Page:The Pentamerone, or The Story of Stories.djvu/213

Rh her daughter take care of the house, she went to a meeting of the other ogresses in the wood.

Nardo Aniello, seeing himself dragged into this dilemma, began to bathe his breast with tears, cursing his fate, which had brought him to this pass. But Filadoro, on the other hand, comforted him, bidding him be of good heart, for that she would even risk her life to assist him; and adding, that he ought not to lament his fate, which had led him to that house, where he was loved so dearly by her, and that he showed little return for her love by standing so in despair at what had happened. The prince replied, "I am not grieved at having come down from the horse to the ass, nor at having exchanged the royal palace for this hovel, the splendid banquets for a crust of bread, the troop of servants for field-labour, the sceptre for a spade, nor at seeing myself, who have terrified armies, now frightened by this hideous scarecrow; for I should deem all my disasters good-fortune to be with you, and to gaze upon you with these eyes. But what pierces me to the heart is that I have to dig till my hands are covered with hard skin,—I whose fingers were as delicate and soft as Barbary wool; and, what is still worse, I have to do more than two oxen could get through in a day; and if I do not finish the task this evening, your mother will eat me up: yet withal I should not grieve so much to quit