Chapter 11

LEGENDS AND GHOST STORIES.

[1] It is the LXXV. novel of the _Testo_ Gualteruzzi (Biagi, p. 108): _Qui conta come Domeneddio s' accompagno con un giullare_. The Lord once went in company with a jester. One day the former went to a funeral, and the latter to a marriage. The Lord called the dead to life again, and was richly rewarded. He gave the jester some of the money with which he bought a kid, roasted it and ate the kidneys himself. His companion asked where they were, and the jester answered that in that country the kids had none. The next time the Lord went to a wedding and the jester to a funeral, but he could not revive the dead, and was considered a deceiver, and condemned to the gallows. The Lord wished to know who ate the kidneys, but the other persisted in his former answer; but in spite of this the Lord raises the dead, and the jester is set at liberty. Then the Lord said he wished to dissolve their partnership, and made three piles of money, one for himself, another for the jester, and the third for the one who ate the kidneys. Then the jester said: "By my faith, now that you speak thus, I will tell you that I ate them; I am so old that I ought not to tell lies now." So some things are proved by money, which a man would not tell to escape from death. For the sources and imitations of this story see D'Ancona, _Le Fonti del Novellino_, in the _Romania_, No. 10, p. 180, (_Studj_, p. 333). To D'Ancona's references may be added the following: Grimm, 147, "The Old Man made young again"; Asbjornsen and Moe, No. 21 [Dasent, _Pop. Tales_, No. XIV.], _Ny Samm._ No. 101 [Dasent, _Tales from the Fjeld_, p. 94, "Peik"]; Ralston, _R. F. T._ p. 350; Simrock's _Deutsche Maerchen_, Nos. 31^b (p. 148), 32; _Romania_, No. 24, p. 578, "_Le Foie de Mouton_" (E. Cosquin, _Contes pop. lorrains_, No. 30); Brueyre, p. 330; and an Italian version, which is simply an amplification of the one in the _Cento nov. ant._, in the recently published _Sessanta Nov. pop. montalesi_, Nerucci, No. 31.

[2] See _Jahrbuch_, VII. pp. 28, 396. The professional pride of the smith finds a parallel in an Irish story in Kennedy, "How St. Eloi was punished for the sin of Pride." Before the saint became religious he was a goldsmith, but sometimes amused himself by shoeing horses, and boasted that he had never found his master in anything. One day a stranger stopped at his forge and asked permission to shoe his horse. Eloi consented, and was very much surprised to see the stranger break off the horse's leg at the shoulder, carry it into the smithy and shoe it. Then the stranger put on again the horse's leg, and asked Eloi if he knew any one who could do such a good piece of work. Eloi tries himself, and fails miserably. The stranger, who is Eloi's guardian angel, cures the horse, reproves the smith for his pride, and disappears. See Brueyre, p. 329, and Blade, _Agenais_, p. 61, and Koehler's notes, p. 157.

[3] Bernoni, _Punt._ I. p. 1, "_I cinque brazzi de Tela_." See Benfey, _Pant._ I. p. 497, where the same story (without the coarseness of the Italian version) is related of Buddha, who tells the hospitable woman that "what she begins shall not end until sunset." She begins to measure linen and it lengthens in her hands so that she continues to measure it all day. The envious neighbor receives the same gift, but before she begins to measure the linen, she thinks she will water the swine; the bucket does not become empty until evening, and the whole neighborhood is inundated. See Benfey's parallels, _ut. sup._ pp. 497-98, and Grimm, No. 87, notes.

[4] These four legends are in Pitre, _Cinque Novelline popolari siciliane_, Palermo, 1878. In the third story, "_San Pietru e so cumpari_," St. Peter gets something to eat from a stingy man by a play on the word _mussu_, "snout," and _cu lu mussu_, "to be angry." For a similar story see Pitre, III. 312. A parallel to the first of the above legends may be found in Finamore, No. 34, IV., where are also some other legends of St. Peter.

