Smileless Town and Kalikantzari Goblins (Greek Xmas Fairy Tale)

(by Katsimihas brothers 1995,1998)

(Η Αγέλαστη Πολιτεία και οι Καλικάντζαροι

Once upon a time there was a town, 

different to all the others in the whole country,

an elegant one but always sad,

the people laughless, dull and long-faced

they didn't know what smile and love mean.

Everybody focused only on his job,

the ''goodmorning'' was expensive, as if it were gold,

the children never played on the streets and the square,

a feast never was held, nor dance nor fuss,

that's why was called: The Smileless Town.

I know this city, there I was born and remember a Christmas day when the Kalikantzari came and turned everything upside down. So what are these Kalikantzari? Oh! they are coming! hide yourselves to listen!

We are the kids of frenziness!

We are handsome and girl-faced!

Indeed, stark-raving mad unstrapped but no way handsome!

We are the world's leading dancers!

We are the best chanters!

That's right. Truth be told ...aaaa the leader...

"My name is Mandrakoulos"..."His name is Mandrakoulos"

"pare ton poulo, pare ton poulo"...(get a moutza, you looser!)

Shut up you, foul-mouthed!

'cause I impose sanctions

Go back to work

you lazy dogs!

A thousand times my grandpa had told us the tale and their queer fate of chopping, for centuries now, the Tree that supports the Upper World so as to bring it down, plaf!, like an empty balloon. Ho,ho,ho, my grandpa laughed. Ho,ho,ho, we laughed as well as we imagined them down there in the bowels of the earth, the poor ones, jagging and singing with their donkeyish voices.

Cut! my little saw!  time is reaching!

Christmas comes and our blood is seething!

The bad people fear and detest them because the ugliness of the goblins reminds them of their own ugliness. The elves are aware of it and always choose notably those people to set their nerves on fire ... certainly...their only pleasure is to go up on earth every Christmas and set up...unsettling conditions.

They come at night rambling around and do thousands of follies;

at streets and shops they mess up the signs,

slipping into houses through chimneys

 they begrime the sweets made by the dames,

they get into the bakeries when the bakers absent

and cram their biggy hands into the loukoumades,

they bewitch the livestock and make the cats warble

...hens meow and donkeys talk!...

Well, all that sort of things they do...but on Epiphany day... "Run away! 'cause tourlopapas (fat priest) comes with his aspergil, the priest with holy water (ayasmos) and villagers with torch." So having been kicked out, they return into the underworld. But there, oh! plight on them!..The Earthtree has nourished its wounds and then they restart their big saw task..over again the crummy ones...  

Cut! my little saw!  time is reaching!

Christmass comes and our blood is seething!

And so the story goes, so the story will forevermore

However that year, a couple of months before they go up on earth, they sat down and maturely pondered. As you see, they were fed up so many centuries with the same old story. They discussed  for days, discussed but could not make head or tail of it... until a kalikantzaraki (little goblin) gοt up and said: "I opine that we should put them to do the follies and then we could watch them and laugh! But whom shall we catch and poke fun at? ".. well, well, they didn't try hard at all. They found all them together in the Smileless Town. So on Christmas eve, they dropped their saws, rode their white geese and set out for the upper world ... at night ... The Green Valley all white by the snow, the Smileless Town all white too. Up on a slope, at a forest glade, a huge fire was burning ... Over the fire there was a round blacky pot! and inside the pot it was slowly boiling...the magic wort. The gnomes were preparing something, coming and going, cleaning, fetching branches, making strange movements and singing lazily ...

Double the guards everywhere as there's not enough time for us!

we have set up a crazy dance around the cauldron.

"Oh my motley and rambling guild, inside his sack he carries us,

 the goat-footed with the flute running in the woods and laughes."

Recite little words of magic, sweet like poundcake,

and before the cock crows, the herb is all set

Rum paparoum, paparoum, paparouna (poppy)

we squeeze it and make a matzouna (majoun)

we keep it boiling

eighteen days and nights over a low heat.

As time passed the glade filled of goblins. Whole army of goblins! New ones were constantly coming, popping out behind the snowy hills, astride their geese. Whole army of goblins dancing like crazy around the cauldron. Mandrakoulos, drunk, riding backwards a donkey, conducted the hootenanny. "Do this! do that! do the other also stuff!" Everybody brushed him off normally. "Forward!" He ordered the donkey. "Hey, where do you go, you dumbass?" as the donkey instead of forward went backward...they had fallen into a trance. Rave-party!

Rum paparoum, paparoum, paparouna (poppy)

we squeeze it and make a remedy potion

 we keep it boiling

eighteen days and nights over a low heat.

That night I could not sleep. I stood in front of the window and thought wondering what gift had they got for me? and all of a sudden I see a goose landing in our yard wearing a necklace of rubies. "Oh," I said, "So beautiful you are! - Come inside. She replied:" No, you come out! "- And she nodded at me to ride on her back; I mounted, she opened her wings and flew high above the city...Ah! so nice it was ... Up there were also other geese with my friends on their backs doing circles over the deeply sleeping town. Suddenly a goose, probably the leader, turned around and began flying toward the hills. But ... where did they head?  I soon realized as I saw the goblins at the glade around the fire dancing and singing. And as the geese landed, one to one, on the snow, a fat old kalikantzaros flashed through the fire, the leader of the goblins, Mandra-koulos with his meaningful name ( archi-mandrite :-) and gave the signal for dancing:

Go, let the dance start, let the lunacies start off!

Open your umbrellas -  it will rain bonbons!

