indians’ chief, suggested to call Spicciola, the shop boy’s dog.

Spicciola had been a toy like them in the past but in fairytales everything is possible and one day he became a real dog.

That’s how they found you” concluded Winnie.

"But .. where are the books?” he asked worried.

“They are safe. We’ve got them here. And we think this is the best place where we can leave them. Francesco will deliver them to all children in the city.

 On the following days Francesco, the shop boy, had much extra work to do but the surprise in the eyes of children at the sight of the beautiful books gave him a big reward.

Both Francesco and the Befana couldn’t understand who had left all those presents and the Befana  had some terrible days puzzling over the identity of a possible new powerful competitor but as time passed by she calmed down and went back to her routine.

We had already left for Turkey but we knew everything because Silver Feather sent messages by smoke signals, from time to time, and Harry could understand them all easily.

Chapter V

Flying Magic Books

It was Harry’s turn. He waved the magic wand strongly. Then we arrived in Turkey. It was early morning. The weather was wonderful with the brightly shining sun. We could see every tone of the green. The birds were lovely singing. There was a green river running along the path but there was nobody around except a donkey with beautiful eyes. At first, the donkey winced but then went on eating grass. Suddenly, we heard laughing noises. We scared and hid behind the brushes because we couldn't guess what or who we would meet with. And then, we saw a little girl with a basket in her arm and a boy who were running hand in hand. They looked very energetic and happy. When they came near and near, I knew the girl. She was Heidi, the girl of the Alps. She had no shoes. The boy should have been her best friend Peter, a shepherd boy looking after the goats, but he didn't resemble the boy described in the book.

I whispered to Harry:' No need to be frightened, she is Heidi. 'Do you remember her?’   And I added suspiciously : 'I'm afraid we are not in Turkey. Heidi is living in the Alp Mountains as I remembered. Let's talk to them.’

We got out of our hiding place. When they saw us, they came closer and said 'Hello Mary, Harry and Winnie the Pooh! 'We felt more comfortable when we noticed that they knew us. And I said calmly:

 'Hello Heidi and Peter, nice to meet you. 'They stopped and looked each other and started to laugh loudly but lovely. Heidi said:

’No, dear Mary! He is not Peter, he is Keloglan from Turkey. He is a well-known Turkish folk tale character. He is very sympathetic. He makes intelligent jokes and makes children laugh. I'm sure that you will love him, too. Because of being bald from birth, he is called as 'Keloglan'. ’She bowed and whispered ‘Means 'bald boy' in English. ’And she continued her speech:

'While we were waiting for you, I and Keloglan spent enjoyable hours up on the high pastures.’

'And we got hungry.' interrupted Keloglan. ’We will have something to eat in the shadow of the tree. 'He invited us:  'Please join us. My mother is very good at cooking. She prepared something for us. We can share our food with you gladly. Please come and have a sit.'

We became very hungry, too. We felt safe at that moment. We were sure that we were in Turkey. Heidi took out a cover from the basket and spreaded it over the ground, put the food on it with care. We ate too much with the effects of nice chat and fresh air. Keloglan told us his comic memories by using sympathetic mimics and gestures. Suddenly, we noticed dust cloud coming fast towards us. We could hear the steps of horses. Keloglan stood up in panic and said:

‘Be quick,these are the men with horses.They can be Forty Thieves.' 

Heidi put everything into the basket immediately. All of us rushed into the brushes and hid behind a huge tree. We were even afraid to breathe. There were five nervous men with strange clothes, they stopped where we had eaten and then they got off their horses. They started to talk among themselves. They had sharp sword hanging on their waists. One of them noticed a jar of honey belonging to Winnie the Pooh. He warned his guys to become silent by putting his finger on his mouth. He got the jar in his hands and started to look around carefully.

Winnie the Pooh said silently: 'Ohhh no!!! Don't touch my honey.’

