Legends Of Florence Part 16

"'Oh stars, if you're looking with pity on me, I pray you the maid from affliction to free!'

"As he sang this, he heard a cow lowing in the courtyard, and as his mind was full of the idea of enchantment, his attention was attracted to it.

Then he sang:

"'If enchanted here you be, Low, but gently, _one_, _two_, _three_!

Low in answer unto me, And a rescue soon you'll see.'

"Then the cow lowed three times, very softly, and the young man, delighted, put to her other questions, and being very shrewd, he so managed it as to extract with only yea and nay all the story. Having learned all this, he reflected that to beat a terrier 'tis well to take a bulldog, and after much inquiry, he found that there dwelt in Arezzo a great sorcerer, but a man of n.o.ble character, and was, moreover, astonished to learn from his mother that this _gran mago_ had been a friend of his father.

"And being well received by the wise man, and having told his story, the sage replied:

"'Evil indeed is the woman of whom you speak-a black witch of low degree, who has been allowed, as all of her kind are, to complete her measure of sin, in order that she may receive her full measure of punishment. For all things may be forgiven, but not cruelty, and she has lived on the sufferings of others. Yet her power is of a petty kind, and such as any priest can crush.

"'Go to the stable when she shall be absent, and I will provide that she shall be away all to-morrow. Then bind verbena on the cow's horns, and hang a crucifix over the door, and sprinkle all the floor with holy water and incense, and sing to the cow:

"'The witch is not thy mother in truth, She stole thee in thy early youth, She has deserved thy bitterest hate, Then fear not to retaliate; And when she comes to thee again, Then rush at her with might and main; She has heaped on thee many a scorn, Repay it with thy pointed horn.'

"'And note that there is a _halter_ on the cow's neck, and this is the charm which gives her the form of a cow, but it cannot be removed except in a church by the priest.'

"And to this he added other advice, which was duly followed.

"Then the next day the young man went to the stable, and did all that the wise man had bid, and hiding near, awaited the return of the witch. Nor had he indeed long to wait, for the witch, who was evidently in a great rage at something, and bore a cruel-looking stick with an iron goad on the end, rushed to the courtyard and into the stable, but fell flat on the floor, being overcome by the holy water. And the cow, whose halter had been untied from the post, turned on her with fury, and tossed and gored her, and trampled on her till she was senseless, and then ran full speed, guided by the young man, to the Baptistery, into which she entered, and where there was a priest awaiting her. And the priest sprinkled her with holy water, and took the halter from her neck, and she was disenchanted, and became once more the beautiful Artemisia.

"And this done, the young man took the halter, and hurrying back to the stable, put it about the neck of the witch, who at once became a cow without horns, or such as are called 'the devil's own.' And as she, maddened with rage, rushed forth, attacking everybody, all the town was soon after her with staves, pikes, and all their dogs, and so they hunted her down through the Uffizzi and along Lung' Arno, all roaring and screaming and barking, out into the country, for she gave them a long run and a good chase, till they came to a gate of a _podere_, over which was a Saint Antony, who, indignant that she dared pa.s.s under him, descended from his niche, and gave her a tremendous blow with his staff between the horns, or where they would have been if she had possessed them.

Whereupon the earth opened and swallowed her up, amid a fearful flas.h.i.+ng of fire, and a smell which was even worse than that of the streets of Siena in summer-time-which is often so fearful that the poorer natives commonly carry fennel (as people do perfumed vinaigrettes in other places) to sniff at, as a relief from the horrible odour.

"And when all this was done, the _mago_ revealed to the maiden that her parents, who were still living, were very great and wealthy people, so that there was soon a grand reunion, a general recognition, and a happy marriage.

"'Maidens, beware lest witches catch you; Think of the Via Vacchereccia; And tourists dining in the same, Note how the street once got its name.'"

THE WITCH OF THE PORTA ALLA CROCE

"If any secret should sacred be, Though it guarded the life of a family, And any woman be there about, She will die but what she will find it out; And though it hurried her soul to-well- That secret she _must_ immediately tell."

-_Sage Stuffing for Young Ducks_.

There are in Italy, as elsewhere, families to whom a fatality or tradition is attached. The following is a curious legend of the kind:

LA FATTUCHIERA DELLA PORTA ALLA CROCE.

"There was a very old Florentine family which lived in a castle in the country. The elder or head of this family had always one room in which no one was ever allowed to enter. There he pa.s.sed hours alone every day, and woe to any one who dared disturb him while there. And this had been the case for generations, and no one had ever found out what the secret was. This was, of course, a great vexation to the ladies of the family-_perche la donna e sempre churiosa_-women being always inquisitive.

"And most inquisitive of all was a niece of the old man, who had got it into her head that the secret was simply a great treasure which she might obtain. Therefore she resolved to consult with a certain witch, who would tell her what it was, and how she could enter the mysterious room.

This sorceress lived hard by the Porta alla Croce, for there are always many witches in that quarter.

"The witch, who was a very large tall woman, made the niece go with her to an isolated small house, and thence along a path, the lady in advance.

While so doing, the latter turned her head to look behind her, and at that instant heard the cry of a _civetta_ or small owl. The witch exclaimed, 'My dear lady, what you wish for will hardly be granted; I fear there is a great disaster awaiting you.'

"Then they went into a field, and the fortune-teller produced a goblet of coloured gla.s.s, and called to the swallow, which is a bird of good omen, and to the small owl, which forebodes evil, and said, 'Whichever shall alight first on the edge of this cup will be a sign to you of success or failure.'

