意大利童話 The Little Girl Sold with the Pears 和梨子一起賣掉的小女孩

The Little Girl Sold with the Pears

Once a man had a pear tree that used to bear four baskets of pears a year One year, though, it only bore three baskets and a half, while he was supposed to carry four to the king Seeing no other way out, he put his youngest daughter into the fourth basket and covered her up with pears and leaves

The baskets were carried into the king's pantry, where the child stayed in hiding underneath the pears But having nothing to eat, she began nibbling on the pears After a while the servants noticed the supply of pears dwindling and also saw the cores "There must be a rat or a mole gnawing on the pears," they said "We shall look inside the baskets" They removed the top and found the little girl

"What are you doing here?" they asked "Come with us and work in the king's kitchen"

They called her Perina, and she was such a clever little girl that in no time she was doing the housework better than the king's own maidservants She was so pretty no one could help loving her The king's son, who was her age exactly, was always with Perina, and they became very fond of each other

As the maiden grew up, the maidservants began to envy her They held their tongues for a while, then accused Perina of boasting she would go and steal the witches' treasure The king got wind of it and send for the girl "Is it true you boasted you would go and steal the witches' treasure?"

"No, Sacred Crown, I made no such boast"

"You did so," insisted the king, "and now you have to keep your word" At that, he banished her from the palace until she should return with the treasure

On and on she walked until nightfall Perina came to an apple tree, but kept on going She next came to a peach tree, but still didn't stop Then she came to a pear tree, climbed it, and fell asleep

In the morning there stood a little old woman under the tree "What are you doing up there, my daughter?" asked the old woman

Perina told her about the difficulty she was in The old woman said, "Take these three pounds of grease, three pounds of bread, and three pounds of millet and be on your way" Perina thanked her very much and moved on

She came to a bakery where three women were pulling out their hair to sweep out the oven with Perina gave them the three pounds of millet, which they then used to sweep out the oven and allowed the little girl to continue on her way

On and on she walked and met three mastiffs that barked and rushed at anyone coming their way Perina threw them the three pounds of bread, and they let her pass

After walking for miles and miles she came to a blood-red river, which she had no idea how to cross But the old woman had told her to say:

"Fine water so red, I must make haste; Else, of you would I taste"

At those words, the waters parted and let her through

On the other side of the river, Perina beheld one of the finest and largest palaces in the world But the door was opening and slamming so rapidly that no one could possibly go in Perina therefore applied the three pounds of grease to its hinges, and from then on it opened and closed quite gently

Inside, Perina spied the treasure chest sitting on a small table She picked it up and was about to go off with it, when the chest spoke: "Door, kill her, kill her!"

"I won't, either, since she greased my hinges that hadn't been looked after since goodness knows when"

Perina reached the river, and the chest said, "River, drown her, drown her!"

"I won't, either," replied the river, "since she called me 'Fine water so red'"

She came to the dogs, and the chest said, "Dogs, devour her, devour her!"

"We won't, either," replied the dogs, "since she gave us three pounds of bread"

She came to the bakery oven "Oven, burn her, burn her!"

But the three women replied, "We won't, either, since she gave us three pounds of millet, so that now we can spare our hair"

When she was almost home, Perina, who had as much curiosity as the next little girl, decided to peep into the treasure chest She opened it, and out came a hen and her brood of gold chicks They scuttled away too fast for a soul to catch them Perina struck out after them She passed the apple tree, but they were nowhere in sight She passed the peach tree, where there was still no sign of them She came to the pear tree, and there stood the little old woman with a wand in her hand and hen and chicks feeding around her "Shoo, shoo!" went the old woman, and the hen and chicks reentered the treasure chest

Upon her arrival, the king's son came out to meet her "When my father asked what you want as a reward, tell him that box filled with coal in the cellar"

On the doorstep of the royal palace stood the maidservants, the king, and the entire court Perina handed the king the hen with the brood of gold chicks "Ask for whatever you want," said the king, "and I will give it to you"

"I would like the box of coal in the cellar," replied Perina

They brought her the box of coal, which she opened, and out jumped the king's son, who was hiding inside The king was then happy for Perina to marry his son

(Monferrato)

NOTES:

"The Little Girl Sold with the Pears" (La bambina venduta con le pere) from Comparetti, 10, Monferrato, Piedmont

I changed the name Margheritina to Perina (Pearlet), and I invented the motif of the peartree and the little old woman (in the original, the magic props come from the king's son, who is under a spell), to reinforce the pear/girl link

Copyright: Italian Folktales Selected and Retold by Italo Calvino,

translated by George Martin,

Pantheon Books, New York 1980

和梨子一起賣掉的小女孩

從前，有個人有一棵梨樹，每年都能收四大筐梨子，正好夠交給國王。有一年，只收了三筐半梨子。他沒法裝滿第四個筐，就把他最小的女兒裝進去，然后蓋上了些梨子和樹葉。

這四筐梨子被送到了王宮的食品庫，倒梨子的時候，小女孩跟梨子一起被倒了出來，沒被發(fā)現(xiàn)。這樣，她就被留在了倉庫里，除了梨子，沒有別的東西可以吃，小女孩餓了就啃起梨子來。過了不久，宮里的仆人發(fā)現(xiàn)梨子比梨子比先前少了，還找到了不少梨核，就說：“這里一定有老鼠之類的東西偷啃梨子，需要好好檢查檢查。”邊說，邊在梨堆中搜查，果然發(fā)現(xiàn)了小女孩。

