But when his wife, the witch, beheld the boy, she cried:
“Kill that child at once, for I read it in his face that he will be the ruin of our daughter Marietta!”
But the magician declared that nothing would induce him to harm the boy, so the little fellow remained, and was treated by the master like a son. In due time he became a tall and handsome young man, and he was called Antonuccio. But the witch always said:
“We should kill and eat him, for he will be the ruin of our Marietta.”
At last the magician, weary of her complaints, said:
“Bene! I will set him a task, and if he cannot accomplish it, that same night shall he be slain.”
Now, Antonuccio, as he slept in the next room, had overheard all this.
The next morning the magician took the youth to a stable which was very large and horribly filthy, such as no one had ever seen, and said:
“Now, Antonuccio, you must clean this stable out and out—bene e bene—repave it on the ground, and whitewash all above it; and moreover, when I speak, an echo shall answer me.” [144]
The poor youth went to work, but soon found that he could do next to nothing. So he sat down in despair.