Chapter 6 seven!

seven! & Italian Fairy Tales Once upon a time, there was a mother and daughter. The daughter was tall and fat, and she ate a lot.She ate one, two, three of the bouillabaisse her mother served and kept asking for it.And the mother filled it for her, and said: "Three!...Four!...Five!..." When the daughter asked for the seventh plate of soup, the mother didn't fill it, but hit her daughter on the head with a stick. Shout: "Seven!" A well-dressed young man passed by here, and saw his mother slapping her daughter and yelling, "Seven!" Seeing that the tall and plump girl was very beautiful, the young man fell in love with it immediately. He walked into the girl's house and asked, "Seven what?"

The mother was ashamed of having such a gluttonous daughter, and said, "Seven mallets! My daughter is such a workaholic that she can spin wool on sheep! No, she has already spun seven mallets this morning." Hammer line, but it's not over! I just hit her to make her stop!" The young man said: "If so, please give her to me. I will try her to see if she is really capable. If it is true, I will marry her." The young man took her home and locked her in a room full of flax to be spun. He said, "I am a captain, and I am going to sea. If I come back from the sea and you have spun these threads, I will marry you .”

There are also many beautiful clothes and jewelry in the room, because the captain is very rich. "If you become my wife, these things will be yours." After finishing speaking, he left. The girl tried on the clothes and jewelry in the mirror every day, and asked the servants at home to cook for her.And the flax is still there without being spun.The last day was left, and the captain would be back tomorrow, and the girl wept in disappointment at the thought that she would never be the captain's bride.While she was crying in disappointment, a rag sack flew from the window into the room.Rag Pocket stood up, and it turned out to be an old woman with long eyebrows.The old woman said: "Don't be afraid, I am here to help you. You divide the thread into strands, and I will spin it for you."

I have never seen a weaver girl who is faster than this old woman. She only took a quarter of an hour to spin all the flax.However, the more she spun, the longer her eyebrows grew, longer than her nose, longer than her chin, and finally longer than a palm, and her eyelids also became longer. When the work was done, the girl said, "Good lady, how can I repay you?" "I don't want to repay. When you marry the captain, I will be very satisfied if you can invite me to the wedding banquet." "Then how can I invite you?" "Just say: 'Colombina!' and I will come. But I remind you, don't forget my name. If you do, I won't be able to help you anymore. You're lost too. "

When the captain came back the next day, seeing all the flax had been spun, he said, "You are very capable. I believe you are the bride I want to marry. Here are the jewels and clothes I bought for you. But I still Must go out again. Let's try a second time. There is twice as much flax here, and when I come back, if you can finish spinning it, I will marry you." Like last time, the girl tried on different jewelry and clothes every day, and ate soup and bread to pass the time.On the last day again, not a single thread was spun.She was weeping again, when she heard something fall from the chimney, and saw a rag-bag rolled into the house.Ragbag stood up, and it turned out to be an old woman with drooping lips.The old woman was also willing to help her, and started to spin the thread for her. She spun faster than the old woman last time, but the more she spun, the longer her lips grew, and she spun all the hemp in only half an hour. It's over.The old woman also does not want to reciprocate, but only asks the girl to invite her to the wedding banquet. "Just say: 'Columbara' and I will appear. Don't forget my name. Otherwise, the help I give you will be invalid. You must remember it carefully!"

When the captain came back, he asked before entering the door, "Have you finished spinning?" The girl said, "Well, it's over long ago!" "This is the jewelry and clothes I brought back for you. This time, if you can finish spinning more flax than the last two times when I return from the third sea trip, I promise you that the wedding will be held immediately." This time was the same as before, the girl didn't spin a single thread, and when there was only the last day left, a rag bag fell from the eaves, and an old woman with teeth bared walked out of the rag bag.She began to spin for the girl, and she spun very fast, and the faster she spun, the longer her teeth grew.

The old woman said: "If you want to invite me to your wedding feast, you must shout: 'Columbine!' But if you forget my name, you will regret meeting me today." When the captain came back, he was very satisfied to see that all the flax had been spun again.He said, "Well, now you are my wife." He immediately had the wedding preparations started, and invited all the great people of the country. The bride was so absorbed in preparing for the wedding that she never thought of the three old ladies.On the morning of the wedding day, she remembered that they should be invited.But when she tried to write their names, she found that she had forgotten all three names. She racked her brains to recall, but she couldn't even remember a name.

