Page:The Pentamerone, or The Story of Stories.djvu/58

34 fawn upon him beyond the beyonds. When the king saw this he tore his beard, seeing that the bean of this cake, the prize in this lottery, had fallen to an ugly beast, the very sight of whom was enough to make one sick; who, besides having a shaggy head, owls' eyes, a parrot's nose, a deer's mouth, was bandy- and bare-legged; so that, without reading Fioravanti , you might see at once what he was. Then heaving a deep sigh, the king said, "What can that jade of a daughter of mine have seen to make her take a fancy to this sea-ogre, or strike up a dance with this hairy-foot? Ah vile, false creature, what metamorphosis is this? But why do we delay? let her suffer the punishment she deserves: let her undergo the penalty that shall be decreed by you; and take her from my presence, for I cannot endure the sight of her."

Then the councillors consulted together, and they resolved that she, as well as the malefactor and the children, should be shut up in a cask, and thrown into the sea; so that, without the king's dipping his hands in his own blood, they might put a full stop to the sentence of their lives. No sooner was the judgement pronounced, than the cask was brought, and all four were put into it; but