Italian Popular Tales Part 44

[17] Other Italian versions are: Pitre, No. 136, "_Li Vecchi_" ("The Old Folks"); and _Nov. fior._ p. 567, "The Story of Signor Donato."

[18] There are two versions of this story in Pitre, No. 139, and notes.

They differ but little from the one we have translated. An Istrian version is in Ive, _Fiabe pop. rovignesi_, 1878, No. 4, "_I tri fardai_"

and a Corsican one in Ortoli, p. 278.

[19] Other Italian versions are: Coronedi-Berti, p. 49, "_La Fola d'

Zanninein_;" and Bernoni, _Trad. pop._ p. 79, "_Rosseto_."

[20] There is another Italian version in _Fiabe Mantovane_, No. 31, "The Wolf." The only parallel I can find to this story out of Italy is a negro story in _Lippincott's Magazine_, December, 1877, "Folk-Lore of the Southern Negroes," p. 753, "Tiny Pig." Allusion is made to the Anglo-Saxon story of the "Three Blue Pigs," but I have been unable to find it.

[21] A Sicilian version is in Pitre, No. 278, "_L'Acidduzzu_" ("Little Bird"), and one from Tuscany in Nerucci, _Cincelle da Bambini_, No. 12.

[22] Kohler, in his notes to this story, gives parallels from various parts of Europe. To these may be added Asbjrnsen and Moe, Nos. 42, 102 [Dasent, _Tales from the Fjeld_, p. 35, "The Greedy Cat"]. Comp.

Halliwell, p. 29, "The story of Chicken-licken." A French version is in the _Romania_, No. 32, p. 554 (Cosquin, No. 45), where copious references to this cla.s.s of stories may be found. Add to these those by Kohler in _Zeitschrift fur rom. Phil._ III. p. 617.

CHAPTER VI.

STORIES AND JESTS.

[1] A well-known literary version of this story is Sachetti, Nov. IV.

Copious references to this popular story will be found in Oesterley's notes to Pauli's _Schimpf und Ernst_, No. 55; see also Pitre, IV. pp.

392, 437. The entire literature of the subject is summed up in a masterly manner by Professor F. J. Child in _English and Scottish Popular Ballads_, Part II. p. 403.

[2] There is a version from Siena in Gradi, _Saggio di Letture varie_, p. 179, "_Tea, Tecla e Teopista_;" and from Rome in Busk, pp. 357, 367.

References to other European versions of this story may be found in Grimm, Nos. 34, 104; Schneller, No. 56, "_Die narrischen Weiber_;"

Zingerle, _Marchen_, I. No. 14; Dasent's _Tales from the Norse_, p. 191, "Not a Pin to choose between Them" (Asbj. & M., No. 10); Ralston, _R. F.

T._ pp. 52-54; _Jahrbuch_, V. 3, Kohler to Cenac Moncaut's _Contes pop.

de la Gascogne_, p. 32, "_Maitre Jean l'habile Homme_;" _Orient und Occident_, II. p. 319; Kohler to Campbell, No. 20, "The Three Wise Men,"

p. 686, to No. 48, "Sgire Mo Chealag."

[3] This story is sometimes found as one of the episodes of the last tale, as for example in Schneller, No. 56. Imbriani, _Pomiglianesi_, p.

227, cites as parallels: Coronedi-Berti, XII. "_La fola dla Patalocca_;"

Beroaldo di Verville, _Le Moyen de Parvenir_, LXXVIII.; and a story in _La Civilta italiana_, 1865, No. 13. See also _Romania_, VI. p. 551 (E.

Cosquin, _Contes pop. lorrains_, No. 22), and _Jahrb._ VIII. 267, Kohler to the above cited story in the _Civilta ital._ from Calabria. It is also the story of "The Miser and his Wife" in Halliwell, p. 31.

[4] There is a literary version in Straparola, VIII. 1. Other literary versions are cited in Pitre, IV. p. 443.

[5] Pitre, No. 257, where references to other Italian versions may be found. See also Pitre, IV. pp. 412 and 447; and Kohler's notes to Blade, _Contes pop. recueillis en Agenais_, p. 155, for other European versions. Additional references may be found in Oesterley's notes to Pauli's _Schimpf und Ernst_, No. 595. A similar story is in Pitre's _Nov. tosc._ No. 67.

