Italian Folktales (83 page)

“I'm sad because my wife is a Siren and I don't know how to bring her back.”

“You seem like a good lad to me,” said the old woman, “and I will help you get your wife back. But on one condition. Do you agree?”

“I'll do whatever you say.”

“There's a flower that grows only in Sirens' palaces and which is called ‘the loveliest.' You must get this flower and bring it back here at night and leave it under this walnut tree. Then you shall have your wife back.”

“But how can I do it? Get a flower from the floor of the sea?”

“If you would have your wife back, you must find the way.”

“I'll try,” said the mariner. He went to the port at once, boarded his ship, and weighed anchor. When he reached the high seas, he started crying his wife's name. He heard water splashing and saw her swimming in the wake of the ship. “My wife,” said the mariner, “I want to save you, but to do so I must get a flower which grows only in Sirens' palaces and which is called ‘the loveliest.'”

“That is impossible,” said the wife. “The flower is there and gives off a heavenly scent, but it is a flower the Sirens stole from the fairies, and the day it goes back to the fairies, all the Sirens will die. I'm a Siren too, so I would die along with the rest of them.”

“You won't die,” said the mariner, “because the fairies will save you.”

“Come back tomorrow and I'll have an answer for you.”

The next day the mariner went back. His wife reappeared in the sea. “Well?” he asked.

She answered: “In order for me to bring you the flower called ‘the loveliest,' you must sell everything you own and, with the proceeds buy the finest jewels there are in the strongboxes of the goldsmiths of every city in the kingdom. At the sight of the jewels, the Sirens will stray from the palace and I'll be able to pick the flower.”

In no time the mariner had sold all he owned and bought the most splendid jewels in the kingdom. He loaded the ship with jewels, hanging them in clusters from all the yards where they gleamed in the sun. Like that, he sailed over the sea.

Thirstier for jewels than everything else, the Sirens began to surface on the waves and follow the boat, singing:

 

“This is the song of the noonday sun

Your boat overflows with gems that stun;

Good sailor, pause here a while,

Give us rings and chains and pins in style.”

 

But the mariner kept on going, and the Sirens followed along behind, getting farther and farther from their palace.

All of a sudden a great rumbling came from under the sea. The waters billowed higher than ever before and all the Sirens were swept under and drowned. Out of the water flew an eagle, with the old fairy and the mariner's wife astride, and disappeared into the distance.

When the mariner got home, his wife was already there waiting for him.

 

(
Taranto
)

133

There was once a king with four children—three girls and one boy, who was the crown prince. On his deathbed, the king sent for the prince and said, “Son, I'm dying. You must do as I order: when your sisters are old enough to marry, have them go out on the balcony, and the first man who comes down the street is to be their husband, no matter whether he is an ignorant peasant, a learned master, or a nobleman.”

When the oldest girl reached a marriageable age, she went out on the balcony. A barefooted man came by.

“Friend, stop here for a minute.”

“What is it, Majesty?” asked the man. “Don't delay me, for my pigs are penned up and I have to take them out to pasture.”

“Sit down. We have to have a word in private. I must give you my oldest sister in marriage.”

“Your Majesty is joking. I am only a poor swineherd.”

“And you will marry my sister, in accordance with my father's will.” So the princess and the swineherd were married and left the palace. Now came time to marry off the second sister. He put her on the balcony, and the first man that passed was called into the house.

“Your Majesty, don't delay me. I've set snares and have to go see if there are any birds in them.”

“That makes no difference. Come in for a moment, I've got to talk to you.”

And he offered him his sister's hand. “Majesty, how can that be?” asked the man. “I'm a poor fowler I can't marry into a royal family.”

“My father has so decreed,” replied the young king, and the second sister was wed to the fowler and departed with him.

When the third sister went out on the balcony, who should pass by but a gravedigger, and however much it grieved the brother (since he adored his little sister), he sent her off as the gravedigger's wife.

Left alone in the palace, with all his sisters gone, the young king thought, What if I should do as my sisters? Whom would it be my lot to marry? He went out on the balcony. An old washerwoman came scurrying by, and he called to her, “Friend, O friend, wait a minute . . . ”

“Just what do you want?”

“Come inside a minute, I have to speak to you. It's urgent!”

“What is so urgent? It's urgent for me to get to the river and wash these clothes.”

“Come in here, will you? I order you to!”

“Go on, try and bully old women.” She looked him squarely in the eye and let out a curse. “Go look for lovely Floret!” At that, she turned and walked off.

The king grew weak in the knees and had to lean on the railing of the balcony. He was overcome with longing, which he at first thought was for the sisters he had lost. Instead it was the name, lovely Floret, which had gone to his head. He said to himself, “I must leave this house and travel the world over until I find lovely Floret.”

He combed half the world, but no one knew anything about lovely Floret. He'd been journeying for three years, when he found himself in a field one day and ran into a herd of pigs, then another, and still another. He was swept along in the herd and making his way forward, he soon came to a large palace. He knocked and said, “Hello, anybody home? Give me shelter for the night!”

The palace door opened, revealing a great lady. She saw the king and threw her arms around his neck. “Dear brother!” she exclaimed. And the king recognized his oldest sister, who had married a swineherd. “Dear sister!” he exclaimed.

And here came the swineherd brother-in-law dressed as a great lord, and they showed him around their magnificent palace, telling him the other two sisters had homes every bit as fine.

“I'm out seeking lovely Floret,” explained the King.

“We know nothing about her,” she said. “But go to our sisters; they might be able to help you.”

“And should you ever find yourself in danger,” said the brother-in-law who had been a swineherd, “take these three pig bristles, throw one on the ground, and you'll get out of every difficulty.”

