第二天，小伙子又来到石头那里，砸开了第二个蛇头，里面是一把银钥匙。他抬开石头，把银钥匙插进锁眼，走进一座用银子做成的宫殿。所有的银仆人都跑来说：“主人，请吩咐吧！”他们陪着他看了银厨房，里面正在用银火烤着些银鸡，在银花园里，银孔雀正在开屏，小伙子摘了一小束银花，插在帽子上。到了晚上，他又把银花送给了好奇的公主。
第三天，他又砸开了第三个蛇头，找到一把金钥匙。他把金钥匙插进锁眼，进到一个用金做成的宫殿，里面那些听候他吩咐的人都是金人，从头上戴的假发到脚下的长筒靴都是金的。金床上铺着金床单，金被子，金枕头，金幔帐，鸟笼中飞着金鸟。在一个个金花坛组成的花园中，喷泉喷出的是金泉。小伙子摘了一小束金花，插在帽子上，到了晚上又送给公主了。
有一天，国王发布公告，举行马上比武大会，谁获胜，谁就可以娶公主为妻。牧羊小伙子用水晶钥匙打开门，走进水晶宫殿里，选了一匹水晶马，配好水晶缰绳和水晶马鞍，出现在比武场上。他身披水晶盔甲，手持水晶盾牌和水晶长矛，战胜了所有比武的骑士，然后扬长而去，谁也没有认出他来。
第二天，小伙子骑着鞴了银装饰的银马，身披银盔银甲，手持银矛银盾与又出现在比武场，战胜了所有的骑士后，又不露声色地疾驰而去。到了第三天，小伙子骑着金马，披着金装，又战胜了所有的对手，这时候公主说：“我知道他是谁，他是送给我水晶花、银花和金花的那个人，这些花是从他的水晶城堡、银城堡、金城堡的花园中摘来的。”
就这样他们结了婚，牧羊小伙子后来又当上了国王。
所有的人都心满意足、高高兴兴，
我却一无所得，只是个局外人。
（蒙费拉托地区）
The Three Castles
A boy had taken it into his head to go out and steal. He also told his mother.
"Aren't you ashamed!" said his mother. "Go to confession at once, and you'll see what the priest has to say to you."
The boy went to confession. "Stealing is a sin," said the priest, "unless you steal from thieves."
The boy went to the woods and found thieves. He knocked at their door and got himself hired as a servant.
"We steal," explained the thieves, "but we're not committing a sin, because we rob the tax collectors."
One night when the thieves had gone out to rob a tax collector, the boy led the best mule out of the stable, loaded it with gold pieces, and fled.
He took the gold to his mother, then went to town to look for work. In that town was a king who had a hundred sheep, but no one wanted to be his shepherd. The boy volunteered, and the king said, "Look, there are the hundred sheep. Take them out tomorrow morning to the meadow, but don't cross the brook, because they would be eaten by a serpent on the other side. If you come back with none missing, I'll reward you. Fail to bring them all back, and I'll dismiss you on the spot, unless the serpent has already devoured you too."
To reach the meadow, he had to walk by the king's windows, where the king's daughter happened to be standing. She saw the boy, liked his looks, and threw him a cake. He caught it and carried it along to eat in the meadow. On reaching the meadow, he saw a white stone in the grass and said, "I'll sit down now and eat the cake from the king's daughter." But the stone happened to be on the other side of the brook. The shepherd paid no attention and jumped across the brook, with the sheep all following him.
The grass was high there, and the sheep grazed peacefully, while he sat on the stone eating his cake. All of a sudden he felt a blow under the rock which seemed to shake the world itself. The boy looked all around but, seeing nothing, went on eating his cake. Another blow more powerful than the first followed, but the shepherd ignored it. There was a third blow, and out from under the rock crawled a serpent with three heads. In each of its mouths it held a rose and crawled toward the boy, as though it wanted to offer him the roses. He was about to take them, when the serpent lunged at him with its three mouths all set to gobble him up in three bites. But the little shepherd proved the quicker, clubbing it with his staff over one head and the next and the next until the serpent lay dead.
Then he cut off the three heads with a sickle, putting two of them into his hunting jacket and crushing one to see what was inside. What should he find but a crystal key. The boy raised the stone and saw a door. Slipping the key into the lock and turning it, he found himself inside a splendid palace of solid crystal. Through all the doors came servants of crystal. "Good day, my lord, what are your wishes?"
"I wish to be shown all my treasures."
So they took him up crystal stairs into crystal towers; they showed him crystal stables with crystal horses and arms and armor of solid crystal. Then they led him into a crystal garden down avenues of crystal trees in which crystal birds sang, past flowerbeds where crystal flowers blossomed around crystal pools. The boy picked a small bunch of flowers and stuck the bouquet in his hat. When he brought the sheep home that night, the king's daughter was looking out the window and said, "May I have those flowers in your hat?"
"You certainly may," said the shepherd. "They are crystal flowers culled from the crystal garden of my solid crystal castle." He tossed her the bouquet, which she caught.
When he got back to the stone the next day, he crushed a second serpent head and found a silver key. He lifted the stone, slipped the silver key into the lock and entered a solid silver palace. Silver servants came running up saying, "Command, our lord!" They took him off to show him silver kitchens, where silver chickens roasted over silver fires, and silver gardens where silver peacocks spread their tails. The boy picked a little bunch of silver flowers and stuck them in his hat. That night he gave them to the king's daughter when she asked for them.
The third day, he crushed the third head and found a gold key. He slipped the key into the lock and entered a solid gold palace, where his servents were gold too, from wig to boots; the beds were gold, with gold sheets, pillows, and canopy; and in the aviaries fluttered hundreds of gold birds. In a garden of gold flowerbeds and fountains with gold sprays, he picked a small bunch of gold flowers to stick in his hat and gave them to the king's daughter that night.
Now the king announced a tournament, and the winner would have his daughter in marriage. The shepherd unlocked the door with the crystal key, entered the crystal palace and chose a crystal horse with crystal bridle and saddle, and thus rode to the tournament in crystal armor and carrying a crystal lance. He defeated all the other knights and fled without revealing who he was.
The next day he returned on a silver horse with trappings of silver, dressed in silver armor and carrying his silver lance and shield. He defeated everyone and fled, still unknown to all. The third day he returned on a gold horse, outfitted entirely in gold. He was victorious the third time as well, and the princess said, "I know who you are. You're the man who gave me flowers of crystal, silver, and gold, from the gardens of your castles of crystal, silver, and gold."
So they got married, and the little shepherd became king.
And all were very happy and gay,
But to me who watched they gave no thought nor pay.
(Monferrato)
NOTES:
"The Three Castles" (I tre castelli) from Comparetti, 62 and 22, Monferrato, Piedmont.
These two Piedmontese tales are variants of a single type. I took the beginning from one and concluded with the other. Nothing was added; I merely underlined a few elements already in the text (such as the tax collector) and the rhythm.
Copyright: Italian Folktales Selected and Retold by Italo Calvino,
translated by George Martin,
Pantheon Books, New York 1980
王子娶了一只青蛙
从前，有一个国王，他的三个儿子都到了娶妻的年龄了。为了不让三个王子在挑选新娘的时候发生争斗，国王对他们说：“你们用投石器尽力向远处拋石头，石头落在哪里，你们就娶哪里的姑娘为妻。”
三个儿子拿了投石器拋出石头。大儿子把石头拋在了一家面包房的屋顶上，于是他娶了那面包女工。二儿子把石头拋进了一个纺织女工的家里。而小儿子拋的石头则落进了一条水沟里。
投完石头，三个王子赶快带着订婚戒指去找各自的未婚妻。大王子找到的是一个美丽的姑娘，皮肤柔嫩得像刚出炉的蛋糕；二王子找到的是一个脸色苍白的姑娘，身体纤细得像根线；而小王子朝水沟里望啊、望啊，最后只找到一只青蛙。
三个王子回来向国王禀告了自己找到的未婚妻的情况。国王说：“这样吧，谁的妻子最优秀，谁就能继承王位。现在我们就试试她们。”他给每个儿子分了一些麻，让他们的未婚妻在三天内纺出来，比比谁纺得更好。
儿子们找到自己的未婚妻，叮嘱她们仔细地纺。小王子觉得很沮丧，他拿着麻，来到水沟边，喊道：
“青蛙啊，青蛙！”
“谁在喊我呀？”
“不太喜欢你的未婚夫！”
“你现在不喜欢我，当你看到我美丽时，一定会喜欢我。”
青蛙从水中跳出来，落在一片叶子上。小王子把麻交给她，告诉她三天后他会来取纺好的线。
三天过后，两个哥哥急不可耐地跑到面包女工和纺织女工那里取纺好的线，面包女纺得很漂亮，而纺织女就更不必说了，纺线是她最拿手的，纺出来的麻线像丝一样细。小王子怎么样了呢？他来到水沟边：
“青蛙啊，青蛙！”
“谁在喊我呀？”
“不太喜欢你的未婚夫！”
“你现在不喜欢我，当你看到我美丽时，一定会喜欢我！”
青蛙跳到一片叶子上，嘴里衔着一颗核桃。两位哥哥都带来了纺好的线，自己却只带回一颗核桃见父亲，小王子很难为情，他硬着头皮来到父亲面前。国王先是翻来覆去地查看了面包女和纺织女纺出的线，然后才打开小王子带来的核桃，两位哥哥在旁边暗暗地讥笑他。国王打开核桃，从里面取出了一球细线，细得像蜘蛛网一样，国王拽呀拽，拉呀拉，越拉越长，拉出来的线堆满了整个大殿。“这线怎么没有个头啊！”国王话刚一出口，线就拉到头了。国王不甘心就这样让一只青蛙当上王后。正好，他的那只良种猎犬刚生下三只小狗，他就把牠们交给三个王子，说：“把牠们带给你们的未婚妻，一个月后再带回来，谁养得好谁就成为王后。”
一个月后，面包女养的那只狗长成一只肥大的猎犬，因为一个月来牠从没断过面包。纺织女养的那只狗却显得尖瘦，一个月来缺吃少喝的。小王子来的时候带来了一个笼子，国王打开笼子，从里面跳出来的是一只毛光皮亮的鬈毛狗，脖子上束着饰带，浑身散发着香气，不仅会抬起前爪直立起来，还能练武术，懂得数数。国王于是说：“毫无疑问，小儿子将继承王位，而青蛙将成为王后。”
三位兄弟的婚礼定在同一天举行。两个哥哥坐着四匹马拉的车去接新娘，马车上饰满了漂亮的鲜花，两位新娘一身羽毛和珠宝，登上了马车。小王子来到水沟边，青蛙正在一架四只蜗牛拉着的车子上等着他，车子是用无花果的树叶做成的。他们出发了，他在前边走着，而蜗牛拉着树叶上的青蛙在后面跟着。一路上，小王子不得不几次停下来等着青蛙，最后一次他甚至睡着了。他醒过来的时候，发现在他面前停着一辆金子做成的马车，两匹白马在前边拉着，车厢被天鹅绒裹着，里面坐着一位美丽的姑娘，一身碧绿的穿著，光彩照人。
小王子问：“你是谁？”
“我就是青蛙啊，”看见王子半信半疑，姑娘就打开一个珍宝盒，只见里面放着无花果的树叶，一张青蛙的皮和四个蜗牛壳。“我本来是一个公主，被变成了一只青蛙，只有遇到一位从来不知道我的美貌却心甘情愿娶我的王子，我才会重新变回人身。”
国王满心欢喜，看到两个大王子心存嫉妒，就开导他们说，一个人没有能力选好自己的妻子也就不配得到王冠。就这样，小王子和他的新娘当上了国王和王后。
（蒙费拉托地区）
The Prince Who Married a Frog
There was once a king who had three sons of marriageable age. In order to avoid any dispute over their choice of three brides, he said, "Aim as far as you can with the sling. There where the stone falls you will get your wife."
