‘Leġġendi minn Malta u Għawdex’
Author: Victor French
Publisher: Kotba Merill / 2004
Pages: 87
For a long time Victor Fenech has been acknowledged as one of the greats of contemporary Maltese literature and one of the leaders of the Moviment Qawmien Letterarju, which led the renewal of the literature of Malta from the 1960s onwards.
Born in Ħamrun in 1945, Fenech has left his mark in books of poetry, translation work most notably that of Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet, and books addressed to an audience of children.
The book being reviewed today contains five legends that have already appeared in a separate publication published by Merill Publications between 1982 and 1983. Three of these are said to have taken place in Malta and two in Gozo.
The first legend regards Għar Ħasan, near Birżebbuġa and regards a Maltese girl who was kidnapped and tells of the strenuous attempts by the girl to free herself. Għar Ħasan, the cave high up in the cliffs and practically inaccessible, is an awesome reminder of so many people’s attempts to gain freedom.
The author gives us two versions of the legend. In one Ħasan was lowering the girl down the cliff face with a rope but she attacked him with a knife. Ħasan stumbled and fell down but he clutched the hem of her dress and she fell down with him.
In the second version the girl managed to kill Ħasan while he slept. She then went back to her people and told them how she managed to kill him.
The second legend takes us to a strange castle on the way to Ġnejna. The legend says this castle belonged to a very rich man who one day informed his daughter he was betrothing her to a very rich man from Sicily. The daughter refused to go ahead with this betrothal and when the day came she was nowhere to be found. After a long time she appeared in a vision and said she had become a nun and would not be coming back.
She had become a nurse and had been killed during a battle.
The third and last legend from Malta comes from Mosta. This big village in the centre of Malta is traversed by a deep valley. In the deepest part there is a small and quaint chapel dedicated to the Lady of Hope (Speranza). A young girl used to take care of her father’s flock in that area but one day she saw pirates advancing in the valley. She ran as fast as she could promising God she would erect a chapel if she was saved. A big cobweb covered her completely and she thus escaped from the invading Turks.
The first legend from Gozo takes us to the most northern of the Gozo villages, Għarb. Near this village lived an old widow Żgugina, together with her son Mattew. One day the Turks mounted a raid and took Mattew with them, despite Żgugina’s pleas. Desperate, Żgugina went to pray to the only painting that had survived the raid and as she prayed she felt something was happening but didn’t understand what was happening. Later, when Mattew was returned to her, he told her he had been saved by San Mitri who had come out of the painting on his horse and flew over the waves till he rescued him.
In a later development the small chapel sank to the bottom of the sea in a storm and its bell can still be heard on some nights.
The final story takes us back to Homer and the classical times. It tells us how after the rout of Troy the Greeks set out on their voyage to return home but a terrible storm broke all the vessels and only Ulysses survived. When he came to and opened his eyes he saw a lovely lady, Calypso. Over the next days she showed him she was ready to do anything for him but he remembered the men who had been with him and who were now drowned while his son and his wife were waiting for him in Ithaca.
He accepted to remain but after seven years he couldn’t take it any longer and fashioned a raft for himself and left amid the crying of Calypso. On wintry nights one can still hear her.
In his introduction the author points out at the many prejudices the book has, a relic of other times, and pleads for a less prejudiced future.