Giorgis Nomikos FLOUFLA THE REBELLIOUS PIG

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Giorgis Nomikos FLOUFLA THE REBELLIOUS PIG"

Claire Bishop
5 years ago
Views:

2 Copyright Giorgis Nomikos 2014 Published in England by AKAKIA Publications, 2014 Giorgis Nomikos FLOUFLA THE REBELLIOUS PIG ISBN: Copyright Giorgis Nomikos 2014 CopyrightHouse.co.uk ID: Translation by Carlos A. R. de Souza Cover Image, Interior Illustrations & Drawings by Angelos Konstantinou Mixed and Designed by AKAKIA Publications St Peters Vicarage, Wightman Road, London N8 0LY, UK T F All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission in writing of the Author and the AKAKIA Publications, at the address above. 2014, London, UK

3 Giorgis Nomikos FLOUFLA THE REBELLIOUS PIG

4 No pig was harmed during the production of this book.

5 Contents Prologue The Pig Farm The Slaughterhouse On The Road At The Front Yard In the Kitchen Passersby at the garden At The Beehive The Emergency Council It s show time! The Meadow About the Author About Angelos Konstantinou About Carlos A. R. de Souza

6 Prologue A long time ago, there was a pig who always defied everyone and everything. She was always the first to participate in public protests held by animals against being used by people, and didn t like the idea of her or other animals becoming steaks and hamburgers; in fact, she always wore a label which said, We pigs are not people s food nor do we follow them. She was the leader of all pigs, and all of them admired her; thus, it s no secret she held an admirable position in Pig Politics. However, because of her threatening position, Floufla was sent to a farm a few years later.

7 The Pig Farm When Floufla arrived at the pig farm, she saw thousands of pigs confined together,restricted into small places; and as soon as she arrived, they panicked... The truth was that the Pig Farm was really crowded, and therefore they would slaughter one or two pigs per day; thus, the grunts of everyone at the Pig Farm became endless and restless. However, always with a smile on her face, Floufla tried to calm down the troubled pigs by telling them what was happening. What are we going to do now, Floufla? a pig asked. And another asked, Are we going to be treated like domestic animals, such as dogs and cats? Oh, my dear friends... she continued, reluctantly, I wish we would be considered as pets... we would live a golden life. Unfortunately, we are going to end up as steaks with delicious lemons on our tops or as juicy burgers to be eaten at a fast-food. Oh, my dear friends... she sighed. Oh, no! The Tsiknopempti 1 is coming! said one pig; and it continued, restless: We are going to be sent to a butchery! We are going to end as pork-rolls at supermarkets, said another pig. And yet another: Or meatballs... they have prepared many recipes to cook us! I don t like where this is going. said Floufla. And she continued, scheming the plan: I think we could get the flu and then spread But as soon she tried to think of a plan, Floufla heard an ominous noise, and said: 1. Tsiknopempti (tsnika = grilled food and pempti = Thursday ) is a festival that happens before Catholic Orthodox Easter, on a Thursday. It s a day when Greeks eat a lot of meat, dance and celebrate.

8 Shh, silence! Someone is coming! And just as she had barely finished the sentence, the slaughterer and his eldest son came in. The poor pig was terrified, and rightly so: the son pointed at Floufla, seemingly sealing her fate. Dad! This one! He yelled. And the father smiled, praising the boy: What a big, fat pig. You have good taste, son! They both got the pig and the three went to the slaughterhouse. Needless to say, the remaining pigs became very sad...

The Slaughterhouse The poor pig went to the slaughterhouse with her head raised high, and with great difficulty walked through the hay, trying to resist the slaughtering with all her might.

9 The Slaughterhouse The poor pig went to the slaughterhouse with her head raised high, and with great difficulty walked through the hay, trying to resist the slaughtering with all her might. Then, the slaughterer grabbed his great knife, but a few seconds before it hit Floufla s belly... the slaughterer saw her lying on the hay, as if dead! Did it have a heart attack? asked the son. Yeah, it must be what happened, the butcher said. It must have been terrified because of the knife, and then it had a heart attack. Well, I guess it s better this way: if I killed it, the car would be stained with filthy blood. And to them, indeed, Floufla seemed dead.

