The Pig King, Italy (fairy tale)Giovanni Francesco Straparola - Το γουρούνι βασιλιάς, Ιταλία (παραμύθι)[κείμενο στα αγγλικά] - Il Re Maiale, Italia (fiaba)Giovanni Francesco Straparola - Король свиней, Италия (сказка)Джованни Франческо Страпарола
Fair ladies, if man were to spend a
thousand years in rendering thanks to his Creator for having made him in the
form of a human and not of a brute beast, he could not speak gratitude enough.
This reflection calls to mind the story of one who was born as a pig, but afterwards
became a comely youth. Nevertheless, to his dying day he was known to the
people over whom he ruled as King Pig.
You must know, dear ladies, that
Galeotto, King of Anglia, was a man highly blest in worldly riches, and in his
wife Ersilia, the daughter of Matthias, King of Hungary, a princess who, in
virtue and beauty, outshone all the other ladies of the time. And Galeotto was
a wise king, ruling his land so that no man could hear complaint against him.
Though they had been several years married they had no child, wherefore they
both of them were much aggrieved. While Ersilia was walking one day in her
garden she felt suddenly weary, and remarking hard by a spot covered with fresh
green turf, she went up to it and sat down thereon, and, overcome with weariness
and soothed by the sweet singing of the birds in the green foliage, she fell
asleep.
And it chanced that while she slept
there passed by three fairies who held mankind somewhat in scorn, and these,
when they beheld the sleeping queen, halted, and gazing upon her beauty, took
counsel together how they might protect her and throw a spell upon her. When
they were agreed the first cried out, ‘I will that no man shall be able to harm
her, and that, the next time she lie with her husband, she may be with child
and bear a son who shall not have his equal in all the world for beauty.’ Then
said the second, ‘ I will that no one shall ever have power to offend her, and
that the prince who shall be born of her shall be gifted with every virtue
under the sun.’ And the third said, ‘And I will that she shall be the wisest
among women, but that the son whom she shall conceive shall be born in the skin
of a pig, with a pig’s ways and manners, and in this state he shall be
constrained to abide till he shall have three times taken a woman to wife.
As soon as the three fairies had
flown away Ersilia awoke, and straightway arose and went back to the palace,
taking with her the flowers she had plucked. Not many days had passed before
she knew herself to be with child, and when the time of her delivery was come,
she gave birth to a son with members like those of a pig and not of a human
being. When tidings of this prodigy came to the ears of the king and queen they
lamented sore thereanent, and the king, bearing in mind how good and wise his
queen was, often felt moved to put this offspring of hers to death and cast it
into the sea, in order that she might be spared the shame of having given birth
to him. But when he debated in his mind and considered that this son, let him
be what he might, was of his own begetting, he put aside the cruel purpose
which he had been harbouring, and, seized with pity and grief, he made up his
mind that the son should be brought up and nurtured like a rational being and
not as a brute beast. The child, therefore, being nursed with the greatest
care, would often be brought to the queen and put his little snout and his
little paws in his mother’s lap, and she, moved by natural affection, would
caress him by stroking his bristly back with her hand, and embracing and
kissing him as if he had been of human form. Then he would wag his tail and
give other signs to show that he was conscious of his mother’s affection.
The pigling, when he grew older,
began to talk like a human being, and to wander abroad in the city, but
whenever he came near to any mud or dirt he would always wallow therein, after
the manner of pigs, and return all covered with filth. Then, when he approached
the king and queen, he would rub his sides against their fair garments,
defiling them with all manner of dirt, but because he was indeed their own son
they bore it all.
One day he came home covered with
mud and filth, as was his wont, and lay down on his mother’s rich robe, and
said in a grunting tone, Mother, I wish to get married.’ When the queen heard
this, she replied, ‘Do not talk so foolishly. What maid would ever take you for
a husband, and think you that any noble or knight would give his daughter to
one so dirty and ill-savoured as you?’ But he kept on grunting that he must
have a wife of one sort or another. The queen, not knowing how to manage him in
this matter, asked the king what they should do in their trouble: ‘Our son
wishes to marry, but where shall we find anyone who will take him as a
husband?’ Every day the pig would come back to his mother with the same demand:
‘I must have a wife, and I will never leave you in peace until you procure for
me a certain maiden I have seen to-day, who pleases me greatly.
