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Special gymnasium – luceum - Athens, Greece

     Once upon a time in the Ionian Sea, deep into the sea, there used to live a beautiful mermaid. One day, while she was swimming, she stumbled upon a treasure. Then, she called her friend, the shark, to show him her treasure and ask for help on what they should do with it.

 Suddenly, while they were discussing how they would handle the treasure, a fish net trapped the mermaid.  The next moment she found herself holding a few gold coins on the deck of a ship.

     The pirate who was on the ship realized that somewhere close by, there lay a treasure.

He took the coins from the mermaid, counted them on his desk, and got ready to go search for the rest of the treasure.

     At the same time, the shark, who was very sad that he had lost his friend, thought of using the problem-solving submarine to save his beloved mermaid.

And that’s what happened! The shark saved the mermaid and they lived happily ever after.

   Once upon a time in the middle of the Aegean Sea, a diver from the island of Irakleia went to collect sponges from the bottom of the sea, as the habitants of the islands have a habit of doing. 

     All of a sudden, in the middle of the sea, the diver sees a pirate ship.

There are only a few pirates on the ship, so he decides to get on it to see what’s happening with the pirates. He reaches the deck and finds a map on it. Then, a pirate sees him, and shouts to the others “Intruder!” and everyone runs to his help.

     The diver immediately grabs the map and dives deep into the sea. On the map, he finds a shipwreck, inside which there lies a treasure. 

     He follows the instructions of a map and in Irakleia’s seabed, he reaches the old shipwreck.

    He quickly grabs the treasure and leaves so that the pirates don’t catch up to him. That’s how he managed to get away and he lived happily ever after.

 Once upon a time a pirate was sitting and gazing far away to the sea through a telescope. After a few moments, he noticed an adventurer diving into the sea and then getting out with a bottle in his hands. Inside the bottle, there was a message about a hidden treasure on an island close by. 

    The pirate ran towards the adventurer, met him, and became friends with him. Afterward, they set sail together to find the hidden treasure.

   Once upon a time, a little scary shark had lost his family and he was swimming in the deep sea near a lighthouse, which is located opposite a Greek island, which is called Paxoi. The shark was found suddenly by a diver in the middle of the night. The diver was swimming in this area.

     In the end, the diver, fortunately, had a compass on him and helped the little shark to find a way to return to his family.

    Once upon a time, it was a very rainy night and, in the sea, formed very big waves. The fishes were in herds mixed with a shell and an octopus. The shell and the octopus had lost. The sea was so mixed and messy. They did not know what to do. Especially, the octopus had confused his tentacles. Fortunately, at sunrise, 

 the rain stopped, and a really big rainbow appeared on the horizon. The shell helps the octopus to untangle his tentacles. After this adventure, the shell and the octopus became best friends and always one followed the other.

Authors of the stories:

                        Kokmotou Marina

                        Aivaliotis Themis

                        Roussis Spyros

Agrupamento de Escolas Francisco de Holanda  Guimarães, Portugal

“A Lost Treasure”

    Once upon a time, there was a very lonely boy who enjoyed venturing out into the world. His name was Simon and, from a very young age, he was fascinated by hidden treasures. One day, he heard a story about a mysterious treasure whose wealth was unparalleled, and, delighted with the idea of finding it, he set out in search of it.

The young explorer began by looking in a large forest near his home but found nothing. Eventually, after having searched every corner of the island he lived on, he decided to travel to the neighboring island, where he hoped to have better luck in his search. Adjusting his square glasses and making sure he had his binoculars with him, he climbed into his boat and headed out to sea.

    After a long journey, Simon finally arrived at his destination. He spent day and night excavating every corner of that deserted island until, one day, while digging on the beach, he came across a small scarlet chest. Simon gently opened the small object and marveled at what he found – a heap of gold coins glistening in the sunlight. Eureka! He had found it!

    However, his happiness was replaced by curiosity when he saw a small glass bottle that the waves of the sea had brought close to his feet. Inside the bottle was a yellowed letter, tied with a crimson ribbon, and Simon hastened to remove the cork, excited by the mysterious aura that seemed to hover around the small object.

