Italian Popular Tales Part 41

The last of these legends which I shall mention is ent.i.tled: "All things are done for money." ("_Tutti cosi su' fatti pri dinari._") There once died a poor beggar who had led a pious life, and was destined for paradise. When his soul arrived at the gate and knocked, St. Peter asked who he was and told him to wait. The poor soul waited two months behind the gate, but St. Peter did not open it for him. Meanwhile, a wealthy baron died and went, exceptionally, to paradise. His soul did not need even to knock, for the gate was thrown open, and St. Peter exclaimed: "Throw open the gate, let the baron pa.s.s! Come in Sir Baron, your servant, what an honor!" The soul of the beggar squeezed in, and said to himself: "The world is not the only one who wors.h.i.+ps money; in heaven itself there is this law, that all things are done for money."

[5] Pitre, No. 126, where other Sicilian versions are mentioned. A version from Siena is in T. Gradi, _Proverbi e Modi di dire_, p. 23, repeated in the same author's _Saggio di Letture varie_, p. 52, and followed by an article by Tommaseo, originally printed in the _Inst.i.tutore_ of Turin, in which Servian and Greek parallels are given.

Besides the Venetian variant mentioned in the text, there are versions from Umbria and Piedmont cited by Pitre, a Tuscan one in _Nov. tosc._ No. 26, and one from the Tyrol in Schneller, No. 4. Pitre, in his notes to _Nov. tosc._ No. 26, mentions several other versions from Piedmont, Friuli, and Benevento. An exact version is also found in Corsica: see Ortoli, p. 235.

[6] This reminds one of the "Sabbath of the d.a.m.ned:" see Douhet, _Dictionnaire des Legendes_, Paris, 1855, p. 1040.

[7] Pitre, in a note to this story, mentions several proverbial sayings in which Pilate's name occurs: "To wash one's hands of the matter like Pilate," and "To come into a thing like Pilate in the Creed," to express engaging in a matter unwillingly, or to indicate something that is _mal a propos_.

[8] Pitre, I. p. cx.x.xvii., and Pitre, _Appunti di Botanica popolare siciliana_, in the _Rivista Europea_, May, 1875, p. 441.

[9] Pitre, I. p. cx.x.xviii.

[10] This legend is mentioned in a popular Sicilian legend in verse, see Pitre, _Canti pop. sic._ II. p. 368, and is the subject of a chap-book, the t.i.tle of which is given by Pitre, _Fiabe_, vol. IV. p. 397.

[11] _Preghiere pop. veneziane_ raccolte da Dom. Giuseppe Bernoni, p.

18.

[12] Pitre, I. p. cx.x.xiii. For earlier appearances of the Wandering Jew in Italian literature, see A. D'Ancona, _La Leggenda dell' Ebreo errante, Nuova Antologia_, serie II. vol. XXIII. 1880, p. 425; _Romania_, vol. X. p. 212, _Le Juif errant en Italia au XIII^e siecle_, G. Paris and A. D'Ancona; vol. XII. p. 112, _Encore le Juif errant en Italie_, A. D'Ancona, and _Giornale Storico_, vol. III. p. 231, R.

Renier, where an Italian text of the XVIII. cent. is printed for the first time. The myth of the Wandering Jew can best be studied in the following recent works: G. Paris, _Le Juif Errant, Extrait de l'Encyclopedie des Sciences Religieuses_, Paris, 1880; Dr. L. Neubaur, _Die Sage vom ewigen Juden_, Leipzig, 1884; P. Ca.s.sel, _Ahasverus, die Sage vom ewigen Juden_, Berlin, 1885. The name b.u.t.tadeu (b.u.t.tadaeus in the Latin texts of the XVII. cent.) has been explained in various ways.

It is probably from the Ital. verb _b.u.t.tare_, to thrust away, and _dio_, G.o.d.

[13] Crivliu is a corruption of Gregoriu, Gregory, and the legend is, as Kohler says, a peculiar transformation of the well-known legend of "Gregory on the Stone." For the legend in general, see A. D'Ancona's Introduction to the _Leggenda di Vergogna e la Leggenda di Giuda_, Bologna, 1869, and F. Lippold, _Ueber die Quelle des Gregorius Hartmann's von Aue_, Leipzig, 1869, p. 50 _et seq._ See also Pitre's notes to No. 117. An example of this cla.s.s of stories from Cyprus may be found in the _Jahrb._ XI. p. 357.

