After walking for miles, she came to a large house, a palace. Finding the door open, she said, "I'll go in and see if they need a servant." She entered and called out, "Hello? Is anyone home? I am seeking lodging and work."
No one answered her. She walked into the kitchen and saw the pot boiling over the fire. Opening a cupboard, she found bread, rice, wine, and so forth, and said, "Here's everything one could possibly need, and I am so hungry. I'll make myself some good soup right away."
As she uttered those words, she saw two disembodied gloves setting the table. The gloves put out a bowl of cooked rice. The girl sat down at once to the table and said, "I suppose now I'll eat." After she finished the rice, the gloves brought her roasted cockerel and the girl ate every bit of it.
"Thank you, indeed," she said. "I was very weak from hunger, but I feel better now."
She walked through the apparently empty palace and saw a beautiful reception hall with a reflective pool, a breakfast room, and a bedroom with a canopied bed. "What a fine bed! I'm so tired, I'm going to retire right away." She lay down in her rags and slept the whole night long.
When she awoke the next morning, the same two gloves appeared with coffee and rolls on a tray. "If this is for me, thank you." She drank it, and the gloves carried off the tray with the empty cup on it. She wandered through the rooms to see if there was anything that needed doing. Only the fireplace was a bit dirty, so she swept it out and wiped the mantle. She passed into a large room containing a vast wardrobe full of dresses, shawls, skirts, and other female apparel. "My, what beautiful things! What a wonderful place this is! My clothes are old and torn. If there is no objection, I would be grateful for a change of clothing." The girl cast off her rags and dressed in queenly attire. Everything fit perfectly. If she was lovely before, no words can describe how beautiful she was afterwards.
Outside was an arbor. As the girl gathered some flowers to adorn the fireplace, a king's son happened by. Catching sight of the beautiful maiden, he asked under what conditions could he speak with her, for he was overwhelmed with admiration. The girl replied that she had neither father nor mother, but if he would stop by another day, she would have an answer for him. The prince bowed gallantly and then rode off in his carriage.
The girl went back inside and approached the fireplace. She began garlanding the fireplace with flowers and said, "Dear sir, I ended up at this palace, but I've not seen a soul anywhere around. Now there's a king's son who's taken a liking to me. What should I tell him when he returns for an answer?"
From the chimney, a voice answered her: "Beautiful you are and ever more beautiful you will be. I give you my blessing! Tell the prince your poor, sick, solitary grandfather is glad for you to marry, provided you don't put off the wedding. Now go, my lovely one, whose loveliness will increase." And the girl grew ever more beautiful.
The next day, she appeared on her balcony just as the prince was arriving. He asked for her answer. She explained that she couldn't invite him inside, as her grandfather was ill and was resting there. However, her grandfather was glad for them to marry if they would do so without delay, and meanwhile they could carry on their courtship on the balcony. The youth was overjoyed.
They courted for a whole week, at the end of which the girl went up to the fireplace and said, "Granfather, the prince and I have now courted for a week. Do you think that's long enough?"
He answered, "Go ahead and marry him. You might as well start carrying off everything in the house. Be certain the place is empty and clean though, before you leave. Leave nothing behind. It is very important, for if you forget some gift, misfortune could overtake you. Now go, my lovely one, whose loveliness will increase." And she grew still more beautiful.
She went to the balcony and when the prince arrived, she told him to make arrangements for their wedding and to send carriages and horses in the meantime to haul away everything in her palace. It took them more than a week to carry everything off.
The prince said to his father, "Just look, Papa, at what fine things my bride has. Nothing in our royal family comes up to them, and just wait until you see what a beauty she is."
In the meantime, the bride-to-be had thoroughly cleaned the palace as Grandfather instructed. She had swept out the hearth and discarded the old brooms and brushes. The palace was completely empty now. All that remained was a silver necklace, which she intended to put on as she departed. She left it hanging on a nail as she finished the last of her cleaning.
Eager to see the prince, she strolled out onto the balcony just as the prince was approaching in the two-horse royal carriage. Happily she went to the fireplace and said, "Grandfather, I am leaving now, since my bridegroom has come for me. I've taken everything away and swept the palace clean."
"Lovely girl," said Grandfather. "Beautiful you are, and ever more beautiful you will become."
More beautiful than ever, the girl climbed into the carriage and the prince embraced her. Happily, they rode off. Halfway to the king's palace, she touched her neck and exclaimed, "Woe is me, I forgot my silver necklace--quick, let us go back for it!"
The prince replied, "Don't give it a thought, I'll have a much finer one made for you." Yet she insisted on going back at all costs. She jumped out of the carriage and hurried into the palace.
She approached the fireplace, "Grandfather?"
"What do you want?"
"Please forgive me--in the excitement, I forgot my silver necklace."
"Be gone!" yelled the voice from the chimney, "you goat-headed ninny!"
As the bride hastily slipped on her necklace, she felt fur upon her face. She looked in the reflective pool and saw she had a goat's head, with horns and fur and big, floppy ears.
Seeing her come out like that, the bridegroom put his hands to his head. "I told you we shouldn't have come back here. Now, what will I tell my father after having praised your beauty to the skies? I can no longer take you home with me, but I have a cottage in the woods nearby and I'll keep you there."