[6] Pitre, No. 180. A literary version is in Straparola, VIII. 6. For other references see Schmidt, Straparola, p. 329; and Oesterley's notes to Pauli's _Schimpf und Ernst_, No. 357.

[7] This story is found in Gonz., No. 75, "_Von Firrazzanu_," and is (with the queen's attempt to punish him for it) the only joke in that collection relating to Firrazzanu. A literary version is in Bandello, _Novelle_, IV. 27.

[8] See Pitre, No. 156, var. 5 (III. p. 181).

[9] Imbriani in his notes to Pitre (IV. p. 417) gives a French version of this joke ent.i.tled: _Un Neveu pratique_.

[10] The name Giufa is retained in many localities with slight phonetic changes. Thus it is Giuca in Trapani; Giucha in the Albanian colonies in Sicily; in Acri, Giuvali; and in Tuscany, Rome, and the Marches, Giucca.

Pitre, III. p. 371, adds that the name Giufa is the same as that of an Arab tribe. The best known continental counterparts of Giufa are Bertoldino and Cacasenno (see Olindo Guerrini, _La Vita e le Opere di Giulio Cesare Croce_, Bologna, 1879, pp. 257-279). Tuscan versions of the stories of Giufa given in the text may be found in _Nov. tosc._ pp.

179-193.

[11] The same story is told by Miss Busk, "The b.o.o.by," p. 371, and is in the _Pent._ I. 4. It is probably founded on the well-known fable of Aesop, "_h.o.m.o fractor simulacri_" (ed. Furia, No. 21), which seems very widely spread. A Russian version, from Afanasieff, is in De Gub., _Zool.

Myth._ I. p. 176. See also Benfey, _Pant._ I. p. 478; and Kohler to Gonz., No. 37.

[12] In Gonz., No. 37, Giufa takes the cloth, and on his way to the dyer's sits down to rest on a heap of stones in a field. A lizard creeps out from the stones, and Giufa, taking it for the dyer, leaves the cloth on the stones and returns home. His mother, of course, sends him immediately back for the cloth, but it has disappeared, as well as the lizard. Giufa cries: "Dyer, if you don't give me back my cloth I will tear down your house." Then he begins to pull down the heap of stones, and finds a pot of money which had been hidden there. He takes it home to his mother, who gives him his supper and sends him to bed, and then buries the money under the stairs. Then she fills her ap.r.o.n with figs and raisins, climbs upon the roof, and throws figs and raisins down the chimney into Giufa's mouth as he lies in his bed. Giufa is well pleased with this, and eats his fill. The next morning he tells his mother that the Christ child has thrown him figs and raisins from heaven the night before. Giufa cannot keep the pot of money a secret, but tells every one about it, and finally is accused before the judge. The officers of justice go to Giufa's mother and say: "Your son has everywhere told that you have kept a pot of money which he found. Do you not know that money that is found must be delivered up to the court?" The mother protests that she knows nothing about the money, and that Giufa is always telling stupid stories. "But mother," said Giufa, "don't you remember when I brought you home the pot, and in the night the Christ child rained figs and raisins from heaven into my mouth?" "There, you see how stupid he is," says the mother, "and that he does not know what he says." The officers of justice go away thinking, "Giufa is too stupid!"

Kohler, in his Notes to Gonz., No. 37, cites as parallels to the above, _Pent._ I. 4, and _Thousand and One Nights_, Breslau trans. XI.

144. For the rain of figs and raisins he refers to _Jahrb._ VIII. 266 and 268; and to Campbell, II. 385, for a shower of milk porridge. See Note 16 of this chapter, and _Indian Fairy Tales_, p. 257.

[13] See Max Muller's _Chips_, II. p. 229, and Benfey, _Pant._ I. p.

293.

[14] See Imbriani, _Nov. fior._ p. 545; Papanti, _Nov. pop. livor._ No.

3; and Bernoni, _Punt._ III. p. 83.

