First Diversion of the Second Day

Once upon a time there lived a woman named Pascaddozia, who was pregnant. While she was looking out the window one day into her neighbor’s garden, she noticed a lovely bed of parsley, and she developed a craving for it. Now her neighbor was a witch, so she was afraid to ask for some. But the craving increased so much that she felt faint, and she could not overcome the temptation to go and steal the herb. One day she watched until the witch left the house, and then she went down into the witch’s garden and gathered a handful of parsley.

The witch returned home and noticed immediately that some parsley had been taken, and said, "Whoever has taken this parsley should have his neck broken. If I catch the thief, I will make him sorry as an example to other thieves. People should eat their own food and not put their spoons into their neighbors’ cooking pots."

But Pascaddozia continued to raid the parsley bed, and eventually she was caught in the act by the witch, who screamed angrily, "Now I have caught you, you robber! You must pay me for what you have taken from my garden. Since you have used so little caution in taking my herbs, I will use little caution in making you pay."

Pascaddozia was frightened and humiliated, and began to make excuses, saying that the devil had tempted her, and that her pregnancy had made her do it, and that she had been afraid that her child would have parsley-shaped birthmarks if she did not satisfy her craving. She begged the witch’s pardon, and asked that the witch not punish her with something too evil. The witch replied, "Words only fool young witless girls; you will not get my sympathy by chattering on. You must pay with your life, unless you promise to give me your child when it is born." The terrified Pascaddozia, to save her own skin, promised the witch faithfully that she could have the child, and the witch let her go.

When the baby was born, it was a beautiful little girl, like a jewel, with a face like the full moon. But on her breast was a parsley-shaped birthmark, so her mother named her Petrosinella, Little Parsley.

The mother heard nothing from the witch, and so she gradually forgot about the witch’s curse. But when Petrosinella was seven years old, and began to go to school, the witch met her on the path every day and said to her, "Tell your mother to remember what she promised." Finally the frantic mother, after hearing these words countless times from the lips of her little girl, said to the child, "The next time the old woman says these words to you, tell her, "Take it!"

Petrosinella, all innocent, and not wise in the ways of the world, soon met the witch again, and answered with the words her mother had told her to say. Then the witch, grabbing her by the hair, carried her deep into the forest where rays of sunlight never pierced the darkness. And the witch put her into a tower, which she created by magic without doors or stairs, and with only one small high window. The witch came and went through this window using Petrosinella’s long beautiful braids as a ladder, and she pulled herself up just as a sailor climbs the masts to the sails.

Now one day, after some years had passed, it happened that the witch was gone, and Petrosinella put her head out the window and let her long hair hang out in the breeze. While she was thus dreaming, a prince’s son, who was out hunting in the forest, rode by and saw her. He was charmed by her grace and beauty, and he called out to her, and began conversing with her. After a time, Petrosinella fell in love with him as well, and the prince often returned to see her at night. Petrosinella would give the witch a sleeping potion, and then would hang her plaits out the window so her lover could climb up. Once he was in the room with her they would consummate their love, and then at the first sign of dawn, the prince would climb down and go about his affairs.

So this situation continued for some time, until a friend of the witch spotted them one night, and warned the witch that she must stay awake, because Petrosinella was making love with a young man, and she might try to escape. The witch thanked her friend for the warning, and said she would take care to prevent the escape, but Petrosinella overheard the witch say, "It is impossible for her to escape unless she finds the magic acorns which I have hidden in the rafters."

Now this was the very night that Petrosinella and the prince had planned to escape. When night came on, the prince arrived as usual, and the girl let down her hair so he could climb up. She told him what she had overheard, and they searched until they found the magic acorns, and then they both went out the window using a rope ladder which the prince had brought with him. They rode off as fast as they could for the young prince’s city, but the witch’s friend observed them, and she shouted and screamed until the witch awoke.

When the witch saw that Petrosinella had escaped, she too went down the rope ladder and went running after them. When they saw her coming in the form of a wild horse, they thought their cause was lost, until Petrosinella remembered the magic acorns. She threw one in the witch’s path, and it turned into a savage dog who snarled and bit at the wild horse’s legs. But the witch, who was very cunning, threw a loaf of bread to the dog, and he stopped to eat it. Soon she was gaining on the lovers a second time. Petrosinella, full of fear, threw down the second acorn, and lo! It turned into a ravenous lion, who lashed his tail and attacked the horse. But the witch escaped to a field, where she killed an ass who was grazing there, and wrapped herself in its skin. The lion was so frightened by this bloody apparition of a donkey, that he fled.

Having survived the second acorn, the witch pursued them yet again, and when they heard her behind them, and saw the cloud of dust that she kicked up, they knew she was upon them, so Petrosinella threw down the last acorn. Now the witch was still wearing her donkey skin because she thought the lion was still pursuing her. When Petrosinella threw down the last acorn, a hungry wolf sprang up from it, which immediately attacked the witch in the donkey skin and ate her.

The lovers, now safe from pursuit, traveled on more slowly to the prince’s city, where with his father’s permission the prince married the lovely Petrosinella. And peace and joy reigned in their lives after so many storms and troubles, as goes the old saying, "An hour of happiness makes us forget a hundred years of trouble."