IN SICILY THEN AND NOW

New Zealand Listener, Volume 9, Issue 217, 20 August 1943, Page 5

IN SICILY THEN AND NOW

(Written for "The Listener" by .

EDNA

PARSONS

| HE love of Greek drama, which was mentioned lately in The Listener as being a _ noticeable characteristic of the early Syracusan, has never left him, for every three years Syracuse has a festival of Greek drama, played in the old theatre back of the city. The last one was held in the early spring of 1939, and the posters showing a Greek mask and the words Oedipus and Alcestis, though tattered, were still in evidence, when I was there a few months later, Spring in Sicily is enchanting. Wild flowers are as profuse and the weather is perfect with clear skies and windless days, and both lovely as in Switzerland; sea and sky are that rich deep blue which Sicilians declare fades as summer advances. To see a performance in that perfect natural setting, in perfect weather and given by first-class players, must be an agreeable experience. Decorated Carts Another piece of news that interested me especially was that telling how the residents about Palermo returned to their homes with their possessions piled up in their carts. Those carts are remarkably picturesque. Every inch of them is painted, not just in red and blue as some of our own drays are, but’ with intricate and beautiful designs in brilliant and beautiful colours. In many cases the panels will have pictures painted on them, but even the humblest farm dray has its patterns, There is an idea that these designs are of Saracen origin. To me they seemed very much like the designs the buatmen of Malta use on their row boats. The custom of decorating like this is very old, and though from our point of view it seems unnecessary, it certainly

does "lend enchantment to the view." The harness, too, is very much beautified, and the horses seem to enjoy carrying their topknot of pompoms and feathers. For my own part, I thought a little more attention to the condition of the horses would have been a better idea, for they are a skinny looking lot as a rule, the donkeys being in much better condition. These carts with the family possessions piled on top would be a picturesque sight as they hurried back to their homes. The copper cooking utensils and great pottery water jars would attract our eyes, as would the gaily-striped and embroidered cloths, but the most noticeable thing of all, I am sure, would be the thick white dust over-all. Pronto and Presto When I read lately of a reporter armed only with a revolver, banging at the door of a stone house some way out of Syracuse and _ shouting fiercely "Advanco, pronto, bastardos," I remembered how in Syracuse I used that very word "pronto" myself in a flurry of annoyance and complete inability to remember anything else. I had a driver

who was new to me and who seemed calmly indifferent to the fact that I was not out for my usual "cooler" but to catch a rail-car for Messina. My attempts at Italian left him unmoved, and at last, in despair, I resorted to poking him furiously in the back and barking as I did so, "Pronto, pronto, you silly ass!" I should say that "presto," which is more what I meant, is a word not often used during the summertime in Sicily, for the heat is stupefying. The thought of fighting in that heat horrifies me. I don’t see how it could have been undertaken but for the desert training.

It seemed to me that the heat of Sicily was harder to bear than that of Cairo. It is a dry, piercing heat, and does not seem to ease off even at night. The dust of the country roads, too, has to be seen, and swallowed, to be believed; fine as flour and inches thick. There are small black vipers to be seen occasionally, harmless unless interfered with, and to see one getting through the dust is an interesting sight. It filled me with sympathy (wrong attitude towards snakes, I know!) to see such a painful progress. I thought of the verses by A, A. Milne about Ernest the snail, who made a "huffing" noise, I think he must have been in Sicily.