Italian Folktales (29 page)

“Sacred Majesty, do you think I would so much as touch your crown? Nor have I seen anyone else who might have taken it!”

The king went home in a rage and had his prime minister sentenced to death, even though the poor man was completely innocent. The real culprit was Fairy Alcina, the queen of the fairies.

Ashamed to appear in public without his crown, the king shut himself up in his room and gave orders for no one to disturb him. That puzzled his sons, who couldn't imagine what had happened, and one day the oldest boy said to his two brothers, “Why would our father seclude himself like that and refuse to see anyone? He must have had an accident of some kind. I'll go in and try to cheer him up.” But his father shouted him out of the room and would have surely struck him if the boy had not bolted.

“Let me try,” said the middle boy. But he received the same welcome and retreated completely mortified.

It was now up to the youngest son, Benjamin, who was his father's favorite. Like his brothers, he went in and begged the king to say what the trouble was.

“I'd tell
you
everything,” replied the king, “but this is too humiliating for words.”

“If you won't tell me what's the matter, I'll kill myself rather than stand by and see you suffer.” At that, he put a gun to his heart.

“Stop, my son!” cried the king, “I'll tell you everything!” And he went into detail about losing the crown, but entreated his son to say nothing about it to his brothers.

Benjamin listened attentively, then spoke. “The only person under the sun who could have made off with your crown is Fairy Alcina. She loves to torment people. I'll search the world over for her. Either I'll bring the crown back, or you'll never see me again.”

He saddled a horse, filled a purse with money, and set out. At a certain point the road branched off in three different directions. A stone marker stood at the beginning of each new road. The first stone read:
WHOEVER TAKES THIS ROAD WILL RETURN
. The second stone read:
GOODNESS KNOWS WHAT YOUR FATE WILL BE IF YOU TAKE THIS ROAD
. The third stone read the opposite of the first:
WHOEVER TAKES THIS ROAD WILL NEVER RETURN
. He was about to start down the first road, but changed his mind and set foot in the second, only to backtrack and enter the third.

For a while the road was good, but then came brambles, stones, snakes, insects, and all kinds of wild animals. The horse could go no farther, so Benjamin dismounted, tethered the horse to a tree, kissed him goodbye, and said in a tearful voice, “We might never meet again.” Then he continued his journey on foot.

After walking and walking he came to a cottage and knocked on the door, for he was quite hungry by this time. “Who is it?” asked a voice inside.

“A poor horseless knight requesting a little refreshment.”

An old woman opened the door and asked in amazement, “What on earth are you doing in these parts, good lad? Don't come in, please! If my daughter should return and find you here, she'd kill you and eat you, upon my word. I am the mother of Bora the Northeast Wind. Wait right here and I'll bring you something to eat.”

While he ate, Benjamin told the old woman why he was roaming the globe in search of Fairy Alcina. The old woman knew nothing about her, but nevertheless promised to help him, good old soul that she was. She brought him in and hid him under the bed; and when Bora arrived angry and ravenous, she fed her enough to quiet her hunger for a good while, then told her about the young man's plight and made her promise not to harm a hair on his head.

Bora, who was well fed by now, let Benjamin come out from under the bed and spoke to him as a friend. She told him that in the course of her routine journeys around the world she had seen his father's crown on Fairy Alcina's bed, together with a shawl of stars and a musical golden apple, both of which Alcina had stolen from two queens now imprisoned in a well by a magic spell. Finally she revealed the locations of Fairy Alcina's palace and the two queens' well.

“But how will I get inside the palace?” asked Benjamin.

“Take this potion,” said Bora, “with which you will put the watchman to sleep. Then you can go in and find the gardener.”

“How will I deal with the gardener?”

“Have no fear,” said Bora. “Fairy Alcina's gardener is my father. Mother and I will recommend you to him.”

After thanking mother and daughter profusely, Benjamin set out and didn't stop until he reached the fairy's palace. He put the watchman to sleep and found the gardener, who promised to help him. “The steps are guarded by two Moors who have orders to kill anyone who tries to pass, with the exception of myself when I take flowers to the fairy.”

So Benjamin dressed as a gardener, picked up a large vase of tuberoses that hid his face, and went up the steps past the two Moors. He entered the boudoir of the sleeping fairy and picked up the crown which she had placed on the canopy, along with the shawl of stars and the golden apple. Then he turned and looked at the fairy: she was so beautiful he had the urge to kiss her as she slept. He was about to do so, when the golden apple sounded a few notes of music. Afraid the fairy would awaken, Benjamin fled, hiding his face in a vase of jasmines so the Moors wouldn't see him. It was a narrow escape, since whoever kissed Fairy Alcina turned to stone from head to foot.

Benjamin thanked the gardener and took the way back. After walking for six or seven hours he came to a well gone dry and so deep you couldn't see the bottom. Circling this well was a goose with wings wide enough to shelter several persons at a time. Realizing at once that Benjamin wished to go down into the well, it approached for him to get under a wing, then flew to the bottom.

There stood the two queens held prisoners by the magic spell. “Here are your shawl of stars and musical golden apple!” said Benjamin, jumping out from under the goose's wing. “You are now free! If you wish to leave with me, take your places here under the goose.”

Overjoyed, the two queens took their places under the wings, and the goose soared from the well, passed over woods and mountains, and came to the spot where Benjamin's horse was tethered.

