Legends Of Florence Part 25

These specimens of Italianised Latin are not so grotesque as some which were written out for me in all seriousness by a poor woman. A specimen of the latter is given in my work on "Etruscan-Roman Traditions."

Last of all, there came to me a small tale of little value, save that it professes to account for the reason why so many cats have ever flourished and been nourished in the cloister of San Lorenzo, these felines being, indeed, in a small way among the lions of Florence. It is as follows:-

I GATTI DI SAN LORENZO.

"In the cloisters of San Lorenzo there are many cats, and every evening people may be seen who go there to feed them, among whom are many old men and women. But these cats were long ago themselves human, that is to say, they were once all wizards and witches, who bear their present form for punishment of an evil deed.

"There was once a very wealthy and powerful family in Florence, at the head of which was a gentleman and lady who had an only daughter, in whom was all their love and hope. Among their servants in a higher position was an old woman, who was very vindictive and easily offended, so that she could brood over deadly revenge for years for the least affront, and she fancied she had a great many, because when she had neglected her duty at times she had been scolded by her mistress or master.

"Now this old woman knew that death or disaster to the daughter would drive the parents mad; and so having recourse to witchcraft, she put into the drink of the young lady a decoction, the result of which was that she began to waste away, growing weaker and paler, without feeling any pain.

"Then her parents, in great fear, consulted the best physicians, who did no good, for indeed it was a case beyond their skill. And at last, beginning to believe that there was something unearthly in it all, they sent for an old woman who cured by occult art. {171} And when she came she looked steadily at the girl, then frowned and shook her head, and asked for a ribbon or cord, no matter what, so that it were one which the young lady had worn about her waist. With this she measured accurately the height of the patient from head to foot, and then the width from hand to hand, it being desirous that the arms be of equal length; but there was the disproportion of the thickness of a piece of money. Then the witch said:

"'This is none of my affair as regards the cure. Your daughter is bewitched, and I can indeed make the witch appear, but to beat her and compel her to remove the spell depends on you alone.'

"Now they, suspecting the old servant, sent for her, but she had disappeared and could not be found. Then the doctress took a caldron, and put into it hot water and the undergarments of the girl and certain herbs, and boiled them all together, singing an incantation, and, taking a knife, sharpened it on the table, whetting it on the chemise of the young lady.

"Then the old servant woman appeared at the door, against her will, forced by the power of the spell, in an agony of rage and bitterness; but she was at once seized and beaten, whereupon she consented to unbewitch the girl, who speedily recovered.

"Now Florence was at that time fearfully afflicted with evil witches, who defied all authority, and spread disease and death far and wide; but this affair of the bewitched lady being made known, both priests and laymen rose up in wrath, and the sorceress fled for sanctuary to the cloisters of San Lorenzo.

"Then to save their lives the _Strege_ made a compromise with the priests, and it was agreed that they should no longer live as witches, or do any harm, but all live and die as cats in the cloister, where they should be regularly fed, and exist in peace. Which agreement has been duly carried out to this day, and among these cats are many who were once witches in human form hundreds of years ago."

This narrative is not so much a story as an account of the manner in which bewitchment is undone by another witch. The reader will find the incantations in the chapter ent.i.tled "The Spell of the Boiling Clothes,"

in my work on "Etruscan-Roman Remains." One of the most serious riots which has occurred in Milan for many years took place March 3, 1891, when the populace tortured terribly and tried to kill a witch, who had, it was believed, been detected by this spell.

"_Haec fabula docet_," adds the wise Flaxius, "this story suggests a reason why a certain kind of ladies of ecclesiastical proclivities are always called tabbies. And that there is something in it I can well believe, knowing one who, when she calls her rector or bishop '_De-ar man_!' does so in a manner which marvellously suggests the purring of a cat. And the manner in which the tabby pounces on the small birds, mice, and gold-fish of others-_i.e._, their peccadilloes, and small pets or pleasures, which in good faith do her no harm-seems like literally copying the feline-upon line. . . .

"Oh! ye who visit the cloister, and see the cats, think well on this legend, and especially on the deep ident.i.ty of witches with tabbies!

"And for a moral, note that, with all their sins, what the witches and cats aimed at above all things was _food_, with which they have remained content, according to the exquisite lyric by the divine Sh.e.l.ley, p. 661, Dowden's edition:-

"'This poor little cat Only wanted a rat, To stuff out its own little maw, And it were as good Some people had such food To make them _hold their jaw_.'"

LEGEND OF THE PIAZZA SAN BIAGIO

"For by diabolical art he a.s.sumed varied forms, even the human, and deceived people by many occult tricks."-FROMANN, _Tractatus de Fascinatione_, 1675.

This is a slight tale of light value, and not new, but it has a.s.sumed local colour, and may amuse the reader.

"It was a great art of witches and sorcerers of old to give a man or woman by art the appearance of another person, and this they called 'drawing white lines with charcoal,' and there is many a fine tale about it. Now it was about the time when Berta spun and owls wore silk cloaks that a Signore Nannincino lived in the old Piazza San Biagio. He had many small possessions in Florence, but the roast chickens of the supper, or his great piece, was an estate in the country called the Mula a Quinto, for which all his relations longed, like wolves for a fat sheep.

