The unicorn legend

 

 

Shaila was a princess and her father was the chief of an Indian tribe. He wanted his daughter not to marry because only in this way at her death her spirit could become the spirit of purity and it could be evoked by the people of the village. He wanted an afterlife for his daughter. Shaila was a beautiful girl with black straight long hair, and she could play the Pan-pipes very well. She usually went into the forest on horseback, sat on the ground in front of the lake and played her flute listening to the sound of the water.

One day, while she was playing, she saw the lake reflect the face of a boy who was behind her. She immediately stopped playing and stood up to run away but he seized her hand and looked at her in silence. He was a handsome boy with blond wavy and long hair blue eyes and a fair complexion. His voice was sweet when he said that his name was Derek and that he had listened to the magic sound of her flute every day, but he had never understood where that sound came from. Shaila introduced herself and then they started to speak as if they had known each other for a long time. But as soon as the sun set she said she had to go back home and she rode her horse.

The day after Derek went to the lake to meet Shaila again. It happened for many other days and they fell in love. They spent all the afternoon speaking about their different cultures, the problem Shaila had with her father and swimming in the lake. But one day while Shaila was joining Derek in the forest, she understood that someone was following her and she saw behind her some of her father’s warriors. He probably had understood she was hiding something from him. She took her crystal sword and she tried to free herself from them but her horse slid into a precipice.  It was the last time that Shaila rode her horse, and then nobody had news about her. Naturally the warriors never told their chief that his daughter had met a terrible death, they only said she was missing, but he didn’t see her again. That day Derek was at the lake waiting for Shaila, and he never saw her either. But he never gave up hope. Every afternoon he went to the lake, he sat on the ground and he stayed there until the morning.

One night he was sleeping on the ground when he heard the magic sound of a flute; it seemed Shaila’s Pan-pipes and he thought he was dreaming. Then a voice called him from the lake. It was Shaila’s voice. He stood up and he came near the lake. The water was of a strange colour and the waves drew Shaila’s face. The voice told him not to be afraid because she had come there to ask him to go with her. He was incredulous and he was ready to do everything to reach her. She said the only thing he had to do was to be hit on the forehead by her crystal sword. He didn’t hesitate and he kneeled down. A hand that kept the sword emerged from the water, he recognized the sword and he let himself be hit. Immediately his skin became white and velvety, his hair became white too and they were similar to a mane and the sword stayed in his forehead like a unicorn. He become a marvellous horse, a horse that had never been seen before. Shaila emerged from the water, leaped into the saddle of her horse and they rode through the sky and they always stayed together.

 

 

 

 

 

THE OBSCURED PITY

 

Khartoum, 20 September 2006

The wind was hiding the sable when he put the suitcase down, opened the door and entered his flat in the centre of that silent city.

His impatience was so high that he couldn’t stop walking around the dining room: for all his life he had always waited for the time in which he could have shown all his abilities in trying to help those who weren’t allowed to ask for their human rights. It was the case of Sudan.

The phone rang. The men of the new government of Sudan, who had just known about Mr. F’s arrival, were waiting for him so he immediately went out to reach his colleagues.

While he was walking through the road, he gazed at a child at the corner: he was eating a piece of bread with his dirty hands, while his black and watery eyes were looking at the man in front of him.

A strong sense of pity captured the man and full of pain, thought of his father who used to say “children are always the true victims of wars”.

When he arrived at the house, a servant opened the door and took him to the garden were two men were talking.

<Mister! Welcome in Sudan! I suppose you’re the new monitor for human rights!> said the older one <Why don’t you sit down with us? We were just talking about your job. Probably you’ll have some difficulties.>.

Mr. F was astonished. The only reason he was there, was to help people…the target of his own life: <Why do you tell this?>.

The second man answered: < Sudanese people who caused the war won’t let you apply your western ideas. If you think you are allowed to save their people, you are getting wrong. You only have to convince them to listen to you, but don’t think it will be simple.>

<Sorry William, it’s 3 o’clock. We have to go to the meeting.>

< 3 o’clock? I’m sorry Mister, but we have to go. We will see tomorrow. Goodbye. >

The two men went away, leaving Mr. F alone in the garden. The servant came and took him to the door.

He looked back disappointed and went out.

The sun wasn’t shining as it was before, as if an imperceptible cloud had appeared between him and the landscape.

