Crusoe Beach

Lowlands Beach

I wish for...

Any resemblance to real or fictional characters, places or events is in some cases coincidental and at other times a result of poor imagination by the author.

***

Once upon a time there was a princess who woke up one morning with an unusually gloomy disposition. Perhaps it was because she was simply tired of smiling, or perhaps it had been too long since someone special had made her smile and really mean it. The entire court was upset - how could it not be, if one of the symbols of an entire country wasn't cheery anymore!? As is usually the case, by the next evening, the court was flooded with people from far and wide who thought they knew the remedy for the princess's strange condition. For instance, there was a little boy who could eat raw onions as if they were apples, which brought everyone to tears of laughter (or at least of onions), but the princess only lifted an eyebrow. There was a perfectly ordinary woman in every other respect except that she could predict thunderstorms with unheard-of accuracy, which made her the object of offers of marriage to five farmers and a royal gardener. Among all the people gathered to the court there was also an old man whose gall stones were, in fact, philosophers' stones, but he didn't really find out about that until many years after the end of this story. Anyway, the princess was not amused.

(And the royal chronicle-writer who was recording all this was even less amused because everyone knows how fairy-tales should go and a proper fairy-tale should have ended with the third example, mind you, because three happens to be an important number in fairy-tales, at least it used to be, before all these young people started thinking they could just come and do as they please and moreover... )

Suddenly, a man stepped forward, closer to the princess's throne. No-one could really tell what he looked like because he was wearing a black robe with the hood over his eyes, but because this is a fairy-tale, we can safely assume he was tall, dark and handsome. He spoke silently so that only the princess could hear him. What he said was this, 'I can make you the happiest woman in the world, if you'll be mine, because I can make your every wish come true.' The princess was intrigued, not only because she had secretly been wishing for some things, but because what the man said seemed to be simply preposterous! How could he possibly make that happen? She decided to test him, just in cases.

'Alright', she said, 'I'm thinking of an ocean with such a powerful roar it can be heard miles away, and that would rock me to sleep every night.' The man simply smiled and said, 'Done, milady.' And surely enough, she could then hear the waves of an ocean not far from the castle.

'Very well. I'd like to be able to walk to that ocean, on footpaths that are lined with orchids and all sorts of other wild flowers fit for a queen', she continued. 'Your wish is my command', the man answered, and almost instantaneously, the castle was filled with a floral scent so strong and beautiful it made the royal perfume-makers hide their eyes in shame and hand in their letters of resignation the day after.

'Good. I'm tired of the way the sky here looks at night - I can't really see the stars properly. I've always dreamed of a night sky that looks like a thousand diamonds scattered over dark velvet, could you do that for me, please?', she asked. 'Of course, as you wish', he replied, and added to himself, 'Although not even that could be an adequate comparison to the sanctuary of your eyes, my princess.' She went to a window and saw exactly what she had asked for. She turned around, smiled to him, and shyly said, 'You've already made me the happiest woman in the world, how could I not want to be yours?'.

The man smiled, although his eyes did not, and answered, 'Ah yes, but there is a price...'

Mazzoletti Beach

This is where we went fishing. And when I say 'we', I mean that I just sat on the beach, being the essence of moral support.