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TUSCAN FOLK-LORE AND SKETCHES
TUSCAN FOLK-LORE AND SKETCHES
TOGETHER WITH SOME OTHER PAPERS BY ISABELLA M. ANDERTON Edited, with a BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE, by her brothers H. Orsmond Anderton and Basil Anderton London ARNOLD FAIRBAIRNS 20 Cheapside , E.C. 1905 THE CAMPFIELD PRESS ST. ALBANS IT was old Clementina—a white-haired, delicate-featured peasant woman, with a brightly-coloured handkerchief tied cornerwise on her head, a big ball of coarse white wool stuck on a little stick in the right-hand side of the band of her big apron, and the sock she was knitti
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A TUSCAN SNOW-WHITE AND THE DWARFS
A TUSCAN SNOW-WHITE AND THE DWARFS
“This palace is yours,” said the fairies, “live here, and do just as you like.” Well, time went by and Elisa forgot her home, and was very happy, when one night her step-mother had a dream. She dreamt that Elisa was not dead, but alive and happy. She called the witch again, and said:— “Elisa is not dead, she is alive and well. Take some schiacciata (a kind of cake), put poison in it, and take it to her. She is very fond of schiacciata , and will be sure to eat it.” So the witch went to the hole
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MONTE ROCHETTINO
MONTE ROCHETTINO
“This palace is yours, you may do what you like, and go where you like in it. You are the mistress of it. The master of it, your husband, you will not see, he will only come to you at night. Be happy, and make no effort to look at him, or you will lose everything. If you want anything in the daytime call Monte Rochettino.” With that the little man vanished. The maiden wandered all over the new dwelling, and when it was dark she laid herself down and waited for her husband, the master of the pala
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TERESINA, LUISA, AND THE BEAR
TERESINA, LUISA, AND THE BEAR
When she got into the woodhouse she shut the door, pulled out her piece of bread, and began to eat her supper. “Miaou, miaou,” said pussy, and patted her arm. “Ah, poor little pussy, are you hungry too? Here’s a piece of bread for you.” “Bow-wow,” said the dog, and put his front paws on her knee. “Yes, little one, here’s a piece for you too, you must be hungry, I’m sure.” When she had finished her bread she began to spin, but she had not been at work long when she heard a knock at the door. “Who
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A TUSCAN BLUEBEARD
A TUSCAN BLUEBEARD
“It’s you I want,” and he caught her up and carried her away. After a while they reached a field where there was a hole in the ground. In the hole the girl saw steps, and when they got to the bottom of these, she found herself in the most beautiful palace she had ever seen. “Now,” said the man, “this palace shall belong to you. I shall be away all day, but shall come back every evening; so you need not be lonely. While I am away you may amuse yourself as you like. Here are the keys; you can expl
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TASSA
TASSA
It need hardly be said that I did not go up. The beans being now ready, a space was cleared on one of the two tables, which, loaded with most heterogeneous material, were propped up against the wall opposite the fire. Above the tables was the one patch of colour on the black walls—a coloured print or so of saints, a couple of rosaries, and a tiny hanging tin lamp. The old woman spread a coarse, newly-washed table-napkin on the space she had cleared, and placed on it a hunch of bread (brought tha
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PADRE ULIVO
PADRE ULIVO
“ Strange , lingering echoes of the old demon-worship might perhaps be even now caught by the diligent listener among the grey-haired peasantry,” says George Eliot, speaking of the Midland Counties of England. Stranger yet, perhaps, is the survival of the old pagan spirit, the haunting echo of old pagan legend, which any visitor to the hills of Tuscany may verify. Let him join the peasants as they meet now in one house, now in another, to spend the long winter evenings round the fire; or let him
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THE SOUND AND SONG OF THE LOVELY SIBYL
THE SOUND AND SONG OF THE LOVELY SIBYL
“Oh, sisters,” she said, “look at that poor man: shall we draw him up and feed him and warm him?” “Do as you like,” said they; “we won’t be answerable for the results.” So the girl bade the man get into the basket, drew him up, made a blazing fire, warmed him thoroughly, and gave him some dinner. “Now you must go,” she said after a time, “you are warm, you have been fed, you have rested; what more do you want?” “I must have supper with you.” To that the girl agreed, and then again told him to go
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THE SNAKE’S BOUDOIR
THE SNAKE’S BOUDOIR
This that I am going to tell you now, the old woman went on, happened when my great grandfather was a little boy. My grandfather used to tell it to my father before he left his native place to marry my mother; for my mother had no brothers, so my father came to live in her country. When my great grandfather was quite young, all the children used to be called in from the streets at sundown, lest they should be frightened by the black horse and his rider who for some time tormented that part of th
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POMO AND THE GOBLIN HORSE
POMO AND THE GOBLIN HORSE
That night as soon as the hoofs were heard someone ran off to the parroco , and the rest huddled into the kitchen so that they might not see the dreadful sight. But the horse came upstairs, and stood there close by the fire with his nose on the ground and the man hid his face on the horse. As soon as they heard him coming up the people were so frightened that they jumped out of window, all but one very old woman who feared the fall more than the horse. Just then the priest came and asked the man