"But the first which came and sat upon the cup was the owl.

"Then the witch said, 'What there is in that room I cannot reveal, for it disturbs my soul far too much. But I know that the number of that room is thirteen, and you can infer for yourself what that portends; and more I cannot tell you, save that you should be extremely careful and keep a cheerful heart-otherwise there is great trouble awaiting you.'

"But the lady returned home in a great rage at her disappointment, and all the more resolved to enter the room. Then all the family finding this out, reproached her, and urged her not to be so distracted; and she, being obstinate, only became the more determined; for she was furious that she could not force an old man to reveal a secret which had been handed down for many generations, and which could only be confided to one, or to the eldest, when the old man should die.

"And at last her evil will or mania attained such command over her, that she resolved to kill all the family one by one, till the succession of the secret should come to her. And so, after boiling deadly herbs with care, she made a strong subtle poison. And by this means she put to death her parents, brothers and sisters, aunts and all the family, without remorse, so resolved was she to master the secret.

"The last to perish was her grandfather, and calling her to his bedside he said, 'We have all died by thy hand; we who never did thee any harm; and thou hast felt no remorse. This thou didst to gain a treasure, and bitterly wilt thou be disappointed. Thy punishment will begin when thou shalt learn what the thing was so long hidden: truly there was sorrow enough therein, without the misery which thou hast added to it. That which thou wilt find in the chamber is a skull-the skull of our earliest ancestor, which must always be given to the care of the eldest descendant, and I now give it to thee. And this thou must do. Go every morning at seven o clock into the room and close the windows. Then light four candles before the skull. In front of it there lies a great book in which is written the history of all our family, my life and thine; and see that thou do this with care, or woe be unto thee!'

"Therewith the old man died, and scarcely had he departed ere she called an old woman who was allied and devoted to the family, and in a rage told her all the secret. The old woman reproved her, saying that she would bring punishment on herself. But, without heeding this, the lady ran to the chamber, entered, and seeing the skull, gave it a kick and hurled it from the window, far below.

"But a minute after she heard a rattling sound, and looking at the window, there the skull was grinning at her. Again she threw it down, and again it returned, and was with her wherever she went; day after day, waking or sleeping, the skull was always before her eyes.

"At last fear came over her, and then horror, and she said to the old woman, 'Let us go to some place far, far away, and bury the skull.

Perhaps it will rest in its grave.' The old woman tried to dissuade her, and they went to a lonely spot at a great distance, and there they dug long and deep.

"Dug till a great hole was made, and the lady standing on the edge dropped the skull into it. Then the hole spread into a great pit, flame rose from it-the edge crumbled away-the guilty woman fell into the fire, and the earth closed over it all, and there was no trace left of her.

"The skull returned to the castle and to its room; people say it is there to this day. The old woman returned too, and being the last remote relation, entered into possession of the property."

There is perhaps not one well-educated person in society in England who has not had the opportunity to remark how very much any old family can succeed in being notorious if it can only once make it known that it has an hereditary _secret_. Novels will be written on it, every member of it will be pointed out everywhere, and people who do not know the name of a sovereign in Europe can tell you all about it and them. And the number is not small of those who consider themselves immensely greater because they have in some way mastered something which they are expected to keep concealed. I could almost believe that this "'orrible tale" was composed as a satire on family secrets. But I believe that she who told it firmly believed it. _Credo quia absurdum_ would not be well understood among humble folk in Italy.

"To this I may add," writes Flaxius, "that there is an English legend of a certain skull which always returned to a certain window in a tower.

_Apropos_ of which there is a poem called _The Student and the Head_ in 'Hans Breitmann in Germany' (London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1895), prefaced by a remark to the effect that the subject is so extensive as to deserve a book-instancing the head of the physician Douban in the 'Arabian Nights,'

with that of Orpheus, which spoke to Cyrus, and that of the priest of Jupiter, and another described by Trallia.n.u.s, and the marvellously preserved head of a saint in Olaf Tryggvason's Saga, and the Witch's Head of Rider Haggard, with many more, not to speak of the talking Teraphim heads, and Friar Bacon's bust. With which a thoroughly exhaustive list should include the _caput mortuum_ of the alchemists

"'And the dead-heads of the Press.'"

THE COLUMN OF COSIMO, OR DELLA SANTA TRINITA

"_Columna Florentina_.-Prope Sanctae Trinitatis aedem ingens et sublimis columna erecta, cujus in fastigio extat just.i.tia. Eam erexit Cosmus Magnus Dux, cui per urbem deambulanti, illic de victoria renunciatum fuit quam Malignani Marchio in Senarum finibus anno 1555 contra Petrum Strozium obtinuit."-_Templum Naturae Historic.u.m_, Darmstadt, 1611.

"Vesti una Colonna, Le par una donna."-_Italian Proverb_.

The central spot of Florence is the grand column of granite which stands in the middle of the Piazza di Santa Trinita, in the Via Tornabuoni, opposite the Palazzo Feroni. It was brought from the Baths of Caracalla in Rome, and erected in 1564 by Cosimo I., "in commemoration of the surrender of Siena in 1554, and of the destruction of the last liberties of Florence by the victory at Monte Murlo, 1537, over those whom his tyranny had driven into exile, headed by Filippo and Piero Strozzi. It is surmounted by a statue of 'Justice' in porphyry, by _Ferruci_," says Murray's Guide-Book-the Italian declares it to be by _Taddi_, adding that the column was from the Baths of Antoninus, and was a gift to Cosimo I.