Sun, Moon, and Talia
It is a well-known fact that the cruel man is generally his own hangman; and he who
throws stones at Heaven frequently comes off with a broken head. But the reverse of the
medal shows us that innocence is a shield of fig-tree wood, upon which the sword of malice
is broken, or blunts its point; so that, when a poor man fancies himself already dead and
buried, he revives again in bone and flesh, as you shall hear in the story which I am
going to draw from the cask of memory with the tap of my tongue. There was once a great
Lord, who, having a daughter born to him named Talia, commanded the seers and wise men of
his kingdom to come and tell him her fortune; and after various counsellings they came to
the conclusion, that a great peril awaited her from a piece of stalk in some flax.
Thereupon he issued a command, prohibiting any flax or hemp, or such-like thing, to be
brought into his house, hoping thus to avoid the danger.
When Talia was grown up, and was standing one day at the window, she saw an old woman
pass by who was spinning. She had never seen a distaff or a spindle, and being vastly
pleased with the twisting and twirling of the thread, her curiosity was so great that she
made the old woman come upstairs. Then, taking the distaff in her hand, Talia began to
draw out the thread, when, by mischance, a piece of stalk in the flax getting under her
finger-nail, she fell dead upon the ground; at which sight the old woman hobbled
downstairs as quickly as she could. When the unhappy father heard of the disaster that had
befallen Talia, after weeping bitterly, he placed her in that palace in the country, upon
a velvet seat under a canopy of brocade; and fastening the doors, he quitted for ever the
place which had been the cause of such misfortune to him, in order to drive all
remembrance of it from his mind. Now, a certain King happened to go one day to the chase,
and a falcon escaping from him flew in at the window of that palace. When the King found
that the bird did not return at his call, he ordered his attendants to knock at the door,
thinking that the palace was inhabited; and after knocking for some time, the King ordered
them to fetch a vine-dresser's ladder, wishing himself to scale the house and see what was
inside. Then he mounted the ladder, and going through the whole palace, he stood aghast at
not finding there any living person. At last he came to the room where Talia was lying, as
if enchanted; and when the King saw her, he called to her, thinking that she was asleep,
but in vain, for she still slept on, however loud he called. So, after admiring her beauty
awhile, the King returned home to his kingdom, where for a long time he forgot all that
had happened. Meanwhile, two little twins, one a boy and the other a girl, who looked like
two little jewels, wandered, from I know not where, into the palace and found Talia in a
trance. At first they were afraid because they tried in vain to awaken her; but, becoming
bolder, the girl gently took Talia's finger into her mouth, to bite it and wake her up by
this means; and so it happened that the splinter of flax came out. Thereupon she seemed to
awake as from a deep sleep; and when she saw those little jewels at her side, she took
them to her heart, and loved them more than her life; but she wondered greatly at seeing
herself quite alone in the palace with two children, and food and refreshment brought her
by unseen hands. After a time the King, calling Talia to mind, took occasion one day when
he went to the chase to go and see her; and when he found her awakened, and with two
beautiful little creatures by her side, he was struck dumb with rapture. Then the King
told Talia who he was, and they formed a great league and friendship, and he remained
there for several days, promising, as he took leave, to return and fetch her. When the
King went back to his own kingdom he was for ever repeating the names of Talia and the
little ones, insomuch that, when he was eating he had Talia in his mouth, and Sun and Moon
(for so he named the children); nay, even when he went to rest he did not leave off
calling on them, first one and then the other.
Now the King's stepmother had grown suspicious at his long absence at the chase, and
when she heard him calling thus on Talia, Sun, and Moon, she waxed wroth, and said to the
King's secretary, "Hark ye, friend, you stand in great danger, between the axe and
the block; tell me who it is that my stepson is enamoured of, and I will make you rich;
but if you conceal the truth from me, I'll make you rue it." The man, moved on the
one side by fear, and on the other pricked by interest, which is a bandage to the eyes of
honour, the blind of justice, and an old horse-shoe to trip up good faith, told the Queen
the whole truth. Whereupon she sent the secretary in the King's name to Talia, saying that
he wished to see the children. Then Talia sent them with great joy, but the Queen
commanded the cook to kill them, and serve them up in various ways for her wretched
stepson to eat. Now the cook, who had a tender heart, seeing the two pretty little golden
pippins, took compassion on them, and gave them to his wife, bidding her keep them
concealed; then he killed and dressed two little kids in a hundred different ways. When
the King came, the Queen quickly ordered the dishes served up; and the King fell to eating
with great delight, exclaiming, "How good this is! Oh, how excellent, by the soul of
my grandfather!" And the old Queen all the while kept saying, "Eat away, for you
know what you eat."
At first the King paid no attention to what she said; but at last, hearing the music
continue, he replied, "Ay, I know well enough what I eat, for you brought nothing to
the house." And at last, getting up in a rage, he went off to a villa at a little
distance to cool his anger. Meanwhile the Queen, not satisfied with what she had done,
called the secretary again, and sent him to fetch Talia, pretending that the King wished
to see her. At this summons Talia went that very instant, longing to see the light of her
eyes, and not knowing that only the smoke awaited her. But when she came before the Queen,
the latter said to her, with the face of a Nero, and full of poison as a viper,
"Welcome, Madam Sly-cheat! Are you indeed the pretty mischief-maker? Are you the weed
that has caught my son's eye and given me all this trouble." When Talia heard this
she began to excuse herself; but the Queen would not listen to a word; and having a large
fire lighted in the courtyard, she commanded that Talia should be thrown into the flames.
Poor Talia, seeing matters come to a bad pass, fell on her knees before the Queen, and
besought her at least to grant her time to take the clothes from off her back. Whereupon
the Queen, not so much out of pity for the unhappy girl, as to get possession of her
dress, which was embroidered all over with gold and pearls, said to her, "Undress
yourself--I allow you." Then Talia began to undress, and as she took off each garment
she uttered an exclamation of grief; and when she had stripped off her cloak, her gown,
and her jacket, and was proceeding to take off her petticoat, they seized her and were
dragging her away. At that moment the King came up, and seeing the spectacle he demanded
to know the whole truth; and when he asked also for the children, and heard that his
stepmother had ordered them to be killed, the unhappy King gave himself up to despair. He
then ordered her to be thrown into the same fire which had been lighted for Talia, and the
secretary with her, who was the handle of this cruel game and the weaver of this wicked
web. Then he was going to do the same with the cook, thinking that he had killed the
children; but the cook threw himself at the King's feet and said, "Truly, sir King, I
would desire no other sinecure in return for the service I have done you than to be thrown
into a furnace full of live coals; I would ask no other gratuity than the thrust of a
spike; I would wish for no other amusement than to be roasted in the fire; I would desire
no other privilege than to have the ashes of the cook mingled with those of a Queen. But I
look for no such great reward for having saved the children, and brought them back to you
in spite of that wicked creature who wished to kill them" When the King heard these
words he was quite beside himself; he appeared to dream, and could not believe what his
ears had heard. Then he said to the cook, "If it is true that you have saved the
children, be assured I will take you from turning the spit, and reward you so that you
shall call yourself the happiest man in the world." As the King was speaking these
words, the wife of the cook, seeing the dilemma her husband was in, brought Sun and Moon
before the King, who, playing at the game of three with Talia and the other children, went
round and round kissing first one and then another. Then giving the cook a large reward,
he made him his chamberlain; and he took Talia to wife, who enjoyed a long life with her
husband and the children, acknowledging that-- "He who has luck may go to bed, And
bliss will rain upon his head."
Giambattista Basile (AT 410, Italien, Neapel)
