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.
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