The Tale of Tales

by Giambattista Basile

  9. “Chickpeas and dried fava beans were given to prisoners and to those condemned to death” (Rak 123).

  10. A long, wide noodle often prepared with game sauces.

  11. “The science of herbalism attributed to rosemary legendary therapeutic powers; it was a plant of purification and was associated with the dead and with fairies” (Rak 123). Rosemary is also an emblem of remembrance and fidelity.

  12. “An expression of unclear derivation, used to indicate absurdities. . . . It is probably an allusion to carding combs, whose teeth were always fewer than 15; a comb with 15 teeth would be just as unnatural as a wolf’s egg” (Croce 59).

  *. AT 510A: Cinderella. Basile’s tale is the earliest literary version of Cinderella in Europe, preceding Perrault’s “Cendrillon” (1697) by over sixty years. Penzer comments on two motifs that do not commonly appear in other versions: “The unusual incident of Cennerentola murdering her mother-in-law by letting the lid of a chest fall on her neck reminds us of Grimm 47 [‘The Juniper Tree’], where the wicked step-mother shuts the lid of the apple-chest on the little boy as he stoops to get an apple.” The other motif, “the stopping of the ship,” appears also in tale 2.8, and in other folktales (Penzer 1:62). See also Grimm 21, Gonzenbach 32, Imbriani 11 and 21, Pitrè, Fiabe, nov. e racc. sic. 42 and 56, and Marie-Catherine d’Aulnoy, “Finette Cendron” (in Zipes, Beauties, Beasts and Enchantment).

  1. “It was popular belief that hernias, and especially strangulated hernias, were caused by envy, since one can ‘die’ from both” (Guarini and Burani 81).

  2. gaifo (Neap.): “In Naples, a sort of small hanging terrace” (Croce 62).

  3. “Proverbial way of saying: ‘If you don’t keep your word, all the worse for you’” (Croce 63).

  4. remmora (Neap.): marine or sea lamprey, “which attaches itself, by a sort of suction cup, to other fish or to ships; according to popular lore the lamprey could prevent or hinder navigation (Pliny, Natural History IX 25)” (Rak 138).

  5. acqua de cocozze (Neap.): “cosmetic and medicinal oil extracted from squash” (Croce 65).

  6. “Courtesans were prohibited from circulating in carriages in public streets or in gondolas along the Posillipo beach, the daily promenade of the viceroys and nobility. Those who transgressed the prohibition (and this was not infrequent) were apprehended and surrounded by police, and then taken to prison” (Croce 545).

  7. chianiello (Neap.): “The chianielli were, at the time, more than simple mules: they were overshoes whose soles and heels—often of exaggerated height—were made of cork. When they were worn over ladies’ shoes or slippers, they allowed their wearer to get out of a carriage and walk on the street without getting the hem of her dress dusty or muddy; during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in Naples, the use of chianielli also became popular among courtesans” (Guarini and Burani 87).

  8. pastiere e casatielle (Neap.): “The pastiera is the famous Easter cake made with short pastry filled with ricotta, candied fruit, wheat berries, orange peel, and other flavorings. Casatielli are ring-shaped casseroles made with flour dough, lard, pepper, and unshelled hard-boiled eggs that decorate the borders; also an Easter dish” (Guarini and Burani 88).

  9. li sottestate (Neap.): “Sottestati is composed of veal stewed in a sauce of plums, garlic, pine nuts, raisins, sugar, almonds, and cinnamon” (Guarini and Burani 88).

  10. li maccarune e graviuole (Neap.): “That is, ‘ravioli’: not to be confused with ‘gravioli,’ which were a type of sweet made in monasteries”; “Maccaruni had not yet, at this time, come to take first place in Neapolitan cuisine; Neapolitans were not yet called ‘maccaroni-eaters’, but ‘leaf-eaters’ [because of their many vegetable dishes]. Macaroni are more often indicated as being Sicilian or Sardinian” (Croce 545).

