The Tale of Tales

by Giambattista Basile

  “During those same times there lived a daughter of the baroness Cenza, who, due to the great knowledge that she had accumulated in thirteen years, had acquired the name of Sapia. Word of her virtuous qualities got to the king, and he came up with the idea of entrusting his son to the baroness so that she could put him under the tutelage of her daughter, since he thought that the girl’s company and competence could have some positive effects.

  “And thus, once the prince was installed in the baroness’s house Sapia began to teach him the sign of the Holy Cross, but when she saw that he left all those lovely words behind and that all of her fine reasoning went in one ear and out the other, she couldn’t help but give him a nice slap on the face. Carluccio, for that was the name of the prince, was so humiliated by this slap that out of disgrace and spite he did what he had refused to do for caresses and kindness, and in a few months he not only knew how to read but had made so much progress in the study of grammar that he had learned all the rules. His father was so delighted that he was walking on air, and he removed Carluccio from that house and sent him off to study other, more important subjects, until he became the wisest man in the whole kingdom. But Sapia’s blow had left such an impression on him that when he was awake he saw it before his eyes and when he was asleep he dreamed of it, so that he decided either to die or to avenge himself.

  “In the meantime Sapia had reached a marriageable age and the prince, who was waiting with lighted fuse for an opportunity to take revenge, said to his father, ‘My lord, I acknowledge that I received my being from you, and for this reason I am obliged to you all the way up to the terrace. But I also recognize that I am just as obliged to Sapia, who gave me the good life, and therefore, since I cannot find a way to pay her adequately for such a large debt, if it pleases you I would like to take her for my wife, and I assure you that by agreeing to this you would secure a mortgage on my person.’ When the king heard his son’s decision he answered, ‘My son, although Sapia does not have all the carats she should have to be your wife, nonetheless, if her virtue is placed on the scales with our blood, they weigh so much in her favor that we can make this deal. And thus you are happy, and I am well paid.’

  “As soon as the baroness had been summoned Carluccio had the marriage contract drawn up, and after festivities worthy of a great lord, he asked the king if he would do him the favor of finding him some isolated quarters where he could stay with his wife. Eager to make him happy, the king had a splendid palace, separate from his own, prepared for him. After Carluccio brought Sapia there he locked her in a room and gave her little to eat and even less to drink, and, worst of all, he refused to pay her his debt, so that the miserable thing was the most desperate woman in the world and could not understand the reason for the bad treatment that had started the moment she had entered that house.

  “One day the lord felt like seeing Sapia, and he went into her room and asked her how she was. ‘Put your hand on my stomach,’ answered Sapia, ‘and you can see how I am, although I didn’t do a thing to deserve being treated in this manner, like a dog. What was the point of asking me to be your wife if you wanted to keep me worse than a slave?’ At these words the prince answered, ‘Don’t you know that those who commit an offense write it in dust, and those that receive one carve it in marble? Remember what you did to me when you were teaching me to read, and know that the only reason I wanted you for a wife was so that I could make a sauce of your life and avenge myself of the insult I received!’ ‘And so,’ replied Sapia, ‘after I sowed so well, I’m harvesting so poorly! If I slapped you, I did it because you were an ass and I thought it would wisen you up: you know that those who love you make you cry, and those who do not make you laugh.’

  “If the prince had been seething over the slap before, when he saw himself reproached for his own stupidity he now caught on fire, and what made it worse was that while he had thought Sapia would admit her guilt in the matter, what he saw instead was that she answered back blow for blow, as bold as a rooster. And so he turned his back on her and left, in a worse state than before, and when he came back a number of days later and found that she had the same attitude, he went away even more stubbornly than the first time, determined to make her stew in her own broth like octopus and then punish her with a stick of cotton wool.

  “In the meantime the king signed a transfer on his life’s property atop the column of a bed of torment, and since the prince was now master and arch-master of all of his estates he decided to go and take possession of them in person. He summoned a cavalcade of soldiers and knights worthy of serving him and set off with them on his journey.

