n cloth wears as well as silk. Now you may
see on an old palazzo in the Via de' Cerchi, and indeed in several other
places, a shield with three rings. But people call them three wheels.
And this is the story about the three wheels."

LA FORTUNA.

"There was a man, _tanto buono_, as good as could be, who lived in
squalid misery. He had a wife and two children, one blind and another
_storpia_ or crippled, and so ugly, both--_non si dice_--beyond telling!

"This poor man in despair often wept, and then he would repeat:

"'The wheel of Fortune turns, they say,
But for me it turns the other way;
I work with good-will, but do what I may,
I have only bad luck from day to day.'

"'Yes, little to eat and less to wear, and two poor girls, one blind and
one lame. People say that Fortune is blind herself, and cannot walk, but
she does not bless those who are like her, that is sure!' And so he
wailed and wept, till it was time to go forth to seek work to gain their
daily bread. And a hard time he had of it.

"Now it happened that very late one night, or very early one morning, as
one may say, between dark and dawn, he went to the forest to cut wood.
When having called to Fortune as was his wont--_Ai_! what was his
surprise to see--_tutta ad un tratto_--all at once, before his eyes, a
gleam of light, and raising his head, he beheld a lady of enchanting
beauty passing along rapidly, and yet not walking--on a rolling ball--_e
ciondolava le gambe_--moving her limbs--I cannot say feet, for she had
none. In place of them were two wheels, and these wheels, as they
turned, threw off flowers from which there came delicious perfume.

"The poor man uttered a sigh of relief seeing this, and said:

"'Beautiful lady, believe me when I say that I have invoked thee every
day. Thou art the Lady of the Wheels of Fortune, and had I known how
beautiful thou art, I would have worshipped thee for thy beauty alone.
Even thy very name is beautiful to utter, though I have never been able
to couple it with mine, for one may see that I am not one of the
fortunate. Yet, though thou art mine enemy, give me, I pray, just a
little of the luck which flies from thy wheel!

"'Yet do not believe, I pray, that I am envious of those who are thy
favourites, nor that because thou art my enemy that I am thine, for if
thou dost not deem that I am worthy, assuredly I do not deserve thy
grace, nor will I, like