hat grew
among the thatch, and to keep the animal from falling off, she ties a
rope round its neck, then goes into the kitchen, secures at her waist
the rope, which she had dropped down the chimney, and presently the cow
stumbles over the roof, and the woman is pulled up the flue till she
sticks half-way. In an inn he sees a man attempting to jump into his
trousers--a favourite incident in this class of stories; and farther
along he meets with a party raking the moon out of a pond.

Another English variant relates that a young girl having been left alone
in the house, her mother finds her in tears when she comes home, and
asks the cause of her distress. "Oh," says the girl, "while you were
away, a brick fell down the chimney, and I thought, if it had fallen on
me I might have been killed!" The only novel adventure which the girl's
betrothed meets with, in his quest of three bigger fools, is an old
woman trying to drag an oven with a rope to the table where the dough
lay.

Several versions are current in Italy and Sicily, which present a close
analogy to those of other European countries. The following is a
translation of one in Bernoni's Venetian collection:

Once upon a time there were a husband and a wife who had a son. This son
grew up, and said one day to his mother, "Do you know, mother, I would
like to marry?" "Very well, marry! Whom do you want to take?" He
answered, "I want the gardener's daughter." "She is a good girl--take
her; I am willing." So he went, and asked for the girl, and her parents
gave her to him. They were married, and when they were in the midst of
their dinner, the wine gave out. The husband said, "There is no more
wine!" The bride, to show that she was a good housekeeper, said, "I will
go and get some." She took the bottles and went to the cellar, turned
the cock, and began to think, "Suppose I should have a son, and we
should call him Bastianelo, and he should die! Oh, how grieved I should
be! oh, how grieved I should be!" And thereupon she began to weep and
weep; and meanwhile the wine was running all over the cellar.

When they saw that the bride did not return, the mother said, "I will go
and see what the matter is." So she went into the cellar, and saw the
bride, with the bottle in her hand, and weeping. "What is the matter
with you that you are weeping?" "Ah, my mother, I was thinking that if I
had a son, and should name him Bastianelo, and he should die, oh, how I
should grieve! oh,