A sense of uneasiness grasped his stomach and he started to gasp.

When he turned the corner he found the same child who was chasing a mouse.

The sense of uneasiness changed into anger. Why should those people have rejected his help? He was trying to support them and what would they do? They would obstruct him and forbid him to give them rights they had never had.

The pain for the child became hate. The invisible cloud which had blurred his view, turned into a black spot that seemed to invade all his body.

The man started running. Through the city, through the roads of Khartoum, between houses of unsteady bricks, until he arrived at the hotel and ran up the stairs as far as his flat.

When he opened the door freezed and trembling and closed it. His shoulders leaned against the door.

There was no more pity.

He understood: the paternalistic education imposed by his father.

But he hated his father…and now, he hated those who were so much loved by that man.

He could have killed that child.

He put everything he could into the suitcase and left Khartoum.

 

 

50 mph

 

 

“I see her on my left side, I don’t know where we are and why we are here…outside it’s raining and inside too, everything happens so fast, so confusedly.

I’m in Anne’s car with her, she doesn’t speak to me, is she still angry?

The rain is wet and cold, it’s ruining the leather chairs… let’s hope it finishes before Anne wakes up…Why is the car so inclined? Why is the water all around us?

[…]

It was the first time that I had gone to a party, usually I lived in other places my adolescence, I had never liked music too loud and the screams of silly people; but Anne loves me and invited me to share her youth world. She became my personal taxi driver and whenever she went I was her shade, her angel, her hope.

“No drugs, no alcohol, and no cocaine” my mother used to say.

The party started and my mind started to run with the rhythm of the noisy music, but my muscles couldn’t move so violently and fast, in that moment I had lost Anne, my personal Virgil in the night inferno; I was poor and undefended.

 Two false friends come closer ,abusing and raping me, they were known by the most like alcohol and cocaine, I simply called them “my new guides” into a new world which was speaking to me. Those people from the galaxy were strange, gummy, jointed; that iron music was green and red; those walls were lying on the floor and the only thing that I could do was to jump for not being hurt…

Virgil saw me in that scary hurricane; she took my arm and raised me up to her car. We were there when I started singing Christmas songs with giants with yellow heads which were on my right side and smiled to me fondly, traffic-lights instead were following us, may be they wanted to stop me and hit me with their coloured eyes…”come on Anne, let’s run away from them, they want to kill me, come on Anne” …I was hallucinated…    Fortunately Anne was lucid and very angry with me, unfortunately streets were slippery and drugs drove other cars too fast …

[…]          

 

The rain which touches my lips is red and ferrous now, there’s Anne’s blood inside; I am terrified understanding what has happened before. Immediately she turns her head to me and speaks: “drugs drive you crazy, drugs drive cars to accidents, and drugs drive you alone!” 

Then she closed her eyes and leaned her head against the wheel…

 

IN THE BEGINNING IT WAS LOVE

In the beginning there was a void.

Only darkness, the disarming silence of the shadows.

At first there was only utter darkness.

In the beginning only two forms floated across the empty space,  Erotas and Tanatya.

They did not know what surrounded them, they did not really care.

It was not important for them to know where they came from or why they were there. They never bothered their minds with questions that concerned the meaning of existence. As long as they had each other, no matter disturbed them. It was enough for them to feel love and give it.

Love, this brought existence. This was what Erotas and Tanatya were made of.

One day Erotas was looking at Tanatya, contemplating her.

Tanatya  noticed  a touch of sadness, and went to him:

“Is there anything bothering you?” She asked.

Erotas felt such a weight inside him.

“I need to get it out” he thought.

Then he looked at his lover and he started to talk:

“You know how much I love you? So intensely that the emotion could live just by itself, survive and even create new life.

We can give form to that.

I would create shining warm light, like the one you have all around you. And  that light would cut the shade, giving life to all the colors we have never seen.

I can already see everything.

Water like a cobalt blue mantle and thousands of little sparkling lights reflected on it. In my minds wide plains of green, with scattered imperfections, marked with flowers that seem colorful spots.

You will see…Life will start to grow.

Hearts will start pulsing; life will slowly emerge in the ground, in the sky  touching the clouds. And all the winds, from the lightest breeze, to the gale, will drag sounds and fragrance all round, and everyone will taste it, and our love will live forever, and it will grow.

