A king had his crier announce in the town squares that whoever found his missing daughter would be rewarded with a fortune But the announcement brought no results, since no one had any idea of the girl's whereabouts She had been kidnapped one night, and they had already looked the world over for her

A sea captain suddenly had the thought that since she wasn't on land she might well be on the sea, so he got a ship ready to go out in search of her But when the time came to sign up the crew, not one sailor stepped forward, since no one wanted to go on a dangerous expedition that would last no telling how long

The captain waited on the pier¹, but fearful of being the first to embark², no one approached his ship Also on the pier was Samphire Starboard, a reputed tramp and tippler, whom no ship captain was ever willing to sign on

"Listen," said our captain, "how would you like to sail with me?"

"I'd like to very much"

"Come aboard, then"

"So Samphire Starboard was the first to embark After that, other sailors took heart and boarded the ship

Once he was on the ship, Samphire Starboard did nothing but stand around all day long with his hands in his pockets and dream about the taverns⁴ he had left behind The other sailors cursed him because there was no knowing when the voyage would end, provisions were scarce, and he did nothing to earn his keep The captain decided⁵ to get rid of him "See that little island?" he asked, pointing to an isolated⁶ reef in the middle of the sea "Get into a rowboat and go explore it We'll be cruising right around here"

Samphire Starboard stepped into the rowboat, and the ship sailed away at full speed, leaving him stranded⁷ in the middle of the sea He approached the reef, spied a cave, and went in Tied up inside was a very beautiful maiden⁸, who was none other than the king's daughter

"How did you manage to find me?" she asked

"I was fishing for octopi," explained Samphire

"I was kidnapped by a huge octopus⁹, whose prisoner I now am," said the king's daughter "Flee before it returns But note that for three hours a day it changes into a red mullet and can be caught But your have to kill the mullet at once, or it will change into a sea gull¹⁰ and fly away"

Samphire Starboard hid his boat and waited out of sight on the reef From the sea emerged the octopus, which was so large that it could reach clear around the island with its tentacles¹¹ All its suckers shook, having smelled a man on the reef But the hour arrived when it had to change into a fish, and suddenly it became a red mullet and disappeared into the sea Samphire Starboard lowered fishing nets and pulled them back up full of gurnard, sturgeon, and dentex The last haul produced the red mullet, shaking like a leaf Samphire raised his oar³ to kill it, but instead of the red mullet he struck the sea gull flying out of the net and broke its wing The gull then changed back into an octopus, whose wounded tentacles spurted¹² dark red blood Samphire was upon it instantly and beat it to death with the oar The king's daughter gave him a diamond ring as a token of the gratitude¹³ she would always feel toward him

"Come and I'll take you to your father," he said, showing her into his boat But the boat was tiny and they were out in the middle of the sea After rowing and rowing they spied a ship in the distance Samphire signaled to it with an oar draped with the king's daughter's gown The ship spotted¹⁴ them and took them aboard It was the same ship that had earlier discharged and abandoned Samphire Seeing him back with the king's daughter, the captain said, "Poor Samphire Starboard! Here we thought you were lost and now, after looking all over for you, we see you return with the king's daughter! That calls for a real celebration!" To Samphire Starboard, who'd not touched a drop of wine for months on end, that seemed too good to be true

They were almost in sight of their home port when the captain led Samphire to a table and placed several bottles of wine before him Samphire drank and drank until he fell unconscious to the floor Then the captain said to the king's daughter, "Don't you dare tell your father that drunkard freed you Tell him that I freed you myself, since I'm the captain of the ship and ordered him to rescue you"

The king's daughter neither agreed nor disagreed "I know what I'll tell him," she answered

To be on the safe side, the captain decided to do away with Samphire Starboard once and for all That night, they picked him up, still as drunk as could be, and threw him into the sea At dawn the ship was in sight of port With flags they signaled they were bringing home the king's daughter safe and sound A band played on the pier, where the king waited with the entire court

A date was chosen for the king's daughter to wed¹⁵ the captain On the day of the wedding, the mariners¹⁶ in port saw a man emerge from the water He was covered from head to foot with seaweed, and out of his pockets and the holes in his clothes swam fish and shrimps¹⁷ It was none other than Samphire Starboard He climbed out of the water and went ambling¹⁸ through the city streets, with seaweed draping his head and body and dragging along behind him At that very moment the wedding procession was moving through the street and came face to face with the man wreathed in seaweed Everyone stopped "Who is this?" asked the king "Seize him!" The guards came up, but Samphire Starboard raised a hand and the diamond on his finger sparkled in the sunlight

"My daughter's ring!" exclaimed the king

"Yes," said the daughter, "this man was my rescuer and will be my bridegroom"

Samphire Starboard told the story, and the captain was imprisoned¹⁹ Green though he was with seaweed, Samphire took his place beside the bride clad in white and was joined to her in matrimony

(Riviera ligure di ponente)

NOTES:

"The Man Wreathed in Seaweed" (L'uomo verde d'alghe) from Andrews, 7, Menton, told by the widow Lavigna

This sea tale transfers to an unusual setting a plot well known throughout Europe: that of the younger brother who goes down into the well to free the princess and is subsequently abandoned there himself (cf my no78) Andrews's collection of tales presents no more than brief summaries in French; for this tale, then, as well as the following, taken from the same compilation²⁰, I gave free rein²¹ to my imagination in supplying details, while adhering to the basic plot I chose the name Baciccin Tribordo (Giovanni Battista Starboard) to replace the original name whose meaning is not very clear In the original text, the princess is abducted²² by a dragon instead of by an octopus, and the dragon changes into a barnacle, which seemed to me too easy to catch

