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December 22, 2016
Argenta's first story
IL MAGO SUCCHINO
The Sucking Magician:
Once upon a time there was a widow whose husband left her very wealthy: five farms on the plain, full barns, a beautiful house in the city, and much more: gold and silver because they didn’t want anyone to see paper money.
However, this widow had a son who played cards day and night. He would win by day and lose by night. But he had a series of losses which put him so far in debt that both he and his mother became very poor. They sold off one farm after the other until finally they even lost the house in the city and had to go live in the cottage of a poor relative they had previously completely disregarded.
But the son did not want to give up. "Oh can't I please have a little good luck?"
So one evening he took a pair of his mother's earrings and wanted to sell them. But she, the poor woman, didn't want to because they were a memento of her poor dead husband. But her son, took them anyway, and left.
He went throughout the city, to all the shops, but no one wanted to purchase them. So he took off down the main road out of town.
He walked and walked, arriving at a large forest. He rambled here and there throughout the forest until he saw a man sitting at the base of a chestnut tree sucking on a finger.
"Gentleman, would you like to buy these earrings?"
"No," he replied, without even looking up, "I won't buy them because they belong to your mother."
The young man stood there confused that the man had known this. But then he mustered the courage to approach the man and tell him all about his plight; saying:
"I want to win back what I lost, to repay my mother. The poor woman ought to live a contented life, but now she has to suffer hunger, she who had been used to living very well."
"Well," said the man, "I have a solution. Come to my house and I'll give you a deck of cards."
So they did in fact go to his house whereupon he gave him a deck of cards and said, " I will give you these, but you must return them to me in a year and three days, otherwise you will suffer great harm. Are we agreed, young man?"
The young man promised he would, took the cards, and left in a flash. Arriving at home, he returned the earrings to his mother, and went to play with this deck of cards.
He began to win, winning always, night and day, always winning, until he became a great man. He recovered the farms, the house, carriages and horses, and even a pair of pearl earrings which he presented to his mother who was so happy she never stopped looking at herself in the mirror and seemed to have rejuvenated twenty years.
One year passed, two, three years passed, and then after three years and thirty three days no one wanted to play cards with this young man anymore. Then he remembered what the man who had given him the cards had told him, and of his promise to return them to him after a year and three days: " I made a deal with him I did not keep. Now he said I will suffer some misfortune. How could it be that so much time has passed, that I failed to bring back his cards? What can I tell him? Who knows how angry he will be?"
And he felt totally confused and didn't have courage to go, because he was a bit embarrassed and a bit afraid.
Now, one morning he arose earlier than sunrise: "I rightly need to go and return them to him, better late than never." So he washed, hugged his mother, and left.
He walked and he walked along the road that never seemed to end, until he met an old woman:
"Where are you going, handsome young man?"
"I'm going to return these cards to a man who gave them to me so I could win back my losses and repay my mother, and I promised him that I would return them after a year and three days; instead more than three years have passed and I don't remember anymore where he lives or even what his name is."
Said the old woman, "Unfortunately, I know him: he is called the Sucking Magician.
You're lucky he didn't suck all the blood you have in your veins. But I sense you are a grave young man, and I want to see you prosper. Listen to me, I'll tell you what you have to do. First of all, keep going left until you come to a river. It is not very wide, but it is too deep to wade, and you cannot leap across. So somersault yourself and you'll find yourself on the other side. Then you'll arrive at a lake where there are three girls washing clothes. Take the youngest girl's clothing and carry them away. She'll say to you, "Give me back my clothes." And you have to say, "No, I won't give them back until you have told your father not to do anything bad to me, because I haven't returned his cards yet." And the young lady will promise to speak to her father, and then you will give her her clothing.
In fact, everything went word for word exactly as the old woman had said. The youngest girl assured him that she would quickly go to speak to her father, and then he returned her clothing.
She went home and recounted everything to her father. Her father, who was the Sucking Magician summoned the young man and asked him, "Why have you kept my cards for such a long time?"
"What do you want? I forgot..."
"Ignorant promise breaker, I'll show you who I am, I am the Sucking Magician, and I like to suck the blood of Christians. But because my daughter spoke on your behalf, instead of sucking your blood immediately, I will first give you three tests, which if you pass, I will save you and give you my daughter in marriage. Do you see that woodland area up there? You have to take this ax and cut everything down very well, and then with this hoe make the area farmland. If by tomorrow evening that is not accomplished, I'll reduce you to the equivalent of an egg drink."
The next morning, the young man woke early, ran to the woodland on the summit of the hill. "How can I accomplish in one day, by myself, turning this into farmland?"
