A certain Fendin (dialect nickname for Defendente), who lived in the village, was used to work as a cobbler and during the days of the market (Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday) also as a carrier, freighting goods with his boat from Torno to Como and back.
   When he went back from the market at nightfall, he was used to wharf his boat at the pier in Piazzola tying it up with a robust cable at the iron rings of the moorings bolted in the ground in the landing place. Then he struck the way home coming back to his wife Ghielma.
   He did the same way also that Saturday evening of undefined month and year (probably about 1570). On Sunday morning, because of a strong wind had blown for all night, he went down to Piazzola again to see if the boat were fine.
   Everything was still all right, but he discovered the rope was tied in a different way from what he had been used to make for many years. He intended to check in the following days, not thinking about anything else than that discover, but everything was always all right.
   He was going to set his mind at rest, when on Monday of the following week, he noticed that the knot was not the usual tied by himself in the evening of Saturday before, and also the distinguished marks he did at the berth were moved and broken.   So he repeated the controls and, verifying all Sunday mornings, he convinced himself someone had been using his boat for something, always on Saturday and Sunday nights.

   When every witch was sit down, the leader got up and started singing the following magic formula: “In the name of Beelzebub, boat, listen to me: go for me, go for two, go for three, go for four, go for five, go for six, go for seven straight to the Indies, an hour to go, an hour to stay there, another one to come back!”.

  But the boat didn’t move it. So the leader began sniffing the air exclaiming:
“Sniff, sniff… maybe I can be wrong but I smell for Christians”.
   But the other witches answered they couldn’t smell anybody, therefore the witch leader closed saying: “Maybe there’s a rat” and she finished: “Boat, boat, for this time obey at the order to go for eight”.
   Immediately the boat rose up and left quickly like the wind.
   At the certain moment, the boat began landing and he heard the impact on the ground and the ship’s hull scratching until it stopped.
   He heard a big and long noise made by the witches who were jumping off, when the voice of the leader said: “Be careful, we have an hour only to stay here; take your broomstick and go where you already know!”. So Fendin beard up and lifted up a board of the hold to breathe. Alone on the boat, he went out to peep and saw the witches flying far away as noctules.
   He got off of the boat to discover the new country totally different from his usual. Actually the new country was the Lower Indies, that is America.
   The beach was covered with a sand and a shingle extremely shiny. Like souvenir of that adventure, he decided to take away an evidence for his wife Ghielma, he picked up a handful and put it in the pockets. Then, looking some high plants and trees in the sandy shore different from his usual trees, he broke off some sprigs and reckoning time was elapsing he came back to the boat and hid under again bringing all with him.
   Time was right because he had just hidden beneath the boards when the first witch landed and then all the other six.
   At the takeoff, the same problem of the outward journey came up, but the witches concluded saying there was still a rat onboard and with the order of going for eight persons, the boat left crossing again lakes, mountains, seas and after an hour it landed at Piazzola.   The witches went out and back their homes after many regards and best wishes.

   Fendin, more dead than alive due to the uncomfortable position, the fear and the tiredness, went out carefully and walked back home with his crop.
   At home, Ghielma was sleeping, so because he was very tired, he decided to go to bed emptying the pockets and putting the sprigs on the wife’s coat rack.
   Next morning Ghielma was the first to wake up, she saw the sprigs and realized, at the sunlight, they were beautiful corals. Therefore she noticed the light on the chest of drawers wasn’t normal little stones but the most beautiful gems and diamonds she had ever seen. She didn’t want to touch them because the big light, but she screamed of surprise. That scream woke up Fendin who also was surprised for that wonderful light.
   After describing the details of that unusual adventure, he run to the priest to bless his boat. From that moment on, the witches couldn’t take advantage of the boat anymore. It is reported that they tried several times but the boat never answered to the orders, hence they gave up and went looking for other boats.
   Fendin and Ghielma promised each other not to tell anyone about the treasure.
   But you know, it’s the same story in the whole world: Ghielma could scarcely believe her eyes and she confided the secret to her best friend: so secret by secret all the village knew the story into the littlest details.
    So many people left searching that foreign land where plants were corals and the seashore was made with precious gems, hoping to come back rich. But nobody founded anything: only few people could return with few money gained from hard works in foreigner countries reached during their travels.

Translator: Graziosi Giulio