Giovannuzza the Fox

There was once a poor man who had an only son, and the boy was as
simple-minded and ignorant as they come. When his father was about to die,
he said to the youth, whose name was Joseph, "Son I am dying, and I have
nothing to leave you but this cottage and the pear tree beside it."
The father died, and Joseph lived on in the cottage alone, selling the pears
from the tree to provide for himself. But once the season for pears was over,
it looked as though he would starve to death, since he was incapable of
earning his bread any other way. Strangely enough, the season for pears
ended, but not the pears. When theyd all been picked, others came out in
their place, even in the middle of winter; it was a charmed pear tree that
bore fruit all year long, and so the youth was able to go on providing for
himself.
On morning Joseph went out a usual to pick the ripe pears and discovered
theyd already been picked by somebody else. "How will I manage now?"
he wondered. "If people steal my pears, Im done for. Tonight I shall stay up
and keep watch." When it grew dark he stationed himself under the pear tree
with his shotgun, but soon fell asleep; he woke up to find that all the ripe
pears had been picked. The next night he resumed his watch, but fell asleep
right in the middle of it, and the pears were again stolen. The third night, in
addition to the shotgun, he carried along a shepherds pipe and proceeded to
play it under the pear tree. Then he stopped playing, and Giovannuzza the
fox, who was stealing the pears, thinking Joseph had fallen asleep, cam
running out and climbed the tree.
Joseph aimed his gun at her, and the fox spoke. "Dont shoot, Joseph. If you
give me a basket of pears, I will see to it that you prosper."
"But, Giovannuzza, if I let you have a basketful, what will I then eat
myself?"
"Dont worry, just do as I say, and you will prosper for sure."
So the youth gave the fox a basket of his finest pears, which she then carried
to the king.
"Sacred Crown," she said, "my master sends you this basket of pears and
begs your gracious acceptance of them."
"Pears at this time of year?" exclaimed the king. "It will be the first time
Ive ever eaten any in this season! Who is your master?"
"Count Peartree," replied Giovannuzza.
"But how does he manage to have pears in this season?" asked the king.
"Oh, he has everything," replied the fox. "Hes the richest man in existence."
"Richer than I am?" asked the king.
"Yes, even richer than you, Sacred Crown."
The king was thoughtful. "What could I give him in return?" he asked.
"Dont bother, Sacred Crown," said Giovannuzza. "Dont give it a thought;
hes so rich that whatever present you made him would look paltry."
"Well, in that case," said the king, very embarrassed, "tell Count Peartree I
thank him for his wonderful pears."
When he saw the fox back, Joseph exclaimed, "But Giovannuzza, youve
brought me nothing in return for the pears, and her I am starving to death!"
"Put your mind at rest," replied the fox. "Leave everything to me. Again I
tell you that you will prosper!"
A few days later, Giovannuzza said, "You must let me have another basket
of pears."
"But, sister, what will I eat if you carry off all my pears?"
"Put your mind at rest and leave everything to me."
She took the basket to the king and said, "Sacred Crown, since you
graciously accepted the first basket of pears, my master, Count Peartree,
takes the liberty of offering you a second basket."
"I cant believe it!" exclaimed the king. "Pears freshly picked at this time of
year!"
"Thats nothing," replied the fox. "My master takes no account of the pears,
he has so much else far more precious."
"But how can I repay his kindness?"
"Concerning that," said Giovannuzza, "he instructed me to convey his
request to you for one thing in particular."
"Which is? If Count Peartree is so rich, I cant imagine what I could do that
would be fitting."
"Your daughters hand in marriage," said the fox.
The king opened his eyes wide. "But even that is too great an honor for me,
since he is so much richer than I am."
"Sacred Crown, if it doesnt him, why should it worry you? Count Peartree
truly wants you daughter, and it makes no difference to him whether the
dowry is large or not so large, since no matter how big it is, beside all his
wealth it will only be a drop in the bucket."
"Very well, in that case, please ask him to come and dine here."
So Giovannuzza the fox went back to Joseph and said, "I told the king that
you are Count Peartree and that you wish to marry his daughter."
