Chapter 19 canary prince

The Canary Prince & Italian Fairy Tales Once upon a time there was a king who had a daughter.After the girl's mother died, her stepmother could not tolerate her, and always spoke ill of her to the king.The girl defended herself again and again, but the stepmother said all kinds of bad things and tried all means. Although the king loved his daughter very much, he finally had to obey the queen's wishes and let her send the girl away.But we must arrange a good place for the princess, and we must not treat her badly.The stepmother said, "Don't worry about this matter, you don't have to worry about it." But as soon as she turned her face away, she ordered the princess to be locked up in a castle in the forest.She also selected a group of noble ladies from the palace and asked them to accompany the princess to the castle, and ordered that the princess was not allowed to go out, even the windows were not allowed to approach. Of course, she also paid these maids according to the standard in the palace.She arranged a good room for the princess, where she could be satisfied with food and drink, but she was not allowed to step out of the door.However, those maids who are well paid have nothing to do all day long, only looking after their own pleasure, and don't care about the princess at all.

The king asked his wife from time to time: "How is our daughter? How is she doing?" The queen went to visit her in order to convince the king that she cared about the princess.When they arrived at the castle, as soon as they got off the carriage, all the maids ran forward and told her that the princess was fine and happy every day, so that she could rest assured.The queen went to the princess's room and said, "You have a good time here, don't you? There is nothing lacking here? You look good, and the air here is fresh. You can live comfortably. Goodbye!" and left.Back at the palace, she told the king that she had never seen his daughter so happy.

In fact, the princess always stayed alone in the room, and the maids who accompanied her didn't even care about her. She stood in front of the window and spent day after day sadly. If she didn't remember to put a cushion on the window sill, Her elbows on the window sill were already calloused.The window faced the forest, and the princess looked out all day at the tops of the trees, at the clouds in the distance, and at the paths of the hunters.One day she saw a prince passing by a path, who had come near the castle after a wild boar.He knew that this was a castle that had been abandoned for many years, and he was surprised when he saw that there were people living there.Clothes were drying among the battlements, the windows were open, and smoke was rising from the chimneys.He was watching in amazement, when he suddenly saw a beautiful girl standing in a window above the castle, and smiled at her.Because they were too far apart to talk, the prince and princess smiled, nodded, and bowed, looking at each other affectionately for an hour.

The next day, the prince dressed in a yellow hunting suit, pretended to be hunting, and came to the castle again. They looked at each other for two hours.This time instead of smiling, nodding, and bowing, both of them put their hands over their hearts and waved handkerchiefs at each other.On the third day, the prince stood for three hours, and they blew kisses to each other.On the fourth day, the prince came again as he had done several times before, when a witch leaned out from behind a tree and laughed loudly: "Ha ha, ha ha, ha ha!" "Who are you? What's so funny?" snapped the prince.

"I've never seen lovers so far apart and so infatuated as you two." "Do you know how I can go up to her, old woman?" asked the prince. The witch said: "You look cute, I will help you." Then, she went to knock on the door of the castle.She handed the maids a thick old book, crumpled and dirty, as a present from her to the princess, that she might read it to pass the time.The maids gave the book to the princess. The princess opened it hastily and read on it: This is a magic book.If you flip from front to back, your sweetheart will turn into a bird, and if you flip from back to front, your sweetheart will turn from a bird to a human.

Immediately the princess ran to the window, put the book on the sill, and turned it eagerly, while staring at the young man in the yellow hunting jacket standing on the path.I saw the young man's arms moved, flapping up and down into wings, and the young man turned into a canary.The canary rose from the ground, soared higher than the treetops, and then flew straight for the window, where it settled on the cushions on the windowsill.The princess couldn't help holding this beautiful canary carefully in her hand and kissing it. At this moment, she thought that it was a young man and felt embarrassed, but after thinking about it, she felt very natural again, and wished she could get it right away. Make it back to the lad it was before.She picked up the book and flipped it forward quickly, only to see the canary puffed up its yellow feathers, flapped its wings, slowly turned into arms, and then turned back into the yellow hunting suit, A lad in leggings.The boy knelt at her feet and said to her, "I love you!"

