Cultural Heritage Stories Booklet | Page 14

One afternoon on 30 th July, the two lovebirds were happily enjoying each other’s company until all of a sudden, they caught sight of the Ottomans bombarding the Citadel. The Ottomans, who had initially landed on Malta, at Marsamxett, changed their minds and decided to attack Gozo when they saw a force of 10,000 men marching upon Birgu and Fort St Angelo, which made it impossible for them to win. As a result, Gozo was the only solution as it was less defended and easier to be won over. Upon seeing the Ottomans, Ġanna and Ċikku tried to escape by climbing down its walls and hiding from the Ottomans. However, while Ċikku managed to escape, the same could not be said about poor Ġanna, who was captured and taken to Tripoli as a slave. It was indeed a sad day not only for Ġanna and Ċikku but also for the whole island of Gozo, as all the people were killed and taken as slaves except for a monk and forty elderly Gozitans. Ċikku was inconsolable and his only ray of hope was to try and find his fiancée as he couldn’t imagine his life without her. Needless to say, his elderly parents were against his decision as they, like all the aristocrats of the time, did not want their son to marry someone from a poor economic background. Normally, breaking such rules often resulted in tragedy. However, Ċikku only wanted to follow his heart ignoring what his parents told him. The next day, he packed his things and together with his friend, they sailed all the way from Gozo to Tripoli. Fortunately, they arrived safe and sound there. After a thorough search, Ċikku managed to find his beloved Ġanna, who remained as beautiful as always but who looked thinner and sadder. Without calculating the risk he was getting himself into, Ċikku did his utmost to release Ġanna from slavery. Unfortunately, upon doing so, he was stabbed with a knife by an Ottoman. Seeing the state Ċikku was in, his friend escaped whilst Ġanna fainted and died soon after from a broken heart. Meanwhile, Ċikku’s friend returned to the Citadel telling Ċikku’s and Ġanna’s family about the death of their children. As the news spread throughout the whole Citadel, Ġanna’s family ended up without any work and also died out of hunger while Ċikku’s family became sick out of sadness and all of them met an untimely death. My grand-grandmother always used to end the story by telling me that perhaps the society surrounding them made their love impossible but worse it also caused the death of two innocent people, who only sought genuine love and happiness. 9