There was once a widowed washerwoman with three daughters All four of them worked their fingers to the bone washing, but they still went hungry One day the oldest daughter said to her mother, "I intend to leave home, even if I have to go and work for the Devil"

"Don't talk like that, daughter," replied the mother "Goodness knows what might happen to you"

Not many days afterward¹, they received a visit from a gentleman attired³ in black He was the height of courtesy and had a silver nose

"I am aware of the fact that you have three daughters," he said to the mother "Would you let one come and work for me?"

The mother would have consented at once, had it not been for that silver nose which she didn't like the looks of She called her oldest girl aside and said, "No man on earth has a silver nose If you go off with him you might well live to regret it, so watch out"

The daughter, who was dying to leave home, paid no attention to her mother and left with the man They walked for miles and miles, crossing woods and mountains, and finally came in sight of an intense glow in the distance like that of a fire "What is that I see way down there in the valley?" asked the girl, growing uneasy

"My house That's just where we are going," replied Silver Nose

The girl followed along, but couldn't keep from trembling They came to a large palace, and Silver Nose took her through it and showed her every room, each one more beautiful than the other, and he gave her the key to each one When they reached the door of the last room, Silver Nose gave her the key and said, "You must never open this door for any reason whatever, or you'll wish you hadn't! You're in charge of all the rooms but this one"

He's hiding something from me, thought the girl, and resolved to open that door the minute Silver Nose left the house That night, while she was sleeping in her little room, in tiptoed Silver Nose and placed a rose in her hair Then he left just as quietly as he had entered

The next morning Silver Nose went out on business Finding herself alone with all her keys, the girl ran and unlocked the forbidden door No sooner had she cracked it than smoke and flames shot out, while she caught sight of a crowd of damned souls in agony inside the fiery⁴ room She then realized that Silver Nose was the Devil and that the room was Hell She screamed, slammed the door, and took to her heels But a tongue of fire had scorched⁵ the rose she wore in her hair

Silver Nose came home and saw the singed⁶ rose "So that's how you obey me!" he said He snatched her up, opened the door to Hell, and flung her into the flames

The next day he went back to the widow "Your daughter is getting along very well at my house, but the work is so heavy she needs help Could you send us your second daughter too?" So Silver Nose returned home with one of the girl's sisters He showed her around the house, gave her all the keys, and told her she could open all the rooms except the last "Do you think," said the girl, "I would have any reason to open it? I am not interested in your personal business" That night after the girl went to sleep, Silver Nose tiptoed in and put a carnation⁷ in her hair

When Silver Nose went out the next morning, the first thing the girl did was go and open the forbidden door She was instantly assailed⁸ by smoke, flames, and howls of the damned souls, in whose midst she spotted⁹ her sister "Sister, free me from this Hell!" screamed the first girl But the middle girl grew weak in the knees, slammed the door, and ran She was now sure that Silver Nose was the Devil, from whom she couldn't hide or escape Silver Nose returned and noticed her hair right away The carnation was withered¹⁰, so without a word he snatched her up and threw her into Hell too

The next day, in his customary aristocratic attire², he reappeared at the washerwoman's house "There is so much work to be done at my house that not even two girls are enough Could I have your third daughter as well?" He thus returned home with the third sister, Lucia, who was the most cunning of them all She too was shown around the house and given the same instructions as her sisters She too had a flower put in her hair while she was sleeping: a jasmine blossom The first thing Lucia did when she got up next morning was arrange her hair Looking in the mirror, she noticed the jasmine "Well, well!" she said "Silver Nose pinned a jasmine on me How thoughtful of him! Who knows why he did it? In any case I'll keep it fresh" She put it into a glass of water, combed her hair, then said, "Now let's take a look at that mysterious door"

She just barely opened it, and out rushed a flame She glimpsed countless¹¹ people burning, and there in the middle of the crowd were her big sisters "Lucia! Lucia!" they screamed "Get us out of here! Save us!"

At once Lucia shut the door tightly and began thinking how she might rescue her sisters

By the time the Devil got home, Lucia had put her jasmine back in her hair, and acted as though nothing had happened that day Silver Nose looked at the jasmine "Oh, it's still fresh," he said

"Of course, why shouldn't it be? Why would anyone wear withered flowers in her hair?"

"Oh, I was just talking to be talking," answered Silver Nose "You seem like a clever girl Keep it up, and we'll never quarrel Are you happy?"

"Yes, but I'd be happier if I didn't have something bothering me"

"What's bothering you?"

"When I left my mother, she wasn't feeling too well Now I have no news at all of her"

"If that's all you're worried about," said the Devil, "I'll drop by her house and see how she's doing"

"Thank you, that is very kind of you If you can go tomorrow, I'll get up a bag of laundry at once which my mother can wash if she is well enough The bag won't be too heavy for you, will it?"

