The Red Man[...]
His wooly hair is long, black as an inkwell,
the eyes are wheels of fires splayed wide
like the eyes of the damned in deepest hell.
His hair is really white, but he has dyed it
with some kind of cream, and his pointed beard
has been smoothed down and tarred on every side.
He is of the same height as was Napoleon
but much more skilled, more able to be sure...
nothing in the world can stand comparison
with the red man from Decollatura.
He’s son to the god Mars and to a fairie
born among the beech trees of Riventino
this enormous brute, this garibaldino
who honored with his deeds all of Calabria.
He showed great courage when he was a boy
and went hunting for wolves all by himself
deep in the woods or over a high cliff
at ten he hunted brigands and destroyed them.
All the old timers of Praticello heard
of his exploits and feats when just a brat
and if you talk about it with a shepherd