and said:
'Dear lady, for I know not what to call you, I am in your power; but I
beg of you to be merciful, for I have twelve wretched little daughters
at home who are dependent on me.'

'That's the very reason why I have come to you,' replied the lizard.
'Bring me your youngest daughter to-morrow morning. I promise to bring
her up as if she were my own child, and to look upon her as the apple of
my eye.'

When Masaniello heard her words he was very unhappy, because he felt
sure, from the lizard's wanting one of his daughters, the youngest and
tenderest too, that the poor little girl would only serve as dessert for
the terrible creature's supper. At the same time he said to himself,
'If I refuse her request, she will certainly eat me up on the spot. If
I give her what she asks she does indeed take part of myself, but if I
refuse she will take the whole of me. What am I to do, and how in the
world am I to get out of the difficulty?'

As he kept muttering to himself the lizard said, 'Make up your mind to
do as I tell you at once. I desire to have your youngest daughter, and
if you won't comply with my wish, I can only say it will be the worse
for you.'

Seeing that there was nothing else to be done, Masaniello set off for
his home, and arrived there looking so white and wretched that his wife
asked him at once: 'What has happened to you, my dear husband? Have you
quarrelled with anyone, or has the poor donkey fallen down?'

'Neither the one nor the other,' answered her husband,' but something
far worse than either. A terrible lizard has nearly frightened me out
of my senses, for she threatened that if I did not give her our youngest
daughter, she would make me repent it. My head is going round like a
mill-wheel, and I don't know what to do. I am indeed between the Devil
and the Deep Sea. You know how dearly I love Renzolla, and yet, if I
fail to bring her to the lizard to-morrow morning, I must say farewell
to life. Do advise me what to do.'

When his wife had heard all he had to say, she said to him: 'How do you
know, my dear husband, that the lizard is really our enemy? May she not
be a friend in disguise? And your meeting with her may be the beginning
of better things and the end of all our misery. Therefore go and take
the child to her, for my heart tells me that you will never repent doing
so.'

Masaniello was much comforted by her words, and next morning as soon as
it was light he took his little daughter