  11. Cupid, Venus’s son (see tale 1.2 n8).

  *. AT 300: The Dragon-Slayer, and AT 303: The Twins or Blood-Brothers. Croce notes that the motifs of the fight with a seven-headed dragon, the marriage to a princess, and the tricked villain all appear in a number of different sources (e.g., Straparola 10.3, “Cesarino de’ Berni”), but that “Cienzo’s motivation for departure appears to be an addition by Basile” (Lo cunto de li cunti, 287). Penzer highlights the similarities between this tale and Grimm 60, “The Two Brothers,” and also comments on several minor motifs, such as “unintentional injuries,” “women binding men with their hair,” and “life-restoring plants” (1:76–77). See also Imbriani 28 and Pitrè, Nov. e legg. tosc. 1, 2, and 3. Another brother who sleeps with his sister-in-law without touching her appears in tale 1.9.

  1. ’ncagliaro (Neap.): lit., curdled; “like milk that curdles due to the acidity of the rennet added to make cheese. According to an ancient belief, even the milk in a mother’s breast could curdle due to fright” (Guarini and Burani 90).

  2. “Arenaccia is in the eastern part of Naples. It was not built up at Basile’s time, as it is today, and in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries it was used as the playing ground for Neapolitan stone throwers, who formed neighborhood teams that challenged each other. In these battles up to 2000 combatants were known to participate. . . . The viceroy, the duke of Alba, had thirty of the ‘head stone throwers’ condemned to the galleys in 1625” (Croce 546). Rak notes that this practice continued until the late nineteenth century (162).

  3. chillo che va’ sei rana (Neap.): lit., “that which is worth six grains (a coin).” A reference to “the chamber pot, whose current price this was” (Croce 69).

  4. meza canna (Neap.): a measurement commonly used in Naples, equivalent to four spans; in this case Antoniello criticizes Cienzo for not using it to measure the distance between him and the king’s son (Croce 69).

  5. A unit of linear measure usually corresponding to the distance between the ends of the thumb and little finger of a spread hand (approximately nine inches), though in The Tale of Tales it often appears to refer to a shorter distance.

  6. I.e., he can send you to row on the prison galleys (Croce 70).

  7. la vedola (Neap.): the gallows (cf. Fr. la veuve, the guillotine) (Croce 70).

  8. “The hangman would get up onto the shoulders of the hanged man in order to finish him off more quickly” (Croce 70).

  9. The two famous jurists, Baldus de Ubaldus (c. 1319–1400) and Bartolus of Saxoferrato (1314–1357), both of whose works were reprinted many times in the course of the sixteenth century (Rak 162). Wordplay with bertole (bags).

  10. Porta Capuana is located in the eastern part of Naples; it was moved by King Ferrante I of Aragon to where it still stands (Croce 546).

  11. The Pennino, or Pendino, is “a neighborhood of Naples. Pun on pennone, a large red pennant decorated with the royal arms, which was carried by a tribunal minister as he accompanied, on horseback, the condemned to the scaffold” (Croce 546). Most of the following place-names serve as the pretext for similar word play.

  12. Chiazza Larga (Neap.): “a square near the church of San Pietro Martire” (Croce 546).

  13. Chiazza de l’Urmo (Neap.): “later called via di Porto, it contained a large and well-attended market” (Croce 547). Wordplay with arma (soul).

  14. Lanziere (Neap.): “a street in the Porto area; at one time gunsmiths had their shops there. In the seventeenth century, one could also find ‘rich cloth of gold, finely-woven fabrics, foreign wool, linens, veils, and other goods’” (Croce 547; Croce quotes from Carlo Celano, Notizie del bello, dell’antico e del curioso della città di Napoli).

  15. Porto: another neighborhood of Naples.

  16. Forcella: “street that takes its name from the ancient platea furcillensis” (Croce 547). Forcella also means “wishbone.”

