Chapter 81 80. The Fearless Fool

A man has a foolish nephew: he knows nothing and is afraid of nothing.The man wanted to go out, so he asked his nephew to watch the door of the house, and don't let the thief take away the things in the house.His nephew asked, "When was the thief? What's in the house? I'm not afraid of anything." The thieves came and said to him, "Little boy, what are you doing here? We are going to rob!" "Oh, well, what are you waiting for? Come in and rob, who forbids you? Do you think I will be afraid?" He let the thief ransack the house. When the uncle came back, he saw that the house had been robbed, so he asked his nephew, "Did you let the thief in?"

"Me? I was at the door. The thieves came. They said: What are you doing here? We are going to rob! I said to them: Who forbids you? Look at you fools! Then they robbed, It has nothing to do with me." It occurred to the man that he had a brother who was a priest, and that it might be possible to educate the child well. "You must go to your uncle the priest," he said to his nephew. "What is this uncle priest? I don't know any uncle priest. I don't know anyone. If we're going to uncle priest, let's go now." The priest uncle said to him on the first night: "You are going to put out the lights in the church tonight."

The nephew said: "What is a lamp? What is a church? I don't know a lamp, and I don't know a church. If you let me go, I will go. I am not afraid of anything." The uncle had already agreed with the sacristy of the church, and as soon as the nephew put out the lamp, the sacristy would hang down a basket full of lighted candles, and at the same time say, "Whoever wants to see heaven, let him enter the basket." The nephew saw the basket, heard the words, and said, "What heaven, what heaven, I don't know what heaven, wait, here I come." He took a pocket knife and cut the cord, and the sacristy pulled it, and only the cord remained.

The next night, the uncle priest made the sacristy go into a coffin and pretend to be dead, so that he could frighten the nephew.Then he said to the boy, "You go to watch the dead tonight." "What is a dead man? What is a watchman? I can go anywhere." He went to the church to watch the dead man.It was pitch black in the church, except for a small flickering flame near the dead man.The dead man raised a leg.The boy stared at it without moving. The dead man looked up, but the boy yawned.Then the dead man said, "Hey, you, I'm still alive!" The boy said: "If you are still alive, you are dead now." As he said, he raised an extinguished lamp and threw it on his head, killing him.The boy went back to the priest and uncle and said, "You know, the dead man is still alive, I killed him."

(Livorno)