Cultural Heritage Stories Booklet | Page 24

that something had changed. As I looked around me I noticed that I was all alone in the temple. To my astonishment the temples looked completely different; the internal walls were now plastered and painted red. There was also a number of statuettes and other objects scattered around the temple. One of the figures was holding a blazing torch in his hand and was approaching the altar. I could hear the pathetic bleating of the poor lamb and just as the torch touched the altar I screamed ‘STOP’ and threw the glowing stone at the figure with the torch. Obviously I missed my target and the stone went straight onto the altar. Suddenly I became aware of chanting coming from the smaller temple. Apprehensively I peeked behind the wall separating the two temples and saw around a dozen people all clad in black standing around one of the altars. On the altar I could make out the shape of a little lamb which was trying in vain to escape. Sudden realisation hit me! I had travelled in time and these people were offering the lamb as a sacrifice to their Gods. I had travelled over 5000 years back in time when the pyramids of Egypt and Stonehenge had not yet been built! As soon as it hit the altar, the stone exploded into a thousand pieces and again I was left blinded for a few seconds. When I opened my eyes, to my utmost relief, I could see my teacher and classmates gathered all around me, staring at me. Apparently they had heard my scream but had not even noticed my absence. But had I gone somewhere during those few minutes or had it all been a figment of my imagination? Up to this day I still don’t know exactly what had happened. Nevertheless this incident made me appreciate the amazing history of our tiny islands, especially that of the Ġgantija Temples. 19