In this tale love transcends barriers of class or rank. Although a rich and arrogant nobleman devises nefarious plans, even murder, to destroy a love match ordained by heaven itself, he is defeated in the end, and dies of pure chagrin.
Once there was a woodcutter who lived in a hut near the sea. Every day he went off to work but usually did not return until the next morning. One night, while he was away, his wife gave birth to a baby boy. Just about that time the count and his astrologer were taking their nightly walk together. As they strolled along, they passed the woodcutter's hut, and heard the cries of the new-born infant. They entered the woodcutter's hut and saw the handsome child lying in his mother s arms. Said the count to the astrologer, " What fate does this child have?" The astrologer answered, "He will marry your daughter."
Alarmed by the prediction, the count said to himself, "This will never be. My daughter will never marry a woodcutter's son." To the mother he said, "Sell me your child." The poor mother, hardly able to feed her little boy, let alone give him an education, sold him to the count believing he would take care of him. The count, however, had other plans: he put the boy in a little sack and cast him into the sea.
At that very moment, a fisherman threw his net out into the water. When he drew it in, he found the sack with the little boy inside. Overjoyed at the sight of the baby, he ran all the way back to his house, and handed it to his wife. Since the fisherman and his wife had no children, through no fault of their own, they were very happy with their unexpected good fortune. "Now we have a baby," they cried, "and we will bring him up as our own.
The child grew and grew until finally he was fifteen years old. One day the fisherman, as was his wont, left his house to fish in the sea. While he was gone, the count and his astrologer went on their usual walk, passed the fisherman's house. There they saw the boy who had been cast into the sea (although they did not recognize him), now grown into a handsome young man. 'Tell me," the count said to the astrologer "what fate does that boy have?" "He will marry your daughter," he said.
Alarmed by the astrologer's words (the second warning), the count spoke to the fisherman's wife, "Sell me your son", he said. At first the poor woman refused, but when he offered her two hundred dollars she relented, perhaps thinking the count would give the boy advantages she could not afford.
As before, when the boy was an infant, the count seized the young man and tossed him into the sea. Fortunately, the sea was calm, and the boy saved himself by grabbing hold of a passing raft. He drifted and drifted with the waves until he landed on an island. Again luck was with him. A man sailing by saw him and, taking pity on him, brought him to Gibraltar. There he left him at an inn, and gave orders that he was to be taken care of. Soon the boy tired of his room, and came down to the cafe.
At that moment, the count and his astrologer passed by. Seeing the handsome youth whom he did not recognize, the count said to his astrologer, "What fate does that boy have?" And the astrologer answered, "He will marry your daughter."
The count was furious. He wrote a letter to his brother who lived in Gibraltar. "When this letter reaches you," it said, " kill the boy who brings it to you, and destroy his body." Then with great cunning, he said to the boy, "Would you be kind enough to deliver this letter to my brother who lives nearby?"
Innocently, the boy went to the brother's house, and knocked on the door. A servant appeared and told him that her master was not at home. "Please wait for him in the garden," she said, and returned to the house. Hours passed, and still the uncle did not return. Exhausted from his trip and the long wait, he fell asleep.
Quite by chance, the count's daughter was visiting her uncle and his family. Gazing out of the window that overlooked the garden, she spied the beautiful youth, and as fate had ordained, immediately fell in love with him. Quickly, she ran down the stairs and into the garden to see her beloved up close. Tiptoeing quietly so as not to wake him, she approached him tenderly. Suddenly, she noticed the letter half-falling out of his jacket. Carefully, she extracted it, and read her father's orders. Her heart almost torn in two, she ripped the letter to pieces. On another sheet of paper, she hurriedly wrote another letter instructing the brother to arrange the marriage of the bearer to his daughter, and signed it with her father's name.
Time passed and time passed. Finally, the brother arrived and read the letter. Delighted with the boy's good looks and charm, he lost no time in carrying out the "count's" orders. That very afternoon, they were married in a sumptuous and decorous ceremony.
When the count arrived at his brother's house he said to him, "Did you do what I told you to do?" "Yes," the brother said, " they love each other very much and are very happy." When the count learned what happened, he fell to the ground, and died.
But the boy stayed with his bride and her uncle, and they lived together for many years.
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