從牛欄把牛偷走，

「有長鬍子的，有短鬍子的，

有鬈髮的，有蓬髮的，

Beware of Micillina, that old witch,

但現在人們都沒了錢，無人再來了。」

"They were used to hold his beard up on his head and make it look like a womans hair."

老人又說：「我們來這裏想冒昧向老爺您求討一個解決辦法。」

At night they began lighting huge bonfires to keep Micillina the Witch from venturing out of the woods. But she would sneak up on the solitary farmer watching over cattle beside the bonfire and knock him out in one breath. In the morning upon awaking, hed find cows and oxen gone, and his friends would hear him weeping and moaning and hitting himself on the head. Then everybody combed the woods for traces of the stolen cattle, but found only tufts of hair, hairpins, and footprints left here and there by Micillina the Witch.

I am the count and I count for three;

Until then the farmers had listened in silence, but when Masino said, "And now, what shall we do with him?" a storm of shouts arose: "Burn him! Skin him alive! String him up for a scarecrow! Seal him in a cask and roll him down the cliff! Sew him up in a sack with six cats and six dogs!"

"The thief could have been none of you," explained Masino, "since you had all gone to the barber and had no hair to lose in the bushes. Then there were those tracks made by big heavy shoes, but all of you go barefoot. Nor could the thief have been a ghost, since he wouldnt have needed to buy all that cord to tie up the animals and carry them away. But where is my mulled wine?"

伯爵在眾人的怒目逼視下，蜷縮在地上，好像一隻凍壞的蒼蠅。

"And those hairpins he lost?" asked another.

The rope maker replied:

Then train on you her crossed-eye,

女巫米奇利娜總是藏在村子下方的樹林中，伺機而出，她只須吹一口氣就可以把一頭牛劫走。天黑后，每當村民們聽到林中灌木叢的沙沙響動，就會嚇的牙齒打架，甚至昏倒在地，所以大家都說：

"The third question goes to you, rope maker. How much rope did you sell this month?"

For all your oxen she will filch,

就這樣過去了好幾個月，奶牛被一直關在牛圈裡變得越來越瘦。刷毛的時候已經不需要刷子了，用耙子在牛肋骨上耙幾下就行了。沒有人再敢將牲畜帶到草地上去了，也沒有人敢再進樹林里，林子裡邊的蘑菇因為長久無人採摘，長得像雨傘一般大。

「第三個問題要問你了，制繩匠，這個月你賣出去多少根繩子？」

So, no witch has there been.

All of which goes to show that the people of Pocapaglia were not the dunces they were said to be, and that the proverb,

村民們只好在夜裡點起一堆堆大篝火，使女巫米奇利娜不敢從樹叢中現身。但當只有一個人在篝火邊上看守牲畜時，女巫就會悄悄地靠上去，用氣把這個人吹昏，等到早上他醒過來的時候，奶牛、耕牛早已不見了，於是大家便聽到他痛哭、絕望，擊自己的頭。然後，所有的人都會一齊到樹林中尋找牲畜，結果，除了一綹頭髮、女人的的髮釵和女巫米奇利娜四處留下的足印，什麼也找不到。

村民們跪在地上說：「幫幫我們吧，伯爵老爺，可憐可憐我們吧！」周圍的衛士們開始厭煩地打著哈欠，給鬍子塗著黑油。

"Your turn now, cobbler. How many people brought you their old shoes to mend this month?"

這個月我賣了很多根。」

"Very well," said Masino, stretching out by the fire. "Im now going to sleep for a few hours, Im very tired. Wake me up at midnight and Ill go after the witch." He put his hat over his face and fell asleep.

這純粹是附近村鎮的人對他們的污衊，這些九九藏書人這樣對待博卡帕利亞人就是因為他們生性平靜，不願意和任何人爭吵。

"Alas!" began the cobbler:

你就嚇得倒下。

Lard-soft to iron-strong...

