Italian Folktales (32 page)

The woman got up, opened the window, and laid the wand on the roof, in perfect reach of Tabagnino, who picked it up immediately and fled.

Shortly after, the Wild Man rose, pleased that it had stopped hailing, and went to the window.

“Parrot, what is the hour?”

“It is the hour when the hunchback Tabagnino makes off with your good-weather wand.”

The Wild Man jumped on the mare and galloped after the hunchback. He was about to overtake him on the beach, when Tabagnino struck the ground with the wand. The sea opened, let Tabagnino through, then closed again. The Wild Man yelled:

 

“O Tabagnino, you hateful thing,

When will you come back to this shore?

I mean to eat you before long,

Or else not live any more.”

 

At the sight of the wand, the king was overjoyed. But he said, “Now you must go and get me the two bags of money.”

The hunchback thought it over, then had some woodchopper's tools readied, changed clothes, put on a false beard, and went off to the Wild Man's with hatchet, wedges, and sledgehammer. Now the Wild Man had never seen Tabagnino in the daylight, and Tabagnino had also been eating such hearty meals since he had been at the king's palace, that the Wild Man did not recognize him.

They greeted one another. “Where are you going?”

“For wood!”

“Oh, here in the forest there's all the wood you could possibly want!”

So Tabagnino took his tools and started working around a massive oak. Into the tree he hammered a wedge, then another, then a third, and proceeded to drive them in with the sledgehammer. In no time he grew impatient, pretending one wedge had gone in too far.

“Don't get upset,” said the Wild Man. “I'll lend you a hand.” And he stuck his hands in the opening to see if he could widen it and free the wedge. At that, Tabagnino struck the tree with the sledgehammer, knocking out all the wedges at once, and the crack in the trunk closed on the Wild Man's hands. “Help me, for heaven's sake, help me!” he began shouting. “Run to my house and tell my wife to give you those two large wedges of ours and set me free!”

Tabagnino ran to the house and said to the woman, “Quick, your husband wants you to give me those two bags of money out of the chest.”

“How can I do that?” said the woman. “We have supplies to buy. If he'd said one bag, I could understand. But both of them, no!”

So Tabagnino opened the window and cried, “Is she to give me just one, or both of them?”

“Both of them, and be quick about it!” shouted the Wild Man.

“Did you hear that? He is very angry,” said Tabagnino. He took the bags and fled.

With a good deal of struggling, the Wild Man pulled his hands out of the tree trunk, skinning them quite badly, and went home groaning. His wife asked right away, “But why did you ask me to give away the two bags of money?”

Her husband was stunned. He went to the parrot and asked: “What is the hour?”

“The hour the hunchback is carrying off the two bags of money!”

But this time the Wild Man was in too much pain for a chase and merely cursed the hunchback.

The king also ordered Tabagnino to go and steal the mare that ran like the wind. “How can I do it? The stable is locked, and the animal has many jingle-bells on its harness!” But then he thought it over and requested an awl and a little bag of cotton. With the awl he made a hole in the wall of the stable and squeezed through it. Then he began pricking the mare in the belly with the awl. The horse kicked, and the Wild Man, hearing the noise as he lay in bed, said, “Poor animal, she must not feel well tonight to be so restless.”

Tabagnino waited a couple of minutes, then pricked her again with the awl. Tired of hearing the mare kick, the Wild Man went to the stable, led her out, and tethered her outdoors. Then he returned to his bed and fell asleep once more. The hunchback, who was hiding in the dark stable, came out through the hole he had made, stuffed the mare's bells with cotton, and muffled her hoofs. He untied the animal, climbed into the saddle, and galloped off in silence. A little later, the Wild Man woke up as usual and went to the window. “Parrot, what is the hour?”

“It is the hour the hunchback is riding your mare away!”

The Wild Man would have gone after him, but Tabagnino had the mare, and who could ever overtake that animal?

Overjoyed, the king said, “Now I want the parrot.”

“But the parrot talks and screams!”

“Think of a way.”

The hunchback ordered a few of the best trifles you ever tasted, candies, cookies, and all kinds of pastries. He put everything in a basket and left. “See what I brought you, parrot? You'll get things like this every day if you'll come with me.”

The parrot ate the trifles and said, “Good!”

So by means of trifles, cookies, and candies, Tabagnino lured the bird away, and the next time the Wild Man called from the window, “Parrot, what is the hour?” there was no answer. “Didn't you hear me? I said, ‘What is the hour?'” He ran to the henhouse and found it empty.

There was a big celebration when Tabagnino walked into the king's palace with the parrot. “Now after all this,” said the king, “you have only one more thing to do.”

“But there's nothing else to take!” replied the hunchback.

“What do you mean?” snapped the king. “The most important thing of all remains for you to bring me the Wild Man himself.”

“I will try, Sacred Crown. Just give me a garment that hides my hump, and have my features well disguised.”

The king called in his finest tailors and wigmakers, and thanks to the new clothes, blond wig and fine mustache they put on Tabagnino, no one would have ever recognized him as the hunchback from the king's court.

Thus disguised, the hunchback went off to the Wild Man and found him working in a field. Tabagnino doffed his hat in greeting.

“What are you looking for?” asked the Wild Man.

“I'm the coffin-maker,” explained Tabagnino, “and I'm in search of planks for the coffin of Tabagnino the hunchback, who has died.”

“So he finally dropped dead!” exclaimed the Wild Man. “That makes me so happy I'll give you the boards myself, and you can build the coffin right here.”

