Italian Folktales by Italo Calvino Read Free Book Online

middle of the sea. “Get into a rowboat and go explore it. We’ll be cruising right around here.”
    Samphire Starboard stepped into the rowboat, and the ship sailed away at full speed, leaving him stranded in the middle of the sea. He approached the reef, spied a cave, and went in. Tied up inside was a very beautiful maiden, who was none other than the king’s daughter.
    â€œHow did you manage to find me?” she asked.
    â€œI was fishing for octopi,” explained Samphire.
    â€œI was kidnapped by a huge octopus, whose prisoner I now am,” said the king’s daughter. “Flee before it returns. But note that for three hours a day it changes into a red mullet and can be caught. But you have to kill the mullet at once, or it will change into a sea gull and fly away.”
    Samphire Starboard hid his boat and waited out of sight on the reef. From the sea emerged the octopus, which was so large that it could reach clear around the island with its tentacles. All its suckers shook, having smelled a man on the reef. But the hour arrived when it had to change into a fish, and suddenly it became a red mullet and disappeared into the sea. Samphire Starboard lowered fishing nets and pulled them back up full of gurnard, sturgeon, and dentex. The last haul produced the red mullet, shaking like a leaf. Samphire raised his oar to kill it, but instead of the red mullet he struck the sea gull flying out of the net and broke its wing. The gull then changed back into an octopus, whose wounded tentacles spurted dark red blood. Samphire was upon it instantly and beat it to death with the oar. The king’s daughter gave him a diamond ring as a token of the gratitude she would always feel toward him.
    â€œCome and I’ll take you to your father,” he said, showing her into his boat. But the boat was tiny and they were out in the middle of the sea. After rowing and rowing they spied a ship in the distance. Samphire signaled to it with an oar draped with the king’s daughter’s gown. The ship spotted them and took them aboard. It was the same ship that had earlier discharged and abandoned Samphire. Seeing him back with the king’s daughter, the captain said, “Poor Samphire Starboard! Here we thought you were lost and now, after looking all over for you, we see you return with the king’s daughter! That calls for a real celebration!” To Samphire Starboard, who’d not touched a drop of wine for months on end, that seemed too good to be true.
    They were almost in sight of their home port when the captain led Samphire to a table and placed several bottles of wine before him. Samphire drank and drank until he fell unconscious to the floor. Then the captain said to the king’s daughter, “Don’t dare tell your father that drunkard freed you. Tell him I freed you myself, since I’m the captain of the ship and ordered him to rescue you.”
    The king’s daughter neither agreed nor disagreed. “I know what I’ll tell him,” she answered.
    To be on the safe side, the captain decided to do away with Samphire Starboard once and for all. That night, they picked him up, still as drunk as could be, and threw him into the sea. At dawn the ship was in sight of port. With flags they signaled they were bringing home the king’s daughter safe and sound. A band played on the pier, where the king waited with the entire court.
    A date was chosen for the king’s daughter to wed the captain. On the day of the wedding, the mariners in port saw a man emerge from the water. He was covered from head to foot with seaweed, and out of his pockets and the holes in his clothes swam fish and shrimps. It was none other than Samphire Starboard. He climbed out of the water and went ambling through the city streets, with seaweed draping his head and body and dragging along behind him. At that very moment the wedding procession was moving through the street and came face to