[14] See Kohler's notes to Gonz., No. 90, and _Sacre Rappresentazioni dei Secoli XIV.-XVI._ raccolte e ill.u.s.trate di A. D'Ancona, Florence, 1872, III. p. 435. There is another legend of St. James of Galicia in Busk, p. 208, ent.i.tled "The Pilgrims." A husband and wife make the usual vow to St. James that if he will give them children they will make the pilgrimage to Santiago. When the children are fifteen and sixteen the parents start on the pilgrimage, taking with them the son, and leaving the daughter in charge of a priest, who wrote slanderous letters about her, whereupon the son returned suddenly, slew his sister, and threw her body in a ditch. A king's son happened to pa.s.s by, found the body, and discovered that it still contained life. He had her cured, and married her, and they afterwards became king and queen. While the king was once at war, the viceroy tempted the queen, and when she would not listen to him, killed her two children and slandered her to the king. The queen took the bodies of the children and wandered about until she met the Madonna, who took the children, and the queen went to Galicia. The king and viceroy also made a pilgrimage to the same place where the queen's parents had dwelt since the supposed death of their daughter. All met at the saint's shrine and forgave each other, and the Madonna restored the children alive and well.

There are two or three other stories in Pitre and Gonz. in which saints appear in the _role_ of good fairies, aiding the hero when in trouble.

One of these stories, "The Thankful Dead" (Gonz., No. 74), has already been mentioned in Chapter II. p. 131; two others may be briefly mentioned here. The first is Gonz., No. 74, "Of one who by the help of St. Joseph won the king's daughter." A king proclaims that he will give his daughter to any one who builds a s.h.i.+p that will go by land and water. The youngest of three brothers constructs such a vessel by the help of St. Joseph, after his two brothers have failed. The saint, who is not known to the youth, accompanies him on the voyage on the condition that he shall receive the half of everything that the youth receives. During the voyage they take on board a man who can fill a sack with mist, one who can tear up half a forest and carry the trees on his back, a man who can drink up half a river, one who can always. .h.i.t what he shoots at, and one who walks with such long steps that when one foot is in Catania the other is in Messina. The king refuses to give his daughter to the youth in spite of the s.h.i.+p that goes by land and water.

The youth, however, by the help of his wonderful servants and St.

Joseph, fulfils all the king's requirements, and carries away the princess. When the youth returned home with his bride and treasures, St.

Joseph called on him to fulfil his promise to him. The youth gives him half of his treasures, and even half of the crown he had won. The saint reminds him that the best of his possessions yet remains undivided,--his bride. The youth determines to keep his promise, draws his sword, and is about to cut his bride in two, when St. Joseph reveals himself, blesses the pair, and disappears.

This story is sometimes found as a version of the "Thankful Dead," see Chapter II. note 12. The second story is Pitre, No. 116, "St. Michael the Archangel and one of his devotees," of which there is a version in Gonz., No. 76, called, "The Story of Giuseppino." In the first version a child, Pippino, is sold by his parents to the king in order to obtain the means to duly celebrate the feast of St. Michael, to whom they were devoted. The child is brought up in the palace as the princess's playmate; but when he grows up the king is anxious to get rid of him, and so sends him on a voyage in an unseaworthy vessel. St. Michael appears to the lad, and tells him to load the s.h.i.+p with salt. They set sail, and the rotten s.h.i.+p is about to go to pieces, when the saint appears and changes the s.h.i.+p into a vessel all of gold. They sell the cargo to a king who has never tasted salt before, and return to their own country wealthy. The next voyage Pippino, by the saint's advice, takes a cargo of cats, which they sell to the king of a country overrun by mice. Pippino returns and marries the king's daughter. In the version in Gonz., Giuseppino is a king's son, who leaves his home to see the world, and becomes the stable-boy of the king whose daughter he marries.

The three cargoes are: salt, cats, and uniforms. On the last voyage, Giuseppino captures a hostile fleet, and makes his prisoners put on the uniforms he has in his s.h.i.+p. With this army he returns, and compels the king to give him his daughter. St. Joseph acts the same part in this version as St. Michael in Pitre's.

The story of "Whittington and his Cat" will at once occur to the reader.

