“Have I not the magic wand, by means of which, having first invoked the spirit Odeken, one can enter the elfin castle? Is not this a fine trot on the devil’s crupper? Here it is—one of the palaces erected by rivals of the Romans. Let us enter, for I hold a hand of glory to which all doors open. Let us enter, _hic et nunc_, the palace fair. . . . Here it was once on a Sabato of the Carnival that there entered four graceful youths of noble air.”—_Arlecchino alle Nozze di Cana_. I very naturally made inquiry as to whether there was not a legend of the celebrated bronze devil made by Giovanni di Bologna, which remained until lately in the Mercato Vecchio, and I obtained the following, which is, from intrinsic evidence, extremely curious and ancient. IL DIAVOLO ALLA CAVOLAIA. “On the corner of the Palace Cavolaia there were anciently four devils of iron. {98} These were once four gentlemen who, being wonderfully intimate, had made a strange compact, swearing fidelity and love among themselves to death, agreeing also that if they married, their wives and children and property should be all in common. “When such vows and oaths are uttered, the saints may pass them by, but the devils hear them; they hear them in hell, and they laugh and cry, ‘These are men who will some day be like us, and here for ever!’ Such sin as that is like a root which, once planted, may be let alone—the longer it is in the ground, the more it grows. _Terra non avvilisce oro_—earth does not spoil gold, but even virtue, like friendship, may grow into a great vice when it grows too much. “As it happened in this case. Well, the four friends were invited to a great _festa_ in that fatal palace of the Cavolaia, and they all went. And they danced and diverted themselves with great and beautiful ladies in splendour and luxury. As the four were all singularly handsome and greatly admired, the ladies came _con grandi tueletti_—in their best array, _sfarzose per essere corteggiate_—making themselves magnificent to be courted by these gentlemen, and so they looked at one another with jealous eyes, and indeed many a girl there would have gladly been wife to them all, or wished that the four were one, while the married dames wished that they could _fare i sposamenti_—be loved by one or all. People were wicked in those days!