It happened that this maiden was a
daughter of a poor woman who had three daughters, each one of them being very
lovely. When the queen heard this, she had brought before her the poor woman
and her eldest daughter, and said, ‘Good mother, you are poor and burdened with
children. If you will agree to what I shall say to you, you will be rich. I
have this son who is, as you see, in form a pig, and I would fain marry him to
your eldest daughter. Do not consider him, but think of the king and of me, and
remember that your daughter will inherit this whole kingdom when the king and I
shall be dead.
When the young girl listened to the
words of the queen she was greatly disturbed in her mind and blushed red for
shame, and then said that on no account would she listen to the queen’s
proposition; but the poor mother besought her so pressingly that at last she
yielded. When the pig came home one day, all covered with dirt as usual, his
mother said to him, ‘My son, we have found for you the wife you desire.’ And
then she caused to be brought in the bride, who by this time had been robed in
sumptuous regal attire, and presented her to the pig prince. When he saw ho
lovely and desirable she was he was filled with joy, and, all foul and dirty as
he was, jumped round about her, endeavouring by his pawing and nuzzling to show
some sign of his affection. But she, when she found he was soiling her
beautiful dress, thrust him aside; whereupon the pig said to her, ‘Why do you
push me thus? Have I not had these garments made for you myself?’ Then she
answered disdainfully, ‘No, neither you nor any other of the whole kingdom of
hogs has done this thing.’ And when the time for going to bed was come the
young girl said to herself, ‘What am I to do with this foul beast? This very
night, while he lies in his first sleep, I will kill him.’ The pig prince, who
was not far off, heard these words, but said nothing, and when the two retired
to their chamber he got into the bed, stinking and dirty as he was, and defiled
the sumptuous bed with his filthy paws and snout. He lay down by his spouse,
who was not long in falling to sleep, and then he struck her with his sharp
hoofs and drove them into her breast so that he killed her.
The next morning the queen went to
visit her daughter-in-law, and to her great grief found that the pig had killed
her; and when he came back from wandering about the city he said, in reply to
the queen’s bitter reproaches, that he had only wrought with his wife as she
was minded to deal with him, and then with drew in an ill humour. Not many days
had passed before the pig prince again began to beseech the queen to allow him
to marry one of the other sisters, and because the queen at first would not
listen to his petition he persisted in his purpose, and threatened to ruin
every thing in the place if he could not have her to wife. The queen, when she
heard this, went to the king and told him every thing, and he made answer that
perhaps it would be wiser to kill their ill-fated offspring before he might
work some fatal mischief in the city. But the queen felt all the tenderness of
a mother towards him, and loved him very dearly in spite of his brutal person,
and could not endure the thought of being parted from him; so she summoned once
more to the palace the poor woman, together with her second daughter, and held
a long discourse with her, begging her the while to give her daughter in
marriage. At last the girl assented to take the pig prince for a husband; but
her fate was no happier than her sister’s, for the bride groom killed her, as
he had killed his other bride, and then fled headlong from the palace.
When he came back, dirty as usual
and smelling so foully that no one could approach him, the king and queen
censured him gravely for the outrage he had wrought; but again he cried out
boldly that if he had not killed her she would have killed him. As it had
happened before, the pig in a very short time began to importune his mother
again to let him have to wife the youngest sister, who was much more beautiful
than either of the others; and when this request of his was refused steadily,
he became more insistent than ever, and in the end began to threaten the
queen’s life in violent and bloodthirsty words, unless he should have given to
him the young girl for his wife. The queen, when she heard this shameful and
unnatural speech, was well-nigh broken-hearted and like to go out of her mind;
but, putting all other considerations aside, she called for the poor woman and
her third daughter, who was named Meldina, and thus addressed her: ‘Meldina, my
child, I should be greatly pleased if you would take the pig prince for a
husband; pay no regard to him, but to his father and to me; then, if you will
be prudent and bear patiently with him, you may be the happiest woman in the
world.’ To this speech Meldina answered, with a grateful smile upon her face,
that she was quite content to do as the queen bade her, and thanked her humbly
for deigning to choose her as a daughter-in-law; for, seeing that she herself
had nothing in the world, it was indeed great good fortune that she, a poor
girl, should become the daughter-in-law of a potent sovereign. The queen, when
she heard this modest and amiable reply, could not keep back her tears for the
happiness she felt; but she feared all the time that the same fate might be in
store for Meldina as her sisters.