He heard the noise and told his friends: 'Come here and got your swords in your hands. We have some little uninvited guests. 'He found us and we got out from the brushes. We got scared and couldn't say anything. They laughed and said:

'Are you playing hide and seek with us? But we don't like playing games with little naughty children. 'One of them came closer and shouted: What are you doing here? Who are you?'

Keloglan answered bravely: ‘We are only the tale characters like you except her. ’He pointed me.

‘She is Mary. She is trying to help all of us. If she can't manage to do her duty, all book characters also you will be disappeared. ’He tried to explain the situation.

We don't want to disappear, of course. 'His speech made us relaxed. Winnie the Pooh went on eating the honey. One of the men asked: 'What are you going to do?'

'Firstly, we need to go to city. There was a historical library called as Beyazid Library, in Amasya. I'm sure that we will meet a right person who can help us, there.’ Harry Potter said.

One of them asked: 'How will you get there?' I hesitated because Harry Potter was very tired and he wasn’t able to use his magic more but Keloglan jumped:

'They can go by my donkey'. All of the men laughed and added: ‘You can't arrive at Amasya by your weak donkey. It takes nearly a day at least. You mustn't waste more time. You can take two of our horses. They can run faster than your lazy donkey, the bald boy. 'They teased with laugh.

I was worried because I had never ridden a horse before. Heidi understood my anxiety by looking at my face and she told with quite self-assured manner:

’Don't worry Mary. I and Keloglan will travel with you and trust us , we are good at riding a horse. It will be a great trip.’

I smiled and said: 'Okey then, let's go, we should make good use of our time.'

Heidi, Winnie the Pooh and I got on the black horse. Keloglan and Harry Potter got on the brown one with white stains. We said goodbye to the men and went on the way, on the horses. When the horses ran fast, the wind struck our faces.

My hair was scattered but it was a wonderful experience. We followed the river throughout the trip. At the end, we arrived the library. It was in a big marvellous garden, near a historical mosque. There were colorful flowers among green grass and huge trees. There were also lovely pigeons which were feeding. We reached at the front door of the library. Keloglan tied the horses to a tree to prevent them to run away. We were planning what we were going to do but a boy at the age of fifteen or sixteen warned us:

'Sssshhh, be quiet, you are in the library, you must be silent here. Follow me!' He looked very smart with his long, well-designed dress and interesting hat on his head. He had a sense of humour. We followed him, he took us in small room.

'Sorry, I made you terrified a bit but you know about the rules at the library. I'm the sultan's son of the Ottoman Empire in other words ‘sehzadeh’.I have education in this library. I have teachers who teach me everything; Science, Religion, History, Literature and so on. I also read books not only national but also international ones. Being a good reader and writer are important qualities of a good sehzadeh. And I know you and your responsibility. Be calm, you are in a safe and at the right place.' he said.

‘Firstly, you have just come along way on the horses. I thought you would be hungry and made my guys prepare you a table. Please, have a sit my dear guests. ’He said by showing the table, gently. ’While we are eating something, we can talk about what we should do next.’ He added.

There was a huge table consisting of many local dishes that were typical of Amasya cuisine as I guessed. They looked doubtlessly very delicious. There was also a huge boiling teapot made by copper nearby the table. Harry asked Keloglan silently that what the name of the big teapot was. The bald boy answered by smiling: It is a traditional teapot named as ‘samovar’. Its tea is better. You will notice the difference when you drink it.’

All of us sit around the table. The table was lying on the ground and there were no chairs to sit. I and Harry Potter had to sit on the ground by imitating what the others did. Although it wasn’t easy to adopt a set of cultural differences, the sincere hospitality and gentle manners of the sehzadeh were making us calm and smile.

He poured in glasses some tea and then some hot water from the fountain of the traditional teapot. We added some sugar and mixed it by following him. Although I didn’t like drinking tea, it was really delicious. Then the sehzadeh stood up and showed us some old hand writing books. They were really wonderful. He told us how the books were designed before the printing press. We could understand the importance and priceless value of books more by touching each page. It wasn’t difficult to know the effort to write only one book.

