Page:Crane Italian Popular Tales.djvu/279

Rh "But you must not say," etc., etc.1

The following are intended to soothe restless children, and are so short that they may be given entire.

Once upon a time there was a barber. Be good and I will tell it to you again.2

The next is from the same source.

Once upon a time there was a king, a pope, and a dwarf. This king, this pope, and this dwarf

(Then the story-teller begins again).

But it is time to give some of the stories that are told to the good children. The first is from Pitrè (No. 130) and is called:

Once upon a time there was a farmer who had a daughter who used to take his dinner to him in the fields. One day he said to her: "So that you may find me I will sprinkle bran along the way; you follow the bran, and you will come to me."

By chance the old ogre passed that way, and seeing the bran, said: "This means something." So he took the bran and scattered it so that it led to his own house.

When the daughter set out to take her father his dinner, she followed the bran until she came to the ogre's house. When the ogre saw the young girl, he said: "You must be my wife." Then she began to weep. When the father saw that his daughter did not appear, he went home in the evening, and began to search for her; and not finding her, he asked God to give him a son or a daughter.

A year after, he had a son whom they called "Don Firriulieddu." When the child was three days old it spoke, and said: "Have you made me a cloak? Now give me a