The Little Shepherd

There was once a shepherd boy no bigger than a mite¹ and as mean as could be On his way out to pasture one day, he passed a poultry² dealer³ carrying a basket of eggs on her head So what did he do but throw a stone into the basket and break every single egg Enraged⁴, the poor woman screamed a curse: "You shall get no bigger until you've found lovely Bargaglina of the three singing apples!"

From that time on, the shepherd boy grew thin and puny⁵, and the more his mother attended to him, the punier⁶ he became Finally she asked, "What on earth has happened to you? Have you done a bad turn for which someone placed a curse on you?" He then told her about his meanness to the poultry dealer, repeating the woman's words to him, "You shall get no bigger until you've found lovely Bargaglina of the three singing apples!"

"In that case," said his mother, "you've no choice but to go in search of this lovely Bargaglina"

The shepherd set out He came to a bridge, on which a little lady was rocking to and fro in a walnut⁷ shell

"Who goes there?"

"A friend"

"Lift my eyelids⁸ a little, so I can see you"

"I'm seeking lovely Bargaglina of the three singing apples Do you know anything about her?"

"No, but take this stone; it will come in handy"

The shepherd came to another bridge, where another little lady was bathing in an eggshell

"Who goes there?"

"A friend"

"Lift my eyelids a little, so I can see you"

"I'm seeking lovely Bargaglina of the three singing apples Have you any news of her?"

"No, but take this ivory comb, which will come in handy"

The shepherd put it in his pocket and walked on until he came to a stream where a man was filling a bag with fog When asked about lovely Bargaglina, the man claimed to know nothing about her, but he gave the shepherd a pocketful of fog, which would come in handy

Next he came to a mill whose miller⁹, a talking fox, said, "Yes, I know who lovely Bargaglina is, but you'll have difficulty finding her Walk straight ahead until you come to a house with the door open Go inside and you'll see a crystal cage hung with many little bells In the cage are the singing apples You must take the cage, but watch out for a certain old woman If her eyes are open, that means she's asleep If they're closed, she's surely awake"

The shepherd moved on He found the old woman with her eyes closed and realized she was awake "My lad," said the old woman, "glance down in my hair and see if I've any lice"

He looked, and as he was delousing her, she opened her eyes and he knew she had fallen asleep So he quickly picked up the crystal cage and fled But the little bells on the cage tinkled¹⁰, and the old woman awakened¹¹ and sent a hundred horsemen after him Hearing them almost upon him, the shepherd dropped the stone he had in his pocket It changed instantly into a steep, rocky mountain, and the horses all fell and broke their legs

Now horseless, the cavalrymen returned to the old woman, who then sent out two hundred mounted soldiers Seeing himself in new peril¹², the shepherd threw down the ivory comb It turned into a mountain as slick as glass, down which horses and riders all slid to their death

The old woman then sent three hundred horsemen after him, but he pulled out the pocketful of fog, hurled¹³ it over his shoulder, and the army got lost in it Meanwhile, the shepherd had grown thirsty and, having nothing with him to drink, removed one of the three apples from the cage and cut into it A tiny voice said, "Gently, please, or you'll hurt me" Gently, he finished cutting the apple, ate one half, and put the other in his pocket At length he came to a well near his house, where he reached into his pocket for the rest of the apple In its place was a tiny, tiny lady

"I'm lovely Bargaglina," she said, "and I like cake Go get me a cake, I'm famished¹⁴"

The well was one of those closed wells, with a hole in the center, so the shepherd seated the lady on the rim¹⁵, telling her to wait there until he came back with the cake

Meanwhile, a servant known as Ugly Slave came to the well for water She spied the lovely little lady and said, "How come you're so little and beautiful while I'm so big and ugly?" And she grew so furious that she threw the tiny creature into the well

The shepherd returned and was heartbroken to find lovely Bargaglina gone

Now his mother also went to that well for water, and what should she find in her bucket one day but a fish She took it home and fried it They ate it and threw the bones out the window There where they fell, a tree grew up and got so big that it shut out all the light from the house The shepherd therefore cut it down and chopped it up for firewood, which he brought inside By that time his mother had died, and he lived there all by himself, now punier then ever, since no matter what he tried, he couldn't grow any bigger Every day he went out to the pasture and came back home at night How great was his amazement¹⁶ upon finding the dishes and pans he'd used in the morning all washed for him when he came home! He couldn't imagine who was doing this At last he decided¹⁷ to hide behind the door and find out Whom should he then see but a very dainty maiden¹⁸ emerge from the woodpile, wash the dishes, sweep the house, and make his bed, after which she opened the cupboard and helped herself to a cake

Out sprang the shepherd, asking, "Who are you? How did you get in?"