The sehzadeh said: ’There is a primary school called as Zübeyde Hanım Üçler. You can go there on foot. It is very close. You will meet little students. They are very lovely and enjoy reading books. Many of them often visit this library to read and to search.

While he was speaking, I heard a relaxing tone. I asked: ’What is the song?’ The sehzadeh said:

It is a mystic music. It has a strange relaxing effect on people, hasn’t it?

I said: ‘Yes! Everything is wonderful but we have an important reason to be here. We have to go now. Our friends in the books are waiting for us. We have to rescue them before they disappear.’ I said by looking at my watch. Harry Potter and I stood up quickly. Keloglan and Heidi followed us.

The sehzadeh confirmed me by his eyes and head. He said: ’Pleased to meet you. I believe you will manage to do your difficult task.’

Then he pointed a golden chest decorated with valuable stones and added: ’ This chest is for lovely students at the school. You have to say ‘Read more, learn more’ for three times to open it, loudly, nothing more. The books will find their new readers.’

We got the chest and loaded it to one of the horses tied around the tree in the garden and left the library.

We arrived at the school but there was nobody in the school garden. The silence made us worried. Heidi asked the man standing in front of the door:’ Excuse me, sir! Is it a school building?’ He said: ’Yes, who are you looking for?’

’The students, where are they?’ replied Keloglan.

He said : ’ Today is Wednesday. On Wednesdays, the school management, teachers, students and some of their parents come together and read books for 40 minutes-a lesson time-You can go inside the building with your books and join the reading activity.

We had books and went inside the school. The doors of the classrooms were open. We could easily see the teachers and the students who were reading.

They didn’t notice us because they concentrated on reading too much. And then a bell started to ring. The students closed their books and put them under their desks. They went out by their teachers’ permissions. A student with long blonde hair and blue eyes stopped me and said excitedly:

‘We will perform our favourite stories at the conference hall. We are going to wear our costumes designed for today. Come and watch me, okey?’

‘Yes, of course. We will be there. ’I said.

I turned to my friends and said: ’Did you hear her? She invited us to the fairy tales show. Let’s go’

We found the conference hall. There were students who wore special costumes of the famous fairy tales in the world; Pinocchio, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Little Red Riding Hood and more. I felt myself in a colorful book. It was really amazing. The students performed the well-known tales one by one.

I saw the girl whom I met in the school corridor. She was in a red dress of Little Red Riding Hood. She and I came eye to eye and I smiled at her. The watchers clapped the little actors and actresses on the stand. Some of them were their parents. I thought they were proud of their children.

Then Heidi said: ‘Mary, where is the chest? It is very suitable time to make it open.’

We got out and carried the chest to the conference hall. Keloglan said the magic words for three times; ’Read more, learn more! , Read more, learn more! , Read more, learn more!’ The chest was opened and the books started to fly towards the students. Each book reached to the students’ hands. Everybody thought that it was a part of the show. Only we knew that it was magic .The students were very happy to have new books. Maybe they would have a chance to perform the new stories in following days.

We were also very happy because we completed our duty in Turkey. The Turkish students loved reading. They were really bookworms.

We got the empty chest and loaded it on the horse again. It was time to say goodbye to Heidi and Keloglan. We hug each other. Keloglan gave me a basket full of apples and said: ‘Amasya is famous for its apples. They are really delicious. Enjoy!’ Then two of them got on the horses and went. And we were on the way to Romania.

CHAPTER 6:

BOOKS HAVE NO ENDING

ERASMUS+ PROJECT TEAM

ROMANIA

Text and drawings: Georgiana Agârbician, 7th grade

Coordinators:   Mrs. Ioana Bodea, Mrs. Gabriela Bârcă - ESL teachers;

Ms. Manuela Tomescu, Romanian-French teacher

Editor: Mr. Victor Călin, ICT teacher

 Harry Potter's magical wand has done its job and has taken the three adventurers to Romania.

