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“Where are we?,he asked.
“In Genir Sehir Feneri (the name of Larissa during the
Ottoman empire)”, he answered.
“And which is that mountain over there? I have never seen
something like this before.”
“Olympus, the mountain of the gods. And that river is
Salavrias (Peneos)”, said the shepherd and went on his way.
He went on riding his horse. He saw sharecroppers working at
the landlords’ fields …
He asks them about his sister….He is told the landlord’s name…
It is Nasos Kotzabasis. The moment the landlord is told that
the king is at his fields he sends a carriage to welcome him.
The carriage takes him to the landlord’s estate.
They welcome him and they invite him to supper. They offer
him the most delicious dishes of the region: boiled mutton with
pasta, kokoretsi, trahanosoupa, splinantero₂. The neighbours
bring their best pies. Pumpkin pie, spinach pie, cheese pia and
batzina. For dessert they have halva from Farsala₃ and bitter
almond liqueur. The king asks them information about his sister
and they tell him that they knew of a young lady who worked at
the wheat fields but left when her job was finished. The king
thanks them and rides his horse. As he is leaving the estate he
meets a farmer who is carving a wooden horse.
He likes it and he mounts down his horse. He starts talking
with the farmer and he tells his story. The farmer was moved
by his story and he gives him the horse praying that he finds
his sister very soon…
₁ a name for a king in greek
₂ traditional dishes of Thessaly
₃ a traditional sweet from Farsala, a town in Thessaly
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