意大利童話 The Man Who Came Out Only at Night 夜游人

Long ago there lived a poor fisherman with three marriageable daughters A certain young man asked for the hand of one of them, but people were wary of him since he came out only at night The oldest daughter and then the middle daughter both said no to him, but the third girl said yes The wedding was celebrated at night, and as soon as the couple was alone, the bridegroom announced to his bride: "I must tell you a secret: I am under an evil spell and doomed to be a tortoise by day and a man at night There's only one way to break the spell: I must leave my wife right after the wedding and travel around the world, at night as a man and by day as a tortoise If I come back and find that my wife has remained loyal to me all along and endured every hardship for my sake, I'll become a man again for good"

"I am willing," said the bride

The bridegroom slipped a diamond ring on her finger "If you use it to a good end, this ring will help you in whatever situation you find yourself"

Day had dawned, and the bridegroom turned into a tortoise and crawled off to begin his journey around the world

The bride went about the city in search of work Along the way, she came across a child crying and said to his mother, "Let me hold him in my arms and calm him"

"You'd be the first person to do that," answered the mother "He's been crying all day long"

"By the power of the diamond," whispered the bride, "may the child laugh and dance and frolic!" At that, the child started laughing, dancing, and frolicking

Next, the bride entered a bakery and said to the woman who owned it, "You'll have no regrets if you hire me to work for you" The owner hired her, and she began making bread, saying under her breath, "By the power of the diamond, let the whole town buy bread at this bakery as long as I work here!" From then on, people poured in and out with no sign of a letup Among the customers were three young men who saw the bride and fell in love with her

"If you let me spend a night with you," one of them said to her, "I'll give you a thousand francs"

"I'll give you two thousand," said another

"And I'll make it three thousand," said the third

She collected the three thousand francs from the third man and smuggled him into the bakery that very night

"I'll be with you in a minute," she told him, "after I've put the yeast into the flour While you're waiting, would you please knead the dough a little bit for me?"

The man began kneading, and kneaded and kneaded and kneaded By the power of the diamond, he couldn't for the life of him take his hands out of the dough, and therefore went on kneading till daylight

"So you finally finished!" she said to him "You really took your time!"

And she sent him packing

Then she said yes to the man with the two thousand francs, brought him in as soon as it grew dark, and told him to blow on the fire a moment so that it wouldn't go out He blew and blew and blew By the power of the diamond, he had to keep right on blowing up to the next morning, with his face bulging like a wineskin

"What a way to behave!" she said to him in the morning "You come to see me, but spend the night blowing on the fire!"

And she sent him packing

The next night she brought in the man with the thousand francs "I have to add the yeast," she told him "While I'm doing that, go shut the door"

The man shut the door, which by the power of the diamond came open again right away All night long he closed it only to see it immediately reopen, and in no time the sun was up

"Did you finally close this door? Well, you may now open it again and get out"

Seething with rage, the three men denounced her to the authorities In that day and time there were, in addition to policemen, women officers who were called whenever a woman was to be brought into custody So four women officers went to apprehend the bride

"By the power of the diamond," said the bride, "let these women box one another's ears until tomorrow morning"

The four women officers began boxing one another's ears so hard that their heads swelled up like pumpkins, and they still went on striking each other for all they were worth

When the women officers failed to return with the culprit, four male officers were sent out to look for them The bride saw them coming and said, "By the power of the diamond, let those men play leapfrog" One of the male officers dropped down at once on all fours; a second one moved up, put his hands on the officer's back, and leaped over him, with the third and fourth following in his tracks Thus began a game of leapfrog

Right at that point, a tortoise came crawling into view It was the husband returning from his trip around the world He saw his wife, and behold! He was again a handsome young man, and a handsome young man he remained, by his wife's side, up to a ripe old age

(Riviera ligure di ponente)

NOTES:

"The Man Who Came Out Only at Night" (L'uomo che usciva solo di notte) from Andrews, 14 and 21, Menton, told by Iren Gena and Irene Panduro

A tale full of oddities, the most striking of which is that of women constables, given as a historical fact regarding a particular police system In Andrews's first variant, the bridegroom turns into a toad

Copyright: Italian Folktales Selected and Retold by Italo Calvino,

translated by George Martin,

Pantheon Books, New York 1980

夜游人

很久以前，有一個漁夫，他很窮，三個女兒都已長大了。有個年輕人向三姊妹求婚。但是這里的人們都很討厭他，因為他在夜晚才出來轉(zhuǎn)悠。大姑娘和二姑娘都拒絕了他，但三姑娘卻答應(yīng)了。婚禮是在夜間舉行的。鬧新房的人走后，新郎誠懇地對新娘說：“我把這個秘密告訴你吧：我被一個邪惡的符咒鎮(zhèn)住了，白天變成烏龜，只能在夜里恢復(fù)成人。要破除這個符咒，只有一個辦法：結(jié)婚后我馬上離開自己的妻子，到外面去闖蕩，夜間作人，白天作烏龜。等我回來的時候，如果妻子一直對我忠實，而且為我還忍受了種種艱難困苦，我就能永遠(yuǎn)恢復(fù)成人了。”

