Page:The Pentamerone, or The Story of Stories.djvu/318

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286
THE PENTAMERONE.

shown to Marziella. Then sending for Luceta, he gave her and Ciommo enough to live upon like princes; whilst Puccia, driven out of the kingdom, wandered about as a beggar; and, as the reward of her not having sown a little bit of cake, she had now to suffer a constant want of bread; for it is the will of Heaven that

"He who shows no pity finds none."


The story of the two cakes was verily a cake stuffed full of plums, which all relished so much that they licked their fingers after it. But as Paola was ready to start with the relation of her story, the Prince's command was like a wolf's eye[1], which robbed every one of speech, and she began as follows.

  1. The belief that a person who was seen by a wolf before seeing the animal himself, lost his sight, prevailed among the ancients: see remarks in Keightley’s Notes on Virgil, p. 126.