He who is born a prince should not act like a beggar boy. The man who
is high in rank ought not to set a bad example to those below him; for
the little donkey learns from the big one to eat straw. It is no
wonder, therefore, that Heaven sends him troubles by bushels--as
happened to a prince who was brought into great difficulties for
ill-treating and tormenting a poor woman, so that he was near losing
his life miserably.
About eight miles from Naples there was once a deep wood of fig-trees
and poplars. In this wood stood a half-ruined cottage, wherein dwelt an
old woman, who was as light of teeth as she was burdened with years.
She had a hundred wrinkles in her face, and a great many more in her
purse, and all her silver covered her head, so that she went from one
thatched cottage to another, begging alms to keep life in her. But as
folks nowadays much rather give a purseful of crowns to a crafty spy
than a farthing to a poor needy man, she had to toil a whole day to get
a dish of kidney-beans, and that at a time when they were very
plentiful. Now one day the poor old woman, after having washed the
beans, put them in a pot, placed it outside the window, and went on her
way to the wood to gather sticks for the fire. But while she was away,
Nardo Aniello, the King's son, passed by the cottage on his way to the
chase; and, seeing the pot at the window, he took a great fancy to have
a fling at it; and he made a bet with his attendants to see who should
fling the straightest and hit in the middle with a stone. Then they
began to throw at the innocent pot; and in three or four casts the
prince hit it to a hair and won the bet.
The old woman returned just after they had gone away, and seeing the
sad disaster, she began to act as if she were beside herself, crying,
"Ay, let him stretch out his arm and go about boasting how he has
broken this pot! The villainous rascal who has sown my beans out of
season. If he had no compassion for my misery, he should have had some
regard for his own interest; for I pray Heaven, on my bare knees and
from the bottom of my soul, that he may fall in love with the daughter
of some ogress, who may plague and torment him in every way. May his
mother-in-law lay on him such a curse that he may see himself living
and yet bewail himself as dead; and being spellbound by the beauty of
the daughter, and the arts of the mother, may he never be able to
escape, but be obliged to remain. May she order him about with a cudgel
in her hand, and give him bread with a little fork, that he may have
good cause to lament over my beans which he has spilt on the ground."
The old woman's curses took wing and flew up to Heaven in a trice; so
that, notwithstanding what a proverb says, "for a woman's curse you are
never the worse, and the coat of a horse that has been cursed always
shines," she rated the Prince so soundly that he well-nigh jumped out
of his skin.
Scarcely had two hours passed when the Prince, losing himself in the
wood and parted from his attendants, met a beautiful maiden, who was
going along picking up snails and saying with a laugh--
"Snail, snail, put out your horn,
Your mother is laughing you to scorn,
For she has a little son just born."
When the Prince saw this beautiful apparition he knew not what had
befallen him; and, as the beams from the eyes of that crystal face fell
upon the tinder of his heart, he was all in a flame, so that he became
a lime-kiln wherein the stones of designs were burnt to build the
houses of hopes.
Now Filadoro (for so the maiden was named) was no wiser than other
people; and the Prince, being a smart young fellow with handsome
moustachios, pierced her heart through and through, so that they stood
looking at one another for compassion with their eyes, which proclaimed
aloud the secret of their souls. After they had both remained thus for
a long time, unable to utter a single word, the Prince at last, finding
his voice, addressed Filadoro thus, "From what meadow has this flower
of beauty sprung? From what mine has this treasure of beauteous things
come to light? O happy woods, O fortunate groves, which this nobility
inhabits, which this illumination of the festivals of love irradiates."
"Kiss this hand, my lord," answered Filadoro, "not so much modesty; for
all the praise that you have bestowed on me belongs to your virtues,
not to my merits. Such as I am, handsome or ugly, fat or thin, a witch
or a fairy, I am wholly at your command; for your manly form has
captivated my heart, your princely mien has pierced me through from
side to side, and from this moment I give myself up to you for ever as
a chained slave."
At these words the Prince seized at once her hand, kissing the ivory
hook that had caught his heart. At this ceremony of the prince,
Filadoro's face grew as red as scarlet. But the more Nardo Aniello
wished to continue speaking, the more his tongue seemed tied; for in
this wretched life there is no wine of enjoyment without dregs of
vexation. And just at this moment Filadoro's mother suddenly appeared,
who was such an ugly ogress that Nature seemed to have formed her as a
model of horrors. Her hair was like a besom of holly; her forehead like
a rough stone; her eyes were comets that predicted all sorts of evils;
her mouth had tusks like a boar's--in short, from head to foot she was
ugly beyond imagination. Now she seized Nardo Aniello by the nape of
his neck, saying, "Hollo! what now, you thief! you rogue!"
