The Pentamerone, or The Story of Stories/The Goat-Face
THE GOAT-FACE.
All the ill deeds that a man commits have some colour of excuse,—either contempt which provokes, necessity which compels, love which blinds, or anger which breaks the neck. But ingratitude is a thing that has no excuse, true or false, upon which it can fix; and it is therefore the worst of vices, since it dries up the fountain of compassion, extinguishes the fire of love, closes the road to benefits, and causes vexation and repentance to spring up in the heart of the ungrateful person; as you will see in the story which I am going to relate.
A peasant had twelve daughters, not one of whom was a head taller than the next; for every year their mother, good Mistress Ceccuzza, presented him with a little girl; so that the poor man, to support his family decently, went every morning as a day-labourer and dug hard the whole day long. Enough, with the little his labour produced, he kept his flock of little ones from dying of hunger.
He happened one day to be digging at the foot of a mountain, the spy of the other mountains that thrust its head above the clouds to see what they were doing up in the sky, and close to a cavern so deep and dark that the sun was afraid to enter it. Out of this cavern there came a green lizard as big as a crocodile, and the poor man was so terrified that he had not power to run away, expecting every moment the end of his days from a gulp of that ugly animal. But the lizard approaching him said, "Be not afraid, my good man, for I am not come here to do you any harm, but only for your good."
When Masaniello (for that was the name of the labourer) heard this, he fell on his knees and said, "Mistress What's-your-name, I am wholly in your power; act then worthily, and have compassion on this poor trunk that has twelve branches to support."
"It is on this very account," said the lizard, "that I am disposed to serve you; so bring me tomorrow morning the youngest of your daughters; for I will rear her up like my own child, and love her as my life."
At this the poor father was more confounded than a thief when the stolen goods are found on his back; for hearing the lizard ask him for one of his daughters, and that too the tenderest of them, he concluded that the cloak was not without wool on it, and that she wanted her for a tit-bit to stay her appetite. Then he said to himself, "If I give her my daughter, I give her my soul; if I refuse her, she will take this body of mine; if I yield her up, I am robbed of my heart; if I deny her, she will suck out my blood; if I consent, she takes away a part of myself; if I refuse, she takes the whole. What shall I resolve on? what course shall I take? what expedient shall I adopt? Oh what an ill day's work have I made of it! what a misfortune has rained down from heaven upon me!"
While he was speaking thus, the lizard said to him, "Resolve quickly, and do what I have told you, or else you will leave your rags here; for so I will have it, and so it must, be." Masaniello hearing this decree, and having no one to whom he could appeal, returned home quite melancholy, as yellow in the face as if he had the jaundice; and Ceccuzza, seeing him so moping and crestfallen[1], choked and swoln, said to him, "What has happened to you, husband? have you had a quarrel with any one? is there a warrant out against you? or is the ass dead?"
"Nothing of the kind," answered Masaniello; "but a horned lizard has put me into a fright, for she has threatened that, if I do not bring her our youngest daughter, she will make me rue it. My head is turning round like a reel. I know not what fish to take: on the one side, love constrains me; on the other, the burden of my family. I love Renzolla dearly, I love my own life dearly. If I do not give the lizard this portion of my heart, she will take the whole compass of this unfortunate body. So now, Ceccuzza dear, advise me, or I am ruined."
When his wife heard this, she said, "Who knows, husband, but this may be a lizard with two tails[2] that will make our fortune? who knows but this lizard may put an end to all our miseries? See how most times we ourselves put the axe to our foot, and when we should have an eagle's sight to discern the good luck that is running to meet us, we have a cloth before our eyes, and the cramp in our hand when we should lay hold of it. So go, take her away, for my heart tells me that some good fortune awaits the poor little thing."
