Italian Folktales (37 page)

They came to the ferryman. “Here's your feather!”

“Thank you. And what did the ogre say concerning me?”

“I'll have to wait until I'm on the other bank to tell you.”

Once the couple was safely on the opposite shore, they told the ferryman what to do.

Upon arriving at the inn, the king's man cried, “Innkeeper, here I am with your feather and your daughter!” Right away the innkeeper wanted to give his daughter to the man in marriage.

“Let me first take the king his feather and ask his permission.”

He carried the feather to the king, who got well and rewarded him. The man said, “Now if Your Majesty permits, I'll be off to my wedding.” The king doubled the reward, and the man took leave of him and returned to the inn.

What about the ogre? Discovering his wife gone, he set out in pursuit, fully intending to devour her and whoever was involved in her escape. He came to the river and jumped on the ferry. “Pay your fare,” said the ferryman. The ogre paid, never dreaming the ferryman knew the secret. Before landing on the opposite shore, off jumped the ferryman, and the ogre could no longer leave the boat.

 

(
Garfagnana Estense
)

58

There was once a fisherman whose wife bore him no children, even though they had been married for some time. One fine day the fisherman took his nets to the nearby lake to fish and caught a big, beautiful fish. The minute it was pulled out of water the fish began begging the man to let it go, promising in return to tell him about a pond in the region where he would make a much finer haul and in no time at all. Hearing a fish talk frightened the fisherman, and he didn't hesitate to free the fish, which immediately disappeared in the water. The fisherman went to the pond and caught so many fish in two or three hauls that he returned home more loaded down than a donkey.

His wife insisted on knowing how he had ever caught that many fish, so he told her in detail what had occurred. At that, the woman was furious with her husband. “Simpleton! How could you let such a fine fish get away? Be sure to catch it tomorrow and bring it home. I intend to prepare it in a stew that will really satisfy our craving for fish.”

To please his wife, the fisherman returned to the lake the next day, cast his net, and again pulled up the talking fish. But this time also he yielded to the fish's begging and pleading and spared it, then made a splendid haul in the same pond as yesterday. When he came home and told his wife, she flew off the handle, put her hands on her hips, and blessed him out. “You dumb ox! Blockhead! Can't you see that you're cursed with luck? How can you turn your back on it? Either you bring me that fish tomorrow, or you'll be sorry you didn't. Is that clear?”

Dawn found the fisherman back at the lake. He cast his nets, pulled them up, and there again was the big fish, whose words and entreaties this time fell on deaf ears. The fisherman ran straight home, and his wife took the fish, which was still alive, and threw it into a tub of fresh water. Then they both stood by the tub admiring the fish and discussing the best way to cook it. At that, the fish poked its head above water and said, “Since I can't get out of dying, let me at least make my testament.”

The fisherman and his wife consented, and the fish said, “When I'm dead, cooked, and halved, let the woman eat my meat, the mare my broth, the dog my head, and plant the three biggest fishbones in the garden. Hang my gall bladder from a beam in the kitchen. You will have children; should any of them come to grief some day, blood will ooze from my gall bladder.”

After killing and cooking the fish, the two people followed its instructions to the letter. Then it came to pass that the woman, the mare, and the dog all three gave birth on the same night. The dog had three puppies, the mare three colts, and the woman three baby boys. The fisherman said, “How about that! Nine creatures born in one night!” The triplets were so much alike that it was impossible to tell them apart without a different emblem around each one's neck. As for the fishbones planted in the garden, they sprouted into three splendid swords.

When the children became big boys, their father gave them each a horse, a dog, and a sword and, as a present from himself, a shotgun apiece. In no time the firstborn grew weary of living at home in poverty and decided to go out and seek his fortune. He mounted his horse, took up his dog, sword, and shotgun and bid everyone farewell. To his brothers, he added, “Should the gall bladder hanging from the beam ever ooze blood, come in search of me, for I'll either be dead or in serious trouble. Farewell.” And away he galloped.