Copyright: Italian Folktales Selected and Retold by Italo Calvino,

translated by George Martin,

Pantheon Books, New York 1980

一身海草的人

有一个国王让人在各个广场上喊话，谁能找回他失踪的女儿，就奖赏谁。可是国王的号令并无效果，因为谁也不知道在哪里可以找到他的女儿。一天夜晚，她被人掳走，国王查遍了所有的角落也找不到她的踪迹。

一位有经验的船长突然想到，如果陆地上找不到踪迹，就有可能在海上。于是，他准备好了一艘船，打算出海寻找。但是当他想要招募水手的时候，却找不到一个人：没人愿意参加这个看不到归期的冒险旅程。

船长站在堤坝上望着，没有人靠近，也没有人敢带头登船。巴奇钦·特里波尔多也在堤坝上，他是一个出了名的酒鬼，一个有名的流浪汉，没人愿意雇用他。“哎，你愿意上船吗？”船长对他说。

“我吗？愿意。”

“那么上船吧。”巴奇钦·特里波尔多第一个上了船。这样，其他一些水手胆子也大了起来，登上了甲板。

在船上，巴奇钦·特里波尔多整天把两只手揣在兜里，怀念岸上的那些小酒馆。大家都骂他，因为航程遥遥无期，食品储备有限，可是还得养活像他这样一个无所事事的人。船长决定甩掉他。“你看见那个小岛了吗？”船长指着海面一个礁石岛对他说，“你划着小舢板过去查看查看，我们就在附近转转。”

巴奇钦·特里波尔多下到舢板上，大船却全速开走了，将他一个人留在大海中，巴奇钦划向礁石。他看见礁石上有一个大山洞，便走了进去。在山洞的尽头绑着一个非常美丽的姑娘，正是国王的女儿。“你是怎么找到我的？”她问巴奇钦·特里波尔多。

“我来这里是为了钓章鱼。”巴奇钦说。

“我就是被一条巨大的章鱼抓来关在这里的，”国王的女儿说，“趁它还没回来，你先躲起来吧。不过，你记着，这条章鱼每天有三个小时会变成红鲤鱼，那时候容易钓到它，但你必须马上杀死它，不然，它会变成一只红嘴鸥飞走。”

巴奇钦·特里波尔多将自己和小船都藏在小岛上。这时，从海里钻出了那条巨大的章鱼，它的每条须爪都可以绕岛一周。他嗅到小岛上来了陌生人，所有的吸盘都蠕动起来。正巧，到了它该变成鱼的时候了，转眼间，它变成了一条红鲤鱼，消失在海水中。巴奇钦·特里波尔多立即撒下鱼网，可是每次网上来的只是些鲻鱼、鲟鱼、利齿鱼，终于，出现了浑身抖动着的红鲤鱼。巴里钦马上挥起桨，想要给它致命的一击，没想到他打到的不是红鲤鱼，而是一只正要从鱼网中飞起来的海鸥，红鲤鱼已经不见了。由于船桨刮破了海鸥的一只翅膀，它飞不起来了。于是，海鸥又变成了章鱼，不过它的须爪上全是伤口，往外淌着黑色的血。巴奇钦跳到章鱼的背上，用船桨打死了它。国王的女儿为了表示自己的永久的感激之情，送给他一枚钻石戒指。

他说：“走吧，我带你回去见你的父亲。”两个人就上了舢板。在茫茫的大海中，舢板走得很慢，他们划呀，划呀，终于看到远处有一艘大船。巴奇钦用船桨高高地挑起姑娘的衣服。大船上的人发现了他们，把他们接上了甲板。这条船正是先前甩掉巴奇钦的那条船，船长看到他带回了国王的女儿，说：“噢，可怜的巴奇钦·特里波尔多！我们都以为你失踪了，到处找你！没想到你找回了国王的女儿！来，我们喝几杯，祝贺你的成功！”巴奇钦·特里波尔多并不相信船长说的话，不过，很长时间滴酒未沾，他早已按捺不住了。

出海时的那座码头已经能隐隐约约地望见了，船长劝巴奇钦喝酒，他喝啊喝啊，最后喝得烂醉，倒在地上。船长对国王的女儿说：“不要告诉你的父亲是那个酒鬼救了你！你应该说是我救了你，因为我是这艘船的船长，而那个酒鬼只是我的一个伙计，他做的一切都是我吩咐的。”

国王的女儿没有说好也没有说不好，只是回答：“我知道该说什么。”船长于是想着要除掉巴奇钦·特里波尔多，一了百了。当天深夜，他们抬起烂醉如泥的巴奇钦，把他扔进了大海。黎明时分，大船靠近了码头，并用旗语通知岸上，他们把国王的女儿平安地救回来了。码头上，乐队奏起了凯旋乐，国王和宫廷全体人员都来了。

国王的女儿与船长的婚礼已经定下来了。婚礼那天，码头上的水手看见从海里钻出来一个人，从头到脚披着绿色的海草，衣服的口袋和被撕破的口子往外蹦着小鱼、小蟹。这个人正是巴奇钦·特里波尔多，他全身上下遮满了海草，头上挂着，身上披着，脚下还拖着，上了岸，走向城中心。就在这时，婚礼的队伍迎面过来了，看见一个身披绿色水草的男人挡在前边，队伍停了下来。“什么人在那里？把他抓起来！”国王命令道。侍卫走上前刚要捉人，这时巴奇钦·特里波尔多抬起一只手，只见一枚钻石戒指在阳光下熠熠发光。

“我女儿的戒指！”国王高喊。

“对，这个人才是我的救命恩人，他才是我的新郎。”国王的女儿说。

巴奇钦·特里波尔多把自己的遭遇从头至尾讲述了一遍。船长被抓了起来。巴奇钦就这样一身绿色的海草走近穿着一身白色衣裙的新娘，和她举行了婚礼。