  “The baroness got wind of her daughter’s hard life and decided to find a prudent solution to this dilemma. First, she had a tunnel made under the prince’s palace, by means of which she came to poor little Sapia’s aid by bringing her some refreshment. When, several days in advance, the baroness learned of the new king’s departure, she had lavish carriages and livery prepared, and after dressing her daughter to perfection and putting her in the company of some ladies, she sent them off on a shortcut so that they would end up where Sapia’s husband was to stop, but a day before him. Sapia then took a house across from the palace that had been prepared for the king and placed herself, all decked out and elegant, at the window. When the king arrived and saw this flower of the stewpot of the Graces, he immediately became infatuated with her. And he dug and dug until he managed to get his hands on her, and, leaving her pregnant, he gave her a beautiful necklace in memory of his love.

  “The king departed to visit the other cities of his kingdom and Sapia slipped back to her house, where nine months later she gave birth to a lovely baby boy. When the king returned to the capital of his kingdom he went back to see Sapia, thinking that she had already passed away. But instead he found her fresher than ever and ever more obstinate in telling him that she had left the prints of her five fingers on his face in order to make a wise man out of an ass.

  “The indignant king left, and since he had to go out of the kingdom again on another trip, Sapia, advised by her mother, did the same thing she had done the first time, and after she took her pleasure with her husband she received a precious bejeweled headpiece and became pregnant with another baby boy whom, upon arriving home, she unloaded when the time was ripe. And when this business had repeated itself a third time, she was given a thick chain of gold and precious stones by the king, who left her pregnant with a baby girl that reached port in due course. Upon returning from his travels, the king found that the baroness, who had given her daughter a sleeping draught, had spread the word that she was dead. But after sending her off to be buried, she deftly had her taken from the grave and hidden in the house.

  “The king then celebrated with great ceremony another marriage to a lady of noble lineage, and brought her to the royal palace. But while they were celebrating with stupendous festivities, Sapia and her three children, who were three gems, appeared in the main hall, and, throwing herself at the king’s feet, Sapia asked him to be just and not deprive these children of the kingdom, since they were of his own blood.

  “For a long time the king just stood there like a man who was dreaming. Finally, realizing that Sapia’s wisdom reached to the stars and seeing that when he least imagined it he was being presented with three bastions for his old age, his heart grew tender, and, after giving that other lady a great kingdom and a marriage to his brother, he took Sapia for his wife, thus letting everyone in the world know that the wise man dominates the stars.”

  7

  THE FIVE SONS*

  Seventh Entertainment of the Fifth Day

  Pacione sends his five sons out into the world to learn a trade, and when each of them returns with some special skill, they go and free the daughter of a king, who has been kidnaped by an ogre. After various adventures, as they are arguing about who has given the greatest proof of deserving her for his wife, the king gives her to the father, since he was the plant
from whence all the branches grew.

  When Antonella’s tale was over it was Ciulla’s1 turn to speak, and after getting comfortable on her chair she had a look around her and then began to speak graciously: “Those who stay and tend to the hearth have the brains of a cat: if you don’t walk you can’t see anything; if you don’t see anything you can’t learn anything; if you get lost you learn to find your way;2 practice makes the physician and getting out of bed makes one awake, as I’ll show you in the royal trial of a tale that follows.

  “There once was a respectable man named Pacione, who had five sons who were so inept that they weren’t good for anything, such that their poor father, who could no longer provide for them, resolved one day to get them off his back and said to them, ‘My sons, God knows I love you, since, after all, you issued from my own loins, but I am an old man who can work but little and you are young fellows who eat too much, and I can no longer support you as I did before. Each man for himself and the heavens for all! So, then, go out and find yourselves a master and learn how to do something, but take care not to agree to serve for more than a year, and when the time is over I will be at home waiting for you to show me your skills.’