"I'm lovely Bargaglina," replied the maiden, "the girl you found in your pocket in place of the apple half Ugly Slave threw me into the well, and I turned into a fish, then into fishbones thrown out the window From fishbones I changed into a tree seed, next into a tree that grew and grew, and finally into firewood you cut Now, every day while you're away, I become lovely Bargaglina"

Thanks to the rediscovery of lovely Bargaglina, the shepherd grew by leaps and bounds, and lovely Bargaglina along with him Soon he was a handsome youth and married lovely Bargaglina They had a big feast I was there, under the table They threw me a bone, which hit me on the nose and stuck for good

(Inland vicinity of Genoa)

NOTES:

"The Little Shepherd" (Il pastore che non cresceva mai) from Guarnerio (Due fole nel dialetto del contado genovese collected by P E Guarnerio, Genoa, 1892), Torriglia, near Genoa, told by the countrywoman Maria Banchero

A feature of this Genoese variant¹⁹ of the widespread tale of the "three oranges" includes encounters with creatures like those in the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch -- tiny fairies rocking in nutshells or eggshells We meet the same beings in another Genoese version (Andrews, 51)

Copyright: Italian Folktales Selected and Retold by Italo Calvino,

translated by George Martin,

Pantheon Books, New York 1980

小羊倌

从前有个小羊倌，他的个儿长得很小，很是调皮捣蛋。一天，他赶著羊去草地时，看到一个小贩头顶一篮子鸡蛋从也他身旁经过，他将一块石头扔进人家的篮子里，把鸡蛋全砸碎了。可怜的卖蛋女人气坏了，尖著嗓子诅咒说：“你呀这辈子莫想再长大了，除非你找到可爱的巴格琳娜，她有三只会唱歌的苹果。”

从此，小羊倌变得又瘦又小。他妈妈越是疼爱他，他越变得瘦小。最后，他妈妈问道：“你到底出了什么事？你是不是做了坏事，人家诅咒你啦？”于是，他把对卖蛋小贩恶作剧的事讲了出来，把那个女人诅咒他的话又讲了一遍：“你呀这辈子莫想再长大了，除非你找到可爱的巴格琳娜，她有三只会唱歌的苹果。”

“这样的话，”妈妈说，“你别无办法，只好去寻找可爱的巴格琳娜了。”

小羊倌离开了家。他来到一座桥上，看见一个小女人坐在榛子壳里来回地摇晃著。

“那边是谁呀？”小女人问。

“一位朋友。”

“向上拨一下我的眼皮，好让我看一看你。”

“我正在寻找有三只会唱歌的苹果的、可爱的巴格琳娜，你知道她的一点情况吗？”

“不知道，不过你可以带著这块石头，它迟早会有用的。”

羊倌又走到另一座桥边，看见一个小女人正在一个鸡蛋壳里洗澡。

“那边是谁呀？”小女人问。

“一位朋友。”

“向上拨一下我的眼皮，好让我看一看你。”

“我正在寻找有三只会唱歌的苹果的、可爱的巴格琳娜，你听说过有关她的消息吗？”

“没有。不过你可以把这把象梳子拿去，它早晚会有用的。”

羊倌把梳子装入口袋，接著继续赶路，后来走到一条小溪边，看见一个人正在将雾装入袋子。当小羊倌问这个人是否知道可爱的巴格琳娜时，他回答说一无所知，但给了小羊倌一口袋雾，说它总会有用的。

接著，他走到一座磨坊，磨坊主是一只会说话的狐狸。它说：“我知道可爱的巴格琳娜是谁，但你要找到她却十分困难。你一直朝前走，走到一所敞开著大门的房子。走进去，你就会看到一只挂著许多小铃铛的水晶鸟笼。笼子里就放著会唱歌的苹果。你要拿走这只鸟笼，可要留神看管它的老婆婆。如果她的两眼睁著，那说明她睡著了；如果她的两眼闭著，她肯定醒著。”

