otnote S: There is a Sicilian phrase: "Long as the month of May," to
indicate what is very long.]

Another story about foolish people is the following Venetian tale
(Bernoni, _Fiabe_, xiii.), entitled:

XCV. THE WAGER.

There was once a husband and a wife. The former said one day to the
latter: "Let us have some fritters." She replied: "What shall we do for
a frying-pan?" "Go and borrow one from my godmother." "You go and get
it; it is only a little way off." "Go yourself; I will take it back when
we are done with it." So she went and borrowed the pan, and when she
returned said to her husband: "Here is the pan, but you must carry it
back." So they cooked the fritters, and after they had eaten, the
husband said: "Now let us go to work, both of us, and the one who speaks
first shall carry back the pan." Then she began to spin and he to draw
his thread,--for he was a shoemaker,--and all the time keeping silence,
except that when he drew his thread he said: "_Leulero, leulero_;" and
she, spinning, answered: "_Picici, picici, picicio_." And they said not
another word.

Now there happened to pass that way a soldier with a horse, and he asked
a woman if there was any shoemaker in that street. She said that there
was one near by, and took him to the house. The soldier asked the
shoemaker to come and cut his horse a girth, and he would pay him. The
latter made no answer but: "_Leulero, leulero_," and his wife: "_Picici,
picici, picicio_." Then the soldier said: "Come and cut my horse a
girth, or I will cut your head off!" The shoemaker only answered:
"_Leulero, leulero_," and his wife: "_Picici, picici, picicio_." Then
the soldier began to grow angry, and seized his sword and said to the
shoemaker: "Either come and cut my horse a girth, or I will cut your
head off!"

But to no purpose. The shoemaker did not wish to be the first one to
speak, and only replied: "_Leulero, leulero_," and his wife: "_Picici,
picici, picicio_." Then the soldier got mad in good earnest, seized the
shoemaker's head, and was going to cut it off. When his wife saw that,
she cried out: "Ah! don't, for mercy's sake!" "Good!" exclaimed her
husband, "good! Now you go and carry the pan back to my godmother, and I
will go and cut the horse's girth." And so he did, and won the wager.

* * * * *

In a Sicilian story with the same title (Pitre, No. 181), the husband
and wife fry some fish, and then set about their respect