他們問小女孩：“你在這里干什么?跟我們走，到王宮的廚房去打下手吧。”

他們給小女孩起了個名字叫梨娃。梨娃是一個聰明機靈的女孩，她很快就學會了怎樣討好這些仆人，加上模樣俊秀可愛，惹得大家人人喜歡。連王子也常來和她在一起玩，她和王子年齡一般大，他們很快就產(chǎn)生了好感。

梨娃一天天長大，仆人們卻越來越嫉妒她了，他們先是不搭理她，后來就開始給她使壞，還造謠說梨娃自夸要去拿到女巫的珍寶。謠言傳到國王的耳朵里，國王馬上把梨娃叫來，問她：“你真得說過要去拿到女巫的珍寶嗎?”

梨娃說：“絕對沒有，圣明的國王，他們傳說的那些事我一點也不知道。”

但是國王堅持說：“你一定是說過了，話已出口就要去實現(xiàn)諾言。”說著，就把梨娃趕出了王宮，讓她拿到珍寶才可以回來。

梨娃走呀，走呀，天黑了。她走到一棵蘋果樹前，沒有停腳。又走到一棵桃樹前，也沒有停腳。遇到一棵梨樹的時候，她爬了上去，在樹枝間睡著了。

早上一睜眼，她看見一個老婦人在樹下。老婦人問她：“漂亮的小女孩，你在上面干什么?”

梨娃就把她遇到的麻煩告訴了老婦人。老婦人對她說：“拿著這三磅豬油、三磅面包和三磅高粱穗，一直向前走。”梨娃對她感謝了一番，就又出發(fā)了。

她來到一個地方，那里有一座面包爐。只見三位烤面包的女工扯下自己的頭發(fā)，用頭發(fā)來打掃爐子。梨娃便把那三磅高粱穗送給了她們。三位女工可以用這些高粱穗清掃爐子了，就放梨娃過去了。

走呀，走呀，梨娃來到一個地方，見到有三只兇猛的狗大聲叫著、跳著、還撲向她，阻止她過去。梨娃把三磅面包扔給了它們。它們就讓她過去了。

走呀，走呀，梨娃又來到一條大河前，河里的水像血一樣，她不知道如何才能過去。她記起老婦人曾經(jīng)告訴她的咒語，就念道：

“溪水啊，美麗的溪水，

若我沒有急事

就會喝上一盆。”

話音剛落，河水退下，讓梨娃過去了。

在河的對岸，梨娃看見一座可以說是世界上最雄偉、最輝煌的宮殿。但是宮殿的大門開闔得很快，沒有人可以進去。于是，梨娃拿出那三磅豬油，倒在鉸鏈上，大門就開始慢慢地開關(guān)了。

走進宮殿，梨娃一眼望見在一張小桌子上放著的珍寶盒。她抱起珍寶盒，剛要離開，珍寶盒開始說話了。

“大門殺死她，大門殺死她!”珍寶盒說。

大門卻回答：“我不能殺死她，我很久沒上油了，是她給我上了油。”

梨娃回到河水前，盒子又開始說話了：“河淹死她，河淹死她!”

河答道：“我不能淹死她，因為她對我說：溪水啊，美麗的溪水。”

到了三只狗那里，盒子說：“狗吃掉她，狗吃掉她!”可是三只狗說：“我們不能吃她，她給了我們?nèi)趺姘亍?rdquo;

路過面包爐，盒子說：“爐子燒死她，爐子燒死她。”

烤面包的女工說：“我們不能燒死她，她送給我們?nèi)醺吡凰?，這樣打掃爐子的時候就不用我們的頭發(fā)了。”

快到王宮的時候，梨娃想看看盒子里面裝的到底是什么，因為她也像所有的女孩子一樣好奇心強。她打開盒子，只見從里面跳出一只金母雞和一群金小雞。它們搖晃著跑走了，跑得很快，追都追不上。梨娃跟在它們后邊追著，追到蘋果樹下，沒找到它們，追到桃樹下，還是沒找到它們，追到梨樹前，只見那個老婦人，手里拿著根小木棍，正趕著那只金母雞和那群金小雞呢。“噓，噓……”老婦人將這些金雞趕回到了盒子里面。

回家途中，梨娃看見國王的兒子迎面走過來，“如果我父親問你想要什么獎賞，你就說要那個放在地下室的裝滿煤塊的箱子。”

在王宮的門口，國王帶著仆從和滿朝文武，正等著她呢。梨娃把金母雞和金小雞交給國王，國王問：“你想要什么，說出來，我就給你。”

梨娃回答說：“我要地下室里的那個裝煤的箱子。”國王把煤箱給了她，梨娃打開一看，預先躲在里面的王子跳了出來。就這樣，國王滿心歡喜地讓梨娃嫁給了他的兒子。

(蒙費拉托地區(qū))