  17. Ceuze (Neap.): “[T]his area was called Gelsi [‘the mulberries’] because until the beginning of the sixteenth century it was full of mulberry trees, and silkworms were kept
there. People also went there for recreation: to drink and carouse. In the second half of the century houses began to be built, and Spanish soldiers established their quarters there” (Croce 547). Until they were made illegal in 1958, bordellos had proliferated in the area for several centuries. The area is still called the “Quartieri Spagnoli” and remains a center of both male and female prostitution (Guarini and Burani 94).

  18. Lit., “hole.” A place near the church of Montesano, it has this name because it was near a crack in the city walls, which was later replaced by a door. It was a frequent site for duels (Croce 547). Boccaccio also writes of an infamous area of Naples called Pertugio or Malpertugio in the novella of Andreuccio of Perugia (2.5) in his Decameron. It was near the Porto neighborhood and was home to pimps and prostitutes.

  19. The “Loggia of Genoa,” a famous food market that took its name from the Genoese merchants who frequented it (Croce 548).

  20. The Lavinaro is a road that runs from Porta Nolana to the Carmine, down which the waters of the Bolla River used to run, forming a “lava,” or torrential stream (Croce 548).

  21. The Mercato is a large square in the south of Naples that hosted many dramatic historical events, such as Corradino of Swabia’s decapitation in 1268 and the hanging of the Neapolitan Jacobins in 1799 (Croce 548).

  22. Chiaia is located in the western part of Naples, along the gulf from Castel dell’Ovo to the lower slopes of Posillipo. Already in Basile’s time this area had begun to fill up with luxurious waterfront palaces and villas, and it was favored by the nobility for strolls and recreation (Croce 548). “Chiaia” (Ital. “piaga”) also means “wound.”

  23. A village near Sessa Arunca.

  24. scioscella (Neap.): a derogatory term for sword, from the form of the carob fruit (Croce 72).

  25. “Basile alludes to a game consisting of the attempt to divide a fritter into equal parts; one player gives a blow to the fritter and the other player chooses ones of the halves, and so forth” (Croce 73).

  26. “When an outlaw or brigand was executed, his head would be exhibited in a cage set on a column or hanging from a door, and often encircled by a mitre or gold paper crown which had been put on as he was being led to his death” (Croce 75).

  27. “The Germans’ love of wine had already been proverbial for centuries, and there were many witticisms on the subject” (Croce 75).

  28. The “Sun in Leo” or solleone refers, of course, to the hottest period of summer. Its disruptive effects were well documented, as we see, e.g., in these verses by the sixteenth-century satirist Nelli: “Quando il sole è in quel segno, esce dal sesto / Ogni cervel; ma con diversi effetti, / Qual alquanto più tardi e qual più presto, / Secondo che quel sol trova i soggetti / Disposti” (cit. Croce 551).

  29. chiazza morta (Neap.): a sort of military pension that had been instituted by the viceroy Pedro de Toledo, “which called for one place in each company of Spanish or Italian soldiers to be left empty in order to provide for the subsistence of three invalid soldiers. One was given the lodging of the ‘absent’ soldier, and the other two the salary” (Croce 76).

  30. See tale 1.1 n8.

  31. Ostaria dell’Aurinale (Neap.): “In Topografia dell’agro napolitano by Rizzi-Zannoni (1793), an ‘Inn of the Urinal’ is indicated on the road between Mugnano and Piscinola” (Croce 548).

  32. See note 8.

  33. a collegenno sarcinole (Neap.): “parody of the juridical Latin ad colligendum sarcinulas” (Guarini and Burani 104).

  34. “The two-headed eagle of the Hapsburg coat of arms” (Croce 80).

  35. le ’ntrate (Neap.): “Noble families unable to maintain the high expense of living at court would retreat, with their revenues, to their country estates for periods of time” (Rak 164).

  36. “Women of the time used a glass ball to smooth their foreheads” (Croce 80).

