ittle dreams. Many a man curses the
rain that falls upon his head, and knows not that it brings abundance
to drive away hunger; as is seen in the person of a young man of whom I
will tell you.

It is said that there was once a very rich merchant named Antoniello,
who had a son called Cienzo. It happened that Cienzo was one day
throwing stones on the sea-shore with the son of the King of Naples,
and by chance broke his companion's head. When he told his father,
Antoniello flew into a rage with fear of the consequences and abused
his son; but Cienzo answered, "Sir, I have always heard say that better
is the law court than the doctor in one's house. Would it not have been
worse if he had broken my head? It was he who began and provoked me. We
are but boys, and there are two sides to the quarrel. After all tis a
first fault, and the King is a man of reason; but let the worst come to
the worst, what great harm can he do me? The wide world is one's home;
and let him who is afraid turn constable."

But Antoniello would not listen to reason. He made sure the King would
kill Cienzo for his fault and said, "Don't stand here at risk of your
life; but march off this very instant, so that nobody may hear a word,
new or old, of what you have done. A bird in the bush is better than a
bird in the cage. Here is money. Take one of the two enchanted horses I
have in the stable, and the dog which is also enchanted, and tarry no
longer here. It is better to scamper off and use your own heels than to
be touched by another's; better to throw your legs over your back than
to carry your head between two legs. If you don't take your knapsack
and be off, none of the Saints can help you!"

Then begging his father's blessing, Cienzo mounted his horse, and
tucking the enchanted dog under his arm, he went his way out of the
city. Making a winter of tears with a summer of sighs he went his way
until the evening, when he came to a wood that kept the Mule of the Sun
outside its limits, while it was amusing itself with Silence and the
Shades. An old house stood there, at the foot of a tower. Cienzo
knocked at the door of the tower; but the master, being in fear of
robbers, would not open to him, so the poor youth was obliged to remain
in the ruined old house. He turned his horse out to graze in a meadow,
and threw himself on some straw he found, with the dog by his side. But
scarcely had he closed his eyes when he was awakened by the barking of
the d