意大利童話 The Prince Who Married a Frog 王子娶了一只青蛙

There was once a king who had three sons of marriageable age In order to avoid any dispute over their choice of three brides, he said, "Aim as far as you can with the sling There where the stone falls you will get your wife"

The three sons picked up their slings and shot The oldest boy sent his stone flying all the way to the roof of a bakery, so he got the baker girl The second boy released his stone, which came down on the house of a weaver The youngest son's stone landed in a ditch

Immediately after the shots, each boy rushed off to his betrothed with a ring The oldest brother was met by a lovely maiden as fresh as a newly baked cake, the middle brother by a fair girl with silky hair and skin, while the youngest, after looking and looking, saw nothing but a frog in that ditch

They returned to the king to tell him about their betrothed "Now," said the king, "whoever has the best wife will inherit the kingdom Here begin the tests" He gave them each some hemp to be spun and returned within three days, to see which betrothed was the best spinner

The sons went to their betrothed and urged them to spin their best Highly embarrassed, the youngest boy took the hemp to the rim of the ditch and called:

"Frog, frog!"

"Who calls?"

"Your love who loves you not"

"If you love me not, never mind Later you shall, when a fine figure I cut"

The frog jumped out of the water onto a leaf The king's son gave her the hemp, telling her he'd pick up the spun thread three days later

Three days later the older brothers anxiously hastened to the baker girl and the weaver girl to pick up their spun hemp The baker girl produced a beautiful piece of work; the weaver girl, who was an expert at this sort of thing, had spun hers to look like silk But how did the youngest son fare? He went to the ditch and called:

"Frog, frog!"

"Who calls?"

"Your love who loves you not"

"If you love me not, never mind Later you shall, when a fine figure I cut"

She jumped onto a leaf holding a walnut in her mouth He was somewhat embarrassed to give his father a walnut while his brothers brought spun hemp He nevertheless took heart and presented the king with the walnut The king, who had already scrutinized the handiwork of the baker and the weaver girls, cracked open the walnut as the older brothers looked on, snickering Out came cloth as fine as gossamer that continued to unroll until the throne room was covered with it "But there's no end to this cloth!" exclaimed the king No sooner were the words out of his mouth than the cloth came to an end

But the father refused to accept the idea of a frog becoming queen His favorite hunting bitch had just had three puppies, which he gave the three sons "Take them to your betrothed and go back for them a month later The one who's taken the best care of her dog will become the queen"

A month later, the baker girl's dog had turned into a big, fat mastiff, having got all the bread he could eat The weaver's dog, not nearly so well supplied, was now a half-starved hound The youngest son came in with a small box The king opened it and out jumped a tiny, beribboned poodle, impeccably groomed and perfumed, that stood on its hind legs and marched and counted

"No doubt about it," said the king, "my youngest son will be king, and the frog will be queen"

The wedding of all three brothers was set for the same day The older brothers went for their brides in garlanded carriages drawn by four horses, and the brides climbed in, decked with feathers and jewels

The youngest boy went to the ditch, where the frog awaited him in a carriage fashioned out of a fig leaf and drawn by four snails They set out He walked ahead while the snails followed, pulling the fig leaf with the frog upon it Every now and then he stopped for them to catch up with him, and once he even fell asleep When he awakened, a gold carriage had pulled up beside him It was drawn by two white horses, and inside on velvet upholstery, sat a maiden as dazzling as the sun and dressed in an emarald-green gown

"Who are you?" asked the youngest son

"I am the frog"

He couldn't believe it, so the maiden opened a jewel case containing the fig leaf, the frog skin, and four snail shells "I was a princess turned into a frog, and the only chance I had of getting my human form back was for a king's son to agree to marry me the way I was"

The king was overjoyed and told his two older sons, who were consumed with envy, that whoever picked the wrong wife was unworthy of the crown So the youngest boy and his bride became king and queen

(Monferrato)

NOTES:

"The Prince Who Married a Frog" (Il principe che sposò una rana) from Comparetti, 4, Monferrato, Piedmont

The tale of the frog bride is common to all of Europe; scholars have counted 300 versions Comparing it, for instance, with Grimm, no63, or with Afanas'ev's "The Frog Prince," this variant which we can classify as distinctly Italian (since it shows up uniformly throughout the Peninsula, even if slinging to locate the bride is rather rare) stands out in its near-geometrical logic and linearity

Copyright: Italian Folktales Selected and Retold by Italo Calvino,

translated by George Martin,

Pantheon Books, New York 1980

王子娶了一只青蛙

從前，有一個(gè)國(guó)王，他的三個(gè)兒子都到了娶妻的年齡了。為了不讓三個(gè)王子在挑選新娘的時(shí)候發(fā)生爭(zhēng)斗，國(guó)王對(duì)他們說：“你們用投石器盡力向遠(yuǎn)處拋石頭，石頭落在哪里，你們就娶哪里的姑娘為妻。”

三個(gè)兒子拿了投石器拋出石頭。大兒子把石頭拋在了一家面包房的屋頂上，于是他娶了那面包女工。二兒子把石頭拋進(jìn)了一個(gè)紡織女工的家里。而小兒子拋的石頭則落進(jìn)了一條水溝里。

