Italian Tale
Vardiello and the Hen
Vardiello isn’t a very clever son, but he thinks he is. When his mother leaves him alone in the house he gets into deeper and deeper trouble. Find out how a hen led to him hiding in the oven!
Once upon a time, in a village in Silesia, there lived a woman with five
To keep her children from starving, she worked many jobs. She also helped one of the neighbours with their harvest and helped out at the mill. Sometimes she filled-in for the baker when he needed a break. People paid her a bit of money for this, and sometimes gave her some
However, winter arrived so early one year that it destroyed all of the
One day, when she was again traipsing around the countryside in search of work, she saw another local farmer further up the road. Not only did he not look at all hungry, but he was carrying a sack of bread on his back. In fact, it was so heavy that he stooped under the weight. Every now and then he would have to sit down by the side of the road to
The widow slowly approached him and humbly asked: “Neighbour, I see that the cold weather and floods have left you with some food supplies. Would you be so good as to share a few loaves of bread with a poor widow and her five children? As soon as I have some money, I’ll pay you!”
But even though the man was clearly much better-off than…