Italian Folktales (133 page)

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. “The Wife Who Lived on Wind” (
La sposa che viveva di vento
) from Pitrè, 92, Palermo, told by Agatuzza Messia.

A tale that closes with a proverb—“And who should get the miser's money in the end but the master swindler”—and which is marked by Messia's rich taste for description.

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. “Wormwood” (
Erbabianca
) from Pitrè, 73, Palermo.

The boast about the wife's fidelity, the bet with a swindler who brings in false proof of seduction, the adventurous ways the wife takes to prove her innocence—they are all elements of legends of chivalry (see the ballad,
Madonna Elena
, dating from the end of the fourteenth century) that subsequently pass into stories about merchants (as in Boccaccio, II, 9) and from there, through diverse versions, go all the way to Shakespeare, who drew on them for
Cymbeline
. This version stands out among the many popular ones because of its romantic details and strange denouement. The popular versions are very numerous in Northern, Central, and Southern Italy, and only Pitrès Sicilian compilation gives five of them (73–77), all excellent and included in my compilation (nos. 158, 159, 160, 176).

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. “The King of Spain and the English Milord” (
Il Re di Spagna e il Milord inglese
) from Pitrè, 74, Palermo, told by Agatuzza Messia.

Out of the sententious speech of Messia and all her proverbs and expressions comes a romantic story starring a woman who exemplifies various virtues such as the Spanish or Moslem ideal of chastity typical of the sheltered woman, and intellectual and political bravura. Her mother-in-law, diametrically opposed to the cruelty represented by her counterparts in other tales, is the affective center of the narrative. There is also the English Milord, the equal in Southern folklore of all legendary kings—rather, he is superior to the kings because of his wealth—with a touch of romantic perversity. Another notable element is the pressure exercised by an ill-governed people toward solving difficulties. The surrounding geography is realistic: there is Spain, sister country of Sicily, and nineteenth-century Brazil, the empire to which men unjustly persecuted flee and make their fortune. Messia lets herself go in this tale, with all her flair for dramatic narration. One minute she is talking like a sailor; the next, her tone is very genteel. I translated quite faithfully, adding no touches of my own, except the red tassel at the conclusion.

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. “The Bejeweled Boot” (
Lo stivale ingioiellato
) from Pitrè, 75, Palermo, told by Rosa Brusca, a forty-five-year-old blind woman.

This is a subcategory of the slandered wife (or sister) type, common to Europe (cf. Afanas'ev's “The Merchant's Slandered Daughter”).

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. “The Left-Hand Squire” (
Il Bracciere di mano manca
) from Pitrè, 76, Palermo, “from a woman to whom Messia told it.”

Regarding the Sicilian popular storyteller's conception of the court of kings and court ethics, see my remarks in the Introduction, p. xxxi. These ethics gave rise to the present version of the famous tale supposedly featuring Pier delle Vigne, as transmitted by Jacopo d'Acqui in Latin, with verse in Piedmontese dialect. D'Ancona observes, “The image of the vine must have come from attributing this adventure to Frederick the Second's prime minister.” The story goes back farther (D'Ancona ascertained) and appears in Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic versions. It was also recounted by Brantôme (
Vie des dames galantes
, II), in reference to the Marquis of Pescara, with verses in Italian, which I followed in part, in preference to the frequently altered lines in the popular versions.

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. “Rosemary” (
Rosmarina
) from Pitrè, 37, Palermo, told by a woman.

Another folktale about the plant-woman. This one repeats “The Mulberry,” one of Basile's finest Neapolitan tales (I, 2), with a few additional details such as the watering with milk and the prince's flute-playing. The girl's dancing to the flute music is the only thing I added, but a dance rhythm is already in the Palermo original.

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. “Lame Devil” (
Diavolozoppo
) from Pitrè, 54, Palermo, told by a blind man by the name of Giovanni Patuano.

Machiavelli's tale
Belfagor
comes from a popular tradition, as shown by the fact that Straparola also uses it (II, 4). I decided to give this Sicilian “Lame Devil” a more or less stylized translation which accents the rudimentary vitality of the narration.

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. “Three Tales by Three Sons of Three Merchants” (
I tre racconti dei tre figli dei tre mercanti
) from Pitrè, 103, Palermo, told by Rosa Vàrrica.

