Italian Folktales (28 page)

“Go up to the battlements of the castle,” commanded the youth, “and fire three cannon shots.” They heard the thunder of the cannon down in the town and vigorously waved yellow, green, red, and blue handkerchiefs in response, accompanied by trumpets and bass drums.

The youth went down the mountain in the procession of free people and entered the town. The black crepe had disappeared, and all you saw were flags and colored streamers billowing in the wind. The king was there waiting for them, his crown entwined with flowers. The wedding was celebrated the same day and was such a grand event that people are still talking about it.

 

(
Trentino
)

 

44

There was once an old Turk who had just one son, and the boy was dearly loved by his father. As everybody knows, the greatest scourge on earth for a Turk is work. Therefore, when the son turned fourteen, his father decided to send him to school to learn the science of laziness.

On the same street as the old Turk there lived a famous and highly respected professor, who had never done a lick of work in his life that he could get our of doing. The old Turk called on him and found him stretched out in the garden beneath a fig tree, with a cushion under his head, a cushion under his back, and a cushion under his buttocks. “Before talking to him I must first see how he does,” said the old Turk to himself and hid behind a hedge to observe the man.

The professor lay as still as a corpse, with his eyes closed. The only time he moved was whenever he heard the thud of a ripe fig on the ground near where he lay: he would reach slowly out, bring the fruit to his mouth, and swallow it. Then he wouldn't stir again until another fig fell.

“This is just the professor my boy needs,” decided the Turk. He came out of his hiding place, introduced himself, and asked if the professor would teach his son the science of laziness.

“Old man,” answered the professor just above a whisper, “don't talk so much. It tires me to listen to you. If you want to bring up your son to be a true Turk, just send him to me.”

The old Turk went home, took his son by the hand, thrust a feather pillow under his arm, and led him to that garden.

“I urge you,” he told him, “to do everything you see this professor of idleness do.”

The boy, who already had an inclination for that particular science, also stretched out under the fig tree. Observing his teacher, he saw him reach for every fig that fell and bring the fruit to his mouth. Why should I work myself to death reaching for figs? he thought, and lay there with his mouth wide open. Soon a fig fell into his mouth; he let it go down slowly, then reopened his mouth. Another fig fell, just missing his mouth. He kept perfectly still and murmured, “Why so wide of the mark? Fig, fall into my mouth!”

Seeing how wise the pupil was already, the professor said, “Go home. You have nothing to learn. You can even teach me something.”

So the boy went home to his father, who thanked heaven for having given him such a smart son.

 

(
Trieste
)

45

There was once a boy whose father said to him at the end of his schooling, “My son, now that you've finished your studies, the time is right for you to begin to travel. I will give you a ship so that you can get a start in loading, unloading, buying and selling. Work seriously, because I want you to learn to earn your living as soon as possible!”

He gave him seven thousand crowns with which to buy goods, and the boy set out. He had already sailed some distance without buying anything, when he came into a port and saw sitting on the shore a coffin, into which passers-by would all drop a small donation of money.

“Why are you keeping that corpse there?” he asked. “The dead wish to be buried.”

“That man died saddled with debts,” the boy was told. “It's the custom here to bury no one who has not paid his debts. We will not bury the man until his debts are paid up in full by charity.”

“In that case let it be known that all his creditors should come to me to be paid. And take him away and bury him at once.”

They made the announcement, and he paid every debt, without one penny left over for himself when he had finished. He therefore went back home, and his father asked, “What's the meaning of your returning so soon?”

“I sailed the sea and ran into pirates, who took all my capital.”

“Don't worry, my son but be thankful they didn't take your life as well! I'll fit you out again, but don't venture into the same waters the next time.” And he gave the boy another seven thousand crowns.

“You can be sure, Father, I'll change my course!” At that, he set out again.

Halfway across the sea, he saw a Turkish vessel and said to himself, “In this spot it's better to make friends than enemies: let's call on them and invite them to do likewise.” He boarded the Turks' vessel and asked, “Where do you come from?”

“We come from the East!”

“And what do you carry?”

“Nothing but a beautiful maiden.”

“To whom are you taking this maiden?”

“We will sell her to whoever wants to buy her. She's the daughter of our sultan and we kidnapped her on account of her great beauty.”

“Let me have a look at her.” When he saw her, he asked, “How much lo you want for her?”

“We are asking seven thousand crowns!”

So the youth gave the pirates all the money his father had given him and took the maiden to his ship. He had her baptized and married her, then went home to his father.

 

“Welcome back, my son so fair,

I can guess what prize you bring . . . . 

 

“Father, I bring a most precious gem,

You will sing with joy when you see her!

A maiden lovelier than you've e'er beheld:

The daughter of the sultan of Turkey

I bring as my first commodity!”

