took o  into a marble barn h gold mangers.

    But tc give up. One day trolling under t so her.

    quot;ill you give me a bunc;

    quot;Yes, dear old soul, ;

    quot;I cant reac ;

    quot;Rig; said the princess, reaching up for a bunch.

    quot;Pick t bunc,quot; said ting to a buncern.

    to reac, to stand on tern. tarted bleating, and bleated all around tern, but nobody understood  ing about, nor did tcaken t into ; are you doing in bed?quot;

    quot;Im sick,quot; said t;I need to eat a morsel of lamb. Slaug one out t  stop bleating.quot;

    quot;Didnt you tell me some time ago,quot; asked t;t t to eat ;

    tc a loss for  somet into t ing so pitifully. It approacern, and the prince heard his wife calling.

    quot; are you doing at ttom of tern?quot; ;Didnt I just leave you in bed?quot;

    quot;No, Ive been down c;

    t once. tc and burned at take. urned back into fine, strapping young men, and youd  tle s. tayed as poor a soul as ever.

    (Monferrato)

    NOtES:

    quot;t; (I dodici buoi) from Comparetti, 47, Monferrato, Piedmont.

    tales about ter o transformed into a lamb (as in Grimm, 11, or in my no. 178). t commonly transformed into birds (s literary manifestation of tif dates back to tury; test is possibly Andersens quot;ild S;

    Copyrigalian Folktales Selected and Retold by Italo Calvino,

    translated by George Martin,

    Pantheon Books, New York 1980