Zacharias Papantoniou

“ Why make a shepherd out of him?
They've come to beg his grandpa to let him go. But his grandpa was scowling. Then Dimitrakis opened Lambros's notebook.
—Look Grandpa, he said, see how he's learnt to write. He only started the alphabet twenty-five days ago. And now see where he is!
—What's all this? said the grandpa, these letters?
—Yes, that's his writing; he wrote all that recently, all by himself, his own hand and his own thoughts.
Old Athanase raised his head, lowered his white eyebrows and took the notebook in his hands. He looked at it upside down. ”

“ Dimitrakis took the notebook and read the words Lambros had written, on his own, with letters as big as beans.
On Sunday we married our Aphrodo with chants and violins; and we have given her to Yannis from Colombe; and she kissed us and left. ”

“ What's right is right, said old Athanase. Up here he'll remain Vlach like us. It's good that one of my offspring is a literary man... Do you think it's fair, Mr Stephan, that two of my grandchildren leave me the same week? ”