The frame, with the unresolved ending, is most often found in literary stories.

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. “The Dove Girl” (
La ragazza colomba
) from Pitrè, 50, Palermo, told by a woman.

The swan girl or dove girl, whose bird costume the hero takes away, thereby compelling her to remain a woman, is a universally known motif and often combines with the motif of the sorcerer's servant who must climb a mountain of precious stones. I began with the Palermo version, showing the “lad who led a dog's life” in search of work, and the Greek from the Levant. I departed from the text by having the boy go up the mountain, not on a winged horse, but in a horse's hide carried upward by an eagle, as in other Southern versions (taking into special account one from Lucania—La Rocca, 9). I also borrowed the final episode of the invisible cloak, a very widespread motif, to make the plot complete.

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. “Jesus and St. Peter in Sicily” (
Gesu e San Pietro in Sicilia
). Same type of legends as in the series, “Jesus and St. Peter in Friuli.” (See my no. 41.) St. Peter presents the same characteristics here as in the Friulian compilation—laziness and gluttony.

I. “Stones to Bread” (
Le pietre in pane
) and II. “Put the old woman in the furnace” (
La vecchia nel forno
), from Pitr£, 123, Bagheria, Palermo, told by a certain Gargano.

III. “A Tale the Robbers Tell” (
Una leggenda che raccontano i ladri
) from Pitrè, 121, Borgetto, Palermo.

This tale is traditional among thieves, who claim to have received Jesus Christ's blessing. Sending me a version from Santa Ninfa, the Honorable Antonino Destefani-Perez mentioned that his uncle was retained for a time by robbers who tried to convince him they were not as black as the world made them out to be, referring to God's blessing of them in the gospel and also telling this little tale, by way of additional proof.

IV. “Death Corked in the Bottle” (
La morte nel fiasco
) from Pitrè, 124. Palermo, told by Gioacchino Ferrara, butler in a Sicilian home.

One of the many tales about death checkmated, in the frame of popular tradition regarding encounters with Jesus and the Apostles. In the original, the innkeeper bears the strange name of Accaciuni, meaning “cause,” and the story ends on the proverb, “No death without cause.”

V. “St. Peter's Mamma” (
La mamma di San Pietro
) from Pitrè, 126, Palermo, told by Agatuzza Messia.

An illustrious popular legend, known in most of Europe (the oldest known literary version being a German poem of the fifteenth century).

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. “The Barber's Timepiece” (
L'orologio del Barbiere
) from Pitrè, 49, Borgetto, Palermo, told by Rosa Amari.

“Who could possibly fail to see that this wonderful timepiece is the Sun?” writes the worthy compiler, Salomone-Marino. “And the Master who made it, the old man who wins everyone's praise for his divine work, is none other than God. His creations reveal His existence. What wisdom is contained in this tale beneath its modest simplicity!” Modest simplicity? Although I do not always champion oral and popular poetry over literary poetry, here is truly a case where a miracle must be proclaimed: we are on the level of the great moments of allegorical poetry. And more striking than the symbolism—which is unquestionably interesting, along with the cultural and oracular importance of the sun—is the poetic interpenetration of metaphysical space and the human comedy in so precise and harmonious a construction, with a language so rich in invention, nobility, and characterization. Rosa Amari has turned out a little masterpiece, which I wished to include, although fully realizing that much is inevitably lost in translating from dialect a text that relies mainly on the spoken word (and the rustic assonance of those lines, “nearly all proverbial,” as Pitrè notes).

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. “The Count's Sister” (
La sorella del Conte
) from Pitrè, 7, Borgetto, Palermo, told by Francesca Leto.

The most beautiful Italian folktale of love, in its finest popular version, so touchingly told that I should have liked to retain it just as it was, in dialect.

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. “Master Francesco Sit-Down-and-Eat” (
Mastro Francesco Siedi-e-mangia
) from Pitrè, 127, Borgetto, Paimero, told by Francesca Leto.

Salomone-Marino compiled this tale for Pitrè, giving it a moralistic-allegorical interpretation (with a quasi-Freudian overtone). But it stands out principally as a comedy of manners (resulting from the experience of girls serving in wealthy households), with contempt for the old sick lady and her fussy ways, and with the character of the town loafer so strikingly depicted.

