(Cont.d)Almost as if you had really mentioned
a powerful magician, or the Ogre,
because the people here, o my dear reader,
both good and bad see him as predestined.
[...]
To tell the whole of his glorious story
that brings you comfort but can also sadden
you would have had to enlist Padula’s pen
and his celebrated fantasy.
Here Ciccio Stocco wouldn’t be worth a cent
and Nicotera less than nothing then
and Ferdinando Bianco would be a wren
if with Don Leopoldo you compare each gent.
Even the best Musketeers from France
wouldn’t be worthy of polishing his boots,
and all the generals of Italy in cahoots
wouldn’t rate high enough to be his servants.
His adventures can be sung like a romance
and an entire night would not be enough
and all of Don Quixote’s gallant stuff
could never be compared to his circumstance.
[...]