Fine beards, coarse beards,

理髮師回答：

我的剪刀給他們都剪過。」

Pantheon Books, New York 1980

伯爵還是一聲不吭。

馬西諾是博卡帕利亞人中最聰明的人，深受全鎮的人愛戴。他並不比別人粗壯，甚至比一般人還瘦弱很多，但他天生聰明。他剛出世時，看上去瘦弱嬌小，媽媽為了讓他能活下來，而且還能長得強壯一點，就用熱葡萄酒給他洗澡。爸爸還把燒紅的鐵放到酒里給酒加熱。這樣馬西諾既通過浸泡皮膚而獲得了酒的柔力，又吸收了鐵的剛強。洗完澡后，媽媽又把她放在鋪滿生栗子殼的搖籃里，讓他的身體變涼爽，使他在刺痛中變得更加睿智。

村民們都留在原地等他，只見篝火燒成了火炭，火炭又燒成了柴灰，柴灰也變黑了，這時，馬西諾回來了。身後還帶著一個人，好像被拉著鬍子，是誰呀？是伯爵，伯爵一邊哭著，掙扎著，一邊求饒。

The count lived high above the town on a large circular estate surrounded by a massive wall. The top of the wall was encrusted with sharp bits of glass. One Sunday morning all the townsmen arrived, with hats in hand. They knocked, the door swung open, and they filed into the courtyard before the courts round dwelling, which had bars at all the windows. Around the courtyard sat the courts soldiers smoothing their mustaches with oil to make them shine and scowling at the farmers. At the end of the courtyard, in a velvet chair, sat the count himself with his long black beard, which four soldiers were combing from head to foot.

Everybody in Pocapaglia loved Masino, the smartest boy in town. He was no stronger physically than anybody else; in fact, he even looked rather puny. But he had always been very clever. Concerned over how little he was at birth, his mother had bathed him in warm wine to keep him alive and make him a little stronger. His father had heated the wine with a red-hot horseshoe. That way Masino absorbed the subtlety of wine and the endurance of iron. To cool him off after his bath, his mother cradled him in the shell of an unripened chestnut; it was bitter and gave him understanding.

「他用包了布的木棍子在你們的頭上猛擊一棍，這樣你們覺得像吹氣一樣，頭上無痕迹，醒來時頭昏腦沉。」

The witch would hide in the woods at the foot of the hill, and all she needed to do was give one heavy puff, and she had herself an ox. When the farmers heard her steal through the thicket after dark, their teeth would chatter, and everyone would fall down in a swoon. That became so common that people took to saying:

The town of Pocapaglia was perched on the pinnacle of a hill so steep that its inhabitants tied little bags on the tail feathers of their hens to catch each freshly laid egg that otherwise would have gone rolling down the slopes into the woods below.

「我修過木拖鞋，修過皮拖鞋，

In Pocapaglia ways

女巫米奇利娜從不去別的村鎮搶牛，因為她知道再沒有哪個村的村民像博卡帕利亞人這樣與世無爭、平靜忍耐了。每天晚上，這些貧苦的村民就在場院中間點上一堆篝火，女人和孩子留在家中，男人則圍著篝火撓頭抱怨著。怨了今天，怨明天，最後，他們決定得去找這裏的伯爵幫忙。

The oldest farmer took heart and said, "Your Honor, we have dared come to you about our misfortune. As our cattle go into the woods, Micillina the Witch appears and makes off with them." So, amid sighs and groans, with the other farm九-九-藏-書ers nodding in assent, he told the count all about their nightmare.

「現在我問你，鞋匠，這個月有多少人到你那裡修鞋呢？」

translated by George Martin,

The count remained silent.

伯爵把腦袋在脖子上轉了一圈，說：「要是派衛兵，我就還得派一個隊長……」

At the time the Pocapaglians were awaiting the return of Masino, whom no one had seen since the day he went off to be a soldier (and who was now most likely somewhere in Africa), strange things started happening in Pocapaglia. Every evening as the cattle came back from pasture in the plain below, an animal was whisked away by Micillina the Witch.

誰都知道在博卡帕利亞，

說明根本就沒有女巫。」

The farmers stayed behind watching the fire burn down and the last embers turn to ashes. Then, whom should Masino drag in by the beard but the count! A count that wept, kicked, and pleaded for mercy.

This month I couldnt go wrong."

"Lets hear your questions! Out with them!" they all said.

「第一個問題要先問理髮師。這個月有多少人到你那裡理髮？」

Beneath the farmers amazed stares, the count tried to make himself as small as possible, sitting on the ground and shrinking up like a cold-bitten fly.

既然我沒見過女巫，

"We have come here," said the old man, "to be so bold as to ask Your Honors advice."

