Chapter 10 silver nose

Silver Nose & Italian Fairy Tales Once upon a time, there was a widow who took her three daughters to do laundry for a living.The family of four tried their best to wash clothes every day, but they still lived a life of starvation.One day the eldest daughter said to her mother: "It's better to go to work for the devil. I want to leave home and go out to make a living." "Don't say that, my child," said mother, "you'll get yourself into trouble." A few days later, a gentleman came to their home. He was dressed in black, well-dressed, and had a silver nose.

"I heard you have three daughters, let me take one to be my servant," he said to his mother. Mother was not used to this man's silver nose, otherwise, she would immediately let her daughter go with him.She called her eldest daughter aside and said to her, "There are no people with silver noses in this world. You have to be careful. If you go with him, you will definitely regret it in the future." But the daughter was impatient to leave the house, so she went with him.They walked a long way, through the forest, over the mountains, and when they came to a place, they saw a bright light in front of them, which seemed to be on fire. "What's that?" asked the girl, when she began to feel a little worried.

"It's my house, let's go there." Silver Nose said. The girl continued to walk forward with him, trembling uncontrollably all over her body.They came to a huge palace, and Silver Nose took her to visit all the rooms, each of which was more beautiful than the last, and he gave her the key every time he saw a room.Walking to the door of the last room, Silver Nose handed her the key and said, "No matter what, you can't open this door, otherwise, you will be in trouble! Everything here is up to you, except this room." The girl thought to herself: There must be something famous here!She decided to open it as soon as Silver Nose left.At night, the girl was sleeping in her room, and Silver Nose came in tiptoely. He approached the girl's bed, put a rose in her hair, and then tiptoed out again.

The next morning, Silver Nose went out to run some errands.The girl was left alone with a large bunch of keys, and she immediately ran to the forbidden door.As soon as a gap was opened, a lot of flames and smoke rushed out from it. The flames and smoke were full of sinful souls burned by the fire.Only then did the girl realize that the silver nose is the devil, and this room is hell.She yelled and closed the door immediately, trying to run as far away as possible to leave this hellish house, but the tongue of fire still burned the rose on her head. When Silver Nose came home, he saw the scorched rose, and said, "Why, is that how you listen to me!" He grabbed the girl, opened the gates of hell, and threw her into the fire.

The next day he came to the widow's house again and said, "Your daughter is doing well with me, but there is too much work and she needs a helper. Will you let the second daughter come with me?" That was it. , Silver Nose took another girl back to the palace.He also showed the girl every room, gave her the keys to the rooms, and told her that all the rooms could be opened except the last one.The girl said: "You don't have to worry, why should I open it? I don't want to know your private affairs." At night, after the girl went to bed, Silver Nose came to her bed quietly and put a carnation in her hair superior.

The next morning, as soon as Silver Nose went out, the first thing the girl did was to open the forbidden door.It was full of smoke, flames, and the howling of sinful souls, and in the fire she found her sister. "Sister, save me! Get me out of this hell!" My sister yelled at her.But the girl was scared out of her wits. She quickly closed the door and ran away, but she didn't know where to hide, because she was convinced that Silver Nose was the devil, and she had already been pinched by him, and there was nowhere to escape.As soon as Silver Nose came back, he looked at the girl's hair first, and saw that the carnation was burnt, and without saying a word, he grabbed her and threw her into hell too.

The next day, Silver Nose dressed like a big shot and came to the widow's house again. "My family has too much work, and the two girls can't finish it. Let me take the third daughter, too, okay?" Just like that, he brought the third daughter back.The third daughter is named Rukia, and among the three sisters, she is the most intelligent.Silver Nose also showed her every room, and then told her as usual, and when she fell asleep, he also put a flower in her hair, a jasmine flower.In the morning, after Lukia got up, she went to comb her hair. Looking in the mirror, she found the jasmine flower on her hair.She said to herself, "Look, Silver Nose has put a jasmine flower in me. What an elegant idea! But, I want to keep it fresh." She put the flower in a water glass.After combing her hair, she saw that she was the only one left in the house, and she thought: I'm going to see what's in that mysterious door now.

As soon as she opened the door, the flames came rushing in, and she saw many people practicing inside, and among the crowd, she found her eldest sister, and then saw her second sister.They shouted: "Lukia! Rukia! Pull us out! Help us!" Rukia closed the door first, and then thought about how to rescue the two sisters. When the devil came back, Rukia had already put the jasmine flower on her head again, pretending to be fine.Silver Nose glanced at Jasmine and said, "Oh, it's still fresh." "Of course, how can it be stale? Who wears a withered flower on their head?"

