Count Silver Nose Story
One upon a time the Devil decided that he needed a wife. He disguised himself as a nobleman and journeyed in the forest until he came to small cottage. The cottage was inhabited by a widowed washerwoman who had three beautiful daughters. The devil told the widow that he was a rich nobleman who would like to marry her eldest daughter. Although the widow was poor and felt that her daughters would benefit from marrying a wealthy man, she distrusted the man’s strange nose which was unusually long and silver colored.
Her eldest daughter was more than happy to marry the wealthy man as she was bored with her life at home and wanted to find adventure. She thought the man was very well dressed and was excited about an enjoying a new life with him. Like her mother, she thought the man’s nose was unusual too, and secretly she called him “Silver nose”. Her mother, unable to convince her daughter otherwise reluctantly agreed to her marrying the man.
The eldest daughter followed Silver nose to his magnificent palace. The man was indeed even wealthier than she had ever imagined. The palace was adorned with jewels and the land was so vast there seemed to be no end to it. They were married for less than a month when one day Silver nose told his wife that he had to go on a business trip. He provided hers with keys to all the fine rooms in the palace and instructed that she should see and enjoy them all except one door which she must not unlock. That night, Silver nose left a rose in his wife’s hair.
The eldest daughter was a curious one and the first thing she did in the morning was to impatiently open the forbidden door. Oh, but she was horrified at what she saw! it was like hell itself behind the door, fire engulfed the room and damned souls screamed at her for help. The frightened girl ran out of the room and slammed the door shut but in her hurry a tongue of fire had scorched the rose she wore in her hair.
Silver nose returned the next day and asked his wife for the keys back. The eldest daughter was so shaken that he guessed immediately what she had done. He noticed that the flower was gone and that was proof that she entered the forbidden room. “The flower from your hair is gone! you disobeyed me!” he shouted. He dragged the girl toward the forbidden room and tossed her in.
Many months passed and Silver nose grew tired of living by himself. He decided that he needed a wife and returned to the washerwoman and asked for her second daughter. The widow asked Silver nose: “What happened to my eldest daughter whom you married?”
Silver nose replied: “She is so happy with her new life that she wants her sisters to share it with her”
The washerwoman saw that the man’s nose was more silver than before and she did not believe what he said, she was sure that something horrible had befallen her eldest daughter. But the second daughter had always been secretly jealous of her sister’s marriage to the wealthy noble man and she jumped at the opportunity to have that life for herself as well.
The second daughter married Silver nose and followed him to his palace. A month passed and although she never saw her sister, the jewels and pretty dresses she adorned herself with made her forget about the eldest daughter. One day Silver nose told his wife that he needed to leave on a business trip and he gave her all the keys to his fine rooms. He again, warned that she must not open the forbidden room. At night, Silver nose placed a rose in his wife’s hair.
However, the second daughter was just as curious as the eldest, she opened the forbidden door then next morning and saw hell in the room. She was instantly assailed by smoke, flames, and howls of the damned souls, in whose midst she spotted her sister. “Sister, free me from this Hell!” screamed the first girl. But the second daughter was so afraid that she slammed the door and ran. When Silver nose returned the palace, he saw that her flower was withered from her hair and so the second daughter met the same fate as her sisters and was pushed into the room of hell.
Months passed and Silver nose wanted a wife again. He went back to the widow who by now was very fearful of him. She told the youngest daughter:
“My beautiful daughter, I cannot let you marry this man, there is something not right about him and I cannot lose you too!”
The youngest daughter however was cleverer than her sisters, she told her mother to not worry and promised that she would be safe.
A month after she married to the Silver nose, Silver nose had to go on a business trip. Like her sisters, she was given the keys to the rooms and forbidden to enter one door. At night, the devil put a rose in her hair.
The first thing Lucia did when she got up next morning was arrange her hair. Looking in the mirror, she noticed the Rose. “Well, well!” she said. “Silver Nose pinned a Rose on me. How thoughtful of him! Who knows why he did it? In any case, I’ll keep it fresh.” She put it into a glass of water, combed her hair, then said, “Now let’s look at that mysterious door.”
She just barely opened it, and out rushed a flame. She glimpsed countless people burning, and there in the middle of the crowd were her big sisters. “Lucia! Lucia!” they screamed. “Get us out of here! Save us!”
At once Lucia shut the door tightly and began thinking how she might rescue her sisters.
By the time the Devil got home, Lucia had put her Rose back in her hair, and acted as though nothing had happened that day. Silver Nose looked at the Rose. “Oh, it’s still fresh,” he said.
