her to the palace, and the king and queen were so pleased with her
beauty that they welcomed her, and gave her a splendid wedding, and all
remained happy and contented.[11]

* * * * *

An interesting class of stories is the one in which the heroes are twin
brothers (sometimes three born at the same time, or a larger number) who
are born in some unusual manner, generally in consequence of the
mother's partaking of some magic fruit or fish. One of the brothers
undertakes some difficult task (liberation of princess, etc.) and falls
into great danger; the other brother discovers the fact from some
sympathetic object and proceeds to rescue him. The following story from
Pisa (Comparetti, No. 32) will give a good idea of the Italian stories
of this class:

VI. THE CLOUD.

Once upon a time there was a fisherman who had a wife and many children.
Now it happened that the fisherman did not catch any fish for a time and
did not know how to support his family. One day he cast his net and drew
out a large fish which began to talk: "Let me go and cast in your net
again and you will catch as many fish as you wish." The fisherman did so
and caught more fish than he remembered to have taken before. But in a
few days the fish were gone and the fisherman cast his net again, and
again caught the big fish, which said: "I see clearly that I must die,
so kill me now, and cut me into pieces. Give half to the king, a piece
to your wife, one to your dog; and one to your horse; the bones you will
tie to the kitchen rafters; your wife will bear sons, and when anything
happens to one of them the fish-bone will sweat drops of blood." The
fisherman did as he was told, and in due time his wife gave birth to
three sons, the dog to three puppies, and the horse to three colts. The
boys grew up and went to school and learned much and prospered. One day
the oldest said: "I want to go and see a little of the world," and took
one of the dogs, one of the horses, and some money, and set out, after
receiving his father's and mother's blessing. He arrived at a forest,
and there saw a lion, an eagle, and an ant which had found a dead ass
that they wanted to divide among themselves, but could not agree and so
were quarrelling. They saw the youth, and called on him to make the
division. He was afraid at first, but took heart and gave the lean meat
to the eagle, the brains to the ant, and the rest to the lion. They were
all satis