Italian Folktales (122 page)

“If it struck you as right, that means it was right.”

“Excellent,” answered the master of the house. “Everyone who says I did wrong is put to death.”

And the traveler thought to himself, Praised be the second hundred crowns which have saved my life a second time!

The next evening he reached his town. He looked for his street, his house. The windows were lighted, and there stood his wife with a handsome youth, whom she patted familiarly on the face. The sight made the man so furious that he drew his gun at once, but then he thought, I gave my master one hundred crowns for the advice, Postpone anger until tomorrow.

So, instead of shooting, he went to a woman living across the street and asked, “Just who lives in that house over there?”

“That's the house of a woman who is happiness itself, since her boy came home today from the seminary and said his first Mass, and she can't make enough fuss over him.”

And the man thought to himself, Praised be the last hundred crowns, which have saved my life for the third time! He ran back to his house, his wife opened the door, his sons did not recognize him, they all embraced. When the neighbors left, they sat down to the table, and the man cut the cake: in it were the three hundred crowns which Solomon had taken so that his advice would be remembered.

 

(
Campidano
)

193

Six terrible bandits, thriving on murder and robbery, lived in a house on the hill. One of their rooms was packed with money, and whenever they left home, they would hide the house key under a rock.

One day as a farmer and his son were going after wood, they saw the bandits come out, so the two men hid. Thus they learned where the robbers left the key. When the bandits were well out of sight, the farmer
and his son took the key from under the rock, entered the house, and filled their pockets with money. Then they locked the door again, replaced the key, and returned to town quite pleased with themselves.

The next day father and son again robbed the bandits, as they did the day after that. On the third day when the son opened the door he fell into a slimy pit which the bandits had dug right next to the threshold. His father tried his best, but couldn't pull the boy out. Fearing the bandits would return and, finding the son, also recognize the father, the man cut off the boy's head and carried it home.

The bandits came back and found a body in the pit, but had no idea whose it was since it was headless. They decided to hang it from a dead tree on the hilltop, with one robber keeping watch to see who came to mourn the dead soul. Wishing to retrieve the boy's body, his father consulted a sorceress, who advised him what to do.

He climbed the hill in the night and hid close to the tree. Another of his sons hid on the other side of the hill making the sound of two rams locking horns by clashing two wooden blocks. The bandit guarding the body hadn't eaten all day long and, at the sound of those clashes, went to capture the rams to roast. As soon as he was gone, the dead boy's father untied the body and fled.

Learning of that, the bandits were determined to take revenge on the dead man's companion, but they could not find him. One day, much later, they were in the village on business and heard that a local man had recently come into a sizable fortune; he was none other than the father of the dead boy. Right away the bandits ordered a cooper to make them six large casks, with lids on top. Fully armed, each bandit climbed into a cask. They sent the cooper to the rich man, who lived nearby, to ask if he would please keep the casks until their owner called for them, as the cooper had no room to store them himself. The rich man agreed and had the casks placed in the wine cellar. That night, before retiring, a serving woman went to get some wine and heard voices in the casks. Someone was asking, “Well, is it time, yes or no, to come out and kill the master of the house?” At that, the servant flew back up the steps, shaking like a leaf. She awakened the master and told him everything. He sent for officers of the law and they all descended into the cellar and slew the bandits. That was the end of them, while the man who had robbed robbers remained rich and lived at home in peace.

 

(
Campidano
)

194

There was a carpenter who had a daughter lovely beyond words, but they were quite poor. The girl's name was Mariaorsola and, since she was so beautiful, her father never let her go out of the house or even look out the window. Opposite the carpenter lived a merchant, who was very rich and had one son. The boy heard that the carpenter had a daughter and went over to his house, asking, “Mr. Anthony, will you make me a table?”

“Bring me the lumber, which I have no money to buy myself, and I will make the table for you.”

