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Once upon
a time...
Once upon a time there lived a shoemaker who could get no
work to do, and was so poor that he and his wife nearly died of
hunger. At last he said to her, 'It is no use waiting on here--I can
find nothing; so I shall go down to Mascalucia, and perhaps there I
shall be more lucky.'
So down he went to Mascalucia, and walked through the streets
crying, 'Who wants some shoes?' And very soon a window was pushed
up, and a woman's head was thrust out of it.
'Here are a pair for you to patch,' she said. And he sat down on her
doorstep and set about patching them.
'How much do I owe you?' she asked when they were done.
'A shilling.'
'Here is eighteenpence, and good luck to you.' And he went his way.
He turned into the next street and set up his cry again, and it was
not long before another window was pushed up and another head
appeared.
'Here are some shoes for you to patch.'
And the shoemaker sat down on the doorstep and patched them.
'How much do I owe you?' asked the woman when the shoes were
finished.
'A florin.'
'Here is a crown piece, and good luck to you.' And she shut the
window.
'Well,' thought the shoemaker, 'I have done finely. But I will not
go back to my wife just yet, as, if I only go on at this rate, I
shall soon have enough money to buy a donkey.'
Having made up his mind what was best to do, he stayed in the town a
few days longer till he had four gold pieces safe in his purse. Then
he went to the market and for two of them he bought a good strong
donkey, and, mounting on its back, he rode home to Catania. But as
he entered a thick wood he saw in the distance a band of robbers who
were coming quickly towards him.
'I am lost,' thought he; 'they are sure to take from me all the
money that I have earned, and I shall be as poor as ever I was. What
can I do?' However, being a clever little man and full of spirit, he
did not lose heart, but, taking five florins, he fastened them out
of sight under the donkey's thick mane. Then he rode on.
Directly the robber came up to him they seized him exactly as he had
foretold and took away all his money.
'Oh, dear friends!' he cried, wringing his hands, 'I am only a poor
shoemaker, and have nothing but this donkey left in the world.'
As he spoke the donkey gave himself a shake, and down fell the five
florins.
'Where did that come from?' asked the robbers.
'Ah,' replied the shoemaker, 'you have guessed my secret. The donkey
is a golden donkey, and supplies me with all my money.'
'Sell him to us,' said the robbers. 'We will give you any price you
like.'
The shoemaker at first declared that nothing would induce him to
sell him, but at last he agreed to hand him over to the robbers for
fifty gold pieces. 'But listen to what I tell you,' said he. 'You
must each take it in turn to own him for a night and a day, or else
you will all be fighting over the money.'
With these words they parted, the robbers driving the donkey to
their cave in the forest and the shoemaker returning home, very
pleased with the success of his trick. He just stopped on the way to
pick up a good dinner, and the next day spent most of his gains in
buying a small vineyard.
Meanwhile the robbers had arrived at the cave where they lived, and
the captain, calling them all round him, announced that it as his
right to have the donkey for the first night. His companions agreed,
and then he told his wife to put a mattress in the stable. She asked
if he had gone out of his mind, but he answered crossly, 'What is
that to you? Do as you are bid, and to-morrow I will bring you some
treasures.'
Very early the captain awoke and searched the stable, but could find
nothing, and guessed that Master Joseph had been making fun of them.
'Well,' he said to himself, 'if I have been taken in, the others
shall not come off any better.'
So, when one of his men arrived and asked him eagerly how much money
he had got, he answered gaily, 'Oh, comrade, if you only knew! But I
shall say nothing about it till everyone has had his turn!'
One after another they all took the donkey, but no money was
forthcoming for anybody. At length, when all the band had been
tricked, they held a council, and resolved to march to the
shoemaker's house and punish him well for his cunning. Just as
before, the shoemaker saw them a long way off, and began to think
how he could outwit them again. When he had hit upon a plan he
called his wife, and said to her, 'Take a bladder and fill it with
blood, and bind it round your neck. When the robbers come and demand
the money they gave me for the donkey I shall shout to you and tell
you to get it quickly. You must argue with me, and decline to obey
me, and then I shall plunge my knife into the bladder, and you must
fall to the ground as if you were dead. There you must lie till I
play on my guitar; then get up and begin to dance.'
The wife made haste to do as she was bid, and there was no time to
lose, for the robbers were drawing very near the house. They entered
with a great noise, and overwhelmed the shoemaker with reproaches
for having deceived them about the donkey.
'The poor beast must have lost its power owing to the change of
masters,' said he; 'but we will not quarrel about it. You shall have
back the fifty gold pieces that you gave for him. Aite,' he cried to
his wife, 'go quickly to the chest upstairs, and bring down the
money for these gentlemen.'
'Wait a little,' answered she; 'I must first bake this fish. It will
be spoilt if I leave it now.'
'Go this instant, as you are bid,' shouted the shoemaker, stamping
as if he was in a great passion; but, as she did not stir, he drew
his knife, and stabbed her in the neck. The blood spurted out
freely, and she fell to the ground as if she was dead.
'What have you done?' asked the robbers, looking at him in dismay.
'The poor woman was doing nothing.'
'Perhaps I was hasty, but it is easily set right,' replied the
shoemaker, taking down his guitar and beginning to play. Hardly had
he struck the first notes than his wife sat up; then got on her feet
and danced.
The robbers stared with open mouths, and at last they said, 'Master
Joseph, you may keep the fifty gold pieces. But tell us what you
will take for your guitar, for you must sell it to us?'