    Simon carefully unwound the tape and then began to read the letter.

    "Help! My team was sailing the sea, looking for new marine species to study, when one of our divers, Laura, got lost! If anyone finds her, please bring her back to Seymare Island!

    A distressed sailor, 

             Rodrigo"

    The youngster's eyes widened as he saw the date on the back of the letter; it had been written so recently, therefore, Laura must still be around! Determined to find and save the lost diver, Simon returned to his colorful boat.

    On the high seas, Simon was watching the sea, when his eyes fixed on a suspicious movement below the surface. Without a second thought, he threw himself into the water and swam to the source of the commotion. Underwater, Simon saw a girl, who was wearing a wetsuit. She must be Laura!

    Simon grabbed the young woman, who was about to lose consciousness caused by lack of oxygen and took her to his boat. Laura fell asleep quickly, due to her tiredness, and in the meantime, Simon began to count the gold coins he had brought with him.

  Later, Laura woke up, confused. Where was she? What had happened to her? Simon raised his eyes, which had previously been fixed on the countless piles of coins in front of him, and they met hers. The boy immediately became aware of Laura's doubts about her whereabouts and showed her the letter written by Rodrigo.

    - I found this letter on the beach of that desert island, west of Seymare. Thankfully I found you. It's time to go home, Laura.

                                                                    Beatriz Fernandes, 10LH5

    Tobias's story

    Usually, nobody knows what goes on at the bottom of the sea, but I do, and I'm going to tell you the story of my friend Tobias, one of the nicest sharks I've ever met. He's not the kind of shark we'd envisioned and he wasn't a predator or anything like that and yes, he was always willing to help others!

    Tobias was always with Ulysses, a puffer fish, Zeca, a seahorse, and Ulysses' girlfriend, Su.

    Every Friday the friends met at Tobias' cave, as it was a quiet place where friends could be more relaxed. But that Friday, they decided to do something different and went to the south zone, considered the most dangerous, as it was the zone where the divers were. They were exploring and Zeca, the seahorse, said:

    – Is it just me or is there something shining at the edge of that broken boat?!

    – Yes, I think so too. Is it gold? asked Su.

The group approached the boat and saw a chest full of gold and a golden

vase with emeralds around it. The friends had no idea how much it was worth, but they knew it was valuable. They tried to get the treasure but were interrupted by the arrival of divers. However, that wasn't even what scared them the most! They saw a net full of little fish and started to panic! They swam as fast as they could and suddenly, they heard a familiar voice scream for help. When they looked back, they saw that the voice was that of Zeca, the seahorse, who had been caught in one of those nets. Everyone went into despair and swam after those divers who were already near the lighthouse. 

However, it was too late, the friend was inside a glass box.

    The group was extremely desolated. Tobias cried day and night for a week, and with the loss of that friend, he swam away from the rest of the group and swore revenge on the human race, thus becoming what he had never wanted to be, a predator.

    This was the last I heard of Tobias. Now it's impossible to talk to him, because of those who took his friend from him and ruined his life.

    Beatriz Oliveira

The seashell

    Tiago was at the beach with his family when he found a brightly colored seashell and decided to put it to his ear to listen to the waves. Instead, he heard a peaceful, soothing tune. Tiago was ecstatic, and he remained enthralled, wanting to know who sang that amazing melody! 

Who might be able to help me? Perhaps a fisherman, he thought. Then he went to one for guidance.

    Tiago approached a fisherman on the pier and inquired if he knew who could have sung that melody, but he received no response. The fisherman did, however, add that the pirates might know.

    Tiago then proceeded to the location where there was a large boat with a pirate flag flying above. The ship's sails were large and white, and the boat was painted crimson. There were six pirates on board.

    Tiago approached one of them and requested permission to ask him a question. After responding affirmatively, he showed him the seashell and

instructed him to place it against his ear. However, as soon as the pirate saw the seashell, he said it belonged to Alice, a mermaid, who spent her days sitting on a rock filling seashells with her melody and then throwing them into the sea so that everyone could hear her voice, seeing that no one could see her. Tiago was heartbroken as he would love to see the mermaid and tell her how beautiful her voice was. It was at that moment that he decided to head to the beach.