See Pitre's notes to No. 116, and vol. IV. p. 395, and Kohler to Gonz., No. 76.

[15] Kohler has no note on this legend, and I have been unable to find in the list of saints any name of which Oniria or Neria may be a corruption.

[16] The references to this story will best be found in Pauli's _Schimpf und Ernst_, ed. Oesterley, No. 682, and in the same editor's notes to the _Gesta Romanorum_, cap. 80. To these may be added a story by De Trueba in his _Narraciones populares_, p. 65, ent.i.tled, "_Las Dudas de San Pedro_;" Luzel, _Legendes Chretiennes_, I. 282, II. 4; _Fiore di Virtu_, Naples, 1870, p. 68; Etienne de Bourbon, No. 396 (_Anecdotes historiques, legendes et apologues tires du Receuil inedit d'Etienne de Bourbon_), pub. pour la Societe de l'Hist. de France par A. Lecoy de la Marche, Paris, 1877.

Since the above was written, several important contributions to the literature of this story have been made. The first in point of time and importance is a paper by Gaston Paris in the _Comptes Rendus_ of the Academie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, vol. VIII. pp. 427-449 (reprinted in _La Poesie du Moyen Age_, Lecons et Lectures par Gaston Paris, Paris, 1885). Next may be mentioned "_The Literary History of Parnell's Hermit_," by W. E. A. Axon, London, 1881 (reprinted from the Seventh Volume of the Third Series of _Memoirs of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, Session 1879-80_). An Icelandic version is in _Islendzk Aeventyri, Islandische Legenden, Novellen und Marchen_, herausgegeben von Hugo Gering, Halle, 1884, vol. II. p. 247.

The legend is clearly shown by Gaston Paris to be of Jewish origin.

[17] There is another version of this story in Gonz., No. 86, "_Von dem frommen Kinde_" ("The Pious Child"), Kohler in his notes cites Grimm's _Children's Legends_, No. 9, and Schneller, No. 1. In this last story a pious child is cruelly treated by his step-mother, and leaves his home to live in a convent. One day he notices in a corner a neglected crucifix covered with dust and cobwebs. He sees how thin the figure is, and at meal-time brings his food where the crucifix is and begins to feed the image, which opens its mouth and eats with appet.i.te. As the image grows stouter the pious child grows thinner. The Superior learns one day the fact, and tells the child to ask the Lord to invite him and the Superior to his table. The next day both die suddenly after ma.s.s.

In a story in Gonz., No. 47, "Of the pious youth who went to Rome," the youth talks to the image on the crucifix in a familiar way, and receives information about questions put to him by various persons. The youth also dies suddenly at the end of the story.

[18] Pitre, No. 111. Another Sicilian version is in Gonz., No. 88, "The Story of Spadnia." Spadnia is the son of a king, who every day has bread baked and sent to the souls in purgatory by means of an a.s.s sent for that purpose by the Lord. Spadnia becomes king, and sends one of his servants, Peppe, to see where the a.s.s goes. Peppe crosses a river of clear water, one of milk, and one of blood. Then he sees the thin oxen in a rich pasture, and the reverse; in addition he beholds a forest with small and large trees together, and a handsome youth cutting down now a large tree, now a small one, with a single stroke of a bright axe. Then he pa.s.sed through a door with the a.s.s, and sees St. Joseph, and St.

Peter, and all the saints, and among them G.o.d the Father. Farther on Peppe sees many saints, and among them the parents of Spadnia. Finally Peppe comes where the Saviour and his Mother are on a throne. The Lord says to him that Spadnia must marry a maiden named Secula, and open an inn, in which any one may eat and lodge without cost. The Lord then explains what Peppe has seen. The river of water is the good deeds of men which aid and refresh the poor souls in purgatory; the river of milk is that with which Christ was nourished; and the river of blood that shed for sinners. The thin cattle are the usurers, the fat, the poor who trust in G.o.d, the youth felling the trees is Death.

Peppe returns and tells his master all he had seen, and Spadnia wanders forth in search of a maiden called Secula. He finds at last a poor girl so called, and marries her, and opens an inn as he had been directed.

