意大利童話 Dauntless Little John 無畏的小喬萬(wàn)尼

There was once a lad whom everyone called Dauntless Little John, since he was afraid of nothing Traveling about the world, he came to an inn, where he asked for lodgings "We have no room here," said the innkeeper, "but if you're not afraid, I will direct you to a certain palace where you can stay"

"Why should I be afraid?"

"People shudder at the thought of that palace, since nobody who's gone in has come out alive In the morning the friars go up with the bier for anyone brave enough to spend the night inside"

So what did Little John do but pick up a lamp, a bottle, and a sausage, and march straight to the palace

At midnight he was sitting at the table eating, when he heard a voice in the chimney "Shall I throw it down?"

"Go ahead!" replied Little John

Down the chimney into the fireplace fell a man's leg Little John drank a glass of wine

Then the voice spoke again "Shall I throw it down?"

"Go ahead!" So another leg dropped into the fireplace Little John bit into the sausage

"Shall I throw it down?"

"Go ahead!" So down came an arm Little John began whistling a tune

"Shall I throw it down?"

"By all means!" And there was another arm

"Shall I throw it down?"

"Yes!"

Then came the trunk of a body, and the arms and legs stuck onto it, and there stood a man without a head

"Shall I throw it down?"

"Throw it down!"

Down came the head and sprang into place atop the trunk He was truly a giant, and Little John raised his glass and said, "To your health!"

The giant said, "Take the lamp and come with me"

Little John picked up the lamp, but didn't budge

"You go first!" said the giant

"No, after you," insisted Little John

"After you!" thundered the giant

"You lead the way!" yelled Little John

So the giant went first, with Little John behind him lighting the way, and they went through room after room until they had walked the whole length of the palace Beneath one of the staircases was a small door

"Open it!" ordered the giant

"You open it!" replied Little John

So the giant shoved it open with his shoulder There was a spiral staircase

"Go on down," directed the giant

"After you," answered Little John

They went down the steps into a cellar, and the giant pointed to a stone slab on the ground "Raise that!"

"You raise it!" replied Little John, and the giant lifted it as though it were a mere pebble

Beneath the slab there were three pots of gold "Carry those upstairs!" ordered the giant

"You carry them up!" answered Little John And the giant carried them up one by one

When they were back in the hall where the great fireplace was, the giant said, "Little John, the spell has been broken!" At that, one of his leg came off and kicked its way up the chimney "One of these pots of gold is for you" An arm came loose and climbed up the chimney "The second pot of gold is for the friars who come to carry away your body, believing you perished" The other arm came off and followed the first "The third pot of gold is for the first poor man who comes by" Then the other leg dropped off, leaving the giant seated on the floor "Keep the palace for yourself" The trunk separated from the head and vanished "The owners of the palace and their children are now gone forever" At that, the head disappeared up the chimney

As soon as it was light, a dirge arose: "Miserere mei, miserere mei" The friars had come with the bier to carry off Little John's body But there he stood, at the window, smoking his pipe!

Dauntless Little John was a wealthy youth indeed with all those gold pieces, and he lived happily in his palace Then one day what should he do but look behind him and see his shadow: he was so frightened he died

NOTES:

"Dauntless Little John" (Giovannin senza paura)

I begin with a folktale for which I do not indicate, in contrast to my procedure in all the other tales, the particular version I followed As the versions of it from the various regions of Italy are all quite similar, I let myself be freely guided by common tradition Not only for that reason have I put this tale first, but also because it is one of the simplest and, in my view, one of the most beautiful folktales

Italian tradition sharply diverges from the Grimms' "Tale of a Boy Who Set Out to Learn Fear" (Grimm no4) which is no doubt closer to my no80 The type of tale is of European origin and not found in Asia

The disappearance of the man limb by limb is not traditional, but a personal touch of my own, to balance his arrival piece by piece I took the finishing stroke of the shadow from a Sienese version (De Gubernatis, 22), and it is merely a simplification of the more common ending, where Little John is given a salve for fastening heads back on He cuts his head off and puts it on again--backward; the sight of his rear end so horrifies him that he drops dead

