4 ELEMENTS

Project logo
Improve the foreign language learning and intercultural competences of adults through e-learning

The project

FOUR ELEMENTS is an initiative called to raise awareness and appreciation of the importance of culture and heritage as well as to train educators working with adult learners who want to improve their skills and competences necessary in today’s EU labour market.

The project will take advantage of the potential of the common European cultural values associated to the 4 elements earth, water, air and fire) to empower adults to improve their digital, foreign language and intercultural competences.

The partnership expects to develop and deliver innovative teaching materials presented in a culturally accessible E-book consisting of European legends and stories – giving visibility to the underlying common EU values and principles, especially adapted to learners with special needs.

To achieved such objectives, partners will develop:

An interactive map: a collection of legends and stories related to earth, water, air and fire, in different EU countries.

Digital Books with national legends and stories related to the four elements.

Methodological recommendations for adult educators.

To find more information, access the Four Elements platform here.

Digital books

The nations of Europe all have rich cultures of myth and folklore which give the different regions their particular individual flavour. Here we have grouped traditional stories from Belgium, Estonia, France, Greece, Italy, Slovenia and Spain according to the four elements: earth, air, wind and fire.

They are specially adapted to adult learners and can be used to develop language or ICT skills among your students while enhancing intercultural understanding.

Alongside the stories, this digital book contains interactive exercises and is in Easy Read format. All the material in it can be downloaded and printed. Teachers and trainers will find tips and suggestions for how to use it on the Recommendations section of this site.

European partnership

Four Elements is an Erasmus+ KA204 project designed to highlight the importance of culture and heritage at European Union level. It aims to train educators working with adult learners to enable them to acquire the skills and competences, including linguistic and digital skills and competences, required in the European labour market.

The project is coordinated by : CVO EduKempen (Belgium). The partnership also includes DomSpain Consulting (Spain), The Central Library of Võru County (Estonia), Les Apprimeurs (France), Istituto dei Sordi di Torino (Italy), Slovenian Third Age University (Slovenia), MyArtist (Greece).

Erasmus+ project

Erasmus logo The European Commission's support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

The legend of Mistral

LEGEND

Main element: Air

Language of the original: French

To find more information about the legend, access the Four Elements platform here.

If the sun is often omnipresent in Provence, it is because it is associated with a wind well known to Provençals, and especially well feared, especially by the inhabitants of the Rhone Valley: the mistral. This dry and cold wind has always raised questions about its origins, and has given rise to many legends about it.

A long time ago, a wind master was born in the north of the Ardèche, in the Vivarais. From under the giant arch of an open rock, his sound emerges. Imperious, cranky, it swells into eddies, before leaving in powerful gusts sweeping everything in their path. Men have named it: the Mistral.

The mistral is unpredictable, when he is angry, he tears everything away, tiles, fences, trees.

In a village one day, the farmers held a meeting to discuss the most effective way to contain the Mistral. They decided to build a barricade around his birthplace, on each pillar of the rock, on a quiet winter's day. They used strong boards carved from century-old olive trees, which had been cut and sawn by carpenters years earlier, so that the barricade was extremely solid.

One morning, the Mistral found himself locked up. Furious, he began to blow on the boards, louder and louder, and the roar of his gusts was heard leagues away. But despite all his efforts, the boards resisted his outbursts of anger, he was indeed a prisoner.

Then, in rage, he threatened the village: "When I succeed in freeing myself, I will uproot everything in my path, there will be nothing left!".

"All the more reason to leave you locked up," the villagers replied.

"I curse you! Your country will be nothing but desolation, your lands will be swampy and infested with mosquitoes, water will swell in your fields and houses, fevers will kill your children and your elders. Ah, you'll soon regret doing this to me!"

When summer came, a great heat fell on the region. Frightful smells spread in the streets of the villages, aggressive insects attacked the elderly with their wrinkled skin and the children with their velvety skin. The stagnant waters became pestilential. Large clouds and smothering mists overwhelmed cattle and men.

The villagers consulted each other and decided to free the Mistral, because he dried up the soaked lands, dissipated the clouds and ultimately proved to be more beneficial than evil.

The Mistral, who heard the debates, promised that if he were released, he would be caressing and gentle, and would contain his natural violence.

But as soon as the fence was knocked down, the anger of having been locked up exploded within him. He began to blow, to scold, to accelerate his gusts until he carried away tiles and trees.

