The Man Wreathed in Seaweed 一身海草的人-意大利童話

The Man Wreathed in Seaweed A king had his crier announce in the town squares that whoever found his

The Man Wreathed in Seaweed

A king had his crier announce in the town squares that whoever found his missing daughter would be rewarded with a fortune But the announcement brought no results, since no one had any idea of the girl's whereabouts She had been kidnapped one night, and they had already looked the world over for her

A sea captain suddenly had the thought that since she wasn't on land she might well be on the sea, so he got a ship ready to go out in search of her But when the time came to sign up the crew, not one sailor stepped forward, since no one wanted to go on a dangerous expedition that would last no telling how long

The captain waited on the pier, but fearful of being the first to embark, no one approached his ship Also on the pier was Samphire Starboard, a reputed tramp and tippler, whom no ship captain was ever willing to sign on

"Listen," said our captain, "how would you like to sail with me?"

"I'd like to very much"

"Come aboard, then"

"So Samphire Starboard was the first to embark After that, other sailors took heart and boarded the ship

Once he was on the ship, Samphire Starboard did nothing but stand around all day long with his hands in his pockets and dream about the taverns he had left behind The other sailors cursed him because there was no knowing when the voyage would end, provisions were scarce, and he did nothing to earn his keep The captain decided to get rid of him "See that little island?" he asked, pointing to an isolated reef in the middle of the sea "Get into a rowboat and go explore it We'll be cruising right around here"

Samphire Starboard stepped into the rowboat, and the ship sailed away at full speed, leaving him stranded in the middle of the sea He approached the reef, spied a cave, and went in Tied up inside was a very beautiful maiden, who was none other than the king's daughter

"How did you manage to find me?" she asked

"I was fishing for octopi," explained Samphire

"I was kidnapped by a huge octopus, whose prisoner I now am," said the king's daughter "Flee before it returns But note that for three hours a day it changes into a red mullet and can be caught But your have to kill the mullet at once, or it will change into a sea gull and fly away"

Samphire Starboard hid his boat and waited out of sight on the reef From the sea emerged the octopus, which was so large that it could reach clear around the island with its tentacles All its suckers shook, having smelled a man on the reef But the hour arrived when it had to change into a fish, and suddenly it became a red mullet and disappeared into the sea Samphire Starboard lowered fishing nets and pulled them back up full of gurnard, sturgeon, and dentex The last haul produced the red mullet, shaking like a leaf Samphire raised his oar to kill it, but instead of the red mullet he struck the sea gull flying out of the net and broke its wing The gull then changed back into an octopus, whose wounded tentacles spurted dark red blood Samphire was upon it instantly and beat it to death with the oar The king's daughter gave him a diamond ring as a token of the gratitude she would always feel toward him

"Come and I'll take you to your father," he said, showing her into his boat But the boat was tiny and they were out in the middle of the sea After rowing and rowing they spied a ship in the distance Samphire signaled to it with an oar draped with the king's daughter's gown The ship spotted them and took them aboard It was the same ship that had earlier discharged and abandoned Samphire Seeing him back with the king's daughter, the captain said, "Poor Samphire Starboard! Here we thought you were lost and now, after looking all over for you, we see you return with the king's daughter! That calls for a real celebration!" To Samphire Starboard, who'd not touched a drop of wine for months on end, that seemed too good to be true

They were almost in sight of their home port when the captain led Samphire to a table and placed several bottles of wine before him Samphire drank and drank until he fell unconscious to the floor Then the captain said to the king's daughter, "Don't you dare tell your father that drunkard freed you Tell him that I freed you myself, since I'm the captain of the ship and ordered him to rescue you"

The king's daughter neither agreed nor disagreed "I know what I'll tell him," she answered

To be on the safe side, the captain decided to do away with Samphire Starboard once and for all That night, they picked him up, still as drunk as could be, and threw him into the sea At dawn the ship was in sight of port With flags they signaled they were bringing home the king's daughter safe and sound A band played on the pier, where the king waited with the entire court