When the new bride had been clothed
in rich attire and decked with jewels, and was awaiting the bridegroom, the pig
prince came in, filthier and more muddy than ever; but she spread out her rich
gown and besought him to lie down by her side. Whereupon the queen bade her to
thrust him away, but to this she would not consent, and spoke thus to the
queen: There are three wise sayings, gracious lady, which I remember to have
heard. The first is that it is folly to waste time in searching for that which
cannot be found. The second is that we should believe nothing we may hear,
except those things which bear the marks of sense and reason. The third is
that, when once you have got possession of some rare and precious treasure,
prize it well and keep a firm hold upon it.
When the maiden had finished
speaking, the pig prince, who had been wide awake and had heard all that she
had said, got up, kissed her on the face and neck and bosom and shoulders with
his tongue, and she was not backward in returning his caresses; so that he was
fired with a warm love for her. As soon as the time for retiring for the night
had come, the bride went to bed and awaited her unseemly spouse, and, as soon
as he came, she raised the coverlet and bade him lie near to her and put his
head upon the pillow, covering him carefully with the bed-clothes and drawing
the curtains so that he might feel no cold. When morning had come the pig got
up and ranged abroad to pasture, as was his wont, and very soon after the queen
went to the bride’s chamber, expecting to find that she had met with the same
fate as her sisters; but when she saw her lying in the bed, all defiled with
mud as it was, and looking pleased and contented, she thanked God for this
favour, that her son had at last found a spouse according to his liking.
One day, soon after this, when the
pig prince was conversing pleasantly with his wife, he said to her: ‘Meldina,
my be loved wife, if I could be fully sure that you could keep a secret, I
would now tell you one of mine; something I have kept hidden for many years. I
know you to be very prudent and wise, and that you love me truly; so I wish to
make you the sharer of my secret.’ ‘You may safely tell it to me, if you will,’
said Meldina, ‘for I promise never to reveal it to anyone without your
consent.’ Whereupon, being now sure of his wife’s discretion and fidelity, he
straightway shook off from his body the foul and dirty skin of the pig, and
stood revealed as a handsome and well-shaped young man, and all that night
rested closely folded in the arms of his beloved wife. But he charged her
solemnly to keep silence about this wonder she had seen, for the time had not
yet come for his complete delivery from this misery. So when he left the bed he
donned the dirty pig’s hide once more. I leave you to imagine for yourselves
how great was the joy of Meldina when she discovered that, instead of a pig,
she had gained a handsome and gallant young prince for a husband. Not long
after this she proved to be with child, and when the time of her delivery came
she gave birth to a fair and shapely boy. The joy of the king and queen was
unbounded, especially when they found that the new born child had the form of a
human being and not that of a beast.
But the burden of the strange and
weighty secret which her husband had confided to her pressed heavily upon
Meldina, and one day she went to her mother-in–law and said: ‘Gracious queen,
when first I married your son I believed I was married to a beast, but now I
find that you have given me the comeliest, the worthiest, and the most gallant
young man ever born into the world to be my husband. For know that when he
comes into my chamber to lie by my side, he casts off his dirty hide and leaves
it on the ground, and is changed into a graceful handsome youth. No one could
believe this marvel save they saw it with their own eyes.’ When the queen heard
these words she deemed that her daughter-in-law must be jesting with her, but
Meldina still persisted that what she said was true. And when the queen
demanded to know how she might witness with her own eyes the truth of this
thing, Meldina replied: ‘Come to my chamber to-night, when we shall be in our
first sleep; the door will be open, and you will find that what I tell you is the truth.
That same night, when the looked-for
time had come, and all were gone to rest, the queen let some torches be kindled
and went, accompanied by the king, to the chamber of her son, and when she had
entered she saw the pig’s skin lying on the floor in the corner of the room,
and having gone to the bedside, found therein a handsome young man in whose
arms Meldina was lying. And when they saw this, the delight of the king and
queen was very great, and the king gave order that before anyone should leave
the chamber the pig’s hide should be torn to shreds. So great was their joy
over the recovery of their son that they wellnigh died thereof.
