from the
province of Vicenza (Corazzini, p. 484), and is entitled:

X. FAIR MARIA WOOD.

There was once a husband and wife who had but one child, a daughter. Now
it happened that the wife fell ill and was at the point of death. Before
dying she called her husband, and said to him, weeping: "I am dying; you
are still young; if you ever wish to marry again, be mindful to choose a
wife whom my wedding ring fits; and if you cannot find a lady whom it
fits well, do not marry." Her husband promised that he would do so. When
she was dead he took off her wedding ring and kept it until he desired
to marry again. Then he sought for some one to please him. He went from
one to another, but the ring fitted no one. He tried so many but in
vain. One day he thought of calling his daughter, and trying the ring on
her to see whether it fitted her. The daughter said: "It is useless,
dear father; you cannot marry me, because you are my father." He did not
heed her, put the ring on her finger, and saw that it fitted her well,
and wanted to marry his daughter _nolens volens_. She did not oppose
him, but consented. The day of the wedding, he asked her what she
wanted. She said that she wished four silk dresses, the most beautiful
that could be seen. He, who was a gentleman, gratified her wish and took
her the four dresses, one handsomer than the other, and all the
handsomest that had ever been seen. "Now, what else do you want?" said
he. "I want another dress, made of wood, so that I can conceal myself in
it." And at once he had this wooden dress made. She was well pleased.
She waited one day until her husband was out of sight, put on the wooden
dress, and under it the four silk dresses, and went away to a certain
river not far off, and threw herself in it. Instead of sinking and
drowning, she floated, for the wooden dress kept her up.

The water carried her a long way, when she saw on the bank a gentleman,
and began to cry: "Who wants the fair Maria Wood?" That gentleman who
saw her on the water, and whom she addressed, called her and she came to
the bank and saluted him. "How is it that you are thus dressed in wood,
and come floating on the water without drowning?" She told him that she
was a poor girl who had only that dress of wood, and that she wanted to
go out to service. "What can you do?" "I can do all that is needed in a
house, and if you would only take me for a servant you would be
satisfied."

He took her to his house, wher