    The weather had changed when he arrived, and instead of bright skies, there was now a rainbow, and in some places, it was raining. 

   He took the seashell home, later placing a note inside saying how amazing the voice in the seashell was.

   When night fell, Tiago left home and headed to the beach, where he threw the seashell into the sea so that Alice might read his message. 

    When he looked up at the sky, a shooting star passed by, and he wished that Alice would discover that her voice had reached human beings, and her dream had come true.

                                                                                           Cristiana Dias

Tim and Tom's Life

    Many years ago, at the bottom of the sea, lived two very different sharks, Tim, everyone's favorite shark, and Tom, the shark most didn't know. These two sharks had one thing in common: they were brothers!

Every day, Tim, along with his friends, would go for a swim by the coast, close to the lighthouse, to watch the boats, pass, and see if they were there just by chance or if they were there to attack them.

Meanwhile, Tom stayed in his favorite cave in all that sea, waiting for night to come, so he could go alone to the lighthouse to see the stars, without his brother and his friends bothering him. Tom had a special reason for going to see the stars every night: when his father was alive, he would go with him to see the stars. So, whenever he looked at them, it was as if his father was at sea with him.    
The brothers didn't get along very well, but it hadn't always been that way.

When their father was still alive, they were inseparable! The pain tore them apart.   

    One day, after everyone left, Tom, as usual, went to see the stars, but the unexpected happened!

A boat appeared that wanted to kill him, and suddenly Tom was caught in a huge net, full of seaweed. Tom, panicked, and began to scream, asking for help, afraid of meeting the same fate as his father. Luckily, Tim was with his group of friends, who heard him scream and rushed to his aid. Tim, with his sharp teeth, managed to tear the net that held his brother and thus managed to save him.

    After this near tragedy, Tim and Tom gave each other a big hug and wondered why they had drifted so far away after their father's death. Tom confessed that he had moved away because he felt a huge emptiness inside him and, therefore, he just wanted to be alone crying.

    Finally, they both realized that the pain they both felt, in different ways, should unite them and that they would never be separated from each other again.

                                                                                    Joana Oliveira Pereira

The song of friendship

    A long, long time ago, when fairies, monsters, and witches still existed, there was an unknown underwater world that guarded and protected all marine beings. And, in that small world, lived the most beautiful and curious creature in the entire universe: the little mermaid.

    Next to her, fascinated by her courage and curiosity, lived several marine animals such as the Octopus, the Clownfish, and the Zebrafish.

     One day, the young mermaid was swimming in the vast sea, when she saw in the sky a seagull looking for food. The bird told her about its adventures on Earth and the landscapes it saw, and so the young girl, fascinated, asked her father for permission to venture out on Earth. Her father allowed it; however, he gave her a mission:

      You have to find, in the most beautiful place on land, the lost gems that balance the royal golden scales, and, then, you will be able to know this unknown world.

    The adventure was about to begin and the mermaid's friends tried to help her, but she proudly refused their help and went to fulfill her mission. 

So, she used the magic compass to find the most beautiful place! And that's how she arrived at the famous lost volcano. The landscape was really impressive: the trees, tall and green, painted the forest green and the contact of the lava coming from the volcano with the sea created a path of burning fire.

    She decided to climb the volcano, but she didn't expect her new legs to get tired so quickly, so she chose to rest a little. Amazed, she looked to her right and saw some letters inscribed on the volcano: “To enter here, the music of friendship must be sung”. The mermaid sang all the songs she knew, but none managed to open the volcano. And that's when a human being climbed the mountain of fire and approached the mermaid. She was very scared, but despite that, she was happy when the man told her that he was the Octopus and that he had asked her father for permission to come to earth to help her.

    At that moment, the Octopus read the inscriptions and sang: “I left the sea, to help the young mermaid and now together we will return!” The portal opened immediately and the glittering jewels reflected in the mermaid's eyes. And she understood that it was not the song that was asked for in the riddle, but that whoever sang it felt true friendship for the person to whom it was dedicated. The scales, already in the sea, were balanced and, then, the little mermaid understood that we should never be proud and that friends are essential. Finally, the mermaid was able to begin her exploration of Earth with her beloved companions.

