My name is Fernando, and I was born in a small fishing village in northern Sicily. Our village is a little corner of heaven, and fish are plentiful. My father taught me his trade at an early age. Like father, like son. When I wake in the early morning, the scent of salt water prickles in my nostrils. The fishermen rise before the sun. I drink down my bowl of black coffee, pull on my yellow boots, and head over to the port with my father. Then we head out on our little blue-and-white skiff. We fish for anchovies, bream, scorpionfish, gurnards, whiting, mullet, scallops, swordfish, sardines, tuna, red mullet and squid. We’re spoilt for choice, because in Sicily the volcanic rocks and the warm seas provide endless troves of treasure. Sicily is fragile, governed by the whims of Mount Etna, but her horn of plenty never runs dry. We have the bounty of the sea, the nectar of the vines, our olives, our oranges, and more honey than we know for to do with.
When we’re out at sea, my father likes to tell me an old Sicilian legend. It’s a story that symbolises how we see our beloved island; vulnerable, yet protected by a great strength. We know that we will see our land relentlessly ravaged, attacked, devoured by lava, but Sicily is like the phoenix. Ever she will rise from the ashes, and never will she be swallowed by the sea. Never shall our sacred waters become our tomb. The legend my father told was that of Cola Pesce. Once upon a long time ago, there lived a boy whose name was Nicola, or Cola for short. Like me, he was a fisherman’s son. Like me, he loved the sea more than anything. He was always diving, swimming, getting lost in the depths and coming back to the surface. He swam so often and so well that he became a creature of the sea. To his amazement, one day he saw that his skin was changing before his eyes. Scales covered his arms, then his back, then his neck, and finally his whole body. His hands grew longer and his feet flattened out, and he grew fins! Far from being afraid, Cola dived into the water to enjoy his new abilities. He picked coral and seaweed from the seabed, and tickled the throats of the most terrifying creatures that lived down in the depths. He found sunken ships and lost cities, and past lives lost in the dark waters. Cola knew things that no-one else could imagine. But one fine day, King Frederick II heard tell of the adventures of this young fisherman’s son. Driven by curiosity, he sent emissaries to investigate. When they returned, they told the king of even greater exploits than those which had been reported to the court. The king could not sit idle at the prospect of such a marvel, and went to Messina to meet Cola Pesce.
King Frederick II decided to put the boy’s talents to the test. A crowd had gathered at the waterside, and the king threw a golden cup into the water where it soon sank to the bottom. Cola Pesce dived off a steep cliff, high and pointed like a shark’s tooth. His small, scaly body sailed through the air and plunged into the sea. He disappeared for some minutes, before emerging from the water with the golden cup in his hands. The crowd were stunned. Cola Pesce returned to the shore, and did not appear tired or even out of breath. The king was stunned, but he would not show his pride quite yet. He decided to put Cola Pesce to another test, and went to the water’s edge and threw in a single ring. The ring sank into the dark abyss. When Cola Pesce dived in again, he swam down many great depths, and then he observed something strange. He saw that three huge columns, hidden from view beneath the waves, were holding up the island of Sicily and keeping it from sinking into the water. Two remained intact, but the third was being consumed by fire. A shiver ran down Cola Pesce’s spine. He rushed back to the surface to warn the king of the danger, but Frederick would not believe him. The monarch was a sceptic, and believed only in what he could see with his own eyes. Cola Pesce insisted, pleaded, and urged, but nothing would work. Then, an idea came to him – he would bring proof to the king. He took a torch and promised to light it from the fire that was consuming the pillar. No sooner had he made his promise than Cola Pesce dived into the water and lit the torch, before returning in triumph to King Frederick II. The proof was irrefutable, and the king could no longer doubt him. But how would the people be saved? The crowd began to tremble, and they spoke of Sicily’s doom. The island was on the verge of collapse, and soon their homes and their children would sink into the waves. Cola Pesce saw mothers crying, and fathers panicking, and the proud king bereft. But the young fisherman’s son was as brave as he was agile, and soon had an idea to save his homeland. “I shall be your pillar, and with my arms I shall hold your land above the water,” he declared, before disappearing into the sea forever. Since that day, Sicily has held fast. Since that day, none have doubted the strength of Cola Pesce, and it is said that even now he continues to hold aloft the island of a thousand treasures.
Clouds were gathering in the sky; it was getting late. “We ought to go back, Papa!” said Fernando, as his father pulled in the nets. They held a dozen red mullets for his mother to sell at the market. The father took up the oars and pulled the boat through the clear waters back towards the port. Their day’s labour had been long, but fruitful. The waters of Sicily never disappointed. Fernando looked up at Mount Etna, wondering if she would rumble soon. The island was heavy, after all, and from time to time even Cola Pesce needed to switch arms.
Alan Alfredo Geday
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