Since the above note was written, some similar legends have been published by Salomone Marino in the _Archivio per lo Studio delle Tradizioni popolari_, vol. II. p. 553. One "The Just suffers for the Sinner" ("_Chianci lu giustu pri lu piccaturi_") relates how St. Peter complained to our Lord that the innocent were punished with the guilty. Our Lord made no answer, but shortly after commanded St. Peter to pick up a piece of honey-comb filled with bees, and put it in the bosom of his dress. One of the bees stung him, and St. Peter in his anger killed them all, and when the Lord rebuked him, excused himself by saying: "How could I tell among so many bees which one stung me?" The Lord answered: "Am I wrong then, when I punish men likewise? _Chianci lu giustu pri lu piccaturi._"

Another legend relates the eagerness of St. Peter's sister to marry. Thrice she sent her brother to our Lord to ask his consent, and thrice the Lord, with characteristic patience, answered: "Tell her to do what she wishes."

A third legend explains why some are rich and some are poor in this world. Adam and Eve had twenty-four children, and one day the Lord passed by the house, and the parents concealed twelve of their children under a tub. The Lord, at the parents' request, blessed the twelve with riches and happiness. After he had departed, the parents realized what they had done, and called the Master back. When he heard that they had told him a falsehood about the number of their children, he replied that the blessing was bestowed and there was no help for it. "Oh!" said Adam in anguish, "what will become of them?" The Lord replied: "Let those who are not blessed serve the others, and let those who are blessed support them." "And this is why in the world half are rich and half are poor, and the latter serve the former, and the former support the latter."

The last of these legends which I shall mention is entitled: "All things are done for money." ("_Tutti cosi su' fatti pri dinari._") There once died a poor beggar who had led a pious life, and was destined for paradise. When his soul arrived at the gate and knocked, St. Peter asked who he was and told him to wait. The poor soul waited two months behind the gate, but St. Peter did not open it for him. Meanwhile, a wealthy baron died and went, exceptionally, to paradise. His soul did not need even to knock, for the gate was thrown open, and St. Peter exclaimed: "Throw open the gate, let the baron pass! Come in Sir Baron, your servant, what an honor!" The soul of the beggar squeezed in, and said to himself: "The world is not the only one who worships money; in heaven itself there is this law, that all things are done for money."

[5] Pitre, No. 126, where other Sicilian versions are mentioned. A version from Siena is in T. Gradi, _Proverbi e Modi di dire_, p. 23, repeated in the same author's _Saggio di Letture varie_, p. 52, and followed by an article by Tommaseo, originally printed in the _Institutore_ of Turin, in which Servian and Greek parallels are given. Besides the Venetian variant mentioned in the text, there are versions from Umbria and Piedmont cited by Pitre, a Tuscan one in _Nov. tosc._ No. 26, and one from the Tyrol in Schneller, No. 4. Pitre, in his notes to _Nov. tosc._ No. 26, mentions several other versions from Piedmont, Friuli, and Benevento. An exact version is also found in Corsica: see Ortoli, p. 235.

[6] This reminds one of the "Sabbath of the Damned:" see Douhet, _Dictionnaire des Legendes_, Paris, 1855, p. 1040.

[7] Pitre, in a note to this story, mentions several proverbial sayings in which Pilate's name occurs: "To wash one's hands of the matter like Pilate," and "To come into a thing like Pilate in the Creed," to express engaging in a matter unwillingly, or to indicate something that is _mal a propos_.

[8] Pitre, I. p. cxxxvii., and Pitre, _Appunti di Botanica popolare siciliana_, in the _Rivista Europea_, May, 1875, p. 441.

[9] Pitre, I. p. cxxxviii.

[10] This legend is mentioned in a popular Sicilian legend in verse, see Pitre, _Canti pop. sic._ II. p. 368, and is the subject of a chap-book, the title of which is given by Pitre, _Fiabe_, vol. IV. p. 397.

[11] _Preghiere pop. veneziane_ raccolte da Dom. Giuseppe Bernoni, p. 18.

