Sant Jordi

Legend has it that long time ago there was a reign that was terrorized by a dragon. The dragon would demand to be given a child in a periodic way, it then proceeded to eat them. To keep the dragon away from their cities and his subjects calm, the king had devised a system in which the name of a child would be drawn randomly so that not even the royal family could escape the fate. And one day the name drawn was the one of the young princess. Luckily, the knight Sant Jordi happened to pass by, and he killed the dragon. The blood of the dragon made a red rose bush sprout, and the princess and the reign were safe from the dragon. 

Sant Jordi happens to be the patron Saint of Catalunya. Although I have never seen a dragon around. As I was writing the legend I realized that there are several plot holes in it. First of all, why hadn't anyone ever tried to kill the dragon before? Why did the dragon eat children? I mean there's more meat in a cow. Also, why did Sant Jordi pass by exactly on that moment? (There's a possibility I have actually forgotten some part of the story and there is a better explanation to that) Is Sant Jordi responsible for the extinction of dragons? If dragons as a specie were endangered, why would they let him kill it? I'm still thinking that cows are much more filling than children, specifically if you're a dragon. 

Anyway, every April the 23rd we celebrate that Sant Jordi contributed to the extinction of dragons with something that should become a National holiday. Men give roses to their beloved to commemorate murder, I mean love, and women give books to their men because,... Books are awesome, I guess. This means that the streets fill up with stalls selling roses and books, and there's lots of people on the street, and look at all those books I want them all and I want them now. 

Because I really love this celebration, I took a day off today and went walking around Barcelona. The most traditional place to go is Las Ramblas and that's were I went. Going in the morning meant there was less people, and there was an awful lot regardless. It also meant that the roses were fresh, and as soon as the rose stalls started lining up I was hit by the smell of them. It was lovely. It was good enough to make me forget how much I hate it when there's too many people around me. I searched the book stalls for some book I'd like to have. The bad thing about Sant Jordi is that the books they sell are usually new books, so if you're looking for something else, you're out of luck. I took a look to "Men without Women" by Haruki Murakami, which I really want and which I just realized shares name with a book from Hemingway that I also need to read. I ended up finding a place where they had books in English and bought "Trigger Alarm" by Neil Gaiman, because I've also been wanting to read something by him for some time. 

I always buy myself a bookon this day, and sometimes my mother buys me another because she knows I love to read. However, for several reasons, I've never been given a rose. Well, my father used to give one to me, but that was when I was a child. I've never had a boy give me a rose, and sometimes that makes me sad, because, despite me hating guys giving out flowers, it's something I want to live some day. 

A pile of books would work too, it would actually work even better.