8
NENNILLO AND NENNELLA*
Eighth Entertainment of the Fifth Day
Iannuccio has two children with his first wife, then marries a second time. His children are hated so much by their stepmother that she takes them to a wood, where after they get separated Nennillo becomes the beloved courtier of a prince and Nennella is shipwrecked and swallowed by an enchanted fish. When she is cast onto a reef, she is recognized by her brother and married off richly by the prince.
When Ciulla had finished her race, Paola1 prepared to run hers, and after she generously praised the tale of the other woman, who had portrayed Sapia’s good judgment so realistically,2 she said, “Hapless is the man who has children and hopes to take care of them by giving them a stepmother: he brings home the machine of their ruin, since a stepmother who casts a kind eye upon the children of another has never been seen. And even if by some accident one were found, you’d have to put a stick in the hole3 or say that it was a white crow. But among the many that you may have heard mentioned, I will tell you about one who can be put on the list of unconscionable stepmothers, and I think you will deem her worthy of the punishment she bought for herself with hard cash.
“There once was a father named Iannuccio who had two children, Nennillo and Nennella, whom he loved like the pupils of his eyes. But after death used the silent file of Time4 to break the bars that kept his wife’s soul imprisoned, he took an ugly hag for his wife, an accursed bitch5 who, as soon as she set foot in her husband’s house, began to act like a horse that wants the stable all to itself, saying, ‘Why do you think I came here, to pick lice off someone else’s children? That’s all I need now, to take on this bother and have these sniveling brats always around! Oh, if only I had broken my neck before I came to this inferno, where the food is bad and the lack of sleep even worse because of these troublesome bugs! Who could stand such a life? I came as a wife, not as a servant girl! We need to hit upon a solution and find a new address for these pests, or I’m going to find a new address for myself! It’s better to turn red once than to turn white a hundred times! Let’s fix this marriage up once and for all, for I’m firmly resolved either to get something out of it or to break it off once and for all.’ The hapless husband, who had begun to feel a little affection for this woman, said to her, ‘Don’t be angry, my dear wife, for sugar is dear. To make you happy, tomorrow morning before the cock crows I’ll remove the cause of your tribulation.’
“And so the next morning—before Dawn had hung the red Spanish coverlet from the window of the East, to shake out the fleas—he took the children by the hand, put a nice basket full of things to eat on his arm, and took them to a wood, where an army of poplars and beech trees laid siege to the shadows. When they got there Iannuccio said, ‘My little ones, stay right here; eat and drink with cheer and if you need anything just keep your eyes on this trail of ashes that I’m sowing, for it will be the thread that will get you out of the labyrinth6 and bring you home at a trot.’ And after giving each of them a kiss he returned home, crying.
“But—at the hour when all animals are convened by Night’s officers to pay Nature the rent for the rest they need—the little ones, perhaps frightened of staying in that solitary place—where the waters of a river beating the impertinent stones that presented themselves before its feet would have made Rodomonte tremble with fear—set off without a sound on that little path of ashes, and it was already midnight when they arrived home walking very, very slowly.
Pasciozza, the stepmother, acted not like a woman but a Fury from hell, raising her shrieks to the sky, stamping her feet and slapping her hands, snorting like a skittish horse, and saying, ‘What kind of nice stuff is this? Where did these little snot-nosed brats pop up from? Is it possible that there exists no quicksilver to remove them from this house?7 Is it possible that you want to keep them and make this heart of mine burst? Go on, get them out of my sight this instant, for I intend to wait for neither the cock’s music nor the hen’s tears! Otherwise, you can pick your teeth and dream of sleeping with me, and tomorrow morning I’ll just slip away to my family’s house, since you don’t deserve me! And yet I didn’t bring such nice furniture to this house so that it could be shat on with the stink of someone else’s asshole, nor did I give you such a rich dowry so that I could become the slave of children who aren’t mine!’