[15] See Robert, _Fables inedites_, II. p. 136. The Italian literary versions are: Morlini, XXI., Straparola, XIII. 4; and two stories mentioned by Imbriani in his _Nov. fior._ pp. 545, 546.

[16] This episode is in Strap. XIII. 4; Pitre, IV. p. 291, gives a version from the Albanian colony of Piana de' Greci, sixteen miles from Palermo. In the same vol., p. 444, he gives a variant from Erice in which, after Giufa has killed the "_canta-la-notti_," his mother climbs a fig-tree and rains down figs into the mouth of Giufa, who is standing under. In this way she saves herself from the accusation of having thrown a murdered man into the well. See Note 12. For another Sicilian version of this episode see Gonz., No. 37 (I. p. 252).

[17] Papanti, p. 65. Copious references will be found in Papanti, pp.

72-81; Oesterley to Pauli, _Schimpf und Ernst_, No. 416; and Kirchof, _Wendunmuth_, I. 122; and Kohler's notes to Sercambi's Novels in _Jahrb._ XII. p. 351.

[18] Kohler, in his notes to Gonz., No. 37 (II. p. 228), cites for this story: _Thousand and One Days_, V. 119; _Pent._ I. 4; Grimm, II. 382; Morlini, No. 49; Zingerle, I. 255; Bebelius, _Facetiae_, I. 21; Blade, _Contes et Proverbes_, Paris, 1867, p. 21; and Bertoldino (Florence, Salani), p. 31, "_Bertoldino entra nella cesta dell' oca a covare in cambio di lei_." In the story in the _Fiabe Mant._ No. 44, "_Il Pazzo_"

("The Fool"), the b.o.o.by kills his own mother by feeding her too much macaroni when she is ill.

[19] See Pitre, No. 190, var. 9; _Jahrb._ V. 18; Simrock, _Deutsche Marchen_, No. 18 (_Orient und Occident_, III. p. 373); Hahn, No. 34; _Jahrb._ VIII. 267; _Melusine_, p. 89; _Nov. fior._ p. 601; _Romania_, VI. p. 551; Busk, pp. 369, 374; and _Fiabe Mant._ No. 44.

In the Sicilian stories Giufa simply takes the door off its hinges and carries it to his mother, who is in church. In the other Italian versions the b.o.o.by takes the door with him, and at night carries it up into a tree. Robbers come and make a division of their booty under the tree, and the b.o.o.by lets the door fall, frightens them away, and takes their money himself.

[20] See Kohler's notes to Gonz., II. p. 228. To these may be added, for the story of Giufa planting the ears and tails of the swine in the marsh: Ortoli, p. 208; _Melusine_, p. 474; and _Romania_, VII. p. 556, where copious references to parallels from all of Europe may be found.

In the story in Ortoli, cited above, the priest's mother is killed, as in text.

[21] For the literal throwing of eyes, see: _Jahrb._ V. p. 19; Grimm, No. 32 (I. p. 382); _Nov. fior._ p. 595; Webster, _Basque Legends_, p.

69; _Orient und Occident_, II. 684 (Kohler to Campbell, No. 45).

[22] See Gonz., Nos. 70, 71, and Kohler's notes, II. p. 247. Other Italian versions are: De Gub., _Sto. Stefano_, No. 30; Widter-Wolf, No.

18, and Kohler's notes (_Jahrb._ VII. 282); Strap., I. 3: _Nov. fior._ p. 604; _Fiabe Mant._ No. 13. To these may be added: _Romania_, V. p.

357; VI. p. 539; and VIII. p. 570.

[23] See Pitre's notes, IV. pp. 124, 412; and F. Liebrecht in the _Academy_, vol. IV. p. 421.

[24] See Pitre's notes, IV. pp. 140, 448; Wright's _Latin Stories_, pp.

49, 226.

[25] Pitre, No. 290. See Papanti, _op. cit._ p. 197, where other versions are cited. To these may be added the story in Marcolf, see Guerrini, _Vita di G. C. Croce_, p. 215; and _Marcolphus, Hoc est Disputationis_, etc., in _Epistolae obscuror, virorum_, Frankf. a. M., 1643, p. 593.

There is another story in Pitre (No. 200) which is also attributed to Dante. It is called:--