After riding for days and days through unfamiliar territory he came to the gate of a big city draped in mourning. He entered and found all the inhabitants grief-stricken and dressed in black. At an inn where he went for dinner, he asked the reason for all the black, and the innkeeper explained. “There's a dragon with seven heads who comes down to the bridge every day at noon. If he is not given a maiden to eat, he will enter the city and devour everyone in his path. Lots are drawn daily. Today it's the turn of the king's daughter, who must be on the bridge at noon for the dragon to devour. The king has posted a proclamation that the man who rescues her will wed her.”

The youth said, “There must be some way to save the king's daughter and free the city from such a scourge. I have a powerful sword, dog, and horse, and would like to be taken to the king.”

Led to His Majesty at once, the youth asked permission to confront and slay the dragon.

“Young man full of zeal,” replied the king, “note that many men before you have tried and lost their life, poor wretches. But if you feel like risking your life and conquer the dragon, you will have my daughter in marriage and inherit the kingdom at my death.”

Undaunted, the youth took his dog and horse and went to sit on the parapet of the bridge.

At the stroke of twelve, here came the king's daughter, dressed from head to toe in black silk, with her retinue. When they were halfway across the bridge, her attendants turned back in tears, leaving her there by herself. She looked around and saw a man sitting on the bridge with a dog.

“Noble sir,” she said, “what are you doing here? Didn't you know that a dragon is coming any minute to devour me and that he will eat you too if he finds you here?”

“I'm well aware of that, and I've come to set you free and marry you.”

“My poor man,” answered the princess, “flee, or the dragon will have two souls to devour today instead of just me. He's a dragon full of wiles. How can you expect to slay him?”

From just looking at the princess, the youth had fallen in love with her, and he said, “For the sake of your love I will risk my life, and what will be, will be.”

They had just finished this discussion, when the palace clock struck noon. The earth began quaking, a chasm yawned, and out sprang the dragon with seven heads amid smoke and flames. He made straight for the princess, his seven mouths open and whistling for joy, since he had noticed he would feast on two humans this day instead of one. In a flash the youth was on his horse and charging the dragon as well as sicking his dog on the monster. Brandishing his sword, he swept off six of the seven heads, one after the other. Then the dragon asked to rest awhile and the youth, who was also out of breath, said, “Let us both rest a moment.”

But the dragon rubbed his one remaining head on the ground and came back up with the other six heads reattached. Seeing that, the youth realized he had to sweep off all seven heads at once. He therefore rushed upon the dragon, swinging around his sword with all his might until every single head was off and rolling on the ground. Then he took his sword and cut out the seven tongues, asking the king's daughter, “Do you have a handkerchief with you?”

The princess gave him her handkerchief, in which he wrapped the seven tongues. He mounted his horse again and rode to an inn to wash and dress for his visit to the king.

As luck would have it, in a hovel near the bridge lived a very sly and wicked coalman, who had witnessed the combat from afar. He thought to himself, Let's outsmart this ninny who leaves the dragon heads lying around and wastes time getting all spruced up. He gathered the amputated heads into a bag and ran to the king brandishing a huge knife smeared with the dragon's blood.

“Sacred Crown!” he exclaimed. “Here before you stands the dragon slayer, and these are his seven heads which I cut off one by one with the knife you see here. Therefore, Sacred Crown, keep your royal promise and give me your daughter's hand in marriage!”

The king was quite taken aback at the sight of that ugly and sinister face. He was not convinced of the truth of the man's story, suspecting strongly that the zealous youth had been devoured and that the coalman had shown up at the last minute, when the dragon was already done for, and dealt only the finishing stroke. In any event, the royal promise could not be altered, and the king was obliged to reply, “If that's how it really happened, then my daughter is yours, so take her.”

At that, the princess, who had been in the audience hall listening to the conversation, began screaming that the coalman was a liar, that it wasn't he who had slain the dragon but the young man who would arrive any minute. A heated quarrel followed, but the coalman stuck by his story, producing the heads in the bag as evidence. The king could not dispute it and had no choice but to order his daughter to calm down and get ready to marry the coalman.

