Italo Calvino - Italian Folktales

ITALIAN FOLKTALES

Selected and Retold by

ITALO CALVINO

Translated by George Martin

Copyright 1956 English translation copyright 1980

ISBN: 0151457700

Contents

Translator's Acknowledgments xiii Introduction xv

1. Dauntless Little John 3

2. The Man Wreathed in Seaweed 5

3. The Ship with Three Decks 7

4. The Man Who Came Out Only at Night 12

5. And Seven! 14

6. Body-without-Soul 18

7. Money Can Do Everything 21

8. The Little Shepherd 23

9. Silver Nose 26

10. The Count's Beard 30

11. The Little Girl Sold with the Pears 35

12. The Snake 37

13. The Three Castles 40

14. The Prince Who Married a Frog 43

15. The Parrot 45

16. The Twelve Oxen 48

17. Crack and Crook 50

18. The Canary Prince 52

19. King Crin 57

20. Those Stubborn Souls, the Biellese 60

21. The Pot of Marjoram 61

22. The Billiards Player 65

23. Animal Speech 68

24. The Three Cottages 71

25. The Peasant Astrologer 74

26. The Wolf and the Three Girls 75

27. The Land Where One Never Dies 77

28. The Devotee of St. Joseph 79

29. The Three Crones 80

30. The Crab Prince 83

31. Silent for Seven Years 87

32. The Dead Man's Palace 90

33. Pome and Peel 95

34. The Cloven Youth 99

35. Invisible Grandfather 103

36. The King of Denmark's Son 107

37. Petie Pete versus Witch Bea-Witch 110

38. Quack, Quack! Stick to My Back! 114

39. The Happy Man's Shirt 117

40. One Night in Paradise 119

41. Jesus and St. Peter in Friuli 121

42. The Magic Ring 129

43. The Dead Man's Arm 133

The Science of Laziness 137

45. Fair Brow 138

46. The Stolen Crown 142

47. The King's Daughter Who Could Never Get Enough Figs 145

48. The Three Dogs 147

49. Uncle Wolf 152

50. Giricoccola 154

51. Tabagnino the Hunchback 1-57

52. The King of the Animals 163

53. The Devil's Breeches 167

54. Dear as Salt 172

55. The Queen of the Three Mountains of Gold 176

56. Lose Your Temper, and You Lose Your Bet 179

57. The Feathered Ogre 185

58. The Dragon with Seven Heads 189

59. Bellinda and the Monster 197

60. The Shepherd at Court 203

61. The Sleeping Queen 207

62. The Son of the Merchant from Milan 213

63. Monkey Palace 222

64. Rosina in the Oven 225

65. The Salamanna Grapes 229

66. The Enchanted Palace 232

67. Buffalo Head 238

68. The King of Portugal's Son 243

69. Fanta-Ghir the Beautiful 249

70. The Old Woman's Hide 253

71. Olive 255

72. Catherine, Sly Country Lass 261

73. The Traveler from Turin 266

74. The Daughter of the Sun 269

75. The Dragon and the Enchanted Filly 273

76. The Florentine 277

77. Ill-Fated Royalty 280

78. The Golden Ball 284

79. Fioravante and Beautiful Isolina 288

80. Fearless Simpleton 294

81. The Milkmaid Queen 295

82. The Story of Campriano 298

83. The North Wind's Gift 301

84. The Sorceress's Head 304

85. Apple Girl 308

86. Prezzemolina 310

87. The Fine Greenbird 315

88. The King in the Basket 323

89. The One-Handed Murderer 328

90. The Two Hunchbacks 332

91. Pete and the Ox 334

92. The King of the Peacocks 338

93. The Palace of the Doomed Queen 344

94. The Little Geese 347

95. Water in the Basket 353

96. Fourteen 356

97. Jack Strong, Slayer of Five Hundred 357

98. Crystal Rooster 360

99. A Boat for Land and Water 362

100. The Neapolitan Soldier 366

101. Belmiele and Belsole 370

102. The Haughty Prince 374

103. Wooden Maria 378

104. Louse Hide 383

105. Cicco Petrillo 386

106. Nero and Bertha 388

107. The Love of the Three Pomegranates 389

108. Joseph Ciufolo, Tiller-Flutist 393

109. Bella Venezia 395

110. The Mangy One 398

111. The Wildwood King 403

112. Mandorlinfiore 405

