Then he went his way, and as he approached a city, he heard a great noise.  When he drew near he asked what it was, and was told it was a marriage, and that it was the custom in that city for the brides to enter the city gate on horseback, and that there was a great discussion on this occasion between the groom and the owner of the horse, for the bride was tall and the horse high, and they could not get through the gate; so that they must either cut off the bride’s head or the horse’s legs.  The groom did not wish his bride’s head cut off, and the owner of the horse did not wish his horse’s legs cut off, and hence this disturbance.  Then the traveller said, “Just wait,” and came up to the bride and gave her a slap that made her lower her head, and then he gave the horse a kick, and so they passed through the gate and entered the city.  The groom and the owner of the horse asked the traveller what he wanted, for he had saved the groom his bride and the owner of the horse his horse.  He answered that he did not wish anything, and said to himself, “Two and one make three! that is enough.  Now I will go home.”  He did so, and said to his wife, “Here I am, my wife; I have seen three greater fools than you;—­now let us remain in peace, and think of nothing else.”  They renewed the wedding, and always remained in peace.  After a time the wife had a son, whom they named Bastianelo, and Bastianelo did not die, but still lives with his father and mother.[4]

There is (Professor Crane remarks) a Sicilian version in Pitre’s collection, called “The Peasant of Larcara,” in which the bride’s mother imagines that her daughter has a son who falls into the cistern.  The groom—­they are not yet married—­is disgusted, and sets out on his travels with no fixed purpose of returning if he finds some fools greater than his mother-in-law, as in the Venetian tale.  The first fool he meets is a mother, whose child, in playing the game called nocciole.[5] tries to get his hand out of the hole whilst his fist is full of stones.  He cannot, of course, and the mother thinks they will have to cut off his hand.  The traveller tells the child to drop the stones, and then he draws out his hand easily enough.  Next he finds a bride who cannot enter the church because she is very tall and wears a high comb.  The difficulty is settled as in the former story.  After a while he comes to a woman who is spinning and drops her spindle.  She calls out to the pig, whose name is Tony, to pick it up for her.  The pig does nothing but grunt, and the woman in anger cries, “Well, you won’t pick it up?  May your mother die!” The traveller, who had overheard all this, takes a piece of paper, which he folds up like a letter, and then knocks at the door.  “Who is there?” “Open the door, for I have a letter for you from Tony’s mother, who is ill and wishes to see her son before she dies.”  The woman wonders that her imprecation has taken effect so soon, and readily consents to Tony’s visit.  Not only this, but she loads a mule with everything necessary for the comfort of the body and soul of the dying pig.  The traveller leads away the mule with Tony, and returns home so pleased with having found that the outside world contains so many fools that he marries as he had first intended.[6]