The three sons picked up their slings and shot. The oldest boy sent his stone flying all the way to the roof of a bakery, so he got the baker girl. The second boy released his stone, which came down on the house of a weaver. The youngest son's stone landed in a ditch.
Immediately after the shots, each boy rushed off to his betrothed with a ring. The oldest brother was met by a lovely maiden as fresh as a newly baked cake, the middle brother by a fair girl with silky hair and skin, while the youngest, after looking and looking, saw nothing but a frog in that ditch.
They returned to the king to tell him about their betrothed. "Now," said the king, "whoever has the best wife will inherit the kingdom. Here begin the tests." He gave them each some hemp to be spun and returned within three days, to see which betrothed was the best spinner.
The sons went to their betrothed and urged them to spin their best. Highly embarrassed, the youngest boy took the hemp to the rim of the ditch and called:
"Frog, frog!"
"Who calls?"
"Your love who loves you not."
"If you love me not, never mind. Later you shall, when a fine figure I cut."
The frog jumped out of the water onto a leaf. The king's son gave her the hemp, telling her he'd pick up the spun thread three days later.
Three days later the older brothers anxiously hastened to the baker girl and the weaver girl to pick up their spun hemp. The baker girl produced a beautiful piece of work; the weaver girl, who was an expert at this sort of thing, had spun hers to look like silk. But how did the youngest son fare? He went to the ditch and called:
"Frog, frog!"
"Who calls?"
"Your love who loves you not."
"If you love me not, never mind. Later you shall, when a fine figure I cut."
She jumped onto a leaf holding a walnut in her mouth. He was somewhat embarrassed to give his father a walnut while his brothers brought spun hemp. He nevertheless took heart and presented the king with the walnut. The king, who had already scrutinized the handiwork of the baker and the weaver girls, cracked open the walnut as the older brothers looked on, snickering. Out came cloth as fine as gossamer that continued to unroll until the throne room was covered with it. "But there's no end to this cloth!" exclaimed the king. No sooner were the words out of his mouth than the cloth came to an end.
But the father refused to accept the idea of a frog becoming queen. His favorite hunting bitch had just had three puppies, which he gave the three sons. "Take them to your betrothed and go back for them a month later. The one who's taken the best care of her dog will become the queen."
A month later, the baker girl's dog had turned into a big, fat mastiff, having got all the bread he could eat. The weaver's dog, not nearly so well supplied, was now a half-starved hound. The youngest son came in with a small box. The king opened it and out jumped a tiny, beribboned poodle, impeccably groomed and perfumed, that stood on its hind legs and marched and counted.
"No doubt about it," said the king, "my youngest son will be king, and the frog will be queen."
The wedding of all three brothers was set for the same day. The older brothers went for their brides in garlanded carriages drawn by four horses, and the brides climbed in, decked with feathers and jewels.
The youngest boy went to the ditch, where the frog awaited him in a carriage fashioned out of a fig leaf and drawn by four snails. They set out. He walked ahead while the snails followed, pulling the fig leaf with the frog upon it. Every now and then he stopped for them to catch up with him, and once he even fell asleep. When he awakened, a gold carriage had pulled up beside him. It was drawn by two white horses, and inside on velvet upholstery, sat a maiden as dazzling as the sun and dressed in an emarald-green gown.
"Who are you?" asked the youngest son.
"I am the frog."
He couldn't believe it, so the maiden opened a jewel case containing the fig leaf, the frog skin, and four snail shells. "I was a princess turned into a frog, and the only chance I had of getting my human form back was for a king's son to agree to marry me the way I was."
The king was overjoyed and told his two older sons, who were consumed with envy, that whoever picked the wrong wife was unworthy of the crown. So the youngest boy and his bride became king and queen.
(Monferrato)
NOTES:
"The Prince Who Married a Frog" (Il principe che sposò una rana) from Comparetti, 4, Monferrato, Piedmont.
The tale of the frog bride is common to all of Europe; scholars have counted 300 versions. Comparing it, for instance, with Grimm, no.63, or with Afanas'ev's "The Frog Prince," this variant which we can classify as distinctly Italian (since it shows up uniformly throughout the Peninsula, even if slinging to locate the bride is rather rare) stands out in its near-geometrical logic and linearity.
Copyright: Italian Folktales Selected and Retold by Italo Calvino,
translated by George Martin,
Pantheon Books, New York 1980
鹦鹉
从前有一个商人要外出经商，但他不敢把女儿一个人留在家里，因为有个国王早就在打她的坏主意了。
他叮嘱女儿：“孩子啊，我要动身了，你一定要答应我，在我回来之前，你不要踏出家门一步，也不要为任何人开门。”
那天早晨，姑娘发现窗外的树上落着一只漂亮的鹦鹉，彬彬有礼，很讨人喜爱，她跟这只鹦鹉聊了一会，觉得很有意思。
姑娘说：“亲爱的爸爸，我一个人留在家里会很孤单的，能不能买一只鹦鹉陪伴我呢？”
商人视女儿为掌上明珠，马上就出去给她找鹦鹉。他遇到了一位卖鹦鹉的老者，而且卖得很便宜，就买下了这只鹦鹉送给了女儿。他对女儿千叮万嘱后，才离家上路。
商人刚一离家，国王就开始琢磨用什么方法能接近姑娘。他与一个老妇串通好了，派她给姑娘送去一封信。
但那时，姑娘正在跟鹦鹉说着话：“鹦鹉，你给我说些什么有趣的事呢？”
“我给你讲一个动人的故事。从前有一个国王，他只有一个女儿，因为是独生女，没有兄弟姐妹陪她玩。人们给她做了一个玩具娃娃，跟她真人一样大，脸也像她，穿的也像她。她不管到哪里总把娃娃带在身边，大家常常错把她当做娃娃，错把娃娃当成她。有一次，国王带着她和娃娃坐着马车来到一片森林，敌人袭击他们，杀死了国王，掳走了公主，把娃娃丢在了车里。公主伤心地嚎啕大哭，敌人只好放了她，她就独自一人在森林中走着。走到一个女王的王宫里，女王把她收为女仆。姑娘聪明贤惠，深得女王宠爱。别的奴仆开始嫉妒她了，为了让她失宠，她们对她说：‘你知道吗。女主人对你真的很好，有什么话都对你说，不过，有一件事情我们都知道，她却不曾对你说，就是她曾有过一个儿子但后来死了。’于是姑娘便去问女王：‘陛下，你真的有一个儿子，后来死了吗？’听到这句话，女王差点气晕过去。这件事没人敢提，谁提到她死去的儿子，就是死罪。姑娘照例要判死刑的，可是女王对她有点怜惜，只把她关进了地牢。姑娘被关进来后，觉得很失落；她吃不下饭，整夜哭泣。半夜，她正在哭着，突然听到开门的声音，只见有五个人，其中四个是魔法师，另一个正是女王的儿子，他被他们囚禁着，他们带他出来散散步。”
故事讲到这里，一个仆人打断了鹦鹉，他给姑娘送来一封信。信是那个国王写的，他想方设法让人把这封信递到了这里。但是当时姑娘正在兴头上，她想知道故事的下文，就说：“我爸爸回来之前，我不收任何信。请不要打扰我。鹦鹉，继续讲下去吧。”
仆人拿着那封信出去了，鹦鹉继续讲故事：“到了早上，看管姑娘的狱卒发现犯人什么也没吃，就禀报了女王。女王传她上殿，姑娘就把在地牢里看见王子还活着、被四个魔法师关押着、每晚半夜押他出来放风的情况告诉了女王。女王马上派了十二名军士，手持长矛来到地牢，杀死了四个魔法师，把女王的儿子就了回来。女王因为姑娘救了王子，决定让王子娶姑娘为妻。”
正讲到这里，敲门声又响了，家仆来请求小主人读一读那个国王写来的信。商人的女儿说：“好了，故事讲完了，我现在可以看信了。”
“还没完，还有一段呢。”鹦鹉急忙劝阻她，“你听着：那个姑娘并不愿意嫁给女王的儿子，她只要了些钱和一套男人服装就离开了，到了另一个城邦。这里国王的儿子得了一种病，没有一个医师能医好他：他从半夜到早晨，瞪着眼睛，胡言乱语，就像一个恶魔。姑娘穿着一身男装来了，自称是从外国来的医师，请求让自己和病人单独待上一夜。她先察看了一下床，发现床下有一个暗道口，从暗道口下去，是一条走廊，尽头放着一盏油灯。”
这时，又传来了敲门声，家仆进来说一位老妇，自称是姑娘的姑妈，想要见见姑娘。（其实她根本不是什么姑娘的姑妈，而是为国王办事的那个老妇。）商人的女儿急不可待地想要知道故事的结局，就告诉家仆不接待任何人。“鹦鹉，继续讲下去。”
鹦鹉继续讲：“姑娘走近油灯一看，只见一个老妇正在用一口大锅煮王子的心，因为那个国王曾经处死了她自己的孩子。姑娘从锅里把那颗心拿走了，并让国王的儿子吞下它，病立即就好了。国王说：‘我许诺过，哪位医师治好了我儿子，我就把城邦的一半送给他，你是一个女人，你就嫁给我儿子，当他的王后吧。’”
“真是神奇啊！”商人的女儿说，“故事讲完了，我现在可以接待那个自称是我姑妈的老妇人了。”
鹦鹉说：“故事还没完呢，后边还有一段。你仔细听着。装扮成医生的姑娘也不愿意嫁给国王的儿子，又离开了，她来到另一个城邦，这里国王的儿子中了魔法，不会说话。晚上姑娘躲在床下，到了半夜她看见两个女巫从窗户钻进来，她们从王子嘴里取出一块宝石，王子就能说话了，走的时候，她们又把那块宝石放进王子嘴里，他又变哑了。”
又响起了敲门声，不过商人的女儿正在聚精会神地听着故事，根本没听见。鹦鹉接着讲：
“第二天晚上，当那两个女巫把小宝石放在床上的时候，姑娘拽起床单，将宝石抖落在地，并顺手捡起来装进口袋。到了早上，女巫找不到宝石，只好逃走了。国王的儿子能开口说话了，姑娘被任命为宫廷御医。”
敲门声还在响个不停，商人的女儿想让屋外的人进来，就先问了鹦鹉一句：“你的故事讲玩了还是没讲完？”
“还没讲完，”鹦鹉说，“你听着：姑娘不想在王宫里做御医，又来到另一个城邦。她听说这里的国王疯了。他在森林中捡回一个玩具娃娃就爱上了它，把自己关在房间里一边凝视着娃娃，一边哭，因为它不是一个真的女人。姑娘听了这个消息后，来到国王的房间一看，惊奇地说：‘这是我的那个娃娃！’而国王看见姑娘长得跟娃娃一模一样，就说：‘这就是我要娶的新娘！’”
敲门声还在响着，鹦鹉实在不知道如何再把故事讲下去了。只是说：“等一下，等一下，还有一段呢。”但它不会往下讲了。
门外传来商人的说话声：“开门，开门啊，我是你爸爸。”
鹦鹉一听，说：“故事讲完了，国王娶了这个姑娘，两个人幸福地生活在一起了。”
姑娘这才跑去打开门，紧紧抱住远道归来的爸爸。
商人说：“我的女儿真乖，一步也没跨出家门。那只鹦鹉呢？”
他们走回房间里找鹦鹉，却找不到鹦鹉了，看到的是一个英俊的小伙子，小伙子说：“请原谅，先生，我是一个乔装成鹦鹉的国王，我爱上了您的女儿。我了解到我的情敌――另一个国王――想要拐骗您的女儿，就披上鹦鹉皮，诚心诚意地跟她交谈，阻止她陷进我的情敌设下的圈套。我相信我成功了，现在我可以向您的女儿求婚了。”
商人答应了他们的婚事，于是姑娘嫁给了那个给他讲过童话的国王，而另一个国王被气死了。
（蒙费拉托地区）
The Parrot