And we will call it Earth, in memory of us.”

So Erotas and Tanatya created the world.

The days emerged, calm and quiet.

Erotas and Tanatya constantly watched their world. It was like watching an enormous device. Everything there followed a cycle. The rain that had become oceans slowly became steam, then rain again. The same was for all the creatures. Everything that was born grew and then faded away back into the earth.

They always remained amazed before that sight. Especially Erotas. He started to spend a long time with his world.

He looked at his creatures with gentleness, talking to all of them. He was always there to make sure that nothing went wrong. He cared for those little things more than for himself, and slowly started to forget Tanatya.

He started leaving her all by herself and time flowed on.

Tanatya tried to lead him again to her, but it looked like he was lost in that view. When she asked him if he still loved her he answered:

“I do not know anything apart from what I can see.”

Hearing those words she went mad. She started shouting and all the space began to quiver. She pointed at Erotas and said:

“Now I will destroy the proof of this story; the memory of you and I. If love does not exist, the Earth has no sense any longer.

I will eliminate it. But slowly, in the same way as you have forgotten me.

I will create a creature made of hatred, which will live in the world and progressively destroy it.

It will start with two of them, then they will become millions and only grudge will prevail. They will originate War.

They will bear the end.

I WILL CALL THEM HUMANS.”

                                                                       

 

Une vie de clown

 

Xavier, un clown de 35 ans, qui appartenait à une famille du cirque depuis cinq générations,travaillait dans le cirque «  Du Soleil ». Il passait de ville en ville avec son chapiteau, à travers l’Europe. Faire rire les gens était son métier et il était vraiment gai quand il entendait les applaudissements que le public lui faisait. Pour les enfants, Xavier mimait des histoires si amusantes qu’ils étaient enchantés et avec le souffle coupé. Pour son travail il utilisait aussi des costumes très colorés et des musiques très passionnantes. Sa plus grande satisfaction était de rencontrer le regard heureux des enfants et leurs sourires. Ça lui rappelait chaque fois, avec émotion, son état d’âme de quand il était enfant et regardait son père et son grand-père occupés à s’exhiber. Xavier était marié avec Jacqueline depuis quinze ans et ils avaient trois enfants : Thomas de 13 ans, Luc de 10 et Sabine de 5. Même si Xavier aimait profondément son travail, il ne voulait pas que ses enfants continuent la tradition de la famille, car il désirait pour eux un futur différent. Il croyait important leur donner une instruction et donc leur faire fréquenter l’école, comme tous les enfants. Jacqueline aussi était d’accord, mais en  souffrait car elle savait qu’elle devait se séparer d’eux et donc ne les voir pas grandir, car elle et Xavier faisaient le tour de l’Europe avec le cirque. Leur intention était de les inscrire à un collège privé de Lyon pour leur donner une culture et une formation différentes de celles qu’ offrait le cirque. Quand les parents communiquaient leur décision aux enfants, ceux-ci eurent une réaction inattendue car ils étaient sûrs que leur poste était là, sous le chapiteau de la famille. Après beaucoup de discussions, les parents avaient décidé  de s’imposer ainsi Thomas, Luc et Sabine se retrouvèrent dans le collège ‘’S. Sébastien’’. Au début l’adaptation des enfants à cette nouvelle situation se révéla difficile, car ils n’avaient jamais fréquenté un place comme celle-là. Tout pour eux était stressant : les horaires des repas, le réveil du matin, l’heure du coucher, le repos de l’après-midi, pour ne pas parler des cinq heures de cours quotidiennes. Tout était trop rigide et fiscal à leurs yeux et la tristesse inondait leur âme. Ainsi, après quelques semaines, à Thomas vint l’idée d’échapper de l’école évidemment supporté aussi de ses frères. Les trois fourbes enfants, alliés, décidèrent que la nuit suivante, quand les autres garçons de chambre se seraient endormis, auraient essayé d’échapper par la fenêtre de la chambre qui donnait sur le jardin. La nuit arrivée, tout semblait aller pour le mieux, mais, quand la petite Sabine aussi se trouvait dans le jardin, la directrice du collège les vit et les emmena directement à la police. Le matin suivant, après avoir appelé Xavier et Jacqueline, les enfants retournèrent contents chez eux. Les parents avaient compris qu’ils avaient été trop répressifs  avec eux et leur proposèrent donc de rester au collège pour moins temps de celui décidé au début. Mais les enfants, qui n’en voulaient pas savoir, proposèrent une autre solution : ils auraient travaillé comme clowns mais dans les hôpitaux, pour apporter le sourire et un peu de gaieté aux enfants malades. La décision étonna favorablement Xavier et Jacqueline, car elle ne prévoyait pas la présence des enfants au cirque et avait donné une grande satisfaction  aux enfants qui pouvaient ainsi réaliser leur rêve.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                     