Right away the king ordered the announcement made public. Three days were devoted to festivities, with a grand banquet on each day, at the end of which period the wedding would be celebrated. In the meantime the real dragon slayer arrived at the royal palace. But the guards at the front door refused to admit him under any circumstances; in the same instant he heard the town crier going through the city squares announcing the forthcoming wedding of the princess and the coalman. The youth argued in vain to be taken to the king; the guards were not to be moved. Finally the coalman appeared and ordered the young man thrown out at once. The youth therefore had no choice but return to the inn, seething with rage, and think of a way to prevent that marriage, expose the coalman's lie, and establish himself as the slayer of the dragon.

At court the table was laid and all the nobility invited. Seated next to the princess was the coalman dressed in velvet; since he was short in stature, seven cushions were placed under him to make him look a little taller.

After racking his brains back at the inn, the young man woke his dog sleeping at his feet and said, “Listen, Faithful, run to the palace to the king's daughter, make a fuss over her alone, no one else, and when they are all ready to sit down and eat, upset the table and flee. But be careful not to get caught.”

The dog, who understood everything his master said to him, ran off, found the princess, put his front paws in her lap, whined, and licked her hands and face. She recognized him and was quite glad to see him; stroking him, she whispered in his ear and asked where her rescuer was. But the coalman was suspicious of all those caresses and ordered the dog driven out of the banquet hall. They were just serving the soup, so the dog caught hold of a corner of the tablecloth and pulled it clean off the table with everything on it, thus littering the floor with broken dishes. Then he flew down the stairs so fast that no one could catch him or even see which way he went. The confusion of the guests was too much for words. The banquet had to be called off, which caused something of a scandal.

When the second banquet came up, the youth said to his dog, “Go back, Faithful, and do the same thing over.” Seeing the dog back, the princess laughed for joy, but the coalman, fearful and suspicious, insisted that the dog be driven out with the whip. The princess, however, stood up for the dog, and the coalman, in spite of his meanness, dared not defy her. This time too, as soon as the soup was served, the dog grabbed hold of the tablecloth, pulled everything off onto the floor, and fled like lightning. Guards and servants tore after him, but he was out of sight before they came anywhere near him.

Just before the third banquet, the young man said, “Go back, Faithful, and do the same thing once more, but this time let them follow you home to me.”

The dog did just what he was supposed to, and here came the guards on his heels right into the room of the young man, whom they seized and carried to the king. The king recognized him. “But aren't you the man who wanted to rescue my daughter from the dragon?”

“I certainly am, Majesty, and rescue her I did.”

At those words, the coalman shouted, “It's not so! I killed the dragon myself with my own two hands. To prove it I brought along the seven heads!” He ordered the heads laid at the king's feet.

Without losing countenance, the youth turned to the king, saying, “Maybe he brought the seven heads. They were so heavy I brought only the tongues. Let's look in those seven mouths and see if there's a tongue in each one.”

The seven tongues were missing. Then the youth pulled out of his pocket the handkerchief in which he had wrapped them and described the combat in detail. But the coalman refused to concede defeat, claiming the tongues would have to be put back in place to be sure they fit. Every time a tongue went in exactly right, he flung one of the cushions off his chair in anger; when they got to the seventh tongue he disappeared under the table and fled. But he was caught at once and hanged by order of the king in the town square.

Now in the highest of spirits, king, bride and guests sat down to feast and conclude the marriage. Then night fell and everyone went to bed. At dawn the youth rose, opened the window and, seeing a forest full of birds before him, felt the urge to go hunting. His wife begged him not to go, as the forest was enchanted and whoever entered it never came back home. But the more the youth heard, the more he was tempted by the danger, so he took horse, dog, sword, gun, and departed. He had already shot many birds, when a violent storm arose, with thunder, lightning, and rain by the barrels. Soaking wet, the young man who had already strayed in the darkness then enveloping the forest, spied a cave and took shelter in it. It was full of white marble statues in various postures, but the youth was too tired and wet to pay much attention to them. He raked up some dry wood and, with the aid of his flintlock, lit a small fire to dry out his clothes and cook the birds.