Once upon a time there was a merchant who was supposed to go away on business, but he was afraid to leave his daughter at home by herself, as a certain king had designs on her.
"Dear daughter," he said, "I'm leaving, but you must promise not to stick your head out of the door or let anyone in until I get back."
Now that very morning the daughter had seen a handsome parrot in the tree outside her window. He was a well-bred parrot, and the maiden had delighted in talking with him.
"Father," she replied, "it just breaks my heart to have to stay home all by myself. Couldn't I at least have a parrot to keep me company?"
The merchant, who lived only for his daughter, went out at once to get her a parrot. He found an old man who sold him one for a song. He took the bird to his daughter, and after much last-minute advice to her, he set out on his trip.
No sooner was the merchant out of sight than the king began devising a way to join the maiden. He enlisted an old woman in his scheme and sent her to the girl with a letter.
In the meantime the maiden got into conversation with the parrot. "Talk to me, parrot."
"I will tell you a good story. Once upon a time there was a king who had a daughter. She was an only child, with no brothers or sisters, nor did she have any playmates. So they made her a doll the same size as herself, with a face and clothes exactly like her own. Everywhere she went the doll went too, and no one could tell them apart. One day as king, daughter, and doll drove through the woods in their carriage, they were attacked by enemies who killed the king and carried off his daughter, leaving the doll behind in the abandoned carriage. The maiden screamed and cried so, the enemies let her go, and she wandered off into the woods by herself. She eventually reached the court of a certain queen and became a servant. She was such a clever girl that the queen liked her better all the time. The other servants grew jealous and plotted her downfall. 'You are aware, of course,' they said, 'that the queen likes you very much and tells you everything. But there's one thing which we know and you don't. She had a son who died.' At that, the maiden went to the queen and asked, 'Majesty, is it true that you had a son who died?' Upon hearing those words, the queen almost fainted. Heaven help anyone who recalled that fact! The penalty for mentioning that dead son was no less than death. The maiden too was condemned to die, but the queen took pity on her and had her shut up in a dungeon instead. There the girl gave way to despair, refusing all food and passing her nights weeping. At midnight, as she sat there weeping, she heard the door bolts slide back, and in walked five men: four of them were sorcerers and the fifth was the queen's son, their prisoner, whom they were taking out for exercise."
At that moment, the parrot was interrupted by a servant bearing a letter for the merchant's daughter. It was from the king, who had finally managed to get it to her. But the girl was eager to hear what happened next in the tale, which had reached the most exciting part, so she said, "I will receive no letters until my father returns. Parrot, go on with your story."
The servant took the letter away, and the parrot continued. "In the morning the jailers noticed the prisoner had not eaten a thing and they told the queen. The queen sent for her, and the maiden told her that her son was alive and in the dungeon a prisoner of four sorcerers, who took him out every night at midnight for exercise. The queen dispatched twelve soldiers armed with crowbars, who killed the sorcerers and freed her son. Then she gave him as a husband to the maiden who had saved him."
The serant knocked again, insisting that the young lady read the king's letter. "Very well. Now that the story is over, I can read the letter," said the merchant's daughter.
"But it's not finished yet, there's still some more to come," the parrot hastened to say. "Just listen to this: the maiden was not interested in marrying the queen's son. She settled for a purse of money and a man's outfit and moved on to another city. The son of this city's king was ill, and no doctor knew how to cure him. From midnight to dawn he raved like one possessed. The maiden showed up in man's attire, claiming to be a foreign doctor and asking to be left with the youth for one night. The first thing she did was look under the bed and find a trapdoor. She opened it and went down into a long corridor, at the end of which a lamp was burning."
At that moment the servant knocked and announced there was an old woman to see the young lady, whose aunt she claimed to be. (It was not an aunt, but the old woman sent by the king.) But the merchant's daughter was dying to know the outcome of the tale, so she said she was receiving no one. "Go on, parrot, go on with your story."
Thus the parrot continued. "The maiden walked down to that light and found an old woman boiling the heart of the king's son in a kettle, in revenge for the king's execution of her son. The maiden removed the heart from the kettle, carried it back to the king's son to eat, and he got well. The king said, 'I promised half of my kingdom to the doctor who cured my son. Since you are a woman, you will marry my son and become queen.'"
"It's a fine story," said the merchant's daughter. "Now that it's over, I can receive that woman who claims to be my aunt."
"But it's not quite over," said the parrot. "There's still some more to come. Just listen to this. The maiden in doctor's disguise also refused to marry that king's son and was off to another city whose king's son was under a spell and speechless. She hid under the bed; at midnight, she saw two witches coming through the window and remove a pebble from the young man's mouth, whereupon he could speak. Before leaving, they replaced the pebble, and he was again mute."
Someone knocked on the door, but the merchant's daughter was so absorbed in the story that she didn't even hear the knock. The parrot continued.
"The next night when the witches put the pebble on the bed, she gave the bedclothes a jerk and it dropped on the floor. Then she reached out for it and put it in her pocket. At dawn the witches couldn't find it and had to flee. The king's son was well, and they named the maiden physician to the court."
The knocking continued, and the merchant's daughter was all ready to say "Come in," but first she asked the parrot, "Does the story go on, or is it over?"
"It goes on," replied the parrot. "Just listen to this. The maiden wasn't interested in remaining as physician to the court, and moved on to another city. The talk there was that the king of this city had gone mad. He'd found a doll in the woods and fallen in love with it. He stayed shut up in his room admiring it and weeping because it was not a real live maiden. The girl went before the king. 'That is my dool!' she exclaimed. 'And this is my bride!' replied the king on seeing that she was the doll's living image."
There was another knock, and the parrot was at a total loss to continue the story. "Just a minute, just a minute, there's still a tiny bit more," he said, but he had no idea what to say next.
"Come on, open up, it's your father," said the merchant's voice.
"Ah, here we are at the end of the story," announced the parrot. "The king married the maiden, and they lived happily ever after."
The girl finally ran to open the door and embraced her father just back from his trip.
"Well done, my daughter!" said the merchant. "I see you've remained faithfully at home. And how is the parrot doing?"
