Page:The Pentamerone, or The Story of Stories.djvu/122

98 for all the fairy had done for her, went off with her husband without uttering a single word of thanks. Then the fairy, beholding such ingratitude, cursed her, and wished that her face should become like that of a she-goat; and hardly had she uttered the words, when Renzolla's mouth stretched out, with a beard a span long on it; her jaws shrunk, her skin hardened, her cheeks grew hairy, and her plaited tresses turned to pointed horns.

When the poor king saw this he was thunderstruck, not knowing what had happened, that so great a beauty should be thus transformed; and with sighs and tears he every moment kept exclaiming, "Where are the locks that bound me? where are the eyes that transfixed me? where is the mouth that was the pitfall of my soul, the trap of my breath, and the cage of my heart? must I then be the husband of a she-goat? no, no, my heart shall not break for such a goat-face." So saying, as soon as they reached his palace, he put Renzolla into a kitchen along with a chamber-maid, giving to each of them ten bundles of flax to spin, and desiring them to have the thread ready at the end of a week.

The maid, in obedience to the king, set about carding the flax, preparing and putting it on the distaff, twirling