{{Short description|Italian fairy tale collection by Giambattista Basile}} {{italic title}} [[File:Lo cunto de li cunte - Tomo II.djvu|thumb|200px|page=7|''Il Pentamerone'' from a 1788 edition, [[Naples]]]] The '''''Pentamerone''''', subtitled '''''Lo cunto de li cunti<!--overo lo trattenemiento de peccerille-->''''' ({{lit|The Tale of Tales<!--, or Entertainment for Little Ones-->}}), is a seventeenth-century [[Neapolitan language|Neapolitan]] [[fairy tale]] collection by Italian [[poet]] and [[courtier]] [[Giambattista Basile]].
==Background== The stories in the ''Pentamerone'' were collected by Basile and published posthumously in two volumes by his sister [[Adriana Basile|Adriana]] in [[Naples]], Italy, in 1634 and 1636 under the [[pseudonym]] Gian Alesio Abbatutis. These stories were later adapted by [[Charles Perrault]] and the [[Brothers Grimm]], the latter making extensive, acknowledged use of Basile's collection. Examples of this are versions of [[Cinderella]], [[Rapunzel]], [[Puss in Boots]], [[Sleeping Beauty]], and [[Hansel and Gretel]].
While other collections of stories have included stories that would be termed fairy tales, his work is the first collection in which all the stories fit in that single category.{{Sfn|Croce|2001|p=879}} He did not transcribe them from the oral tradition as a modern collector would, instead writing them in Neapolitan, and in many respects was the first writer to preserve oral intonations.{{Sfn|Croce|2001|pp=880–881}}
The style of the stories is heavily Baroque, with many metaphorical usages.{{Sfn|Croce|2001|p=881}}
This has been interpreted as a satire on Baroque style, but as Basile praised the style, and used it in his other works, it appears to have no ironic intention.{{Sfn|Croce|2001|p=882}}[[File:Cruikshank-Pentamerone-2-colour.jpg|thumb|Illustration by [[George Cruikshank]] (1847) to ''The Stone in the Cock's Head'']]
== Influence == Although the work fell into obscurity, the [[Brothers Grimm]], in their third edition of ''[[Grimm's Fairy Tales]]'', praised it highly as the first national collection of fairy tales, fitting their [[romantic nationalist]] views on fairy tales, and as capturing the Neapolitan voice. This drew a great deal of attention to the work.{{Sfn|Croce|2001|pp=888–889}} <blockquote> This collection (Basile's Pentamerone) was for a long time the best and richest that had been found by any nation. Not only were the traditions at that time more complete in themselves, but the author had a special talent for collecting them, and besides that an intimate knowledge of the dialect. The stories are told with hardly any break, and the tone, at least in the Neapolitan tales, is perfectly caught.... We may therefore look on this collection of fifty tales as the basis of many others; for although it was not so in actual fact, and was indeed not known beyond the country in which it appeared, and was never translated into French, it still has all the importance of a basis, owing to the coherence of its traditions. Two-thirds of them are, so far as their principal incidents are concerned, to be found in Germany, and are current there at this very day. Basile has not allowed himself to make any alteration, scarcely even any addition of importance, and that gives his work a special value – Wilhelm Grimm </blockquote>
Basile's writing inspired [[Matteo Garrone]]'s 2015 film, ''[[Tale of Tales (2015 film)|The Tale of Tales]]''.{{Sfn|Vivarelli|2014}}
== Geography of the stories == The tales of Giambattista Basile are set in [[Basilicata]] and [[Campania]], where he spent most of his life at the local nobles. Among the places related to the stories we find the city of [[Acerenza]] and the [[Castle of Lagopesole]], the latter connected to the fairy tale [[Rapunzel]].
== Synopsis == The name of the ''Pentamerone'' comes from [[Greek language|Greek]] πέντε ''[pénte]'', 'five', and ἡμέρα ''[hêméra]'', 'day'. It is structured around a fantastic [[frame story]], in which fifty stories are related over the course of five days, in analogy with the ten-day structure of the much earlier ''[[Decameron]]'' by [[Giovanni Boccaccio]] (1353). The frame story is that of a cursed, melancholy princess named Zoza ("mud" or "slime" in Neapolitan, but also used as a term of endearment). She cannot laugh, no matter what her father does to amuse her, so he sets up a fountain of oil by the door, thinking people slipping in the oil would make her laugh. An old woman tried to gather oil, a page boy broke her jug, and the old woman grew so angry that she danced about, and Zoza laughed at her. The old woman cursed her to marry only the prince of Round-Field, whom she could only wake by filling a pitcher with tears in three days. With some aid from fairies, who also give her gifts, Zoza found the prince and the pitcher, and nearly filled the pitcher when she fell asleep. A [[Moorish]] [[false hero|slave]] steals it, finishes filling it, and claims the prince.