The bride suddenly fell into bottomless sorrow from joy, and the captain also found the bride's depression, so he asked her, but she was silent.The bridegroom couldn't find the cause of the bride's emotional distress, so he thought: Maybe today is not a good day to get married.He ordered the wedding to be postponed until the next day.On the second day, it was even worse.Not to mention the situation on the third day.In short, as the days passed, the bride became more and more sad and silent, and she frowned, as if trying to concentrate and think.The groom tried to please her, entertained her with jokes, and told her stories, but it was of no avail.

Seeing that he could not comfort the bride, the groom tried to console himself, and one morning he went out to hunt.In the woods, suddenly encountered a storm, he hastily hid in a small hut.It was pitch black in the small hut, and he heard someone talking: "Oh, Colombina!" "Oh, Columbara!" "Oh, Columbus!" "Put the pot on and make polenta! The damned bride won't invite us to dinner." The captain turned and saw three old women: one had an eyebrow that trailed to the floor, another with a lip that hung down to the instep of his feet, and a third whose teeth brushed up to his knees.

The bridegroom thought, "Look, I have found something to amuse the bride, and if what I have seen this time does not make her laugh, then nothing else will!" He came home and said to his bride: "I tell you, I was in the woods today, and I went into a hut to get shelter from the rain. Guess what I saw? Three old women! One eyebrow dragged to the ground, and the other The lips hang down to the top of the feet, and the third tooth can touch the knee. They call each other names: 'Oh, Colombina!' 'Oh, Columbara!' 'Oh, Columboone!'" The sadness on the bride's face disappeared immediately, and she kept laughing, saying: "The wedding will be held immediately, but I have a request. Since the three old women you saw made me happy, let them also be invited." Come to the wedding reception."