'Oh, that is impossible!' replied the shoemaker, 'for every time I
have a quarrel with my wife I just strike her dead, and so give vent
to my anger. This has become such a habit with me that I don't think
I could break myself of it; and, of course, if I got rid of the
guitar I could never bring her back to life again.'
However, the robbers would not listen to him, and at last he
consented to take forty gold pieces for the guitar.
Then they all returned to their cave in the forest, delighted with
their new purchase, and longing for a chance of trying its powers.
But the captain declared that the first trial belonged to him, and
after that the others might have their turn.
That evening he called to his wife and said, 'What have you got for
supper?'
'Macaroni,' answered she.
'Why have you not boiled a fish?' he cried, and stabber in the neck
so that she fell dead. The captain, who was not in the least angry,
seized the guitar and began to play; but, let him play as loud as he
would, the dead woman never stirred. 'Oh, lying shoemaker! Oh,
abominable knave! Twice has he got the better of me. But I will pay
him out!'
So he raged and swore, but it did him no good. The fact remained
that he had killed his wife and could not bring her back again.
The next morning came one of the robbers to fetch the guitar, and to
hear what had happened.
'Well, how have you got on?'
'Oh, splendidly! I stabbed my wife, and then began to play, and now
she is as well as ever.'
'Did you really? Then this evening I will try for myself.'
Of course the same thing happened over again, till all the wives had
been killed secretly, and when there were no more left they
whispered to each other the dreadful tale, and swore to be avenged
on the shoemaker.
The band lost no time in setting out for his house, and, as before,
the shoemaker saw them coming from afar. He called to his wife, who
was washing in the kitchen: 'Listen, Aita: when the robbers come and
ask for me say I have gone to the vineyard. Then tell the dog to
call me, and chase him from the house.'
When he had given these directions he ran out of the back door and
hid behind a barrel. A few minutes later the robbers arrived, and
called loudly for the shoemaker.
'Alas! good gentlemen, he is up in the vineyard, but I will send the
dog after him at once. Here! now quickly to the vineyard, and tell
your master some gentlemen are here who wish to speak to him. Go as
fast as you can.' And she opened the door and let the dog out.
'You can really trust the dog to call your husband?' asked the
robbers.
'Dear me, yes! He understands everything, and will always carry any
message I give him.'
By-and-bye the shoemaker came in and said, 'Good morning, gentlemen;
the dog tells me you wish to speak to me.'
'Yes, we do,' replied the robber; 'we have come to speak to you
about that guitar. It is your fault that we have murdered all our
wives; and, though we played as you told us, none of them ever came
back to life.'
'You could not have played properly,' said the shoemaker. 'It was
your own fault.'
'Well, we will forget all about it,' answered the robbers, 'if you
will only sell us your dog.'
'Oh, that is impossible! I should never get on without him.'
But the robbers offered him forty gold pieces, and at last he agreed
to let them have the dog.
So they departed, taking the dog with them, and when they got back
to their cave the captain declared that it was his right to have the
first trial.
He then called his daughter, and said to her, 'I am going to the
inn; if anybody wants me, loose the dog, and send him to call me.'
About an hour after some one arrived on business, and the girl
untied the dog and said, 'Go to the inn and call my father!' The dog
bounded off, but ran straight to the shoemaker.
When the robber got home and found no dog he thought 'He must have
gone back to his old master,' and, though night had already fallen,
he went off after him.
'Master Joseph, is the dog here?' asked he.
'Ah! yes, the poor beast is so fond of me! You must give him time to
get accustomed to new ways.'
So the captain brought the dog back, and the following morning
handed him over to another of the band, just saying that the animal
really could do what the shoemaker had said.
The second robber carefully kept his own counsel, and fetched the
dog secretly back from the shoemaker, and so on through the whole
band. At length, when everybody had suffered, they met and told the
whole story, and next day they all marched off in fury to the man
who had made game of them. After reproaching him with having
deceived them, they tied him up in a sack, and told him they were
going to throw him into the sea. The shoemaker lay quite still, and
let them do as they would.
They went on till they came to a church, and the robbers said, 'The
sun is hot and the sack is heavy; let us leave it here and go in and
rest.' So they put the sack down by the roadside, and went into the
church.
Now, on a hill near by there was a swineherd looking after a great
herd of pigs and whistling merrily.
When Master Joseph heard him he cried out as loud as he could, 'I
won't; I won't, I say.'
'What won't you do?' asked the swineherd.
'Oh,' replied the shoemaker. 'They want me to marry the king's
daughter, and I won't do it.'
'How lucky you are!' sighed the swineherd. 'Now, if it were only
me!'
'Oh, if that's all!' replied the cunning shoemaker, 'get you into
this sack, and let me out.'
Then the swineherd opened the sack and took the place of the
shoemaker, who went gaily off, driving the pigs before him.
When the robbers were rested they came out of the church, took up
the sack, and carried it to the sea, where they threw it in, and it
sank directly. As they came back they met the shoemaker, and stared
at him with open mouths.
'Oh, if you only knew how many pigs live in the sea,' he cried. 'And
the deeper you go the more there are. I have just brought up these,
and mean to return for some more.'
'There are still some left there?'
'Oh, more than I could count,' replied the shoemaker. 'I will show
you what you must do.' Then he led the robbers back to the shore.
'Now,' said he, 'you must each of you tie a stone to your necks, so
that you may be sure to go deep enough, for I found the pigs that
you saw very deep down indeed.'
Then the robbers all tied stones round their necks, and jumped in,
and were drowned, and Master Joseph drove his pigs home, and was a
rich man to the end of his days.
The Cunning Shoemaker
from the Pink Fairy Book
Story Edited
by Andrew Lang |
