La Caleche

La Caleche was a strikigly beautiful ship. Elegant majestic lines. It was the proud of the country, curageuosly navigating seas, carrying on board the best of anybody had seen: wonderful royal silk, precious gold, rare spices. She saw in her life so much beauty, sunrises, exotic shores, powerful fortresses. She was a lucky ship, it got out of many dangers, unscathed. They said one time, as dusk turned to night, La caleche was sailing peacefully carrying in her sails the most beautiful silk anyone had ever seen. Its colors were amazing, a magnificent red with golden intricate lines… deemed for an empress. Its texture was so delicate as if it had been sewn by angels. One could spend days admiring at the lines, feeling the texture. It was as the ship itself was proud of it.

Gentle waves rolled in petting the ships elegant belly.

The story says that the god of the seas himself was jealous of the ship’s beauty and its sails, because this beauty it was made by humans, not by gods. And this time, the god thought, yes, today, he will have it all gone. I had enough of this, he siad, in his blinding envy. So he came to the surface, in a wirbel of waves, winds and foam. The sky turned black. Everyone on the ship froze in horror. They knew what was about to happen. They knew their end was near. As the god of the sea raised his hand, dark water dripping along it, the younger of the sailors, a clever little thing, shouted to everybodys stupor: „Oh god of the seas, we have the most beautiful offering for you!“ He then ran away and got the beautiful fabric the ship was carrying, climbed up the mast, and let it roll down. In that moment, a last ray of sunshine threw light on the fabric that was rolling down into the water. It was as if the web of beautiful lines was alive…. it was as if it was singing the most beautiful of tunes. The god’s hand stopped in its motion. His eyes were lit. …..Was it greed? Was it happiness? Was it surprise? Was it… Next thing the sailor saw, it was how the fabric sank into the dark sea water and the sky and the seas was clear again.

The ship has been resting in a harbor for many years now. Old people say that some nights, when the sky is black, it drifts away and instead of its dark sails, it puts up a magnificent red fabric with intricate gold lines… deemed for an empress.

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