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. “The Marriage of a Queen and a Bandit” (
Le nozze d'una Regina e d'un brigante
) from Pitrè, 21, Polizzi-Generosa, Palermo.

A few capital burlesque details are tacked onto the theme of wedding a bandit (see note on my no. 89) : the professor-husband, the seven-months' offspring, and the old deaf woman. The power of the seven-months' man is extraordinary; for instance, it is said that persons plagued with intermittent and stubborn fevers need only go to any man born after being carried only seven months and say to him instantly, “
Settimu di Maria, fammi pastari lu friddu a mia!
” and they will be cured.

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. “The Seven Lamb Heads” (
Le sette teste d'agnello
) from Pitrè, 94, Ficarazzi, Palermo, told by Giuseppe Foria.

This lies between the folktale and the character story: the miserly, whiny soul that delights more in complaining than in rejoicing, and whose little losses are never forgotten in the face of later gains. I chose the Ficarazzi variant because of the dialogue with the cat, in preference to a Calabrian one which nevertheless has a more pronounced moral, since it opposes the old woman's stinginess to her niece's generosity; the niece gives bread and fish to an old beggar (who is St. Joseph). But I did turn to the Calabrian version from Di Francia (8) for the meeting with the king in the woods and the ending with the beheading and the willow; and I used a Sicilian variant from Pitrè (89) for the old woman's nagging during the banquet.

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. “The Two Sea Merchants” (
I due negozianti di mare
) from Pitrè, 82, Palazzo-Adriano, Palermo.

A tale combining elements of adventure and magic, as in certain ancient ballads.

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. “Out in the World” (
Sperso per il mondo
) from Pitrè, 27, Salaparuta, Palermo, told by Antonio Loria.

A masterpiece of Italian popular narrative. The traditional magic repertory boils down to the peasant's actual experience: the search for work from farm to farm, his entering into bondage, the solidarity of the old animal, and the
necessity for sacrificing him without a word of regret or pity. And the contest to win the princess is no longer equestrian, but a show of peasant strength in plowing a piece of land. Miracles can be none other than plants that spring up in haste, fruit out of season, or daylight prolonged through the intercession of the Sun, omnipotent lord and friend. I found no precise counterpart to the tale in its entirety. The type is found here and there in Europe and also in India.

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. “A Boat Loaded with . . . ” (
Un bastimento carico di
 . . . ) from Pitrè, 116, Salaparuta, Palermo, told by Calogero Fasulo.

Several versions, literary and folk.

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. “The King's Son in the Henhouse” (
Il figlio del Re nel pollato
) from Pitrè, 32, Salaparuta, Palermo, told by Rosa Cascio La Giucca.

Related to the most illustrious of all tales, “Amor and Psyche,” that is, the first purely fairy-tale narrative, a written version of which has come down to us in Apuleius'
Metamorphoses
(second century
A.D.
). Scholars count seventy-one Italian oral variants of it.

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. “The Mincing Princess” (
La Reginotta smorfiosa
) from Pitrè, 105, Erice, Sicily, told by eight-year-old Maria Curatolo.

Told in the sixteenth century by Luigi Alamanni (almost exactly as it is here, with pomegranate seed and all) in the story about Blanche of Toulouse and the Count of Barcelona, in a solemn and precise style typical of a historian. But it is one of the oldest “romantic” stories in existence, and scholars seem to believe that it originated in the Italian Middle Ages. Basile came out with a very similar tale in the seventeenth century (IV, 10), except for the pomegranate seed. Other European popular versions (cf. Grimm, 52) attribute the princess's objection to some physical feature of the suitor—often the twisted hair in his beard—as do almost all the other Italian versions I examined.

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. “The Great Narbone” (
Il Gran Narbone
) from Pitrè, 77, Cianciana, Sicily, told by Master Vincenzo Restivo, shoemaker.

See note on my no. 157.

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. “Animal Talk and the Nosy Wife” (
Il linguaggio degli animali e la moglie curiosa
) from Pitrè, 282, Cianciana, Sicily, told by Rosario di Liberto, miner.

An old oriental fable (“Story of the Ox and the Donkey with the Farmer” from
The Arabian Nights
) which assumes the tone of a peasant anecdote here with the nosy wife. Remarkable in this version are the calls between wolves and dogs in the night, with a sort of lawless complicity: “Oh, Brother Vitus!” “Yea, Brother Nick!”