The king continued on his way and after going a great distance found himself in a forest. On every tree branch in the forest, birds had lit. They flew from tree to tree, and the sky was no longer visible for all the birds that fluttered in the air. They all chirped together, in a deafening chorus. In the heart of the forest rose the palace of the second sister, who was even better off than the first one with her husband, once a poor fowler and now a great lord. Neither did they know anything about lovely Floret, and directed the king to the third sister. But before bidding him farewell, his brother-in-law gave him three bird feathers. In case of danger, all he had to do was drop one of them, and his safety would be assured.

The king continued on his way and, at a certain point, began to see
graves on both sides of the road, graves that became ever more numerous as he advanced, until the whole countryside revealed nothing but graves. Thus he reached the palace of the third sister whom he loved best of all, and his brother-in-law who had been a gravedigger gave him a small bone from a corpse, instructing him to drop it in case of danger. And his sister told him yes, she knew the city where lovely Floret lived. She directed him to an old woman whom she had helped and who would certainly help him.

The youth reached the town of lovely Floret, who was the king's daughter. Opposite the king's palace stood the house of that old woman, who gratefully welcomed the brother of her benefactress. From the window of the old woman's house the young king could see lovely Floret looking out at dawn, covered with a veil, a flower of loveliness at the sight of which he would have fallen out of the window, had the old woman not been holding on to him.

“But don't attempt to ask for her hand, Majesty,” cautioned the old woman. “The king of this town is cruel and imposes impossible tasks on the suitors. He beheads all those who fail.”

But the young man was unafraid and went to the father of lovely Floret and asked for her hand. The king had him shut up in an immense storage room with bins and bins of apples and pears, telling him that unless he ate all the fruit in a single day, his head would roll. The youth remembered the pig bristles from his swineherd brother-in-law and threw them on the floor. At once a chorus of grunts arose, and pigs poured in from every direction—pigs, pigs, pigs, an ocean of grunting, rooting pigs that ate up everything in sight, overturning all the bins and gobbling up every apple and pear without leaving a single core.

“Hurrah,” said the king. “You will marry my daughter. But there's a second test. The first night you spend with her, you must put her to sleep with the song of most beautiful and musical birds ever seen and heard. Otherwise your head will roll tomorrow.”

The bridegroom recalled the three feathers from his fowler brother-in-law and threw them down. At that, the sky was darkened by a cloud of birds with wings and tails of every color. They lit in the trees, on spires and rooftops, and began singing such soothing music that the princess fell asleep with a smile on her lips.

“Yes, indeed,” said the father-in-law, “you have won my daughter. But since you are man and wife, by tomorrow morning you must have a baby that can say Papa and Mamma. Or else I'll behead you and her too.”

“There's time between now and tomorrow morning,” replied the bridegroom and, taking leave of the king, he remained with lovely Floret.

In the morning he remembered the little bone from the gravedigger
brother-in-law. He threw it on the floor, and lo and behold, the bone changed into a beautiful baby boy holding a golden apple and calling Papa and Mamma.

The father-in-law king came in, and the baby went to him and insisted on placing the golden apple on the tip of his crown. The king then kissed the baby, blessed the newlyweds and, removing his crown, placed it on the head of his son-in-law, who now had two crowns.

There was a grand celebration attended by the three brothers-in-law—swineherd, fowler, and gravedigger—and their wives.

 

(
Basilicata
)

134

There was once a fisherman who had no luck at all. For three years he'd not caught so much as an anchovy. To survive, he and his wife and four children had sold everything to their name and were now living on charity. But each day he still put his boat into the water and rowed out to where he would lower his nets. Then he pulled them up without so much as a crab or a mussel in them, and let out awful curses.

One day, precisely while he was cursing over an empty net, who should appear in the middle of the sea but the Evil One and ask, “Why are you so angry, mariner?”

“Who wouldn't be with bad luck like mine? I fish nothing from this sea, not even a piece of rope to hang myself with!”

“Listen, mariner,” replied the Evil One. “Make a pact with me, and you'll have fish every day and become a rich man.”

“On what condition?” asked the fisherman.

“I want your son,” answered the Evil One.

The fisherman began trembling. “Which one?”

“The one who is not yet born, but who will arrive shortly.”

The fisherman reasoned that for some years now no sons had been born to him, nor was it very likely he would ever have any more. So he said, “Very well, I agree.”

“In that case,” said the Evil One, “when your son is thirteen, you will hand him over to me. And starting this very day, your hauls will be abundant.”

“But what if this son should not come into the world?”

“Don't worry, your nets will still be full of fish, and you will owe me nothing.”

“I just wanted to be sure.” Then he put his name to the agreement.

Once the pact was concluded and the Evil One had disappeared over the sea, the fisherman pulled his nets up full of giltheads, tuna, mullet, and squid. And it was the same way the next day, and the next. The fisherman grew rich and was already saying, “I pulled a fast one!” when lo and behold a son was born to him, as fair as fair could be, and who would surely become the handsomest and strongest of all his sons. He named him Liombruno.

While the fisherman was in the middle of the sea one day, the Evil One turned up again. “Hello, mariner.”

“What can I do for you?”

“Remember your promise and what you owe me. Liombruno is mine.”

“Yes, indeed, but not before he turns thirteen.”

“See you again in thirteen years.” And he vanished.

Liombruno grew, and his father grieved when he saw him becoming ever handsomer and stronger, for the fatal day was approaching.

The thirteen years were all but up, and the fisherman began hoping that the Evil One had forgotten the pact, when lo and behold, here he came while the fisherman was rowing upon the sea one day. “Well, mariner.”

“Woe is me!” said the mariner. “Yes, I know, the time has come. Tell me what I am to do.”