BELLA LUNA

She was running in the rain. The moon was peeping from the clouds and its reflection turned every drop into a diamond. The rain mixed with the girl’s tears.
Her name was Bella Luna. In Italian it meant beautiful moon… That was because her father’s last name was Luna and her mum loved the name Bella.
Bella Luna was running in the rain, because she was really scared. A few minutes before she had come out of a club and a black bat had got entangled in her hair.
She had screamed so loudly and in a moment the bat had become a boy, a gorgeous boy, that looked at Bella with deep, dark eyes.
- Good evening, Bella – he said.
The girl tried to breathe slowly, tried to come out of that nightmare. She took some steps backwards.
- What… What are you? – she whispered.
- Who. Who is the question…-?
Bella turned around and began to run. In that moment it had started to rain. And the rain mixed with Bella’s tears.
When she arrived in the park near her home somebody’s hands caught her arm and stopped her.
- Where did you believe to go?-
The boy took Bella under a big tree, where the rain couldn’t touch them.
- Leave me! Leave me now!!- screamed the girl, but he hold her strongly.
Bella decided that she couldn’t do anything to get free, so she looked at her kidnapper’s face . His eyes were shining with a vicious light, but they were incredibly beautiful, his lips were red, like cherries and let her see his white teeth. His hair was black like the night and long and straight… The rain hadn’t touched it.
- Who are you? – said Bella looking at him with a mixture of courage and fear.
- My name is Bill…- answered the boy with a smile.
- But… How do you know my name? What are you? – she was terrified.
- I’ve known you for many years and I was only waiting for this moment…-
- What?! Why?-
- I’m a vampire…- immediately the black light in his eyes became red and his face bent down on Bella’s neck. The last thing she could see were the tree leaves washed by the rain.

She looked at her reflection on the silver mirror. Her black, short hair stood up , gelled,  and her blue eyes were darkened by black kajal, but the most important difference was her skin. It had become white. White like porcelain.
She looked at her neck: two little red points were the signs of her metamorphosis.
- I don’t believe in vampires- she mumbled.
The legend said that vampires couldn’t see their reflections…
- Sometimes the things you believe to be the truth, are just fake.-
Bill appeared behind her with a mysterious smile.
- Yes. I’ve seen…-
Bella went to the window.
But the legend that vampires couldn’t live under the sun light was truth.
- Bella Luna – smiled Bill looking up to the moon. – Like this beautiful moon… Like you…-
- I’m thirsty- said Bella without hearing Bill’s words.
- I am too. Shall we go out? Now the guys are coming out of the pub and the disco.-
The girl nodded. Blood was the only important thing now.
Before going out Bella looked again at the moon. This new life wasn’t sad or worse than her earlier life, but killing every night was really difficult.
A quick, bloody hunt.
Her last wish stayed unsaid in the shadows while she followed Bill.

Why am I so unlucky?

Hello, I’m a woodpecker who lives in a wood in Sweden in a village called Mysterytown and I’m going to tell you the story of a poor owl who was very sad.

His name is Anacletus and he is seven years old.

   He doesn’t like humans so much, not because they want to make a  stuffed trophy with him as they did with his poor uncle, let alone my friend Sam, but in particular because they touch wood every time they see him and this has happened since he was a baby.

   I often stay with him because he was my best friend’s nephew, he is kind but he has inherited his bad luck from his funny uncle or better, this was what we all thought until  last week.

I was accompanying him home from school ( as every owl he can fly but since he has learned to, he always bangs against trees and this has happened twice this week). It was December and there was snow in the wood. We stopped there to play baseball as we always do but while I was doing match point a huge hole opened under our claws… I wasn’t surprised because every time I’m with him either I fall into a puddle or I trip over stones but this time it was too much!!