                                                             Mª Helena Fernandes

Structura “Roman-Mușat” - Liceul cu Program Sportiv 

Roman, Romania

An underwater adventure

    Once it was a beautiful summer day when five adventurers set off with a boat on the Mediterranean Sea, prepared with food and water supplies, a compass, and a map. They were going on an adventure in which they wanted to discover new things somewhere in a cave in the very deep sea. 

    They stopped at the place where the compass advised them, put on the diver costumes they had prepared, and leaping in the water, went further and further until they found a submerged wreck near the cave, where an octopus had been hiding. The adventurers continued their journey without noticing the octopus. They arrived at the cave and a shark guarded the entrance. Trying not to be discovered by the shark, they created a diversion to lure the shark to the sunken wreck, where the octopus was hiding. 

    The plan worked and the angry shark destroyed everything, but a shoal of fish managed to escape through a crack in the wreck. The octopus tried to catch them, but it had a tentacle blocked under a heavy piece of wood. Because of the shark and the fish, and the octopus as well they continued onwards quietly. 

The adventurers finally reached the cave, where they were amazed to find a huge treasure with about 2000 gold coins which, by a well-chosen decision, they donated to a hospital for people with infectious diseases, as well as for children with various health problems. 

                                           Levârdă Daria, Nastasă Analisa, 

                                           Ungureanu Matei, Bruma Lucian, 

                                           Simion David, Arusoaiei Maria. 

                                                VI-grade

Joe and Rayana’s Adventures

Joe was the son of a famous pirate. From an early age, he traveled with his father, sailing the high seas. At nights, when the ship was dancing on the murky waves, or in storms, his father would tell him stories of mermaids and hidden treasure. He had grown up with these stories so much that in his imagination the stories had become his everyday life. 

One day, Joe was on the deck of his ship and playing with a fishnet made by his father, when he suddenly felt something heavy. He pulled out the net and found a bottle with a message inside. "Help, help, help I am Rayana, on an unknown island in the North Atlantic in the Cape Bonta area, with a longitude of 30, I am a prisoner and my treasure was stolen !!!”

 Joe thought this was the opportunity to show everyone what he had learned and what he was worth as an explorer. That night, he took a small boat, a rucksack with a compass, a map, and some provisions, and set off to rescue the mermaid. When he reached the mysterious island, he explored it, going up and down until he found a net tied to a tree that led into the sea. Rayana was there in the sea. She was a mermaid, and she was sleeping crouched on one side, very afraid. 

Joe woke her up "Hey, mermaid! I read your message and I'm here to save you!"

The boy broke the net, released her and they set off together in search of Rayana's treasure. The mermaid told Joe that her treasure was on a ship on the other side of the island. At last, the two arrived, and they saw that the thieving pirates were celebrating, eating, and drinking out there on the beach and that they were a little drunk and confused. Rayana put Joe on her shoulders and reached the ship from the sea. Joe got on the ship and raised the anchor and took the ship out to sea. Inside was Rayana's treasure, food, and snacks, coins as far as the eye could see. 

Joe wanted to see what the mermaid's treasure was. Inside a great coffer, he found a black glass sphere. Rayana told Joe to break it. Out of the broken sphere came a powder and a purple smoke that surrounded her. Rayana’s spell was broken, and the curse was lifted; she was a girl again. This was her treasure, to become a normal two-legged girl again, to be able to walk and feel the grass, the sand, the earth beneath her feet. Rayana wanted a normal life, but from now on she would want to live it with her love, Joe.

Valentino Gura Mare, Alisia, 

Maria Cojocaru, Ana Iftime, 

Andrei Alexandru, Darius Pascaru, 

Larisa Apostol

 VI grade

The Angry Shark

Once upon a time, one night, one starry night

 An angry shark with a broken soul

was all alone in the ocean 

and he had no friends.

The next day, he was surprised to see a bright, 

 colorful rainbow and bright sun.

Suddenly the depths of the ocean could be heard,

a special song that came from an octopus.

 Fish danced around her and were very happy.

In the end, our shark's anger was healed!