“Where are we?,” Mary worried.

“I don’t know!, “ Winnie the Pooh said and he looked confused.

Harry Potter, Mary and Winnie the Pooh came into the hall of a big castle. At the end of the hall there was a room. Being pushed by curiosity, the three friends decided to visit the room. With small steps, they slowly approached the end of the hallway and carefully opened the massive wooden door of a large room. The room was quite strange and one of the walls was painted black and covered all over with lit candles and some weird-looking, old paintings. The room had only one window and a crimson-red curtain was hanging over it. Through that half-open window, a light wind was blowing, sounding like a continuous whistle. 

On tiptoe and very slowly, the three adventurers walked into the room thinking that they would find someone who could tell them where they were. It was an immense room and bookcases loaded with all kinds of books were leaning against the walls.

In that huge room, which looked like a library, Winnie the Pooh and Mary started looking for a clue which might help them realize where exactly they were in Romania, while Harry Potter was eagerly searching in the drawers of a wooden desk. There was a deep silence in the room interrupted only by the rustle of browsing the books.

Suddenly, all the room resounded from a voice which came from a coffin laying on a table.From that coal-black coffin resounded Dracula’s voice:

“Who dares interrupt my afternoon slumber?”  

“Excuse us, please, Sir, we don’t want to disturb you,” Winnie the Pooh said fearfully.

“Who are you and what are you looking for in my Castle?,” asked Dracula with interest and wonder.

 “Let me introduce myself: I'm Harry Potter and they are my friends, Mary and Winnie the Pooh. We have an important mission trying to make kids read again those wonderful fairy tales and stories that they once were reading,” answered Harry almost trembling with fear.

“Good job, and what do I have to do with this?,” asked Dracula in a high tone.

“My magic wand has brought us here, in your Castle, a hint that you can give us a helping hand!,” added Harry. And he sounded more self-confident than before.

“But, why shall I do that?,” asked Dracula, puzzled.

“I'm sure you are fond of reading because you have a huge library and you enjoy having direct contact with your favorite characters and you also enjoy travelling and joining them in all their adventures. Moreover, you are Count Dracula, one of the most famous vampires in literature. If children stop reading, they will forget you and soon you will no longer be known by anyone,” Mary said seriously.

Hearing this, Count Dracula understood that his reputation was in danger, as well as his existence, so he was thoroughly thinking that he had to help the three friends, but did not want to admit it.

“I see you know very well who I am and what I am famous for! If I think more and better ... I think I could give you and your friends a helping hand,” Dracula replied in a slightly arrogant tone.

“Thank you, Sir, thank you!” answered Mary.

“Good so far, can you tell us where we are?,” Winnie the Pooh asked curiously.

“Definitely! You are in the famous Bran Castle in Transylvania, the heart of Romania.”

“Good! Now that we know where we are, we need your help. We don’t have much time. Unless we hurry, the characters of the fairy tales will disappear,” Mary said and she looked extremely worried.

“Hurry up then! We need to reach Sibiu as soon as possible,” Dracula replied enthusiastically. 

 And in no time Count Dracula, Winnie the Pooh, Mary and Harry Potter started their journey to Sibiu.

On their way they met a man wearing a Romanian peasant shirt, brown trousers, a hat on his head and walking barefoot. They realized immediately that he was the smart and funny fairytale character, Păcală. As they reached him, Winnie the Pooh told him:

“Good afternoon, Mr. Păcală! How are you? Where’s your friend, Tândală?”

The little bear was very happy to meet one of his favourite fairy tale characters.

“I am fine. I’m resting in the shadow of this beautiful tree. I don’t know anything about Tândală, where he might be. But what are you doing here?”