So he began cutting with the ax, and then began to hoe, but the land was harder than stone. "Poor me, that no one is coming to my aid!" And he began to cry in despair. "The Sucking Magician will suck my blood dry!"
Now, at noon, the Magician's daughter arrived bringing lunch to the young man. She found him still crying and asked him, "What is wrong?"
"Your father is going to skin me, if I don't make this into farmland. I have worked hard without success and am desperate."
"Don't be dismayed, eat peacefully, I'll take care of the farmland." But the young man did not feel like eating.
Meanwhile, the Magician's daughter pulled out the magic wand she had taken from her father, tapped the ground, which asked her, "What to you want?"
" I command you to become farmland, as the Magician wishes."
No sooner said than done, where there had been a woodland a beautiful farm appeared: beautiful and large, with a vineyard, and an olive grove, a vegetable garden, everything, even a farmhouse.
The young man, upon seeing this miracle, could no longer contain himself and shouted, "My God, what a beautiful farm!" That evening the young man approached the Magician's house, who was waiting for him at the door, in a bad mood of extreme hunger.
“Well, did you make the farm?"
"Certainly, I made it, and how lovely it is! If you don't believe me, go see it yourself."
"Right now, let's go."
He went to see and said that it all looked very good, gave him dinner, and sent him to bed. "Tomorrow I'll fix him!"
The next morning, in fact, he made him rise an hour before daybreak, and said to him, "Do you see that ditch down there? You must go into that ditch and build me a beautiful mill, according to my liking, that lacks nothing. If by this evening it is not completed, I will suck your blood to the last drop , as true as my name is the Sucking Magician!"
The young man began to cry and said, "How can I possibly complete building you a mill when I'm not even a mason? And in one day! Magician, you are a good man, allow me to return to my mother who must be wondering what has happened to me."
"No, you must build me a mill!"
So the young man gathered tools and went down into the ditch. He stood there awhile without doing anything, because he didn't even know how to begin. He raised one, two, three stones, but then he realized it was useless, he couldn't succeed, and he threw them down, crying, despairing, and saying, "This time, surely, he will suck my blood.”
And approaching noon along came the Magician's daughter to bring him lunch.
"Why are you crying? Don't give it another thought. Eat."
And she took out the magic wand and hit the ground, which said, "What is your command?"
"I command and desire that here will be made a mill that will lack nothing, exactly what my father wants." No sooner said than done, here was the mill, truly a large beautiful mill, which had everything, even a miller. And the two of them stared, spellbound.
That evening, when he was approaching the house, he found the Magician who came to meet him.
“Well, have you made the mill?"
"Yes, I surely made it; and you won't believe it, go see it for yourself."
The Magician went to see it, and when he saw it he stamped his feet on the ground filled with rage; and he shouted, "How could he have been able to make a mill, that ignorant boy who is not even a mason? Today he has escaped, but tomorrow surely not!"
And so the next morning, before the rooster had even crowed, he made him get out of bed and said, "Go into that river, where there is ever so much water, and find for me my ring which I lost many years ago. If this evening you don't bring it to me you will see who is the Magician!"
The young man left crying and said, "How can I find a ring at the bottom of a river, I who can't even swim?"
And he stood there on the riverbank despairing, not having the courage to dive in. But the Magician's daughter came along to bring him dinner. "Eat," she told him, " I'll think of a solution."
And after the young man had eaten, she told him, "Take this knife, and with it, cut me into little pieces. But don't throw away even a little piece of my flesh, otherwise I will remain cut up. Then take all the little pieces, wrap them in this towel, and throw them into the river. But be careful not to fall asleep, because when I return to the surface and shout you must be ready to pull me out by my hair. I will come to the surface three times, and if by the third time you have not pulled me out, I will sink beneath the water, drowned."
As the young girl said this, the young man looked at her, sighing, "How can I cut you to little pieces, after you have always saved my life? Who would give me this courage?"
"Take courage," she said.
So the young man took the knife and sighing began to cut the girl. He was almost finished when a little piece bounced away, but he didn't bother with it, saying, "Such a little piece won't matter." He took the towel, and wrung tightly, tightly, tightly, this chopped flesh, and threw it into the river. Then he sat on the river bank, waiting for her to surface. But sitting there doing nothing, he became tired and began to fall asleep, when he heard a yell and rose quickly to grab the girl, but he did not do it in time, so the poor girl sank again into the river."I'll grab her this next time."
He waited and waited, but she did not float to the surface. He didn't take his eyes off the water, looking for such along time, that he closed his eyes and began to doze, when he heard a shout, and he reached to grab her, but again did not do it in time.
