A Sea of Stories
GaudĂ Text Anna Manso Illustrations Sonja Wimmer
I
am an ocellated lizard and I appear to be
you like to come with me? I’ll show you
it is only worth learning about the lives of
marvels!” And I scrambled into the pocket
an unremarkable beast. Some think that
humans who have contributed something
special to history, humans like Antoni Gaudí,
what my father can do. He can work of his shorts.
He took me to the village and we entered
the famous Catalan architect. But I, for
his father’s workshop. I poked my head out
planet. In fact, our lives go hand in hand. My
man pounding a sheet of metal again and
instance, am the most famous lizard on the story is his story too. The story of two friends, a human and a lizard, filled with seemingly
impossible dreams which actually came true. We met in July 1859, in an olive tree grove
on the outskirts of Riudoms, the village
and the sight of the fire, the sparks and the
again to shape it into a boiler left me agape. Using his bellows, Antoni’s father fanned
the flames until a shower of sparks fell over Antoni and of course over me.
“Antoni! I’ve told you a hundred times
where the Gaudí family lived, though Antoni
not to come so close else you’ll scorch your
Reus seven years earlier. The evening of our
But we had already been slightly burned.
had been born in the neighbouring town of
hair and clothes!”
first encounter was a strange one. It wasn’t
Something else happened too. Small
There I was, resting, when two boys began
lightning. Antoni felt them too because
yet dark, but the moon had already risen. using me for target practice, showering me with stones. Without a moment’s thought, I bit them hard on their ankles. Suddenly, a scrawny, sickly-looking boy with red hair challenged them.
“If I were you, I’d scarper. My dad, the
boilermaker, is coming with a red-hot
whirlwinds passed through my body like when we went outside, he held me in the
palm of his hand and looked at me, startled. “Are you all right, Valiant?” Antoni had
found a name for me.
“Yes,” I replied and my newly discovered
voice surprised both of us.
“Valiant! You can talk! Or I can understand
poker he’s just taken out of the furnace to
you! It’s true what my grandfather used to
The boys fled in alarm and Antoni came
“What… what… what did you grandfather
wallop you with.”
say!”
over to where I lay and looked at me tenderly.
used to say?” I enquired, disconcerted.
aren’t you pretty?” he murmured. “Would
works magic.”
“Hello there you brave little fellow,
“That the boilermakers’ fire sometimes
Whatever the cause, from that evening on
Eventually though he made two good
we were able to talk and became firm friends.
friends at the Pia School in Reus: Eduard Toda
to be still, observing nature. Antoni was in
to school so we could meet each other.
Both of us enjoyed walking and we also liked poor health and stayed indoors for long
and Josep Ribera. One day he even took me “This is Valiant and I’ve brought him here
spells. When he felt strong enough, they sent
to study because he wants to learn to be a
I took him to different places like the Coll de
His friends laughed, but not unkindly so
him out for a stroll to get some fresh air and
dragon.”
la Desenrocada, a place full of big weathered
we didn’t mind.
Argentera. As we walked he told me stories,
magazine, El Arlequín. Antoni said he would
legend of Saint George and the dragon.
happy. He sketched me over and over again,
rocks just a short distance from the village of like the tales from the Arabian Nights or the
“A dragon is a lizard, like you,” Antoni
explained. “But they are enormous, and they can fly and breathe fire and they are powerful
and magical. The dragon in the legend gobbled
In 1867 the three school chums created a
do the illustrations. Drawing made him
and as he did so he studied me carefully with those eyes of his which saw things that nobody else could see.
“How I do like your skin, Valiant. It looks
people up, so Saint George had to slay him.”
broken, like a colourful tile that is thrown
eat anyone, but I want to fly and be powerful
thousand pieces,” Antoni said, already
“I… I… I want to be a dragon! I wouldn’t
and magical!” I cried excitedly.
“Well, I want to build magical mountains
like these ones! And houses! And palaces!” Antoni exclaimed. We both laughed, happy to spend time together.
But Antoni found it hard to make friends
with other children. And when it was time
to the ground and, smash, cracks into a imagining what would later become his famous trencadís, a mosaic technique using broken tiles.
In 1869 he explained that he was leaving
for Barcelona to study at the Provincial School of Architecture.
“If you leave, I’m coming with you.
for him to go to school, he found it very trying.
Perhaps in Barcelona I’ll find out how I can
“I learn more spending time with you or
And just as I had done so many times
The only subject he liked was geometry.
working on the boilers with my father,” he complained to me.
become a dragon,” I said to him.
before, I scrambled into his cape pocket and our lives changed forever.