Aeolus conceived Aeolia on a stormy night. She had no friends, and spent her days all alone devising all kinds of traps for her family. Until one day Aeolia met, behind a hedge, a gentle-looking shepherd boy, who was none other than the god Mercury in one of his many forms. He handed her a magic box. Thanks to that box, now aware of her own beauty and the exceptional fragrance that enveloped her, Aeolia abandoned her surly nature and from that moment she was the most beautiful, perfumed and desired girl in the kingdom. The tale ends like this but no one knows how or why, the sheet of paper from the magic box fluttered around the islands for years and centuries until a lady picked it up and followed the instructions creating one of the best perfumes in the world.
And he called it Aeolia .
Aeolus had twelve children, six boys and six girls. Practically a football team plus the coach. The six boys were beautiful, vigorous young men with disheveled hair because of the wind that blew in the palace, and that their father sent here and there among the seven islands without warning. The six girls were also always disheveled, until a court maid invented the ponytail: from that moment on the girls walked around the royal palace in perfect order, combed and dressed magnificently as befits princesses. All the boys admired them and courted them, praising them for their beauty and intelligence. Except one.
Even kings make mistakes, as history teaches: Aeolus conceived Aeolia on a stormy night, when he had forgotten to lock the winds in the usual cave of Filicudi. One of those winds was so strong and rude that it entered the royal bedchamber and overturned it at the most beautiful moment, confusing the king and queen who found themselves lying on the ground without understanding what had happened. But Aeolus was still the king and master of the winds: he immediately called back that unruly wind and sent it back with a royal slap into the cave. The night became calm again, but by then the damage was done.
After nine months, Eolia was born. She looked very similar to her sisters, but during her childhood and adolescence she began to show her bad temper at every moment of the day: she pulled her sisters and brothers' hair, tripped them when they passed by, put salt instead of sugar, in short she got up to all sorts of things. She was also ugly, as well as unpleasant: let's say deliberately awkward. For this reason she had no friends, and spent her days all alone devising all kinds of traps for the family. But one day she overdid it, when she hid a salamander in dad Eolo's beard: the king got very angry and kicked Eolia out of the palace.
The girl found herself wandering around the countryside, feeding on whatever she found around, stealing fruit from the farmers and sleeping in empty wine presses until the September grape harvest. She wasn't exactly a beauty, her bad temper had gotten worse since she was kicked out of the palace and the kids, when they saw her wandering around the paths of the islands, threw stones at her and taunted her.
The exile had been going on for a few months when Eolia met a kind-looking shepherd boy behind a hedge of prickly pears. "Who are you?" the kind-looking shepherd boy asked her. "Eolia, you're the king's daughter," the girl replied rudely. "And how come you're going to go like this?" "And why, what's wrong with me?" "You stink like one of my goats," the kind-looking shepherd boy replied. "How dare you?! I'm the king's daughter!" "Who kicked you out of the house, everyone knows that. Listen to me, do what I tell you," the kind-looking shepherd boy replied. "Not at all!" Eolia replied stubbornly. "Look, it's better for you," insisted the kind-looking shepherd boy. "And what the hell do I get out of it?" Eolia asked, increasingly rudely. "Try it and you'll see."
The gentle-looking shepherd, who was none other than the god Mercury in one of his many forms, handed her a magic box, one of those he always carried with him because of the law of "You never know who you'll encounter." "There's a big basin over there where I give my goats and sheep a drink," he said. "Wash yourself and put on that white tunic that's in the box. But first take those things you find under the tunic, there's also a note with instructions. Follow them and sprinkle those magic essences on your body. Then get dressed and go back to the palace."
Back to the Palace? With dad Eolo still angry about the salamander in his beard?
Eolia, annoyed, opened the box that contained a beautiful silk tunic inlaid with silver, flowers, amber and mysterious balls of an ointment that she sniffed, finding them irresistible. Following the advice of the note with the instructions, under the pleased and also slightly mischievous gaze of the kind-looking shepherd, she mixed, rubbed, sprinkled, in short every inch of her pumice-white skin suddenly acquired a perfume never smelt before. Eolia put on the tunic and looked at herself incredulously in the basin, finding herself beautiful and very perfumed.
Towards evening she returned to the palace of King Aeolus, who when he saw her so beautiful and calm embraced her tenderly, saying: "My daughter, are you feeling sorry for yourself at this time? Your mother and I were worried... I see you have changed, though: what happened to you? You have a wonderful perfume on you, a fantastic concentrate of the fragrances of all seven islands that, modestly, bear my name. Where did you get it?" "I met a gentle-looking shepherd boy, who..." "I see! Always that vagabond Mercury... Well, one of these days I have to thank him. But now I'll call your brothers and sisters, and tonight we'll throw a big party for your return."
And so it was: dances and courtships intertwined, the musicians expressed their art at the highest levels, and the palace resounded with songs and laughter all night long. Aeolia, aware of her new beauty and the exceptional fragrance that enveloped her, abandoned her surly nature and from that moment on she was the most beautiful, perfumed and desired girl in the kingdom.
The tale ends here, but no one knows how or why, the piece of paper from the magic box fluttered around the islands for years and centuries, avoided storms and the high waves of the sea, the fury of the winds until it was picked up, as if on purpose, by a certain lady from Naples, who followed the instructions and thus created one of the best perfumes in the world. And she called it Eolia.