Italian Folktales (117 page)

The poor blind girl there in the cave began calling for help, and a little old man passing by heard her. Seeing how badly off she was, he carried her to his house, which then filled up with pearls, diamonds, roses, eels, and jasmine. He filled two baskets with all those things and went and stood under the king's windows.

“Tell him,” the girl had advised, “that you're selling them in exchange for eyes.”

The marquise called him immediately, gave him one of her niece's eyes, and took all the beautiful things, with the intention of telling the king her daughter produced them. The old man carried the eye back to the girl, who put it in place once more.

The next day he returned to the palace with two more baskets. The marquise, who was anxious to convince the king that her daughter continuously produced eels and jasmine, immediately paid with the other eye. But the king was not to be taken in, for every time he went up to the girl, her breath was still the same.

Now that she had her sight back, the pretty cousin could embroider. She embroidered a large square of material with her own portrait, displaying it for sale on the boulevard on which the king's palace stood. The king came by, saw the portrait, shuddered, and asked the old man who had embroidered it. The old man revealed everything. The king had the maiden brought to the palace, boiled the marquise and her daughter in oil, and lived happily from then on with his little queen.

 

(
Province of Ragusa
)

184

Once, so the tale goes, there were two muleteers who were friends. One of the men put all his trust in God, the other put all his in the Devil. One day as they traveled along together, one of them said to the other, “Friend, it is the Devil who helps us.”

“No,” replied the other, “whoever trusts in God is helped by God.” They argued back and forth, and finally the man with faith in the Devil said, “Friend, let's bet a mule.”

At that moment a knight dressed in black rode by (it was the Devil in disguise), and they asked him which one of them was right. “
You
are right,” replied the knight, “it is the Devil who helps you.”

“You see?” said the man, and took the mule. But his friend wasn't convinced, so they bet again, submitting this time to the judgment of a knight dressed in white (still the Devil, in a new disguise). And so, staking one mule after the other and constantly running into the Devil in disguise, the man with faith in God lo?t all his mules. “In spite of everything, I still believe
I
am right,” he said. “I would even bet my eyes on it.”

“Very well, let's make still another bet,” said his friend. “If you win, you'll get back all your mules. If I win, you'll give me your eyes.”

They met a knight dressed in green and asked him who was right. “That's easy,” answered the knight. “The one who helps you is the Devil.” And he spurred his horse onward.

So the man who trusted in the Devil took out the eyes of the one who trusted in God and left him blind and disheartened in the middle of the country.

The poor man began groping his way about and finally found a cave, into which he slipped for the night. It was full of bushes, and the muleteer had just hidden in them when he heard a crowd of people enter. All the Devils in the world were meeting in that cave, and the head Devil questioned them one by one on what they had accomplished. One of the Devils told of disguising himself as a knight and causing a certain poor soul to gamble away everything he owned, down to his very eyes.

“Fine,” said the head Devil. “His sight will never return unless he places in the sockets two blades of this grass growing here at the mouth of the grotto.”

“Ha, ha, ha!” laughed the Devils. “Can you picture him discovering the secret of that grass?”

The poor muleteer hiding there and trembling was overjoyed, but he
held his breath and waited anxiously for the Devils to depart so he could go pick that grass and recover his sight.

But the Devils went on telling stories. “I,” said another, “caused a fishbone to stick in the throat of the king of Russia's daughter, and no doctor can get it out, despite the king's promise to heap riches on the man who succeeds. Nobody can do a thing, unaware that all that's needed are three drops of juice from those sour grapes on the vine growing on the girl's balcony.”

“Speak quietly,” advised the head Devil; “the stones have eyes, and the bushes have ears.”

Just before dawn the Devils departed, and the muleteer was able to come out of the bushes and grope his way to the grass that restored lost eyesight. He found it and saw again as well as ever. Without delay, he set out for Russia.

