A long time ago there was a little church, no bigger than an ordinary house with small windows and a bell tower at the front. It  was built right on the edge of a high cliff, overlooking the sea on the island of Gozo.  Inside were a few pews, battered with age, and an altar.  On the wall was an enormous painting, done in bright, jewel-like colours.  It showed a knight on a horse, a lance in his hand.  He was San Dimitri, a brave warrior.

Every night an old woman used to come to the church from a little farmhouse nearby. Her nickname was Zgoogina.  Zgoo-gee-nah!  What a strange name for a little old lady! She used to kneel in front of the painting and pray, ‘Oh brave San Dimitri, protect my grandson from the pirates.  Do not let him be taken from me like his father and mother, I beg you.’  And she would place a bunch of flowers in a vase on the altar.  Wild poppies and dandelions they were, picked off the cliffs.  Zgoogina was penniless and could not afford to buy expensive flowers.

One stormy night, long after Zgoogina had locked the front door for the night, a pirate ship approached the cliffs. The pirate captain, Abdul Khan, stood at the prow and scanned the shore through his telescope.  Was that a light he could see flickering at the top of the cliff?  Yes it was, a candle near a window. Where there were houses, there were people, the pirate captain knew, helpless folk waiting to be plucked like fruit from a tree. 

With a growl, Captain Abdul called his men. His long finger pointed at the shore and the guttering light on top. 

"To land men. Bring swords and rope.'

Hastily, the pirates lowered a boat into the sea and no less than sixteen men, Captain Abdul among them, clambered in.

A short while later, the pirates were clambering up the steep cliff.  When they reached the top, they hid in the bushes, listening.  They could hear nothing but the sound of the wind in the bushes.  Captain Abdul raised his hand to give the signal.  Drawing their curved swords, the pirates rushed Zgoogina’s house.

Something woke Marku up in his bed.  He listened carefully.  Was that just the wind in the bushes he could hear, or could he make out the sound of pattering feet?

‘Gran, I think there might be pirates outside.’

He shook Zgoogina awake.  She too stood and listened.  By now the pirates were swarming round the little house, like bees round a hive.  Zgoogina blew out the candle! She pushed Marku into a cupboard under the stairs and closed the door.

‘Don’t make a noise in there.  It’s dark.  The pirates might not see the door.’

Behind her, the front door started to splinter. Thump, thump, thump! The pirates were kicking it in.  A moment later the little house was full of men yelling, pushing over the furniture.  The brutes tied up Zgoogina.

If Captain Abdul was hoping to find treasure, he was disappointed.  There was nothing in the house to take except a water jug and a broom.  Not even a drop of milk for his parched throat.  He got angry.  ‘Search the place again! There must be something we can take.’

‘Captain…..’ One of the men found the secret door. A hush fell over the room. Captain Abdul put his ear to the keyhole.  On the other side of the door, Marku tried to hold his breath. But the captain was not to be fooled.

‘Tear the door down, lads.  I think we might have found the old woman’s treasure at last.’

Before Marku knew it, he too was tied up. The pirates dragged him out of the houseand down the cliffs were their boat was waiting.  Zgoogina, looking out of the window, saw the pirate ship sail off into the night.  She crashed to the floor, sobbing, and at last she fell asleep.

When she woke up again, it was morning.  The sun was blazing, and the bells of San Dimitri were ringing.  Zgoogina heard voices outside her window.  People from the nearby village were on their way to church.

‘Help!’ she called, ‘someone help!’

The moment she was free, Zgoogina rushed to the edge of the cliff.  The pirate ship was nowhere in sight.

For hours she sat on the rocks, hoping, wishing, praying that something would happen to bring her grandson back.

And then, as the sun began to set, she had an idea.  She jumped to her feet and ran to the church of San Dimitri.  The door was open as usual and she slipped inside, feeling the cold floor under her bare feet.

Kneeling in the front of the large painting, she joined her hands together.   ‘Oh brave Saint Dimitri.  Bring me my grandson back!  I promise to light a lamp in your honour, and to keep it burning….forever.’

The moment Zgoogina made her wish, a breeze rustled the pages of the Bible on the altar. The grass under the knight’s horse in the picture trembled.  The horse’s main rippled.  Zgoogina stared.  The picture was coming alive.

San Dimitri raised his sword.   Then, flicking the reins, man and horse leapt out of the frame.

Farmers watering their crops in the fields outside heard the thundering beat of horse hoofs.  They looked up to see a knight charging towards the cliffs.  In a flash, his horse leapt to the sea below.   

Now the fisherman in their little boats could see him thundering across the waves as if the water wear land.

The moon had risen when Zgoogina, still waiting on the cliffs, saw the knight infront of her again.  She watched speechless as Marku climbed down from the horse.

‘Thank you, San Dimitri,’ he said.

Then the saint and the horse vanished.  When Marku and Zgoogina ran to the church, they found the painting as it had always been, the saint riding his white charger.  Zgoogina kept her promise.  She bought an oil lamp and hung it near the altar in the church.  When she died, Marku took care of the lamp.  He kept it burning, filling it with oil ever night, till the day he died.

This story happened a long time ago, when pirates roamed the seas and people still believed in miracles.  San Dimitri’s church is on the cliffs no more.  It fell into the sea during an earthquake and sank to the bottom.

But, strange to say, Zgoogina’s promise was never broken.  Fishermen claim they can see a light shining at the bottom of  the sea just where the church sank.  It is the old lady’s lamp, burning still.

There is a new church on the edge of the cliff now, and another painting of San Dimitri’s on the wall inside it. If you ever go to Gozo for your holidays, you can see them for yourself!  And if you stand on the edge of the cliff and look down, you just might catch a flicker of light at the bottom of the sea.