"Sister, look at what youve done! When the king sees me, he will have me
beheaded!"
"Leave everything to me, and dont worry," replied the fox. She went to a
tailor and said, "My master, Count Peartree, wants the finest outfit you have
in stock. I will pay you in cash, another time."
The tailor gave her clothing fit for a great lord, and the fox then visited a
horse dealer." Will you sell me, for Count Peartree, the finest horse in the
lot? We wont look at prices, payment will be made on the morrow."
Dressed as a great lord and seated in the saddle of a magnificent horse,
Joseph rode to the palace, with the fox running ahead of him.
"Giovannuzza," he cried, "when the king speaks to me, what shall I reply?
Im too scared to say a word in front of important people."
"Let me do the talking and dont worry about a thing. All you need to say is,
Good day and Sacred Crown, and Ill fill in the rest."
They arrived at the palace, where the king hastened up to Count Peartree,
greeting him with full honors. "Sacred Crown," said Joseph.
The king escorted him to the table, where his beautiful daughter was already
seated. "Good day," said Count Peartree.
They sat down and began talking, but Count Peartree didnt open his mouth.
"Sister Giovannuzza," whispered the king to the fox, "has the cat got your
masters tongue?"
"Oh, you know, Sacred Crown, when a man has so much land and so much
wealth to think about, he worries all the time."
So, throughout the visit, the king was careful not to disturb Count Peartrees
thoughts.
The next morning, Giovannuzza said to Joseph, "Give me one more basket
of pears to take to the king."
"Do as you wish, sister," replied the youth, "but it will be my downfall, you
will see."
"Put your mind at rest!" exclaimed the fox. "I assure you that you will
prosper."
He therefore picked the pears, which the fox carried to the king, saying, "My
master, Count Peartree, sends you this basket of pears, and would like an
answer to his request."
"Tell the count that the wedding can take place whenever he likes," replied
the king. Overjoyed, the fox returned to Joseph with the answer.
"But, sister Giovannuzza, where will I take this bride to live? I can hardly
bring her here to this hovel!"
"Leave that up to me. What are you worried about? Havent I done all right
so far?"
Thus a grand wedding was performed, and Count Peartree took the kings
beautiful daughter to be his wife.
A few days later Giovannuzza the fox announced: "My master intends to
carry the bride to his palace."
"Fine," said the king. "I will go along with them, so I can finally see all of
Count Peartrees possessions."
Everyone mounted horses, and the king was accompanied by a large body of
knights. As they rode toward the plain, Giovannuzza said, "I shall run ahead
and order preparations made for your arrival." As she raced onward, she met
a flock of thousands upon thousands of sheep, and asked the shepherds,
"Whose sheep are these?"
"Papa Ogres," they told her.
"Keep your voice down," whispered the fox. "Do you see that long
cavalcade approaching? Thats the king whos declared war on Papa Ogre.
Tell him the sheep are Papa Ogres, and the knights will slay you."
"What are we to say, then?"
"I dont know! Try, They belong to Count Peartree! "
When the king came up to the flock, he asked, "Who owns this superb flock
of sheep?"
"Count Peartree!" cried the shepherds.
"My heavens, the man really must be rich!" exclaimed the king, overjoyed.
A bit further on, the fox met a herd of thousands upon thousands of pigs.
"Whose pigs are these?" she asked the swineherds.
"Papa Ogres."
"Shhhhhhhh, see all those soldiers coming down the road on horseback?
Tell them they are Papa Ogres and theyll kill you. You must say they are
Count Peartrees"
When the king approached and asked the swineherds whose pigs those were,
they told him, "Count Peartrees," and the king was quite glad to have a son-
in-law so rich.
Next the kings party met a vast herd of horses. "Whose horses are these?"
asked the king. "Count Peartrees." Then they saw a drove of cattle. "Whose
cattle?" "Count Peartrees." And the king felt ever happier over the fine
match his daughter had made.
Finally Giovannuzza reached the palace where Papa Ogre lived all alone
with his wife, Mamma Ogress. Rushing inside, she exclaimed, "Oh, you
poor things, if you only knew what a horrible destiny is in store for you!"