And the sky rained sweets and candies,

buckets of confetti, balloons and ribbons.

 little loukoums, pastelia and wafers,

toys, talking dolls, rattles and trumpets ...

On the snow which smelt like vanilla ice cream,

they did flips and dives and a thousand footworks ...

We played, danced, sang until the sunrise. Then Mandrakoulos said: "It's time! Return the kids to their homes". The geese took my friends and flew to the city. But me, longing to watch the follow-up, I went and hid myself behind a bush, there lying down, tentlike, on the snow, which was not cold but warm and soft like cotton, I watched them departing until they vanished high, in the heart the sky.

In the meantime downtown the smileless people were carefree sleeping the sleep of the dead, while over the hill..

..stunners and marvels!....

Wort, little wort, nine times be boiled

to become a cloud and reach the sky.

Go and stand over the town,

and before the dawn, turn into rain!

The pot was boiling murmuringly - boiling and around of it the goblins, clasping each other's shoulder, danced a strange, slow dance. In a moment the fire gained strength and the glade flashed like gold, "there through the flash a girl popped out in a red dress."Ah! behold! voila! she came! " the kalikantzari yelled. Mandrakoulos whispered: "the Poppy Spirit came" and the little girl sang:

Through the blood of Jesus and his secret tear

Upon the Calvary hills I was born,

I come with the spring, Love my name is,

I come out of myths and deep past.

Through the blood of Jesus and his secret tear

and out of innocent's dreams am I created.

Through the lips of the cauldron, a thin smoke had started to grow, to grow until it became a pinky cloud  like the fairy floss that is sold at festivities ...then the gnomes together blew "phew! phew!".. and  ... the cloud moved and stood over the city. The air was scented by the cherry blossom. Yes, upon the snow cherries had grown. After a few hours just before dawn ...a hot wind blew across the valley ... The cloud got melted and turned into rain ... In a little while, Christmas day arose ... Many Happy Returns! 

The spells are secret, but in secret they don't remain,

and strange things started to happen ...

The spring came like an express train with thousands of swallows

and sent two kisses and melted the snow.

Christmas has dawned and the hills greened

and straight to the heart of winter the lilacs bloomed.

The sheep chirped sweet like nightingales

And the cows flew high with the birds.

The old men came out at the courtyards to play prisonball,

The lazy woke and wanted to work.

The stupid turned to clever and the mute spoke

the river waters flowed backwards.

Everybody came out on the roads with giggles and jokes

and they set up a feast in the middle of the square.

Musiquants came and songs began to bell

 all day they revelled, painting the town red

Suddenly, smileless people became cheerful, indeed very cheerful - and talkative, indeed very talkative: 'Hello, how are you? Happy Years be with you! ... Smouch, smooch! " "I promise", the mayor kept saying, "Oh, mayor, well done!" shouted the acolytes and slowly - slowly, one to one, the unsmiling men began to dance! Yes! Dancing!...said and done by the gnomes. Upside down! while all this was going on, the Time's Door opened wide and the official guests of the goblins began to arrive: Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, the Steadfast Tin Soldier with his ballerina, Tom Sawyer, Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten , the Happy Prince, the aged Aesop with company, Karagiozis with his family ... "Hi family ... oh, oh, oh, oh opa ...», "I promise that ...». Carlos Castaneda, Jerry Garcia, Jimmy Hendrix ... The elves being stained with paint like Indians rolled on the ground, did somersaults, did whatever came into their head and enjoyed a crazy funtime ... Bustle upon the flatland!!...

They danced, danced ... till the nightfall ... and a sweet sleepiness weighed down their eyelids ... they all tilted then and fell asleep ... and the barrel wine was still flowing through the spigots. The elves rode on their geese and decamped. Along with them the holidays left ...

The next day it snowed. Snow above the silent world. Snowing in the hearts of the lonely people.

The next morning the residents of the Smileless Town woke up, worn-down, unsmiling as before. The news leaked out immediately throughout the country. Two - three foreigners who happened to be passers-by the day of the feast spread it everywhere: "The Smileless Town was painted red!». No bother though. The Unsmiling People did not believe anyone or anything.

We are not accustomed to such events, we turn a deaf ear,

Here, footworks, feasts and follies are not acceptable.

Foreigners dreamt and relate tales

but if we happen to catch them, they will really cry

-But giving the devil his due,

how the heck did all we see the same dream?

-You teacher belt up, don't insist!

and don't ever teach songs to the young!

We have hired you for instructing our children

to write and read so as them to follow our steps!

Not for ditties and silly tales

herbs, goblins and such poppycock!.

-But we saw them. Τeacher is not to blame!

Behold, you made the guy cry!

They 've got big ears and hair, they know to sing,

fly with their geese like little planes,

they have also a leader that looks like a trunk

Long live Mandrakoulo, long live Mandrakoulo!

The time slowly rolled like the watermill that never stops and the strange dream got forgotten. Nobody spoke about it in the Smileless Town ... However, every so often, the mornings when the sun shone warm and the children played in the schoolyard, the old teacher was taken aback hearing them sing and dance a strange song. "Weird! What is this? "He had never taught them songs because the man simply did not know. He noticed also that whenever they clasped hands in circles and sing, the sky aloft filled with all-white geese and the kids greeted them with their hankies, as they saw them flying in the air like swift sailboats. They danced and sang and the whole green valley resounded with voices and the Smileless Town resounded also with their amusement.

Rum paparoum, paparoum, paparouna (poppy)

we squeeze it and make a remedy potion

we keep it boiling 

eighteen days and nights over a low fire.