In Russia all the doctors were assembled in conference in the princess's bedchamber. Seeing the muleteer arrive shabby and dusty from all the ground he had covered, they burst out laughing. But the king, who was present, said, “So many have tried, let's give him a chance too.” And he had the room cleared, in order to leave the muleteer alone with the princess. The man then went to the balcony, picked three sour grapes, and squeezed them one by one into the princess's mouth. The princess began to stir again and was well in a flash.

Just imagine her father's joy. No reward was too great for the muleteer. The king loaded him down with gold, which the king's men helped him home with. Having given him up for dead, the muleteer's wife took him for a ghost when he walked in.

Her husband told her everything and showed her his treasure. They constructed a large palace. His muleteer friend came by and, seeing him with eyes as good as ever and rolling in wealth, asked, “Dear friend, how did you do it?”

“Didn't I tell you that the man who puts his trust in God is helped by God?” he said, and told him his story.

“Tonight,” said the friend to himself, “I shall go to that cave and see if I can't get rich too.”

The Devils assembled, and the same Devil as before told of the muleteer listening to their secrets, regaining his eyesight, and curing the king of Russia's daughter.

“Didn't I tell you,” said the head Devil, “that the stones have eyes and the bushes have ears? Quick, let's set fire to all this brushwood here.”

They burned up the underbrush, and the man hiding in it was reduced to ashes. He thus learned how it is that the Devil helps you.

 

(
Province of Ragusa
)

185

There was once a poor man who had an only son, and the boy was as simple-minded and ignorant as they come. When his father was about to die, he said to the youth, whose name was Joseph, “Son, I am dying, and I have nothing to leave you but this cottage and the pear tree beside it”

The father died, and Joseph lived on in the cottage alone, selling the pears from the tree to provide for himself. But once the season for pears was over, it looked as though he would starve to death, since he was incapable of earning his bread any other way. Strangely enough, the season for pears ended, but not the pears. When they'd all been picked, others came out in their place, even in the middle of winter; it was a charmed pear tree that bore fruit all year long, and so the youth was able to go on providing for himself.

One morning Joseph went out as usual to pick the ripe pears and discovered they'd already been picked by somebody else. “How will I manage now?” he wondered. “If people steal my pears, I'm done for. Tonight I shall stay up and keep watch.” When it grew dark he stationed himself under the pear tree with his shotgun, but soon fell asleep; he woke up to find that all the ripe pears had been picked. The next night he resumed his watch, but fell asleep right in the middle of it, and the pears were again stolen. The third night, in addition to the shotgun, he carried along a shepherd's pipe and proceeded to play it under the pear tree. Then he stopped playing, and Giovannuzza the fox, who was stealing the pears, thinking Joseph had fallen asleep, came running out and climbed the tree.

Joseph aimed his gun at her, and the fox spoke. “Don't shoot, Joseph. If you give me a basket of pears, I will see to it that you prosper.”

“But, Giovannuzza, if I let you have a basketful, what will I then eat myself?”

“Don't worry, just do as I say, and you will prosper for sure.”

So the youth gave the fox a basket of his finest pears, which she then carried to the king.

“Sacred Crown,” she said, “my master sends you this basket of pears and begs your gracious acceptance of them.”

“Pears at this time of year?” exclaimed the king. “It will be the first time I've ever eaten any in this season! Who is your master?”

“Count Peartree,” replied Giovannuzza.

“But how does he manage to have pears in this season?” asked the king.

“Oh, he has everything,” replied the fox. “He's the richest man in existence.”

“Richer than I am?” asked the king.

“Yes, even richer than you, Sacred Crown.”

The king was thoughtful. “What could I give him in return?” he asked.

“Don't bother, Sacred Crown,” said Giovannuzza. “Don't give it a thought; he's so rich that whatever present you made him would look paltry.”

“Well, in that case,” said the king, very embarrassed, “tell Count Peartree I thank him for his wonderful pears.”