Starpan Denisa, Niță Denisa, 

Grumăzescu Călin și Pruteanu Emanuel, 

IX B 

The diver and the Explorer

On a cold winter day, an explorer decided to leave for Antarctica. On the way to Antarctica, the boat hit a rock, because the wind was so strong that the boat was out of control.

When the explorer looked around, he saw a lighthouse, and he decided to swim up to it. 

When he reached the lighthouse, he looked around with the dusty telescope. He had seen a diver about to drown because he could no longer swim to shore.

The explorer, worried about the diver's condition, went after him and brought him ashore. Seeing that he is well, the diver thanked the explorer for saving him. After the storm stopped, they saw a rainbow from the lighthouse, which in the blink of an eye turned into a boat on which they returned home.

The explorer and the diver told their story to their friends, and it became known throughout the world. After this incident, they kept in touch and met again over time.

Gotcă Robert, Mircea Yanis,  

   Balotă Miruna, Cojocea Ștefania,  

Osieriu Mario și Bulgaru Eduard   

VI-grade

The little fisherman’s journey

On a sunny day, when the sea finally seemed calm enough for an adventure, Giorgios, the little Greek fisherman, set out on a voyage across the Mediterranean.

Suddenly the sky darkened, heavy rain started and the little fisherman got lost in the big sea. The waves of the sea hit Joe's boat. 

After the rain stopped, a charming rainbow appeared above the waves. But the evening came quickly.

    He didn't know what to do. He was lost without anyone to ask for help. With no clue and no help, he was puzzled and decided to paddle in the direction of the moon. Near morning, the little fisherman came across the coast of Crete. On that island rested Fin the Shark, who was rumored to be the most feared shark with the sharpest fangs. Joe told the shark about his problem. Fin the Shark gave little Giorgios a golden compass so he could navigate the sea to his home island.

 Ana Isciuc, Denisa Pascaru, Andreea Cobuz

VIII-grade

The story of OLY the shark

     The shark Oly lived with his brother Roy on the seabed. They were best friends. They weren't bad, human-eating sharks, they were good. 

  One day, a ship with many black sails arrived at the sea, led by a big and fierce pirate. The two sharks were playing around a submarine and on a coral reef. 

     During a storm, the pirate fired a bow and injured Roy. Oly was crying beside him. When the storm stopped, the ship left for the shore, without the evil pirate lying on the seabed.

  Oly helped his brother, and now there are two happy sharks.

Matei Chiriac, Daria Levârdă

VI-grade

Institut Escola Mare de Déu del Portal - Batea

Spain

Marc and the magic fish

     Once upon a time, there was a very young pirate sailing the seas, his name was Marc, he was the son of Red beard, he loved sailing on tropical waters, because although he was a pirate he didn’t like to steal, he just wanted to look at the different fish species that were hiding under the depths of water, sometimes those fish would go up, and he could see their colorful bodies. 

     On the day of his 15th birthday, he decided to go alone across the sea, as it was a family tradition to go sailing alone on the day of your 15th birthday, so he took his father’s boat and went into the sea to have some adventures.

     He wanted to spend the whole day on the sea, but he didn’t want to go very far away, so he just grabbed the food that was necessary for the day, and sailed away from the family’s port into the deeps of the sea, with the bad luck that a storm started forming just on top of him, he didn’t see the storm coming, and before he knew it, thick drops of water and strong wind disoriented him, and at that moment he didn’t know what to do or where he was, so he decided to focus on just staying on the boat and keeping it floating.

     As the storm passed, he realized that he didn’t know where he was, hours passed by, and he started running out of food, he didn’t want to eat fish, as he loved them and loved to see their colors, but he soon realized that he didn’t have any choice, so he tried his best to return to his home before he ran out of all the food, but sadly he couldn’t find the way home.

     He eventually had to start fishing, he caught his first fish, but he couldn’t eat it, it was the most beautiful fish he had ever seen, he decided to set him free, but as he was leaving it in the water the fish spoke, as he had decided not to eat it, the fish told him that he would help him, the fish grabbed all his friends so Mark the pirate could see them better, and all together they brought him back home to his parents.