“Really? You’ll give up the ghost? Would that be a loss, do you think?” And the stick went right on beating him.
After three hours of that shower, Francis spoke. “That will do, at least for today.”
“What will you take in return for setting me free?” asked the Devil in a weak voice.
“Listen carefully: if you want your freedom back, you must bring back to life at once every one of those poor souls who killed themselves in the casino because of you!”
“It’s a bargain!” replied the Devil.
“Come on out, then. But remember, I can catch you again any time I feel like it.”
The Devil dared not go back on his word. He disappeared underground and, in almost no time, up came a throng of young men pale of face and with feverish eyes. “My friends,” said Francis, “you ruined yourselves gambling, and the only way out was to kill yourselves. I was able to have you brought back this time, but I might not be able to do so another time. Will you promise me to gamble no more?”
“Yes, yes, we promise!”
“Fine! Here are a thousand crowns for each of you. Go in peace, and earn your bread honestly.”
Overjoyed, the revived youths departed, some returning to families in mourning, others striking out on their own, their past misdeeds having been the death of their parents.
Francis, too, thought of his old father. He set out for his village but, along the way, met a boy wringing his hands in despair.
“How now, young man? Do you make wry faces for sale?” asked Francis, in high spirits. “How much are they by the dozen?”
“I don’t feel like laughing, sir,” replied the boy.
“What’s the matter?”
“My father’s a woodcutter and the sole support of our family. This morning he fell out of a chestnut tree and broke his arm. I ran into town for the doctor but he knows we are poor and refused to come.”
“Is that all that’s worrying you? Set your mind at rest. I’ll take care of things.”
“You’re a doctor?”
“No, but I’ll make that one come. What is his name?”
“Doctor Pancrazio.”
“Fine! Doctor Pancrazio, jump into my sack!”
Into the sack, head-first, went a doctor with all his instruments.
“Stick, pound him for all you’re worth!” And the stick began its dance. “Help! Mercy!”
“Do you promise to cure the woodcutter free of charge?”
“I promise whatever you ask.”
“Get out of the sack, then.” And the doctor ran to the woodcutter’s bedside.
Francis continued on his way and, in a few days, came to his village, where even greater hunger now raged than before. By constantly repeating, “Into my sack a roasted chicken, a bottle of wine,” Francis managed to provision an inn where all could go and eat their fill without paying a penny.
He did this for as long as the famine lasted. But he stopped, once times of plenty returned, so as not to encourage laziness.
Do you think he was happy, though? Of course not! He was sad without any news of his eleven brothers. He had long since forgiven them for running off and leaving him, a helpless cripple. He tried saying, “Brother John, jump into my sack!”
Something stirred inside the sack. Francis opened it and found a heap of bones.
“Brother Paul, jump into my sack!”
Another heap of bones.
“Brother Peter, jump into my sack!” Calling them all, up to the eleventh, he found each time, alas, only a little pile of bones half gnawed in two. There was no doubt about it: his brothers had all died together.
Francis was sad. His father also died, leaving him all alone. Then it was his turn to grow old.
His last remaining desire before dying was to see again the fairy of Lake Creno who had made him so properous. He therefore set out and reached the place where he had first met her. He waited and waited, but the fairy did not come. “Where are you, good queen? Please appear one more time! I can’t die until I’ve seen you again!”
Night had fallen and there was still no sign of the fairy. Instead, here came Death down the road. In one hand she held a black banner and, in the other, her scythe. She approached Francis, saying, “Well, old man, are you not yet weary of life? Haven’t you been over enough hills and dales? Isn’t it time you did as everyone else and came along with me?”
“O Death,” replied Francis. “Bless you! Yes, I have seen enough of the world and everything in it. I have had my fill of everything. But before coming with you, I must first bid someone farewell. Allow me one more day.”
“Say your prayers, if you don’t want to die like a heathen, and hurry after me.”
“Please, wait until the cock crows in the morning.”
“No.”
“Just one hour more, then?”
“Not even one minute more.”
“Since you are so cruel, then, jump into my sack!”
Death shuddered, all her bones rattled, but she had no choice but jump into the sack. In the same instant appeared the queen of the fairies, as radiant and youthful as the first time. “Fairy,” said Francis, “I thank you!” Then he addressed Death: “Jump out of the sack and attend to me.”
“You have never abused the power I gave you, Francis,” said the fairy. “Your sack and your stick have always been put to good use. I shall reward you, if you tell me what you would like.”
“I have no more desires.”
“Would you like to be a chieftain?”
“No.”
“Would you like to be king?”
“I wish nothing more.”
“Now that you’re an old man, would you like health and youth again?”
“I have seen you, and I’m content to die.”
“Farewell, Francis. But first burn the sack and the stick.” And the fairy vanished.
The good Francis built a big fire, warmed his frozen limbs briefly, then threw the sack and the stick into the flames, so that no one could put them to evil use.
Death was hiding behind a bush. “Cockadoodledo! Cockadoodledo!” crowed the first cock.
Francis did not hear. Age had made him deaf.
