e power to make thee love me,
But 'tis I who now reject thee,
If thou doubtest--now behold me!'

"And then, instead of an eel, appeared a maid of dazzling beauty, and
Biancone sought to embrace her, but could not, and said:

"'Contentami una volta
Sola, o dea dell' Arno;
Lascia che ti abbraci
Una volta sola, o dea.'

"'For a single time content me,
Lovely goddess of the Arno;
Let me but for once embrace thee,
Yield to me I pray, O fairy!'

"But the goddess of the Arno replied:

"'Una donna piu potente
Di te, non si lascia
Vincere da uno superbo;
Tuo pari mi basta di
Far ti vedere, che c'e
Persona ancora di te
Piu potente . . . Ora io
Mi voglio vendi care per che,
Tu mi ai discacciata,
Tante volte, ed ora invece
Tu saresti bene contento
Di abbraciarmi anche,
Anche or per una volta,
Ma no. Addio Biancone!'

"'A woman who has greater power
Than thine will surely not be conquered
Merely by pride in outward seeming,
But now, in brief, I will content me
By proving mine the greater power;
I seek to avenge myself upon thee,
Since of old thou didst despise me
Many times, but now wouldst gladly,
Though it were but for once, embrace me--
Farewell for ever, Biancone!'

"And Biancone fled, but he always bore the beautiful goddess in his mind,
and could not forget her, so he too meditated a vengeance.

"But the vengeance of a woman strikes more powerfully than that of a man.

"One day when Biancone was passing over the Arno in his chariot, with all
his attendants, he thought he saw the eel engaged in forming the basin of
a fountain (_vasca_), and bear it away in a car, she herself being in it,
{156} and it was covered with glass; but in the time that he thought (or
dreamed) that he saw this, the eel appeared and said:

"'Il momenta della mia vendetta
E arrivato, e ti giuro
Giuro che la mia vendetta
E potente, or Turanna,
Mia regina delle Fate,
E dea dell Arno, commanda
Che questa carroza sprafondi,
E che tu e la tua servitu,
Non vi potrete salvare.'

"'Now the time to wreak my vengeance
Has arrived, and I swear thee
That my vengeance shall be fearful,
Very great, because my sovereign,
Turanna, queen of all the fairies,
Orders that thy chariot
Shall be firmly fixed for ever,
And that thou and all