A date was chosen for the king's daughter to wed the captain On the day of the wedding, the mariners in port saw a man emerge from the water He was covered from head to foot with seaweed, and out of his pockets and the holes in his clothes swam fish and shrimps It was none other than Samphire Starboard He climbed out of the water and went ambling through the city streets, with seaweed draping his head and body and dragging along behind him At that very moment the wedding procession was moving through the street and came face to face with the man wreathed in seaweed Everyone stopped "Who is this?" asked the king "Seize him!" The guards came up, but Samphire Starboard raised a hand and the diamond on his finger sparkled in the sunlight

"My daughter's ring!" exclaimed the king

"Yes," said the daughter, "this man was my rescuer and will be my bridegroom"

Samphire Starboard told the story, and the captain was imprisoned Green though he was with seaweed, Samphire took his place beside the bride clad in white and was joined to her in matrimony

(Riviera ligure di ponente)

NOTES:

"The Man Wreathed in Seaweed" (L'uomo verde d'alghe) from Andrews, 7, Menton, told by the widow Lavigna

This sea tale transfers to an unusual setting a plot well known throughout Europe: that of the younger brother who goes down into the well to free the princess and is subsequently abandoned there himself (cf my no78) Andrews's collection of tales presents no more than brief summaries in French; for this tale, then, as well as the following, taken from the same compilation, I gave free rein to my imagination in supplying details, while adhering to the basic plot I chose the name Baciccin Tribordo (Giovanni Battista Starboard) to replace the original name whose meaning is not very clear In the original text, the princess is abducted by a dragon instead of by an octopus, and the dragon changes into a barnacle, which seemed to me too easy to catch

Copyright: Italian Folktales Selected and Retold by Italo Calvino,

translated by George Martin,

Pantheon Books, New York 1980

一身海草的人

有一個國王讓人在各個廣場上喊話，誰能找回他失蹤的女兒，就獎賞誰?？墒菄醯奶柫畈o效果，因為誰也不知道在哪里可以找到他的女兒。一天夜晚，她被人擄走，國王查遍了所有的角落也找不到她的蹤跡。

一位有經(jīng)驗的船長突然想到，如果陸地上找不到蹤跡，就有可能在海上。于是，他準(zhǔn)備好了一艘船，打算出海尋找。但是當(dāng)他想要招募水手的時候，卻找不到一個人：沒人愿意參加這個看不到歸期的冒險旅程。

船長站在堤壩上望著，沒有人靠近，也沒有人敢?guī)ь^登船。巴奇欽·特里波爾多也在堤壩上，他是一個出了名的酒鬼，一個有名的流浪漢，沒人愿意雇用他。“哎，你愿意上船嗎?”船長對他說。

“我嗎?愿意。”

“那么上船吧。”巴奇欽·特里波爾多第一個上了船。這樣，其他一些水手膽子也大了起來，登上了甲板。

在船上，巴奇欽·特里波爾多整天把兩只手揣在兜里，懷念岸上的那些小酒館。大家都罵他，因為航程遙遙無期，食品儲備有限，可是還得養(yǎng)活像他這樣一個無所事事的人。船長決定甩掉他。“你看見那個小島了嗎?”船長指著海面一個礁石島對他說，“你劃著小舢板過去查看查看，我們就在附近轉(zhuǎn)轉(zhuǎn)。”

巴奇欽·特里波爾多下到舢板上，大船卻全速開走了，將他一個人留在大海中，巴奇欽劃向礁石。他看見礁石上有一個大山洞，便走了進去。在山洞的盡頭綁著一個非常美麗的姑娘，正是國王的女兒。“你是怎么找到我的?”她問巴奇欽·特里波爾多。

“我來這里是為了釣章魚。”巴奇欽說。

“我就是被一條巨大的章魚抓來關(guān)在這里的，”國王的女兒說，“趁它還沒回來，你先躲起來吧。不過，你記著，這條章魚每天有三個小時會變成紅鯉魚，那時候容易釣到它，但你必須馬上殺死它，不然，它會變成一只紅嘴鷗飛走。”