"No, that's all I'm saying," said Silver Nose. "I think you're a nice girl, and if you stay like this, we'll always have a good time. Are you satisfied here?" "Satisfied, I live here very well, but it would be even better if there were no worries." "What are you worried about?" "When I left home to come here, my mother was unwell. Now I have no news from her." "If that's all," said the devil, "I'll go to your house, and I'll bring you some news from there." "Thank you, you are such a good person. If you can go tomorrow, I will prepare a bag of dirty things here and bring it to my mother. When my mother is well, she can help wash it. You won't feel too much Is it heavy?"

"Nowhere," said the devil, "I can lift even the heaviest things." As soon as the devil was out, Rukia immediately went to open the gate of hell, pulled the eldest sister out, and put her in a bag. "Stay inside and don't talk, Carlotta. Wait a little while, and the devil himself will take you home. But if you feel him laying his bag on the ground on the way, shout: I see you! I see you Already!" Silver Nose came, and Lucia said to him, "Here's a bag of laundry. But can you really bring it to my mother's without stopping?" "Don't you trust me?" asked the devil.

"Of course I believe you, because I have this ability: I can see far away. Anyway, I can see where you put your pocket and stop." The devil said: "Really, just wait and see!" But he didn't take it seriously that the girl had the power of clairvoyance.He picked up his pocket and said, "Why is this bag of dirty things so heavy!" The girl said: "Of course, how many years have you not washed anything?" Silver Nose hit the road.But halfway, he thought: What the girl said is right!I'll have to see though, maybe she's trying to steal my stuff under the pretense of sending dirty laundry.So he put the pocket on the ground and wanted to open it to have a look. "I see you! I see you!" My sister immediately shouted from her pocket. "Ah, it's true! She's clairvoyant!" said Silver Nose, carrying his pockets again, and walked straight to Rukia's mother's house. "Your daughter asked me to bring this bag back for washing, and she also wanted to ask how you are..." As soon as the silver nose was gone, the washerwoman opened her pocket, and one can imagine how happy she was when she saw her eldest daughter. A week later, Rukia pretended to be worried again, and she told Silver Nose that she still wanted to know about her mother. She told him to take another bag of dirt to her house.So Silver Nose carried her second sister on his back and started on the road again. This time, he didn't see the contents in the bag again, because he heard someone shouting: "I see you! I see you!" At this time, the washerwoman knew that Silver Nose was the devil, and when she saw him coming again with a bag of things on her back, she was very nervous, for fear that Silver Nose would ask her for the things she had washed last time, but Silver Nose put it on his shoulder. Putting the bag on the ground, he said, "I'll pick up the washed things next time. This bag is so heavy that my bones are almost broken. I want to go back empty-handed." As soon as Silver Nose walked away, the washerwoman opened her pocket anxiously and hugged her second daughter tightly.But then he began to worry about Rukia, who was now alone in the hands of the devil. What about Rukia?After a while, she pretended to want to know about her mother.The devil was tired of bringing her dirty clothes home by now, but he couldn't bear to refuse, considering how obedient she was.The night before leaving, Rukia said that she had a terrible headache and was going to bed first. "I'll leave you the prepared bag, so that even if I don't feel well and can't get out of bed tomorrow, you can take the bag yourself." Now, know that Rukia had already sewn a rag doll the size of herself.She put the doll on the bed, covered it with a quilt, then cut off her own braid and put it on the doll's head, making it look like she was sleeping on the bed herself.Then she hid herself in her pocket again. In the morning, the devil saw the girl lying in bed, so he picked up his bag and started on the road, thinking as he walked: She is sick today, so she can't pay attention to me anymore.This is a good opportunity to take a peek to see if there is something dirty in the pocket.He put down his pocket, just about to open it to look. "I see you! I see you!" cried Rukia. "Ah! Her voice is so real, it seems to be right next to my ears! It's better not to play such jokes with this girl again." He picked up the bag and gave it to the washerwoman. "I'll come later to pick up the laundry," he said hastily, "now I must hurry back, because Rukia is ill." In this way, the family was reunited again, and because Rukia brought back a lot of gold coins from the devil, it was enough for the whole family to live happily and contentedly.They set up a cross at the door of their house, and the devil never dared to approach it again. Silver Nose There was once a widowed washerwoman with three daughters. All four of them worked their fingers to the bone washing, but they still went hungry. One day the oldest daughter said to her mother, "I intend to