[12] Pitre, I. p. cxxxiii. For earlier appearances of the Wandering Jew in Italian literature, see A. D'Ancona, _La Leggenda dell' Ebreo errante, Nuova Antologia_, serie II. vol. XXIII. 1880, p. 425; _Romania_, vol. X. p. 212, _Le Juif errant en Italia au XIII^e siecle_, G. Paris and A. D'Ancona; vol. XII. p. 112, _Encore le Juif errant en Italie_, A. D'Ancona, and _Giornale Storico_, vol. III. p. 231, R. Renier, where an Italian text of the XVIII. cent. is printed for the first time. The myth of the Wandering Jew can best be studied in the following recent works: G. Paris, _Le Juif Errant, Extrait de l'Encyclopedie des Sciences Religieuses_, Paris, 1880; Dr. L. Neubaur, _Die Sage vom ewigen Juden_, Leipzig, 1884; P. Cassel, _Ahasverus, die Sage vom ewigen Juden_, Berlin, 1885. The name Buttadeu (Buttadaeus in the Latin texts of the XVII. cent.) has been explained in various ways. It is probably from the Ital. verb _buttare_, to thrust away, and _dio_, God.

[13] Crivoliu is a corruption of Gregoriu, Gregory, and the legend is, as Koehler says, a peculiar transformation of the well-known legend of "Gregory on the Stone." For the legend in general, see A. D'Ancona's Introduction to the _Leggenda di Vergogna e la Leggenda di Giuda_, Bologna, 1869, and F. Lippold, _Ueber die Quelle des Gregorius Hartmann's von Aue_, Leipzig, 1869, p. 50 _et seq._ See also Pitre's notes to No. 117. An example of this class of stories from Cyprus may be found in the _Jahrb._ XI. p. 357.

[14] See Koehler's notes to Gonz., No. 90, and _Sacre Rappresentazioni dei Secoli XIV.-XVI._ raccolte e illustrate di A. D'Ancona, Florence, 1872, III. p. 435. There is another legend of St. James of Galicia in Busk, p. 208, entitled "The Pilgrims." A husband and wife make the usual vow to St. James that if he will give them children they will make the pilgrimage to Santiago. When the children are fifteen and sixteen the parents start on the pilgrimage, taking with them the son, and leaving the daughter in charge of a priest, who wrote slanderous letters about her, whereupon the son returned suddenly, slew his sister, and threw her body in a ditch. A king's son happened to pass by, found the body, and discovered that it still contained life. He had her cured, and married her, and they afterwards became king and queen. While the king was once at war, the viceroy tempted the queen, and when she would not listen to him, killed her two children and slandered her to the king. The queen took the bodies of the children and wandered about until she met the Madonna, who took the children, and the queen went to Galicia. The king and viceroy also made a pilgrimage to the same place where the queen's parents had dwelt since the supposed death of their daughter. All met at the saint's shrine and forgave each other, and the Madonna restored the children alive and well.

There are two or three other stories in Pitre and Gonz. in which saints appear in the _role_ of good fairies, aiding the hero when in trouble. One of these stories, "The Thankful Dead" (Gonz., No. 74), has already been mentioned in Chapter II. p. 131; two others may be briefly mentioned here. The first is Gonz., No. 74, "Of one who by the help of St. Joseph won the king's daughter." A king proclaims that he will give his daughter to any one who builds a ship that will go by land and water. The youngest of three brothers constructs such a vessel by the help of St. Joseph, after his two brothers have failed. The saint, who is not known to the youth, accompanies him on the voyage on the condition that he shall receive the half of everything that the youth receives. During the voyage they take on board a man who can fill a sack with mist, one who can tear up half a forest and carry the trees on his back, a man who can drink up half a river, one who can always hit what he shoots at, and one who walks with such long steps that when one foot is in Catania the other is in Messina. The king refuses to give his daughter to the youth in spite of the ship that goes by land and water. The youth, however, by the help of his wonderful servants and St. Joseph, fulfils all the king's requirements, and carries away the princess. When the youth returned home with his bride and treasures, St. Joseph called on him to fulfil his promise to him. The youth gives him half of his treasures, and even half of the crown he had won. The saint reminds him that the best of his possessions yet remains undivided,--his bride. The youth determines to keep his promise, draws his sword, and is about to cut his bride in two, when St. Joseph reveals himself, blesses the pair, and disappears.

This story is sometimes found as a version of the "Thankful Dead," see