Benjamin bid the goose farewell, mounted the two queens on his horse, and returned to his father.

At the sight of his crown, the king was beside himself with joy. He made his son kneel and placed the crown on the boy's head. “It is yours, and you deserve it,” said the king.

Benjamin married the lovelier of the two queens. There were celebrations galore and a beautiful life afterward, and on that note I bring my tale to a close.

 

(
Dalmatia
)

 

47

A king issued a proclamation that whoever succeeded in giving his daughter her fill of figs would have her as his wife. One suitor then showed up with a whole basketful and didn't even have time to offer her the figs before she had eaten every one of them. When they were all gone, she said, “More!”

Three boys were out digging in a field. The oldest one said, “I don't feel like digging any longer. I shall go and try to give the king's daughter her fill of figs.”

He climbed the fig tree with a large basket. When it was quite full he set out for the king's palace. Along the way he met a neighbor, who said, “Give me a fig.”

“I can't,” he replied. “I mean to give the king's daughter her fill of figs, and I may not have enough as it is.” Then he moved on.

He reached the palace and was taken to the king's daughter, before whom he set the figs. Had he not picked up the basket the instant it became empty, she would have eaten that as well.

He went home, and the middle brother said, “I too have had enough of digging in the field. I shall try my luck at giving the king's daughter her fill of figs.”

He climbed the tree, filled his basket, and off he went. He met the neighbor, who said, “Give me a fig.”

The brother shrugged his shoulders and moved on. But he too had to grab up the empty basket, or the king's daughter would have eaten it as well.

Then the youngest boy announced his intention to go to the palace.

He was walking along with his basket, when the neighbor asked him also for a fig. “You may even take three,” said the youth, holding out the basket.

The neighbor ate a fig, then gave him a magic wand, explaining, “When you get there all you have to do is strike the ground with this wand, and the basket will fill up again as soon as it becomes empty.”

The king's daughter ate every single fig, but the youngest brother gave a tap with the wand, and the basket was full again. After two or three such taps, the king's daughter said to her father, “Figs! Ugh! I never want to see another one!”

The king said to the young man, “You've won all right, but if you want to marry my daughter, you must go to her aunt across the sea and invite her to the wedding.”

Hearing that, the youngest brother went home in dismay. Along the way he met the neighbor on his doorstep and told him of his plight. The neighbor gave him a bugle. “Go to the seashore and blow this. The princess's aunt who lives across the sea will hear you and come over here. Then you can take her to the king.”

The youth blew the bugle, and the aunt crossed the sea. Seeing her walk into the palace, the king said to the young man, “Bravo! But to wed my daughter you must have the gold ring now lying somehwere at the bottom of the sea.”

The youth returned to the neighbor, who said, “Go back to the seashore and blow the bugle.”

He did, and out of the water jumped a fish with the ring in its mouth. Seeing the ring, the king said, “In this bag are three hares for the wedding banquet, but they are too lean. Take them out to feed in the woods for three days and three nights and then bring them back in the same bag.”

But who ever heard of letting hares loose in the woods and then recapturing them? When asked how you did it, the neighbor said, “When it gets dark blow the bugle and the hares will run back into the bag.”

So the boy let the hares feed in the woods for three days and three nights. On the third day here came the aunt in disguise.

“What are you doing here in the woods, my boy?”

“I'm minding three hares.”

“Sell me one.”

“I can't.”

“How much will you take for one?”

“One hundred crowns.”

The aunt gave him one hundred crowns and left with the hare.

The young man waited until she was almost home, then blew the bugle. The hare slipped out of the aunt's hands and ran back to the woods and into the bag.

The king's daughter next went to the woods in disguise.

“What are you doing?”

“Minding three hares.”

“Sell me one.”

“I can't.”

“How much will you take for one?”

“Three hundred crowns.”

She paid him and left with the hare. But as she came in sight of home, the young man blew the bugle, and the hare slipped out of her hands, ran back to the woods, and into the bag.

Finally the king himself went to the woods in disguise.

“What are you doing?”

“Minding three hares.”

“Sell me one.”

“For three thousand crowns I will.”

But this time too the hare slipped away and came back into the bag. The three days and three nights were up, so the young man returned to the king, who said, “One last test before you marry my daughter. You are to fill up this bag with the truth.”

The neighbor was still on his doorstep, and told the boy, “You are well aware of all you did in the woods. Tell that, and the bag will fill up.”

The youth went back to the king. The king held the bag open while the young man spoke. “The aunt came and bought a hare for one hundred crowns, but it got away from her and came back into the bag. Your daughter came and bought a hare for three hundred crowns, but it got away from her and came back into the bag. Finally you came, Majesty, and bought a hare for three thousand crowns, but it got away from you and came back into the bag.”

All that was the truth, and the bag was now bulging.

The king realized at last that he had no choice but to give the young man his daughter.

 

(
Romagna
)

48

There was once an old farmer who had a son and a daughter. When time came for him to die, he called them to his bedside and said, “My children, I am about to die, and I have nothing to leave you except three little ewes in the barn. Try to live together in harmony and you'll never go hungry.”

After his death, brother and sister continued to live together. The boy tended the flock and the girl stayed at home spinning and cooking. One day while the boy was out in the woods with the sheep, he met a little man with three dogs.