These words pleased Masanicllo; and the next morning, as soon as the Sun with the brush of his rays whitewashed the Sky, which the shades of Night had blackened, he took the little girl by the hand and led her to the cave. As soon as the lizard, who was on the watch for the countryman's coming, saw him, she came out of her hiding-place, and taking the child, gave the father a bagful of crown-pieces, saying, "Go now, marry your other daughters with this money, and live happy, Renzolla has found both father and mother; and happy is she to have met with this good fortune."
Masaniello, overjoyed, thanked the lizard and went home to his wife, and told her the matter, and showed her the money, with which they married all their other daughters, and had enough vinegar remaining for themselves to enable them to swallow with relish the toils of life.
The lizard, as soon as she got Renzolla, caused a most beautiful palace to appear, and placed her in it, and brought her up in such state and magnificence as would have dazzled the eyes of any queen; and the story goes that she even did not want for ant's milk[3]. Her food was fit for a count, her clothing for a prince: she had a hundred maidens ready to wait upon her; and with such good treatment in a short time she grew as round as an oak-tree.
It happened, as the king was out hunting in these woods, that night overtook him; and as he stood looking around, not knowing where to lay his head, he saw a candle shining in this palace; whereupon he sent one of his servants to it, to pray the owner to give him shelter. When the servant came to the palace, the lizard appeared before him in the shape of a beautiful lady, who, after hearing his message, said that his master should be a thousand times welcome, and that neither bread nor knife should be wanting there. The king, on hearing this reply, went to the palace, and was received like a cavalier: a hundred pages went out to meet him with lighted torches, so that it appeared like the grand funeral of a rich man: a hundred other pages brought the dishes to the table, who looked like so many attendants in an hospital carrying cups of broth to the sick: a hundred others made a deafening din with musical instruments; but, above all, Renzolla served the king, and handed him drink with such grace that he drank more love than wine.
When dinner was over, and the tables were removed, the king went to bed, and Renzolla herself drew the stockings from his feet and the heart from his breast so cleverly that, when touched by her fair hand, he felt the amorous poison rise from the tips of his feet and infect his very soul. So, to prevent his death, he resolved to try and get the antidote to these beauties; and calling the fairy in whose care Renzolla was, he asked her for his wife; whereupon the fairy, who wished for nothing but Renzolla's good, not only freely consented, but gave her a dowry of seven millions of gold.
The king, overjoyed at this piece of good fortune, departed with Renzolla, who, ill-mannered and ungrateful for all the fairy had done for her, went off with her husband without uttering a single word of thanks. Then the fairy, beholding such ingratitude, cursed her, and wished that her face should become like that of a she-goat; and hardly had she uttered the words, when Renzolla's mouth stretched out, with a beard a span long on it; her jaws shrunk, her skin hardened, her cheeks grew hairy, and her plaited tresses turned to pointed horns.
When the poor king saw this he was thunderstruck, not knowing what had happened, that so great a beauty[4] should be thus transformed; and with sighs and tears he every moment kept exclaiming, "Where are the locks that bound me? where are the eyes that transfixed me? where is the mouth that was the pitfall of my soul, the trap of my breath, and the cage of my heart? must I then be the husband of a she-goat? no, no, my heart shall not break for such a goat-face." So saying, as soon as they reached his palace, he put Renzolla into a kitchen along with a chamber-maid, giving to each of them ten bundles of flax to spin, and desiring them to have the thread ready at the end of a week.
The maid, in obedience to the king, set about carding the flax, preparing and putting it on the distaff, twirling her spindle, reeling it, and working away like a dog; so that on Saturday evening her thread was all done. But Renzolla, thinking she was still the same as in the fairy's house, not having looked at herself in a glass, threw the flax out of the window, saying, "A pretty thing indeed of the king to set me such work to do! If he wants shirts let him buy them, and not fancy that he picked me up out of the gutter. But let him remember that I brought him home seven millions of gold, and that I am his wife and not his servant; methinks too he is somewhat of an ass to treat me in this way."
