3 Days Before Period Is Due

A widow married a widower. And the widow had a daughter by his first wife and the widow had a daughter of her first husband. The daughter of a widower named Serena, the daughter of a widow named Gordian. The stepmother hated Serena who was beautiful and good and gave everything to Gordian, ugly and perverse. The family lived in a princely palace, three miles from the village and the road crossing a crossroads, between the age-old beech trees in a forest, full moon nights in the little goblins you danced around and mocked terrible night for travelers.

stepmother who knew this, Sunday evening, after dinner, he told his daughter: "Serena, I forgot my book of prayers in the village church: vammelo looking." "Mother, forgive me ... it is night." "There is the moon brighter than the sun!" "Mom, I'm afraid! I'm going tomorrow morning ..." "I repeat to go!" said the stepmother. "Mom, let Gordian come with me ..." "Gordian is here to keep me company. And you go!" Serena was silent resignation and began walking. He arrived in the forest and slowed the pace, holding the scapular on his chest with both hands. And there appeared among the trees at the crossroads spacious, illuminated by the full moon. And gnomes dancing in the street. Serena looked at them between the trunks, holding my breath. They were humpbacks and cripples as old men, like small children, had long, reddish beard, funny jackets, red and green caps and fantastic. They danced in a circle, with a chant accompanied by the shrill cry of night birds.

Serena shocked at the thought of passing each other, and yet there was no other way and could not go back without the book of his stepmother. He violence at the quake that shook, and came forward with quiet step. Just saw it, the gnomes were separated from those green red wing and made the sides of the road as to give it up. And when the child is between them closed in a circle, dancing. And a gnome handed her a fungus and a fern. "Beautiful girl, dance with us!" "Gladly, if it can please you ..."

And Serena danced in the moonlight, with such gentle grace that the gnomes stood in a circle, ecstatic to see it. "Oh, What a lovely lovely girl!" said one gnome. A second said: "Let her become more beautiful and more than half still pretty." Said third: "Oh, what a sweet and good girl!" A fourth said, "Let her become more than half still beautiful and sweet!" He said a fifth: "What a pearl drop the left ear to every word of his mouth." A sixth said, "that will turn into gold everything she wants." "So be it! Amen! So be it !..." they all shouted with joyful voice, crackling. Resumed their dizzying dance, holding hands, then broke the circle and disappeared.

Serena went on the road and came to the village and the sacristan made up because the church was closed. And so every word a pearl came out the ear left, bounced on the shoulder and fell to the ground. The clerk began to collect them in the palm of your hand. Serena took the book and returned to his father's castle. The stepmother looked at her in amazement. Serena shone with a beauty never seen, "Do not unto thee any trouble occurred, due to?" "No, Mom." And he told exactly everything. And every word a pearl fell to the left ear. The stepmother is gnawing envy. "And my prayer book?" "Here, Mom." The binding of worn leather and copper had been converted into gold studded with diamonds. The stepmother astounded. Then he decided to groped the same fate for her daughter Gordian.

The following Sunday, at the same time, he told his daughter to go to take the book in the village church. "So alone? At night? Mom, you're crazy?" And Gordian shrugged. "You have to obey, my dear, and I'll be a great good for you, I promise." "Go there you!" Gordian, not accustomed to obey, furious frenzy and the mother was forced to hunt with the blows, to decide to leave. When he arrived at the crossroads, silvered by the moon, the little gnomes dancing in a circle divided into two groups on either side of the street, then closed in a circle, and came forward offering her a fungus and the fern and inviting her to dance gracefully. "I dance with princes and barons dance with ugly toads do not like you."

And he threw the fern and the fungus and tried to open a chain of small dancers with fists and kicks. "That girl was ugly and deformed!" said one gnome. A second said: "Let her become a half" even more evil and despicable. "" And that hump! "And it's lame!" "And what a scorpion bait the left ear to every word of his mouth "." And that is covered with slime everything she touches. "" So be it! Amen! So be it !..." cried all angry, crackling voice. They continued to dance, taking his hand, then the chain broke and disappeared. Gordian shrugged his shoulders, came to the church, took the book and returned the castle. When the mother saw her
Dié a scream: "Gordian, my daughter who gave you so tanned? "You unnatural mother, I expose the ill-luck." And with each word, a scorpion-tailed swallowtail ran down the person. He took the book from his pocket and gave it to her mother, but this dropped with a cry of horror. "What crap! It's all gross slime!" The desperate mother was the daughter of lame and hump, uglier and more vicious than before. And he took her in his rooms in the care of doctors who unnecessarily s'adoprarono to heal. He had meanwhile
fame spread through the world of dazzling beauty and goodness of Serena, and all parties have received requests of princes and barons, but the wicked stepmother opposed any party. The King of Persegona did not trust the ambassadors, and wanted to go in person to the castle of the famous beauty. It was so charmed by the sweet charm of Serena that he immediately asking for her hand. The stepmother choked with rage, but he showed himself subservient to the king and proud of that luck. And in mind already plotting to replace his daughter Serena Gordian.

were set for the wedding the following week. The next day the king sent to his girlfriend earrings, smaniglie, jewels of inestimable value. Came the procession to take his girlfriend. The stepmother's daughter covered her jewelry Gordian Serena and locked in a chest of cedar. The King came down from the gilded carriage and opened the door to let you go girlfriend. Gordian's face was covered with a thick veil, and remained silent to the sweet words of the groom. "Lady my mother-in-law, because the bride does not answer me?" "It's timid, Your Majesty."

"But the other day was so gentle with me ..." "The solemnity of this day makes changes ..." The King looked at his wife with affection. "Serena, You will discover the face, I see you a moment!" "You can not, Your Majesty," interrupted his stepmother "the cool car wasting them! After the wedding turns out. "The king began to worry. They went to church, and already the mother was glad to see come to fruition his perverse fraud. But walking by a stream, Gordian, forgetful and impatient, leaned forward, saying: "Mom, I'm thirsty!" He had not said three words that blacks descended three scorpions running on white silk dress. The king and the father jumped up, horrified, and tore the veil to the bride. There stood the ugly face of fierce and Gordian .

"Your majesty, these two treacherous wanted to deceive." The father and the King did stop the march halfway. The king mounted his horse and wanted to go, alone, to gallop, to the castle of his girlfriend. He climbed the stairs and began to wander the halls calling out loud. "Serena! Serena! Where are you?" "Here, Your Majesty!" "Where?" "In the hood of cedar!" The king forced the hood with the tip of the sword and raised the lid. Serena jumped to his feet, pale and beautiful. The king lifted his arms, placed it on his horse and returned to where the procession was waiting. Serena took place in the royal saloon, between the father and boyfriend. The marriage gifts. The wicked stepmother and her daughter, flee through the woods, no longer had any news.

Guido Gozzano, The dance of the gnomes, 1912.