“We must go to Sibiu because we are trying to save the fairy tale characters”, said firmly Dracula.

“What do you mean to save them? But what is happening to them?”  Păcală asked curiously but worried at the same time

“Children no longer read books and that’s the reason why all the fairy tale characters will soon be forgotten and they will vanish if we do not persuade them to read again”, Winnie the Pooh answered.

“What do you mean? Children no longer read? This means that they do not find out the adventures that I have gone through and how smart I am to overcome them!  This is impossible! I will come along and help you!” Păcală said lively.

They set out for Sibiu and after several hours they ran into a man who was jumping up and down holding a bucket in his hand. Păcală knew what all that was about and he moved forward asking the man:

“What blunder are you doing now?”

“No blunder! I’m just trying to bring the light of the sun into my house for my children. They want to read but their room is not bright enough. I’ve been trying to catch the brightness of the sun in this bucket since this morning, but it’s in vain “, answered the man.

“But this is not the right thing to do. You have to cut holes into the walls of the house, so the light can come into the room, Păcală told him.

“Oh, you are so clever! God bless you! Thank you so much!”

Suddenly Count Dracula had an idea:

“I know a way to save the fairy tale characters! We must go immediately to the Astra Library in Sibiu, where we will meet a lot of children!”

When they arrived at the library, the five adventurers staged a play that the children enjoyed so much that they wanted to read it again. So they began browsing many books looking for it.

Thus, all the children realized that reading doesn't have to be a chore, but rather a pathway leading to a universe full of mystery, magic, illusions, and creatures that cannot be met in everyday life; looking at the children’s faces shining with joy and delight while watching in amazement the events which seemed to come to life under their eyes, the five adventurers understood that their main goal has been reached: the kids will start reading again, because only in this way their favourite characters will continue to live. Their innocence and candor are the ones which will save the world of fairy tales which will not vanish, but last forever.

Epilogue

Once upon a time, in six far away countries, there lived some fairy queens and kings who used their magic wands to make borders disappear and friendship blossom.

       And these fairy queens and kings set off on a long journey, travelling from one country to another and wherever they went they met joyful, younger and older  people gathering in magic places, reading long-forgotten fairy tales and stories and retelling them to whoever wanted to listen to them.

Once they got to a mystic place, which looked like a library, where they saw lots of old and young people, parents and grandparents, boys and girls sleeping on the floor, surrounded by heaps of books and couldn’t imagine how life would be without the wonderment offered by books. Some of them couldn’t help falling asleep of so much reading and they were eagerly looking for their book signs, as they wanted to take a short nap before starting to read another chapter. They surely were bookworms, who can fancy everything they want, from sailing in pirates’ ships across the rough seas and oceans of the world to stepping lightly on the Moon. 

     So, the fairies decided to organize a contest and grant a wish to anyone who would like to take part in the competition. Many competitors enrolled and their only wish was that people all over the world would read again and again the fairy tales and stories that enchanted everyone’s childhood and meet the characters that no one should ever forget. A jury was formed and all the fairy tale characters stepped inside the huge hall of the “Universal Literature Library.” The competitors had to recognize their favourite book characters so, they came from far away countries and enthusiastically but fairly competed with one another. 

     At the end, the fairies granted their only wish so, nowadays wherever you go, be it Amasya, Dobrich, Leszno, Macedo de Cavaleiros, Pescara or Sibiu   you will see people, regardless of their age, nationality or social position, meeting in various places, schools, libraries, book shops and other magic places, reading or just listening to  fairy tales, stories and other books or retelling them to others.

       ... the fairies’ journey will never end and hopefully there will always be children and grown-ups who will realize the power that a book may have on an individual and that reading can teach us life lessons, can touch our hearts, delight us and bring about important and beneficial changes in everyone’s life. 

And so the story goes,

that all the people in the six far away countries

lived happily ever after.

The End

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