投完石頭，三個(gè)王子趕快帶著訂婚戒指去找各自的未婚妻。大王子找到的是一個(gè)美麗的姑娘，皮膚柔嫩得像剛出爐的蛋糕;二王子找到的是一個(gè)臉色蒼白的姑娘，身體纖細(xì)得像根線;而小王子朝水溝里望啊、望啊，最后只找到一只青蛙。

三個(gè)王子回來向國(guó)王稟告了自己找到的未婚妻的情況。國(guó)王說：“這樣吧，誰(shuí)的妻子最優(yōu)秀，誰(shuí)就能繼承王位。現(xiàn)在我們就試試她們。”他給每個(gè)兒子分了一些麻，讓他們的未婚妻在三天內(nèi)紡出來，比比誰(shuí)紡得更好。

兒子們找到自己的未婚妻，叮囑她們仔細(xì)地紡。小王子覺得很沮喪，他拿著麻，來到水溝邊，喊道：

“青蛙啊，青蛙!”

“誰(shuí)在喊我呀?”

“不太喜歡你的未婚夫!”

“你現(xiàn)在不喜歡我，當(dāng)你看到我美麗時(shí)，一定會(huì)喜歡我。”

青蛙從水中跳出來，落在一片葉子上。小王子把麻交給她，告訴她三天后他會(huì)來取紡好的線。

三天過后，兩個(gè)哥哥急不可耐地跑到面包女工和紡織女工那里取紡好的線，面包女紡得很漂亮，而紡織女就更不必說了，紡線是她最拿手的，紡出來的麻線像絲一樣細(xì)。小王子怎么樣了呢?他來到水溝邊：

“青蛙啊，青蛙!”

“誰(shuí)在喊我呀?”

“不太喜歡你的未婚夫!”

“你現(xiàn)在不喜歡我，當(dāng)你看到我美麗時(shí)，一定會(huì)喜歡我!”

青蛙跳到一片葉子上，嘴里銜著一顆核桃。兩位哥哥都帶來了紡好的線，自己卻只帶回一顆核桃見父親，小王子很難為情，他硬著頭皮來到父親面前。國(guó)王先是翻來覆去地查看了面包女和紡織女紡出的線，然后才打開小王子帶來的核桃，兩位哥哥在旁邊暗暗地譏笑他。國(guó)王打開核桃，從里面取出了一球細(xì)線，細(xì)得像蜘蛛網(wǎng)一樣，國(guó)王拽呀拽，拉呀拉，越拉越長(zhǎng)，拉出來的線堆滿了整個(gè)大殿。“這線怎么沒有個(gè)頭啊!”國(guó)王話剛一出口，線就拉到頭了。國(guó)王不甘心就這樣讓一只青蛙當(dāng)上王后。正好，他的那只良種獵犬剛生下三只小狗，他就把牠們交給三個(gè)王子，說：“把牠們帶給你們的未婚妻，一個(gè)月后再帶回來，誰(shuí)養(yǎng)得好誰(shuí)就成為王后。”

一個(gè)月后，面包女養(yǎng)的那只狗長(zhǎng)成一只肥大的獵犬，因?yàn)橐粋€(gè)月來牠從沒斷過面包。紡織女養(yǎng)的那只狗卻顯得尖瘦，一個(gè)月來缺吃少喝的。小王子來的時(shí)候帶來了一個(gè)籠子，國(guó)王打開籠子，從里面跳出來的是一只毛光皮亮的鬈毛狗，脖子上束著飾帶，渾身散發(fā)著香氣，不僅會(huì)抬起前爪直立起來，還能練武術(shù)，懂得數(shù)數(shù)。國(guó)王于是說：“毫無(wú)疑問，小兒子將繼承王位，而青蛙將成為王后。”

三位兄弟的婚禮定在同一天舉行。兩個(gè)哥哥坐著四匹馬拉的車去接新娘，馬車上飾滿了漂亮的鮮花，兩位新娘一身羽毛和珠寶，登上了馬車。小王子來到水溝邊，青蛙正在一架四只蝸牛拉著的車子上等著他，車子是用無(wú)花果的樹葉做成的。他們出發(fā)了，他在前邊走著，而蝸牛拉著樹葉上的青蛙在后面跟著。一路上，小王子不得不幾次停下來等著青蛙，最后一次他甚至睡著了。他醒過來的時(shí)候，發(fā)現(xiàn)在他面前停著一輛金子做成的馬車，兩匹白馬在前邊拉著，車廂被天鵝絨裹著，里面坐著一位美麗的姑娘，一身碧綠的穿著，光彩照人。

小王子問：“你是誰(shuí)?”

“我就是青蛙啊，”看見王子半信半疑，姑娘就打開一個(gè)珍寶盒，只見里面放著無(wú)花果的樹葉，一張青蛙的皮和四個(gè)蝸牛殼。“我本來是一個(gè)公主，被變成了一只青蛙，只有遇到一位從來不知道我的美貌卻心甘情愿娶我的王子，我才會(huì)重新變回人身。”

國(guó)王滿心歡喜，看到兩個(gè)大王子心存嫉妒，就開導(dǎo)他們說，一個(gè)人沒有能力選好自己的妻子也就不配得到王冠。就這樣，小王子和他的新娘當(dāng)上了國(guó)王和王后。

(蒙費(fèi)拉托地區(qū))