When he saw the fox back, Joseph exclaimed, “But Giovannuzza, you've brought me nothing in return for the pears, and here I am starving to death!”

“Put your mind at rest,” replied the fox. “Leave everything to me. Again I tell you that you will prosper!”

A few days later, Giovannuzza said, “You must let me have another basket of pears.”

“But, sister, what will
I
eat if you carry off all my pears?”

“Put your mind at rest and leave everything to me.”

She took the basket to the king and said, “Sacred Crown, since you graciously accepted the first basket of pears, my master, Count Peartree, takes the liberty of offering you a second basket.”

“I can't believe it!” exclaimed the king. “Pears freshly picked at this time of year!”

“That's nothing,” replied the fox. “My master takes no account of the pears, he has so much else far more precious.”

“But how can I repay his kindness?”

“Concerning that,” said Giovannuzza, “he instructed me to convey his request to you for one thing in particular.”

“Which is? If Count Peartree is so rich, I can't imagine what I could do that would be fitting.”

“Your daughter's hand in marriage,” said the fox.

The king opened his eyes wide. “But even that is too great an honor for me, since he is so much richer than I am.”

“Sacred Crown, if it doesn't bother him, why should it worry you? Count Peartree truly wants your daughter, and it makes no difference to him whether the dowry is large or not so large, since no matter how big it is, beside all his wealth it will only be a drop in the bucket.”

“Very well, in that case, please ask him to come and dine here.”

So Giovannuzza the fox went back to Joseph and said, “I told the king that you are Count Peartree and that you wish to marry his daughter.”

“Sister, look at what you've done! When the king sees me, he will have me beheaded!”

“Leave everything to me, and don't worry,” replied the fox. She went to a tailor and said, “My master, Count Peartree, wants the finest outfit you have in stock. I will pay you, in cash, another time.”

The tailor gave her clothing fit for a great lord, and the fox then visited a horse dealer. “Will you sell me, for Count Peartree, the finest horse in the lot? We won't look at prices, payment will be made on the morrow.”

Dressed as a great lord and seated in the saddle of a magnificent horse, Joseph rode to the palace, with the fox running ahead of him. “Giovannuzza,” he cried, “when the king speaks to me, what shall I reply? I'm too scared to say a word in front of important people.”

“Let me do the talking and don't worry about a thing. All you need say is, ‘Good day' and ‘Sacred Crown,' and I'll fill in the rest.”

They arrived at the palace, where the king hastened up to Count Peartree, greeting him with full honors. “Sacred Crown,” said Joseph.

The king escorted him to the table, where his beautiful daughter was already seated. “Good day,” said Count Peartree.

They sat down and began talking, but Count Peartree didn't open his mouth. “Sister Giovannuzza,” whispered the king to the fox, “has the cat got your master's tongue?”

“Oh, you know, Sacred Crown, when a man has so much land and wealth to think about, he worries about it all the time.”

So, throughout the visit, the king was careful not to disturb Count Peartree's thoughts.

The next morning, Giovannuzza said to Joseph, “Give me one more basket of pears to take to the king.”

“Do as you wish, sister,” replied the youth, “but it will be my downfall, you will see.”

“Put your mind at rest!” exclaimed the fox. “I assure you that you will prosper.”

He therefore picked the pears, which the fox carried to the king, saying, “My master, Count Peartree, sends you this basket of pears, and would like an answer to his request.”

“Tell the count that the wedding can take place whenever he likes,” replied the king. Overjoyed, the fox returned to Joseph with the answer.

“But, sister Giovannuzza, where will I take this bride to live? I can hardly bring her here to this hovel!”

“Leave that up to me. What are you worried about? Haven't I done all right so far?”

Thus a grand wedding was performed, and Count Peartree took the king's beautiful daughter to be his wife.

A few days later Giovannuzza the fox announced: “My master intends to carry the bride to his palace.”

“Fine,” said the king. “I will go along with them, so I can finally see all of Count Peartree's possessions.”