So when the great square was filled with people, come to see the race,
insomuch that the men swarmed like ants, and the windows and roofs were
all as full as an egg, Lightning came out and took his station at the
top of the square, waiting for the signal. And lo! forth came
Ciannetella, dressed in a little gown, tucked half-way up her legs, and
a neat and pretty little shoe with a single sole. Then they placed
themselves shoulder to shoulder, and as soon as the tarantara and
too-too of the trumpets was heard, off they darted, running at such a
rate that their heels touched their shoulders, and in truth they seemed
just like hares with the grey-hounds after them, horses broken loose
from the stable, or dogs with kettles tied to their tails. But
Lightning (as he was both by name and nature) left the princess more
than a hand's-breadth behind him, and came first to the goal. Then you
should have heard the huzzaing and shouting, the cries and the uproar,
the whistling and clapping of hands of all the people, bawling out,
"Hurra! Long life to the stranger!" Whereat Ciannetella's face turned
as red as a schoolboy's who is going to be whipped, and she stood lost
in shame and confusion at seeing herself vanquished. But as there were
to be two heats to the race, she fell to planning how to be revenged
for this affront; and going home, she put a charm into a ring of such
power that if any one had it upon his finger his legs would totter so
that he would not be able to walk, much less run; then she sent it as a
present to Lightning, begging him to wear it on his finger for love of
her.

Quick-ear, who heard this trick plotted between the father and
daughter, said nothing, and waited to see the upshot of the affair. And
when, at the trumpeting of the birds, the Sun whipped on the Night, who
sat mounted on the jackass of the Shades, they returned to the field,
where at the usual signal they fell to plying their heels. But if
Ciannetella was like another Atalanta, Lightning had become no less
like an old donkey and a foundered horse, for he could not stir a step.
But Shoot-straight, who saw his comrade's danger, and heard from
Quick-ear how matters stood, laid hold of his crossbow and shot a bolt
so exactly that it hit Lightning's finger, and out flew the stone from
the ring, in which the virtue of the charm lay; whereupon his legs,
that had been tied, were set free, and with four goat-leaps he passed
Ciannetella and won the race