"Of course not I can carry anything under the sun, no matter how heavy it is"

When the Devil went out again that day, Lucia opened the door to Hell, pulled out her oldest sister, and tied her up in a bag "Keep still in there, Carlotta," she told her "The Devil himself will carry you back home But any time he so much as thinks of putting the bag down, you must say, 'I see you, I see you!'"

The Devil returned, and Lucia said, "Here is the bag of things to be washed Do you promise you'll take it straight to my mother?"

"You don't trust me?" asked the Devil

"Certainly I trust you, all the more so with my special ability to see from a great distance away If you dare put the bag down somewhere, I'll see you"

"Yes, of course," said the Devil, but he had little faith in her claim of being able to see things a great distance away He flung the bag over his shoulder "My goodness, this dirty stuff is heavy!" he exclaimed

"Naturally!" replied the girl "How many years has it been since you had anything washed?"

Silver Nose set out for the washerwoman's, but when he was only halfway¹² there, he said to himself, "Maybebut I shall see if this girl isn't emptying my house of everything I own, under the pretext¹³ of sending out laundry" He went to put the bag down and open it

"I see you, I see you!" suddenly screamed the sister inside the bag

"By Jove, it's true! She can see from afar!" exclaimed Silver Nose He threw the bag back over his shoulder and marched straight to Lucia's mother's house "Your daughter sends you this stuff to wash and wants to know how you are"

As soon as he left, the washerwoman opened the sack, and you can imagine her joy upon finding her oldest daughter inside

A week later, sly Lucia pretended to be sad once more and told Silver Nose she wanted news of her mother

She sent him to her house with another bag of laundry So Silver Nose carried off the second sister, without managing to peep inside because of the "I see you, I see you!" which came from the bag the instant he started to open it The washerwoman, who now knew Silver Nose was the Devil, was quite frightened when he returned, for she was sure he would ask for the clean wash from last time But Silver Nose put down the new bag and said, "I'll get the clean wash some other time This heavy bag has broken my back, and I want to go home with nothing to carry"

When he had gone, the washerwoman anxiously opened the bag and embraced her second daughter But she was more worried than ever about Lucia, who was now alone in the Devil's hands

What did Lucia do? Not long afterward she started up again about news of her mother By now the Devil was sick and tired of carrying laundry, but he had grown too fond of this obedient girl to say no to her As soon as it grew dark, Lucia announced she had a bad headache and would go to bed early "I'll prepare the laundry and leave the bag out for you, so if I don't feel like getting up in the morning, you can be on your way"

Now Lucia had made a rag doll the same size as herself She put it in bed under the covers, cut off her own braids, adn sewed them on the doll's head the doll then looked like Lucia asleep, and Lucia closed herself up in the bag

In the morning the Devil saw the girl snuggled down under the covers and set out with the bag over his shoulder "She's sick this morning," he said to himself, "and won't be looking It's the perfect time to see if this really is nothing but laundry" At that, he put the bag down and was about to open it "I see you, I see you!" cried Lucia

"By Jove, it's her voice to a tee, as though she were right here! Better not joke with such a girl" He took up the bag again and carried it to the washerwoman "I'll come back later for everything," he said rapidly "I have to get home right away because Lucia is sick"

So the family was finally reunited Since Lucia had also carried off great sums of the Devil's money, they were now able to live in comfort and happiness They planted a cross before the door, and from then on, the Devil kept his distance

(Langhe)

NOTES:

"Silver Nose" (Il naso d'argento) from Carraroli, 3, from Langhe, Piedmont

Bluebeard in Piedmont is Silver Nose His victims are not wives but servant girls, and the story is not taken from chronicles about cruel feudal¹⁴ masters as in Perrault, but from medieval theological legends: Bluebeard is the Devil, and the room containing the murdered women is Hell I found the silver nose only in this version translated from dialect and summarized by Carraroli; but the Devil-Bluebeard, the flowers in the hair, and the ruses¹⁵ to get back home were encountered all over Northern Italy I integrated the rather meager¹⁶ Piedmont version with one from Bologna (Coronedi S 27) and a Venetian one (Bernoni, 3)

Copyright: Italian Folktales Selected and Retold by Italo Calvino,

translated by George Martin,

Pantheon Books, New York 1980

银鼻子

从前，有一个寡妇，带着三个女儿以替人洗衣为生。一家四口每日竭尽全力洗着衣服，但还是过着忍饥挨饿的生活。一天，大女儿对妈妈说：

“这样还不如去给魔鬼干活，我想离家出外谋生。”

“千万别这样说，我的孩子，”妈妈说，“这样你会惹祸上身的。”

