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| Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Proserpine, 1882 |
This is Bora Mici's original translation from Italian into English of the fairytale The Canary Prince, Il Principe canarino, as told by Italo Calvino. It tells a story of treachery, love, bravery and ingenuity that integrates many traditional fairytales, including Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Rapunzel and lesser known ones.
The Canary Prince by Italo Calvino, Part 3
At the dogs’ wailing, the other hunters arrived, rescued him, and carried him on a stretcher made of tree branches, without even looking up at the window of his beloved who was still terrified by pain and fear.
Back in his kingdom, the Prince did not give any signs of recovery, and the doctors did not know how to bring him any relief. The wounds would not close and continued to hurt. His father, the King, put up signs in all the street corners promising treasures to whomever figured out how to heal him; but no one could be found.
In the meantime, the Princess was heartbroken that she could not be near her beloved. She began to cut her sheets into thin strips and tie them together in order to make a very long rope, and one night, she used this rope to come down from the very high tower. She began to walk along the hunters’ path. But it was completely dark and the wolves were howling, so she thought it would be better to wait for morning and found an old oak with an opening in it, went inside and curled up in there, falling asleep immediately since she was dead tired. She woke up in the middle of the night and thought she had heard a whistle. She put her hand to her ear and heard another whistle, then a third and a fourth one. And she saw four candle flames approaching. They were four Old Hags, who came from the four corners of the world and had decided to meet under this tree. From a slit in the trunk, the Princess, invisible, spied on the four old women with the candles in their hands, who were having and party and cackling, “Hah! Hah! Hah!”
They lit a bonfire at the base of the tree and sat down to warm up and roast a couple of bats for dinner. After they had eaten their fill, they began to ask each other what they had seen that was remarkable around the world.
“I have seen the Turkish Sultan who bought himself twenty new wives.”
“I have seen the Chinese Emperor who had grown his braid by three meters.”
“I have seen the King of the Cannibals who ate his own Chamberlain by mistake”
“I have seen the nearby King, whose son is ill, and no one knows the remedy except for me.”
“And what is it?” asked the other three Witches.
“There is a loose tile in his room. All you have to do is lift up the tile and you will find a vial. In the vial, there is a potion that would make all his wounds disappear.”
From inside the tree, the Princess was about to scream out with joy. She had to bite her finger in order to keep quiet. At that point, the Old Hags had said everything they had to say to each other, and each went on its way.
The Princess jumped out of the tree, and at the light of dawn, started walking toward the city. At the first secondhand shop, she bought an old doctor’s smock, a pair of eyeglasses, and she went and knocked on the palace doors. At the sight of this paltry doctor, the servants did not want to let him enter, but the King said, “As things are, he cannot harm my son any further, because it’s impossible for him get any worse. Let this one try too.” The false doctor asked to be left alone with the patient, and it was granted.
When she was at the side of her lover, who was moaning unconscious in his bed, the Princess wanted to burst out into tears and shower him with kisses, but she contained herself because she had to quickly follow the Witch’s instructions. She began to walk up and down the room until she found the loose tile. She lifted it and found a small vial full of potion. She started to rub the Prince’s wounds with it. All she had to do was put her hand covered with potion on them and the wounds would disappear. Completely satisfied, she called the King, and the King saw his son without wounds, with the the color back in his cheeks, sleeping quietly.
“Ask me for what you wish, doctor,” said the King. “All of the riches of the State treasury are yours.”
“I don’t want any money,” said the doctor. “Give me only the Prince’s shield with the family emblem, the Prince’s banner and his yellow jacket, the bloody torn one.” And with these three objects in hand, she left.
Three days later, the King’s son was out hunting again. He passed by the castle in the middle of the woods, but he did not even lift his gaze toward the Princess’s window. She immediately took the book, turned the pages, and even though he was upset about it, the Prince was forced to transform into a canary. He flew into her room, and the Princess made him turn into a man again. “Let me go,” he said. “Isn’t it enough that you speared me with your pins and caused me so much suffering?” As it turns out, the Prince no longer felt any love for the girl, thinking she had been the cause of his misfortune.
The girl was about to faint, “But I saved you! I was the one that healed you!”
“It’s not true,” said the Prince. “The one who saved me was a foreign doctor, who wanted no other reward than my emblem, my banner and my bloody jacket.”
“Here is your emblem, here is your banner, and here is your jacket! I was that doctor. The pins were my stepmother’s cruelty!”
The Prince looked her in the eyes for a second gobsmacked.
She had never seemed so beautiful to him. He fell to her feet asking for forgiveness and declaring all his gratitude and love.
That same night, he told his father that he wanted to marry the girl from the castle in the woods. “You must only marry the daughter of a King or an Emperor,” said his father.