"What has happened?" asked Papa Ogre, scared to death.
"See that cloud of dust approaching? Its a regiment of cavalry dispatched
by the king to kill you!"
"Sister fox, sister fox, help us!" whimpered the couple.
"Know what I advise?" said Giovannuzza. "Go hide in the stove. Ill give
the signal when theyve all gone."
Papa Ogre and Mamma Ogress obeyed. They crawled into the stove and,
once inside, pleaded with Giovannuzza. "Giovannuzza dear, close up the
mouth of the stove with tree branches, so they wont see us." That was just
what the fox had in mind, and she completely stopped up the opening with
branches.
Then she went and stood on the doorstep, and when the king arrived, she
curtseyed and said, "Sacred Crown, please deign to dismount; this is the
palace of Count Peartree."
The king and the newlyweds dismounted, climbed the grand staircase, and
beheld such wealth and magnificence as to leave the king speechless and
pensive. "Not even my palace," he said to himself, "is half so beautiful."
And Joseph, poor man, stood gaping beside him.
"Why," asked the king, "are there no servants around?"
In a flash, the fox answered, "They were all dismissed, since my master
wanted to make no arrangements whatever before first knowing the wishes
of his beautiful new wife. Now she can command what best suits her."
When they had scrutinized everything, the king returned to his own palace,
while Count Peartree remained behind with the kings daughter in Papa
Ogres palace.
Meanwhile Papa Ogre and Mamma Ogress were still closed up in the stove.
At night the fox went up to the stove and whispered, "Papa Ogre, Mamma
Ogress, are you still there?"
"Yes," they answered in a weak voice.
"And there you will remain," replied the fox. She lit the branches, made a
big fire, and Papa Ogre and Mamma Ogress burned up in the stove.
"Now you are rich and happy," said Giovannuzza to Count Peartree and his
wife, "and must promise me one thing: when I die, you must lay me out in a
beautiful coffin and bury me with full honors."
"Oh, sister Giovannuzza," said the kings daughter, who had grown quite
fond of the fox, "why do you talk about death?"
A little later, Giovannuzza decided to put the couple to the test. She played
dead. When the kings daughter saw her stretched out stiff, she exclaimed,
"Oh, Giovannuzza is dead! Our poor dear friend! We must have a very
beautiful coffin built at once for her."
"A coffin for an animal?" said Count Peartree. "Well just pitch her out the
window!" And he grabbed her by the tail.
At that, the fox jumped up and cried, "Penniless man! Faithless, ungrateful
wretch! Have you forgotten everything? Forgotten that your prosperity is
due to me? Youd still be living on charity, if it hadnt been for me! You
stingy thing! Ungrateful, faithless wretch!"
"Fox," begged Count Peartree all flustered, "forgive me, dear friend, please
forgive me. I meant no harm, the words just slipped out, I spoke without
thinking"
"This is the last youll see of me"and she made for the door.
"Forgive me, Giovannuzza, please, remain with us" But the fox ran off
down the road, disappeared around the bend, and was never seen again



Once upon a time the devil was seized with a desire to marry. He therefore
left hell, took the form of a handsome young man, and built a fine large
house. When it was completed and furnished in the most fashionable style
he introduced himself to a family where there were three pretty daughters,
and paid his addresses to the eldest of them. The handsome man pleased the
maiden, her parents were glad to see a daughter so well provided for, and it
was not long before the wedding was celebrated.
When he had taken his bride home, he presented her with a very tastefully
arranged bouquet, led her through all the rooms of the house, and finally to a
closed door. "The whole house is at your disposal," said he, "only I must
request one thing of you; that is, that you do not on any account open this
door."
Of course the young wife promised faithfully; but equally, of course, she
could scarcely wait for the moment to come when she might break her
promise. When the devil had left the house the next morning, under pretence
of going hunting, she ran hastily to the forbidden door, opened it, and saw a
terrible abyss full of fire that shot up towards her, and singed the flowers on
her bosom. When her husband came home and asked her whether she had
kept her promise, she unhesitatingly said "Yes." But he saw by the flowers
that she was telling a lie, and said, "Now I will not put your curiosity to the
test any longer. Come with me. I will show you myself what is behind the
door." Thereupon he led her to the door, opened it, gave her such a push that
she fell down into hell, and shut the door again.
