ALEKO'S ISLAND

Unusual background and readable story of modern Greece. Aleko's island, war-stricken and poor, is near Athens. His parents have been killed by a bomb and he and his unhappy grandmother live in a shed as servants of a rich Greek woman. Joy of Aleko's life and torment of his grandmother is a rascally goat named Lesbia, who leads him a futile chase, until by chance he uncovers a perfect statue of an ancient boy and goat. The whole town tries to trick the piece away from Aleko, and the grandmother regards the boy's refusal to part with it as a sign of disrespect. When she tries to steal it from him he runs away, and meeting a kindly itinerant painter he leads an enchanted life until reality catches up with him. With the help of the painter the statue is put into a proper museum and Aleko determines to be a scholar. There's slight suggestion of the complex problems of relief administration, where administrators bicker and supplies go astray.