After a time the Lord and his Apostles visit the inn, and the king and his wife wait on them, and treat them with the utmost consideration. The next day after they had departed Spadnia and his wife find out who their guests were, and hasten after them in spite of a heavy storm. When they overtake the Lord they ask pardon for their sins, and eternal happiness for all belonging to them. The Lord grants their request, and tells them to be prepared at Christmas, when he will come for them. They return home, give all their property to the poor, and at Christmas they confess, take communion, and die peacefully near each other, together with Secula's old parents.

This curious legend has no parallels in Italy out of Sicily. It is, however, found in the rest of Europe, the best parallel being _L'Homme aux dents rouges_, in Blade, _Agenais_, p. 52. Kohler cites Blade, _Contes et proverbes pop. rec. en Armagnac_, p. 59, and Asbjrnsen, No.

62 [Dasent, _Tales from the Fjeld_, p. 160, "Friends in Life and Death"]. To these may be added the story in Schneller, p. 215, and the references given by Kohler in his notes to Gonz., No. 88.

[19] See Champfleury, _De la litterature populaire en France. Recherches sur les origines et les variations de la legende du bonhomme Misere_, Paris, 1861. It contains a reprint of the oldest yet known edition of the chap-book, that of 1719. The most valuable references to the legend in general will be found (besides the above work, and Grimm's notes to Nos. 81, 82) in the _Jahrb._ V. pp. 4, 23; VII. 128, 268; and in Pitre's notes, vol. III. p. 63, and IV. pp. 398, 439. All the Italian versions are mentioned in the text or following notes. To the stories from the various parts of Europe mentioned in the articles above cited, may be added Webster, _Basque Legends_, pp. 195, 199. Since this note was written another Tuscan version has been published by Pitre in his _Nov.

tosc._ No. 28, who cites in his notes: Ortoli, p. 1, -- 1, No. XXII.

(Corsica); and two literary versions in Cintio de' Fabritii, Venice, 1726, _Origine de' volgari proverbi_, and Domenico Batacchi in his _Novelle galanti: La Vita e la Morte di Prete Ulivo_.

[20] See Pitre, No. 125.

[21] See Busk, p. 178.

[22] See Busk, p. 183.

[23] _Novelline di Sto. Stefano_, No. x.x.xII. A version from Monferrato is found in Comparetti, No. 34, ent.i.tled, "_La Morte Burlata_" ("Death Mocked"), in which a schoolmaster, who is a magician, tells one of his scholars that he will grant him every day any favor he may ask. The first day the scholar asks that any one who climbs his pear-tree must remain there; the second day he asks that whoever approaches his fireplace to warm himself must stay there; and finally he asks to win always with a pack of cards that he has. When the possessor of these favors has lived a hundred years Death comes for him, but is made to climb the tree, and is forced to grant the owner another hundred years of life. The fireplace procures another respite, and then the man dies and goes to paradise; but the Lord will not admit him, for he had not asked for mercy. h.e.l.l will not receive him, for he had been a good man; so he goes to the gate of purgatory and begins playing cards, with souls for stakes, and wins enough to form a regiment. Then he goes to paradise, and the Lord tells him he can enter alone. But he persists in going in with all those who are attached to him; so all the souls enter too.

[24] _Novelline di Sto. Stefano_, No. 33. A similar story, told in greater detail, is in Schneller, No. 17, "_Der Stopselwirth_" ("The Tapster"). A generous host ruins himself by his hospitality, and borrows money of the Devil for seven years; if he cannot repay it his soul is to belong to the lender. The host continues his liberality, and at the end of seven years is poorer than before. The Lord, St. Peter, and St. John come to the tavern and tell the landlord to ask three favors. He asks that whoever climbs his fig-tree may remain there; whoever sits on his sofa must stay there; and finally, whoever puts his hands in a certain chest must keep them there. The Devil first sends his eldest son after the money. The host sends him up the fig-tree, and then gives him a sound beating. Then the Devil sends his second son, whom the landlord invites to sit on his sofa, and gives him a sound thras.h.i.+ng too. Finally the Devil himself comes, and the host tells him to get his money himself out of the chest. The Devil sticks fast, and is set free only on condition of renouncing all claims to the landlord's soul.

The conclusion of the story is like that of "Beppo Pipetta."