A few months after he wooed the next sister for his wife, and won her; but
with her everything that had happened with the first wife was exactly
repeated.
Finally he courted the third sister. She was a prudent maiden, and said to
herself, "He has certainly murdered my two sisters; but then it is a splendid
match for me, so I will try and see whether I cannot be more fortunate than
they." And accordingly she consented. After the wedding the bridegroom
gave her a beautiful bouquet, but forbade her, also, to open the door which
he pointed out.
Not a whit less curious than her sisters, she, too, opened the forbidden door
when the devil had gone hunting, but she had previously put her flowers in
water. Then she saw behind the door the fatal abyss and her sisters therein.
"Ah!" she exclaimed, "poor creature that I am; I thought I had married an
ordinary man, and instead of that he is the devil! How can I get away from
him?" She carefully pulled her two sisters out of hell and hid them. When
the devil came home he immediately looked at the bouquet, which she again
wore on her bosom, and when he found the flowers so fresh he asked no
questions; but reassured as to his secret, he now, for the first time, really
loved her.
After a few days she asked him if he would carry three chests for her to her
parents' house, without putting them down or resting on the way. "But," she
added, "you must keep your word, for I shall be watching you."
The devil promised to do exactly as she wished. So the next morning she put
one of her sisters in a chest, and laid it on her husband's shoulders. The
devil, who is very strong, but also very lazy and unaccustomed to work,
soon got tired of carrying the heavy chest, and wanted to rest before he was
out of the street on which he lived; but his wife called out to him, "Don't put
it down; I see you!"
The devil went reluctantly on with the chest until he had turned the corner,
and then said to himself, "She cannot see me here; I will rest a little."
But scarcely had he begun to put the chest down when the sister inside cried
out, "Don't put it down; I see you still!" Cursing, he dragged the chest on
into another street, and was going to lay it down on a doorstep, but he again
heard the voice, "Don't lay it down, you rascal; I see you still!"
"What kind of eyes must my wife have," he thought, "to see around corners
as well as straight ahead, and through walls as if they were made of glass!"
and thus thinking he arrived, all in a perspiration and quite tired out, at the
house of his mother-in-law, to whom he hastily delivered the chest, and then
hurried home to strengthen himself with a good breakfast.
The same thing was repeated the next day with the second chest. On the
third day she herself was to be taken home in the chest. She therefore
prepared a figure which she dressed in her own clothes, and placed on the
balcony, under the pretext of being able to watch him better; slipped quickly
into the chest, and had the maid put it on the devil's back. "The deuce!" said
he; "this chest is a great deal heavier than the others; and today, when she is
sitting on the balcony, I shall have so much the less chance to rest." So by
dint of the greatest exertions he carried it, without stopping, to his mother-
in-law, and then hastened home to breakfast, scolding, and with his back
almost broken.
But quite contrary to custom, his wife did not come out to meet him, and
there was no breakfast ready. "Margerita, where are you?" he cried, but
received no answer. As he was running through the corridors, he at length
looked out of a window and saw the figure on the balcony. "Margerita, have
you gone to sleep? Come down. I am as tired as a dog, and as hungry as a
wolf." But there was no reply. "If you do not come down instantly I will go
up and bring you down," he cried, angrily; but Margerita did not stir.
Enraged, he hastened up to the balcony, and gave her such a box on the ear
that her head flew off, and he saw that the head was nothing but a milliner's
form, and the body, a bundle of rags. Raging, he rushed down and
rummaged through the whole house, but in vain; he found only his wife's
empty jewel box. "Ha!" he cried; "she has been stolen from me and her
jewels, too!" and he immediately ran to inform her parents of the
misfortune. But when he came near the house, to his great surprise he saw
on the balcony above the door all three sisters, his wives, who were looking
down on him with scornful laughter.
Three wives at once terrified the devil so much that he took his flight with
all possible speed.
Since that time he has lost his taste for marrying.