They went to take a look at the bird, but in his place they found a handsome youth. "Forgive me, sir," said the youth. "I am a king who put on a parrot's disguise, because I am in love with your daughter. Aware of the intentions of a rival king to abduct her, I came here beneath a parrot's plumage to entertain her in an honorable manner and at the same time to prevent my rival from carrying out his schemes. I believe I have succeeded in both purposes, and that I can now ask for your daughter's hand in marriage."
The merchant gave his consent. His daughter married the king who had told her the tale, and the other king died of rage.
(Monferrato)
NOTES:
"The Parrot" (Il pappagallo) from Comparetti, 2, Monferrato, Piedmont.
See my remarks on this folktale in the Introduction, p. xxx-xxxi. I have taken the liberty of doctoring the two versions published by Comparetti--the Piedmontese one and a Tuscan one, from Pisa (1)--and I heightened the suspense by placing the interruptions at the crucial moments.
Copyright: Italian Folktales Selected and Retold by Italo Calvino,
translated by George Martin,
Pantheon Books, New York 1980
十二头牛
从前有十二个兄弟，跟父亲吵架后，一起离开了家。他们在森林里搭起了一座房屋，以做木匠活为生。父母又生了一个女儿，她成了二老生活的寄托。小妹长大了，她只是听说过十二个哥哥的事，但从没跟他们见过面，她非常渴望能见到他们。
有一次，小妹到泉水边洗澡，她先把自己戴的珊瑚项链摘了下来挂在了一根树枝上。正好有一只乌鸦飞过，叼起项链飞走了。小妹追着乌鸦跑进了森林，遇到了哥哥们住的那座房屋。屋里一个人也没有，小妹煮好一锅面条，盛在盘子中，就钻到床下躲起来。十二兄弟回到家，看到面条已经煮好了，而且还给盛在盘子中，就吃了起来。吃完以后，他们都有些害怕，担心是女巫跟他们开的一个玩笑，因为这片森林里有很多女巫。
第二天，十二兄弟留下一个人守着房间，他发现一个姑娘从床底下跳了出来。当兄弟们知道她并非女巫而是他们从没见过面的小妹时，都高兴地欢呼起来，他们想让小妹留下来跟他们一起生活。但他们又叮嘱她，不得和森林中的任何人说话，因为林子里满是女巫。
一天傍晚，炉火灭了，可小妹要给哥哥们准备晚饭。为了节省时间，她来到附近的一间小屋借火。小屋中住着一个老妇，她很热情地答应借火给小妹，但提出了交换条件：第二天她要来在小妹的小手指上吸一点血。
小妹说：“我不能给任何人开门，我的哥哥们不同意。”
老妇说：“不需要你开门，当你听到敲门声，把小手指伸进钥匙孔里，让我吸几下就行了。”
就这样，老妇每天晚上都来吸小妹的血，小妹的脸色变得越来越苍白。哥哥们觉得不对劲，就问小妹，小妹就把她为了找女巫借火，让女巫吸她的血作交换的事说了。哥哥们说：“这事让我们处理吧。”
女巫又来了，敲门后没看到姑娘的手指伸出来，女巫就从门下方的猫洞伸进头来。一个哥哥拿着一把斧头正等着她呢，手起斧落，女巫的头就被砍了下来。然后兄弟们把女巫的尸首扔下了山谷。
一天，小妹去泉边遇到了另一个老妇，在卖白色的碗。
“我没有钱买。”姑娘说。
“我白送给你。”老妇说。
就这样，哥哥们口干舌燥地回到家时，一眼就看见了盛满了水的十二只白碗，他们纷纷一饮而尽，一下子全都变成了牛。只有第十二个哥哥，不像其它哥哥那么渴，只喝了一口水，变成了一只羊。小妹只好孤单地跟这十一头牛和一只羊一起生活，每天喂养牠们。
这一天，一个王子来森林打猎迷了路，转到小妹的房屋，爱上了她。王子告诉她想要娶她为妻，而她回答说她必须带上她的十二只牛哥羊哥，不能丢下牠们不管。王子带着她和她的十二个兄长回到了王宫，小妹成了他的新娘王妃，那十一头牛和一只羊被安排住进一间大理石砌成的牛棚，用着金子做的食槽。但森林中的女巫并不甘心。有一天，王妃带着羊哥哥--她总是带着牠在身边--到葡萄架下散步，出现了一位老妇。
“好心的王妃，你能赏我一串葡萄吗？”
“好的，老太太，你随便摘吧。”王妃回答。
“我构不到葡萄架，好心的王妃，你帮我摘吧。”
“这就来。”王妃说着，伸出手去摘一串葡萄。
“摘那边那串熟透的吧。”老妇指着池塘上边的那串葡萄说。
王妃为了摘到那串葡萄，爬上池塘的边墙，这时，老妇上去推了她一把，王妃就摔了下去。羊哥一见，咩咩地围着池塘叫，但谁也不明白牠在叫什么，也听不到池塘下边王妃的呻吟声。这时，女巫变成王妃的样子，躺在床上。王子回到家，问：“怎么躺在床上，不舒服吗？”
假王妃回答说：“我不舒服，我需要吃一些羊肉。你让人把那只叫个不停的羊给我宰了。”
王子说：“你还记得你以前对我说的话吗？你说那只羊是你的哥哥，而你现在却要把牠吃了？”
女巫露出了马脚！她愣在那里不知说什么才好。王子发现事有蹊跷，他来到花园，跟着那只拚命叫着的羊向池塘走去。到了池塘边，王子听见妻子呼唤他的声音。王子惊叫道：“你怎么到池塘底下了，刚才你还在床上，我不是刚离开你吗？”
“不，我从早上就掉到这里了，是一个女巫把我推下来了。”
王子立即把妻子救了上来。他派人抓住了女巫，而且要烧死她。随着火一点点烧到女巫的手上、腿上、肘上，一头牛变回了人，另一头也变回了人，所有的牛和羊都变回了人，他们全都很健壮，好象一队威武的巨人闯入了城堡。他们全都被封为亲王，而我还跟以前一样是一个穷困潦倒的人。
（蒙费拉托地区）
The Twelve Oxen
There were twelve brothers who fell out with their father, and all twelve of them left home. They built themselves a house in the woods and made their living as carpenters. Meanwhile their parents had a baby girl, who was a great comfort to them. The child grew up without ever meeting her twelve brothers. She had only heard them mentioned, and she longed to see them.
One day she went to bathe at a fountain, and the first thing she did was remove her coral necklace and hang it on a twig. A raven came by, grabbed the necklace, and flew off with it. The girl ran into the woods after the raven and found her brothers' house. No one was at home, so she cooked the noodles, spooned them onto the brothers' plates, and hid under a bed. The brothers returned and, finding the noodles ready and waiting, sat down and ate. But then they grew uneasy, suspecting the witches had played a joke on them, for the woods were full of witches.
One of the twelve kept watch the next day and saw the girl jump out from under the bed. When the brothers learned she was not a witch but their own little sister, they made a great to-do over her and insisted that she remain with them. But they cautioned her to speak to no one in the woods, because the place was full of witches.
One evening when the girl went to prepare supper, she found that the fire had gone out. To save time, she went to a nearby cottage to get a light. An old woman at the cottage graciously gave her the light, but said that, in exchange, she would come to the girl on the morrow and suck a bit of blood from her little finger.
"I can't let anyone in the house," said the girl. "My brothers forbid it."
"You don't even have to open the door," replied the old woman. "When I knock, all you have to do is stick your little finger through the keyhole, and I'll suck it."
So the old woman came by every evening to suck the blood from her, while the girl grew paler and paler. Her brothers noticed it and asked her so many questions that she admitted going to an old witch for a light and having to pay for it with her blood. "Just let us take care of her," said the brothers.
The witch arrived, knocked, and when the girl failed to stick her finger through the keyhole, she poked her head through the cat door. One of the brothers had his hatchet all ready and chopped off her head. Then they pitched the remains into a ravine.
One day on the way to the fountain, the girl met another old woman, who was selling white bowls.
"I have no money," said the girl.
"In that case I'll make you a present of them," said the old woman.
So when the brothers came home thirsty, they found twelve bowels filled with water. They pitched in and drank, and instantly changed into a herd of oxen. Only the twelfth, whose thirst was slight, barely touched the water and turned into a lamb. The sister therefore found herself alone with eleven oxen and one lamb to feed every day.
A prince out hunting went astray in the woods and, turning up at the girl's house, fell in love with her. He asked her to marry him, but she replied that she had to think of her oxen brothers and couldn't possibly leave them. The prince took her to his palace along with all the brothers. The girl became his princess bride, and the eleven oxen and the lamb were put into a marble barn with gold mangers.
But the witches in the woods did not give up. One day the princess was strolling under the grape arbor with her lambkin brother that she always carried with her, when an old woman walked up to her.
"Will you give me a bunch of grapes, my good princess?"
"Yes, dear old soul, help yourself."
"I can't reach up that high, please pick them for me."
"Right away," said the princess, reaching up for a bunch.
"Pick that bunch there, they're the ripest," said the old woman, pointing to a bunch above the cistern.
To reach it, the princess had to stand on the rim of the cistern. The old woman gave her a push, and the princess fell in. The lamb started bleating, and bleated all around the cistern, but nobody understood what it was bleating about, nor did they hear the princess moaning down in the well. Meanwhile the witch had taken the princess's shape and got into her bed. When the prince came home, he asked, "What are you doing in bed?"
"I'm sick," said the false princess. "I need to eat a morsel of lamb. Slaughter me that one out there that won't stop bleating."
"Didn't you tell me some time ago," asked the prince, "that the lamb was your brother? And you want to eat him now?"
The witch had blundered and was at a loss for words. The prince, sensing that something was amiss, went into the garden and followed the lamb that was bleating so pitifully. It approached the cistern, and the prince heard his wife calling.
"What are you doing at the bottom of the cistern?" he exclaimed. "Didn't I just leave you in bed?"
"No, I've been down here ever since this morning! A witch threw me in!"
