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 princess and the nightingale

TALE

Main element: Air

Language of the original: French

Date of origin: 1881

Author: J.-B. Frédéric Ortoli

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

The princess and the nightingale is a corsican tale from the end of the 19th century. The nightingale is behind numerous tales, popular narratives and legends. Its birdsong is considered as both a sad song and a love song. Thus, the nightingale in love and the nightingale poet is a symbol largely popularized by many cultures.

Belladonna is a young and beautiful princess. At her birth, fairies give her the ability to transform into whatever she wants. When she turns fifteen, the princess tells her mother, the Queen, that she wishes to get married. The Queen is surprised because of her daughter’s young age but ends up agreeing.

However, Hop-o'-My-Thumb overhears his parents and the next day he collects small white pebbles from a river. During the evening, when the lumberjack and his wife lead their children into the wood, the small boy uses the stones to mark a trail that enables him to successfully lead his brothers back home.

The young girl announces to her mother that she wants to get married to the beautiful nightingale who sings every morning in the castle's garden. The Queen refuses, thinking her daughter is losing her mind. But the princess insists, explaining to her mother that she will transform into a nightingale too.

Distraught, the Queen decides to lock her daughter in the castle’s tower where a guard will keep a close eye on her.

However, the young girl manages to trick the guard and transforms into a fly. She then flies away when he opens the door to bring her some fruits. Once she is far away from the castle, she turns back into her natural form and walks through the fields looking for the beautiful nightingale.

Therefore, when the Queen comes to visit her daughter, the guard explains that the young princess ran away. The Queen sends him to find her. After looking for her all day long in vain, he finally sees her near a river. He asks her to come home but Belladonna transforms into an eel and jumps into the water.

The man goes back to the Queen and tells her what just happened. She explains that the eel was her daughter, and that he should have caught it. Thus, the guard has to go looking for the princess again. He catches sight of her into a field but when he gets closer the field turns into a deep forest where the guard gets lost. When he manages to find his way back to the castle, he tells the Queen what has happened and the latter answers: "The forest was my daughter. If you had pulled off a branch from one of the trees, she would have turned back into a princess again."

Thus, the guard goes looking for the princess once again. He enters a village and sees a priest reading a book in front of a chapel. The guard asks him if he has seen beautiful young princess. The priest does not answer but invites the guard to listen to the Mass. Angry, the guard goes back to the castle. Once again, the Queen explains that the priest was her daughter and that he should have caught him.

Bored with the guard’s failures, the Queen decides to look for the princess herself. After three days’ walking, she finds her sitting under a tree where the beautiful nightingale was singing. When Belladonna catches sight of her mother, she immediately turns into a rose bush.

But the Queen, who knows her daughter well, pulls it unceremoniously out of the ground and walks back to the castle.

However, during the three days’ walk, the rose bush loses all of its leaves and when they arrive to the castle, it is completely dried up. The nightingale, who has followed the Queen, sings the saddest song of all, crying the death of the princess.

During the three following days, the nightingale sings the same sad song, perched on a tree in the castle’s garden. However, on the morning of the fourth day, the bird does not sing. He has died of sorrow.

La jeune fille amoureuse d'un rossignol

LÉGENDE

Élément : Air

Langue d'origine : Français

Date d'origine : 1881

Auteur : J.-B. Ortoli

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

La jeune fille amoureuse d'un rossignol est un conte corse de la fin du XIXe siècle. Le rossignol est à l'origine de nombreux contes, récits populaires et légendes. Son chant d'oiseau est considéré à la fois comme un chant triste et un chant d'amour. Ainsi, le rossignol amoureux et le rossignol poète est un symbole largement popularisé par de nombreuses cultures.

Belladonna est une jeune princesse d’une très grande beauté. À sa naissance, les fées lui offrent la capacité de pouvoir se transformer en ce qu’elle veut. À ses quinze ans, la princesse fait part à sa mère la Reine de son envie de se marier. D’abord étonnée par le souhait de sa fille, qui est encore très jeune, la Reine finit par accepter.

Mais la jeune fille surprend davantage sa mère en lui annonçant qu’elle souhaite se marier avec le rossignol qui chante tous les matins dans leur jardin. La Reine tente de dissuader sa fille, la croyant folle. Mais la jeune princesse insiste, expliquant à sa mère qu’elle se changerait aussi en rossignol.

La Reine, désemparée et pour préserver sa fille, décide de l’enfermer dans une tour du château où elle sera surveillée par un garde. Emprisonnée dans la tour, la jeune fille parvient à tromper le garde en se transformant en mouche alors qu’il ouvre la porte de sa chambre pour lui apporter un fruit. La jeune fille s’envole alors loin du château avant de reprendre sa forme de princesse et traverse les champs à la recherche du beau rossignol.

Quand la Reine retourne voir sa fille, le garde lui explique qu’elle s'est enfuie. La Reine l'envoie alors à sa recherche. Après l’avoir cherché en vain toute la journée, il finit par l’apercevoir près d’une rivière. Il la somme alors de rentrer, mais la jeune fille se transforme en anguille et saute dans la rivière.

Le garde retourne alors voir la Reine et lui raconte ce qui s’était passé. Il lui explique n’avoir vu qu’une anguille dans l’eau de la rivière. La Reine lui dit alors que l’anguille était sa fille et qu’il aurait dû l’attraper. Le garde repart à la recherche de la jeune fille. Il croit la voir marcher dans une plaine, mais quand il s’approche, la plaine se transforme en une forêt si épaisse que le garde se perd. Quand il réussit à retourner au château, il explique son aventure à la Reine qui, très en colère, lui dit : « Cette forêt était ma fille, si tu avais arraché une branche d’un arbre, elle serait redevenue princesse ».

Le garde repart une nouvelle fois à la recherche de la princesse et rentre dans un village. Il aperçoit un curé lisant un livre devant une chapelle et lui demande s'il a croisé une jeune fille d’une très grande beauté. Le curé l’invite seulement à venir écouter la messe. Fou de rage à l’idée de revenir encore bredouille de sa recherche, le garde rentre au château. Une fois encore, la Reine lui explique que le curé était sa fille.

Ennuyée des échecs à répétition du garde, la Reine décide de partir elle-même à la recherche de sa fille. Elle finit par la trouver, après trois jours de marche, au pied d’un arbre où chante le rossignol. Quand la jeune fille aperçoit la Reine, elle se transforme alors en rosier. Mais la Reine, qui connaît bien sa fille, arrache sans ménagement le rosier de terre et l'emmène au château.

Cependant, pendant les trois jours de marche, le rosier perdit toutes ses feuilles une par une et quand la Reine arriva enfin au château, il était complètement desséché. Le rossignol qui avait suivi la Reine chantait la plus triste des chansons, pleurant la séparation de son amour.

Pendant les trois jours qui suivirent, le rossignol, perché sur un arbre dans le jardin du château chantait le même triste chant. Au matin du quatrième jour, l’oiseau ne chanta plus. Lui aussi était mort de chagrin.

Ortoli, J.-B. Frédéric (1861-1906). Les contes populaires de l'île de Corse. Maisonneuve et Cie (Paris), 1883.