On the sly, the boy carried him lumber belonging to his parents, who didn't want him going in such poor people's houses, and was constantly on the lookout for Mariaorsola. One day when she thought he'd already gone, she came downstairs. Peppino saw her and fell in love.

“Mr. Anthony,” he said to the carpenter, “I'm asking you for Mariaorsola's hand in marriage.”

“My boy,” replied the man, “don't make fun of us. Mariaorsola is just too poor; your mother and father wouldn't have her for a daughter-in-law.”

“I'm not joking,” said Peppino. “Don't you worry about my mother and father. Mariaorsola suits me, and I shall marry her.”

So the marriage agreement was concluded behind the back of Peppino's mother and father.

But Peppino's mother heard from the townspeople that her son had just taken a wife and immediately told her husband.

“What's to be done?” asked the merchant. “We must send him off!”

When Peppino came in that night, his father said to him, “You can see that I'm old, so you must sail to the Continent with the wares.”

“Well,” said the son, “just let me know when you want me to go.”

The day Peppino told Mariaorsola, “I'm going to have to go away,” the young wife burst into tears. He left her a handful of money, saying, “Be happy, now; don't worry, and don't forget me at any time.”

The next day when he left his house to start on his trip, Mariaorsola peeped out of the window and heard him telling people on the street, “Farewell! I'm going away and will return in one year.”

At the sound of Peppino's voice, Mariaorsola went into a swoon. She was put to bed and, from that day on, hovered between life and death.

After a year, Peppino returned to Port Torres and immediately sent a message to his house announcing his arrival and requesting a cart for
the wares he was bringing. Mother, father, and friends came to meet him. After greeting them, he asked all of a sudden, “How is everybody on our street?”

“They're all fine,” he was told, “except Mr. Anthony's daughter, Mariaorsola. “If she's not already dead, she will be in no time. She's been in bed ever since you went away.”

Peppino fainted. They put him in a carriage, carried him home, and sent for the doctor. He was heartbroken over Mariaorsola, but the doctor didn't know what was wrong with him, and his mother went to pieces.

Note that, before going away, Peppino had told two close friends about his secret marriage. These friends went to the doctor and said, “It so happens that the young man was recently married behind the back of his parents, and his wife has been gravely ill from the time he went away. That's his whole trouble, and until he has that young woman back, he won't recover.”

The doctor went and told the boy's parents. “What shall we do?” the father asked his wife, who grew even more upset upon hearing of her son wedding a poor girl.

“Rather than have him die, it is better to see him married to the carpenter's daughter,” answered the mother, and sent over to find out how Mariaorsola was.

“Mariaorsola is dying,” replied the bride's mother. “In all the time she's been sick, you've never asked me about her, and now that she's about to die you think of her!”

“I will take her to my house,” said Peppino's mother.

“Leave her be, she's dying, I tell you.”

But Peppino's mother insisted and, picking up Mariaorsola, carried her to the merchant's house, where the girl was laid on a sofa in front of Peppino's bed.

“Peppino,” called his mother, “look at your Mariaorsola.”

At those words, Peppino gradually revived and stepped out of bed. “Mariaorsola!”

Seeing Peppino at her bedside, Mariaorsola also gradually revived.

So they got well. And when they were strong once more they celebrated their marriage and loved each other immeasurably.

After a short period of happiness, Mariaorsola fell ill. “Listen, Peppino,” she said, “if I die you must recite the office of the dead before my body.” And, lo and behold, she died!

They carried her away, and Peppino had forgotten to recite the office.

That night he thought of it. “Oh dear, I forgot!”—and he ran to church at once and knocked.

“Who is it?” called the sacristan.

“Please come down.” And when the sacristan appeared, Peppino said, “Open up the tomb of that dead woman, and I'll give you ten crowns.”

“How can I do that? Suppose people hear about it?”

“Nobody will know. It's pitch-dark.”

