cause this tub to be changed into a fine ship, and run into some good harbour to escape this danger?" And Peruonto replied,
"If you would have me say the spell,
With figs and raisins stuff me well."
So Vastolla, to make him open his throat, instantly filled his throat; and, like a fisherwoman at the Carnival[1], with the figs and raisins she fished the words fresh out of his mouth. And lo! as soon as Peruonto had said what she desired, the cask was turned into a ship, with all the rigging necessary for sailing, and with all the sailors required for working the vessel. There you might see one pulling at a sheet, another mending the rigging, one taking the helm, another setting the sails, another mounting to the round-top, one crying 'Larboard!' and another 'Starboard!' one sounding a trumpet, another firing the guns, one doing one thing and one another; so that Vastolla was in the ship, and was swimming in a sea of delight.
It being new the hour when the Moon begins to play at see-saw with the Sun[2], Vastolla said to Peruonto, "My fine lad, now make this ship be changed into a
- ↑ At the carnival persons are sometimes drest like fisherwomen, standing with an angling-rod and line baited with bon-bons.
- ↑ A histe e veniste e lo luoco te perdisse. The name of a popular game at Naples: it seems to answer to a game we have, in which the fun consists in a scramble for seats, one person being always left out. See-saw is more properly the Neapolitan Sciunnola. Scarica-a-barile is Leap-frog.