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A TUSCAN COUNTRYSIDE AND THE FESTA AT IL MELO
A TUSCAN COUNTRYSIDE AND THE FESTA AT IL MELO
Remembrances of an older classical literature than Ariosto abound also. The Muses, Helicon, Troy, are common words among these peasants, whether in speech or in song. As is mostly the case in Tuscany, the country people are devout; that is to say, they go to mass on Sundays, firmly believe in miracles, and miracle-working images, and are fond of walking in procession. The church of Cutigliano, the village in which I was staying, rejoices in the possession of the entire skeletons of two saints, a
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A WEDDING IN THE PISTOIESE
A WEDDING IN THE PISTOIESE
We waited for him by a little lonely shrine under a chestnut-tree. The woods which clothed the slopes of the opposite mountains were still hushed in the cold grey-blue of early dawn. Suddenly the scarped precipices and lonely peaks above them were illuminated, as though from within, by wondrous rose-coloured fire, and hung there like some great glowing amethyst between the cold sky above and the cold woods below. Then, as we continued to gaze, the glorious hope was transformed, and merged into t
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OLIVE-OIL MAKING NEAR FLORENCE
OLIVE-OIL MAKING NEAR FLORENCE
solitaria succedens domo quiesce. [7] The same pessimistic note is struck by a third inscription over the archway before mentioned. There we find, writ large, the following Elban motto: Amici, nemici; Parenti, serpenti; Cugini, assassini; Fratelli, coltelli. [8] We owe it to the owner to add that, like most people who rail against mankind in general, he is very tender-hearted to mankind in particular. Passing from the brilliancy of the outer air, we stumble through a low doorway, over which, on
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A TUSCAN FARMHOUSE
A TUSCAN FARMHOUSE
“See how nice it is to live in the country, Signorina!” “Why?” I asked, curious to hear what poetical thought had been seething in her brain. “Well, in the village, you see, you have to wear a dress, and go all clean and tidy, with boots on, too; but here one can go about so nice and dirty.” She had evidently expressed her inmost soul, for she repeated, looking round at the blue hills, and inhaling the cool, fragrant air:—“So nice and dirty one can be here.” By this time it was getting towards t
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THE FLORENTINE CALCIO: GAME OF KICK
THE FLORENTINE CALCIO: GAME OF KICK
The spectators being assembled, the umpires and, perhaps, some foreign potentate or his ambassador, seated in the stand above the wall, the grand march in of the players commenced. It was a procession of picked men from the noblest Florentine families. For the Calcio was an aristocratic game. It was not to be played “by any kind of scum: not by artisans nor servants nor ignoble nor infamous men; but by honoured soldier men of noble birth, gentlemen, and princes.” The ages of the players ranged f
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I.
I.
Yet, the deepest impression made on the mind of a visitor to Elba is not so much that of the future prosperity of the island, for all its resources, as of its past importance. Almost every peak bears its ruined castle; headland after headland was fortified in the Middle Ages by Powers jealously tenacious of their rights; the iron quarries, now comparatively little known, were worked unremittingly by the ancients, witness Virgil’s well-known line: “Insula inexhaustis Chalybum generosa metallis;”
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II.
II.
Surely no city in the world queens it over the waves so completely as does Portoferraio. She rides them imperiously, lifting high the turrets that are her crown and defence; she decks herself in the brightest colours, conscious of her beauty; and sets herself boldly on the very head and front of the dark blue waters that wash her feet or leap up in wrath at her pride, yet never injure her. Genoa is called the Superb, but the epithet rises more spontaneously to the mind on view of the capital of
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THE FIRST STEP OF A MIGHTY FALL
THE FIRST STEP OF A MIGHTY FALL
The Portoferraiesi took the Emperor at his word. They were overwhelmed with gratitude at the honour he showed them. They received him with flags, with fireworks and with Te Deums; they sent deputations to wait on him; they presented him with a map of his dominions—a very bad one, by-the-by—on a silver tray; they gave up their best furniture to furnish, provisionally at least, the Palazzina dei Mulini, just under Forte Falcone, where he was to live; they took his officers into their homes; they p
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A TALE FROM THE BORDERLAND
A TALE FROM THE BORDERLAND
“I had hardly begun when the door bell rang, and voices reached me from the hall—that of a woman, evidently a lady, pleading, and Janet’s, repeating my order. “‘But,’ the strange voice insisted, ‘he would surely come if he knew. It is to see a dying man. Tell him it is to see a dying man. To save a passing soul.’ “The woman’s distress and anxiety were so evident that I could remain passive no longer. I called Janet and told her to show the lady in. She was tall, graceful, dressed in black, with
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THE PHANTOM BRIDE
THE PHANTOM BRIDE
“Just a year ago to-day I had to make a post-mortem , and a report to the police, on the body of the one woman who has entered profoundly into my life. She was a rising operatic singer with a singular power of vivid dramatic intensity, though I do not think her impersonations were ever a full expression of her innermost powers. Her interests were extremely varied, her mind exceptionally mobile—her occupation fostering this mobility, and increasing that power of quick sympathy, of putting herself