Then a little boy whispered to him, "But what about your promise? Did you forget it?”

The unleashed wind died down abruptly. Suddenly, he cuddled the trees, stroked the tiles of the houses, tickled the garden fences. And soon, all the misery the peasants had endured was a bad memory. But, we do not remake ourselves, and the old bad habits of the Mistral persisted despite his good will. To avoid breaking his promise to the villagers, he then decided to move further south, to other regions where he could give free rein to his instincts: that is how, since then, he has blown into the plains of the south...

La légende du Mistral

LÉGENDE

Élément : Air

Langue d'origine : Français

Vous pouvez retrouver plus d'informations sur cette légende sur le site du projet ici.

Si le soleil est souvent omniprésent en Provence, c'est parce qu'il est associé à un vent bien connu des Provençaux, et surtout bien craint, notamment par les habitants de la vallée du Rhône : le mistral. Ce vent sec et froid a toujours suscité des interrogations sur ses origines, et a donné lieu à de nombreuses légendes à son sujet.

Il y a bien longtemps, un maître des vents prit naissance au nord de l’Ardèche, dans le Vivarais, sous l’arche géante d’un rocher ajouré, d’où surgit son bruit sonore. Impérieux, grincheux, il se gonfle en tourbillons et en bourrasques, avant de partir en rafales puissantes balayant tout sur leur passage. Les hommes l’ont nommé : le mistral.

Le mistral est imprévisible, lorsqu’il est en colère, il arrache tout, les tuiles, les clôtures, les arbres.

Un jour, les paysans tinrent une réunion dans le village, afin de discuter de la manière la plus efficace pour le contenir. Ils décidèrent de bâtir une barricade autour de son point de naissance, sur chaque pilier du rocher, un calme jour d’hiver. Ils employèrent pour ce faire de solides planches taillées dans des oliviers centenaires, que des menuisiers avaient coupées et sciées des années auparavant, si bien que la barricade était d’une solidité à toute épreuve.

Un matin, le mistral se retrouva enfermé. Furieux, il se mit à souffler sur les planches, de plus en plus fort, et le mugissement de ses rafales s’entendait à des lieues. Mais malgré tous ses efforts, les planches résistèrent à ses accès de colère, il était bel et bien prisonnier.

Alors, en rage, il menaça le village : « Lorsque je parviendrai à me libérer, je déracinerai tout sur mon passage, il ne restera rien ! »

« Raison de plus pour te laisser enfermé » répondirent les villageois.

« Je vous maudis ! Votre pays ne sera plus que désolation, vos terres seront marécageuses et infestées de moustiques, l’eau croupira dans vos champs et dans vos maisons, les fièvres feront périr vos enfants et vos vieux. Ah, vous me regretterez rapidement ! »

L’été venu, de grosses chaleurs s’abattirent sur la région. Des odeurs effroyables se répandirent dans les rues des villages, des insectes agressifs attaquèrent les vieillards à la peau ridée et les enfants à la peau veloutée. Les eaux stagnantes devinrent pestilentielles. De gros nuages et des brumes étouffantes accablèrent le bétail et les hommes.

Les villageois se concertèrent et décidèrent de libérer le mistral, car il asséchait les terres détrempées, dissipait les nuages et s’avérait en définitive plus bénéfique que maléfique.

Le mistral, qui entendait les débats, prit la parole. Il promit que si on le libérait, il se ferait caressant et doux, et contiendrait sa violence naturelle.

Mais dès que la clôture fût abattue, la colère d’avoir été enfermé repris le dessus, et, laissant exploser sa rage, il se mit à souffler, gronder, accélérer ses rafales jusqu’à emporter des tuiles et des arbres.

C’est alors qu’un petit garçon lui chuchota : « Mais, et ta promesse alors ? Tu l’as oubliée ? »

Le vent déchaîné s’apaisa brusquement. Subitement, il câlina les arbres, caressa les tuiles des maisons, chatouilla les clôtures des jardins. Et bientôt, toutes les misères qu’avaient endurées les paysans ne furent plus qu’un mauvais souvenir.

Mais, on ne se refait pas, et les vieux démons du mistral persistaient malgré sa bonne volonté : pour ne pas faillir à sa promesse, il décida alors de déménager plus vers le sud, vers d’autres régions où il pourrait donner libre cours à ses instincts : c’est ainsi que depuis lors, il souffle dans les plaines du midi…