The captain sent for it.They arranged a round table for the three old women, but it was too small between the long eyebrows, lips and teeth of the three women, and people could not understand how they ate . After the wedding banquet, the groom asked Columbina: "Good lady, please tell me, how do you have such long eyebrows?" "It's because you have to stare at the thin thread when you spin it," Columbina said. "And you, how come your lips are so long?" "It's because you have to keep wet your fingers on your lips when you're twisting the thread," says Columbara. "And you, why do you have such long teeth?" "Because you always have to bite the knot with your teeth," said Columbine. "I see," said the bridegroom, and he turned to his wife, "Go and get those mallets." The bride took out the mallets and gave them to the groom, who threw them into the fire in the hearth and said, "You Never spin thread again in your life!" Since then, the tall and fat girl has lived happily ever after. And Seven! A woman had a daughter who was big and fat and so gluttonous that when her mother brought the soup to the table she would eat one bowl, then a second, then a third, and keep on calling for more. Her mother filled her bowl, saying, "That makes three! And four! And five!" When the daughter asked for a seventh bowl of soup, her mother, instead of filling the bowl, whacked her over the head, shouting, "And seven!" A well-dressed young man was passing by just then and saw the mother through the window hitting the girl and crying, "And seven!" As the big fat young lady captured his fancy immediately, he went in and asked, "Seven of what?" Ashamed of her daughters gluttony, the mother replied, "Seven spindles of hemp! I have a daughter so crazy about work that shed even spin the wool on the sheeps back! Can you imagine that shes already spun seven spindles of hemp this morning and still wants to spin? To make her stop, I have to beat her." "If shes that hard-working, give her to me," said the young man. "Ill try her out to see if youre telling the truth and then Ill marry her." He took her to his house and shut her up in a room full of hemp waiting to be spun. "Im a sea captain, and Im leaving on a voyage," he said. "If you have spun all this hemp by the time I return , Ill marry you." The room also contained exquisite clothes and jewels, for the captain happened to be very rich. "When you become my wife," he explained, "these things will all be yours." Then he left her. The girl spent her days trying on dresses and jewels and admiring herself in the mirror. She also devoted much time to planning meals, which the household servants prepared for her. None of the hemp was spun yet, and in one more day the captain would be back. The girl gave up all hope of ever marrying him and burst into tears. She was still crying when through the window flew a bundle of rags and came to rest on its feet: it was an old woman with long eyelashes. "Dont be afraid," she told the girl. "Ive come to help you. Ill spin while you make the skein." You never saw anyone spin with the speed of that old woman. In just a quarter of an hour she had spun every bit of hemp. And the more she spun, the longer her lashes became; longer than her nose, longer than her chin, they came down more than a foot; and her eyelids also grew much longer. When the work was finished, the girl said, "How can I repay you, my good lady?" "I dont want to be repaid. Just invite me to your wedding banquet when you marry the captain." "How do I go about inviting you?" "Just call Columbina and Ill come. But heaven help you if you forget my name. It would be as though Id never helped you, and youd be undone." The next day the captain arrived and found the hemp all spun. "Excellent!" he said. "I believe youre just the bride I was seeking. Here are the clothes and jewels I bought for you. But now I have to go on another voyage. Lets have a second test. Heres twice the amount of hemp I gave you before. If you spin it all by the time I return, Ill marry you." As she had done before, the girl spent her time trying on gowns and jewels, eating soup and lasagna, and got to the last day with all the hemp still waiting to be spun. She was weeping over it when, lo and behold, something dropped down the chimney, and into the room rolled a bundle of rags. It came to rest on its feet, and there stood an old woman with sagging lips. This one too promised to help, began spinning, and worked even faster than the other old woman. The more she spun, the more her lips sagged. When the hemp was all spun in a half-hour, the old woman asked only to be invited to the wedding banquet. "Just call Columbara. But dont forget my name, or my help will have been in vain and you will suffer." The captain returned and asked before he even got into the house, "Did you spin it all?" "I just now finished!" "Take these clothes and jewels. Now, if I come back from my third voyage and find you've spun this third load of hemp, which is much bigger than the other two, I promise well get married at once." As usual, the girl waited until the last day without touching the hemp. Down from the roofs gutter fell a bundle of rags, and out came an old woman with buckteeth. She began spinning, spinning even faster, and the more she spun, the longer grew her teeth. "To invite me to your wedding banquet," said the old woman, "you must call Columbun. But if you forget my name, it would be better if youd never seen me." When the captain came home and found the hemp all spun, he was completely satisfied. "Fine," he said, "now you will be my wife." He ordered preparations made for the wedding, to which he invited all the nobility in town . Caught up in the preparations, the bride thought no more of the old women. On the morning of the wedding she remembered that she was supposed to invite them, but when she went to pronounce their names, she found they had slipped her mind. cudgeled her brains but, for the life of her, couldn't recall a single name. From the cheerful girl she was, she sank into a state of bottomless gloom. The captain noticed it and asked her what the matter was, but she would say nothing. Unable to account for her sadness, the bridegroom thought, This is perhaps not the right day. He therefore postponed the wedding until the day after. But the next day was still worse, and the day following we wont even mention. With every day that passed, the bride became gloomier and quieter, with her brows knit in concentration. He told her jokes and stories in an effort to make her laugh, but nothing he said or did affected her. Since he couldn't cheer her up, he decided to go hunting and cheer himself up. Right in the heart of the woods he was caught in a storm and took refuge in a hovel. He was in there in the dark, when he heard voices: "O Columbina!" "O Columbara!" "O Columbun!" "Put on the pot to make polenta! That confounded bride wont be inviting us to her banquet after all!" The captain wheeled around and saw three crones. One had eyelashes that dragged on the ground, another lips that hung down to her feet, and the third teeth that grazed her knees. Well, well, he thought to himself. Now I can tell her something that will make her laugh. If she doesn't laugh over what I've just seen, shell never laugh at anything! He went home and said to his bride, "Just listen to this. Today I was in the woods and went into a hovel to get out of the rain. I go in and what should I see but three crones: one with eyelashes that dragged on the ground, another with lips that hung down to her feet, and the third with teeth that grazed her knees. And they called each other: O Columbina, O Columbara, O Columbun!" The brides face brightened instantly, and she burst out laughing, and laughed and laughed. "Order the wedding banquet right away. But Im asking one favor of you: since those three crones made me laugh so hard, let me invite them to the banquet " Invite them she did. For the three old women a separate round table was set up, but so small that what with the eyelashes of one, the lips of the other, and the teeth of the third, you no longer knew what was what. When dinner was over, the bridegroom asked Columbina, "Tell me, good lady, why are your lashes so long?" "Thats from straining my eyes to spin fine thread!" said Columbina. "And you, why are your lips so thick?" "That comes from always rubbing my finger on them to wet the thread!" said Columbara. "And you, how on earth did your teeth get so long?" "Thats from biting the knot of the thread!" said Columbun. "I see," said the bridegroom, and he turned to his wife. "Go get the spindle." When she brought it to him, he threw it into the fire. "You'll spin no more for the rest of your life!" So the big, fat bride lived happily ever after. (Riviera ligure di ponente) NOTES: "And Seven!" (E sette!) from Andrews, 4, 23, 47. (The first two were collected in Menton, the third near Ventimiglia.) Marriage anecdotes and fairy-tale initiation motifs (the secret name to remember) are blended in this old story widespread in Europe (of English, Swedish, or German origin, according to scholars), subjected to literary treatment in the seventeenth century in Naples ( Basile, IV, 4) and well known throughout Italy. Copyright: Italian Folktales Selected and Retold by Italo Calvino, translated by George Martin, Pantheon Books, New York 1980