So the sacristan opened the tomb and left him. Peppino knelt and began reciting the office. As he continued, he heard roars, and into church rushed two lions. The lions started fighting. One knocked the other off his feet and bit him to death. The living lion then ran off and snatched some of the grass growing there in the cloister of the church, forced open the dead lion's mouth, and rubbed the grass over his teeth. The dead lion came back to life, and together the two lions ran off.

Peppino, having meanwhile finished reciting the office, said to himself, “Let's see if I can bring Mariaorsola back to life!” He took a little of the grass, rubbed the dead girl's teeth with it, and she got up. “What have you done, Peppino?” she said. “I was very happy with things the way they were!”

Peppino gave her his cloak and took her by the arm.

“What's going on?” asked the sacristan. “What are you doing, taking the dead woman away?”

“Let me go, my wife is alive!”

He took her home, put her to bed, and warmed her up with heavy warm clothing. Then he lay down beside her and slept.

It must have been about seven o'clock in the morning when Peppino's mother knocked at his door. “Who is it?” called Mariaorsola.

Hearing the dead woman's voice, the mother-in-law fell down the steps, struck her head, and died.

A little later, the servant girl went up and knocked. “Who is it?” asked Mariaorsola. “Are you still there knocking?”

The servant girl too was frightened out of her wits, fell down the steps, struck her head, and lay there dead.

When Peppino woke up, Mariaorsola said, “It's impossible to get any sleep in this house. They're always knocking on the door.”

“And you answered?”

“Of course I did.”

“What have you done? They thought you were dead!”

Peppino opened the door and saw his mother and the servant girl lying dead at the foot of the stairs. “Oh, me, what misfortune has befallen us!” he said to himself. “But I must keep quiet about it and not frighten my wife!” And with the lions' grass he brought the two dead women back to life.

When Mariaorsola was sick, she had made a vow to go to the church of St. Gavino if she got well. “Tomorrow,” she said to her husband, “let's go to St. Gavino's.”

They set out, but after a while she said, “Peppino, I forgot and left my ring on the windowsill.”

“Oh, come, let's not worry about it.”

“No, I'm going back for it; a breeze could rise and blow it away.”

“I'll fetch it for you, but in the meantime don't you go near the sea, where the king of Muscovy's boat is.” At that, he turned back.

Mariaorsola, however, approached the sea, and there was the king of Muscovy, who seized her and carried her off.

When Peppino returned with the ring, he looked everywhere for Mariaorsola, but she was nowhere in sight. Then he dived into the sea and swam off. He spotted a boat and waved a white handkerchief.

“Quick, there's a man in the sea!” said the boat's owner. They took him aboard, and Peppino asked, “Have you seen the king of Muscovy's boat?”

“No, we haven't.”

“Please be so good as to take me to Muscovy.”

In Muscovy, there was Mariaorsola dressed in queenly attire. When Peppino saw her, he smiled at her, but she looked the other way. There was no possibility of approaching her, so he offered himself to the king as a footman, and was engaged to wait on the table. Finding Mariaorsola alone at the table, he said, “Well, if it isn't my own Mariaorsola! You no longer recognize me?”

She made a wry face and turned her back on him; she already had a plan for wrecking him. To one of the king's pages, she said, “Take all the silver spoons and stuff them into the pocket of that footman.”

Once the spoons were missed, she ordered, “Search that footman!”

The spoons were thus found in Peppino's pocket. “So this is the thief! Throw him into prison and then have him hanged before my windows!”

Peppino still had some of the lions' grass and, when they led him to the gallows, he said to his confessor, “I am innocent, so when they hang me, please keep them from breaking my neck and carry me to your house and rub my teeth with this grass. I will then come back to life.”

At the appointed hour, the confessor said to the hangman, “Be careful not to break his neck.” Then he asked the king's permission to carry the body home with him. The hangman hanged him, taking care not to break his neck, and the confessor carried the body to his monastery. As soon as the grass touched his teeth, Peppino came back to life and, thanking the confessor, set out on the road.