“The unfortunate Iannuccio, who saw that the boat had been poorly launched and things were heating up dangerously, that very moment took the little ones back to the wood, where he gave them another little basket full of tidbits to eat, and said to them, ‘You see, my dears, how much that bitch of my wife, who entered my house to ruin you and to drive a nail into my heart, detests you. And so stay in this wood, where the most merciful trees will be your ceiling against the Sun, the most charitable river will give you drink without poison, and the kindest soil will give you mattresses of grass that pose no danger. And when you do not have anything left to eat, you can come look for help on this straight little path that I’m making for you out of bran.’ That said, he turned his face the other way so that the poor little things wouldn’t see him crying and lose heart.
“Once they had eaten the things in the basket, they wanted to go back home, but since a donkey, the son of bad fortune, had gobbled up the bran that had been scattered on the ground, they got so far off the path that for several days they wandered astray in the wood, feeding on acorns and chestnuts they found on the ground. But since the heavens always keep a protecting hand on innocents, a prince chanced to go hunting in that wood, and Nennillo, when he heard the barking of the dogs, was so frightened that he hid away inside a hollowed-out tree trunk, whereas Nennella started running so fast that soon after she left the wood she found herself at the seashore, where she was stolen away by some pirates who had left their ship to search for firewood. The head pirate took her home with him, and his wife, who had just lost a baby girl, treated her like a daughter.
“But let us return to Nennillo. After holing himself up behind the bark of that tree, he found himself surrounded by dogs whose howls were so deafening that the prince went to see what was going on. When he found that lovely boy, so little that he couldn’t even tell him who his father and mother were, the prince had him loaded onto the packhorse of one of the hunters and took him back to the royal palace, where he ordered that he be brought up with great care and educated in virtue. Among other things he had him learn the trade of meat carving, so that before three or four years had passed he became so accomplished in this art that he could have split a hair in two.
“In the meantime it was discovered that the pirate who held Nennella was thieving the seas, and it was planned to take him prisoner; but since he was friends with the scribes, to whom he had thrown many a sop, he took to his heels beforehand with his entire household.8 And perhaps it was heavenly justice that deemed that he who had committed crimes at sea, at sea would pay his punishment: he embarked on a light vessel, and as soon as it was in the middle of the sea, such a strong gust of wind and violent outbreak of high waves hit the boat that it overturned and they all kicked the bucket. Only Nennella, who, unlike the wife and children, shared no blame for his thieveries, was able to escape danger, for at that very moment a large enchanted fish found itself in the vicinity of the boat, and it opened its great cave of a gullet and swallowed her right up.
“And just when the girl thought her days had come to an end, she discovered astonishing things in the belly of that fish: splendid countrysides, breathtaking gardens, and a house fit for a lord and endowed with all the comforts, in which she lived like a princess. One day the fish carried her in its mouth to a reef, where, since it was the time of the summer when the humidity is greatest and the burning heat strongest, the prince, too, had gone in search of some cool air.
“While a tremendous banquet was being prepared, Nennillo went out onto one of the balconies of the palace, which was built at the top of this reef, to sharpen some
knives, a job he loved to do and which did him honor. When Nennella saw him through the fish’s gullet she cried out in a muffled voice, ‘O brother, my brother, the knives are sharpened and the tables set, but I don’t like living inside of this fish without you!’ Nennillo paid no attention to the voice the first time, but the prince, who was on another loggia, turned in the direction of the wailing, saw the fish, heard the same words again, and was beside himself with wonderment. He sent a handful of servants to see if there was some way they could trick the fish and pull it in to shore, and when he heard that same phrase ‘my brother, my brother’ repeated over and over again, he finally asked each and every one of his people if any of them had lost a sister. Nennillo answered that he was starting to remember, as if in a dream, that when the prince had found him in the wood there had been a sister, but he had received no further news of her. The prince told him to go over to the fish and see what it was; perhaps this good fortune was directed at him.