没过几天，她们家里来了一位绅士，身着黑衣裤，衣冠楚楚的，长着一只银鼻子。

“我听说您有三个女儿，让我带走一个做我的仆人吧。”他对妈妈说。

妈妈对这人的银鼻子看不惯，要不然，她会立即让女儿跟他走。她把大女儿叫到一旁，对她说：“人世间长着银鼻子的人是没有的，你得留点神，要是跟他走，将来你一定会后悔。”

但女儿急不可待地要离开家，还是跟他走了。他们走了很远的路，穿过森林，越过高山，到了一个地方，远远地看见前边有一处亮光，好像在着火。“那是什么？”姑娘问，这时她开始有点担忧了。

“是我家，我们就去那里。”银鼻子说。

姑娘跟着他继续往前走，全身上下忍不住地哆嗦。他们来到一座巨大的宫殿，银鼻子带着她，参观了所有的房间，一间比一间漂亮，每看一个房间，他都把钥匙交给她。走到最后一个房间门口，银鼻子把钥匙递给她后说：“这个门你无论如何不能打开，否则，你就麻烦了！这里的一切，你都可以做主，只有这个房间除外。”

姑娘心想：这里一定有什么名堂！她决定等银鼻子一离开这里，就打开看看。晚上，姑娘正睡在自己的房间里，银鼻子蹑手蹑脚地走了进来，他走近姑娘的床边，在她的头发上插了一朵玫瑰花，就又蹑手蹑脚地出去了。

第二天早上，银鼻子出去办事了。只剩姑娘一个人拿着一大串钥匙留在家里，她立即跑去开那扇被禁止打开的房门。刚打开一条缝隙，就从里面冲出了好多火苗和烟雾，火苗和烟雾尽是被火烧炼的罪恶的灵魂。姑娘这时才明白银鼻子就是魔鬼，而这个房间就是地狱。她大叫一声，立即关上房门，想尽量跑远一点，离开这个地狱之屋，但火舌还是烧到了她头上的插着的那朵玫瑰花。

银鼻子回到家，看到那朵烫焦了的玫瑰花，就说：“怎么，你就是这样听我的话的吗！”他一把抓住姑娘，打开地狱的门，把她扔进了火中。

第二天，他又来到寡妇家，说：“您的女儿在我那里住得很好，但活儿太多，她需要个帮手。您能让二女儿也跟我去吗？”就这样，银鼻子带着另一个姑娘回到了宫殿。他也给姑娘看了每个房间，把房间的钥匙也都给她，也对她说所有的房间都可以打开，只有最后那间除外。姑娘说：“您不必担心，我为什么要开它呢？我不想了解您的私事。”晚上，姑娘上床休息以后，银鼻子悄悄地来到她的床前，把一朵康乃馨插在她的头发上。

第二天早上，银鼻子一出门，姑娘做的第一件事就是去打开那扇禁门。只见里面满是烟雾、火苗，还有罪恶灵魂的嚎叫，在火中她还发现了自己的姐姐。“妹妹，快救救我！把我从这个地狱里救出去！”姐姐冲她大叫。但姑娘吓得早已魂飞魄散了，她连忙关上门，拔腿就逃，但不知该躲到哪里去，因为她确信银鼻子就是魔鬼，而她早被他捏在手心里，无处可逃。银鼻子一回来，首先看姑娘的头发，看到康乃馨被烤焦了，便一句话不说，抓起她，把她也扔进了地狱。

次日，银鼻子照旧穿得像大人物一样，又来到寡妇家。“我家的活太多，两个姑娘还干不完，您把三女儿也让我带去，好吗？”就这样，他又把三女儿带了回来。三女儿名叫露琪亚，在三姐妹中，她最有头脑。银鼻子也带她看了每个房间，然后照旧叮嘱了她，而且当她睡了之后，也在她的头发上插了一朵花，是一朵茉莉花。早上，露琪亚起床后，就去梳头，照着镜子，她发现了头上的茉莉花。她自语道：“看哪，银鼻子给我插了一朵茉莉花。多优雅的想法！可是，我要让它保持新鲜。”她把花插在一个水杯里。梳完头，看看家里只剩她一个人，她就想：我现在去看看那扇神秘的门里有什么。

刚把门打开，烈火扑面而来，只见里边炼着很多人，而且人群中，她发现了她的大姐，然后又看见了二姐。她们大声叫着：“露琪亚！露琪亚！快拉我们出去！救救我们！”

露琪亚先是关好了门，然后思考如何才能救出两位姐姐。

魔鬼回来的时候，露琪亚早已把那朵茉莉花又插到了头上，装作没事的样子。银鼻子看了一眼茉莉花，说：“噢，还鲜着呢。”