That he did, and called on her every day, for he still loved her and saw that she lacked nothing. Word got out, however, and soon reached the king that his son was courting a goat-headed woman.
The king sent for his son. "I hear you've been courting a goat-headed woman. The dignity of the crown is at stake! Either you give her up or I will put this monstrosity to death!"
The prince said, "She is no monstrosity, Father."
"Silence!" the king roared.
The youth went to the girl and said, "I must tell you something. My father has found out I'm courting a goat-headed woman. He said if I did not abandon you, he would put you to death. What hope is there for us now?"
"Do one thing for me," answered the girl. "Get someone to make me a black veil and a black velvet dress. Then take me to Grandfather and we'll ask him to help us."
The prince brought her the dress and the veil, and as soon as she was all wrapped up in them, they got in the carriage and drove off to the palace.
She approached the fireplace and said, "Grandfather?"
"Who's there?"
"It's me, Grandfather!"
"What do you want, you goat-headed ninny?"
"Please listen, dear Grandfather. Because of you, I've been condemned to die..."
"Because of me? This is what you get for being ungrateful for your gifts. Because of you, I am still here alone. Didn't I tell you to take away every single thing? If you hadn't left the silver necklace, I wouldn't be in this predicament."
"Grandfather, I left the silver necklace until last, because it was precious to me. I didn't leave it on purpose." She continued, "Oh, Grandfather. I'm not asking for the beauty back I had in this wonderful palace--I know you're very angry--but I'd at least like my face to look as it did when I first came here. Please, Grandfather, make me the way I used to be."
"Very well," said Grandfather. "You've not forgotten anything?"
"No, no," she replied. "I have my favorite silver necklace here in my hand."
Then Grandfather said to her, "Put it around your neck. Beautiful you were, and more beautiful you will become."
The girl put on the silver necklace and the goat's horns, fur, and floppy ears vanished.
"Grandfather! Thank you! My heart will be forever filled with gratitude!"
"Go, my lovely one, your loveliness will increase." And the girl became as luminous as the moon.
She flew down the steps and into her bridegroom's carriage. The king's son was overjoyed to see her once more, the way she used to be and even a hundred times more beautiful. He embraced her and said, "My father wouldn't dream of sentencing you to death now, and he wouldn't say it is undignified for the crown prince to court you."
As soon as they reached the royal palace, the prince said to his father, "Here is the woman I have been courting; as I told you, she is no monstrosity."
"Ah," said the old king. "My son, you are exactly right. There couldn't be a lovelier girl under the moon or sun." The king embraced her and gave orders for the wedding, and in the meantime had her appear on the balcony of the royal palace so that the whole town could see her. All the citizens immediately gathered before the balcony and, at the sight of the maiden cried, "Long live our new queen!"
A few days later, the two young people were married. At the wedding banquet, they served radish preserves, roast pig, toasted dormice, flamingo tongues, suckling lamb, and fruit fresh from the orchard. They ate that and enough was left over for tommorow. To top off everything was a sprig of rosemary, token of remembrance, but nobody thought to say to me so much as "Have a glass of wine!"
This story was retold from a folktale collected by Italo Calvino, Italian Folktales (1956), translated into English by George Martin (1980). The story, Calvino #35, was collected from Venice, Italy. In the retelling of the Invisible Grandfather in Calvino #35, the girl's punishment was to grow a beard. Calvino notes, however, that in the original Venice tale, the girl was punished by being given a goat's head. This story is very similar to a Tuscan tale in which the girl is punished by being given a buffalo head. Calvino explained he wished to insert the bearded woman folk motif, which was also commonly used in variations of this tale throughout Italy. Personally, I like the goat head. Especially, since it allowed me to have Grandfather call her a goat-headed ninny.
The Invisible Grandfather spirit seems to be one of the ancient Roman Lares. Lar is an Etruscan word meaning "lord", "king", or "hero".
Lares are divided into two classes, the Lares publici and Lares domestici.
The Lares publici (public lares) were worshipped in Rome and public places of other towns.
Lares domestici were venerated by the household. The Lar familiaris was the head of the Lares domestici and was assumed to be the family's originating ancestor.
The Invisible Grandfather seems to be a dim memory of the Lar familiaris, an ancestral spirit that was given offerings in the fireplace.
The Roman Lares domestici (domestic Lares), were presided over by the Lare familiaris. Veneration of the domestic Lares was part of sacra privata (private family veneration). The Lar familiaris was credited with protecting the inhabitants of a household and providing them with everything they needed. He was invoked at all major family occasions: marriages, funerals, etc. It was particularly important to say goodbye to the Lar before you departed on a journey, or risk offending this spirit. "The Lar familiaris was inseparable from the family; and when the later changed their abode, the Lar went with them." --Encyclopedia Mythica, Lares, Mar 3, 1997.
It seems that this particular Lar familiaris had been abandoned by the former inhabitants of the villa for unknown reasons. Perhaps the family had died with no heirs and the Lar familiaris was compelled to stay and keep watch over the items in the household--until someone removed all belongings from the house. The story is unclear on this point, but perhaps the Invisible Grandfather left with our heroine.