“Of course, why shouldn’t it be? Why would anyone wear withered flowers in her hair?”
“Oh, I was just wondering my dear,” answered Silver Nose. “You seem like a clever girl. Keep it up, and we’ll never quarrel.?”
It not long before Silver nose grew to love the Lucia for he thought she obeyed him very well. One day however, he saw that she was sighing looking sad.
“Why do you look so sad my dear? are you not happy?” He asked.
“Yes, but I’d be happier if I didn’t have something bothering me.” She replied.
“What’s bothering you?”
“When I left my mother, she wasn’t feeling too well. Now I have no news at all of her.”
“If that’s all you’re worried about,” said the Devil, “I’ll drop by her house and see how she’s doing.”
“Thank you, that is very kind of you. If you can go tomorrow, I’ll get up a bag of laundry at once which my mother can wash if she is well enough. The bag won’t be too heavy for you, will it?”
“Of course, not. I can carry anything under the sun, no matter how heavy it is.”
When the Devil went out again that day, Lucia opened the door to Hell, pulled out her oldest sister, and tied her up in a bag. “Keep still in there,” she told her. “The Devil himself will carry you back home. But any time he so much as thinks of putting the bag down, you must say, ‘I see you, I see you!’”
The Devil returned, and Lucia said, “Here is the bag of things to be washed. Do you promise you’ll take it straight to my mother?”
“You don’t trust me?” asked the Devil.
“Certainly, I trust you, more so with my special ability to see from a great distance away. If you dare put the bag down somewhere, I’ll see you.”
“Yes, of course,” said the Devil, but he had little faith in her claim of being able to see things a great distance away. He flung the bag over his shoulder. “My goodness, this dirty stuff is heavy!” he exclaimed.
“Naturally!” replied the girl. “How many years has it been since you had anything washed?”
Silver Nose set out for the washerwoman’s, but when he was only halfway there, he said to himself, “Maybe…but I shall see if this girl isn’t emptying my house of everything I own, under the pretext of sending out laundry.” He went to put the bag down and open it.
“I see you, I see you!” suddenly screamed the sister inside the bag.
“By Jove, it’s true! She can see from afar!” exclaimed Silver Nose. He threw the bag back over his shoulder and marched straight to Lucia’s mother’s house. “Your daughter sends you this stuff to wash and wants to know how you are…”
As soon as he left, the washerwoman opened the sack, and you can imagine her joy upon finding her oldest daughter inside.
A week later, Lucia pretended to be sad once more and told Silver Nose she wanted news of her mother.
She sent him to her house with another bag of laundry. So, Silver Nose carried off the second sister, without managing to peep inside because of the “I see you, I see you!” which came from the bag the instant he started to open it. The washerwoman, who now knew Silver Nose was the Devil, was quite frightened when he returned, for she was sure he would ask for the clean wash from last time. But Silver Nose put down the new bag and said, “I’ll get the clean wash some other time. This heavy bag has broken my back, and I want to go home with nothing to carry.”
When he had gone, the washerwoman anxiously opened the bag and embraced her second daughter. But she was more worried than ever about Lucia, who was now alone in the Devil’s hands.
What did Lucia do? Not long afterward she started up again about news of her mother. By now the Devil was sick and tired of carrying laundry, but he had grown too fond of this obedient girl to say no to her. As soon as it grew dark, Lucia announced she had a bad headache and would go to bed early. “I’ll prepare the laundry and leave the bag out for you, so if I don’t feel like getting up in the morning, you can be on your way.”
Now Lucia had made a rag doll the same size as herself. She put it in bed under the covers, cut off her own braids, and sewed them on the doll’s head. the doll then looked like Lucia asleep, and Lucia closed herself up in the bag.
In the morning, the Devil saw the girl snuggled down under the covers and set out with the bag over his shoulder. “She’s sick this morning,” he said to himself, “and won’t be looking. It’s the perfect time to see if this really is nothing but laundry.” At that, he put the bag down and was about to open it. “I see you, I see you!” cried Lucia.
“By Jove, it’s her voice to a tee, as though she were right here!” He took up the bag again and carried it to the washerwoman. “I’ll come back later for everything,” he said rapidly. “I have to get home right away because Lucia is sick.”
So, the family was finally reunited. Since Lucia had also carried off great sums of the Devil’s money, they were now able to live in comfort and happiness. They planted a cross before the door, and from then on, the Devil kept his distance.