The prince ordered his wife pulled up at once. The witch was caught and burned at the stake. While the fire burned, the oxen and also the lamb slowly turned back into fine, strapping young men, and you'd have thought the castle had been invaded by a band of giants. They were all made princes, while I've stayed as poor a soul as ever.
(Monferrato)
NOTES:
"The Twelve Oxen" (I dodici buoi) from Comparetti, 47, Monferrato, Piedmont.
The folktales about the sister who rescues her brother or brothers changed into animals can be divided into two groups: the one where the seven sons are under a curse (as in Basile, IV, 8, or in Grimm, 9 and 25), and the other where the sole brother is transformed into a lamb (as in Grimm, 11, or in my no. 178). The brothers are most commonly transformed into birds (swans, ravens, doves), and the first literary manifestation of the motif dates back to the twelfth century; the latest is possibly Andersen's "Wild Swans."
Copyright: Italian Folktales Selected and Retold by Italo Calvino,
translated by George Martin,
Pantheon Books, New York 1980
克利克和克罗克
在一个遥远的小镇上，有一个出了名的盗贼，人送外号克利克①，并且认为永远也不会有人抓到他。这个盗贼很想结识另一个与他同样出名的外号叫克罗克的盗贼，想与他联手作案。一天，克利克在一家酒馆吃饭，同桌坐着一位陌生人。克利克要看时间的时候才发现怀表已经不翼而飞了。克利克想：要是这人能不被我察觉而偷走我的表，那他一定就是克罗克。他回手就偷来了那个人的钱包。陌生人要付帐的时候发现自己的钱包也没了，便对同桌的人说：“看来你就是克利克了。”
另一个答道：“那你一定就是克罗克喽。”
“对。”
“好极了，我们合伙吧。”就这样两个盗贼联起手来。
两个人进城，来到了由侍卫严密把守的国王宝库。他们挖了一条通向宝库的地道，盗走了宝库里的一些东西。国王眼看着宝库被盗，却找不到一点盗贼的线索，就去找一位关押在狱的盗贼，人称灰浆盆，国王对他说：“你要是能告诉我偷宝库的人是谁，我就放了你，还封你为侯爵。”
灰浆盆答道：“这一定是克利克和克罗克联手干的，他们是两个最棒的盗贼。不过，我有办法抓住他们。您下令把肉价抬高到每磅一百里拉，谁还去买肉，谁就一定是盗贼。”
国王依计把肉价抬到一百里拉一磅，没有人再去买肉了。好不容易来人报告说有一个修道士到一家肉铺买过肉。灰浆盆说：“这一定是克利克或克罗克化装的。我也化装成一个乞丐，挨家挨户去乞讨，谁给我肉吃，我就在他家的门上划一个红色标记，这样侍卫就能抓到他。”
但是当他在克利克家门上划上红色标记时，克利克发觉了。克利克给城里所有人家的门上都划上了同样的标记，结果灰浆盆一无所获。
灰浆盆又向国王献计说：“我不是跟您说过他们是两个很狡猾的人吗？但是，有人比他们更狡猾。您这么办：让人在宝库台阶的下面放上一桶滚烫的松树油，进去偷东西的人就会掉下去，我们便可以坐等收尸了。”
克利克和克罗克不久就把偷来的钱用光了，只好再去宝库偷钱。克罗克摸黑走在前面，结果掉进了桶里。克利克看到朋友掉进松油桶死了，就想把尸体捞出来带走，但怎么也捞不出来。他只好砍下克罗克的脑袋，带走了。
第二天，国王到了现场，说：“这次抓到了，这次抓到了！”可是，只找到一具无头尸，没法辨认身分，也无法断定谁是同谋。
灰浆盆又说：“我还有一计。你让人用两匹马拖着这具尸体在全城示众，听到哪里有哭声，就一定是盗贼的家。”
真的，克罗克的妻子从窗户看到丈夫的尸体被拖着游街，就又哭又嚎起来。克利克也在那里，他立即意识到这样会使自己暴露。于是，他开始摔盘子，砸碗，并且打克罗克的妻子。正在这时，侍卫们循着哭声进来了，看到的却是一个妇人打碎了盘、碗，而男人给了她几个耳光，妇人就哭了起来。
国王无计可施，便让人在全城贴出告示说，谁有本事偷走他床上的床单，他就原谅他的偷盗之罪。克利克听到消息就来了，说自己有本事做到。
晚上国王脱衣上了床，手里拿着一杆火枪等着盗贼。克利克从掘墓人那里要来一具尸体，给他穿上自己的衣服，带到王宫的屋顶。等到半夜，克利克用绳子把尸体吊在国王寝室的窗户前。国王以为这就是克利克，朝他开了一枪，又看见他带着绳子摔了下去。国王跑下去看看人是不是死了。可就在同时，克利克从屋顶下到国王的寝室，偷走了国王的床单。克利克被国王赦免了，而且因为他已经无所不能偷了，国王就把自己的女儿嫁给了他。
（蒙费拉托地区）
①这篇故事中的两个盗贼的外号“克利克”与“克罗克”都是形容断裂、破碎的象声词。
Crack and Crook
In a distant town there was a famous thief known as Crack, whom nobody had ever been able to catch. The main ambition of this Crack was to meet Crook, another notorious thief, and form a partnership with him. One day as Crack was eating lunch at the tavern across the table from a stranger, he went to look at his watch and found it missing. The only person in this world who could have taken it without my knowledge, he thought, is Crook. So what did Crack do but turn right around and steal Crook's purse. When the stranger got ready to pay for his lunch, he found his purse gone and said to his table companion, "Well, well, you must be Crack."
"And you must be Crook."
"Right."
"Fine, we'll work together."
They went to the city and made for the king's treasury, which was completely surrounded by guards. The thieves therefore dug an underground tunnel into the treasury and stole everything. Surveying his loss, the king had no idea how he might catch the robbers. He went to a man named Snare, who had been put in prison for stealing, and said, "If you can tell me who committed this robbery, I'll set you free and make you a marquis."
Snare replied, "It can be none other than Crack or Crook, or both of them together, since they are the most notorious thieves alive. But I'll tell you how you can catch them. Have the price of meat raised to one hundred dollars a pound. The person who pays that much for it will be your thief."
The king had the price of meat raised to one hundred dollars a pound, and everybody stopped buying meat. Finally it was reported that a friar had gone to a certain butcher and bought meat. Snare said, "That had to be Crack or Crook in disguise. I'll now disguise myself and go around to the houses begging. If anybody gives me meat, I'll make a red mark on the front door, and your guards can go and arrest the thieves."
But when he made a red mark on Crack's house, the thief saw it and went and marked all the other doors in the city with red, so there was no telling in the end where Crack and Crook lived.
Snare said to the king, "Didn't I tell you they were foxy? But there's someone else foxier than they are. Here's the next thing to do: put a tub of boiling pitch at the bottom of the treasury steps. Whoever goes down to steal will fall right into it, and his dead body will give him away."
Crack and Crook had run out of money in the meantime and decided to go back to the treasury for more. Crook went in first, but it was dark, and he fell into the tub. Crack came along and tried to pull his friend's body out of the pitch, but it stuck fast in the tub. He then cut off the head and carried it away.
The next day the king went to see if he had caught the thief. "This time we got him! We got him!" But the corpse had no head, so they were none the wiser about the thief or any accomplices he might have had.
Snare said, "There's one more thing we can do: have the dead man dragged through the city by two horses. The house where you hear someone weeping has to be the thief's house."
In effect, when Crook's wife looked out the window and saw her husband's body being dragged through the street, she began screaming and crying. But Crack was there and knew right away that would be their undoing. He therefore started smashing dishes right and left and thrashing the poor woman at the same time. Attracted by all that screaming, the guards came in and found a man beating his wife for breaking up all the dishes in the house.
The king then had a decree posted on every street corner that he would pardon the thief who had robbed him, if the thief now managed to steal the sheets out from under him at night. Crack came forward and said he could do it.
That night the king undressed and went to bed with his gun to wait for the thief. Crack got a dead body from a gravedigger, dressed it in his own clothes, and carried it to the roof of the royal palace. At midnight the cadaver, held by a rope, was dangling before the king's windows. Thinking it was Crack, the king fired one shot and watched him fall, cord and all. He ran downstairs to see if he was dead. While the king was gone, Crack slipped into his room and stole the sheets. He was therefore pardoned, and so that he wouldn't have to steal any longer, the king married his daughter to him.
(Monferrato)
NOTES:
"Crack and Crook" (Cric e Croc) from Comparetti, 13, Monferrato, Piedmont.
This is one of the oldest and most famous tales, which has occupied the attention of scholars for generations. The Piedmontese version I followed is faithful to the oldest tradition and includes the curious character-names and a brisk dose of rustic cunning. Herodotus (Histories) tells in detail about Egyptian King Rhampsinitus's treasure, chief source of the vast narrative tradition concerning wily robbers put to the test by a ruler. The beheading of a cadaver so it will not be recognized is also encountered in Pausanias, who presents the myth of Trophonius and Agamedes (Description of Greece, IX, 372). Either through the Greeks or through oriental tradition the tale entered medieval literature, in the various translations of the Book of the Seven Sages and other Italian, English, and German texts. Literary versions by Italian Renaissance story writers are numerous.