We stood up and we abused his bad luck when a voice called us from a corner…” Come here, I can help you”.. It was the white wolf who has been living in this wood for ages…He is mysterious and everyone in our village call him MadMadMoody. He led us into a den which Anacletus and I supposed to be his home. My “nephew” was frightened by the accident but the best has yet to come. We sat on a sofa and the wolf started talking…”Anacletus, I’ve been following you since you were born”- “Why?” asked my boy- “ If you don’t  interrupt me  maybe I could try to explain it!”- MadMadMoody’s deep amber eyes looked around the room and after he talked softly: “Anacletus, your bad luck has a motivation. When you were born, you  met Morgana at the hospital, an owl who is now a very powerful witch unaware of her power. You are the victim of her spell; your life had just started that already someone was pushing you around… It was your cradle neighbour, Morgana. Irritated, you told her to take her claws off your head and she replied :“Shut up, you don’t know who I am going to be!”. At this provocation you answered her “No, I don’t know who you are going to be, the only thing I know is that you are annoying me”. After that she told you that you would be an unlucky owl for all your life”.

The day after Anacletus saw her at school, she was reading a book alone so he went near her, her book fell down because of his bad luck.

   Anacletus thought that he could stay near her to give her back his bad luck for example he waited for her after school and as soon as she flew he gave her a look and immediately she banged on a tree. One day at the canteen two persons crashed into each other and their trays fell…exactly on Morgana and Anacletus. They looked at each other and they laughed. She recognised him as the owl who was near her and from that moment on they became good friends even though their friendship was distressed by frequest little “incidents”.

 

THE DAY I DIED

I was born in this town, among these people I cannot understand, who cannot understand me. But I live here and I cannot escape.

 It is a shame: everybody seems so happy, but I know that people’s hearts don’t beat to the same time, my heart was different, my heart was fragile.

As time passed, I grew to hate the town and its people.

No one knows how I feel, the day is dark and full of pain, hope is everything I’ve got, and when I open my eyes nothing has changed. I am looking for a rainbow, but it died time ago.

One day I woke up knowing that things were going to change.

I wrote a letter and I signed goodbye. I knew that it would be the happiest day of my life. I was alone, but I felt fine.

“It will be the best day of my life” – I thought -  “I’m leaving”.

I took my car and I drove through my town, to see the places where I lived, I was thinking about my mistakes, my friends, my life: nothing had made me happy.

I closed my eyes and I leaned my head against the wheel.

“Where am I?” I could not tell where I was or where I was going. There was nothing around me but a dark and empty space. Suddenly, a white light shone, and all the events of my life were on display, as if in a gallery.

 I could see the pictures of  my early childhood, when I was pretty, quiet and shy.

When I grew up, most of the times I was alone, alone like the feeling that had taken me here.

I could see my fake smile in these pictures, I’ve always thought of myself as a stranger, coming into this world for a mistake.

I wanted to write and compose music. All of my texts were stuck up, so I could read them: they spoke about my need to be different, to be stronger; they reminded me of the days when I felt angry or mad or confused…

I thought: “It’s the end. When everything you’ve done passes through your mind as in an open book, it’s the end.”

I must choose whether to live or die.

I saw behind me another wall, which wasn’t there before.

I rubbed my eyes, I couldn’t believe it, in the wall I could see myself, I was on a stage surrounded by millions and millions of people, I had a guitar and a microphone, and people cried when they saw me. I was singing my songs, my pain, my dreams.

Just a few minutes, and then total darkness.

I was stoned. Was it my future that I was seeing or was it a sweet vision of paradise?. Maybe I’m not destined for disaster, maybe I’m destined to be somebody.

But it’s too late I’m falling down. I close my eyes.

Now I realize that I’ve made a terrible mistake, I have to live, day by day, everything’s gonna be all right. I only thought of myself without looking into other people’s problems. I’m too young to die!

I opened my eyes and nothing had changed. I closed them again and when I opened them, I was in hospital. I could see my parents near me, they saw me and started to cry.

I made the biggest smile that I had ever made.

I was alive.

Now I’m sitting here. I’m nineteen. Some time ago, I tried to kill myself and I swear it was my last try.

THE PLAN

It was raining, nobody walked in the road and the sky was dark even if it was morning. A shape in a black cloak with a hood that hid her face, slid forward slowly and knocked at one door.