This long narrative, which writer Giovanni Arpino has transcribed and unified from different versions with variants and additions from Bra and surroundings, cannot in my view be classified as a folktale. It is a local legend of recent origin in part (I am thinking, for instance, of the geographical particulars given), that is, not prior to the nineteenth century, and containing disparate elements: explanation of a local superstition (the hairpins of Witch Micillina), antifeudal country legend such as one finds in many northern countries, curious detective-story structure à la Sherlock Holmes, many digressions nonessential to the story (such as the trip from Africa back to town -- which Arpino tells me also exists as a separate story -- and all the allusions to Masinos past and future adventures which lead to the conclusion globetrotter from a country whose inhabitants are reputed to be contrastingly slow and backward), verse (of which Arpino and I have presented only as much as we could effective translate), and grotesque images which seem rooted in tradition, such as the sacks under the hens tails, the oxen so thin that they were curried with the rake, the count whose beard was combed by four soldiers, etc....

伯爵住在村鎮山頂上的一座圓形莊園里，四周圍著圍牆，牆上還插滿了玻璃片。一個星期天的早上，村民們聚在一塊，帽子拿在手上，前來敲響了伯爵家的門。門打開后，村民們來到伯爵圓形房屋前的庭院，只見屋子的窗戶都用鐵柵欄封著，庭院四周坐著伯爵的衛兵，他們的鬍子上都塗著油，好讓鬍子看上去光彩油亮。這些人一個個對村民們怒目而視。庭院的最里端，伯爵坐在絲絨面的椅子上，黑鬍子很長很長，四個衛兵正用四把梳子在給他從上往下地梳理它。

Wretched food, the ground for a cot.

粗如胳膊，細如針，

The donkey whistles, the master brays,

「我看這樣吧，」馬西諾說，「讓他把牲畜都還給大家，再讓他把所有的牛九九藏書棚打掃乾淨。既然他喜歡夜裡到森林中去，就罰他每天晚上都去給你們撿柴火。告訴孩子們以後看到地上有髮釵的話再也不要撿了，它們都是女巫米奇利娜的，她再也不能梳理好頭髮和鬍子了。」

The count remained silent.

「饒命！」伯爵用顫抖的聲音哀求著。

女巫米奇利娜，

我修過布鞋，修過蛇皮鞋，

年紀最長的村民定了定神，說：「伯爵老爺，我們斗膽來您這裏，是為了向您稟告我們的不幸遭遇，森林中有一個女巫米奇利娜，把我們的牲畜都搶了去。」隨後，老人嘆著氣，訴著苦，在別的村民的點頭證實下，向伯爵講述了他們這段時間的可怕經歷。

只要用眼斜一下，

制繩匠說：

「唉，」鞋匠說：

Again the count shook his head and said:

"Rope galore of every sort I sold:

But theres nothing left to do,

The farmers kept perfectly quiet until midnight, not even daring to breathe, for fear of awaking him. At midnight Masino shook himself, yawned, drank a cup of mulled wine, spat three times into the fire, got up without looking at a soul, and headed for the woods.

「但要是我派隊長去，」伯爵說，「那麼，晚上，我還跟誰玩擲彩遊戲呢？」

「這就是女巫！」馬西諾喊道。隨後又問：「熱酒放在哪裡了」？

"The Counts Beard" (La barba del Conte). Published here for the first time, collected by Giovanni Arpino in July 1956, in certain villages of southern Piedmont: Bra (told by Caterina Asteggiano, inmate of a home for old people, and Luigi Berzia), in Guarene (told by Doro Palladino, farmer), in Narzole (told by Annetta Taricco, servant woman), and in Pocapaglia.

博卡帕利亞是建在陡峭山坡上的一個小鎮，鎮上人家的雞隻要一下蛋就會滾落到山下的樹林里。為了防止雞蛋滾落丟失，居民們在每隻母雞的尾巴上掛了一個小袋子。

「我是伯爵，我說話能頂三個人說話，

"Yes, yes," was all the Pocapaglians would reply, "but just wait until Masino returns, and you will see who brays more, we or you."

"How did he ever make us faint by just looking at us?" asked one farmer.

「那他用什麼方法看我們一眼，就會讓我們昏倒呢？」一位村民問。

長大后，馬西諾出發去服兵役，以後再也沒有回到自己的村鎮。現在好像到了非洲的某個地方。這期間博卡帕利亞開始出了一系列的怪事。每天晚上人們都會發現，他們的牛從平原上的草地放牧回來時，總要被女巫米奇利娜搶走好幾頭。

"Long beards, short beards,

At those words and still yawning, the soldiers picked up their guns and, with bayonets extended, moved slowly toward the farmers, who turned and filed silently out of the courtyard.

