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wedding she remembered that she was supposed to invite them, but when she went to pronounce their names, she found they had slipped her mind. She cudgeled her brains but, for the life of her, couldn’t recall a single name.
    From the cheerful girl she was, she sank into a state of bottomless gloom. The captain noticed it and asked her what the matter was, but she would say nothing. Unable to account for her sadness, the bridegroom thought, This is perhaps not the right day. He therefore postponed the wedding until the day after. But the next day was still worse, and the day following we won’t even mention. With every day that passed, the bride became gloomier and quieter, with her brows knit in concentration. He told her jokes and stories in an effort to make her laugh, but nothing he said or did affected her.
    Since he couldn’t cheer her up, he decided to go hunting and cheer himself up. Right in the heart of the woods he was caught in a storm and took refuge in a hovel. He was in there in the dark, when he heard voices:
    â€œO Columbina!”
    â€œO Columbara!”
    â€œO Columbun!”
    â€œPut on the pot to make polenta! That confounded bride won’t be inviting us to her banquet after all!”
    The captain wheeled around and saw three crones. One had eyelashes that dragged on the ground, another lips that hung down to her feet, and the third teeth that grazed her knees.
    Well, well, he thought to himself. Now I can tell her something that will make her laugh. If she doesn’t laugh over what I’ve just seen, she’ll never laugh at anything!
    He went home and said to his bride, “Just listen to this. Today I was in the woods and went into a hovel to get out of the rain. I go in and what should I see but three crones: one with eyelashes that dragged on the ground, another with lips that hung down to her feet, and the third with teeth that grazed her knees. And they called each other: ‘O Columbina,’ ‘O Columbara,’ ‘O Columbun!’”
    The bride’s face brightened instantly, and she burst out laughing, and laughed and laughed. “Order the wedding banquet right away. But I’m asking one favor of you: since those three crones made me laugh so hard, let me invite them to the banquet.”
    Invite them she did. For the three old women a separate round table was set up, but so small that what with the eyelashes of one, the lips of the other, and the teeth of the third, you no longer knew what was what.
    When dinner was over, the bridegroom asked Columbina, “Tell me, good lady, why are your lashes so long?”
    â€œThat’s from straining my eyes to spin fine thread!” said Columbina. “And you, why are your lips so thick?”
    â€œThat comes from always rubbing my finger on them to wet the thread!” said Columbara.
    â€œAnd you, how on earth did your teeth get so long?”
    â€œThat’s from biting the knot of the thread!” said Columbun.
    â€œI see,” said the bridegroom, and he turned to his wife. “Go get the spindle.” When she brought it to him, he threw it into the fire. “You’ll spin no more for the rest of your life!”
    So the big, fat bride lived happily ever after.
    Â 
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Riviera ligure di ponente
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6
Body-without-Soul
    There was a widow with a son named Jack, who at thirteen wanted to leave home to seek his fortune. His mother said to him, “What do you expect to do out in the world? Don’t you know you’re still a little boy? When you’re able to fell that pine tree behind our house with one kick, then you can go.”
    Every day after that, as soon as he rose in the morning, Jack would get a running start and jump against the trunk of the tree with both feet, but the pine never budged an inch and he fell flat on his back. He would get up again, shake the dirt off, and go back inside.
    At last one fine morning he jumped with all his might, and