Copyright: Italian Folktales Selected and Retold by Italo Calvino,

translated by George Martin,

Pantheon Books, New York 1980

無畏的小喬萬(wàn)尼

從前，有一個(gè)小伙子，天不怕地不怕，被人稱作無畏的小喬萬(wàn)尼。他游歷世界，有一次來到一家小店過夜。店主說：“這里沒有空房了，不過，你要是不怕，我?guī)闳ヒ淮睒亲　?rdquo;

“我為什么要怕，沒有一個(gè)人能從哪里活著出來。每到早晨，修道士就帶著棺材去給敢于在樓里過夜的人收尸。”

好小子!帶著一盞燈、一瓶酒和一根香腸就去了。

半夜，他正坐在桌子旁吃著，從煙囪里傳來了一個(gè)聲音：“我下來?”

小喬萬(wàn)尼回答：“下來吧!”

從煙囪上掉下來一條人腿。小喬萬(wàn)尼喝了一杯酒。

隨后那個(gè)聲音又說：“我下來?”

小喬萬(wàn)尼說：“下來吧!”另一條腿也掉下來了。小喬萬(wàn)尼咬了一口香腸。

“我下來?”

“下來吧!”掉下來一只胳膊。小喬萬(wàn)尼吹起口哨。

“我下來?”

“下來吧!”掉下來另一只胳膊。

“我下來?”

“下來吧!”

掉下來一個(gè)身子，與胳膊、腿接在一起，連成一個(gè)沒有腦袋的人站立起來。

“我下來?”

“下來吧!”

腦袋掉了下來，蹦到了身子上。這是一個(gè)巨人，小喬萬(wàn)尼舉起酒杯說：“為你的健康干杯!”

巨人道“拿著燈，來。”

小喬萬(wàn)尼拿起燈，但沒動(dòng)。

“你在前邊走!”巨人說。

“你先走。”小喬萬(wàn)尼說。

“你先走!”巨人說。

“你先走。”小喬萬(wàn)尼說。

于是，巨人先動(dòng)了，一間屋挨一間屋地穿過這幢樓，小喬萬(wàn)尼跟在后邊照著亮。來到樓梯下的一間小屋，面前出現(xiàn)一扇小門。

“打開!”巨人對(duì)小喬萬(wàn)尼說。

小喬萬(wàn)尼說：“你去開!”

巨人對(duì)肩膀撞開門。里邊有一個(gè)盤旋式的小樓梯。

“下去。”巨人說。

“你先下。”小喬萬(wàn)尼說。

來到地下室，巨人指著地上的一塊石板：“搬起來!”

“你搬!”小喬萬(wàn)尼說。巨人像捏小石子一樣搬走了石板。

下邊是三罐金幣。巨人說：“抬起來!”

“你抬!”小喬萬(wàn)尼說。巨人一次一個(gè)地把它們抬了上來。

他們回到那個(gè)有煙囪的客廳，巨人說：“小喬萬(wàn)尼，我的法力失靈了!”說著，一條腿卸了下來，踢上了煙囪。“這三罐金幣中的一罐給你，”說著，卸下來一只胳膊，胳膊爬上了煙囪。“另一罐給那些來替你收尸的修道士，”另一只胳膊卸了下來，跟著前邊那只爬上了煙囪。“第三罐金幣送給從這里經(jīng)過的第一個(gè)窮人，”另一條腿也卸了下來，巨人的身子坐在了地上。“這幢樓就歸你了，”巨人的身子也卸了下來，只剩下腦袋立在地上。“因?yàn)閾碛羞@幢樓的那個(gè)家族的人永遠(yuǎn)地消失了。”說完，巨人的腦袋升了起來，升上煙囪里了。

天剛亮，就聽到有人在唱：上帝憐憫我們，上帝憐憫我們。正是那群教士帶著棺材來收小喬萬(wàn)尼的尸首。他們看見小伙子正在窗口抽煙斗呢。

無畏的小喬萬(wàn)尼有了那些金幣成了富人，他快樂地住在那幢樓里。直到有一天，他僅僅因?yàn)橐晦D(zhuǎn)身，看見了自己的影子，被嚇?biāo)懒恕?/p>