  “When the sons heard this resolution they took their leave, and, bringing with them a handful of rags for a change of clothes, each of them set off in a different direction in search of his fortune. At the end of the year they all met, as arranged, at their father’s house, where they were received with great hugs, and their father immediately set the table and sat them down to eat. Right when they were digging into the best of it they heard a bird singing, and the youngest of the five sons got up from the table and went outside to listen. When he came back the tablecloth had been removed, and Pacione was starting to ask his sons, ‘Now then, comfort this heart a bit, and let’s hear what fine skills you’ve learned in all this time!’

  “Luccio, who was the first of all thieves, said, ‘I learned the art of stealing, and I’ve become the ringleader of sly dogs, the master laborer of thieves, and a member of the trade council for the roguish arts. You won’t find the equal of this fellow; there’s no one who has my expertise in smoothing down and folding up cloaks, bundling up and carrying off laundry, sticking my hook in pockets and emptying them, neatening and cleaning out shops, shaking down and hauling off purses, sweeping and vacating chests: wherever I appear I’ll show you miracles of light-fingeredness.’ ‘My word, what a good boy,’ answered his father. ‘You’ve learned to play cards like a merchant, to exchange a counterpoint of the fingers for a receipt of the shoulders,3 a turn of the key for the strokes of an oar,4 and a climb up a window for a lowering of the rope!5 Woe is me! Better if I had taught you to work a spinning wheel, so that now you wouldn’t be making me spin the fine thread of fear in these intestines. For I can imagine that I might see you any minute in the middle of a court wearing a little paper cap;6 or else, when your gold is found to be copper, with an oar in your hand;7 or, if you escape that, dangling, at the end, from a rope!’

  “That said, he turned to Tittillo, the second son, and said, ‘And you, what fine trade have you learned?’ ‘I’ve learned how to make boats,’ answered his son. ‘That’s more like it,’ replied his father. ‘That’s an honorable trade by which you can earn a living. And you, Renzone, what do you know how to do after all this time?’ ‘I know,’ said his son, ‘how to shoot a crossbow so straight that I can take out a chicken’s eye.’ ‘Well, that’s something,’ said his father. ‘At least you can get by with your hunting and earn your bread that way.’ And, turning to the fourth son, he asked him the same thing and Iacuoco said, ‘I know how to recognize an herb that can resuscitate the dead.’ ‘Good boy, for the life of Lanfusa!’8 answered Pacione. ‘This is our chance to leave our poverty behind us. We’ll be able to make people live longer than the ruins of Capua!’9

  “And when he finally asked his last son, whose name was Menecuccio, what he knew how to do, he said, ‘I can understand bird language.’ ‘So it was for a good reason,’ replied his father, ‘that while we were eating you got up to listen to that sparrow chirp. But since you boast that you can understand what they say, tell me what you heard that bird say up in the tree.’ ‘It was saying,’ answered Menecuccio, ‘that an ogre has kidnaped the daughter of the king of High Gulf and taken her out to a reef, and no one has been able to get any news of her, and her father has issued a proclamation saying that whoever finds this daughter and brings her to him will have her for his wife.’ ‘If that’s all there is, we’re rich,’ said Luccio, raising his voice, ‘because I’ve got the courage to get her out of the ogre’s hands!’ ‘If you trust you can do it,’ his father proceeded to say, ‘we’ll go to the king this very instant, and if he gives us his word that he’ll keep the promise, we’ll offer to find him his daughter.’

  “And thus, after they all agreed to this, Tittillo immediately made a fine boat, and they got aboard and set sail. Upon reaching Sardinia, they requested an audience with the king and offered to recover his daughter, at which they received renewed confirmation of the promise. They then set off for the reef, where they had the luck to find the ogre stretched out in the sun sleeping, with his head on the lap of the king’s daughter, whose name was Cianna.

