意大利童話 The Three Castles 三個城堡

A boy had taken it into his head to go out and steal He also told his mother

"Aren't 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 we're 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 don't cross the brook, because they would be eaten by a serpent on the other side If you come back with none missing, I'll reward you Fail to bring them all back, and I'll dismiss you on the spot, unless the serpent has already devoured you too"

To reach the meadow, he had to walk by the king's windows, where the king's 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, "I'll sit down now and eat the cake from the king's 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 flowerbeds where crystal 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 king's 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 king's 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 servents were gold too, from wig to boots; the beds were gold, with gold sheets, pillows, and canopy; 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 king's 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 You're 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

三個城堡

有個小伙子突然想要去偷東西，他把這個念頭跟媽媽一說，媽媽就說：“你不覺得羞恥嗎?你馬上去懺悔，聽聽神父給你的勸告。”

小伙子去懺悔，神父說：“偷竊是罪過，但假如你偷竊的對象是賊，罪孽還不算深。”

于是，小伙子來到森林里，找到了一處賊窩，他敲開門，請賊人收下他做仆從。

賊人說：“我們偷東西，但我們并沒有罪，因為我們偷的都是些收苛捐雜稅的人。”

一天晚上，賊人們出去偷一個收稅官的家，小伙子從馬廄里挑了最好的騾子，馱了一袋金幣溜走了。

他把金幣送給媽媽，然后進城去找活干。城里住著一個國王，養(yǎng)了一百只羊。但是沒人愿意給他放羊。小伙子去了。國王對他說：“你聽著，這里是一百只羊，明天早上你帶它們到那邊的草場上去放牧，但不要靠近那條小溪，那里有一條大蛇，會把羊吃掉。如果你把羊全給我?guī)Щ貋恚揖徒o你賞錢;但如果你丟了羊，自己又沒被蛇吃掉，我就會立即趕你走。”

要去草場，得從王宮的窗戶下走過，公主正站在窗前往下邊望著。她看見小伙子，頓生愛慕之心，扔給他一塊蛋糕。牧羊小伙子一把接住蛋糕，收起來準備牧羊的時候吃。到了草場，他遠遠看見草叢中有一塊白石頭，心想：“我正好可以坐在上邊吃公主給我的蛋糕。”可是石頭在小溪對岸，牧羊小伙子沒想太多就跳過小溪，羊群也跟著過來了。

草場上青草茂盛，綿羊都在安靜地吃草，小伙子也坐在石頭上，吃著蛋糕。突然，他感覺到被石頭下的什么東西頂了一下，好像整個世界往下塌陷似的一震。小伙子往四周看看，什么也沒有，就繼續(xù)吃蛋糕。這時從石頭下又傳來一聲更大的響動，牧羊小伙子假裝什么也沒聽到。當?shù)谌握饎拥臅r候，從石頭下鉆出一條長著三個頭的蛇，每張嘴都銜著一朵玫瑰，三只頭一齊朝著牧羊小伙子伸過來，好像要把玫瑰送給他。小伙子正要伸手去接玫瑰，蛇卻張開三張嘴向他猛撲過來，它只消每張嘴咬一口就能把小伙子一下子吃了。好在牧羊小伙子比它更敏捷，他用手里的牧羊棍照每個蛇頭上猛力一擊，巨蛇被打死了。

然后，他用鐮刀把三只蛇頭都割了下來，他把兩只蛇頭裝起來，砸開了剩下的那只蛇頭，想看看里邊是什么。在蛇頭里藏著一把水晶鑰匙，小伙子搬開石頭，發(fā)現(xiàn)有道門，門上有一個鎖眼。他把水晶鑰匙插進去，門開了，里面是一個用水晶做成的雄偉的宮殿。見到小伙子進來，宮殿的門全開了，走出一些水晶仆人，說：“您好主人，有什么吩咐?”

“我命令你們帶著我去查看一下我的珍寶。”

這些水晶人擁著他順著水晶樓梯爬上一座水晶塔，讓他看了水晶馬廄和里面的水晶馬，看了所有的水晶兵器和水晶盔甲。然后，他們陪著他來到一處水晶花園，林陰道兩邊的水晶樹上有一些水晶鳥在歡快地叫著，花壇中的水晶花都在盛開著，花壇四周是一個個水晶池塘。小伙子摘下一小束水晶花，插在帽子上。晚上，小伙子趕著羊群，回到王宮，公主正站在窗前望著，對他說：“你能把帽子上的那束花送給我嗎?”

“好的，我送給你。”牧羊小伙子說，“這是一束水晶花，是我從我的水晶城堡里的水晶花園摘來的。”說著，他把花拋給公主，公主接下了。

第二天，小伙子又來到石頭那里，砸開了第二個蛇頭，里面是一把銀鑰匙。他抬開石頭，把銀鑰匙插進鎖眼，走進一座用銀子做成的宮殿。所有的銀仆人都跑來說：“主人，請吩咐吧!”他們陪著他看了銀廚房，里面正在用銀火烤著些銀雞，在銀花園里，銀孔雀正在開屏，小伙子摘了一小束銀花，插在帽子上。到了晚上，他又把銀花送給了好奇的公主。

第三天，他又砸開了第三個蛇頭，找到一把金鑰匙。他把金鑰匙插進鎖眼，進到一個用金做成的宮殿，里面那些聽候他吩咐的人都是金人，從頭上戴的假發(fā)到腳下的長筒靴都是金的。金床上鋪著金床單，金被子，金枕頭，金幔帳，鳥籠中飛著金鳥。在一個個金花壇組成的花園中，噴泉噴出的是金泉。小伙子摘了一小束金花，插在帽子上，到了晚上又送給公主了。

有一天，國王發(fā)布公告，舉行馬上比武大會，誰獲勝，誰就可以娶公主為妻。牧羊小伙子用水晶鑰匙打開門，走進水晶宮殿里，選了一匹水晶馬，配好水晶韁繩和水晶馬鞍，出現(xiàn)在比武場上。他身披水晶盔甲，手持水晶盾牌和水晶長矛，戰(zhàn)勝了所有比武的騎士，然后揚長而去，誰也沒有認出他來。

第二天，小伙子騎著鞴了銀裝飾的銀馬，身披銀盔銀甲，手持銀矛銀盾與又出現(xiàn)在比武場，戰(zhàn)勝了所有的騎士后，又不露聲色地疾馳而去。到了第三天，小伙子騎著金馬，披著金裝，又戰(zhàn)勝了所有的對手，這時候公主說：“我知道他是誰，他是送給我水晶花、銀花和金花的那個人，這些花是從他的水晶城堡、銀城堡、金城堡的花園中摘來的。”

就這樣他們結(jié)了婚，牧羊小伙子后來又當上了國王。

所有的人都心滿意足、高高興興，

我卻一無所得，只是個局外人。

(蒙費拉托地區(qū))