“Come in” a voice said. She took off her hood showing green eyes and long brown hair. The girl sat down on a chair near the fireplace.

“So, have you done it?” the man asked.

“Yes. Everything is ok, master. I’ve killed him without leaving traces.”

“Well done, Lostris, l’m pleased to see that you obey me. You can go.”

“Thanks, master.” Lostris bent down and went out, under the rain.

The girl walked for half an hour before arriving at a cottage in the open countryside; she opened the door and she lit a candle.

“Hi, your master won’t be happy if he knew what you did tonight, Lostris.”

“He won’t know. He’s such a stupid man, he can’t see facts even if they are in front of his eyes. He won’t know, Aster.” She smiled and she sat next to Aster, kissing him.

“You’re so clever. However, how can we inform everyone you should have killed? Do you know where they are?”

“I’ve thought of everything: they are in a farm not far from here, and l’m going there this afternoon. I’ve got a good plan.”

That afternoon, Lostris rode to the farm on her horse: it took only twenty minutes. When she got off, a door opened and a man went to her.

“Welcome. We were waiting for your arrival. Have you got any news?”

“Yes, tomorrow we’ll start our revenge. He doesn’t suspect me.” Lostris answered.

“Well, so, would you like to speak with the others? They don’t know if you really want to help them.”

“Of course. Show me the path, Gert.” Gert brought her in the wood, into a small wooden hovel.

“Listen to me, everybody , l’m showing you the plan.” As with a magic word, everyone in the room stopped speaking and Lostris explained them what they were going to do.

 

The sky was dark but without rain or snow, it was a foggy morning and it was very early. Lostris walked in the street followed by ten shapes. Suddenly she stopped.

“You are all disguised like corpses, you only have to scare him, he won’t use me again to kill people, even if l’ve never killed anyone! Go!”  Ten people knocked at the door, Lostris hid, and a voice said “Come in”

The false corpses entered and one, the nastiest, spoke. “We are the ones you wanted to kill, but we aren’t dead, we’re here to keep you with us, in hell.”

“B-but, h-ow did yo-you…?”

“We have an offer: we don’t keep you with us but you must run away and stop killing. If you don’t do as we want, we’ll know and we’ll come back; next time we won’t have an offer.”

“Y-yes, l-l’ll d-do as yo-you wan-want.”

They went away smiling and laughing; and Lostris said.

“Well done. Now, he won’t hassle anyone any longer!”

The new world

The spaceship flew around the planet several times. The planet was blue and green.
They couldn’t see the surface of the planet because there were too many clouds.

The spaceship descended slowly through the clouds and landed in the middle of a green lake. The spaceship floated on the water. The two astronauts, Laura and Mark, opened the door, climbed down and swam towards the land: the water was a clear jewel-green all around them. After few minutes they reached the shore. Laura looked at the small control unit and said to Mark: “we can breathe the air…it’s ok”. Both of them took off their helmets and breathed deeply. They looked at everything carefully. All the plants, the flowers and animals looked new and strange. They couldn’t find any intelligent life. After about six hours, they returned to their spaceship. Laura switched on the controls but they didn’t work, also the computer didn’t work. They couldn’t take off!
For the night they slept in the spaceship and the next morning they began to explore the new territories. They found in a mountain a stone door with strange symbols.   It looked like Egyptian hieroglyphic writing. The two astronauts, Laura and Mark, were astonished and went back to
the spaceship. They lived very happily  together on the new land and they had a baby one year later, the baby’s name was Michael. Every day they discovered new beauties of nature: beautiful falls enchanted mountain lakes, pink quartz crystal caverns, their life was happy and without troubles.
The child, Michael, was very clever and when he was ten years old, he discovered the stone door and he already knew its strange symbols. He found the clue to open the door . It was a star-gate and he and his parents went back home through it.
They came back to the old world but many things were different after so many years: no one knew them, the old world was noisy, polluted, crowded, hostile. The little family, after only two weeks went back, through the star-gate, to Eden-land, the new happy world.
Laura and Mark never went back to the old world, but Michael, after his parents died,  decided to use the star-gate another time because now he was alone. When he arrived to the old world, a few years later, Michael met a girlfriend who became his wife and with other friends, all together,
went back to Eden-land . They and their new families lived for ever in the new world and never came back.