Elias

Elias
  • Name: ELIAS*
  • Year of birth: 1820
  • Age in 1880: 60
  • Species: Cat
  • Race: Abyssinian

*Without a last name. In Abyssinian naming traditions, a person's full name consists of their given name followed by their father's given name. Therefore, surnames do not exist, and everyone exclusively inherits their father's name, which follows their own. This same rule applies to both men and women.

He is a pure Abyssinian cat originally from Abyssinia, a name often used in European languages to refer to the entirety of Ethiopia or (especially in scientific works) to the central and northern highlands of Ethiopia.

Elias and his wife Farah grew close to the Catholic faith during the colonial period thanks to Ethiopia's alignment with the Catholic Church in 1621. They decided to immigrate to Italy (a dream of Elias's) during the Era of the Princes (between 1830 and 1855), a time when their country was torn by wars for supremacy and religious conflicts.

Arriving in Sicily when Elias was 20 and Farah was 17, they already had a one-and-a-half-year-old daughter when they found work as servants on Domenico Verdi's land, where they settled down, happy and grateful for everything. Their daughter, Caterina (born in Italy) grew up to be strikingly beautiful, as it was often said in Europe that Abyssinian women were the most beautiful in the world.

Elias was deeply grateful to the Verdi family, loving his work in the orange grove and the town that had welcomed him. However, when he discovered that Caterina and Franco were in love, he initially tried to dissuade them for obvious reasons. Nevertheless, once Franco was orphaned by his mother as well, he revealed the custom of the fuitina to Caterina, and they ran away together.

Elias and Farah were religious, honest, and incredibly hard workers. Elias was a proud man, full of energy and a jack-of-all-trades, while Farah was an untiring homemaker with a passion for cooking and sewing. Together, they became adoptive parents to Franco. Elias, who immediately understood the complex family situation, became a guiding light for Franco, providing the father figure he desperately needed to help calm his hot-headed nature. He advised Franco to always remain indifferent to provocations and to just enjoy his life and what he had, taking on all the heavy work and responsibilities himself so that Franco and Caterina could focus on loving each other and having children.

Unfortunately, this beautiful and carefree life drew increasingly intense envy toward Franco, who was also in the habit of taking solitary evening walks after dinner.

Arancino had an incredibly close bond with his grandparents. Being the first boy born after four girls, he was immediately treated like a little prince and the family mascot. The grandfather found himself raising Antonio, who was deeply traumatized by his father's death and was the future heir to everything, but their relationship was difficult due to Antonio's stubborn personality. In contrast, Arancino's upbringing was much simpler, especially after his father's passing, as Elias wanted to shield the child from that heavy burden. However, Elias did not entirely agree with the way Arancino was overly coddled and spoiled by the women in the house.

Elias experienced deep conflicts regarding how to raise the boys. He had failed to protect Franco, and he had failed to protect Antonio. Now, he did not know how to handle Arancino and lived with the daily fear of making another mistake...