There was once a king who had three sons of marriageable age In order to avoid any dispute over their choice of three brides, he said, "Aim as far as you can with the sling¹ There where the stone falls you will get your wife"

The three sons picked up their slings² and shot The oldest boy sent his stone flying all the way to the roof of a bakery, so he got the baker³ girl The second boy released his stone, which came down on the house of a weaver⁴ The youngest son's stone landed in a ditch

Immediately after the shots, each boy rushed off to his betrothed⁵ with a ring The oldest brother was met by a lovely maiden⁶ as fresh as a newly baked cake, the middle brother by a fair girl with silky hair and skin, while the youngest, after looking and looking, saw nothing but a frog in that ditch

They returned to the king to tell him about their betrothed "Now," said the king, "whoever has the best wife will inherit the kingdom Here begin the tests" He gave them each some hemp⁷ to be spun⁸ and returned within three days, to see which betrothed was the best spinner

The sons went to their betrothed and urged them to spin their best Highly embarrassed, the youngest boy took the hemp to the rim⁹ of the ditch and called:

"Frog, frog!"

"Who calls?"

"Your love who loves you not"

"If you love me not, never mind Later you shall, when a fine figure I cut"

The frog jumped out of the water onto a leaf The king's son gave her the hemp, telling her he'd pick up the spun thread three days later

Three days later the older brothers anxiously hastened to the baker girl and the weaver girl to pick up their spun hemp The baker girl produced a beautiful piece of work; the weaver girl, who was an expert at this sort of thing, had spun hers to look like silk But how did the youngest son fare? He went to the ditch and called:

"Frog, frog!"

"Who calls?"

"Your love who loves you not"

"If you love me not, never mind Later you shall, when a fine figure I cut"

She jumped onto a leaf holding a walnut¹¹ in her mouth He was somewhat embarrassed to give his father a walnut while his brothers brought spun hemp He nevertheless took heart and presented the king with the walnut The king, who had already scrutinized¹² the handiwork of the baker and the weaver girls, cracked open the walnut as the older brothers looked on, snickering Out came cloth as fine as gossamer¹³ that continued to unroll until the throne room was covered with it "But there's no end to this cloth!" exclaimed the king No sooner were the words out of his mouth than the cloth came to an end

But the father refused to accept the idea of a frog becoming queen His favorite hunting bitch had just had three puppies, which he gave the three sons "Take them to your betrothed and go back for them a month later The one who's taken the best care of her dog will become the queen"

A month later, the baker girl's dog had turned into a big, fat mastiff, having got all the bread he could eat The weaver's dog, not nearly so well supplied, was now a half-starved hound The youngest son came in with a small box The king opened it and out jumped a tiny, beribboned poodle, impeccably groomed¹⁴ and perfumed, that stood on its hind¹⁵ legs and marched and counted

"No doubt about it," said the king, "my youngest son will be king, and the frog will be queen"

The wedding of all three brothers was set for the same day The older brothers went for their brides in garlanded carriages drawn¹⁶ by four horses, and the brides climbed in, decked with feathers and jewels

The youngest boy went to the ditch, where the frog awaited him in a carriage fashioned out of a fig¹⁰ leaf and drawn by four snails¹⁸ They set out He walked ahead while the snails followed, pulling the fig leaf with the frog upon it Every now and then he stopped for them to catch up with him, and once he even fell asleep When he awakened¹⁹, a gold carriage had pulled up beside him It was drawn by two white horses, and inside on velvet²⁰ upholstery, sat a maiden as dazzling as the sun and dressed in an emarald-green gown

"Who are you?" asked the youngest son

"I am the frog"

He couldn't believe it, so the maiden opened a jewel case containing the fig leaf, the frog skin, and four snail¹⁷ shells "I was a princess turned into a frog, and the only chance I had of getting my human form back was for a king's son to agree to marry me the way I was"

The king was overjoyed and told his two older sons, who were consumed with envy, that whoever picked the wrong wife was unworthy of the crown So the youngest boy and his bride became king and queen

(Monferrato)

NOTES:

"The Prince Who Married a Frog" (Il principe che sposò una rana) from Comparetti, 4, Monferrato, Piedmont

The tale of the frog bride is common to all of Europe; scholars have counted 300 versions Comparing it, for instance, with Grimm, no63, or with Afanas'ev's "The Frog Prince," this variant²¹ which we can classify as distinctly Italian (since it shows up uniformly throughout the Peninsula, even if slinging²² to locate the bride is rather rare) stands out in its near-geometrical logic²³ and linearity