“当然，它怎么会不新鲜呢？谁会把枯败的花戴在头上？”

“不是，我只是这么说说罢了，”银鼻子说，“我觉得你是个不错的姑娘，你要是一直这样，我们就能一直相处得很愉快。你在这里还满意吗？”

“满意，我在这里住得很好，但要不是有放心不下的事，就更好了。”

“放心不下什么？”

“我离家来这里的时候，我妈妈身体不舒服。现在我一点她的消息也没有。”

“要是就这点事，”魔鬼说，“我到你家去一趟，这样可以给你带回点那边的消息。”

“谢谢，您真是个大好人。要是您明天能去，我现在就把这里的脏东西准备成一个袋子，带给妈妈，等妈妈身体好的时候好让她帮忙洗洗。你不会觉得太重吧？”

“哪里的话，”魔鬼说，“再重的东西我也拿得动。”

等魔鬼一出去，露琪亚马上去打开了地狱之门，把大姐拉了出来，然后把她装进一只口袋。“待在里边，别说话，卡尔洛塔。等一会，魔鬼要亲自带你回家。不过，路上你要是觉得他把口袋放在地上，你就要喊：我看见你了！我看见你了！”

银鼻子来了，露琪亚对他说：“这是一袋要洗的东西。但你真的能一气不停地把它带到我妈妈家吗？”

“你不信任我吗？”魔鬼问。

“我当然相信你，因为我有这本领：我能看得很远，反正你把口袋搁在随便什么地方停下，我都看得见。”

魔鬼说：“是吗，等着看吧！”但他对姑娘具有千里眼的法力不以为然。他背起口袋，说：“这包脏东西怎么这么重啊！”

姑娘说：“那当然，你有多少年没洗过一样东西了？”

银鼻子上路了。但走到半路，他想：姑娘的话没错！不过我还是得看一下，也许她是以送该洗的脏东西为借口，想偷我的东西。于是，他把口袋放在地上，要打开看看。

“我看见你了！我看见你了！”姐姐从口袋里立即喊起来。

“啊，是真的！她真是千里眼！”银鼻子说着又背起口袋，一直走到露琪亚妈妈的家。“您的女儿让我把这袋东西带回来洗，她还想问问您身体怎么样……”

银鼻子一走，洗衣妇就打开了口袋，当她看到自己的大女儿时，高兴的样子就可想而知了。

一个星期后，露琪亚又假装忧心忡忡，她对银鼻子说还想知道妈妈的消息。

她又让他带上另一袋的脏东西去她家。于是，银鼻子又背起她二姐上路了，这一次他又没看成袋子里的东西，因为他听到有人叫着：“我看见你了！我看见你了！”

此时，洗衣妇已知道这个银鼻子就是魔鬼了，看到他又背着一袋东西来了，紧张得不得了，生怕银鼻子向她要上次洗好的东西，但银鼻子把肩上的口袋往地上一放，说：“洗好的东西，我下一次再来取，这包东西太重，压得我骨头都快断了，我要空手回去。”

等银鼻子一走远，洗衣妇万分焦急地打开了口袋，紧紧抱住了自己的二女儿。但随后就开始替露琪亚担心，她现在一个人只身留在魔鬼的手里。

露琪亚怎么办呢？过了不久，她又假装想了解母亲的情况。魔鬼此时已经厌倦了替她带脏衣服回家，不过想到她这么听话，也就不忍拒绝。临行前的晚上，露琪亚说她头疼得厉害，要先去睡了。“我把准备好的口袋给你留下，这样，明天即使我不舒服，起不了床，你也可以自己把口袋带去。”

现在，要知道露琪亚早就缝制了一个玩具布娃娃，跟她自己一样大。她把布娃娃放在床上，盖上被子，然后剪掉自己的辫子安在布娃娃的头上，看上去就像她自己睡在床上一样。随后，她又把自己藏在了口袋里。

早上，魔鬼看到姑娘躺在被窝里，就背起口袋上路了，边走边想：今天她病了，不可能再注意我。这是偷看口袋里边到底是不是脏东西的好机会。他放下口袋，刚想打开来看。“我看见你了！我看见你了！”露琪亚喊道。

“啊！她的声音真真切切的，好像就在耳旁！最好别再跟这姑娘开这种玩笑了。”他背起口袋，一直把它送给了洗衣妇。“我以后来把洗好的东西取走，”他急急忙忙地说，“现在我得赶快回去，因为露琪亚病了。”

就这样，一家人又团聚了，而且因为露琪亚还从魔鬼那里带回很多金币，足够全家人幸福、满足地生活着。她们在家门口立起了一个十字架，魔鬼再也不敢靠近了。