The two poured out their love for each other, and before they knew it, night had fallen.The princess slowly began to turn the pages of the book.The young man fixed his eyes on the princess and turned into a canary. It jumped up to the balcony and then to the eaves. Then, it flew up in the wind, circled down, and landed on a low branch.At this time, the princess turned the book forward again, and the canary turned into a prince again. The prince jumped on the ground, whistled to call the hounds, and blew a kiss to the princess's window, and then walked away along the path. up. In this way, the magic book was read every day to let the prince fly to the window on the castle spire, to turn him back into a human body, and then to let him fly, to let him go home again. .The two young people had never felt such happiness.

One day, when the queen came to see her stepdaughter, she walked around the princess's room and said hypocritically, "You're doing well, aren't you? You look a little thinner, but that's okay, isn't it? You've never felt better, have you?" She said, looking around to see if there was anything wrong.She opened the window and looked out, and saw the prince in the yellow hunting suit leading the hounds into the castle.The queen thought: "If the little slut dares to flirt at the window, I will teach her a lesson." So she sent the princess to bring a glass of water and sugar, and she hastily took five or six of them out of her hair. Pins, stuck in the mat with the tip pointing up, but making it difficult for others to find. "In this way, she will taste what it is like to lie on the window sill." The princess brought over the water and sugar she asked for, but she said, "Oh, I'm not thirsty anymore, drink it, poor boy! I have to Go back to your father. You don't need anything, do you? Then I'm going." Then he left.

As soon as the queen's carriage was gone, the princess eagerly opened the book, and the prince turned into a canary, flew to the window sill, and landed on the cushion like an arrow.The canary immediately screamed in pain, the yellow feathers were stained red with blood, and it was the needles in the mat that pierced the canary's chest.It struggled to raise its pair of wobbly wings, and with the help of the wind, it swung down and fell to the ground with its wings spread.The princess was so frightened that she couldn't figure out what was going on, and hurried forward to turn the pages of the book, hoping that the canary would turn back into a human body and the prince's pain would disappear.Alas, after turning back into a man, I saw several deep wounds on the chest of his yellow hunting suit, blood dripping non-stop, so he had to lie on his back on the ground, surrounded by his hunting dogs. beside.

The barking of the hounds attracted some other hunters, and they came to rescue him, and carried him away on a stretcher made of branches. It's frightening. After the prince was brought back to the palace, he did not disclose the history of the injury to anyone, and the imperial doctors could not give him more help.Not only did his wound not heal, but it got worse.The king asked people to post notices in all the streets and alleys, and paid a lot of money to recruit people who could cure the prince's injuries, but no one dared to apply. At this time, the princess was extremely anxious because she could not see her sweetheart.She cut the sheets into thin strips, twisted them tightly, and tied them together to form a long, long rope, which she slid down from the tall castle tower in the dark.She followed the hunting path, but there was darkness and the howling of wolves.The princess thought she would wait until dawn in the morning before leaving, so she came to an old hollow locust tree in the dark, got into the tree hole, and sat down with her legs bent. She was so tired that she fell asleep soon.It was still dark when she awoke, but she heard faint whistles, and she listened, and heard another, and then a third, and a fourth.And she also saw four candles approaching her from a distance.Here were four witches, who had come from four parts of the world, to meet under this tree.The princess hid in the tree so that they didn't find out, and through a crack in the trunk she saw four old women holding a candle in each hand, and they laughed and yelled, and greeted: "Haha! Haha! Haha! !"

