A Talking Picture Page #2

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- Listen to this story I'm going to tell you.

- Tell me.

- You see that castle there?

- Yes.

Many, many years ago,

there was no castle.

There was a beach where

an exhausted mermaid sought refuge

after chasing the boat

of Ulysses, the warrior king.

Before she died, she left an egg

on the site where the castle stands today.

- Can we go and see it?

- No, darling.

The egg is also a legend, and it's said

that the egg lies under the castle,

in a golden cage.

That's why it's called

the Castle of the Egg.

This story was told

by the great Latin poet Virgil,

who liked the story of King Ulysses

and said, in memory

of Ulysses' voyage,

"As long as the the egg exists,

Naples will thrive and prosper. "

And now?

Now we're going back to the taxi,

because I want to show you

Vesuvius and Pompeii.

That mountain peak is Vesuvius,

perhaps the most famous of all volcanoes.

What's a volcano?

A volcano's like that mountain

that has a hole on top

and spits out fire and ash.

- But it isn't spitting out fire now.

- No, it isn't now.

But more than 2,000 years ago,

it buried the city in ash.

What city?

Pompeii,

the city we're about to visit.

The air was so thick

with ash and poisonous gases

that the people couldn't breathe.

- Did they die?

- Yes, every one of them.

It seemed like divine punishment

for a people who had lived a sinful life.

What is a sinful life?

That's what you call it

when people do bad and wicked things.

- So it was punishment from heaven?

- Some people say so.

These are catastrophes

that man can do nothing about.

Anyway, punishment or not,

everyone was burnt to death,

and the city was destroyed,

as we're going to see now.

- Now?

- Yes, now.

It's all in ruins.

Like I told you.

Behind these columns

are the remains of the second

most important temple of the city,

the Temple of Apollo.

Look.

See, here it is in ruins,

and this is what it was like before.

- You see?

- Yes.

The main square as we see it today,

and Vesuvius.

And look now.

- Here's the square before the catastrophe.

- There was no grass.

No, only these stones.

That lady getting on board now

seems to be famous.

Who? I didn't notice.

She's gone now.

This hill in front of us

is called the Acropolis.

Let's climb up and take a closer look.

See how beautiful it must have been.

This temple was dedicated

to the goddess who protected Athens.

What did people do here?

They worshipped their gods.

Now let's go to the other side.

Look up there.

Can you see?

It's enormous, isn't it?

It almost seems to touch the clouds.

Are you French, madam?

No, we're Portuguese, Father.

But we speak a little French.

You speak perfectly.

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