倔强的彼埃拉人&意利童话
一农夫彼埃拉。正赶刮风雨的恶劣气，路几乎无法走了。但农夫有紧的，他低着头顶着风雨雷电继续往前走。
他遇一老人，他说：“你啊！你急急忙忙的哪啊？人。”
“彼埃拉。”农夫答，继续往前走。
“你至少应该说一声‘愿帝保佑’吧。”
农夫停了，望着面前的老人高声说：“果帝保佑，我彼埃拉；果帝不保佑，我照。”
其实，那老人就是帝。他农夫说：“那吧，你七年才彼埃拉，现在，你跳进池塘，在面待七年吧。”
农夫立即变了一青蛙，跳进了池塘。
七年了。农夫从池塘中，又变回人，他戴紧帽子，又路了。
走几步，次那老人又现了。“人，你是哪啊？”
“彼埃拉。”
“你应该祈祷一声‘愿帝保佑’。”
“是帝保佑，那很；是不保佑，那惩罚我知，我己跳进池塘。”
说完，他再不口说话了。
（比埃拉区）
Those Stubborn Souls, the Biellese
A farmer was on his way down to Biella one day. The weather was so stormy that it was o impossible to get over the roads. But the farmer had important business and pushed onward in the face of the driving rain.
He met an old man, who said to him, "A good day to you! Where are you going, my good man, in such haste?"
"To Biella," answered the farmer, without slowing down.
"You might at least say, God willing."
The farmer stopped, looked the old man in the eye, and snapped, "God willing, Im on my way to Biella. But even if God isnt willing, I still have to go there all the same."
Now the old man happeo be the Lord. "In that case youll go to Biella in seven years," he said. "In the meantime, jump into this s and stay there for seven years."
Suddenly the farmer ged into a frog and jumped into the s.
Seven years went by. The farmer came out of the s, turned bato a man, clapped his hat on his head, and tinued on his way to market.
After a short distance he met the old man again. "And where are you going, my good man?"
"To Biella."
"You might say, God willing."
"If God wills it, fine. If not, I know the sequend ow go into the s unassisted."
Nor for the life of him would he say one word more.
(Biellese)
NOTES:
"Those Stubborn Souls, the Biellese" (I biellesi, gente dura) from Virginia Majoli Faccio (Lintesimo della mezzanotte, [Il Biellese nelle sue leggende], Milan, 1941), Valdengo, Piedmont.
This tale is also found in Trieste, starring the Friulians (Pii, 51).
Cht: Italian Folktales Selected aold by Italo Calvino,
translated by Gee Martin,
Pantheon Books, New York 1980