The Town Where It Was Forbidden to Die

In a small town in Italy, the people had a real problem. The old cemetery on the hill was completely full. There was no room left for anyone new. The town was small, the land was steep, and a new cemetery was not ready yet. The mayor had to do something, so he made a very strange decision.

U malom gradu u Italiji ljudi su imali pravi problem. Staro groblje na brdu bilo je potpuno puno. Nije bilo mjesta za nikoga novog. Grad je bio malen, zemljište strmo, a novo groblje još nije bilo gotovo. Gradonačelnik je morao nešto učiniti, pa je donio vrlo neobičnu odluku.

The mayor signed an official order. The order told the people of the town that, from that day on, it was forbidden to die. Of course, no one can really follow such a rule. The mayor knew that too. It was his way of showing how serious the problem had become, and his way of asking the town for patience.

Gradonačelnik je potpisao službenu naredbu. Naredba je govorila stanovnicima grada da je, od tog dana, zabranjeno umrijeti. Naravno, nitko ne može stvarno poslušati takvo pravilo. To je znao i gradonačelnik. Bio je to njegov način da pokaže koliko je problem postao ozbiljan, i njegov način da zamoli grad za strpljenje.

When the people read the notice in the square, they laughed. They knew their mayor could not stop death, but they understood his message. The funny story did not stay in the town. Newspapers picked it up, and soon people all around the world were smiling at the little Italian town where, for a while, it was against the rules to die.

Kad su ljudi pročitali obavijest na trgu, nasmijali su se. Znali su da njihov gradonačelnik ne može zaustaviti smrt, ali su razumjeli njegovu poruku. Smiješna priča nije ostala samo u gradu. Novine su je prenijele, i uskoro su se ljudi diljem svijeta smiješili malom talijanskom gradu u kojem je, neko vrijeme, bilo protiv pravila umrijeti.