“When Nennillo went over to the fish it lay its head on one of the rocks and opened its mouth six spans wide, and out came Nennella, so beautiful that she looked just like a nymph in an intermedio9 coming out of an animal of that sort after the spell of some wizard. The king asked what this was all about, and she began to tell of their hardships and of their stepmother’s hatred for them, although they were able to remember neither their father’s name nor where their home was. And so the king had a proclamation issued: whoever had lost two children named Nennillo and Nennella in a wood should come to the royal palace, where they would receive good news of them.
“Iannuccio, whose heart was always heavy and inconsolable since he thought his children had been eaten by a wolf, raced off to the prince with great joy and told him that he was the one who had lost those children. When he told him the story of how he had been forced to take them to the wood, the prince bawled him out and called him a muttonhead and a good-for-nothing who had let a sissy of a woman step all over him until he was reduced to the point of casting out two jewels like those children of his. But after he nearly broke Iannuccio’s head with those words, he administered a poultice of consolation by showing him the children, whom the father could not stop hugging and kissing for half an hour. The prince had him take off his modest cape and dressed him like a gentleman, and then he summoned Iannuccio’s wife and showed her those two golden spikes of wheat, asking her how she thought someone who harmed them and put them in danger of death would deserve to be treated. She answered, ‘If it were for me, I’d put that person in a sealed barrel and roll it down a mountain.’ ‘There, you’ve got it!’ said the prince. ‘The goat has turned its horns against itself! Come on, then; you’ve pronounced your sentence and now you’ll pay for having shown these lovely stepchildren such hatred!’
“He thus ordered that the sentence that she herself had decreed be carried out, and then he found an exceedingly rich nobleman who was a vassal of his, to whom he gave Nennella as wife, and a daughter of another nobleman for Nennillo, and set all of them up with incomes sufficient to support themselves and their father, so that they would never again need the help of anyone. And when she had been planked up in a barrel, the stepmother lost the planks of her life, and for as long as she had breath she shouted from a hole: ‘Troubles and woes may come slow to those who await them, but then one good one comes and makes up for them all!’”
“Frate mio, frate mio . . .” [“O, brother, my brother . . .”]
9
THE THREE CITRONS*
Ninth Entertainment of the Fifth Day
Ciommetiello does not want a wife, but when he cuts his finger over some ricotta he gets the desire for one with a white and red complexion, like that of the mixture of ricotta and blood. And thus he wanders through the world, and at the Island of the Three Fairies receives three citrons. When he cuts one of these he obtains a beautiful fairy who conforms to his heart’s desire; after she is killed by a slave he takes the black girl in place of the white one. This betrayal is discovered and the slave is made to die, and the fairy, who returns to life, becomes queen.
It is impossible to say how much Paola’s tale pleased the company, but it was Ciommetella’s1 turn to speak, and when she had gotten the sign she spoke in this manner: “That sage man truly spoke well when he said, ‘Do not say all you know, and do not do all you can,’ because the one and the other bring unknown danger and unexpected ruin, as you will hear about in the case of a certain slave girl—with respect for Madam princess—who, because she did a poor girl all the harm possible, defended her case so badly that she ended up being the judge of her own error, sentencing herself to the punishment she deserved.
“The king of High Tower had a son who was like his right eye, on whom he had built the foundation for his every hope, and he could not wait to find a good match for him and to be called grandpa. But this prince was so disaffected and so aloof that whenever anyone talked to him about a wife he would shake his head, and then you’d find him a hundred miles away.
“When his poor father saw his son unwilling and obstinate and his own stock treated like shit, he was more incensed, seething with fury, spitting mad, and swollen with rage than a whore who has lost her client, a merchant whose partner has gone bankrupt, or a farmer whose jackass has died. For his son was not moved by the tears of his daddy, he was not softened by the prayers of his vassals, nor could he be budged by the advice of respectable men who put before his eyes the happiness of he who had generated him, the needs of his people, his own interest, and the fact that he was going to put an end to the line of royal blood. But with the perfidy of Carella,2 the stubbornness of an old mule, and a hide that was four fingers thick where it was thinnest he dug in his heels, plugged his ears, and stopped up his heart, so that even a call to arms would not have moved him.
