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_Marziella, for showing kindness to an old woman, receives a fairy’s blessing; but her aunt, envious of her good fortune, throws her into the sea, where a siren keeps her chained for a long time. Freed by her brother, she becomes queen, and her aunt pays the penalty for her wickedness._ _The princes would surely have declared that Antonella’s tale outdid all those told before it, had they not feared discouraging Ciulla, who, having couched the lance of her tongue, carried off the ring of Taddeo’s and his wife’s delight in the following fashion._ I have always heard it said that whoever does a kindness will find kindness in return. The bell of Manfredonia says, “Give to me, and I’ll give to you.” Whoever fails to bait the hook of affection with courtesy will never catch the fish of a good turn. And if you would see the proof, listen to this tale, and then tell me whether the miser has not always lost more than the generous soul.
Now, they say there were once two sisters, Luceta and Troccola, who had two daughters, Marziella and Puccia. Marziella was as lovely in face as she was in heart, while Puccia’s heart and hide were cut from the same cloth: a face like the plague and a heart like the pestilence. But the girl took after her family, for her mother Troccola was a harpy, a foul piece of work inside and out. Now it happened that Luceta, who had four parsnips to boil before frying them and serving them with green sauce, said to her daughter, “Marziella, my dear, go to the fountain, sweetheart, and fetch me a pitcher of water.” “Gladly, Mother,” answered the girl, “but if you love me, give me a little cake, so I can eat it beside that cool water.” “With pleasure,” said her mother, and from a basket hanging on a hook she took a fine little cake, for she had baked bread the day before, and gave it to Marziella. Setting the pitcher on a little pad upon her head, the girl went off to the fountain, which, like a mountebank upon a marble platform, was selling remedies for thirst to the music of tumbling water. While she was filling her pitcher, an old woman came along who, upon the stage of an enormous hump, was performing the tragedy of Time. Seeing the lovely cake that Marziella was just about to bite, she said, “My pretty girl, as you hope that Heaven will send you good fortune, give me a little of that cake.” Marziella, who had the makings of a queen, said, “Here, take it all. Eat, my good woman, and I am only sorry it is not made of sugar and almonds, for I would give you that just as gladly.” Seeing Marziella’s kindness, the old woman said, “Go, and may Heaven always reward you for the loving heart you have shown me. I pray to all the stars that you may always be happy and contented; that whenever you breathe, roses and jasmine may fall from your mouth; whenever you comb your hair, pearls and garnets may rain from your head; and wherever you set your foot upon the ground, lilies and violets may spring up.” The girl thanked her and went home, where, once her mother had finished cooking, they paid the body its natural dues. That day passed, and next morning, when the Sun displayed in the marketplace of the heavenly fields the wares of light he had brought from the East, Marziella began to comb her hair and saw a shower of pearls and garnets fall into her lap. Overjoyed, she called her mother, and together they put them into a basket. Luceta went to sell a good part of them to a broker she knew, and meanwhile Troccola came to see her sister. Finding Marziella busily gathering and sorting the pearls, she asked how, when, and where she had come by them. The girl, who knew nothing of muddying the waters and had perhaps never heard the proverb, _Do not do all you can, eat all you want, spend all you have, or tell all you know_, related the whole affair to her aunt. Troccola did not trouble to wait for her sister, but could scarcely bear the time it took to get home. Giving her daughter a cake, she sent her to fetch water from the fountain. There Puccia met the same old woman, who asked her for a little of the cake. But the girl, a nasty little creature, answered, “Have I nothing better to do than give you my cake? Did you get my donkey with foal, that I should give you what is mine? Be off! My teeth are nearer to me than my kin.” And with that she wolfed down the cake in four bites, making the old woman’s mouth water. When the old woman saw the last mouthful swallowed, and her own hopes buried with the cake, she said in a fury, “Go, and whenever you breathe, may you foam like a doctor’s mule; whenever you comb your hair, may lice fall from your head in heaps; and wherever you set your foot upon the ground, may ferns and spurges spring up.” Puccia fetched the water and returned home, where her mother could hardly wait to comb her hair. Spreading a fine cloth in her lap, she laid her daughter’s head upon it and began to comb. And there came pouring down a torrent of those little alchemists that can bring quicksilver to a standstill. At this sight, the mother added the fire of rage to the snow of envy, until she breathed flame and smoke through her nose and mouth. Some time later, Ciommo, Marziella’s brother, was at the court of the King of Chiunzo. A discussion arose concerning the beauty of various women, and, without being asked, he thrust himself forward and declared that all the beauties in the world might as well go hawking bones at the bridge if his sister appeared. Besides her lovely features, which sang a counterpoint to the steady melody of a beautiful soul, she possessed wonderful gifts in her hair, her mouth, and her feet, bestowed upon her by a fairy. Hearing these praises, the king told Ciommo to send for her, for if she proved to be all that he made her out, he would take her as his wife.
Ciommo, who thought this an opportunity not to be missed, immediately sent a special messenger to his mother, telling her what had happened and begging her to come at once with her daughter, lest they let such good fortune slip away.