Copyright: Italian Folktales Selected and Retold by Italo Calvino,
translated by George Martin,
Pantheon Books, New York 1980
金丝雀王子
从前有一个国王，他有一个女儿。这女孩的母亲去世后，继母容不下她，总对国王说她的坏话。姑娘一再为自己辩白，可继母说尽了坏话，用尽了手段，尽管国王很疼爱自己的女儿，最终也不得不顺从王后之意，让她把姑娘送走。不过一定要给公主安排一个好去处，不能亏待了她。继母说：“这件事，您就放心吧，不必操劳了。”可一转脸，她就命人把公主关进森林中的一个城堡里了。还挑选了一批宫中贵妇，让她们到城堡陪伴公主，并下令不许公主出去，连窗户也不能靠近，当然，她也照着王宫里的标准支付这些侍女的报酬。她给公主安排了一间不错的房间，吃的喝的都可以满足她，只是不许她跨出大门一步。但是，那些拿着优厚报酬的侍女，整天无所事事，只顾自己寻乐，根本不管公主。
国王时不时问妻子：“我们的女儿现在怎么样了？过得好吗？”而王后为了让国王相信自己关心公主，就去看望她。到了城堡，刚下马车，侍女们就都跑上前来，告诉她公主一切都好，每天高高兴兴的，让她放心。王后到公主的房间转了一下，说：“你在这里过得不错，是吗？这里什么也不缺吧？你看上去脸色很好，这里的空气很新鲜，你舒舒服服地住着吧。再见！”说完就走了。回到王宫，她告诉国王她从没见过他的女儿这样高兴过。
而实际上公主总是孤独地待在房间里，那些陪伴她的侍女连管都不管她，她整天站在窗前伤心地度过一天又一天，如果不是想起在窗台上垫了一个坐垫，她那支在窗台上的双肘早就磨出茧子来了。窗户朝着森林，公主整天整天地望着窗外的树梢、远处的白云和猎人们行走的小路。有一天，她看见一个王子从小路上经过，他是追赶一只野猪才来到这座城堡附近的。他知道这是一座荒废了多年的城堡，当他望见上面有人居住的样子，觉得很惊奇。只见城墙垛间晾晒着衣物，窗户打开着，烟囱冒着烟。他正惊奇地看着，突然发现城堡上面的一扇窗户里，站着一个美丽的姑娘，就冲着她微微一笑。因为相距太远无法交谈，王子和公主又是微笑又是点头，又是鞠躬，就这样含情脉脉地对视了一个小时。
第二天，那个王子身着黄色猎装，假装打猎，又来到了城堡下，他们对望了两个小时。这一次除了微笑、点头、鞠躬，他们两人还都用手捂住自己的心口，然后向对方挥动着手帕。第三天，王子站了三个小时，他们还互相用手传递着飞吻。第四天，王子像前几次一样又来了，这时一个女巫从一棵树后探出身，大声笑起来：“哈哈，哈哈，哈哈！”
“你是谁？有什么好笑的？”王子厉声喝道。
“我从没见过像你们两个这样隔得这么远又这么痴情的恋人。”
“你知道我怎么才能上去见她呢？老婆婆。”王子问。
女巫说：“看你挺可爱的，我就帮你一把。”然后，就去敲城堡的门。她递给侍女们一本老旧的厚书，皱巴巴、脏兮兮的，说是她送给公主的一份礼物，好让公主读着它打发时间。侍女们把书送给了公主，公主急忙打开来一看，上面写着：这是一本魔书。如果你从前往后翻，你的心上人就会变成一只鸟，而如果你从后往前翻，你的心上人就会由鸟变成人。
公主立即跑到窗前，把书放在窗台上，急不可耐地翻起来，同时紧盯着那个身着黄色猎装、站在小路上的小伙子。只见小伙子的两臂动了起来，上下拍动变成了翅膀，而小伙子变成了一只金丝雀。金丝雀从地上飞起来，飞得比树梢还高，然后直奔窗口飞来，停在窗台上的垫子上。公主情不自禁地把这只美丽的金丝雀小心翼翼地捧在手里，亲吻着它，这时，她想起这是一个小伙子，感到很难为情，可转念一想，又觉得很自然了，恨不能马上让它变回先前的那个小伙子。她拿起那本书，向前快速地翻着，只见金丝雀竖起黄色的羽毛，拍动着翅膀，慢慢变成了双臂，又重新变回到那个身着黄色猎装、打着绑腿的小伙子。小伙子跪在她脚下，对她说：“我爱你！”
两个人互相倾诉着爱慕之情，不知不觉中夜幕已经降临。公主缓缓地开始翻着书页。小伙子双眼紧盯着公主，变成了一只金丝雀，它跳上阳台，又跳上屋檐，随后，迎风飞起来，盘旋着向下，落在一根低矮的树枝上。这时，公主又把书向前翻，金丝雀又变成了王子，王子跳到地上，吹了声口哨唤来了猎狗，朝着公主的窗口抛了一个飞吻，便沿着小路远去了。
就这样，那本魔书每天都为了让王子飞到城堡尖塔上的窗口翻一遍，又为把他变回人身翻一遍，然后又为了让他飞去翻一遍，为了让他回家又翻一遍。两个年轻人从没感受过如此的幸福。
一天，王后来看继女，她到公主的房间转了一圈后，还是假惺惺地说：“你过得不错，是吗？你看上去瘦了一点，但这也没什么，对吗？你过得从没有这样舒服过，是吗？”她一边说着，一边环顾四周查看一下有什么不妥。她打开窗户往外看，发现了那个身着黄色猎装的王子带着猎狗走进城堡。王后想：“要是这个小骚货胆敢在窗口卖弄风情，我就好好教训她一下。”于是，她让公主去端来一杯水和糖，而她急忙从头发上摘下自己戴的五六根别针，插在垫子里，针尖朝上，但又使别人很难发现。“这样，她就会尝到趴在窗台上的滋味了。”公主把她要的水和糖端过来，她却说：“噢，我又不渴了，你喝了吧，小可怜！我得回到你父亲那里。你什么也不需要，是吧？那我走了。”说完就走了。
王后的马车刚一走远，公主就急切地翻起书来，王子变成了金丝雀，飞向窗台，箭一般落在垫子上。金丝雀当即疼得大叫起来，鲜血染红了黄色的羽毛，是垫子里的那几根针刺进了金丝雀的胸脯。它挣扎着抬起那对摇晃不稳的翅膀，借着风力，摇摆着飞下去，张着翅膀摔在地上。公主吓懵了，弄不清到底发生了什么事，急急忙忙向前翻着书页，希望金丝雀变回人身后，王子的伤痛能够消失。唉，变回人身后，只见他黄色猎装的胸前被刺破了几处很深的伤口，鲜血滴个不停，他只好仰卧在地上，他的那几只猎狗围在他的身旁。
猎狗的狂叫声引来了另外一些猎人，大家赶来救他，用一副树枝做的担架把他抬走了，王子甚至没有睁眼看一下他的恋人的窗口，而她正为王子的伤担惊受怕呢。
王子被带回王宫后，没向任何人透露受伤的经过，御医们也无法给他更多的帮助。他的伤口不仅没愈合，反而越发厉害。国王让人在所有的大街小巷都贴上布告，重金招募能治好王子伤病的人，结果无人敢应募。
这时，公主因为见不到心上人而焦虑万分。她把床单剪成细条，搓紧，然后系在一起，结成一根很长很长的绳子，趁着黑夜顺着绳子从高高的城堡塔尖上滑了下来。她顺着那条打猎的小路向前走着，但是到处是漆黑一片和狼的嗥叫声。公主想还是等早上天亮再走吧，就摸黑来到一株空心的老槐树下，钻进树洞里，曲着腿坐下，她累极了，很快就睡着了。她醒来的时候，天还黑着，可她隐约听到有口哨声，侧耳倾听，又听到一声，接着听到了第三声，第四声。而且她还远远看见有四支烛火在向她靠近。这是四个女巫，她们从世界的四个地方来，要聚在这棵树下碰面。公主躲在树里，没让她们发现，她从树干的缝隙中，看见四个老妇人每人手里都拿着根蜡烛，大呼小叫地笑着，问候着：“哈哈！哈哈！哈哈！”
她们在树下点起了一堆篝火，坐在旁边取暖，一边烤着几只蝙蝠当晚餐。当她们都饱了，就开始互相聊起各自遇上的新鲜事。
“我看见土耳其的苏丹了，他又买了二十个妻子了。”
“我看见中国的皇帝了，他的辫子已经长到三米长了。”
“我看见食人国的国王了，他一不留神，把自己的宠臣吃了。”
“我看见这附近的那个国王了，他的儿子病了，没有人能治好他，因为只有我知道那方法。”
“什么方法？”另外三个女巫问。
“在他的房间里，有一块活动的地砖，打开这块砖，就能找到一个细颈瓶，瓶里有一种药膏，可以愈合他所有的伤口。”
公主在树洞里惊喜得差点叫出声来，她赶快用手捂住自己的嘴，保持沉默。女巫们最后把自己要说的话都讲出来了，就各自上路回去了。公主从树洞里跳出来，趁着黎明的微光，朝城里走去。路过第一家旧货铺时，她买了一件医生穿的长袍和一副眼镜，然后来到王宫前敲开了门。仆人看到这个医生带的器具简陋，不想放她进去，国王却说：“反正，我儿子的病已经到了无可救药的地步了，再差的医术也不会伤害到我那可怜的儿子了，也让他试试吧。”假医生请求让她跟病人单独待一会，国王也同意了。
王子神志不清地躺在床上呻吟着，公主望着自己的心上人，很想大哭一场，也很想吻遍他全身，但是，她强忍住自己的感情，要赶快按照那个巫婆的秘诀救王子。她在宽大的房间里来来回回地走着，终于找到了一块活动的地砖，打开一看，里边有一个小瓶，装着药膏。公主把瓶里的药膏抹在王子的伤口上，她刚把涂着药膏的手指放到伤口上，伤口马上就愈合了。公主又惊又喜，去请国王进来。国王看见儿子的伤口全消失了，脸上也渐渐出现了血色，正躺在床上安静地睡着。
国王说：“医生，告诉我你想要什么，我领地上所有的财宝都可以给你。”
医生说：“我不想要钱，只要王子用的那块刻着族徽的盾牌，王子的战旗和他的那件被血染红的破了的黄色猎装。”她得到这三件东西后就离开了。
三天过后，王子又去打猎。他从那个森林中的城堡下经过的时候，连看都没往公主的窗口那边看。公主马上取来那本书，翻着书页，王子尽管全力抵抗，但也只能变成一只金丝雀。他飞到房间里，公主又让他变回人身。他说：“让我走，你用发针刺伤了我还不够吗？还想给我更多的痛苦？”确实，王子对公主已经没有任何爱慕之情了，他以为是公主造成了他的不幸。
公主差点昏过去，说：“是我救了你！是我给你治好了伤！”
王子却说：“假话，给我治伤的是一个外国医生，他不要任何酬谢，只带走了我的族徽、战旗和我的那件被血染红的猎装！”
“这是你的族徽，这是你的战旗，这是你的猎装！我就是那个医生！那些发针是我的那位残忍的继母放的！”
王子惊愕地望着公主的眼睛，觉得她从没像现在这样美丽过。他扑倒在公主的脚下，请求她的原谅，并表明了自己全部的感激之情和爱慕之意。
当天晚上，王子就禀告父王要娶森林中城堡上住的那位姑娘为妻。国王却说：“你只能娶国王或皇帝的女儿为妻。”
“我要娶曾经救过我命的姑娘。”
于是，王宫上下忙着准备婚礼，他们邀请了附近所有的国王和王后。公主的父亲也来参加了，他对女儿的事一无所知。当他看到新娘出现在自己面前时，惊呼道：“我的女儿！”
“怎么？我儿子的新娘是您的女儿？为什么您以前从没提过她？”新郎的父亲问。
新娘说：“因为他们根本没把我当人看待，我的继母把我关押起来。”她边说边用手指着那个王后。
国王听到女儿所有的不幸遭遇，对女儿他感到万分内疚，对狠心的妻子感到愤怒。他等不及回家就把王后抓了起来。婚礼在喜庆的气氛中举行，所有的人都感到欢乐、满足，只有那个恶妇在等待着悲惨的结局。
（都灵地区）
The Canary Prince
There was a king who had a daughter. Her mother was dead, and the stepmother was jealous of the girl and always spoke badly of her to the king. The maiden defended herself as best as she could, but the stepmother was so contrary and insistent that the king, though he loved his daughter, finally gave in. He told the queen to send the girl away, but to some place where she would be comfortable, for he would never allow her to be mistreated. "Have no fear of that," said the stepmother, who then had the girl shut up in a castle in the heart of the forest. To keep her company, the queen selected a group of ladies-in-waiting, ordering them never to let the girl go out of the house or even to look out the windows. Naturally they received a salary worthy of a royal household. The girl was given a beautiful room and all she wanted to eat and drink. The only thing she couldn't do was go outdoors. But the ladies, enjoying so much leisure time and money, thought only of themselves and paid no attention to her.
