Part 16 (1/2)
”'Oh stars, if you're looking with pity on me, I pray you the maid from affliction to free!'
”As he sang this, he heard a cow lowing in the courtyard, and as his mind was full of the idea of enchantment, his attention was attracted to it.
Then he sang:
”'If enchanted here you be, Low, but gently, _one_, _two_, _three_!
Low in answer unto me, And a rescue soon you'll see.'
”Then the cow lowed three times, very softly, and the young man, delighted, put to her other questions, and being very shrewd, he so managed it as to extract with only yea and nay all the story. Having learned all this, he reflected that to beat a terrier 'tis well to take a bulldog, and after much inquiry, he found that there dwelt in Arezzo a great sorcerer, but a man of n.o.ble character, and was, moreover, astonished to learn from his mother that this _gran mago_ had been a friend of his father.
”And being well received by the wise man, and having told his story, the sage replied:
”'Evil indeed is the woman of whom you speak-a black witch of low degree, who has been allowed, as all of her kind are, to complete her measure of sin, in order that she may receive her full measure of punishment. For all things may be forgiven, but not cruelty, and she has lived on the sufferings of others. Yet her power is of a petty kind, and such as any priest can crush.
”'Go to the stable when she shall be absent, and I will provide that she shall be away all to-morrow. Then bind verbena on the cow's horns, and hang a crucifix over the door, and sprinkle all the floor with holy water and incense, and sing to the cow:
”'The witch is not thy mother in truth, She stole thee in thy early youth, She has deserved thy bitterest hate, Then fear not to retaliate; And when she comes to thee again, Then rush at her with might and main; She has heaped on thee many a scorn, Repay it with thy pointed horn.'
”'And note that there is a _halter_ on the cow's neck, and this is the charm which gives her the form of a cow, but it cannot be removed except in a church by the priest.'
”And to this he added other advice, which was duly followed.
”Then the next day the young man went to the stable, and did all that the wise man had bid, and hiding near, awaited the return of the witch. Nor had he indeed long to wait, for the witch, who was evidently in a great rage at something, and bore a cruel-looking stick with an iron goad on the end, rushed to the courtyard and into the stable, but fell flat on the floor, being overcome by the holy water. And the cow, whose halter had been untied from the post, turned on her with fury, and tossed and gored her, and trampled on her till she was senseless, and then ran full speed, guided by the young man, to the Baptistery, into which she entered, and where there was a priest awaiting her. And the priest sprinkled her with holy water, and took the halter from her neck, and she was disenchanted, and became once more the beautiful Artemisia.
”And this done, the young man took the halter, and hurrying back to the stable, put it about the neck of the witch, who at once became a cow without horns, or such as are called 'the devil's own.' And as she, maddened with rage, rushed forth, attacking everybody, all the town was soon after her with staves, pikes, and all their dogs, and so they hunted her down through the Uffizzi and along Lung' Arno, all roaring and screaming and barking, out into the country, for she gave them a long run and a good chase, till they came to a gate of a _podere_, over which was a Saint Antony, who, indignant that she dared pa.s.s under him, descended from his niche, and gave her a tremendous blow with his staff between the horns, or where they would have been if she had possessed them.
Whereupon the earth opened and swallowed her up, amid a fearful flas.h.i.+ng of fire, and a smell which was even worse than that of the streets of Siena in summer-time-which is often so fearful that the poorer natives commonly carry fennel (as people do perfumed vinaigrettes in other places) to sniff at, as a relief from the horrible odour.
”And when all this was done, the _mago_ revealed to the maiden that her parents, who were still living, were very great and wealthy people, so that there was soon a grand reunion, a general recognition, and a happy marriage.
”'Maidens, beware lest witches catch you; Think of the Via Vacchereccia; And tourists dining in the same, Note how the street once got its name.'”
THE WITCH OF THE PORTA ALLA CROCE
”If any secret should sacred be, Though it guarded the life of a family, And any woman be there about, She will die but what she will find it out; And though it hurried her soul to-well- That secret she _must_ immediately tell.”
-_Sage Stuffing for Young Ducks_.
There are in Italy, as elsewhere, families to whom a fatality or tradition is attached. The following is a curious legend of the kind:
LA FATTUCHIERA DELLA PORTA ALLA CROCE.
”There was a very old Florentine family which lived in a castle in the country. The elder or head of this family had always one room in which no one was ever allowed to enter. There he pa.s.sed hours alone every day, and woe to any one who dared disturb him while there. And this had been the case for generations, and no one had ever found out what the secret was. This was, of course, a great vexation to the ladies of the family-_perche la donna e sempre churiosa_-women being always inquisitive.
”And most inquisitive of all was a niece of the old man, who had got it into her head that the secret was simply a great treasure which she might obtain. Therefore she resolved to consult with a certain witch, who would tell her what it was, and how she could enter the mysterious room.
This sorceress lived hard by the Porta alla Croce, for there are always many witches in that quarter.