"Yourself the rogue," replied the Prince, "back with you, old hag!" And
he was just going to draw his sword, when all at once he stood fixed
like a sheep that has seen the wolf and can neither stir nor utter a
sound, so that the ogress led him like an ass by the halter to her
house. And when they came there she said to him, "Mind, now, and work
like a dog, unless you wish to die like a dog. For your first task
to-day you must have this acre of land dug and sown level as this room;
and recollect that if I return in the evening and do not find the work
finished, I shall eat you up." Then, bidding her daughter take care of
the house, she went to a meeting of the other ogresses in the wood.
Nardo Aniello, seeing himself in this dilemma, began to bathe his
breast with tears, cursing his fate which brought him to this pass. But
Filadoro comforted him, bidding him be of good heart, for she would
ever risk her life to assist him. She said that she ought not to lament
his fate which had led him to the house where she lived, who loved him
so dearly, and that he showed little return for her love by being so
despairing at what had happened. The Prince replied: "I am not grieved
at having exchanged the royal palace for this hovel; splendid banquets
for a crust of bread; a sceptre for a spade; not at seeing myself, who
have terrified armies, now frightened by this hideous scarecrow; for I
should deem all my disasters good fortune to be with you and to gaze
upon you with these eyes. But what pains me to the heart is that I have
to dig till my hands are covered with hard skin--I whose fingers are so
delicate and soft as Barbary wool; and, what is still worse, I have to
do more than two oxen could get through in a day. If I do not finish
the task this evening your mother will eat me up; yet I should not
grieve so much to quit this wretched body as to be parted from so
beautiful a creature."
So saying he heaved sighs by bushels, and shed many tears. But
Filadoro, drying his eyes, said to him, "Fear not that my mother will
touch a hair of your head. Trust to me and do not be afraid; for you
must know that I possess magical powers, and am able to make cream set
on water and to darken the sun. Be of good heart, for by the evening
the piece of land will be dug and sown without any one stirring a hand."
When Nardo Aniello heard this, he answered, "If you have magic power,
as you say, O beauty of the world, why do we not fly from this country?
For you shall live like a queen in my father's house." And Filadoro
replied, "A certain conjunction of the stars prevents this, but the
trouble will soon pass and we shall be happy."
With these and a thousand other pleasant discourses the day passed, and
when the ogress came back she called to her daughter from the road and
said, "Filadoro, let down your hair," for as the house had no staircase
she always ascended by her daughter's tresses. As soon as Filadoro
heard her mother's voice she unbound her hair and let fall her tresses,
making a golden ladder to an iron heart. Whereupon the old woman
mounted up quickly, and ran into the garden; but when she found it all
dug and sown, she was beside herself with amazement; for it seemed to
her impossible that a delicate lad should have accomplished such hard
labour.
But the next morning, hardly had the Sun gone out to warm himself on
account of the cold he had caught in the river of India, than the
ogress went down again, bidding Nardo Aniello take care that in the
evening she should find ready split six stacks of wood which were in
the cellar, with every log cleft into four pieces, or otherwise she
would cut him up like bacon and make a fry of him for supper.
On hearing this decree the poor Prince had liked to have died of
terror, and Filadoro, seeing him half dead and pale as ashes, said,
"Why! What a coward you are to be frightened at such a trifle." "Do you
think it a trifle," replied Nardo Aniello, "to split six stacks of
wood, with every log cleft into four pieces, between this time and the
evening? Alas, I shall sooner be cleft in halves myself to fill the
mouth of this horrid old woman." "Fear not," answered Filadoro, "for
without giving yourself any trouble the wood shall all be split in good
time. But meanwhile cheer up, if you love me, and do not split my heart
with such lamentations."
Now when the Sun had shut up the shop of his rays, in order not to sell
light to the Shades, the old woman returned; and, bidding Filadoro let
down the usual ladder, she ascended, and finding the wood already split
she began to suspect it was her own daughter who had given her this
check. At the third day, in order to make a third trial, she told the
Prince to clean out for her a cistern which held a thousand casks of
water, for she wished to fill it anew, adding that if the task were not
finished by the evening she would make mincemeat of him. When the old
woman went away Nardo Aniello began again to weep and wail; and
Filadoro, seeing that the labours increased, and that the old woman had
something of the brute in her to burden the poor fellow with such tasks
and troubles, said to him, "Be quiet, and as soon as the moment has
passed that interrupts my art, before the Sun says I am off,' we will
say good-bye to this house; sure enough, this evening my mother shall
find the land cleared, and I will go off with you, alive or dead." The
Prince, on hearing this news, embraced Filadoro and said, "Thou art the
pole-star of this storm-tossed bark, my soul! Thou art the prop of my
hopes."
