Dauntless Little John

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 lodgings¹ "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 shudder² 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 spoke³ 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 tune⁴

"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 budge⁵

"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 lighting⁶ 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 pointed⁷ to a stone slab⁸ on the ground "Raise that!"

"You raise it!" replied Little John, and the giant lifted it as though it were a mere⁹ pebble¹⁰

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 dirge¹¹ 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 diverges¹² 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 disappearance¹³ 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 horrifies¹⁴ him that he drops dead

Copyright: Italian Folktales Selected and Retold by Italo Calvino,

translated by George Martin,

Pantheon Books, New York 1980

无畏的小乔万尼

从前，有一个小伙子，天不怕地不怕，被人称作无畏的小乔万尼。他游历世界，有一次来到一家小店过夜。店主说：“这里没有空房了，不过，你要是不怕，我带你去一幢楼住。”

“我为什么要怕，没有一个人能从哪里活着出来。每到早晨，修道士就带着棺材去给敢于在楼里过夜的人收尸。”

好小子！带着一盏灯、一瓶酒和一根香肠就去了。

半夜，他正坐在桌子旁吃着，从烟囱里传来了一个声音：“我下来？”

小乔万尼回答：“下来吧！”

从烟囱上掉下来一条人腿。小乔万尼喝了一杯酒。

随后那个声音又说：“我下来？”

小乔万尼说：“下来吧！”另一条腿也掉下来了。小乔万尼咬了一口香肠。

“我下来？”

“下来吧！”掉下来一只胳膊。小乔万尼吹起口哨。

“我下来？”

“下来吧！”掉下来另一只胳膊。

“我下来？”

“下来吧！”

掉下来一个身子，与胳膊、腿接在一起，连成一个没有脑袋的人站立起来。

“我下来？”

“下来吧！”

脑袋掉了下来，蹦到了身子上。这是一个巨人，小乔万尼举起酒杯说：“为你的健康干杯！”

巨人道“拿着灯，来。”

小乔万尼拿起灯，但没动。

“你在前边走！”巨人说。

“你先走。”小乔万尼说。

“你先走！”巨人说。

“你先走。”小乔万尼说。

于是，巨人先动了，一间屋挨一间屋地穿过这幢楼，小乔万尼跟在后边照着亮。来到楼梯下的一间小屋，面前出现一扇小门。

“打开！”巨人对小乔万尼说。

小乔万尼说：“你去开！”

巨人对肩膀撞开门。里边有一个盘旋式的小楼梯。

“下去。”巨人说。

“你先下。”小乔万尼说。

来到地下室，巨人指着地上的一块石板：“搬起来！”

“你搬！”小乔万尼说。巨人像捏小石子一样搬走了石板。

下边是三罐金币。巨人说：“抬起来！”

“你抬！”小乔万尼说。巨人一次一个地把它们抬了上来。

他们回到那个有烟囱的客厅，巨人说：“小乔万尼，我的法力失灵了！”说着，一条腿卸了下来，踢上了烟囱。“这三罐金币中的一罐给你，”说着，卸下来一只胳膊，胳膊爬上了烟囱。“另一罐给那些来替你收尸的修道士，”另一只胳膊卸了下来，跟着前边那只爬上了烟囱。“第三罐金币送给从这里经过的第一个穷人，”另一条腿也卸了下来，巨人的身子坐在了地上。“这幢楼就归你了，”巨人的身子也卸了下来，只剩下脑袋立在地上。“因为拥有这幢楼的那个家族的人永远地消失了。”说完，巨人的脑袋升了起来，升上烟囱里了。

天刚亮，就听到有人在唱：上帝怜悯我们，上帝怜悯我们。正是那群教士带着棺材来收小乔万尼的尸首。他们看见小伙子正在窗口抽烟斗呢。

无畏的小乔万尼有了那些金币成了富人，他快乐地住在那幢楼里。直到有一天，他仅仅因为一转身，看见了自己的影子，被吓死了。