Page:The Pentamerone, or The Story of Stories.djvu/102

78 pottage ; I fly from this beautiful village —ye dear cabbage-stalks, I leave you!"

So saying, and making a winter of tears with a summer of sighs, he went his way, and travelled on and on, until the first evening he came to a wood in that part of Cascano which kept the mule of the Sun outside its limits, whilst it was amusing itself with Silence and the Shades. There stood an old house at the foot of a tower; and Cienzo knocked at the door of the tower; but the master being in fear of robbers, as it was already night, would not open the door; so that poor Cienzo was obliged to remain in the ruined old house; and turning his horse out to graze in a meadow, he threw himself on some straw which he found there, with the dog at his side. But scarcely had he closed his eyes, when, awakened by the barking of the dog, he heard footsteps stirring in the old house. Cienzo, who was bold and venturous, seized his sword and began to lay about him in the dark; but perceiving that he hit no one, and that he only struck at the wind, he turned round again and stretched himself out. But after a few minutes, feeling himself pulled gently by the foot, he turned to lay hold of his cutlass, and jumped up again,