Now, when the evening drew nigh, Filadoro having dug a hole in the
garden into a large underground passage, they went out and took the way
to Naples. But when they arrived at the grotto of Pozzuolo, Nardo
Aniello said to Filadoro, "It will never do for me to take you to the
palace on foot and dressed in this manner. Therefore wait at this inn
and I will soon return with horses, carriages, servants, and clothes."
So Filadoro stayed behind and the Prince went on his way to the city.
Meantime the ogress returned home, and as Filadoro did not answer to
her usual summons, she grew suspicious, ran into the wood, and cutting
a great, long pole, placed it against the window and climbed up like a
cat. Then she went into the house and hunted everywhere inside and out,
high and low, but found no one. At last she perceived the hole, and
seeing that it led into the open air, in her rage she did not leave a
hair upon her head, cursing her daughter and the Prince, and praying
that at the first kiss Filadoro's lover should receive he might forget
her.
But let us leave the old woman to say her wicked curses and return to
the Prince, who on arriving at the palace, where he was thought to be
dead, put the whole house in an uproar, every one running to meet him
and crying, "Welcome! welcome! Here he is, safe and sound, how happy we
are to see him back in this country," with a thousand other words of
affection. But as he was going up the stairs his mother met him
half-way and embraced and kissed him, saying, "My son, my jewel, the
apple of my eye, where have you been and why have you stayed away so
long to make us all die with anxiety?" The Prince knew not what to
answer, for he did not wish to tell her of his misfortunes; but no
sooner had his mother kissed him than, owing to the curse, all that had
passed went from his memory. Then the Queen told her son that to put an
end to his going hunting and wasting his time in the woods, she wished
him to get married. "Well and good," replied the Prince, "I am ready
and prepared to do what you desire." So it was settled that within four
days they should lead home to him the bride who had just arrived from
the country of Flanders; and thereupon a great feasting and banquets
were held.
But meanwhile Filadoro, seeing that her husband stayed away so long and
hearing (I know not how) of the feast, waited in the evening till the
servant-lad of the inn had gone to bed, and taking his clothes from the
head of the bed, she left her own in their place, and disguising
herself like a man, went to the court of the king, where the cooks,
being in want of help, took her as kitchen boy. When the tables were
set out and the guests all took their seats, and the dishes were set
down and the carver was cutting up a large English pie which Filadoro
had made with her own hands, lo, out flew such a beautiful dove that
the guests in their astonishment, forgetting to eat, fell to admiring
the pretty bird, which said to the Prince in a piteous voice, "Have you
so soon forgotten the love of Filadoro, and have all the services you
received from her, ungrateful man, gone from your memory? Is it thus
you repay the benefits she has done you: she who took you out of the
claws of the ogress and gave you life and herself too? Woe to the woman
who trusts too much to the words of man, who ever requites kindness
with ingratitude, and pays debts with forgetfulness. But go, forget
your promises, false man. And may the curses follow you which the
unhappy maiden sends you from the bottom of her heart. But if the gods
have not locked up their ears they will witness the wrong you have done
her, and when you least expect it the lightning and thunder, fever and
illness, will come to you. Enough, eat and drink, take your sports, for
unhappy Filadoro, deceived and forsaken, will leave you the field open
to make merry with your new wife." So saying, the dove flew away
quickly and vanished like the wind. The Prince, hearing the murmuring
of the dove, stood for a while stupefied. At length, he inquired whence
the pie came, and when the carver told him that a scullion boy who had
been taken to assist in the kitchen had made it, he ordered him to be
brought into the room. Then Filadoro, throwing herself at the feet of
Nardo Aniello, shedding a torrent of tears, said merely, "What have I
done to you?" Whereupon the Prince at once recalled to mind the
engagement he had made with her; and, instantly raising her up, seated
her by his side, and when he related to his mother the great obligation
he was under to this beautiful maiden and all that she had done for
him, and how it was necessary that the promise he had given should be
fulfilled, his mother, who had no other joy in life than her son, said
to him, "Do as you please, so that you offend not this lady whom I have
given you to wife." "Be not troubled," said the lady, "for, to tell the
truth, I am very loth to remain in this country; with your kind
permission I wish to return to my dear Flanders." Thereupon the Prince
with great joy offered her a vessel and attendants; and, ordering
Filadoro to be dressed like a Princess, when the tables were removed,
the musicians came and they began the ball which lasted until evening.
So the feast being now ended, they all betook themselves to rest, and
the Prince and Filadoro lived happily ever after, proving the truth of
the proverb that--
"He who stumbles and does not fall,
Is helped on his way like a rolling ball."