Homepage
Login
Profile
BookClubs
dmBox
Read Ebook: Tuscan folk-lore and sketches together with some other papers by Anderton Isabella Mary Anderton Basil Editor Anderton H Orsmond Editor
Font size:
Background color:
Text color:
Add to tbrJar First Page Next Page
Ebook has 890 lines and 61836 words, and 18 pages
PAGE
TUSCAN FOLK-LORE--
INTRODUCTION 9
A TUSCAN SNOW-WHITE AND THE DWARFS 11
MONTE ROCHETTINO 17
TERESINA, LUISA, AND THE BEAR 25
A TUSCAN BLUEBEARD 30
TASSA 37
PADRE ULIVO 46
THE SOUND AND SONG OF THE LOVELY SIBYL 55
THE SNAKE'S BOUDOIR 65
POMO AND THE GOBLIN HORSE 67
TUSCAN SKETCHES--
A TUSCAN COUNTRYSIDE AND THE FESTA AT IL MELO 73
A WEDDING IN THE PISTOIESE 87
OLIVE-OIL MAKING NEAR FLORENCE 98
A TUSCAN FARMHOUSE 106
THE FLORENTINE CALCIO: GAME OF KICK 117
ELBA--
THE FIRST STEP OF A MIGHTY FALL 149
FUGITIVE PIECES--
A TALE FROM THE BORDERLAND 167
THE PHANTOM BRIDE 172
CYPRESSES AND OLIVES 180
LOVELORNNESS 184
KOIT AND ?MARIK 186
TWO TRANSLATIONS FROM THE ITALIAN OF ADA NEGRI--
THE GREAT 191
THE WORKMAN 193
THREE LITERARY STUDIES--
GIOSU? CARDUCCI 199
GIOVANNI PASCOLI 230
LANG'S "MAKING OF RELIGION"-- 257
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 267
TUSCAN FOLK-LORE
Indelibly is the remembrance of the kind hospitality of those peasants impressed on my mind. For Clementina, although my dearest, was by no means my only friend. I had to leave her as soon as I could be moved, for a village which boasted at any rate a chemist's and a butcher's; and there, in the two months of my stay, wandering about among the little farms, either alone, or in the company of a woman whose husband had sent her back for the summer to her native place, I had continual opportunities of chatting with the people and enjoying their disinterested hospitality. Such records as I have preserved I give to the public, thinking that others, too, might like to penetrate into that quiet country world, see the workings of the peasant mind in one or two of their stories, and note the curiously altered versions of childhood acquaintances or of old legends which have found their way into those remote regions: note, too, the lack of imagination, and the shrewdness visible in the tales which are indigenous. As regards style, I have endeavoured to preserve as closely as possible the old woman's diction.
A TUSCAN SNOW-WHITE AND THE DWARFS
Once upon a time there lived a king who had one little girl called Elisa. She was a dear little girl, and her father and mother loved her very much. But presently her mother died, and the step-mother got quite angry with jealousy of the poor little thing. She thought and she thought what she could do to her, and at last she called a witch and said:--
"Get rid of Elisa for me."
The witch spirited her away into some meadows a long, long way off, in quite another country, and left her there all alone; so that poor little Elisa was very frightened. Presently there came by three fairies who loved her because she was so pretty, and asked her who she was. She said she was a king's daughter, but she did not know where her home was or how she had come to be where she was now, and that she was very unhappy.
"Come with us," said the fairies, "and we will take care of you."
So they led her into another field where was a big hole. They took her down into the hole, and there was the most beautiful palace that Elisa had ever seen in her life.
"This palace is yours," said the fairies, "live here, and do just as you like."
Well, time went by and Elisa forgot her home, and was very happy, when one night her step-mother had a dream. She dreamt that Elisa was not dead, but alive and happy. She called the witch again, and said:--
So the witch went to the hole and called "Elisa."
"What do you want?" said Elisa.
"Well, I'll put it here, and you can take it if you like": so she put it down and went away.
"See you never take anything that anyone brings you," said they, "or this will happen to you, too."
Then they put the dog into their garden.
After a time the queen dreamt again that Elisa was alive and happy, so she called the witch and said:--
"Elisa is very fond of flowers; pick a bunch and cast a spell upon them, so that whoever smells them shall be bewitched."
Add to tbrJar First Page Next Page