Every now and then the king would ask his wife, "And how is our daughter? What is she doing with herself these days?" To prove that she did take an interest in the girl, the queen called on her. The minute she stepped from her carriage, the ladies-in-waiting all rushed out and told her not to worry, the girl was well and happy. The queen went up to the girl's room for a moment. "So you're comfortable, are you? You need nothing, do you? You're looking well, I see; the country air is doing you good. Stay happy, now. Bye-bye, dear!" And off she went. She informed the king she had never seen his daughter so content.
On the contrary, alwasy alone in the room, with ladies-in-waiting who didn't so much as look at her, the princess spent her days wistfully at the window. She sat there leaning on the windowsill, and had she not thought to put a pillow under them, she would have got calluses on her elbows. The window looked out on the forest, and all day long the princess saw nothing but treetops, clouds and, down below, the hunters' trail. Over that trail one day came the son of a king in pursuit of a wild boar. Nearing the castle known to have been unoccupied for no telling how many years, he was amazed to see washing spread out on the battlements, smoke rising from the chimneys, and open casements. As he looked about him, he noticed a beautiful maiden at one of the upper windows and smiled at her. The maiden saw the prince too, dressed in yellow, with hunter's leggings and gun, and smiling at her, so she smiled back at him. For a whole hour, they smiled, bowed, and curtsied, being too far apart to communicate in any other way.
The next day, under the pretext of going hunting, the king's son returned, dressed in yellow, and they stared at each other this time for two hours; in addition to smiles, bows, and curtsies, they put a hand over their hearts and waved handkerchiefs at great length. The third day the prince stopped for three hours, and they blew each other kisses. The fourth day he was there as usual, when from behind a tree a witch peeped and began to guffaw: "Ho, ho, ho, ho!"
"Who are you? What's so funny?" snapped the prince.
"What's so funny? Two lovers silly enought to stay so far apart!"
"Would you know how to get any closer to her, ninny?" asked the prince.
"I like you both," said the witch, "and I'll help you."
She knocked at the door and handed the ladies-in-waiting a big old book with yellow, smudgy pages, saying it was a gift to the princess so the young lady could pass the time reading. The ladies took it to the girl, who opened it at once and read: "This is a magic book. Turn the pages forward, and the man becomes a bird; turn them back, and the bird becomes a man once more."
The girl ran to the window, placed the book on the sill, and turned the pages in great haste while watching the youth in yellow standing in the path. Moving his arms, he was soon flapping wings and changed into a canary, dressed in yellow as he was. Up he soared above the treetops and headed straight for the window, coming to rest on the cushioned sill. The princess couldn't resist picking up the beautiful canary and kissing him; then remembering he was a young man, she blushed. But on second thought she wasn't ashamed at all and made haste to turn him back into a youth. She picked up the book and thumbed backward through it; the canary ruffled his yellow feathers, flapped his wings, then moved arms and was once more the youth dressed in yellow with the hunter's leggings, who knelt before her, declaring, "I love you!"
By the time they finished confessing all their love for one another, it was evening. Slowly, the princess leafed through the book. Looking into her eyes the youth turned back into a canary, perched on the windowsill, then on the eaves, then trusting to the wind, flew down in wide arcs, lighting on the lower limb of a tree. At that, she turned the pages back in the book and the canary was a prince once more who jumped down, whistled for his dogs, threw a kiss toward the window, and continued along the trail out of sight.
So every day the pages were turned forward to bring the prince flying up to the window at the top of the tower, then turned backward to restore his human form, then forward again to enable him to fly away, and finally backward for him to get home. Never in their whole life had the two young people known such happiness.
One day the queen called on her stepdaughter. She walked about the room, saying, "You're all right, aren't you? I see you're a trifle slimmer, but that's certainly no cause for concern, is it? It's true, isn't it, you've never felt better?" As she talked, she checked to see that everything was in place. She opened the window and peered out. Here came the prince in yellow along the trail with his dogs. "If this silly girl thinks she is going to flirt at the window," said the stepmother to herself, "she has another thought coming to her." She sent the girl for a glass of water and some sugar, then hurriedly removed five or six hairpins from her own hair and concealed them in the pillow with the sharp points sticking straight up. "That will teach her to lean on the windowsill!" The girl returned with the water and sugar, but the queen said, "Oh, I'm no longer thirsty; you drink it, my dear! I must be getting back to your father. You don't need anything, do you? Well, goodbye." And she was off.
As soon as the queen's carriage was out of sight, the girl hurriedly flipped over the pages of the book, the prince turned into a canary, flew to the window, and struck the pillow like an arrow. He instantly let out a shrill cry of pain. The yellow feathers were stained with blood; the canary had driven the pins into his breast. He rose with a convulsive flapping, trusted himself to the wind, descended in irregular arcs, and lit on the ground with outstretched wings. The frightened princess, not yet fully aware of what had happened, quickly turned the pages back in the hope there would be no wounds when he regained his human form. Alas, the prince reappeared dripping blood from the deep stabs that had rent the yellow garment on his chest, and lay back surrounded by his dogs.
At the howling of the dogs, the other hunters came to his aid and carried him off on a stretcher of branches, but he didn't so much as glance up at the window of his beloved, who was still overwhelmed with grief and fright.
Back at his palace, the prince showed no promise of recovery, nor did the doctors know what to do for him. The wounds refused to heal over, and constantly hurt. His father the king posted proclamations on every street corner promising a fortune to anyone who could cure him, but not a soul turned up to try.
The princess meanwhile was consumed with longing for her lover. She cut her sheets into thin strips which she tied one to the other in a long, long rope. Then one night she let herself down from the high tower and set out on the hunters' trail. But because of the thick darkness and the howls of the wolves, she decided to wait for daylight. Finding an old oak with a hollow trunk, she nestled inside and, in her exhaustion, fell asleep at once. She woke up while it was still pitch-dark, under the impression she had heard a whistle. Listening closely, she heard another whistle, then a third and a fourth, after which she saw four candle flames advancing. They were four witches coming from the four corners of the earth to their appointed meeting under that tree. Through a crack in the trunk the princess, unseen by them, spied on the four crones carrying candles and sneering a welcome to one another: "Ah, ah, ah!"
They lit a bonfire under the tree and sat down to warm themselves and roast a couple of bats for dinner. When they had eaten their fill, they began asking one another what they had seen of interest out in the world.
"I saw the sultan of Turkey, who bought himself twenty new wives."
"I saw the emperor of China, who has let his pigtail grow three yards long."
"I saw the king of the cannibals, who ate his chamberlain by mistake."
"I saw the king of this region, who has the sick son nobody can cure, since I alone know the remedy."
"And what is it?" asked the other witches.
"In the floor of his room is a loose tile. All one need to do is lift the tile, and there underneath is a phial containing an ointment that would heal everyone of his wounds."
It was all the princess inside the tree could do not to scream for joy. By this time the witches had told one another all they had to say, so each went her own way. The princess jumped from the tree and set out in the dawn for the city. At the first secondhand dealer's she came to, she bought an old doctor's gown and a pair of spectacles, and knocked at the royal palace. Seeing the little doctor with such scant paraphernalia, the servants weren't going to let him in, but the king said, "What harm could he do my son who can't be any worse off than he is now? Let him see what he can do." The sham doctor asked to be left alone with the sick man, and the request was granted.
Finding her lover groaning and unconscious in his sickbed, the princess felt like weeping and smothering him with kisses. But she restrained herself because of the urgency of carrying out the witch's directions. She paced up and down the room until she stepped on a loose tile, which she raised and discovered a phial of ointment. With it she rubbed the prince's wounds, and no sooner had she touched each one with ointment than the wound disappeared completely. Overjoyed she called the king, who came in and saw his son sleeping peacefully, with the color back in his cheeks, and no trace of any of the wounds.