Luceta, who was very ill, entrusted the lamb to the wolf, asking her sister to do her the kindness of escorting Marziella to the court of Chiunzo, and explaining why. Seeing matters fall so neatly into her hands, Troccola promised her sister that she would deliver the girl safe and sound into her brother’s care. Then she embarked in a boat with Marziella and Puccia, and when they were out at sea, while the sailors slept, she threw Marziella into the water. Just as the girl was about to bob under like a little duck, a most beautiful siren came, took her in her arms, and carried her away. Troccola arrived at Chiunzo, and Ciommo received Puccia as though she were Marziella, for he had not seen his sister for so long that he failed to recognize the imposture. He brought her straight before the king, who had her hair combed, whereupon there began to rain down those creatures so hostile to truth that they are always attacking the temples. Looking into her face, he saw that her heavy breathing on the journey had raised such a lather around her mouth that it looked like a cloth-fulling mill; and lowering his eyes to the ground, he beheld a meadow of stinking weeds that turned his stomach. He drove out Puccia and her mother and, in his anger, sent Ciommo to tend the court geese. In despair at this affair, and unable to understand what had befallen him, Ciommo took the geese into the countryside, let them wander at will along the shore, and withdrew into a straw hut, where he wept over his fate until evening, when it was time to go home. But as the geese roamed along the beach, Marziella came out of the water and fed them almond paste and gave them rosewater to drink, until each goose grew as fat as a wether, so plump it could scarcely see. And every evening, when they reached a little garden beneath the king’s window, they began to sing, “Pire, pire, pire!
_Fair indeed are Sun and Moon,_ _Fairer still is she who tends us._” Hearing this goose music every evening, the king summoned Ciommo and demanded to know where, how, and on what he fed his geese. Ciommo told him, “I give them nothing to eat but the fresh grass of the fields.” This answer did not ring true to the king, so he sent a trusted servant secretly after him to watch where he took the geese. Following in his footsteps, the servant saw him enter the straw hut and leave the geese to themselves. They made their way to the shore, and when they arrived, Marziella came out of the sea. I do not believe that the mother of that blind boy who, as the poet says, _asks no other alms than tears_, rose so beautiful from the waves.
At this sight, the king’s servant, astonished and quite beside himself, ran to his master and told him of the lovely spectacle he had seen upon the stage of the seashore. The man’s words so stirred the king’s curiosity that he longed to go and see this beauty for himself. Next morning, when the Cock, that ringleader of the birds, roused them all to raise their voices against the night, Ciommo set out with the geese for his accustomed place, and the king followed, never letting him out of his sight. The geese reached the sea without Ciommo, who had stayed behind as usual, and the king saw Marziella emerge. After giving the geese a tray of little pastries to eat and a basin of rosewater to drink, she sat down upon a stone to comb her hair, from which pearls and garnets fell by the handful. Meanwhile a cloud of flowers issued from her mouth, and beneath her feet there spread a Syrian carpet of lilies and violets. At this sight the king sent for Ciommo and, pointing out Marziella, asked whether he knew that lovely girl. Recognizing her, Ciommo ran to embrace her, and in the king’s presence he heard the whole story of Troccola’s treachery, and how the envy of that foul wretch had condemned this lovely flame of love to dwell in the waters of the sea. Words cannot tell the king’s delight at finding such a precious jewel. Turning to her brother, he said that Ciommo had been quite right to praise her so highly, for he found her more than two-thirds lovelier still than he had been told. He therefore judged her more than worthy to be his wife, if she would consent to accept the sceptre of his kingdom. “Oh, if only the Sun in Leo would grant it!” replied Marziella. “If only I might come and serve you as a slave to your crown! But do you not see this golden chain about my foot? With it the enchantress keeps me prisoner, and whenever I take too much air and linger too long upon this shore, she pulls me back into the water, where she keeps me in splendid servitude, bound in gold.” “What means could there be,” said the king, “of freeing you from this siren’s claws?” “The only way,” replied Marziella, “would be to cut through this chain with a noiseless file, and then for me to make my escape.”
“Wait for me tomorrow morning,” replied the king, “and I shall come with everything ready and take you home with me, where you shall be my right eye, the apple of my heart, and the very marrow of my soul.” Having pledged their love with a clasp of hands, she went back into the water, while he plunged into fire—and such a fire that he had not an hour’s peace all day. And when the black rabble of night came out to beat its drums among the stars, he never closed his eyes, but kept chewing over Marziella’s beauty with the jaws of memory, dwelling in thought upon the wonders of her hair, the miracles of her mouth, and the marvels of her feet. Testing the gold of her charms upon the touchstone of his judgment, he found it twenty-four carats fine. He cursed the night for taking so long to finish its embroidery of stars, and railed at the Sun for not hastening along with his cartload of light, so that he might enrich his house with the treasure he desired, bringing into his chambers a gold mine that yielded pearls, a pearl shell that yielded flowers. But while his thoughts tossed upon a sea of longing for the girl who lay beneath the sea, behold, the Sun’s sappers began to clear the road along which he was to march with his army of rays. The king dressed and set off with Ciommo for the shore. There they found Marziella, and with the file they had brought, the king cut with his own hands the chain about his beloved’s foot, forging another, stronger chain about his own heart. Setting behind him on his horse the girl who already rode upon his heart, he made for the royal palace. There, by his orders, all the beautiful women of the country were assembled to welcome her and acknowledge her as their mistress. He married her with great celebrations, and among the many barrels burned for the illuminations, he ordered that one should contain Troccola herself, so that she might pay for the treachery she had practised upon Marziella. Then he sent for Luceta and gave her and Ciommo the means to live like lords. As for Puccia, she was driven out of the kingdom and spent the rest of her days begging. Because she had refused to sow a little piece of cake, she forever suffered a famine of bread, for it is Heaven’s will _That whoever shows no mercy shall find none._