ROSSO.

"The Red Goblin is a spirit who haunts the Bargello, or was there of old
in the prisons, _nelle carceri_, and he always foretold to every prisoner
what his sentence would be before it was pronounced.

"He always appeared in the cell of the condemned, and first lighting a
candle, showed himself all clad in red, and said to the prisoner:

"'Piangi, piangi, ma piangi forte,
E prepararti che e giunta
L'ora della tua morte.'

"'Weep, oh weep full many a tear;
Make ready; thy hour for death is near.'

"Then if the prisoner replied boldly:

"'Anima chi siei!
Ti prego di volermi aiutare
A liberarmi dalla morte!'

"'Spirit, whoe'er thou be,
I beg thee now for aid;
From death pray set me free!'

Then the goblin would burst into a laugh and say:

"'Non piangere, ridi, ridi!
Ma ride sempre, e spera
Che io ti aiutera!'

"But if the prisoner had replied badly, or cursed, or said '_Vai al
diavolo_!' or '_Che il diavolo ti porti_!'--then there were heard
dreadful sounds, such as frightened all the prisoners and assistants, and
the goblin vanished crying:

"'Woe, woe, and woe to thee!
For thou soon shalt punished be;
Away be led, to lose your head,
There is no hope for thee!'

"And after that the man might well despair. Yet the Red Goblin was a
jolly sprite when not crossed, and made great sport for the prisoners,
who all knew him. He went into every cell, and would tell wild tales,
and relate to every one all that he, the prisoner, had done since he was
a boy, and how he came to be locked up, and what would be the end of it,
and told all this with such peals of laughter that the most unhappy were
fain to laugh with him.

"Then the assistants and the director hearing such sounds, thought it was
the prisoners rioting, but could not detect them. {161a} And the spirit
relieved many innocent men from punishment, and especially visited those
condemned to wear the iron collar or _gogna_, which was fastened to a
post, but at the Bargello it was on the Campanile outside, in sight of
all the people. {161b}

"Now there was a young man in the prison who was good at heart, and
deeply repented that he had done wrong, and now feared that he indeed was
in the power of Satan, and destined to be in prison for all this life and
in _inferno_ all the next.

"And when he was thus sunk in misery one night, he heard him, and was in
great alarm, but it