113. The Three Blind Queens 407

114. Hunchback Wryneck Hobbler 409

115. One-Eye 410

116. The False Grandmother 412

117. Frankie-Boy's Trade 414

118. Shining Fish 417

119. Miss North Wind and Mr. Zephyr 418

120. The Palace Mouse and the Garden Mouse 419

121. The Moor's Bones 420

122. The Chicken Laundress 422

123. Crack, Crook, and Hook 424

124. First Sword and Last Broom 426

125. Mrs. Fox and Mr. Wolf 430

126. The Five Scapegraces 432

127. Ari-Ari, Donkey, Donkey, Money, Money! 437

128. The School of Salamanca 442

129. The Tale of the Cats 446

130. Chick 449

131. The Slave Mother 452

132. The Siren Wife 455

133. The Princesses Wed to the First Passers-By 459

134. Liombruno 462

135. Cannelora 470

136. Filo d'Oro and Filomna 474

137. The Thirteen Bandits 480

138. The Three Orphans 482

139. Sleeping Beauty and Her Children 485

140. The Handmade King 489

141. The Turkey Hen 494

142. The Three Chicory Gatherers 500

143. Beauty-with-the-Seven-Dresses 504

144. Serpent King 508

145. The Widow and the Brigand 514

146. The Crab with the Golden Eggs 518

147. Nick Fish 521

148. Grttula-Beddttula 523 149. Misfortune 529

150. Pippina the Serpent 534

151. Catherine the Wise 540

152. The Ismailian Merchant 546

153. The Thieving Dove 550

154. Dealer in Peas and Beans 553

155. The Sultan with the Itch 556

156. The Wife Who Lived on Wind 560

157. Wormwood 563

158. The King of Spain and the English Milord 568 159. The Bejeweled Boot 575

160. The Left-Hand Squire 580

161. Rosemary 583

162. Lame Devil 586

163. Three Tales by Three Sons of Three Merchants 588

164. The Dove Girl 591

165. Jesus and St. Peter in Sicily 594

166. The Barber's Timepiece 599

167. The Count's Sister 600

168. Master Francesco Sit-Down-and-Eat 604

169. The Marriage of a Queen and a Bandit 606

170. The Seven Lamb Heads 609

171. The Two Sea Merchants 611

172. Out in the World 616 173. A Boat Loaded with ... 623

174. The King's Son in the Henhouse 627

175. The Mincing Princess 632

176. The Great Narbone 636

177. Animal Talk and the Nosy Wife 639

178. The Calf with the Golden Horns 641

179. The Captain and the General 645

180. The Peacock Feather 648

181. The Garden Witch 650

182. The Mouse with the Long Tail 653

183. The Two Cousins 656

184. The Two Muleteers 659

185. Giovannuzza the Fox 661

186. The Child that Fed the Crucifix

187. Steward Truth 668

188. The Foppish King 671

189. The Princess with the Horns 675

190. Giuf 679

191. Fralgnazio 686

192. Solomon's Advice 687

193. The Man Who Robbed the Robbers 689

194. The Lions'Grass 691

195. The Convent of Nuns and the Monastery of Monks 696

196. The Male Fern 699

197. St. Anthony's Gift 701

198. March and the Shepherd 703

199. JohnBalento 704

200. Jump into My Sack 708 Notes 715 Bibliography 759

Translator's Acknowledgments

My thanks, first of all, to Willard R. Trask and Ins Delgado de Torres, for certain thoughtful and judicious remarks to me that are actually responsible for my getting launched in the translation of these folktales. Next, I am deeply grateful to Italo Calvino and to Helen Wolff for their encouragement at every turn. I feel especially fortunate to have had so painstakingand patientan editor as Sheila Cudahy, from whose expertise in literature, in translation, and in Italian I have profited immeasurably. My father, G. W. Martin, also deserves special thanks for his useful comments on portions of the manuscript. Finally, I would like to express my appreciation to the Translation Center at Columbia University for an award made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.