leave home, even if I have to go and work for the Devil." "Don't talk like that, daughter," replied the mother. "Goodness knows what might happen to you." Not many days afterwards, they received a visit from a gentleman attired in black. He was the height of courtesy and had a silver nose. "I am aware of the fact that you have three daughters," he said to the mother. "Would you let one come and work for me?" The mother would have consented at once, had it not been for that silver nose which she didnt like the looks of. She called her oldest girl aside and said, "No man on earth has a silver nose. If you go off with him you might well live to regret it, so watch out." The daughter, who was dying to leave home, paid no attention to her mother and left with the man. They walked for miles and miles, crossing woods and mountains, and finally came in sight of an intense glow in the distance like that of a fire. "What is that I see way down there in the valley?" asked the girl, growing uneasy. "My house. Thats just where we are going," replied Silver Nose. The girl followed along, but couldn't keep from trembling. They came to a large palace, and Silver Nose took her through it and showed her every room, each one more beautiful than the other, and he gave her the key to each one. they reached the door of the last room, Silver Nose gave her the key and said, "You must never open this door for any reason whatever, or you'll wish you hadnt! Youre in charge of all the rooms but this one." Hes hiding something from me, thought the girl, and resolved to open that door the minute Silver Nose left the house. That night, while she was sleeping in her little room, in tiptoed Silver Nose and placed a rose in her hair. left just as quietly as he had entered. The next morning Silver Nose went out on business. Finding herself alone with all her keys, the girl ran and unlocked the forbidden door. No sooner had she cracked it than smoke and flames shot out, while she caught sight of a crowd of damned souls in agony inside the fiery room. She then realized that Silver Nose was the Devil and that the room was Hell. She screamed, slammed the door, and took to her heels. But a tongue of fire had scorched the rose she wore in her hair . Silver Nose came home and saw the singed rose. "So thats how you obey me!" he said. He snatched her up, opened the door to Hell, and flung her into the flames. The next day he went back to the widow. "Your daughter is getting along very well at my house, but the work is so heavy she needs help. Could you send us your second daughter too?" So Silver Nose returned home with one of the girls sisters. He showed her around the house, gave her all the keys, and told her she could open all the rooms except the last. "Do you think," said the girl, "I would have any reason to open it? I am not interested in your personal business." That night after the girl went to sleep, Silver Nose tiptoed in and put a carnation in her hair. When Silver Nose went out the next morning, the first thing the girl did was go and open the forbidden door. She was instantly assailed by smoke, flames, and howls of the damned souls, in whose midst she spotted her sister. free me from this Hell!" screamed the first girl. But the middle girl grew weak in the knees, slammed the door, and ran. She was now sure that Silver Nose was the Devil, from whom she couldn't hide or escape. Silver Nose returned and noticed her hair right away. The carnation was withered, so without a word he snatched her up and threw her into Hell too. The next day, in his customary aristocratic attire, he reappeared at the washerwomans house. "There is so much work to be done at my house that not even two girls are enough. Could I have your third daughter as well?" He thus returned home with the third sister, Lucia, who was the most cunning of them all. She too was shown around the house and given the same instructions as her sisters. She too had a flower put in her hair while she was sleeping: a jasmine blossom The first thing Lucia did when she got up next morning was arrange her hair. Looking in the mirror, she noticed the jasmine. "Well, well!" she said. "Silver Nose pinned a jasmine on me. How thoughtful of him! Who knows why he did it? In any case Ill keep it fresh." She put it into a glass of water, combed her hair, then said, "Now lets take a look at that mysterious door." She just barely opened it, and out rushed a flame. She glimpsed countless people burning, and there in the middle of the crowd were her big sisters. "Lucia! Lucia!" they screamed. "Get us out of here! Save us! " At once Lucia shut the door tightly and began thinking how she might rescue her sisters. By the time the Devil got home, Lucia had put her jasmine back in her hair, and acted as though nothing had happened that day. Silver Nose looked at the jasmine. "Oh, its still fresh," he said. "Of course, why shouldn't it be? Why would anyone wear withered flowers in her hair?" "Oh, I was just talking to be talking," answered Silver Nose. "You seem like a clever girl. Keep it up, and well never quarrel. Are you happy?" "Yes, but I'd be happier if I didn't have something bothering me." "What's bothering you?" "When I left my mother, she