Chapter 71 70. Human skin

A king has three daughters.The king was going to the market to do some shopping, and before leaving home he asked his three sons what presents they would like.The eldest daughter asked for a handkerchief, the second daughter asked for a high boot, and the third daughter asked for a box of salt.The two older sisters were already jealous of their little sister, so they said to their father, "Do you know why that bad daughter of yours wants salt? She wants to make things difficult for you." "Oh, that's it!" said my father. "She's trying to make things difficult for me, isn't she? Well, I'm going to throw her out." And he did.

The poor girl was driven out of the palace, with only a maid and a purse with her.She didn't know where to go.Along the way, the young men she met were pestering her endlessly, which was annoying.So the maid came up with an idea.At this time, a hundred-year-old woman had just passed away and was being buried.The maid asked the burial man, "Can you sell us the old woman's skin?" After some bargaining, the burial man took out a knife and peeled off the old woman's skin bit by bit. The entire human skin was sold to them, along with the face, white hair, fingers and nails.After the maid tanned the human skin, she sewed it onto a piece of thin cloth to make a dress for the girl to wear.This centenarian walks with light feet and a voice as clear as a silver bell. People look at her and feel puzzled.

Over and over the girl and maid met the son of a king.He asked the maid, "How old is that old woman?" "Ask her herself," answered the maid. "Grandma, can you hear me? How old are you?" "Ask me? I'm a hundred and fifteen years old." The girl said with a smile. "My God! Where are you from?" "Come from my town." "Who are your parents?" "I am my own mother and father." "What do you do for a living?" "Play!" The king's son thought it was very funny, so he said to the king and queen, "Let's take this old man back to the palace. She can tell us jokes and make us happy."

So the maid was sent away, and the girl remained in the palace.People called her to live in a pavilion.When the king's son was free, he came to talk to the old woman.Some of the strange things she said made the prince laugh out loud. One day, the queen said to "Rotten Eyes" (so they called her because the old woman had a pair of rotten eyes in her skin), "Your eyes are so bad that you can't do any work, it's too shameful! " "I could spin like a girl!" replied Rotten Eye. "Then try to spin this bit of flax," said the Queen, "and it will be a good thing to do!"

As soon as the queen went out, the old woman was alone in the house.She closed the door, took off the human skin, and spun yarn.She was amazing at spinning yarn.The king's son, the queen, and everyone in the court were amazed that an old half-blind old woman in rags could perform such a miracle! The next day the queen asked her to make a coat.When there was no one else in the room, she hastened to cut, sew, and embroider the front with the finest gold thread.People no longer take it to heart.But the king's son was puzzled, and when the old woman closed the door again, he looked in through the keyhole.What did he see?After the old woman took off her human skin, she turned out to be a radiant and beautiful girl standing there slim and graceful.The king's son broke through the door without hesitation, and embraced the girl tightly.She felt ashamed and tried to hide her embarrassment. "Who are you?" asked the King's son, "and why are you disguised like that?"

The girl admitted that she too was a king's child.The king cursed her and threw her out of the palace. Immediately the king's son ran to his parents and said, "Hey, I have found a king's daughter and I will marry her." The news of the wedding celebration was announced.Kings and queens of countries near and far were invited to congratulate.Among them, the bride's father also came.However, he did not recognize his daughter because the bride was wearing a crown and a veil.The bride ordered a special dish to be prepared for her father, and except for the roast meat, no salt was added to the other dishes.When the soup was brought to the table, the other guests ate it with relish, but the bride's father took a sip and stopped eating.Then came the steamed meat, which he barely ate.The fish was brought again and he did not stir it. "I'm not hungry," he explained.But when the roast was served, he liked it so much that he ate it three times in a row.At this moment, his daughter asked him why he didn't move other dishes, but he was eating barbecue with relish?The king said he could never figure out why, but he had a roast that was delicious and the rest of the dishes were bland.

"Now you understand at last," replied the daughter, "how incredible it would be if there was no salt in the dish! That's why your daughter asked you to buy salt when you went to the market, and my two A bad sister said that I made things difficult for you..." Now, the father recognized his daughter, hugged her affectionately, and asked her to forgive him.The king punished the two eldest daughters who were jealous. (Village of Montal, Pistoia region) -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Notes: Source: No. 13 of "Sixty Folk Tales of Montal" edited by Grado Nirosi (Florence, 1880 edition); Search area: Montal village, Tuscany province; Narrator : Widow Luisa Ginani.

The image of a beautiful girl emerging from the skin of an old woman makes this story very touching (it is also wonderfully described in No. 179).This story, like the fifty-fourth one in this book, is one of the variants of the story "As Precious as Salt".The story circulated in the Tuscany region originally started similar to the above story.For a variation, I have borrowed a beginning from a story that circulated in the Abruzzi region (see No. 26 of Abruzzi Folktales, edited by Kinnalu Finnimore).