like cannon-balls there's naught to blame;
But oh! I hope your heart's not like the same!'

"But as this exquisite poem concluded with an immense sigh, there
appeared before them a golden and pearl car, in which the fairy entered,
and rising sailed away through a great hole in the ceiling, which opened
before and closed behind her, Signore Pietro remaining _a bocca aperta_,
gaping with opened jaws, till all was o'er.

"'Well!' exclaimed the master, 'she gave me the slip, but we have had a
jolly evening of it, and I'm the first man who ever fought an iron table,
and I've got a good idea. My name is now Feroni--the Big Iron
Man--ladies and gentlemen, please remember, and cannon-balls are in my
coat-of-arms!'"

* * * * *

I have naturally taken some liberty as regards mere text in translating
this tale, in order to render the better the spirit of the original; but
not so much as may be supposed, and spirit and words are, on the whole,
accurately rendered.

The reader is not to suppose that there are any traces of true history in
this fairy tale. I am very greatly indebted to Miss Wyndham of Florence
(who has herself made collections in folk-lore), for investigating this
subject of the Feroni family, with the following result--it being
premised that it had occurred to the lady that the "cannon-balls" or
Medicean pills, or pawnbroker's sign, whatever it was, had been
attributed by mistake to the Feroni. Miss Wyndham, after consulting with
authority, found that the Feroni themselves had not the balls, but, owing
probably to transfer of property, there is found on their palaces the
Alessandri shield, on which the upper half and lower left quarter contain
the Medici spheres. She also sent me this extract from the old work,
_Marietta di Ricci_:

"The Feroni family, originally named from Balducci da Vinci, and of
peasant origin, owes its fortune to Francesco, son of Baldo di Paolo
di Ferone, a dyer of Empoli. Going as a merchant to Holland, he
accumulated a large fortune. Made known to Cosimo III. (just called
to the Grand Duchy) by his travels, he was called to Florence. In
1673 he was made citizen of Florence, in 1674 he was elected senator,
and in 1681 appointed Marquis of Bellavista. He left a colossal
fortune, which has been kept up by his heirs to the present day. His
grandson Guiseppe was made cardinal in 1753.

"Their arms are an