Italian Popular Tales Part 45

CVI. PETER FULLONE AND THE EGG.

Once upon a time Peter Fullone, the stone-cutter, was working at the cemetery, near the church of Santo Spirito; a man pa.s.sed by and said: "Peter, what is the best mouthful?" Fullone answered: "An egg;" and stopped.

A year later Fullone was working in the same place, sitting on the ground and breaking stones. The man who had questioned him the year before pa.s.sed by again and said: "Peter, with what?" meaning: what is good to eat with an egg. "With salt," answered Peter Fullone. He had such a wise head that after a year he remembered a thing that a pa.s.ser-by had said.

The cemetery alluded to, Pitre says, is beyond the gate of St. Agatha, near the ancient church of Sto. Spirito, where the Sicilian Vespers began. An interesting article on Peter Fullone may be found in Pitre, _Studi di Poesia popolare_, p. 109, "_Pietro Fullone e le Sfide popolari siciliane_."

The sight-seer in Florence has noticed, on the east side of the square in which the cathedral stands, a block of stone built into the wall of a house, and bearing the inscription, "_Sa.s.so di Dante_." The guide-books inform the traveller that this is the stone on which the great poet was wont to sit on summer evenings. Tradition says that an unknown person once accosted Dante seated in his favorite place, and asked: "What is the best mouthful?" Dante answered: "An egg." A year after, the same man, whom Dante had not seen meanwhile, approached and asked: "With what?" Dante immediately replied: "With salt."

A poet, Carlo Gabrielli, put this incident into rhyme, and drew from it the following moral (_senso_):--

"L'acuto ingegno grande apporta gloria; Maggior, se v'e congiunta alta memoria."

See Papanti, _op. cit._ pp. 183, 205.

[26] This story is told in almost the same words in Pitre, No. 297, "The Peasant and the King." There are several Italian literary versions, the best known being in the _Cento nov. ant._ ed. Borghini, Nov. VI.: see D'Ancona's notes to this novel in the _Romania_, III. p. 185, "_Le Fonti del Novellino_." It is also found in the _Gesta Romanorum_, cap. 57, see notes in Oesterley's edition; and in Simrock's _Deutsche Marchen_, No.

8, see Liebrecht's notes in _Orient und Occident_, III. p. 372. To the above may, finally, be added Kohler's notes to Gonz., No. 50 (II. p.

234).

[27] Comparetti, No. 43, "_La Ragazza astuta_" (Barga). The first part of the story, dividing the fowl, and sending the presents, which are partly eaten on the way, is found in Gonz., No. 1, "_Die Kluge Bauerntochter_" ("The Peasant's Clever Daughter"). See Kohler's notes to Gonz., No. 1 (II. 205); and to Nasr-eddin's _Schw.a.n.ke_ in _Orient und Occident_, I. p. 444. Grimm, No. 94, "The Peasant's Wise Daughter,"

contains all the episodes of the Italian story except the division of the fowl. An Italian version in the _Fiabe Mant._ No. 36, "_La giovane accorta_," contains the episode of the mortar. The king sends word to the clever daughter that she must procure for him some _ahime_ (sneeze) salad. She sent him some ordinary salad with some garlic sprinkled over it, and when he touched it he sneezed (and formed the sound represented by the word _ahime_). The rest of the story contains the episode lacking in the other popular Italian versions, but found in Grimm, and technically known as "_halb geritten_." For this episode see _Gesta Romanorum_, ed. Oesterley, cap. 124, and Pauli, 423.

Another Italian version from Bergamo may be found in Corazzini, p. 482, "_La Storia del Pestu d' or_" ("The Story of the Gold Pestle"), which is like the version in the text from the episode of the mortar on. In the story from Bergamo it is a gold pestle, and not a mortar, that is found, and the story of "_halb geritten_" is retained. The episode of the foal is changed into a sharp answer made (at the queen's suggestion) by the king's herdsman to his master, who had failed to pay him for his services. A version from Montale, Nerucci, p. 18, "_Il Mortajo d'oro_"

("The Golden Mortar"), contains all the episodes of the story in the text (including "_halb geritten_") except the division of the fowl. The first part of the story is found in a tale from Cyprus, in the _Jahrb._ XI. p. 360.

A parallel to the story in our text may also be found in Ralston's _R.

F. T._ p. 30. The literature of the story of "The Clever Girl" may be found in Child's _English and Scottish Popular Ballads_, Part I. p. 6, "The Elfin Knight."

[28] _Fiabe Mantovane_, No. 41, "_Gambara_." The Italian for crab is _gambero_. There is a Tuscan story (_Nov. pop. tosc._ p. 8), "_Il Medico grillo_" ("Doctor Cricket"), with reference perhaps to the other meaning of _grillo_, whim, fancy, which reminds one of the story in the text.

The pretended doctor cures a king's daughter by making her laugh so hard that she dislodges a fish-bone that had stuck in her throat. Doctor Cricket becomes so popular that the other doctors starve, and finally ask the king to kill him. The king refuses, but sets him a difficult task to do, namely, to cure all the patients in the hospital; failing to accomplish this, he is to be killed or dismissed. Doctor Cricket has a huge cauldron of water heated, and then goes into the wards and tells the patients that when the water is hot they are all to be put into it, but if any one wishes to depart he can go away then. Of course they all run away in haste, and when the king comes the hospital is empty. The doctor is then richly rewarded, and returns to his home.

For parallels to our story see Pitre's notes, vol. IV. p. 442, and to the Tuscan story above-mentioned.

Another Tuscan version has recently been published in _Nov. tosc._ No.

60. See also Grimm, No. 98; Asbjrnsen, _Ny Sam._ No. 82 [Dasent, _Tales from the Fjeld_, p. 139, "The Charcoal Burner"]; Caballero, _Cuentos_, p. 68; _Orient und Occident_, I. 374; and Benfey, _Pant._ I. 374. There is a story in Straparola (XIII. 6) that recalls the story in our text. A mother sends her stupid son to find "good day" (_il buon d_). The youth stretched himself in the road near the city gate where he could observe all those who entered or left the town. Now it happened that three citizens had gone out into the fields to take possession of a treasure that they had discovered. On their return they greeted the youth in the road with "good day." The youth said, when the first one saluted him: "I have one of them," meaning one of the good days, and so on with the other two. The citizens who had found the treasure, believing that they were discovered, and that the youth would inform the magistrates of the find, shared the treasure with him.