伯爵一聲不吭。

村民們靜靜地守候在一邊，連大氣都不敢出，怕吵醒他。到半夜，馬西諾自己醒了過來，他打了個哈欠，喝下一小杯熱酒，又朝篝火吐了三口唾沫，然後，旁若無人地站起來直奔樹林。

Nail by nail I hammered back together,

馬西諾先讓大家說了個夠，然後他開始敘述起來：「在非洲我遇到過不吃人只吃蟬的野蠻人；在沙漠我碰到過一個為了挖地下水而留了十二米長的指甲的瘋子；在海上我見過一條魚穿著一隻皮鞋和一隻拖鞋，它想成為眾魚之王，因為別的魚既沒有穿皮鞋的，也沒有穿拖鞋的；在西西里，我認識一位婦女生了七十個兒子，但全家只有一口鍋；在那不勒斯，我看見人們停住腳也能往前走，因為別人的閑言碎語太厲害了，變成了一股很大的推力；我還看見過聖人，看見過罪犯，看見過一百公斤重的胖子，也看見過骨瘦如柴的矮子，我見過很多膽小的人，但從沒見過像博卡帕利亞人這麼膽小的人。」

(Bra)

Shaking all over, the count tried to hide in that beard of his which Masino had tousled and torn in pulling him out of the bushes.

將火藥裝進炮膛，

硬的如鐵，軟的如豬油，

merely reflected the malicious grudge the neighboring townspeople bore the Pocapaglians for their peaceful ways and their reluctance to quarrel with anyone.

And wait for you to fall and die.

"Spare him," said Masino, "and he will bring back your cattle and clean your barns. And since he enjoyed going into the woods at night, make him go there every night and gather bundles ohttps://read.99csw.comf firewood for each of you. Tell the children never to pick up the hairpins they find on the ground, for they belong to Micillina the Witch, whose hair and beard will be disheveled from now on."

The farmers listened, hardly daring to hope.

All I trimmèd(sic) in a hurry."

「柳繩，線繩，

村民們就照馬西諾說的做了。隨後，馬西諾又動身遊歷世界去了，一路上，他加入了一次又一次的戰爭，每一次戰爭都持續了很長時間，有詩為證：

NOTES:

村民們都豎著耳朵聽著，似乎感受到一線希望。

"The first question is for the barber. How many people came to you this month?"

老人又補充說：「我們來這裏想斗膽請老爺您行行好幫我們一把，要是您肯派出一隊衛士，我們就可以回到草場上放牲畜了。」

馬西諾解釋說：「不可能是你們當中的人乾的，因為你們都理過發，剪過鬍鬚，不可能在樹叢中留下鬚毛；樹林里有又大又重的鞋印，而你們都是赤腳進樹林的。也不可能是什麼精靈乾的，因為精靈沒必要去買那麼多繩子綁了牲畜，再拉走。哎，我要的熱酒呢？」

說完，他們便立即給馬西諾寫了封信，然後將信寄到非洲。一天晚上，當村民們像往常一樣聚集在場院的篝火旁邊時，馬西諾回來了。人們激動的情景就別提了，大家衝上去擁抱他，煮上加香料的熱葡萄酒。有人問：「你去了什麼地方？」有人說：「你見到了些什麼東西？」還有人說：「你知道我們有多慘嗎？」

釘了一堆鞋釘，上了一堆掌鐵；

"Shoes of wood, shoes of leather,

Boom-BOOM! Boom-BOOM! Boom louder!

村民們都安靜地聽著，當馬西諾說「現在，大家想怎麼處置他？」時，人群中爆發出一陣激動的喊聲：「燒死他！剝他的皮！把他綁在杆子上當稻草人！把他關在桶里讓他不停地轉！把他跟六隻貓，六隻狗一起捆進一個袋子里！」

"But if the captain is away in the evening," said the count, "who can I play lotto with?"

細細的柳條井繩，

Hemp rope, braided, wicker, cord,

No witch have I seen,

村民們垂頭喪氣地回到場院，不知下一步該怎麼辦，那個跟伯爵說過話的年紀最長的老人說：「現在我們得派人去把馬西諾請回來！」

"Heres the witch!" cried Masino, and asked, "Where did you put the mulled wine?"

All their money is spent."

Needle-thin to arm-thick,

Mended shoes of satin and shoes of serpent.

嘣！嘣!

The farmers fell to their knees. "Help us, noble count, for pitys sake!" The soldiers around the courtyard yawned and stroked their mustaches.