“I am marrying the girl who saved my life.”
And the wedding preparations were under way. All the Kings and Queens from the nearby surroundings were invited. The King who was the Princess’s father also came unwittingly. When he saw the bride walking to the altar, he exclaimed, “My daughter!”
“What do you mean?” asked the King who was the host. "My son’s bride is your daughter? Why did she not tell us?”
“Because,”—said the bride. “I no longer consider myself the daughter of a man who allowed my stepmother to imprison me.” And she pointed at the Queen with her index finger.
After hearing about all of his daughter’s misfortunes, the father was filled with compassion for her and contempt for his treacherous wife. And he did not even wait to return home to have her arrested. And so the wedding was celebrated with happiness and joy by all, except for the disgraced one.
They lit a bonfire at the base of the tree and sat down to warm up and roast a couple of bats for dinner. After they had eaten their fill, they began to ask each other what they had seen that was remarkable around the world.
“I have seen the Turkish Sultan who bought himself twenty new wives.”
“I have seen the Chinese Emperor who had grown his braid by three meters.”
“I have seen the King of the Cannibals who ate his own Chamberlain by mistake”
“I have seen the nearby King, whose son is ill, and no one knows the remedy except for me.”
“And what is it?” asked the other three Witches.
“There is a loose tile in his room. All you have to do is lift up the tile and you will find a vial. In the vial, there is a potion that would make all his wounds disappear.”
From inside the tree, the Princess was about to scream out with joy. She had to bite her finger in order to keep quiet. At that point, the Old Hags had said everything they had to say to each other, and each went on its way.
The Princess jumped out of the tree, and at the light of dawn, started walking toward the city. At the first secondhand shop, she bought an old doctor’s smock, a pair of eyeglasses, and she went and knocked on the palace doors. At the sight of this paltry doctor, the servants did not want to let him enter, but the King said, “As things are, he cannot harm my son any further, because it’s impossible for him get any worse. Let this one try too.” The false doctor asked to be left alone with the patient, and it was granted.
When she was at the side of her lover, who was moaning unconscious in his bed, the Princess wanted to burst out into tears and shower him with kisses, but she contained herself because she had to quickly follow the Witch’s instructions. She began to walk up and down the room until she found the loose tile. She lifted it and found a small vial full of potion. She started to rub the Prince’s wounds with it. All she had to do was put her hand covered with potion on them and the wounds would disappear. Completely satisfied, she called the King, and the King saw his son without wounds, with the the color back in his cheeks, sleeping quietly.
“Ask me for what you wish, doctor,” said the King. “All of the riches of the State treasury are yours.”
“I don’t want any money,” said the doctor. “Give me only the Prince’s shield with the family emblem, the Prince’s banner and his yellow jacket, the bloody torn one.” And with these three objects in hand, she left.
Three days later, the King’s son was out hunting again. He passed by the castle in the middle of the woods, but he did not even lift his gaze toward the Princess’s window. She immediately took the book, turned the pages, and even though he was upset about it, the Prince was forced to transform into a canary. He flew into her room, and the Princess made him turn into a man again. “Let me go,” he said. “Isn’t it enough that you speared me with your pins and caused me so much suffering?” As it turns out, the Prince no longer felt any love for the girl, thinking she had been the cause of his misfortune.
The girl was about to faint, “But I saved you! I was the one that healed you!”
“It’s not true,” said the Prince. “The one who saved me was a foreign doctor, who wanted no other reward than my emblem, my banner and my bloody jacket.”
“Here is your emblem, here is your banner, and here is your jacket! I was that doctor. The pins were my stepmother’s cruelty!”
The Prince looked her in the eyes for a second gobsmacked.
She had never seemed so beautiful to him. He fell to her feet asking for forgiveness and declaring all his gratitude and love.
That same night, he told his father that he wanted to marry the girl from the castle in the woods. “You must only marry the daughter of a King or an Emperor,” said his father.
“I am marrying the girl who saved my life.”
And the wedding preparations were under way. All the Kings and Queens from the nearby surroundings were invited. The King who was the Princess’s father also came unwittingly. When he saw the bride walking to the altar, he exclaimed, “My daughter!”
“What do you mean?” asked the King who was the host. "My son’s bride is your daughter? Why did she not tell us?”
“Because,”—said the bride. “I no longer consider myself the daughter of a man who allowed my stepmother to imprison me.” And she pointed at the Queen with her index finger.
After hearing about all of his daughter’s misfortunes, the father was filled with compassion for her and contempt for his treacherous wife. And he did not even wait to return home to have her arrested. And so the wedding was celebrated with happiness and joy by all, except for the disgraced one.
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