  37. lopa vecchia (Neap.): lit., “old wolf.” “A Spanish sword whose blade was engraved with a wolf, mentioned also by other authors of this time” (Rak 164).

  *. AT 710: Our Lady’s Child. See also Grimm 3 (“The Virgin Mary’s Child”) and Gonzenbach 20.

  1. See tale 1.2 n3.

  2. “These were thought to bring good luck” (Croce 549).

  3. pataccune (Neap.): “a coin equivalent to approximately 5 carlini, or little more than 2 lire” (Croce 85). These coins were silver and usually large; “by extension, any coin of large dimensions and little value” (Guarini and Burani 110).

  4. agresta (Neap.): “a sauce made with the juice of sour grapes, and used on fish” (Croce 85).

  5. “Anything rare and refined” (Guarini and Burani 110).

  6. cunte d’oro (Neap.): from the Spanish cuento (million), a form of currency (Croce 86).

  7. fidareme a Foggia (Neap.): for fida, see tale 1.5 n8. “The herds which came down from the Abruzzi for the winter gathered in Foggia, which lies at the center of the Apulia plain [in southeast Italy] and was home to the so-called customs-house for sheep. Therefore, ‘to be in Foggia’ meant ‘to be horned’ [a cuckold]” (Croce 87).

  8. Form of goat feces; the olive (branch) is also the symbol of peace.

  9. na decina (Neap.): “according to the old Neapolitan system of measure, four rolls” (Croce 87).

  10. lava (Neap.): “the lave were torrential streams that ran through many areas of Naples; fed primarily by rainwater, they swelled rapidly and ruinously, and in their wake it was possible to fish out all sorts of objects” (Rak 181). See also tale 1.7 n20.

  11. “The incursions of Turks and Arabs, who would capture people for slaves, were at this time very frequent along the coasts of southern Italy, and even on the shores of Naples—as they were, in general, in the Mediterranean” (Croce 88).

  12. filanno male (Neap.): wordplay; filare (to spin) vs. filare male (to get the runs out of fear). Filatorio is diarrhea (Guarini and Burani 114). This is a frequent pun in The Tale of Tales.

  13. A character in Ludovico Ariosto’s Orlando furioso and Torquato Tasso’s Gerusalemme liberata (see 16.29–31).

  14. la cammara de miezo (Neap.): the anus, or toilet; i.e., something of no value (Croce 89).

  15. l’aveva tenuta iusta li bene (Neap.): a reference to “the ceremony of the cedo bonis of bankrupt merchants, during which they had to expose their behind and touch it to the column of the tribunal of the Vicaria three times” (Rak 182). The expression was also used for “old household objects that were sent off to be kept in country estates” (Guarini and Burani 115).

  *. AT 303: The Twins or Blood Brothers. Croce mentions a nearly identical tale from the Basilicata in Comparetti’s collection (“Cannelora”) and similarities with Imbriani 28 (“The Sorcerer with Seven Heads”) (Croce, Lo cunto de li cunti 287). Penzer notes the resemblance to Grimm 60, “The Two Brothers,” and discusses the motifs of the miraculous conception, the health index, and the sword of chastity (1:92). There is a similar episode in Lorenzo Lippi’s burlesque epic Il Malmantile racquistato (1676). The latter part of this tale is also similar to tale 1.7.

  1. “The second name derives from the medieval festival of the candles (candelarum festum), which later became the feast of the Purification of the Madonna, celebrated on February 2, when candles are blessed in churches” (Guarini and Burani 116).

  2. “The cufece was a type of cricket that, salted and dressed, was eaten by Dalmatians and Arab pirates while at sea” (Croce 550).

  3. “An extrapolation taken from a famous song of the time by Velardiniello, and having its origin in a story of a peasant named Berta upon whom the Empress bestows her favors. The expression is used today to refer to the ‘good old days,’ remote and happier times” (Rak 196). See also the introduction to day 5 for a villanella (a popular pastoral ballad) containing a number of the same lines.