They lit a bonfire under a tree and sat around to keep warm while roasting some bats for dinner.When they were full, they began to chat with each other about the new things they encountered. "I saw the Sultan of Turkey, and he bought twenty more wives." "I saw the emperor of China, his braid has grown to three meters long." "I saw the king of the cannibal kingdom. He accidentally ate his favorite minister." "I saw that king around here. His son is sick. No one can cure him, because only I know how to do it." "What method?" asked the other three witches. "In his room, there is a movable floor tile. When you open this tile, you will find an ampoule with an ointment that will heal all his wounds." The princess was so surprised that she almost cried out in the tree hole. She quickly covered her mouth with her hand and kept silent.The witches finally said what they wanted to say, and they went back on their way.The princess jumped out of the tree hole and walked towards the city in the twilight of dawn.When she passed the first thrift store, she bought a doctor's gown and a pair of glasses, and then came to the palace and knocked on the door.The servant saw that the doctor's equipment was simple and didn't want to let her in, but the king said, "Anyway, my son's illness has reached the point of hopelessness, and no matter how poor the medical skills are, it won't hurt my poor son." , let him try it too." The false doctor begged to be left alone with the patient, and the king agreed. The prince lay unconscious on the bed and moaned. The princess looked at her sweetheart and wanted to cry and kiss him all over the body, but she suppressed her emotions and quickly followed the witch's secret. Save the prince.She walked back and forth in the large room, and finally found a movable floor tile. When she opened it, she found a small bottle containing ointment.The princess put the ointment from the bottle on the prince's wound, and as soon as she put her finger with the ointment on the wound, the wound healed immediately.Surprised and delighted, the princess went to ask the king to come in.The king saw that his son's wounds had all disappeared, and the color gradually appeared on his face, and he was lying on the bed and sleeping peacefully. The king said, "Doctor, tell me what you want, and I will give you all the treasures in my domain." The doctor said: "I don't want money, as long as the shield with the family emblem engraved with the prince, the prince's battle flag and his torn yellow hunting suit that was stained red with blood." She got these three things then left. Three days later, the prince went hunting again.As he passed under the castle in the forest, he didn't even look at the princess' window.The princess immediately fetched the book, and turned the pages. The prince, despite all his efforts to resist, could only turn into a canary.He flew into the room, and the princess turned him back into human form.He said: "Let me go, isn't it enough that you stabbed me with a hairpin? Do you want to give me more pain?" Indeed, the prince no longer had any affection for the princess, and he thought it was the princess who caused him misfortune. The princess almost fainted, and said: "I saved you! I healed your wound!" But the prince said: "It's a lie. It was a foreign doctor who treated me. He didn't want any reward. He only took away my family emblem, battle flag and my blood-stained hunting suit!" "This is your family crest, this is your battle flag, and this is your hunting suit! I am that doctor! Those hair pins were put by my cruel stepmother!" The prince looked into the eyes of the princess with amazement, and thought that she had never been so beautiful.He threw himself at the princess' feet, begged her forgiveness, and expressed all his gratitude and love. That night, the prince told his father that he wanted to marry the girl who lived in the castle in the forest.But the king said, "You can only marry the daughter of a king or an emperor." "I want to marry the girl who saved my life." So the palace was busy preparing for the wedding, and they invited all the kings and queens in the vicinity.The princess's father also came to attend, and he knew nothing about his daughter.When he saw the bride appearing in front of him, he exclaimed, "My daughter!" "What? My son's bride is your daughter? Why have you never mentioned her before?" asked the groom's father. "Because they didn't treat me like a human being, my stepmother locked me up," said the bride, pointing at the queen as she spoke. The king heard all the misfortunes of his daughter, and he felt very guilty for her, and angry with his cruel wife.He couldn't wait to go home and arrested the queen.The wedding was held in a festive atmosphere, and everyone felt happy and satisfied, only the wicked woman was waiting for a tragic end. (Turin area) 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. , enjoying so much leisure time and money, thought only of themselves and paid no atten tion 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 girls room for a moment. "So youre 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, always alone in the room, with ladies-in-waiting who didnt 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 cases. 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 hunters leggings and gun, and smiling at her, so she smiled back at him. a whole hour, they smiled, bowed, and curtsied, being too far apart to commu nicate in any other way. The next day, under the pretext of going hunting, the kings 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? Whats so funny?" snapped the prince. "Whats so funny? Two lovers silly enough 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 couldnt resist picking up the beautiful canary and kissing him; then remembering he was a young man, she blushed. 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 hunters 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 towards 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, "Youre all right, arent you? I see you a trifle slimmer, but thats certainly no cause for concern, is it? Its true, isnt it, youve 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, Im no longer thirsty; you drink it, my dear ! I must be getting back to your father. You dont need anything, do you? Well, goodbye." And she was off. As soon as the queens 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 didnt 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. 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 dealers she came to, she bought an old doctors gown and a pair of spectacles, and knocked at the royal palace. Seeing the little doctor with such scant paraphernalia, the servants were not going to let him in, but the king said, "What harm could he do my son who cant 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 witchs 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 princes 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 princes 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 kings son was again out hunting. He passed the castle in the heart of the forest, but didnt design to look up at the princesss 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. "Isnt 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!" "Thats not so," said the prince. "My life was saved by a foreign doctor who asked for no compensation 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 princesss 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 sons 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 daughters 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 Frances lai, Yonec, is quite different, being the story of an adultery.) My personal touches here include the princes 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