“There’s the cock crowing!” announced Death, and struck the old man with her scythe. Then she vanished, bearing his mortal remains.
YOUTH WITHOUT AGE AND LIFE WITHOUT DEATH
Turkey
Once upon a time there was a great emperor and an empress. Both were young and beautiful, and as they would fain have been blessed with offspring they went to all the wise men and all the wise women and bade them read the stars to see if they would have children or not, but all in vain. At last the emperor heard that in a certain village, hard by, dwelt a wiser old man than all the rest, so he sent and commanded him to appear at court. But the wise old man sent the messengers back with the answer that those who needed him must come to him. So the emperor and the empress set out, with their lords and their ladies, and their servants and their soldiers, and came to the house of the wise old man. And when the old man saw them coming from afar he went out to meet them.
“Welcome,” cried he. “But I tell thee, O emperor! that the wish of thy heart will only work thee woe.”
“I came not hither to take counsel of thee,” replied the emperor, “but to know if thou hast herbs by eating whereof we may get us children.”
“Such herbs have I,” replied the old man. “But ye will have but one child, and him ye will not be able to keep, though he be never so nice and charming.”
So when the emperor and the empress had gotten the wondrous herbs, they returned joyfully back to their palace, and a few days afterward the empress became a mother. At his birth the child screamed so loudly that all the enchantments of the magicians could not make him silent. Then the emperor began to promise him everything in the wide world, but even this would not quiet him.
“Be silent, my heart’s darling,” he said, “and I will give thee all the kingdoms east of the s
un and west of the moon! Be silent, my son, and I will give thee a consort more lovely than the fairy queen herself.” Then at last, when he perceived that the child still kept on screaming, he said, “Silence, my son, and I will give thee Youth Without Age, and Life Without Death!”
Then the child ceased to cry and all the courtiers beat the drums and blew the trumpets, and there was great joy in the whole realm for many days.
The older the child grew the more pensive and melancholy he became. He went to school, and to the wise men, and there was no learning and wisdom that he did not make his own, so the the emperor, his father, died and came to life again for sheer joy. And the whole realm was proud that it was going to have so wise and goodly an emperor, and all men looked up to him as to a second Solomon. But one day, when the child had already completed his fifteenth year, and the emperor and all his lords and great men were at table diverting themselves, the fair young prince arose and said, “Father, the time has now come when thou must give me what thou didst promise me at my birth!”
At these words the emperor was sorely troubled. “Nay, but, my son,” said he, “how can I give thee a thing which the world has never heard of? If I did promise it to thee, it was but to make thee quiet.”
“Then, O my father, if thou canst not give it to me, I must needs go forth into the world, and seek until I find that fair thing for which I was born.”
Then the emperor and his nobles all fell down on their knees and besought him not to leave the empire. “For,” said the nobles, “thy father is now growing old, and we would place thee on the throne, and give thee to wife the most beautiful empress under the sun.” But they were unable to turn him from his purpose, for he was as steadfast as a rock, so at last his father gave him leave to go forth into the wide world to find what he sought.
Then Boy Beautiful went into his father’s stables, where were the most beautiful chargers in the whole empire, that he might choose one from among them; but no sooner had he laid his hand on one of them than it fell to the ground trembling, and so it was with all the other stately chargers. At last, just as he was about to leave the stable in despair, he cast his eye over it once more, and there in one corner he beheld a poor knacker, all weak, spavined, and covered with boils and sores. Up to it he went, and laid his hand upon its tail, and then the horse turned its head and said to him, “What are thy commands, my master? God be praised who hath had mercy upon me and sent a warrior to lay his hand over me!”
Then the horse shook itself and became straight in the legs again, and Boy Beautiful asked him what he should do next.
“In order that thou mayest attain thy heart’s desire,” said the horse, “ask thy father for the sword and lance, the bow, quiver, and armor which he himself wore when he was a youth. But thou must comb and curry me with thine own hand six weeks, and give me barley to eat cooked in milk.”
So the emperor called the steward of his household, and ordered him to open all the coffers and wardrobes that his son might choose what he would; and Boy Beautiful, after searching for three days and three nights, found at last, at the bottom of an old armory, the arms and armor which his father had worn as a youth. Very rusty were these ancient weapons, but he set to work with his own hands to polish them up and rub off the rust, and at the end of six weeks they shone like mirrors. He also cherished the steed as he had been told. Grievous was the labor, but it came to an end at last.
When the good steed heard that Boy Beautiful had cleansed and polished his armor, he shook himself once more, and all his boils and sores fell off from him. There he now stood a stout horse and strong, and with four large wings growing out of his body. Then said Boy Beautiful, “We go hence in three days!”—“Long life to thee, my master!” replied the steed. “I will go wherever thou dost command.”
When the third day came the emperor and all his court were full of grief. Boy Beautiful, attired as became a hero, with his sword in his hand, bounded onto his horse, took leave of the emperor and the empress, of all the great nobles and all the little nobles, of all the warriors and all the courtiers. With tears in their eyes, they besought him not to depart on this quest; but he, giving spurs to his horse, departed like a whirlwind, and after him went sumpter horses with money and provisions, and some hundreds of chosen warriors whom the emperor had ordered to accompany him on his journey.