wasn't feeling too well. Now I have no news at all of her." "If thats all you worried about," said the Devil, "Ill drop by her house and see how shes doing." "Thank you, that is very kind of you. If you can go tomorrow, Ill get up a bag of laundry at once which my mother can wash if she is well enough. The bag wont be too heavy for you, will it?" "Of course not. I can carry anything under the sun, no matter how heavy it is." When the Devil went out again that day, Lucia opened the door to Hell, pulled out her oldest sister, and tied her up in a bag. "Keep still in there, Carlotta," she told her. "The Devil himself will carry you back home. But any time he so much as thinks of putting the bag down, you must say, I see you, I see you!" The Devil returned, and Lucia said, "Here is the bag of things to be washed. Do you promise you'll take it straight to my mother?" "You don't trust me?" asked the Devil. "Certainly I trust you, all the more so with my special ability to see from a great distance away. If you dare put the bag down somewhere, I'll see you." "Yes, of course," said the Devil, but he had little faith in her claim of being able to see things a great distance away. He flung the bag over his shoulder. "My goodness, this dirty stuff is heavy!" he exclaimed. "Naturally!" replied the girl. "How many years has it been since you had anything washed?" Silver Nose set out for the washerwomens, but when he was only halfway there, he said to himself, "Maybe...but I shall see if this girl isn't emptying my house of everything I own, under the pretext of sending out laundry. "He went to put the bag down and open it. "I see you, I see you!" suddenly screamed the sister inside the bag. "By Jove, its true! She can see from afar!" exclaimed Silver Nose. He threw the bag back over his shoulder and marched straight to Lucias mothers house. "Your daughter sends you this stuff to wash and wants to know how you are ..." As soon as he left, the washerwoman opened the sack, and you can imagine her joy upon finding her oldest daughter inside. A week later, sly Lucia pretended to be sad once more and told Silver Nose she wanted news of her mother. She sent him to her house with another bag of laundry. So Silver Nose carried off the second sister, without managing to peep inside because of the "I see you, I see you!" which came from the bag the instant he started to open it. The washerwoman, who now knew Silver Nose was the Devil, was quite frightened when he returned, for she was sure he would ask for the clean wash from last time. But Silver Nose put down the new bag and said, "Ill get the clean wash some other time. This heavy bag has broken my back, and I want to go home with nothing to carry." When he had gone, the washerwoman anxiously opened the bag and embraced her second daughter. But she was more worried than ever about Lucia, who was now alone in the Devils hands. What did Lucia do? Not long afterwards she started up again about news of her mother. By now the Devil was sick and tired of carrying laundry, but he had grown too fond of this obedient girl to say no to her. grew dark, Lucia announced she had a bad headache and would go to bed early. "Ill prepare the laundry and leave the bag out for you, so if I dont feel like getting up in the morning, you can be on your way." Now Lucia had made a rag doll the same size as herself. She put it in bed under the covers, cut off her own braids, adn swed them on the dolls head. the doll then looked like Lucia asleep, and Lucia closed herself up in the bag. In the morning the Devil saw the girl snuggled down under the covers and set out with the bag over his shoulder. "Shes sick this morning," he said to himself, "and wont be looking. Its the perfect time to see if this really is nothing but laundry." At that, he put the bag down and was about to open it. "I see you, I see you!" cried Lucia. "By Jove, its her voice to a tee, as though she were right here! Better not joke with such a girl." He took up the bag again and carried it to the washerwoman. "Ill come back later for everything," he said rapidly. "I have to get home right away because Lucia is sick." So the family was finally reunited. Since Lucia had also carried off great sums of the Devils money, they were now able to live in comfort and happiness. They planted a cross before the door, and from then on, the Devil kept his distance. (Langhe) NOTES: "Silver Nose" (Il naso dargento) from Carraroli, 3, from Langhe, Piedmont. Bluebeard in Piedmont is Silver Nose. His victims are not wives but servant girls, and the story is not taken from chronicles about cruel feudal masters as in Perrault, but from medieval theological legends: Bluebeard is the Devil, and the room containing the murdered women is Hell. I found the silver nose only in this version translated from dialect and summarized by Carraroli; but the Devil-Bluebeard, the flowers in the hair, and the ruses to get back home were encountered all over Northern Italy. I integrated the rather meager Piedmont version with one from Bologna (Coronedi S. 27) and a Venetian one (Bernoni, 3). Copyright: Italian Folktales Selected and Retold by Italo Calvino, translated by George Martin, Pantheon Books, New York 1980