Copyright: Italian Folktales Selected and Retold by Italo Calvino,

translated by George Martin,

Pantheon Books, New York 1980

王子娶了一只青蛙

从前，有一个国王，他的三个儿子都到了娶妻的年龄了。为了不让三个王子在挑选新娘的时候发生争斗，国王对他们说：“你们用投石器尽力向远处拋石头，石头落在哪里，你们就娶哪里的姑娘为妻。”

三个儿子拿了投石器拋出石头。大儿子把石头拋在了一家面包房的屋顶上，于是他娶了那面包女工。二儿子把石头拋进了一个纺织女工的家里。而小儿子拋的石头则落进了一条水沟里。

投完石头，三个王子赶快带着订婚戒指去找各自的未婚妻。大王子找到的是一个美丽的姑娘，皮肤柔嫩得像刚出炉的蛋糕；二王子找到的是一个脸色苍白的姑娘，身体纤细得像根线；而小王子朝水沟里望啊、望啊，最后只找到一只青蛙。

三个王子回来向国王禀告了自己找到的未婚妻的情况。国王说：“这样吧，谁的妻子最优秀，谁就能继承王位。现在我们就试试她们。”他给每个儿子分了一些麻，让他们的未婚妻在三天内纺出来，比比谁纺得更好。

儿子们找到自己的未婚妻，叮嘱她们仔细地纺。小王子觉得很沮丧，他拿着麻，来到水沟边，喊道：

“青蛙啊，青蛙！”

“谁在喊我呀？”

“不太喜欢你的未婚夫！”

“你现在不喜欢我，当你看到我美丽时，一定会喜欢我。”

青蛙从水中跳出来，落在一片叶子上。小王子把麻交给她，告诉她三天后他会来取纺好的线。

三天过后，两个哥哥急不可耐地跑到面包女工和纺织女工那里取纺好的线，面包女纺得很漂亮，而纺织女就更不必说了，纺线是她最拿手的，纺出来的麻线像丝一样细。小王子怎么样了呢？他来到水沟边：

“青蛙啊，青蛙！”

“谁在喊我呀？”

“不太喜欢你的未婚夫！”

“你现在不喜欢我，当你看到我美丽时，一定会喜欢我！”

青蛙跳到一片叶子上，嘴里衔着一颗核桃。两位哥哥都带来了纺好的线，自己却只带回一颗核桃见父亲，小王子很难为情，他硬着头皮来到父亲面前。国王先是翻来覆去地查看了面包女和纺织女纺出的线，然后才打开小王子带来的核桃，两位哥哥在旁边暗暗地讥笑他。国王打开核桃，从里面取出了一球细线，细得像蜘蛛网一样，国王拽呀拽，拉呀拉，越拉越长，拉出来的线堆满了整个大殿。“这线怎么没有个头啊！”国王话刚一出口，线就拉到头了。国王不甘心就这样让一只青蛙当上王后。正好，他的那只良种猎犬刚生下三只小狗，他就把牠们交给三个王子，说：“把牠们带给你们的未婚妻，一个月后再带回来，谁养得好谁就成为王后。”

一个月后，面包女养的那只狗长成一只肥大的猎犬，因为一个月来牠从没断过面包。纺织女养的那只狗却显得尖瘦，一个月来缺吃少喝的。小王子来的时候带来了一个笼子，国王打开笼子，从里面跳出来的是一只毛光皮亮的鬈毛狗，脖子上束着饰带，浑身散发着香气，不仅会抬起前爪直立起来，还能练武术，懂得数数。国王于是说：“毫无疑问，小儿子将继承王位，而青蛙将成为王后。”

三位兄弟的婚礼定在同一天举行。两个哥哥坐着四匹马拉的车去接新娘，马车上饰满了漂亮的鲜花，两位新娘一身羽毛和珠宝，登上了马车。小王子来到水沟边，青蛙正在一架四只蜗牛拉着的车子上等着他，车子是用无花果的树叶做成的。他们出发了，他在前边走着，而蜗牛拉着树叶上的青蛙在后面跟着。一路上，小王子不得不几次停下来等着青蛙，最后一次他甚至睡着了。他醒过来的时候，发现在他面前停着一辆金子做成的马车，两匹白马在前边拉着，车厢被天鹅绒裹着，里面坐着一位美丽的姑娘，一身碧绿的穿著，光彩照人。

小王子问：“你是谁？”

“我就是青蛙啊，”看见王子半信半疑，姑娘就打开一个珍宝盒，只见里面放着无花果的树叶，一张青蛙的皮和四个蜗牛壳。“我本来是一个公主，被变成了一只青蛙，只有遇到一位从来不知道我的美貌却心甘情愿娶我的王子，我才会重新变回人身。”

国王满心欢喜，看到两个大王子心存嫉妒，就开导他们说，一个人没有能力选好自己的妻子也就不配得到王冠。就这样，小王子和他的新娘当上了国王和王后。