 

“Idiot! Is that all you've brought?” And the father angrily shook them both and threw them out of the house.

Poor things! They didn't know which way to turn.

“What will we do now?” he wondered. “I've nothing to my name.” But she said, “Listen, I can paint fine pictures. That's what I'll do and you'll go out and sell them. But beware of ever telling a soul they were done by me.”

Meanwhile, back in Turkey, the sultan had dispatched ship after ship in search of his daughter. By chance, one of them arrived at the town where the young people were living. Many men disembarked, and the youth, seeing all those visitors in town, said to his wife, “Paint a lot of pictures, which we'll certainly sell today.”

She did the pictures and said, “Here you are, but don't sell a one for less than twenty crowns.”

He took them to the town square. The Turks arrived, glanced at the paintings, and said to one another, “Nobody but the sultan's daughter could have done these! She alone paints like that!” They moved closer and asked the young man how much he wanted for them.

“They are expensive,” he replied. “I'm letting none of them go for less than twenty crowns.”

“Fine, we'll buy them. But we'd like others as well.”

“Come home and talk to my wife about it. She's the one who paints the pictures.”

The Turks followed him home, and there was the sultan's daughter. They seized her, bound her, and carried her back to Turkey.

The husband was heartbroken. There he was with no wife, no trade, and no money. Every day he went to the harbor to look for a ship that might take him aboard, but he never found a one. Finally one day he saw an old man fishing from a little boat and said, “How much better off you are, good old soul, than I am!”

“Why do you say that, my boy?” replied the old man.

“How I would like to fish with you, good old soul!”

“If you wish to fish with me, come ahead! What with your pole and my boat, we might catch something of note!”

So the youth got in, and they made a pact to share everything, good and bad alike, that came their way. To begin, the old man divided his supper with the boy.

After eating, they went to sleep. Meanwhile a storm suddenly came up. The wind seized the boat, swept it over the waves, and finally grounded it on the shore of Turkey.

Seeing this boat land, the Turks took possession of it, made slaves of the two fishermen, and carried them before the sultan, who put them to work in the garden. The old man was to look after the vegetables, and the youth after the flowers. The two slaves made friends with the other gardeners and were very well off in the sultan's garden. The old man fashioned guitars, violins, flutes, clarinets, and piccolos, and the youth played them all and sang songs.

Now the sultan's daughter, for her punishment, had been imprisoned in a tall tower with her maids of honor. Hearing that fine playing and singing, she thought of her husband far away. “Only Fair Brow [as she called him] could play all instruments and sing in a voice far sweeter than any of them. Who is that playing and singing in the garden?”

Peeping through the slats in the blinds, which she was unable to open, she saw that the young musician was none other than her husband.

Every day the maids of honor took the gardeners a big basket to fill with flowers. The sultan's daughter therefore said to them, “Put that young man in the basket, cover him with flowers, and bring him up here!”

For a joke the gardeners put him in the basket, and the maids of honor carried him up in the tower. When they set the basket down, he bobbed up from under the flowers and found himself face to face with his wife! They hugged and kissed, telling each other everything. Then they began planning their escape.

They had a large ship loaded with pearls, precious stones, bars of gold, and jewels. Into the hold they lowered Fair Brow, then the sultan's daughter, then, one by one, all her maids of honor, after which the ship weighed anchor.

They were already on the open sea, when Fair Brow remembered the old man and said to his wife, “My dearest, I may lose my life for doing so, but I have to go back to shore. I cannot be unfaithful to my sworn word! I promised that old man we would always share everything, good and bad alike, that came our way!”

They turned back and found the old man on shore waiting for them. They brought him aboard and regained the open sea.

“Good old soul,” said Fair Brow, “let us now divide things up. One half of all this treasure is for you, and the other half is for me.”

“The same goes for your wife,” said the old man. “One half of her is for you and the other half is for me!”

“Good old soul,” replied the youth, “I am indebted to you, so I'll let you have all the treasure on this ship. But let me keep my wife all for myself.”

“You are a generous youth. Note that I am the soul of the dead man for whose burial you arranged. All your luck stems from that good deed of yours.”

He gave him his blessing and vanished.

The boat glided into its home port firing mighty cannon salutes: Fair Brow, the world's richest nobleman, was arriving with his wife. And who should be waiting on shore with open arms but his father.

 

Happily from then on did they live,

But nothing to me did they ever give.

 

(
Istria
)

 

46

A king had three sons whom he loved very much. One day this king went hunting with his prime minister and, feeling very weary, lay down under a tree and went to sleep. Upon awakening, the first thing he did was look for his crown. It was neither on his head nor on the ground beside him, much less in the game bag, so where could it be? Right away he called to his prime minister, “Who took my crown?”