And King Galeotto, when he saw that
he had so fine a son, and a grandchild likewise, laid aside his diadem and his
royal robes, and advanced to his place his son, whom he let be crowned with the
greatest pomp, and who was ever afterwards known as King Pig. Thus, to the
great contentment of all the people, the young king began his reign, and he
lived long and happily with Meldina his beloved wife.
When Isabella’s story was finished,
the whole company broke into laughter at the notion of the pig prince, all
dirty and muddy as he was, kissing his be loved spouse and lying by her side.
“But let us give over laughter,” cried Signora Lucretia, “in order that
Isabella’s enigma may be given in due course.” And forthwith Isabella, with a
smile, propounded her riddle:
I prithee, sir, to give to me,
What never did belong to thee,
Or ever will, what though thy span
Of life exceed the wont of man.
Dream not this treasure to attain;
Thy longing will be all in vain;
But if you deem me such a prize,
And pine for me with loving eyes,
Give me this boon, my wish fulfil,
For you can grant it if you will.
When Isabella had set forth her
cunningly devised enigma, the listeners were all in a state of bewilderment,
for no one could understand how a man could give what he did not possess or
ever could possess. But Isabella, when she saw that they were troubled
overmuch, said: with much good taste and judgment: “There is no reason for
wonder, my good friends, for a man certainly can give to a woman that which he
has not or ever will have; that is to say, a man has no husband nor ever will
have one, but it is an easy matter for him to give one to a lady.” The whole
company received this solution with much applause, and when silence had once
more been imposed on the assembly, Fiordiana, who sat next to Isabella, arose
from her seat and, smiling merrily, said, “Signora, and you gentle folks all,
does it not seem meet to you that Signor Molino, our good friend, should
enliven this honourable company with one of his merry conceits; and I say this,
not because I want to escape the task of telling my own story (for I have ready
more than one), but because I feel that a tale, told with all his accustomed
pleas ant grace and style, would, just now, give the company the greater
delight. He, as you well know, is ingenious and full of wit, and gifted with
all those good parts which pertain to a man of breeding. And as for ourselves,
dear ladies, it is better that we should ply our needles than be always telling
stories.
All agreed with these prudent and
well-timed words of Fiordiana, and warmly applauded them, and the Signora,
casting her eyes towards Molino, said: “Come, Signor Antonio, it is now your
turn to enliven us with an example of your graceful wit.” And she signed to him
to begin. Molino, who had not reckoned on being named as a story teller for
this evening, first gave his thanks to Fiordiana for the flattering words she
had spoken of him, and then in obedience to the Signora’s direction began his
fable.
https://Kinimatografosteatro.blogspot.com/
- Επιτρέπεται η αναδημοσίευση του
περιεχομένου της ιστοσελίδας εφόσον αναφέρεται ευκρινώς η πηγή του και υπάρχει
ενεργός σύνδεσμος (link). Νόμος 2121/1993 και κανόνες Διεθνούς Δικαίου που
ισχύουν στην Ελλάδα.
ΕΠΙΣΗΜΑΝΣΗ
Ορισμένα αναρτώμενα από το διαδίκτυο κείμενα ή
εικόνες (με σχετική σημείωση της πηγής), θεωρούμε ότι είναι δημόσια. Αν
υπάρχουν δικαιώματα συγγραφέων, παρακαλούμε ενημερώστε μας για να τα
αφαιρέσουμε. Επίσης σημειώνεται ότι οι απόψεις του ιστολόγιου μπορεί να μην
συμπίπτουν με τα περιεχόμενα του άρθρου. Για τα άρθρα που δημοσιεύονται εδώ,
ουδεμία ευθύνη εκ του νόμου φέρουμε καθώς απηχούν αποκλειστικά τις απόψεις των
συντακτών τους και δεν δεσμεύουν καθ’ οιονδήποτε τρόπο το ιστολόγιο.
Δεν υπάρχουν σχόλια:
Δημοσίευση σχολίου