“I heard something about Guido Santo at Castellinaria the other day—let me see, what was it? Never mind. I hope he left children.”
“I told you last year that he never married.”
“Oh yes, of course; that is what I was thinking of. One cannot remember everything at once and pedigrees are always confusing at first. Then it is for love of Bradamante’s nephew by marriage, Ruggiero Persiano, that Ettorina has now gone mad?”
“Bravo. And Malagigi was Bradamante’s cousin.”
“How was that?”
“Amone had a brother Buovo, and Malagigi was the son of Buovo. Therefore Malagigi was the cousin of Rinaldo and of Bradamante. And that is all you need know about the pedigree for the present. Malagigi was Emperor of Magic. Other magicians only commanded a devil or two
each, but Malagigi dominated all the hosts of the inferno, all the devils, harpies, serpents, gorgons, hydras, furies and also the monster Briareus.”
“Just as the buffo dominates all the marionettes in the teatrino,” I interpolated.
He bowed and proceeded: “Rinaldo’s helmet used to belong to Mambrino.”
“I have read about it in Don Quixote.”