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CYPRESSES AND OLIVES: AN INTERLUDE
CYPRESSES AND OLIVES: AN INTERLUDE
And I walked, in the exquisite suavity of the wood. Surely, I thought, the moonbeams have become tangible. Surely I am in an enchanted land and should meet its mistress; a maiden slim and grave, with wealth of olive-black hair, with deep dark eyes, with clinging gown of grey girdled with a zone of cold blue-green. How sweet to stay here for ever with soul attuned to the melody that mutely breathes from the living silver of boughs and leaves, and falls graciously from the pearl-like sky. But onwa
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LOVELORNNESS
LOVELORNNESS
Norn : “The thoughts fly hither and thither when the master-brain has left them. They seek their director, and finding him not, fall fluttering to the ground lifeless and useless, or lose their way along paths that have no ending.” Nanna : “Tell me, oh Norns, who know all things. What can the eyes do, and the ears, when the lord they love to see, and the voice they love to hear, have gone from them?” Norn : “The eyes grow dim with watching and longing, and the ears deaf with hearkening and liste
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AN ESTHONIAN FOLK-TALE:KOIT AND ÄMARIK
AN ESTHONIAN FOLK-TALE:KOIT AND ÄMARIK
Both did their duty faithfully, and on no one day was the lamp wanting from the vault of heaven. And when in winter it wanders along the edge of the sky, then it goes out earlier in the afternoon and sets forth later in the morning. And when in spring it awakens flowers and the songs of birds, and when in summer it ripens the fruit with the heat of its beams, then it has but a short time to rest; Ämarik gives it up at once when it is quenched into the hands of Koit, who breathes a new life into
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THE GREAT
THE GREAT
Linked in Love’s leash With those who weep, with those who tremble, With those, outcast, by Christ redeemed, By brethren betrayed. By sea, by land, to thronging crowds New laws have they proclaimed; Have raised the hymn of coming ages, Sublimely frenzied For the ideal; and,—irons, rope or axe— Smiled at their torments. But for the Great of Gloomy Places, Tears, heart-wrung. Such as are A-hungered, trodden down; and—venerable— Nor truce nor pardon knew From hostile, impious nature, Yet hated not.
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THE WORKMAN
THE WORKMAN
Resounding the footfall! Like a victor Advanced he in the light; And my heart murmured:—Is he not a leader? Amid the pandemonium Of the workshop, proud in his workman’s blouse, Does he not tame the monsters To whom man meted claws and bills, Soul of flame and thews of steel? Wells there not within him a fount of vigour, Leaping, overbearing, That shall fill with fresh life this languishing age, Sallow with vice and lack of blood? Oh blessèd, blessèd to be beloved of him.... To wait for him each
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GIOSUÉ CARDUCCI
GIOSUÉ CARDUCCI
So writes the great Italian poet Carducci, using a similitude which might have come from the pen of Horace himself. The Augustan age produced a poet who measured the Greek lyric buskins on Latin measures; the nineteenth century has given birth to one who has fitted them on to Italian verse. Giosué Carducci, whose poetical works have raised so much controversy in Italy, and occasioned a deluge of treatises on metre, Italian and Latin, was born at Valdicastello, in the classic Tuscan land, on July
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GIOVANNI PASCOLI
GIOVANNI PASCOLI
He now lives either at Messina, where he is Professor of Latin, or among the chestnut woods that clothe the hills round Barga near Lucca, with one of his sisters. This is Maria, the careful, winning housewife whom all readers of her brother’s poems love—herself known also in the world of letters as a graceful poetess and an accomplished Latin scholar. Two or three verses of the little poem entitled “ Sorella ” reflect the bond that unites them. I know not if she be to him more mother or more dau
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THE MAKING OF RELIGION
THE MAKING OF RELIGION
Vagliando con cura le narrazioni dei viaggiatori di tutti i tempi, ma specialmente di quelli più recenti, e confrontandole colle esperienze sue proprie nell’indovinare i fatti ignoti e passati scrutando in un cristallo ( crystal-gazing , scryer ), il Lang conclude, che la chiaroveggenza, esistente in certi individui e specialmente fra certe razze (gli Scozzesi ad esempio) e molto evidentemente sviluppata (nonostante gli inganni dei “veggenti”) fra i popoli meno progrediti, fornisca esperienze ve
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APPENDIX
APPENDIX
Here pause! nor lightly lift this second latch That leadeth to the quiet inner room; Seek not with idly curious gaze to snatch Hints of more personal things—life’s gleam or gloom; Yet Friend! who’d know the dweller ’neath my thatch, Enter, and mark the pattern on the loom. ( H. O. A. ) Isabella M. Anderton was born at Lower Clapton, then almost a country village, near London, in October, 1858. She was educated at Priory House School, kept by her father, where boys and girls were taught together
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BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
After this she left the family with whom she had been living, but remained in Genova, teaching and writing, till her marriage in October, 1890, to Rodolfo Debarbieri, when they removed to Florence, in which fascinating city the remainder of her life was spent, in the heart of its literary and artistic life. Here their only child, a son, was born in 1891; and in course of time it was arranged that this son should be sent to receive his education in England. In 1899 she was appointed to the Englis
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