"Poor me, what shall I do."
And he stood there for the third time, which was the last time after which there would be no remedy.
He waited and waited, but she tarried; and he stood still, with his eyes wide open, and his hands ready to pull her out of the water. But he waited, and waited, and waited, he became so tired he was ready to doze off again and right then she yelled and he flung himself forward and was able to grab her by the tip of her hair, and pulled her up, out of the water and said to her, "I'm so happy! Now I see that you returned whole like you were before.""No, not like before," she said, as she gave him the ring. "Do you see this hand? I told you to be very careful not to lose even a little piece of flesh and instead, look, you lost a little bit of this finger."
The young man, not knowing what to say, just looked at her and sighed. Then she said, "Don't worry about it. Who knows, this misfortune might turn out well for us. Now, I'm going home. You remain here until this evening. Then return and give the ring to my father, and we'll see if he keeps his promise to allow us to marry.When evening arrived he went to the Magician's house, looking here and there, but the Magician was not there. Finally he found him in a little room upstairs, filled with tools for torturing Christians; and saw that he was sucking blood from a finger.
"Have you recovered my ring?"
"Yes, here it is."
The Magician was completely abashed to see that he really did have the ring; and was gnashing his hands in rage because he wasn't expecting this and wanted to suck the young man's blood in every way he could. Finally he said, " You have brought me the ring, now I can't do anything bad to you. But I have a ruse for you."
So when supper time arrived, the Magician had his three daughters sit in a row, completely covered by a sheet and told them to extend their hands open on the table; then he had the young man enter.
"Now, choose the one you like the best and I'll give her to you as your wife."
The young man looked at the girls' hands and said, "This is the one I like." And he pointed to the one who was missing a little piece of her finger.
The Magician glared at him and shouted in a loud voice, "I knew it!"
The young man trembled in fear, not knowing what he had done. So the Magician raised the sheet, took the youngest girl's hand and said, "I knew it was this one! This does not mean you will marry immediately." While to himself he said, "I will suck the blood of both of them.”
But at midnight the girl wakes up the boy and says to him: - “Wake up so we can escape, it seems to me he wants to suck the blood of both of us.”
He got up quickly, and she said: - “Go into the stable and get the most withered horse there is.”
The young man went to the stable, looked at the horses and said to himself: “If I take the most withered one, he will die on me on the road. I want to take this fatter one, it will make our chance better.”
When they had set out and the girl saw that he had chosen the fat horse, she said: - “Disaster, I told you to choose the thin one. Why didn’t you pay attention to me? That was our best escape
Now, when my father leaves he will choose the withered one, you will see that he will catch us. But let’s go now, there is no time to waste we have to escape from here. Be sure to turn around while we are on the road, because, if my father sees he can catch us, dismount immediately, because I still have a way to make things right.”
So, they mounted the horse and were off, as fast as they were able. But now and again she asked him:
- Do you see him?
- No.
- Do you see him?
- No.
- Please pay attention.
Galoppa, galoppa, he turns suddenly and says:
- I see him.
- Gee up, little horse!…
-I see him, way over there, but he comes like the wind.
- But is it really him?
- Yes: him!….
Then suddenly she stopped the horse, and struck the magic wand she had stolen from her father and it said:
- What is your command?
- I command and wish that there be a garden here and that I am dressed like a gardener and my beau becomes a flower; so my father will not recognize us.
And what she had commanded was done.
Now comes Il Mago Succhino at great speed, and he asks the gardener:
- Have you seen pass by here a man and a woman on a horse?
- I have seen no one, other than the donkey of the potter.
- Of what interest is the potter to me! exclaimed Il Mago, angrily, and he turned his horse and was off like a rocket.
Then she tapped the magic wand and they were both as they were before and resumed at a gallop.
“Didn’t I tell you, eh, that my father, with the withered horse would catch us…..now pay attention if you see him reappear.”
In fact, after a long time, though there wasn’t much more to the country, they neared where the boy left his mother, and he turned around and saw Il Mago.
- Oh! - he said - it seems to me he is coming like lightning.
- Then, quickly the girl stopped, tapped the wand and commanded that there become a shop with her dressed as a storekeeper.
- Then she said to her beau: - while I stay here and hold back my father, you quickly run to your house. But be careful not to kiss your mother, and let no one kiss you, or you will forget yourself and all of me.
Off he goes, and when he arrives at his house, he knocks on the door and his mother answers: - “Oh my son, how are you, how much have I cried and longed for you?…come here let me to kiss you.”