There is another story about a bargain with the Devil in the _Novelline di Sto. Stefano_, No. 35, "_Le Donne ne sanno un punto piu del diavolo_"

("Women know a point more than the Devil"). A fowler sells his soul to the Devil for twelve years of life and plenty of birds. When the time is nearly up the fowler's wife persuades him to alter his bargain with the Devil a little. The latter is to give up his claim if the former can find a bird unknown to the Devil. The Devil consents, and comes the last day and recognizes easily every bird, until finally the fowler's wife, disguised with tar and feathers, comes out of a case and frightens the fowler and the Devil so that he runs away.

The mysterious bird recalls the one in Grimm, No. 46, "Fitcher's Bird."

[25] _Jahrbuch_, VII. 121. The wonderful sack occurs in another Venetian story, Widter-Wolf, No. 14, "_Der Hollenpfortner_" ("The Porter of h.e.l.l"). The gifts are: a gun that never misses, a violin that makes every one dance, and a sack into which every one must spring when commanded by the owner. See Kohler's notes to this story, _Jahrb_. VII.

268. A Corsican version is in Ortoli, p. 155. The episode of the Devil beaten in the sack is also found in Comparetti, No. 49, "_Il Ramaio_." A wandering smith gives alms to St. Peter and the Lord, and receives in return a pouch like the above. When the Devil comes to fetch him he wishes him in his sack, and gives him a good pounding. When the smith dies he gets into paradise by throwing his bag inside and wis.h.i.+ng himself in it.

There are two other stories in which the Devil gets worsted: they are Gianandrea, No. VI, "_Quattordici_" ("Fourteen"), and _Fiabe Mantovane_, No. II, "_Pacchione_" In these stories a cunning person is sent to the Devil to bring back a load of gold. The cunning person takes a long pair of tongs, catches the Devil by the nose, loads his horse, and returns in safety.

The first part of the story of "_Quattordici_" is found in the Basque Legend of "Fourteen:" see Webster, p. 195.

[26] Another Venetian version is in Widter-Wolf, No. 3, "_Der Gevatter Tod_" ("G.o.dfather Death"). There are also two Sicilian versions: Pitre, No. 109, "_La Morti e s figghiozzu_" ("Death and her G.o.dson"); and Gonz., No. 19, "_Gevatter Tod_," which do not differ materially from the version given in our text. References to European parallels may be found in Kohler's notes to Widter-Wolf, No. 3, _Jahrb._ VII. p. 19; to Gonz., No. 19, and in Grimm's notes to No. 44.

[27] Widter-Wolf, No. 16, "_Der standhafter Busser_" ("The Constant Penitent"), _Jahrb._ VII. p. 273. For parallels, see Kohler's article, _Die Legende von dem Ritter in der Capelle_, _Jahrb._ VI. p. 326.

[28] Bernoni, _Legg. fant._ p. 3. The translation in text, as well as that of the two following stories, I have taken from _The Cornhill Magazine_, July, 1875, "Venetian Popular Legends," p. 86.

Another story ill.u.s.trating the same point is found in Pitre, No. 110, _Li c.u.mpari di S. Giuvanni_, which is translated as follows by Ralston in _Fraser's Magazine_, April, 1876, "Sicilian Fairy Tales," p. 424.

LXXII. THE GOSSIPS OF ST. JOHN.

Once upon a time there lived a husband and wife, and they were both bound in gossipry with a certain man. The husband got arrested, and was taken away to prison. Now the gossip was very fond of his c.u.mmer, and used often to go and visit her. One day she said to him: "Gossip, shall we go and see my husband?" "_Gnursi, c.u.mmari_" ("Certainly, c.u.mmer"), said her gossip; so off they went. On the way they bought a large melon--for it was the melon season--to take to the poor prisoner. We are but flesh and blood! The gossip and his c.u.mmer sinned against St. John.

In short, they brought things to a pretty pa.s.s. St. John wasn't going to let that pa.s.s unpunished. When they had come to the prison and had visited the prisoner, before going away they wanted to make a present to the jailer; so they gave him the melon. He cut it open before their eyes. Horror of horrors! When the melon was cut open, there was found in the middle of it a head! Now this was the head of St. John, which had slipped itself in there for the purpose of bringing home their sin to the minds of the gossips. The matter immediately came to the ears of justice, and they were arrested. They confessed the wrong they had done.

The husband was set at liberty, and the gossip and his c.u.mmer were sent to the gallows.