“But since more usually transpires in an hour than in a hundred years, and you can never say, ‘I’m not going down that road,’ it happened that one day when they were all together at the table the prince was about to cut a ricotta cheese in half, and as he was concentrating on some crows that were flying by he cut one of his fingers by mistake, so that when two drops of his blood fell onto the ricotta they blended together to create a color that was so beautiful and full of grace that—whether it was Love’s punishment that had been lying in wait for him or the will of the heavens to comfort that respectable man, his father, who was not as bothered by his domesticated hernia as he was tormented by this wild colt3—he got the fancy to find a woman as white and red as that very ricotta stained with his blood. And he said to his father, ‘My sir, if I do not have a little something with this sort of complexion, I’m done for! Never has a woman moved my blood, and now I desire a woman like my own blood. Resolve yourself, therefore: if you want me healthy and alive, allow me the comfort of wandering through the world in search of a beauty that may equal that of this ricotta; otherwise I will finish my race and go to ruin.’
“Upon hearing this bestial resolution the king felt the house collapsing on his shoulders, and he went stiff and turned one color after another. When he was himself again and could speak, he said, ‘My son, viscera of this soul, pupil of this heart, bastion of my old age, what sort of delirium has seized you? Have you gone out of your mind? Have you lost your brain? It’s either an ace or a six! You didn’t want a wife so that you could deny me an heir, and now you feel like having one so that you can banish me from this world? Where, just where do you want to wander, like a stray animal, consuming your life and leaving your home behind? Your home, your little hearth, your little fart? Don’t you know how much travail and danger those who travel encounter? Oh, my son, do away with this whim; listen to me! Let it not be your desire that this life be beaten to the ground, this house fall plumb down, this state end up in shambles!’ But these and other words went in one ear and out the other, and it was as if they were all thrown to sea. When the poor king saw that his son was a crow in the belfry, he gave him a nice handful of scudos
and two or three servants and told him that he could go, feeling, as he did so, his soul tear away from his body. And he went out onto a balcony and, crying like a cut grapevine, followed his son with his eyes until he lost sight of him.
“After the prince departed and left his father sad and embittered, he began to trot across fields and woods, mountains and valleys, and plains and hills, seeing various towns, dealing with diverse peoples, and always keeping his eyes open in case he should see the target of his desire. At the end of four months he arrived on a shore in France, where, after he left his servants in the hospital with migraines of the feet, he embarked alone aboard a Genoese coaster and set off in the direction of the Strait of Gibraltar, where he took a larger vessel and sailed on toward the Indies.4 And from kingdom to kingdom, province to province, land to land, street to street, house to house, and hole to hole he continued to seek the exact original of the beautiful image painted in his heart.
“He shook his legs and rolled his feet until he arrived at the Island of the Ogresses, where, when he had dropped anchor and set ashore, he encountered a very old, very thin woman, who had a very ugly face. He told her what had dragged him out to those parts, and the old woman was amazed when she heard of the fine whim and the whimsical chimera of this prince, and the hardships and risks that he had undergone in order to rid himself of it, and said, ‘My son, beat it out of here, for if my three sons, who are a butcher shop for human flesh, catch sight of you, I wouldn’t value your life at three little coins; half alive and half roasted, a baking pan will be your coffin and a belly your grave! So move your feet like a hare, and you will not go too far before you find your fortune.’ When the prince heard this he was in a fright, frozen with dread, terrified, and stunned, and without even saying good-bye he put the road between his legs and began to consume the soles of his shoes. He finally arrived in another land where he encountered another old woman, worse than the first, who, after being told of his affairs from A to Z, said to him, ‘Vanish from here immediately unless you want to be served as a snack to my ogrelet sons, but get going, for night is upon you, and if you go a little farther you will find your fortune.’
The Tale of Tales Page 52