But he pulled himself back: - “No, mamma, you must not kiss me, because I have my love far away waiting for me and if you kiss me I will immediately lose my memory.”
His mother wanted to kiss him but he didn’t want her to, poor woman, she begged him, that she only wanted to give him one, it didn’t make sense for her not to be the best mother; …….
And she gave him the soup that he liked so much; it refreshed him, “I will dust off the sheets and tuck you into bed like you were a child, but I won’t kiss you, she said.”
And he said to her that at dawn he had to return to get his love, where he had left her, dressed like a shop keeper in a beautiful shop; and he was going bring her back dressed for a festival, on a horse, and with a band from the village.
Then that night, while he was asleep, his mother stayed and watched him, but was not satisfied to just look, she couldn’t stop herself from giving him a kiss on the forehead.
Comes the dawn and she wakes him:
- O my son, wake up: it is dawn and you need to go and get your love.
- Why, mamma? ….and he looked at her without understanding.
- Your love, out there, waits for you…This you told me last night.
- I said nothing to you, mamma, last night….And he was as if he was no longer himself, he forgot his love, because his mamma had given him a kiss.
Now, after several days, a rumor made its way around the people of the village that in a beautiful shop nearby there was a very beautiful shopkeeper; and all the young men were going to see her.
“Farewell,” he said to his mother, “even I want to go there.”
So he went, but he did not recognize her.
He walked back and forth in front of the shop, looking and looking again, but he did not recognize her.
However she recognized him, went to him, and said: - “Don’t you see, that it is me?”
But he looked at her and said nothing.
- Oh! your mamma has kissed you, she kissed you while you were asleep and for that you have forgotten me…No: the fault is not yours….
And, as she says this, she kisses him on the cheek and then he remembers her; he says:
- How could I, how could I forget you, me who loves you so much?…
He ran ahead to get the band and returned on horseback with the clothes for the festival; and they played trumpets and trombones.
He picked up his dear love, and on horseback, took her with him to his house.
And they had a grand celebration: they ate well and drank better, they danced until all hours; then they were married and it turned out well.
____________________________________
Stettero sempre in pace e in allegria,
se non son morti s’ameran tavia. (tuttavia)
They stayed always in peace and happiness,
and they will love as long as they live.
translated by Janice Z. and R.P.
Notes and observations:
Collections of Italian folktales started appearing in print in the nineteenth century and early twentieth. This collection is probably a later one. Italo Calvino assembled the most accessible collection - Italian Folktales - for non-Italians; he put it together in 1956, but it wasn’t until 1980 that it was finally translated into English. One or two stories in his collection are included in Argenta’s. Hers are richer and in some cases not as politically correct as Calvino’s. Calvino unfortunately changed the stories, mixed and matched scenes, so now we don’t have the original in English to make any worthy comparisons.
Calvino does however give us a brilliant overview of Italian folktales as literature in the preface of his book; he mentions that the Italian stories don’t dwell on the blood thirsty scenes, and that love conquers all; though there are some unhappy endings, and the villainous get their just due.
As with all stories passed on verbally, changes and additions creep in, so it’s hard for one to say where a particular scenario came from, but it’s fun to guess.
In Mago Succhino, Mago is from somewhere else, and definitely not Christian - the ultimate us vs. them. I think he is a hold over from the middle ages when expansionist Islam moved into the south of Italy and Spain. So the people in the north, Argenta’s people, probably never saw a muslim, which made them even more threatening. Not that Mago is made out to be a muslim in the story, that’s just what comes to the reader’s mind.
When a story begins with ‘once upon a time’ the reader has to set aside his impulse to make sense of everything and get ready to go for a ride. All but one of Argenta’s are ‘once upon a time stories’ and full of surprises.
In Mago; none of the characters have names; you have to read the story with a child-like mind which fills in the blanks with quick associations.
The Mago never harms anyone, and in the end is just dropped from the story line. He is a ‘boogie man’ device, I like to think, to wake up the children who aren’t paying attention.
Sucking blood is reminiscent of vampires; what could be scarier.
But his daughter seems like a mainstream girl. The business of cutting her into pieces so she can get to the bottom of the lake is a unique story line, and too bad about Mago not getting invited to his daughter’s wedding. She is the one character in the story who has her act together and is left to undo all the misdoings of the boy.
Throughout the story the boy messes up everything he is told to do, luckily his new girlfriend had that magic wand.
And as for the boy not being allowed to kiss his mother for fear of losing his memory, who can imagine such a thing. The ultimate injury for every Italian mamma’s boy.
rp
Posted by ronpaci at December 22, 2016 9:38 PM