the count's beard
the town of pocapaglia was perched on the pinnacle of a hill so steep that its inhabitants tied little bags on the tail feathers of their hens to catch each freshly laid egg that otherwise would have gone rolling down the slopes into the woods below
all of which goes to show that the people of pocapaglia were not the dunces they were said to be, and that the proverb,
in pocapaglia waysthe donkey whistles, the master brays,
merely reflected the malicious grudge the neighboring townspeople bore the pocapaglians for their peaceful ways and their reluctance to quarrel with anyone
"yes, yes," was all the pocapaglians would reply, "but just wait until masino returns, and you will see who brays more, we or you"
everybody in pocapaglia loved masino, the smartest boy in town he was no stronger physically than anybody else; in fact, he even looked rather puny but he had always been very clever concerned over how little he was at birth, his mother had bathed him in warm wine to keep him alive and make him a little stronger his father had heated the wine with a red-hot horseshoe that way masino absorbed the subtlety of wine and the endurance of iron to cool him off after his bath, his mother cradled him in the shell of an unripened chestnut; it was bitter and gave him understanding
