A LITTLE SUMMER STORY

Maybe a carelessness, maybe too much false security, but who would have ever thought of this? One dies to save a drowning child, but to save a dog, come on! No, nobody thinks that this could happen.

One doesn't die for a dog. But Rosa Corallo, 60, from Pescate, and Veronica Malini, 54, from Cernusco Lombardone, drowned yesterday shortly after noon in the Fellaria stream, 2,500 meters above sea level, in the upper Valmalenco valley, while trying to save Brunilde, the mongrel dog with them. Their bodies were found by divers this morning further down the river.

A misfortune, a small tragedy of the late summer. Nothing compared to the really important events that fill the pages of the newspapers: the death of a mercenary militia leader in Russia, an Indian spacecraft on the moon, the melting of the Arctic ice.

As we all mourn our dead, those who knew Rosa and Veronica will mourn quietly and without fanfare. Nobody will mourn Brunhilde, she was obviously just a dog, what does it matter that two women died saving her?

In August, the sun crosses the constellation of the Dog. The ancients believed that these dog days were the time when madness could break out in dogs and humans. The Latin word "canicula" means "little dog" and refers to the myth of Erigon and her little dog Maira.

Erigon was the daughter of Ikarios, a farmer who lived near Athens. One day, Ikarios hosted the god Dionysus. As a reward, Dionysus gave him the grapevine and a jar of wine, and ordered him to let everyone taste it. Some of the shepherds who drank the wine became intoxicated and, not knowing what they were drinking, thought they had been poisoned and attacked Icarus in revenge. Maira ran crying to her mistress to warn her. She dragged her by her clothes and led her to her father, who was unfortunately dead. Seeing this, Erigon killed herself in despair, and Maira died next to her.

Zeus placed a stele among the stars as an eternal memorial to Maira. Since then, every year at the rising of the Dog Star, fresh mistral winds blow over Greece, bringing relief from the summer heat.

I like to think that all loves, if they are pure, remain forever in God's memory and oblivion never comes to erase them. So I pray as much as I can: I pray for Rosa and Veronica. And for Brunilde.