ITALY: Winter's Tale

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Ever since Boccaccio or before, Italians have had a saying: "Se non é vero, é bene trovato—It may not be true, but it's a good story." Last week, according to the A.P., Italians were telling this tale:

Dora Camusso, who lives in a village near Rome, sold some cattle for 180,000 lire. Bandits are numerous in Italy, and she worried about taking so much money home. So she stopped at her brother's house and asked him to go with her. He was too busy, he said, but he gave her a pistol. On the way she met two villagers, who examined the weapon, found it unloaded and gave her two cartridges. A little farther on she met two masked men who demanded money. She fired twice, killing both. Then she went over to the bodies and lifted the masks.

The men were her brother and first cousin.

With variations, this story is at least as old as a press report of 1618. Under the title, "News from Perin [Penrhyn], in Cornwall, of a most Bloody and unexampled Murther," the 17th-Century British reporter told how a father and step-mother killed and robbed their rich overnight guest, then discovered that the dead man was their long absent son.