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: "Leulerò, leulerò" and his wife: "Picicì, picicì, piciciò." Then the soldier said: "Come and cut my horse a girth, or I will cut your head off!" The shoemaker only answered: "Leulerò, leulerò" and his wife: "Picicì, picicì, piciciò." 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: "Leulerò, leulerò," and his wife: "Picicì, picicì, piciciò." 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 (Pitrè, No. 181), the husband and wife fry some fish, and then set about their respective work,—shoemaking and spinning,—and the one who finishes first the piece of work begun is to eat the fish. While they were singing and whistling at their work, a friend comes along, who knocks at the door, but receives no answer. Then he enters and speaks to them, but still no reply; finally, in anger, he sits down at the table and eats up all the fish himself.4
One of our most popular stories illustrating woman's obstinacy is found everywhere in Italy. The following is the Sicilian version:
XCVI. SCISSORS THEY WERE.
Once upon a time there was a husband and a wife. The husband was a tailor; so was the wife, and in addition was
