Page:The Pentamerone, or The Story of Stories.djvu/151

Rh THE THREE SISTERS.

is a great truth, if we make the saying good, that from the same wood are formed the statues of idols and the rafters of the gallows, kings' thrones and cobblers’ stalls; and another strange thing is, that from the same rags is made the paper on which the wisdom of sages is recorded, and the crown which is placed on the head of a fool,—a thing that would puzzle the cleverest astrologer in the world. The same too may be said of a mother, who brings forth one good daughter and another bad, one an idle hussy, another a good housewife; one fair, another ugly; one spiteful, another kind; one unfortunate, another born to good luck,—who, all being of one family, ought to be of one nature. But leaving this subject to those who know more about it, I will merely give you an example of what I have said, in the story of three daughters of one and the same mother, wherein you will see the difference of manners, which brought