The building of the tower at Plaka is the subject of several folk tales. According to one of the most popular, once upon a time the king of the island had a daughter as beautiful as a fairy.
Two lads famous for their beauty and bravery had expressed their admiration and waited for her choice.
But the princess could not make up her mind because she did not want to upset either lad, and so she became melancholic.
One day, the king, who was concerned about her condition, announced to her that he had decided to construct two big projects on the island.
One would be the building of a tower in the countryside, at Plaka, where they could spend the summer and enjoy nature, and the other an aqueduct that would bring water from the Kampones spring to the city.
But there was a condition: that one of the two projects had to be completed within a day. And so, he declared that whoever managed to finish one of the two projects first could ask for the hand of the princess in marriage.
When the two lads heard of the king’s declaration they agreed that one would build the tower and the other would construct the aqueduct.
With the help of his sister, one of the lads managed to finish the tower just before sunset and hastened to make his way to the palace.
But the same thing happened with the second lad, who had also finished his project at about the same time. And so, they arrived at the palace simultaneously and began to fight who would enter first.
Seeing the two lads fight for her favor the princess dashed out to stop them. But before she could do anything, they both lay dead on the steps of the palace.
Heartbroken and stricken with remorse, the princess decided she would not marry and would abandon the secular world.
When the king died, she moved to the tower and on clear nights would dress in white, climb to the top, sit on a tripod stool, look at the stars and predict the future with great accuracy. At daybreak, she would descend and lock herself in the tower again.
This continued for many years until, one day, the tower collapsed and the princess disappeared.
Many years later, some shepherds digging into the ruins of the tower found the body of the princess intact and brought it to the village.
In her honor, the inhabitants decided to name their village Tripodes, and the first municipal records were written on it.
Legend has it that the princess still haunts the tower at night, looking for her tripod stool…
| Source | www.tripodesnaxou.gr Book: ΤΡΙΠΟΔΕΣ ΤΟ ΧΩΡΙΟ ΤΩΝ ΑΝΕΜΟΜΥΛΩΝ (TRIPODES, THE VILLAGE OF WINDMILLS, in Greek), N. Kefalliniadis, a Tripodes Association publication (Athens, 1979). |