Nevertheless, when Saturday morning came, seeing that the maid had spun all her share of the flax, Renzolla was greatly afraid of getting a little carding; so away she went to the palace of the fairy, and told her her misfortune. Then the fairy embraced her with great affection, and gave her a bag full of spun thread, to present to the king, and show him what a notable and industrious housewife she was. Renzolla took the bag, and, without saying one word of thanks for the service, she went to the royal palace; so that the fairy was quite angered at the conduct of this graceless girl.
When the king had taken the thread, he gave two little dogs, one to Renzolla and one to the maid, telling them to feed and rear them. The maid reared hers upon bread-crumbs, and treated it like a child; but Renzolla grumbled,—"A pretty thing truly! as my grandfather used to say, prithee are we living under the Turks? have I indeed to comb and wait upon dogs?" And so saying, she flung the dog out of the window, which was a very different thing to leaping through the hoop.
Some months after this the king asked for the dogs; whereat Renzolla, losing heart, ran off again to the fairy; and at the gate stood an old man who was the porter: "Who are you," said he, "and whom do you want?" Renzolla, hearing herself accosted in this offhand way, replied, "Don't you know me, you goat-beard?"
"Are you handing me the knife?" said the old man: "this is the thief following the bailiff: keep off, said the tinker, you're dirtying me! throw yourself forward, or you'll fall on your back. I a goat-beard indeed! you're a goat-beard and a half, for you merit this and worse for your presumption. Wait awhile, you impudent slut; I'll presently enlighten you, and you will see to what your airs and your impudence have brought you."
So saying, he ran into a little room, and taking a looking-glass set it before Renzolla, who, when she saw her ugly, hairy visage, had like to have died of terror. Rinaldo's horror when he saw himself in the enchanted shield, so changed from what he had been[5], was nothing to her dismay at seeing her face so altered that she did not know herself. Whereupon the old man said to her, "You ought to recollect, Renzolla, that you are the daughter of a peasant, and that it was the fairy who raised you to be a queen; but you, rude, unmannerly and thankless as you are, having little gratitude for such favours, have kept her waiting in the ante-chamber without showing her the slightest mark of affection. So take and spend; go off with this, and come back for the rest. You have brought the quarrel on yourself: see what a face you have got by it! see to what you are brought by your ingratitude; for through the fairy's malediction you have not only changed face but condition. But if you will do as this white-beard advises, go and look for the fairy; throw yourself at her feet, tear your beard, scratch your face, beat your breast, and ask pardon for the ill-treatment you have shown her; for, as she is tender-hearted, she will be moved to pity at your misfortune."
Renzolla, who was touched to the quick, and felt that he had hit the nail on the head, followed the old man's advice. Then the fairy embraced and kissed her, and restoring her to her former appearance, she put on her a dress which was quite heavy with gold; and placing her in a magnificent coach, accompanied by a crowd of servants, she brought her to the king. When the king beheld her, so beautiful and splendidly attired, he loved her as his own life; blaming himself for all the misery he had made her endure, but excusing himself on account of that odious goat-face which had been the came of it. Thus Renzolla lived happy, loving her husband, honouring the fairy, and showing herself grateful to the old man, having learned at her cost that
"It is always good to be mannerly."
Every one present sat with open mouth listening to Paola's beautiful story; and they all agreed, that the humble man is like a ball, which springs the higher the harder it is thrown upon the ground; and like the he-goat, which butts with greater force the further he retreats. But Taddeo having made a sign to Ciommetella to follow the rubric, she speedily set her tongue in motion.
- ↑ The original is beautiful: appagliaruto expresses the appearance of a bird when sick, with its head retracted under its wings—ascelluto is with its wings drooping.
- ↑ The Neapolitans have a belief, that he who finds a lizard with two tails has made his fortune: it has become proverbial.
- ↑ The Greeks said 'Bird's milk,' and we say 'Pigeon's milk,' to express what is rare: so 'Wolf's eggs,' page 60.
- ↑ Na bellezza a doje sole,—a very common expression.
- ↑ Tasso, Ger. Lib. cant, xvi, st. 31.