who had two
daughters, Marziella and Puccia. Marziella was as fair to look upon as
she was good at heart; whilst, on the contrary, Puccia by the same rule
had a face of ugliness and a heart of pestilence, but the girl
resembled her parent, for Troccola was a harpy within and a very
scare-crow without.

Now it happened that Luceta had occasion to boil some parsnips, in
order to fry them with green sauce; so she said to her daughter,
"Marziella, my dear, go to the well and fetch me a pitcher of water."

"With all my heart, mother," replied the girl, "but if you love me give
me a cake, for I should like to eat it with a draught of the fresh
water."

"By all means," said the mother; so she took from a basket that hung
upon a hook a beautiful cake (for she had baked a batch the day
before), and gave it to Marziella, who set the pitcher on a pad upon
her head, and went to the fountain, which like a charlatan upon a
marble bench, to the music of the falling water, was selling secrets to
drive away thirst. And as she was stooping down to fill her pitcher, up
came a hump-backed old woman, and seeing the beautiful cake, which
Marziella was just going to bite, she said to her, "My pretty girl,
give me a little piece of your cake, and may Heaven send you good
fortune!"

Marziella, who was as generous as a queen, replied, "Take it all, my
good woman, and I am only sorry that it is not made of sugar and
almonds, for I would equally give it you with all my heart."

The old woman, seeing Marziella's kindness, said to her, "Go, and may
Heaven reward you for the goodness you have shown me! and I pray all
the stars that you may ever be content and happy; that when you breathe
roses and jessamines may fall from your mouth; that when you comb your
locks pearls and garnets may fall from them, and when you set your foot
on the ground lilies and violets may spring up."

Marziella thanked the old woman, and went her way home, where her
mother, having cooked a bit of supper, they paid the natural debt to
the body, and thus ended the day. And the next morning, when the Sun
displayed in the market-place of the celestial fields the merchandise
of light which he had brought from the East, as Marziella was combing
her hair, she saw a shower of pearls and garnets fall from it into her
lap; whereupon calling her mother with great joy, they put them all
into a basket, and Luceta went to sell a great part of them to a
usurer, who was a friend of