Soldier fighter, what a hard lot!

The farmers hung their heads in shame, for Masino had hit a sensitive spot in suggesting they were cowards. But Masino was not cross with his fellow townsmen. He asked for a detailed account of the witchs doings, then said, "Let me ask you three questions, and at the stroke of midnight Ill go out and catch the witch and bring her back to you."

The Counts Beard

Back in the town square and completely discouraged, the farmers had no idea what to do next. But the senior of them all, the one who had spoken to the count, said, "Theres nothing left to do but send for Masino!"

聽到伯爵的話，那些正打著哈欠的衛士立即端起步槍，用刺刀慢慢地逼著村民們退出了庭院。

伯爵渾身哆嗦著，竭力要躲到他的鬍子裏面，馬西諾把他從樹叢后拉出來的時候，他的鬍子被拉得亂七八糟。

有鬍子軟軟的，有鬍子彎曲的，

You feed the cannon powder:

Copyright: Italian Folktales Selected and Retold by Italo Calvino,

伯爵的鬍子&義大利童話

「好了，都明白了。」馬西諾說，在篝火旁躺下，「我現在先睡上兩個小時，我實在太累了。到半夜，你們把我叫醒，我去抓那個女巫。」說完，他用帽子遮住臉，睡著了。

Things went from bad to worse. Shut up all the time in the barn, the cows grew as thin as rails. A rake instead of a brush was all that was needed to groom them, from rib to rib. Nobody dared lead the cattle to pasture any more. 九-九-藏-書Everyone stayed clear of the woods now, and the mushrooms that grew there went unpicked and got as big as umbrellas.

搓的和編的草繩，

Masino let them have their say, then he had his. "In Africa I saw cannibals who ate not men but locusts; in the desert I saw a madman who had let his fingernails grow twelve meters long to dig for water; in the sea I saw a fish with a shoe and a slipper who wanted to be king of the other fish, since no other fish possessed shoe or slipper; in Sicily I saw a woman with seventy sons and only one kettle; in Naples I saw people who walked while standing still, since the chatter of other people kept them going; I saw sinners and I saw saints; I saw fat people and people no bigger than mites; many, many frightened souls did I see, but never so many as here in Pocapaglia."

"He would smite you on the head with a padded club. That way you would hear only a whir. Hed leave no mark on you, youd simply wake up with a headache."

Micillina the Witch was not tempted to plunder other towns, knowing full well that calm and peace-loving people were to be found only in Pocapaglia. There the poor farmers lit a big bonfire every night in the town square, while the women and children locked themselves indoors. The men sat around the fire scratching their heads and groaning. Day after day they scratched and groaned until a decision was finally reached to go to the count for help.

Locks straight, locks curly,

驢子吹口哨，主人嚎叫。

The farmers followed the suggestion, and soon Masino left Pocapaglia to travel about the world. In the course of his travels, he found himself fighting in first one war and another, and they all lasted so long that his saying sprang up:

"We have come here," he added, "to be so bold as to ask Your Honor to help us. If you assigned us an escort of soldiers, we could again take our cattle down to pasture."

"Have mercy!" said the count in a voice just above a whisper.

伯爵又轉了一下頭，說：

「那他丟在森林中的那些頭釵呢？」另一個人問。

「讓你們誣衊吧，挖苦吧，」博卡帕利亞人都這樣說，「等馬西諾回來，看我們當中誰還會嚎叫。」

這說明博卡帕利亞人並非像別人挖苦的那樣軟弱無能，附近曾經流傳著這樣一句話：

你吃的差，睡在地上，

「問吧，問吧！」大家齊說。

「這些頭釵是他用來把鬍子扎到頭上的，就像女人扎頭髮那樣。」

啊，戰爭中的士兵，

The barber replied:

村民們都羞愧地低下了頭，馬西諾說他們膽小，實在是一針見血。但馬西諾並沒有責怪鄉親們的意思。他讓大家把女巫的事詳細地說了一遍，然後說：「我現在問你們三個問題，然後，等半夜一到，我就去抓住這個女巫，把她帶到這裏來。」

So they wrote Masino a letter and sent it to Africa. Then one evening, while they were all gathered around the bonfire as usual, Masino returned. Imagine the welcome they gave him, the embraces, the pots of hot, spiced wine! "Where on earth have you been? What did you see? If you only knew what we have been going through!"

The count shook his head. "If I let you have the soldiers," he said, "I must also let you have the captain..."