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Children

Celestino Tarambainas

By Marisa Núñez (texto), Mariona Cabassa (ilustración)

About this book

Celestino lives in a cabin near the river. He makes castles out of ice, hugs the trees and sleeps under the stars. His only companion is Rosamunda, as small as a dragonfly and almost as transparent. But one day Celestino is in a bad temper and Rosamunda disappears... Through the fantastic portrayal of a lonely character, this story examines the theme of social marginalization.

Book fragment

In a cabin in a small northern village near a river lived Quintin Crackpot. He was called Quintin Crackpot because he slept under the stars, hugged the trees and, when winter came built huge ice castles on the white river.

With the first frost, Quintin would walk the streets playing his flute, wearing a long silk cape that danced in the wind to the music.

With the first rays of the spring sun, he repeated the ritual.

Then he played to waken the trees from their long winter sleep and announce the wedding birds.

And so, year after year, Quintin, as a dream keeper, opened and closed the doors on winter. The children peeped through the windows, anxious to follow the flute player to the river bank.

Some people spread terrible rumours: tt ru he mothers, frightened their little ones would be led astray, kept them busy, until the music was lost on the edge of the village. That's why Quintin´s only company, apart from a lost goat or a stray dog, was his faithful Rosamunda.

Rosamunda was as silent as a cat and as small as a mouse.

She liked to hide in Quintin's pocket, and never said a word; but she understood the twitter of the birds and knew what the messages on the wind said.