巴奇欽·特里波爾多將自己和小船都藏在小島上。這時，從海里鉆出了那條巨大的章魚，它的每條須爪都可以繞島一周。他嗅到小島上來了陌生人，所有的吸盤都蠕動起來。正巧，到了它該變成魚的時候了，轉(zhuǎn)眼間，它變成了一條紅鯉魚，消失在海水中。巴奇欽·特里波爾多立即撒下魚網(wǎng)，可是每次網(wǎng)上來的只是些鯔魚、鱘魚、利齒魚，終于，出現(xiàn)了渾身抖動著的紅鯉魚。巴里欽馬上揮起槳，想要給它致命的一擊，沒想到他打到的不是紅鯉魚，而是一只正要從魚網(wǎng)中飛起來的海鷗，紅鯉魚已經(jīng)不見了。由于船槳刮破了海鷗的一只翅膀，它飛不起來了。于是，海鷗又變成了章魚，不過它的須爪上全是傷口，往外淌著黑色的血。巴奇欽跳到章魚的背上，用船槳打死了它。國王的女兒為了表示自己的永久的感激之情，送給他一枚鉆石戒指。

他說：“走吧，我?guī)慊厝ヒ娔愕母赣H。”兩個人就上了舢板。在茫茫的大海中，舢板走得很慢，他們劃呀，劃呀，終于看到遠(yuǎn)處有一艘大船。巴奇欽用船槳高高地挑起姑娘的衣服。大船上的人發(fā)現(xiàn)了他們，把他們接上了甲板。這條船正是先前甩掉巴奇欽的那條船，船長看到他帶回了國王的女兒，說：“噢，可憐的巴奇欽·特里波爾多!我們都以為你失蹤了，到處找你!沒想到你找回了國王的女兒!來，我們喝幾杯，祝賀你的成功!”巴奇欽·特里波爾多并不相信船長說的話，不過，很長時間滴酒未沾，他早已按捺不住了。

出海時的那座碼頭已經(jīng)能隱隱約約地望見了，船長勸巴奇欽喝酒，他喝啊喝啊，最后喝得爛醉，倒在地上。船長對國王的女兒說：“不要告訴你的父親是那個酒鬼救了你!你應(yīng)該說是我救了你，因為我是這艘船的船長，而那個酒鬼只是我的一個伙計，他做的一切都是我吩咐的。”

國王的女兒沒有說好也沒有說不好，只是回答：“我知道該說什么。”船長于是想著要除掉巴奇欽·特里波爾多，一了百了。當(dāng)天深夜，他們抬起爛醉如泥的巴奇欽，把他扔進了大海。黎明時分，大船靠近了碼頭，并用旗語通知岸上，他們把國王的女兒平安地救回來了。碼頭上，樂隊奏起了凱旋樂，國王和宮廷全體人員都來了。

國王的女兒與船長的婚禮已經(jīng)定下來了?；槎Y那天，碼頭上的水手看見從海里鉆出來一個人，從頭到腳披著綠色的海草，衣服的口袋和被撕破的口子往外蹦著小魚、小蟹。這個人正是巴奇欽·特里波爾多，他全身上下遮滿了海草，頭上掛著，身上披著，腳下還拖著，上了岸，走向城中心。就在這時，婚禮的隊伍迎面過來了，看見一個身披綠色水草的男人擋在前邊，隊伍停了下來。“什么人在那里?把他抓起來!”國王命令道。侍衛(wèi)走上前剛要捉人，這時巴奇欽·特里波爾多抬起一只手，只見一枚鉆石戒指在陽光下熠熠發(fā)光。

“我女兒的戒指!”國王高喊。

“對，這個人才是我的救命恩人，他才是我的新郎。”國王的女兒說。

巴奇欽·特里波爾多把自己的遭遇從頭至尾講述了一遍。船長被抓了起來。巴奇欽就這樣一身綠色的海草走近穿著一身白色衣裙的新娘，和她舉行了婚禮。