But when he had reached a wilderness on the confines of his father’s realm, Boy Beautiful took leave of the warriors, and sent them back to his father, taking of the provisions only so much as his good steed could carry. Then he pursued his way toward sunrise, and went on and on for three days and three nights till he came to an immense plain covered with the bones of many dead men. Here they stopped to rest, and the horse said to him, “Know, my master, that we are now in the domains of the witch Gheonoea, who is so evil a being that none can set a foot on her domains and live. Once she was a woman like other women, but the curse of her parents, whom she would never obey, fell like a withering blast upon her, and she became what she now is. At this moment she is with her children in the forest, but she will come speedily to seek and destroy thee. Great and terrible is she, yet fear not, but make ready thy bows and arrows, thy sword and lance, that thou mayst make use of them when the time comes.”
Then they rested, and while one slept the other watched.
When the day dawned they prepared to traverse the forest. Boy Beautiful bridled and saddled his horse, drew the reins tighter than at other times, and set out. At that moment they heard a terrible racket.
Then the horse said, “Beware, my master, Gheonoea is approaching.” The trees of the forest fell to this side and to that as the witch drew nigh like the tempest, but Boy Beautiful struck off one of her feet with an arrow from his bow, and he was about to shoot a second time when she cried, “Stay thy hand, Boy Beautiful, for I’ll do thee no harm!” And seeing he did not believe her, she gave him a promise written in her blood.
“Look well to thy horse, Boy Beautiful,” said she, “for he is a greater magician than I. But for him I should have roasted thee, but now thou must dine at my table. Know too that no mortal hath yet succeeded in reaching this spot, though some have got as far as the plain where thou didst see all the bones.”
Then Gheonoea hospitably entertained Boy Beautiful as men entertain travelers. Now and then, as they conversed together, Gheonoea groaned with pain, but as soon as Boy Beautiful threw her her foot which he had shot off, she put it in its place and immediately it grew fast on to her leg again. Then, in her joy, Gheonoea feasted him for three days and begged him to take for his consort one of her three daughters, who were divinely beautiful, but he would not. Then he asked her concerning his quest. “With such valor and such a good steed as thine,” she answered, “thou must needs succeed.”
So after the three days were over they went on their way again. Boy Beautiful went on and on, and the way was very long, but when they had passed the boundaries of Gheonoea they came to a beauteous meadowland, but on one side the grass was fresh and bright and full of flowers, and on the other side it was burnt to cinders. Then Boy Beautiful asked the horse the meaning of the singed grass, and this is what the horse replied: “We are now in the territory of Scorpia, the sister of Gheonoea. Yet so evil-minded are these two sisters that they cannot live together in one place. The curse of their parents has blasted them, and they have become witches as thou dost see. Their hatred of each other is great, and each of them is ever striving to wrest a bit of land from the dominions of the other. And when Scorpia is angry she vomits forth fire and flame, and so when she comes to her sister’s boundaries the grass of the border withers up before her. She is even more dreadful than her sister, and has, besides, three heads. But be of good cheer, my master, and tomorrow morning be ready to meet her.”
At dawn next day, they were preparing to depart when they heard a roaring and a crashing noise, the like of which man has never heard since the world began.
“Be ready, my master, for now Scorp
ia is approaching,” cried the faithful steed.
And indeed, Scorpia it was. With jaws reaching from earth to heaven, and spitting forth fire as she approached, Scorpia drew near, and the noise of her coming was like the roar of a whirlwind. But the good steed rose into the air like a dart, and Boy Beautiful shot an arrow which struck off one of the witch’s three heads. He was about to lay another arrow on his bow, when Scorpia begged him to forgive her and she would do him no harm, and by way of assurance she gave him a promise written in her blood.
Then she feasted him as her sister had done before, and he gave her back her severed head, which she stuck in its place again. Then, after three days, Boy Beautiful and his faithful steed took to the road again.
When they had crossed Scorpia’s borders, they went on and on without stopping till they came to a vast meadow covered with nothing but flowers, where Spring reigned eternally. Every flower was wondrously beautiful and full of a fragrance that comforted the soul, and a light zephyr ran continually over the flowery billows. Here then they sat them down to rest, and the good steed said:
“Hitherto, oh my master! we have prospered, but now a great danger awaits us, which if by the help of the Lord God we overcome, then shall we be heroes indeed. Not far from here stands the palace of Youth Without Age, and Life Without Death, but it is surrounded by a high and deep forest, and in this forest are all the savage monsters of the wide world.
“Day and night they guard it, and if a man can count the grains of sand on the seashore, then also can he count the number of these monsters. We cannot fight them; they would tear us to pieces before we were halfway through the forest. So we must try if we can to leap clean over it without touching it.”
So they rested them two days to gather strength, and then the steed drew a long breath and said to Boy Beautiful, “Draw my saddle girths as tightly as thou art able, and when thou hast mounted me, hold on fast with all thy might to my mane, and press thy feet on my neck instead of on my flanks, that thou mayest not hinder me.”