Il Diavolo alla Cavolaia.
“On the corner of the Palace Cavolaia there were anciently four devils of iron. [98] These were once four gentlemen who, being wonderfully intimate, had made a strange compact, swearing fidelity and love among themselves to death, agreeing also that if they married, their wives and children and property should be all in common.
“When such vows and oaths are uttered, the saints may pass them by, but the devils hear them; they hear them in hell, and they laugh and cry, ‘These are men who will some day be like us, and here for ever!’ Such sin as that is like a root which, once planted, may be let alone—the longer it is in the ground, the more it grows. Terra non avvilisce oro—earth does not spoil gold, but even virtue, like friendship, may grow into a great vice when it grows too much.
“As it happened in this case. Well, the four friends were invited to a great festa in that fatal palace of the Cavolaia, and they all went. And they danced and diverted themselves
with great and beautiful ladies in splendour and luxury. As the four were all singularly handsome and greatly admired, the ladies came con grandi tueletti—in their best array, sfarzose per essere corteggiate—making themselves magnificent to be courted by these gentlemen, and so they looked at one another with jealous eyes, and indeed many a girl there would have gladly been wife to them all, or wished that the four were one, while the married dames wished that they could fare i sposamenti—be loved by one or all. People were wicked in those days!
“But what was their surprise—and a fearful surprise it was—when, after all their gaiety, they heard at three o’clock in the morning the sound of a bell which they had never heard before, and then divine music and singing, and there entered a lady of such superhuman beauty as held them enchanted and speechless. Now it was known that, by the strict rules of that palace, the festa must soon close, and there was only time for one more dance, and it was sworn among these friends that every lady who danced with one of them, must dance with all in succession. Truly they now repented of their oath, for she was so beautiful.
“But the lady advancing, pointed out one of the four, and said, ‘I will dance with him alone.’
“The young signore would have refused, but he felt himself obliged, despite himself, to obey her, and when they had danced, she suddenly disappeared, leaving all amazed.
“And when they had recovered from the spell which had been upon them, they said that as she had come in with the dawn and vanished with the day, it must have been the Beautiful Alba, the enchanting queen of the fairies.
“The festa lasted for three days, and every night at the same hour the beautiful Alba reappeared, enchanting all so wonderfully, that even the ladies forgot their jealousy, and were as much fascinated by her as were the men.