1. Students of the 5 th grade B´ Primary School of Pafos

2. A long time ago, Cyprus was a blessed and beautiful place. God gave to the island everything: woods, rivers, peace, love and lots of animals that ran and played in the fields. The island was full of ponds and delicious fruits. Everyone who lived there, loved all of these wonderful things. Lots of travellers visited Cyprus, to enjoy the wonderful weather, nature and to walk through the fields and play.Cyprus was a calm and blessed island...

3. But one time the beautiful island of love and happiness had a big problem. It stopped raining. Hunger, poverty, sadness and loneliness made many Cypriots leave the island. Thieves were stealing the island... Thousands of snakes appeared... Many people were dying...

4. Only a miracle could save the island... And the miracle happened... Great Constantinos emperor of Byzantium and particularly Saint Eleni, his mother, were going to save the island. Saint Eleni went to Jerusalem and there she found the Holy Cross of Jesus Christ. When Saint Eleni was returning from Jerusalem, she stopped her ship to Cyprus.

5. She brought with her thousands of cats. The cats got off the ship and immediately started work, eating all the snakes. During St Eleni’s visit to Cyprus, an angel came to her in a dream and told her that she must build a church in the name of the holy cross. The angel also told her that she must leave a piece of the holy cross in the church. When she woke up, she went straight away and built the church.

6. And all of a sudden the miracle happened… It started raining. All the people were happy. After that, everyone that had left heard St Eleni ’s miracle and came back to Cyprus.

7. Also, the cats did a good job... Cyprus became as wonderful as before. Everyone was very happy!!! Cyprus was so beautiful again!!! With lots of trees, rivers, flowers and cute cats... Everyone lived happily ever after!!!