“With pleasure,” said the hunchback. “The only drawback to that is I won't be able to measure the body.”

“That's no problem,” answered the Wild Man. “The rascal was about my size. You may measure me.”

Tabagnino began sawing the boards and nailing them together. When the coffin was done, he said, “Now let's see if this is the right size.” The Wild Man stretched out inside. “Let's check the lid.” Tabagnino put the lid in place and nailed it down. Then he took the coffin to the king.

All the noblemen in the vicinity came and carried the box to the middle of a meadow and set it afire. Then there was a grand celebration to mark the kingdom's liberation from the monster.

The king named Tabagnino his secretary and always held him in great esteem.

 

Long tale, narrow way,

I've finished, so now say your say.

 

(
Bologna
)

 

52

A man was left a widower with one daughter, the most beautiful girl you ever saw. Alone and with no one to look after his daughter, it wasn't long before he decided to remarry. But he got an awful wife who was as mean as could be to poor Stellina.

“Listen, Papa,” said Stellina, “rather than stay here and suffer all the time, I'm going to the country to live.”

“Be patient,” replied her father.

But one day the stepmother slapped her for breaking a bowl, and Stellina left home, unable to endure any more. She went to the mountains to her aunt, a fairy of sorts, but very poor, who said, “Dear Stellina, I must send you out to tend the sheep, but I'm giving you my most precious possession.” And she gave her a ring. “If you're ever in trouble, take this ring in your hand, and it will help you.”

One morning when Stellina was in a meadow with her sheep, she saw a handsome youth approach. “You are too beautiful to tend sheep,” he said to her. “Come, I'll marry you, and you'll live like a princess.”

Stellina turned as red as a beet and was at a loss for an answer. But the young man finally talked her into going off with him. They climbed into a carriage waiting on the road and took off like lightning. They raced along for the better part of the day and drew to a halt before a handsome palace.

“Here you are, Stellina,” said the young man, showing her inside. “This palace will be at your disposal. Ask for whatever you want and you will get it. I must now leave you to look after my business. We'll meet tomorrow morning.” With that, he left.

Stellina was speechless with amazement. She felt herself being taken by the hand, but saw no one; and she let herself be led into a magnificent room where clothing and jewels had been laid out for her. She was undressed, then clothed as a noble lady. At every moment she was conscious of somebody busying about her, but she saw no one. When they had finished dressing her, they led her to another room where a steaming hot dinner was on the table. She sat down and began eating. The plates were changed and new courses brought in, but still she saw no one. After dinner she went to look around the palace. There were rooms decorated in yellow, rooms decorated in red, with divans and chairs and the loveliest objects imaginable. Behind the palace was a beautiful park, stocked with all sorts of animals, including dogs, cats, donkeys, hens, and even giant toads, and they sounded like a group of people all talking at once. Stellina was charmed at the sight and watched them until it grew dark. Then she decided to go to bed.

She entered a room furnished with a bed fit for a princess, and was helped out of her clothes. A lamp was brought to her along with nightgown and bedroom slippers. She went to bed. All was quiet. She fell asleep and didn't awaken until broad daylight.

“I'm going to ring the bell,” she said, “and see if they come to serve me.” But no sooner had she touched the bell than a silver tray appeared before her with coffee and cake. She drank the coffee and got up. She was dressed and had her hair done for her. In short, she was served like a princess.

Later on, the young man returned. “Did you sleep well? Are you happy?”

Stellina said yes, he squeezed her hand, and a few minutes later said goodbye and left. That was the daily visit he paid her, and the only time she ever saw him.

At the end of two months, Stellina was sick of such a routine. One morning after the young man had left, she said, “I should like to go out for a walk in the beautiful countryside and get some fresh air.” She'd not got the words out before somebody brought her a beautiful bonnet, a fan, and a parasol. “So there's still somebody around who listens to me!” said Stellina. “Do let me see you, just once!” Those words fell on deaf ears, though; no one appeared.

In that instant Stellina remembered the ring her aunt had given her. Up to then, she'd not thought of using it, being in no need of anything. She went and got the ring out of the dresser drawer where she had put it. Once she had it in her hand, she said, “I ask to see who is here serving me!”

All of a sudden before her stood a beautiful maid of honor.

Stellina jumped for joy. “At last I'll have somebody to chat with!”

“Thank you, thank you,” said the beautiful maid of honor. “You have finally made me visible after all the time I was under a spell and could neither speak nor be seen.”

They became the best of friends and resolved to try to solve the mystery of the place. They went outside and started walking along a trail. On and on they went, and at last the trail passed between two columns. On one column was written
ASK
, on the other
AND YOU WILL FIND OUT
.

Facing the column with ASK written on it, Stellina said, “I want to know where I am.”

The column that said
AND YOU WILL FIND OUT
replied: “You're in a place where you will fare well, but . . . ”

“But what?” asked Stellina. “But what?” She asked first one column, then the other, but no answer came back.

That “but” struck the two friends as a bad sign, and they moved on, very worried. They soon reached the end of the park. On the other side of the fence a handsome knight was sitting on the ground.

When he saw them, the knight stood up, asking, “How do you happen to be in there? Be careful, you're in great danger, you're in the hands of the king of the animals. He brings everyone he catches to his treasure-filled palace here and devours them one by one.”

Hearing that, Stellina was petrified. “How can we escape?” she asked the knight.