“我心甘情愿!”新娘說。

新郎便摘下一只鉆石戒指，給她戴在手指上，說：“如果用它來做好事的話，不論你碰到什么困難，它都會幫助你你的。”

天亮?xí)r，新郎變成烏龜爬出去，開始了他到外面闖蕩的旅程。

新娘進城去尋找工作。路上，她還到一個哇哇大哭的孩子，便對他的母親說：“讓我來抱抱他吧，好教他不鬧。”

“你是頭一個這樣做的好人!”孩子的媽媽說，“他一天到晚都在哭鬧。”

新娘低聲說：“讓鉆石戒指的魔力使孩子歡笑、跳躍吧!”話剛說完，孩子便嬉笑歡跳起來。

接著，新娘走到一家面包房里，對老板娘說：“你要是雇我給你干活，我不會使你后悔的。”于是，老板娘雇用了她，她開始做面包，并輕聲細(xì)語地說：“我在這個面包房里干活期間，讓鉆石戒指指的魔力使全城的人，都到這里來買面包吧!”從這時起，人們絡(luò)繹不絕地在這個面包房里進進出出，這兒的生意十分興隆。在這些人中間，有三個小伙子，他們愛上了她。

“如果你跟我過一夜，”一個小伙子說：“我就給你一千法郎。”

“我給你兩千法郎!”另一個小伙子說。

“我加到三千法郎!”第三個小伙子說。

當(dāng)天晚上，她收了第三個小伙子三千法郎，偷偷地把他帶進了面包房。

“我馬上就跟你在一起，”她對這個小伙子說，“先讓我把發(fā)酵粉放到面粉里。你等我的時候，等你幫我揉一下面團好嗎?”

這個人開始揉面團。他揉啊，揉啊，揉啊。由于鉆石戒指的魔力，他無論怎樣也不能從面團里拔出手來。就這樣，他一直揉到了天亮。

“喲，你已經(jīng)干好啦!”她對他說，“你干活真賣力。”

于是，她把這個人打發(fā)走了。

接著，她又答應(yīng)了那個出兩千法郎的小伙子。天一黑，她就把他帶進面包房，叫他幫忙吹火，不要讓它熄滅。他吹啊，吹啊，吹啊。由于鉆石戒指的魔力，他一直不停地吹到第二天早晨，臉都吹得浮腫起來，象個皮酒囊。

“你真干得好呀!”清晨，她對這個小伙子說，“你是來看我的，可整夜幫著我吹火!”

于是，她把這個人打發(fā)走了。

又一個夜晚，她把那個出一千法郎的小伙子帶了進來。“我要在面粉里加發(fā)酵粉，”她對他說，“你去把大門關(guān)上吧。”

這個人關(guān)上了門，可是由于鉆石戒指的魔力，門馬上又開了。他整夜都在關(guān)門，門關(guān)了又開，開了又關(guān)，不知不覺地太陽升起來，天亮了。

“你到底把門關(guān)上了沒有?好啦，你現(xiàn)在可以把門打開啦，滾吧!”

三個小伙子憋了一肚子的氣，到官府去告發(fā)她。那時候，不光有男警察，還有女警察，捉拿女犯要派女警察。于是，四個女警察前來逮捕新娘。

“讓鉆石戒指指的魔力使這四個女人相互打耳光吧，”新娘說，“一直打到明天早晨。”

這四個女警察便相互打起耳光來。她們打得很重，一個個頭腫得象大南瓜，可是還拚命地互打著。

四個女警察沒有帶回犯人來，四個男警察就去尋找她們。新娘見他們來了，便說：“讓鉆石戒指的魔力使這些人玩跳蛙游戲吧!”于是，一個警察馬上四肢著地，匍匐下來。另一個警察向前俯身，將手搭在頭一個警察背上，跳了過去。第三、第四個警察也跟著照做。這樣，他們連續(xù)做起跳蛙游戲來了。

就在這個節(jié)骨眼兒上，一只烏龜爬了過來。這正是新娘的丈夫，從外面歸來了。他一見自己的妻子，瞧，他又變成了漂亮的年輕人!從此，他不再變化，跟妻子生活在一起，白頭偕老。

(利古里亞海岸)

注釋：

材料來源：詹姆士·安德魯斯編《利古里亞故事集》(巴黎，1892年版)第十四和第二十一篇;搜集地區(qū)：曼敦;講述者：艾琳·吉納和艾琳·潘杜魯。

這是一篇充滿稀奇古怪的故事。它最引人注目的是關(guān)于女警察的描寫。女警察是作為特殊警察制度這樣一種歷史事實來敘述的。在安德魯斯的第一種異文里，新郎變成了癩蛤蟆。