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Once upon
a time...
There was once a man whose name was Don Giovanni de la
Fortuna, and he lived in a beautiful house that his father had
built, and spent a great deal of money. Indeed, he spent so much
that very soon there was none left, and Don Giovanni, instead of
being a rich man with everything he could wish for, was forced to
put on the dress of a pilgrim, and to wander from place to place
begging his bread.
One day he was walking down a broad road when he was stopped by a
handsome man he had never seen before, who, little as Don Giovanni
knew it, was the devil himself.
'Would you like to be rich,' asked the devil, 'and to lead a
pleasant life?'
'Yes, of course I should,' replied the Don.
'Well, here is a purse; take it and say to it, "Dear purse, give me
some money," and you will get as much as you can want But the charm
will only work if you promise to remain three years, three months,
and three days without washing and without combing and without
shaving your beard or changing your clothes. If you do all this
faithfully, when the time is up you shall keep the purse for
yourself, and I will let you off any other conditions.'
Now Don Giovanni was a man who never troubled his head about the
future. He did not once think how very uncomfortable he should be
all those three years, but only that he should be able, by means of
the purse, to have all sorts of things he had been obliged to do
without; so he joyfully put the purse in his pocket and went on his
way. He soon began to ask for money for the mere pleasure of it, and
there was always as much as he needed. For a little while he even
forgot to notice how dirty he was getting, but this did not last
long, for his hair became matted with dirt and hung over his eyes,
and his pilgrim's dress was a mass of horrible rags and tatters.
He was in this state when, one morning, he happened to be passing a
fine palace; and, as the sun was shining bright and warm, he sat
down on the steps and tried to shake off some of the dust which he
had picked up on the road. But in a few minutes a maid saw him, and
said to her master, 'I pray you, sir, to drive away that beggar who
is sitting on the steps, or he will fill the whole house with his
dirt.'
So the master went out and called from some distance off, for he was
really afraid to go near the man, 'You filthy beggar, leave my house
at once!'
'You need not be so rude,' said Don Giovanni; 'I am not a beggar,
and if I chose I could force you and your wife to leave your house.'
'What is that you can do?' laughed the gentleman.
'Will you sell me your house?' asked Don Giovanni. 'I will buy it
from you on the spot.'
'Oh, the dirty creature is quite mad!' thought the gentleman. 'I
shall just accept his offer for a joke.' And aloud he said: ' All
right; follow me, and we will go to a lawyer and get him to make a
contract.' And Don Giovanni followed him, and an agreement was drawn
up by which the house was to be sold at once, and a large sum of
money paid down in eight days. Then the Don went to an inn, where he
hired two rooms, and, standing in one of them, said to his purse, '
Dear purse, fill this room with gold;' and when the eight days were
up it was so full you could not have put in another sovereign.
When the owner of the house came to take away his money Don Giovanni
led him into the room and said: 'There, just pocket what you want.'
The gentleman stared with open mouth at the astonishing sight; but
he had given his word to sell the house, so he took his money, as he
was told, and went away with his wife to look for some place to live
in. And Don Giovanni left the inn and dwelt in the beautiful rooms,
where his rags and dirt looked sadly out of place. And every day
these got worse and worse.
By-and-bye the fame of his riches reached the ears of the king, and,
as he himself was always in need of money, he sent for Don Giovanni,
as he wished to borrow a large sum. Don Giovanni readily agreed to
lend him what he wanted, and sent next day a huge waggon laden with
sacks of gold.
'Who can he be?' thought the king to himself. 'Why, he is much
richer than I!'
The king took as much as he had need of; then ordered the rest to be
returned to Don Giovanni, who refused to receive it, saying, 'Tell
his majesty I am much hurt at his proposal. I shall certainly not
take back that handful of gold, and, if he declines to accept it,
keep it yourself.'
The servant departed and delivered the message, and the king
wondered more than ever how anyone could be so rich. At last he
spoke to the queen: 'Dear wife, this man has done me a great
service, and has, besides, behaved like a gentleman in not allowing
me to send back the money. I wish to give him the hand of our eldest
daughter.'
The queen was quite pleased at this idea, and again messenger was
sent to Don Giovanni, offering him the hand of the eldest princess.
'His majesty is too good,' he replied. 'I can only humbly accept the
honour.'
The messenger took back this answer, but a second time returned with
the request that Don Giovanni would present them with his picture,
so that they might know what sort of a person to expect. But when it
came, and the princess saw the horrible figure, she screamed out,
'What! marry this dirty beggar? Never, never!'
'Ah, child,' answered the king, 'how could I ever guess that the
rich Don Giovanni would ever look like that? But I have passed my
royal word, and I cannot break it, so there is no help for you.'
'No, father; you may cut off my head, if you choose, but marry that
horrible beggar--I never will!'
And the queen took her part, and reproached her husband bitterly for
wishing his daughter to marry a creature like that.
Then the youngest daughter spoke: 'Dear father, do not look so sad.
As you have given your word, I will marry Don Giovanni.' The king
fell on her neck, and thanked her and kissed her, but the queen and
the elder girl had nothing for her but laughs and jeers.
So it was settled, and then the king bade one of his lords go to Don
Giovanni and ask him when the wedding day was to be, so that the
princess might make ready.
'Let it be in two months,' answered Don Giovanni, for the time was
nearly up that the devil had fixed, and he wanted a whole month to
himself to wash off the dirt of the past three years.
The very minute that the compact with the devil had come to an end
his beard was shaved, his hair was cut, and his rags were burned,
and day and night he lay in a bath of clear warm water. At length he
felt he was clean again, and he put on splendid clothes, and hired a
beautiful ship, and arrived in state at the king's palace.
The whole of the royal family came down to the ship to receive him,
and the whole way the queen and the elder princess teased the sister
about the dirty husband she was going to have. But when they saw how
handsome he really was their hearts were filled with envy and anger,
so that their eyes were blinded, and they fell over into the sea and
were drowned. And the youngest daughter rejoiced in the good luck
that had come to her, and they had a splendid wedding when the days
of mourning for her mother and sister were ended.
Soon after the old king died, and Don Giovanni became king. And he
was rich and happy to the end of his days, for he loved his wife,
and his purse always gave him money.
Don Giovanni de la
Fortuna
from the Pink Fairy Book
Story Edited
by Andrew Lang |