"Ask for whatever you like, doctor," said the king. "All the wealth in the kingdom is yours."
"I wish no money," replied the doctor. "Just give me the prince's shield bearing the family coat-of-arms, his standard, and his yellow vest that was rent and bloodied." Upon receiving the three items, she took her leave.
Three days later, the king's son was again out hunting. He passed the castle in the heart of the forest, but didn't deign to look up at the princess's window. She immediately picked up the book, leafed through it, and the prince had no choice but change into a canary. He flew into the room, and the princess turned him back into a man. "Let me go," he said. "Isn't it enough to have pierced me with those pins of yours and caused me so much agony?" The prince, in truth, no longer loved the girl, blaming her for his misfortune.
On the verge of fainting, she exclaimed, "But I saved your life! I am the one who cured you!"
"That's not so," said the prince. "My life was saved by a foreign doctor who asked for no recompense except my coat-of-arms, my standard, and my bloodied vest!"
"Here are your coat-of-arms, your standard, and your vest! The doctor was none other than myself! The pins were the cruel doing of my stepmother!"
The prince gazed into her eyes, dumbfounded. Never had she looked so beautiful. He fell at her feet asking her forgiveness and declaring his deep gratitude and love.
That very evening he informed his father he was going to marry the maiden in the castle in the forest.
"You may marry only the daughter of a king or an emperor," replied his father.
"I shall marry the woman who saved my life."
So they made preparations for the wedding, inviting all the kings and queens in the vicinity. Also present was the princess's royal father, who had been informed of nothing. When the bride came out, he looked at her and exclaimed, "My daughter!"
"What!" said the royal host. "My son's bride is your daughter? Why did she not tell us?"
"Because," explained the bride, "I no longer consider myself the daughter of a man who let my stepmother imprison me." And she pointed at the queen.
Learning of all his daughter's misfortune, the father was filled with pity for the girl and with loathing for his wicked wife. Nor did he wait until he was back home to have the woman seized. Thus the marriage was celebrated to the satisfaction and joy of all, with the exception of that wretch.
(Turin)
NOTES:
"The Canary Prince" Il Principe canarino) from Rua (in Archivio per lo studio delle tradizioni popolari, Palermo-Turin, VI [1887], 401), Turin.
This folktale from Turin, with its balladlike pathos, develops a medieval motif, which is also literary. (But Marie de France's lai, Yonec, is quite different, being the story of an adultery.) My personal touches here include the prince's yellow suit and leggings, the description of the transformation in a flutter of wings, the gossip of the witches who traveled the world over, and a bit of stylistic cunning.
Copyright: Italian Folktales Selected and Retold by Italo Calvino,
translated by George Martin,
Pantheon Books, New York 1980
克林王
从前，有一个国王认了一头猪做自己的儿子，人们称它为“克林王”。克林王在王宫里进进出出，平常显得很有教养，还真像一个王室人物，但它也时常故意捣捣乱，发发脾气。父亲拍着它的屁股对他说：“怎么了，你这么捣乱，有什么事吗？”
克林王叽里咕噜地说：“呃，呃，我想娶老婆，呃，呃，娶那个面包师的女儿！”
于是，国王派人把面包师叫了来。面包师有三个女儿，国王问面包师他的大女儿是否愿意嫁给他的猪儿子。面包师的大女儿很想嫁给国王的儿子，但又不愿意嫁给一头猪，左右为难，最后还是答应了。
婚礼的当天晚上，克林王满心欢喜地跑到街上转了一圈，浑身弄得脏兮兮的回来了。新娘正在房间里等着它，它示意新娘爱抚它，自己也直往新娘裙子上拱。新娘觉得很厌烦，不但没有爱抚它，还踹了它一脚，“滚开，脏猪！”
克林王嘟囔着：“呃！早晚和你算这笔帐！”就离开了。
当天晚上，新娘就被发现死在床上了。
老国王对这件事非常头疼。过了几个月，克林王又开始发脾气，又提出娶老婆的事，嘟嘟囔囔地说：“呃！呃！呃！我想要面包师的女儿为妻！”于是国王让人去喊面包师的二女儿，她也同意了。
婚礼的晚上，克林王又在街上弄得浑身脏兮兮的回来了，一回来就在新娘的身上蹭来蹭去，新娘说：“滚开，脏猪！”把它赶走了。第二天早上，她也被人发现死在床上。一连在新婚之夜死了两个新娘，这件事给宫廷带来了很坏的影响。
过了一段时间，克林王又在王宫里捣乱生事。国王说：“怎么，你还想娶面包师的三女儿吗？”
克林王说：“呃！呃！我是想娶她！呃！呃！我是想娶她！”
国王试着派人把那第三个女儿叫来了，问她是否愿意嫁给克林王。没想到她听了非常高兴。婚礼的当晚，克林王像以前一样，到街上转得浑身脏兮兮的跑回房间，让它的新娘抚摸它。新娘就一边抚摸着它，一边用柔细的亚麻布手帕擦着克林王身上的泥水，说：“我的好克林王，我心爱的克林王，我早就喜欢上你了。”克林王感到很高兴。
早上，宫廷中所有的人都在等着这第三个新娘死去的消息，没想到她看上去比来的时候更大方，更快乐。那一天成了王室大庆的日子，国王举行了盛大的宴会。
到了晚上，因为好奇，新娘很想看看克林王睡觉的样子。她点着一根长蜡烛，看到了一个英俊的小伙子，他长得太英俊了，简直令人无法想象。当她正盯着小伙子看的时候，蜡烛从她手中落下，落在了小伙子的手臂上。小伙子惊醒过来，满腔怒火地跳下床，大声喊道：“你破了魔咒，你不会再看到我了！噢，如果你想再见到我，就必须在七个瓶里灌满你的眼泪，踏破七双铁鞋，穿破七件铁衣，戴破七顶铁帽。”说完就消失了。
新娘悲痛万分，她不能只待在家里等着，决定出去寻找他。她找到一个铁匠，让他打好了七双铁鞋、七件铁衣和七顶铁帽，出发了。
走啊，走啊，当她走到一座山上，天黑下来了。她看到有一座茅屋，就去敲门。一位老婆婆说：“可怜的姑娘，我不能留你过夜，因为我的儿子是风，每次一来到家里就会把所有的东西扔得乱七八糟，要是让他找到你，你就麻烦了！”
可是姑娘再三请求，老婆婆只好把她藏在屋内，风回来了，他到处嗅了嗅，说：
“哼，哼
我闻到人的气味。”
老婆婆给了他一些东西吃，他才平静下来。到了早上，风的母亲早早地起来轻轻叫醒年轻的姑娘，说：“快逃吧，趁我儿子还没起床你赶快上路，拿着这个栗子作纪念，如果不是急需就别打开它。”
姑娘走呀，走呀，来到另一座山上，天又黑了。她看到一座茅屋，一位老婆婆站在门口对她说：“咳，我真想留你过夜，但我的儿子是闪电，如果他回来发现你，你就麻烦了。”但老婆婆觉得姑娘实在可怜，就把她藏在屋里。闪电回来了：
“哼，哼，
我闻到人的气味。”
但他没发现她，吃了些东西就睡觉去了。
到了早晨，闪电的母亲对姑娘说：“趁我儿子还没醒过来，你快逃走吧，拿着这个核桃，它对你会很有用。”
姑娘走呀，走呀，走到另一座山上时天又黑了。这里是雷的妈妈家，她终于也留姑娘过夜并把她藏了起来，雷一回到家就说：
“哼，哼，
我闻到人的气味”
但他没发现她。到了早上，姑娘从雷的妈妈那里得到了一颗榛子做礼物，就又出发了。
经过长途跋涉之后，她来到一座城邦。听人说这里的公主将要跟一个英俊无比的小伙子结婚，他们现在正一起待在城堡中。姑娘猜想这个小伙子一定就是她自己的新郎。但怎么才能阻止他们的婚事呢？怎么才能进到城堡里去呢？
她打开那个栗子，从里面出来一大堆珠宝、钻石。于是她带着这些东西来到公主住的宫殿下叫卖。公主从窗口看见后就让她上来了。姑娘对公主说：“我可以把这些东西都白送给你，只要求你让我在那个小伙子的房间里睡上一夜就行，听说他就在这座宫殿里。”
公主不放心让姑娘跟小伙子单独谈话，甚至担心姑娘会带着小伙子逃走，但她的女仆对她说：“这事交给我了，我们给他吃催眠药，他就不会醒过来了。”她们就这么做了，当女仆陪着姑娘来到房间的时候，小伙子已经睡着了，女仆留下姑娘就出去了。姑娘仔细一看，这果然就是她的新郎，就对他说：“快醒醒，我的夫君，快醒醒。我长途跋涉到了这里，已经踏破了七双铁鞋，穿破了七件铁衣，戴破了七顶铁帽，我还装满了七瓶眼泪。现在我总算找到你了，你却睡着听不到我说的话！”
姑娘就这样哭诉着一直到天亮。早晨，她绝望地砸着核桃。从里面掉出一大堆漂亮的衣服和各式各样的绫罗绸缎，一件比一件漂亮。女仆看到这些奇丽的东西，就跑去告诉公主，而公主自然又留下了所有这些东西，就答应她再跟小伙子待一晚，但她让姑娘进去的晚，出来的早，这样就缩短了时间。
这一晚同样一无所获，小伙子一直没醒过来。可怜的姑娘又砸开那颗榛子，从里面跳出来一些马车和数匹骏马。为了得到这些东西，公主又一次答应她跟小伙子过夜。
但这一次，小伙子不想再喝她们每天晚上带来的那杯东西，只是假装喝下去，实际上把它们倒在了地上。姑娘说话的时候，他先假装睡了一会，当他确定她就是自己的妻子时，他马上跳起来，抱住了姑娘。他们坐着变出来的那些马车出发了，回到家后，举行了盛大的宴会。
他们的生活奢侈又冷酷
却将我留在门背后。
（波河地区）
