Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, Temperance. They are the four cardinal virtues and animate a story intended for young readers, dressed in words of adventure and encounters with funny and wise characters, weaving emotions and witticisms, words and silences. Almost an epic undertaking, certainly a gift what is contained in " Whole life in your pocket " (Armando Editore, 2022, pp. 142), a volume that bears the signature of Idalberto Fei and which, thanks also to the illustrations by Laura De Luca manages to weave an evocative plot, a story of exploits and setbacks, of discoveries and awareness.
The story is set in suspended time , in an African oasis among palm trees and dromedaries, vegetable gardens and colored carpets. Sweet and welcoming, until one night the terrible Black Knights arrive and reduce all the inhabitants into slavery, to sell them at the market. Only little Ali is saved , hidden inside a stinking skin. He then reaches the splendid home of a mysterious prince who treats him like a son and places a single veto on him, not to touch that blue cord near his bed for any reason ... But as happens in any self-respecting fairy tale, it will be precisely the rashness and the curiosity of the protagonist, irresistibly led to break the ban, to bring about a change of pace in the story. After pulling the cord, Ali will begin to tumble and tumble, he will end up in the sea, another adventure will begin, one of many. And he will discover the meaning of four virtues too often reduced to simple words.
First of all, we asked the author of the book, Idalberto Fei, where did the decision to dedicate a book to the four cardinal virtues come from?
«It is said too often that young people have no values, but if you ask what they should be, we adults are the first to not know how to answer. Of course they cannot be God - Fatherland - Family, at least not in the restrictive sense in which they have too often been interpreted. So when Grazia Gotti - an international expert in children's literature and author of the book's preface - told me how the philosopher Remo Bodei complained that no one remembered the cardinal virtues anymore and she encouraged me to write a book on this subject, I immediately fell into temptation, accepting the challenge. I wrote it with joy, it came out a little every day like a tube of toothpaste, sometimes I was the first to be amazed, because what was born was a story of adventures, in a somewhat Salgarian fairytale Orient, between kidnappings, poisons, dromedaries, magic; the virtues were there but in transparency, never in a preaching form».
What can these virtues say to the younger generation?
«Fortitude (courage), Justice, Temperance (respect for others), Prudence (acting with awareness) can say a lot to young and old, they are the lay pillars of life, it is no coincidence that they come from far away, from the East, from Greece and then from the Judeo-Christian world. Yet, most people don't even know their name, much less their meaning, maybe they confuse them with the three Theological Virtues (Faith, Hope, Charity) specific to Christianity. Of course they can be useful, I would say necessary, in everyday life. Let's take the first one, Fortress, that is to say courage: how many disasters, how many tragedies for having exchanged temerity, looking for trouble, with courage, going after some new deadly game».
Which of the four cardinal virtues do you personally prefer?
«The Fortress, which is then going through fear. But I have a weakness for Justice. In the book, a big man, a cook who feeds the cats, explains it to the young Ali, catapulted onto a mysterious island by a whale; at the beginning he explains that everyone must be given an equal piece, to avoid discord, but in a second moment he speaks to him of fairness, a more subtle form that adheres to reality: give each one according to his needs, therefore two pieces to the skinny cat, only one to the too fat one. 'But it's difficult with cats, let alone with humans', comments the man before starting to peel the potatoes».
What virtue could be useful in the times we are living in?
«Temperance, understood as respect for one's own freedom and that of others, and above all as a refusal of aggression. With what is happening TEMPERANCE should be written in large letters on all the walls of the world. Even if there are still many people who cannot read this word».