  “At the sight of the boat approaching, Cianna was so happy that she wanted to jump up, but Pacione signaled to her to keep quiet, and when they had placed a big stone on the ogre’s lap they lifted Cianna up, put her in the boat, and began to work the water with their oars. But before they had gotten very far from shore the ogre woke up and, not finding Cianna by his side, lowered his eyes toward the shore and saw the boat carrying her off. At this, he immediately transformed into a black cloud and began racing through the air to catch up with the boat. Cianna, who was familiar with the ogre’s arts, knew that he was coming hidden in a cloud, and her fear was so great that she barely had the time to warn Pacione and his sons before she lost her senses and died.

  “Renzone saw the cloud getting closer and took his crossbow in hand. He shot an arrow straight into the eye of the ogre, who from the great pain fell out of the cloud like a hailstone and hit the ground with a boom! And when, after standing there with their eyes glued to the cloud in astonishment, they turned to the boat to see what Cianna was doing, they saw that she had stretched out her feet for the last time and withdrawn from the game10 of life. At the sight of this Pacione began to tear out his beard, saying, ‘Now we’ve lost the oil and our sleep! Now we’ve thrown our labors to the wind and our hopes out to sea! This one here has gone to pasture, and we’re going to die of hunger; she’s said good night and we’re going to have a bad day; she’s broken her life thread and we’re going to break the cord of our hopes! It’s quite clear that a poor man’s plan never succeeds; it’s quite easy to prove that he who is born unlucky dies unhappy! There you have it: we free the daughter of the king, we get back to Sardinia, we win her for our wife, we have a royal celebration, we get the scepter, and we’re knocked down flat on our asses!’

  “Iacuoco listened to this dirge and then listened some more. Finally, when he saw that the song was lasting too long and that his father was going to play counterpoint on the lute of his pain right up to the rosette, he said, ‘Just a minute, sir. We intend to go to Sardinia and live with greater happiness and satisfaction than you believe!’ ‘The Grand Turk may have that satisfaction!’ answered Pacione. ‘When we bring Cianna’s corpse to her father, he’ll have something counted out for us, but it won’t be money, and whereas others die with a Sardinian smile on their face, we’ll die with a sardonic11 cry!’ ‘Quiet!’ replied Iacuoco. ‘Where have you sent your brain to pasture? Don’t you remember the trade I learned? First we land; then let me look for the herb I have in mind and you’ll see big things happen.’

  “His father took heart at these words, hugged his son, and pulled on the oars just as hard as he was pulled by desire, so that in a short time they reached the coast of Sardinia. Iacuoco got out
, found the herb, and ran back to the boat. When he had squeezed its juice into Cianna’s mouth, she came back to life right away, like a frog that after being in the Grotto of the Dogs is then thrown into Lake Agnano.12 And so with great joy they went to the king, who couldn’t get his fill of hugging and kissing his daughter and of thanking those good people who had brought her back.

  “But when they requested that he keep his promise, the king said, ‘To which one of you am I to give Cianna? This is no chestnut cake that can be portioned out into slices; it is the lot of only one of you to get the bean in the cake, and the others can take a toothpick.’ The first son, who was a shrewd one, answered, ‘The reward, Sire, should be in proportion to the effort; and so you must see which of us deserves this tasty morsel, and then mete justice as you see fit.’ ‘You speak like Roland,’13 answered the king. ‘Tell me, then, what you have done, so that I might avoid seeing things crookedly and be able to judge straight.’

  “When each had told of his trials, the king turned to Pacione and said, ‘And what part did you have in this matter?’ ‘It seems to me that I had a big part,’ replied Pacione, ‘since I raised these sons of mine into men and drove them so hard that I made them learn the trades they now know, and if I hadn’t they would be a bunch of empty baskets instead of the beautiful fruits that they are today.’

  “After hearing one side and the other and chewing and ruminating over the reasons of this one and that one and seeing and considering what seemed right, the king ruled that Cianna should go to Pacione, since he was the root origin of his daughter’s salvation. So he said and so it was done, and when the sons had each received a handful of money with which to earn a living, their father became like a fifteen-year-old boy again out of happiness, and this proverb was a perfect fit for him: If two fight, the third one wins.”