About the Author Giorgis Nomikos is a graduate of the Agronomy School of the Technological Institute of Crete and has also received training in script writing by the Union of Greek Scriptwriters.

10 About the Author Giorgis Nomikos is a graduate of the Agronomy School of the Technological Institute of Crete and has also received training in script writing by the Union of Greek Scriptwriters. His interests regarding his chosen study specialisation are related to ecology and nature. He is particularly attracted to insects which he used to fearlessly catch and observe since his early years. It is worth noting that he also organised a small seminar on the subject of controlling insect behaviour in relation to the light spectrum in the School amphitheatre. Floufla, the Rebellious Pig is his first story addressed to both the young and the grown-ups drawing his inspiration for it during his entomology lessons. He completed it a few years later, when he came cross it as it was buried in some drawer, and it represents his first attempt at story-writing. It is an allegorical and also humorous story.

11 About Angelos Konstantinou When Angelos Konstantinou does not ride his bike, he sketches things. Most of them are comics. That was the case after 2006, when he won first prize for best story in the contest held by the Real Comics magazine, with his comic There, in the Pit. Since then, he published his comics albums There, in the Pit and Beyond the Pit (Ψυχής τα Λαμπυρίσματα Publications) and The fate of Milton Persides (story by B. Chilas, Phase Productions Publications). Yet, his real talent lies in attracting the proper partners. So, apart from Vasilis Chilas, with whom he created The fate of Milton Persides, he drew and lent his voice talent to Bozo the dog for the game Lazy Dogs (available for free download to all smartphones) and create storyboards for television advertising. Recently, he illustrated George Nomikos fairy tale, Floufla, the Rebellious Pig.

12 About Carlos A. R. de Souza The Strings of Fate told he would be born in September 13th, 1985, and that literature would be one of his passions. However, Fate has the oddest sense of humor. From his faint memories as a kid, he remember they had this huge bookshelf at home. It had a bit of everything: from psychoanalysis to Encyclopedias, to Multilanguage dictionaries. He remember, though, that He would spend a lot of his time reading the fairytales. They were written in neatly illustrated books that would hypnotize him and make him lose the track of time. What fate had in store for him, though, was that it decided he would be Brazilian. And although Brazil has a beautiful nature landscapes that you would think you could only see in heaven and birds of the heavenliest hues Brazil is a land hostile to literature, full of thorns and rocks. The seasons changed and the time passed; He kept reading and loving to read. He graduated in Media and Advertising. He learned that text must be written with passion, and, eventually, he met Giorgis. And Giorgis had a dream: to resurrect the tradition of Greek fairytales. But he could not tell him that directly: his dream was reflected on the love he spent writing his book. You see, Giorgis had Floufla, a little story about a pig that wants to be free. He is not fluent in Greek himself, so he helped him understand it. And he understood that Floufla did not want just to be free from the slaughterhouse in the book: Floufla wanted to be free to get her message. He understood the message, and he helped redesign the book. Angelos Konstantinou, a common friend of ours and the illustrator, redrew some of the illustrations in the high-quality a true book deserves. They scanned the carefully handcrafted watercolor illustrations in high-quality, and after a throughout revision to refine the text, the book came to existence. And, a fluent English speaker and with the help of Giorgis, they also translated and rewrote the book to an English audience. He hopes you will help Floufla become the influent politician in everyone s head and tell them that even ants have their place in the world, and that, to be free, we must fight for it. Freedom will not come from a stray butterfly. It will come from our will to persevere, even in front of a wild dog, and to be sharp as bees. He is sure the Strings of Fate have great treasures in mind for those who strive for true freedom: not just political freedom, but freedom to think and transform.

BAKED SALMON. For anyone who would like to become familiar with the words of this popular Hymn: How Great Thou Art

BAKED SALMON. For anyone who would like to become familiar with the words of this popular Hymn: How Great Thou Art BAKED SALMON For anyone who would like to become familiar with the words of this popular Hymn: How Great Thou Art Peter Spyros Goudas transcribed by Bernadette Scott BAKED SALMON We know that you do not