Chapter 14 three castles

Three Castles & Italian Fairy Tales A young man suddenly wanted to steal something. When he told his mother about the idea, the mother said, "Don't you feel ashamed? Go to confession right away and listen to the advice given by the priest." The young man went to confess, and the priest said: "Stealing is a sin, but if you steal from a thief, the sin is not too serious." So the young man came to the forest and found a den of thieves. He knocked on the door and asked the thieves to accept him as a servant. The thief said: "We steal things, but we are not guilty, because what we steal are people who collect exorbitant taxes."

One night, when the thieves went out to steal the house of a tax collector, the young man picked the best mules from the stable, loaded them with a bag of gold coins, and slipped away. He gave the gold coins to his mother, and then went to the city to find work.In the city lived a king who had a hundred sheep.But no one is willing to herd sheep for him.The lad went.The king said to him, "Listen, here are a hundred sheep. Tomorrow morning you will take them to graze in the pasture over there, but don't go near that stream. There is a big snake there, and it will eat the sheep. If If you bring me all the sheep, I will give you money; but if you lose the sheep and you are not eaten by the snake, I will drive you away immediately."

To get to the meadow, one had to pass under the window of the palace, from which the princess was standing looking.When she saw the young man, she fell in love with him and threw him a piece of cake.The shepherd boy caught the cake and put it away to eat while shepherding the sheep.When he arrived at the meadow, he saw a white stone in the grass from a distance, and thought: "I can just sit on it and eat the cake the princess gave me." But the stone was on the other side of the stream, and the shepherd boy jumped over the stream without thinking too much. , The sheep also followed.

The grass on the pasture is lush, the sheep are grazing quietly, and the young man is sitting on the stone and eating cake.Suddenly, he felt pushed by something under the stone, as if the whole world was collapsing.The young man looked around, saw nothing, and continued to eat the cake.Then there was another louder noise from under the stone, and the shepherd boy pretended not to hear anything.When the third tremor occurred, a snake with three heads drilled out from under the stone, with a rose in each mouth, and all three heads stretched out towards the shepherd boy, as if to give him the rose.The young man was about to reach out to catch the rose, but the snake opened its three mouths and jumped at him. It only needed one bite from each mouth to eat the young man at once.Fortunately, the shepherd boy was more agile than it. He hit each snake hard on the head with the shepherd stick in his hand, and the giant snake was killed.

Then he cut off all three heads with a sickle, put two heads together, and smashed open the remaining head to see what was inside.There was a crystal key hidden in the snake's head. The young man removed the stone and found a door with a keyhole.He inserted the crystal key, and the door opened, revealing a majestic palace made of crystal.Seeing the young man coming in, all the doors of the palace were opened, and some crystal servants came out and said, "Hi master, what's your order?" "I order you to take me to check my treasures." These crystal people embraced him and climbed up a crystal tower along the crystal stairs, and let him see the crystal stables and the crystal horses inside, and all the crystal weapons and crystal armor.Then, they accompanied him to a crystal garden. There were some crystal birds singing cheerfully on the crystal trees on both sides of the avenue. The crystal flowers in the flower beds were in full bloom, surrounded by crystal ponds.The young man took off a small bouquet of crystal flowers and stuck them in his hat.In the evening, when the young man was driving the sheep back to the palace, the princess was standing at the window and looking at him, and said to him, "Can you give me the bouquet of flowers in your hat?"

"Okay, I'll give it to you." The shepherd boy said, "This is a bouquet of crystal flowers. I picked them from the crystal garden in my crystal castle." Then, he threw the flowers to the princess, and the princess picked them up. down. The next day, the young man came to the stone again and broke open the second snake head, which contained a silver key.He lifted the stone, inserted the silver key into the keyhole, and walked into a palace made of silver.All the silver servants ran to say: "Master, please order!" They accompanied him to see the silver kitchen, where some silver chickens were being roasted on the silver fire, and in the silver garden, the silver peacocks were opening their tails, and the young man plucked them. I picked a small bunch of silver flowers and put them on the hat.At night, he gave the silver flower to the curious princess again.

On the third day, he broke open the third snake head and found a golden key.He inserted the golden key into the keyhole and entered a palace made of gold. Those who listened to his orders were all golden men, from the wig on their heads to the boots under their feet.The golden bed is covered with golden sheets, golden quilts, golden pillows, golden curtains, and golden birds flying in the cages.In a garden composed of golden flower beds, what the fountain spouts is golden spring.The boy picked a small bouquet of golden flowers, put them in his hat, and gave them to the princess in the evening.

One day, the king issued an announcement and held a martial arts tournament. Whoever wins can marry the princess.The shepherd boy opened the door with a crystal key, walked into the crystal palace, chose a crystal horse, matched it with crystal bridle and crystal saddle, and appeared in the arena.Wearing crystal armor, holding a crystal shield and a crystal spear, he defeated all the knights in the contest, and then walked away without anyone recognizing him. The next day, the young man appeared in the arena again riding a silver horse decorated with silver, wearing a silver helmet and armor, holding a silver spear and shield, and galloped away quietly after defeating all the knights.On the third day, when the young man was riding a golden horse and wearing golden clothes, he defeated all his opponents again. At this time, the princess said, "I know who he is. He is the one who gave me the crystal flower, the silver flower and the gold flower." , these flowers were picked from the gardens of his crystal castle, his silver castle, and his golden castle."

So they were married, and the shepherd boy became king afterward. All are content and happy, I got nothing, just an outsider. (Monferrato area) The Three Castles A boy had taken it into his head to go out and steal. He also told his mother. "Arent 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 were 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 dont cross the brook, because they would be eaten by a serpent on the other side. If you come back with none missing, Ill reward you. Fail to bring them all back, and Ill dismiss you on the spot, unless the serpent has already devoured you too."

To reach the meadow, he had to walk by the kings windows, where the kings 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, "Ill sit down now and eat the cake from the kings 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 flower crystalbeds where 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 kings 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 kings 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 servants were gold too, from wig to boots; the beds were gold, with gold sheets, 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 kings 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. Youre 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