羊倌继续赶路。到了那里他发现老婆婆的眼睛闭著，知道她并没有睡觉。“小伙子，”老婆婆说，“低下头看看我的头发，找找里面有没有虱子。”

当羊倌低著头给她捉虱子的时候，老婆婆睁开了双眼，他知道她睡著了。他连忙拿起水晶鸟笼逃走了。可是，笼子上的小铃铛叮叮噹噹地响起来，老婆婆惊醒了。她派了一百名骑兵去追他。听到尾随而来的骑兵马上要追上了，小羊倌掏出口袋里的那块石头丢了出去，石头马上变成了一座陡壁悬崖的大山，追来的马全倒在地上，跌断了腿。

这些骑兵失去了马，便步行回到老婆婆那儿。接著，老婆婆又派了二百名骑兵去追赶。小羊倌眼看自己又处在危险之中，便将那一把象牙梳子扔了出去，它变成了一座象玻璃山一样光滑的高山，那些马和骑兵全都滑下来摔死了。

接著，老婆婆又派了三百名骑兵去追赶。小羊倌又掏出那一口袋雾来，向身后猛掷出去，这支三百人的骑兵队全都被大雾迷住了，失去了方向。跑了这么一阵子，羊倌感到口渴，但身边没有什么可解渴的东西，便将鸟笼中的三只苹果拿出一只来，准备切开。这时他听到一个细微的声音说道：“请轻轻切，否则你要刺伤我啦。”他轻轻切开苹果，吃了一半，将另一半装到口袋里。最后，他来到自己家附近的一口井旁，伸手去摸口袋里的一半苹果，却掏出来一个很小、很小的小姑娘。

“我就是可爱的巴格琳娜，”她说，“我喜欢吃饼，去给我拿只饼来，我饿极啦。”

这口井的井口加了盖，中间有一个圆洞可以汲水。羊倌让小姑娘坐在井边上，叫她等著，自己便去拿饼了。

这时，一个大家叫做“丑奴隶”的仆人前来打水。她发现这个小姑娘，便说：“你怎么会长得这么小巧、这么漂亮，而我却生得这么粗、这么丑呢？”她越说越生气，竟把这个小东西扔进了井里。

羊倌回来后发现可爱的巴格琳娜不见了，他的心都碎啦。

小羊倌的母亲也是在这口井里打水用的。有一天，她发现自己的桶里有一条鱼。她把鱼拿回家，用油煎好。他们母子吃了鱼，把骨头丢在窗外。后来，丢鱼骨头的地方长出一棵树来，它长得很高大，把整所房子的光线都挡住了。于是，羊倌把树砍倒，劈成木柴后搬到家里。那时，他的母亲已经去世，羊倌独自一人住在这儿。如今，他比以往更瘦小了，不管怎么想方设法，他总是长不大。他每天外出放羊，晚上回家。可是他每天回到家里时，发现早晨用过的锅碗瓢勺都已洗好了，这是多么令人惊奇的事啊！他想不出是谁帮他做的这些。最后，他决定藏在门后观察一下。这时，他看到的却是一位秀丽的姑娘从柴堆里鉆出来，洗锅碗，打扫房间，叠被子，然后她打开食橱，拿出一只饼来吃。

小羊倌从门后猛地跳出来，问道：“你是谁？怎么进到房间里来的？”

“我就是可爱的巴格琳娜，”姑娘回答，“就是你掏那半只苹果时看到的那个姑娘。‘丑奴隶’把我扔进井里，我变成了鱼，接著又变成鱼骨头被丢在窗外。我又从鱼骨头变成树种，破土而出变成树，一个劲儿地往上长，最后又变成了你所劈的木柴。如今，你每天外出的时候，我就变成了可爱的巴格琳娜。”

由于重新找到了可爱的巴格琳娜，羊倌的身个儿飞快地向上长，可爱的巴格琳娜也跟他一起长大了。不久，羊倌就成了一位漂亮的年轻人，跟可爱的巴格琳娜结了婚。他们举行了盛大的庆祝宴会。当时我也在场，是在桌子底下。他们丢给我一块骨头，正巧打在我的鼻子上，从此它就粘在那儿永远掉不下来了。