And Nannincini, being sharp to a keen edge, and knowing how to lend water and borrow wine, had promised this estate in secret to everybody, and got from them many a gratification, and supped and dined with them for years, yet after this died without leaving a will.

"Then six of his relations a.s.sembled and resolved to secure the property, though they invoked the devil. And to aid them they took a certain scamp named Giano di Selva, who somewhat resembled the departed Nannincino, and he, calling in a witch of his acquaintance, was made by sorcery to look as much like the defunct as two beads of the same rosary. So Nannincino was removed and Giano put in his place, where he lay still for an hour, and then began to show signs of life. And after a time he called for a notary and began to make his will. First he left a house to one, and his sword to another, and so on, till it came to the Mula a Quinto.

"'And who shall have the Mula a Quinto, dear good uncle?' asked a nephew.

"'That,' replied the dying man, 'I leave to my good friend, the only true friend I ever had, the n.o.blest of men-'

"'But what is his _name_?' asked the nephew.

"'Giano di Selva,' gasped the dying man. And it was written down by the notary, and the will was signed, and the signer died immediately after.

All their shaking could not revive him.

"The tale ends with these words: _E cos ingannati gli ingannatori_, _rimase Giano herede del podere_-And thus the biters being bit, d'ye see, Giano took a handsome property."

"And does his ghost still promenade the palace?"

"To oblige you, Signore, for this once-_place a lei il comandare_-it does. The ghost walks-always when the rent fails to come in, and there is no money in the treasury-_cammina_, _cammina per un fil di spada_-walks as straight as an acrobat on a rope. But I cannot give you a walking ghost of a rascal to every house, Signore. If all the knaves who made fortunes by trickery were to take to haunting our houses in Florence, they would have to lie ten in a bed, or live one hundred in a room, and ghosts, as you know, love to be alone. _Mille grazie_, Signore Carlo! This will keep _our_ ghost from walking for a week."

"Of which remark here made that '_the ghost doth walk_,'" comments the sage Flaxius, "when money is forbidden unto man (which is so commonly heard in theatrical circles when the weekly salary is not paid), I have no doubt that it comes from the many ancient legends which a.s.sign a jealous guardian sprite to every h.o.a.rd. And thus in Spenser's wondrous 'Faerie Queene' the marvellous stores in Mammon's treasury, 'embost with ma.s.sy gold of glorious guifte,' were watched by

"'An ugly feend more fowle than dismall day; The which with monstrous stalk behind him stept, And ever as he went dew watch upon him kept.'

"The which quotation is in its turn otherwise curious since it gave, I doubt not, the original suggestion to Coleridge of the verse wherein mention is made in simile of one who walks in tear and dread, and dares not turn his head-

"'For well he knows a griesly fiend Doth close behind him tread.'

"'More or less accurately, my masters, more or less.' ''Tis sixty years since'-I read the original."

THE SPIRIT OF THE PORTA SAN GALLO

"And both the undying fish that swim Through Bowscale Tarn did wait on him: The pair were servants of his eye In their immortality; They moved about in open sight, To and fro, for his delight."

-WORDSWORTH, _Poems of the Imagination_.

The reader should never at once infer that a legend is recent because it is attached to a new place. Spirits and traditions are like the goblin of Norse tale, who moved with the family. The family changed its home to get rid of him, but on the way the elf popped his head out and remarked, "_Wi flutten_" ("We're flitting" or moving). The ghost of Benjamin Franklin long haunted the library which he had founded in Philadelphia, and when the library or books were transferred to a new building, the ghost went with them and his statue. And in like manner the legend of the religious person, male or female, who is also a _fish_ has travelled over many lands, till it came to the _vasca_ or basin of the Porto San Gallo. Thus Leonard Vair, in his charming _Trois Livres des Charmes_, _Sorcelages ou Enchantemens_, Paris, 1583, tells us that "there is a cloister in Burgundy, by which there is a pond, and in this pond are as many fish as there be monks in the cloister. And when one of the fish swims on the surface of the water and beats with its tail, then one of the monks is ever ill." But there is a ma.s.s of early Christian or un-Christian folklore which identifies "Catholic clergy-women" with fish, even as Quakers are identified in Philadelphia with shad. In Germany all maids just in their teens are called _Backfisch_, that is, pan-fish or _fritures_, from their youth and liveliness, or delicacy. We may read in Friedrich that the fish is a common Christian symbol of immortality, which fully accounts for all legends of certain of them living for ever.

The story which I have to tell is as follows:-

LO SPIRITO DELLA VASCA DELLA PORTA SAN GALLO.

"In this fountain-basin is found a pretty little fish, which is always there, and which no one can catch, because it always escapes with great _lestezza_ or agility.

"And this is the queen of all the other fish, or else the Spirit of the Fountain.

"This spirit, while on earth, was a beautiful girl who loved an official, and he fell ill and was in the military hospital.