Rebecca

Once upon a time there was a young girl called Rebecca who had never seen the sea. Her father was the captain of a merchant ship and even though his daughter had been keeping on asking him to bring her on the ship, even if she was brave from when she was born, he had never brought her with him. ‘You are too precious to me’, he used to tell her, ‘I couldn’t stand losing you’. ‘But you can stand seeing me sad and unhappy!’, she was replying to him, ‘Everyone in this village has travelled by sea, every single person! Why won’t I?’, Rebecca used to say, running out of her room.

A few days later her father had to leave and, as usual, he went to her room to say hello, but as soon as he went out, Rebecca, smart girl, dressed up like a sailor and, a few minutes before going out of the window holding a rope she had prepared before, she looked at the mirror: she couldn’t see now a sad girl but a sailor ready to any kind of adventure.

She climbed down the window and ran as fast as she could to reach the port: she managed to board the ship just in time, being scolded by the captain, to whom she really wanted to give a hug, but she would have revealed her true identity and would have been forced to go back home. Rebecca chose the false name ‘Pervinca’ and started to accomplish her tasks: peeling potatoes, cleaning the deck, cooking lunch and dinner, tidying up the bookcase etc. She used to complete her duties in a good way and singing like a bird. Her presence was a blessing for the crew, she was spreading happiness in the air. But, obviously, not everybody liked her, and she had a terrible enemy: Viola, the captain counselor, who used to envy Pervinca for her talent and her optimism. She decided that Pervinca had to disappear and she found a strategy to do it.

One day, the captain was in a really bad mood because he was thinking of his daughter, who he believed to be far from him. ‘Oh, if only Rebecca was here!’ he was saying sadly, ‘Even if Pervinca looks like her a lot!’...’Captain, captain!’ Viola said ‘What if we made a party on the ship? You will get a better mood for sure! As for me, I would never invite Pervinca!’ ‘And why?’ asked the captain, ‘That girl works so hard and keeps the crew happy’.

‘She doesn’t have the right clothes: she would look too bad!’ Viola said. ‘If this is the problem, then there’s no problem! I will borrow her one of the dresses i keep here for my daughter. In this way I will think I have her near me’, replied the captain. ‘And now go tell the crew about the party! Everybody should be there! Hurry up!’ While Viola was telling the crew about the party, the captain went to find Pervinca. He gave her the dress and told her about the party. She felt bad: if she changed her hairstyle or her look, her father would have realised who she really was and her strategy would have failed.

‘I thank you for your intentions sir, but I think I don’t really want to participate in the party! I like reading alone in my room, not being surrounded by people and be forced to dance!’ tried to say Pervinca. ‘I beg you, Miss Pervinca, you would remind me my daughter, so far from me! Oh, if the sea wasn’t so treacherous, I would bring her with me! She would like it so much…’ said the captain. ‘Ok, I will be there’, finally said Rebecca, ‘but don’t ask me to braid my hair, i couldn’t do it.’

‘I thank you and kindly ask you to be on time, Miss Pervinca, the party will start at 7 p.m. See you this night!’ And he went away happy and satisfied. Pervinca felt relieved and looked at the time: it was 6 p.m.! She had a shower, dressed quickly and looked at herself in the mirror: she really looked like the one she was before boarding that ship. So she made up her face darker and went up to the deck. When she reached the captain, he told her, ironically: ‘Are you sure you are not my daughter?’ ‘Sure!’ she replied, a little worried. She went away from him: after having worn a pair of sailor shorts for such a long time, she was feeling uncomfortable with that skirt… She kept being silent.

The party began and Pervinca couldn’t stop singing and dancing as everybody wanted to dance with her. At the end of the party, very tired, she sat and Viola could finally realize her strategy. Viola, in fact, while the party was going on, killed a sailor and put his body under Pervinca’s bed; then she went out shouting: ‘Come! There’s a dead man under Pervinca’s bed! Please come!’.

As soon as she finished shouting, the music and the ballets ended and a sort of suspense started. Everybody looked at Pervinca who quickly went to her room to dress up and make that story clear.

The crew followed her and, as the body was found, they sentenced her to death. She run towards the captain, gave him back the dress he had borrowed her and said: ‘Everyone has to know who I really am!’, and run to the toilet to wash the dark off her face, while the captain was shouting. He realised who she really was and asked her what had happened.

‘I didn’t kill anybody. I couldn’t ever do it and you know it. Though, I saw Viola, before, coming here on the deck, talking to that person who was found dead. I think that she murdered him just to get rid of me.’ ‘So, now I will punish her!’ shouted the father, and went out of the room where he was with Rebecca, to explain the crew what had really happened.

But there was a bigger problem: the ship had been attacked by a giant octopus! The captain tried to protect his daughter bringing her under the deck but she was already climbing the main mast.

Astonished, the crew was looking at the scene. When she had reached the top, with the help of a rope, she started turning around the main mast hitting the octopus with her body, and hurting it. The captain was lowering the lifeboats for the crew. Viola was left out the lifeboats for revenge. When Rebecca saw that the lifeboats were almost full, she jumped on the deck and went on the lifeboat where her father was. While everyone was leaving the ship, Viola had been eaten by the octopus.

Rebecca became captain of the ship after her father. She lived happily and she died when it was her moment, going away in a light and sweet way, as a sea breeze.