This frame story in itself is a fairy tale,<ref>[[D. L. Ashliman|Ashliman, D. L.]] ''A Guide to Folktales in the English Language: Based on the Aarne-Thompson Classification System''. Bibliographies and Indexes in World Literature, vol. 11. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1987. p. 144. {{ISBN|0-313-25961-5}}.</ref> combining motifs that will appear in other stories: the princess who cannot laugh in ''[[The Magic Swan]]'', ''[[Golden Goose]]'', and ''[[The Princess Who Never Smiled]]''; the curse to marry only one hard-to-find person, in ''[[Snow-White-Fire-Red]]'' and ''[[Anthousa, Xanthousa, Chrisomalousa]]''; and the heroine falling asleep while trying to save the hero, and then losing him because of trickery in ''[[The Sleeping Prince (fairy tale)|The Sleeping Prince]]'' and ''[[Nourie Hadig]]''. [[File:Goble grannonia fox.jpg|thumb|right|Princess Grannonia meets the helpful fox, while searching for her missing husband.]] The now-pregnant slave-princess demands (at the impetus of Zoza's [[fairy]] gifts) that her husband tell her stories, or else she would crush the unborn child. The husband hires ten female storytellers to keep her amused; disguised among them is Zoza. Each tells five stories, most of which are more suitable to courtly, rather than juvenile, audiences. The Moorish woman's treachery is revealed in the final story (related, suitably, by Zoza), and she is buried, pregnant, up to her neck in the ground and left to die. Zoza and the Prince live happily ever after.
Many of these fairy tales are the oldest known variants in existence.{{Sfn|Swann Jones|1995|p=38}}
The fairy tales are: ; The First Day :# "The Tale of the Ogre" :# "[[The Myrtle]]" :# "[[Peruonto]]" - connected to Russian tale "[[At the Pike's Behest]]" ("Emelian the Fool") :# "Vardiello" :# "[[The Flea (fairy tale)|The Flea]]" :# "Cenerentola" – translated into English as [[Cinderella]] :# "[[The Merchant (fairy tale)|The Merchant]]" :# "[[Goat-Face]]" :# "[[The Enchanted Doe]]" - a variant of [[The Knights of the Fish]] :# "The Flayed Old Lady" - variant of [[The King Who Would Have a Beautiful Wife]]
; The Second Day :# "[[Petrosinella|Parsley]]" – a variant of [[Rapunzel]] :# "[[The Three Sisters (fairy tale)|Green Meadow]]" - variant of ''[[The Bird Lover]]'' :# "[[Violet (fairy tale)|Violet]]" :# "Pippo" – a variant of [[Puss In Boots]] :# "[[The Enchanted Snake|The Snake]]" :# "[[The She-Bear]]" – a variant of [[Allerleirauh]] :# "[[The Dove (fairy tale)|The Dove]]" – a variant of [[The Master Maid]] :# "[[The Young Slave]]" – a variant of [[Snow White]] :# "[[The Padlock (Italian fairy tale)|The Padlock]]" :# "The Buddy"
; The Third Day :# "[[Cannetella]]" :# "[[Penta of the Chopped-off Hands]]" – a variant of [[The Girl Without Hands]] :# "Face" :# "[[Sapia Liccarda]]" :# "The Cockroach, the Mouse, and the Cricket" - variant of [[The Princess Who Never Smiled]] :# "The Garlic Patch" :# "[[Corvetto (fairy tale)|Corvetto]]"<ref>{{cite book |title=Indice delle fiabe popolari italiane di magia |volume=2 |first=Renato |last=Aprile |publisher=Leo S. Olschki |date=2000 |pages=409–410, 425 (entry "Corvetto") |isbn=9788822248558 |language=IT}}</ref> :# "The Booby" :# "Rosella" -- a variant of [[The Master Maid]] :# "[[The Three Fairies]]" – a variant of [[Frau Holle]]
; The Fourth Day :# "The Stone in the Cock's Head" :# "The Two Brothers" :# "[[The Three Enchanted Princes]]" :# "[[The Seven Little Pork Rinds]]" – a variant of [[The Three Spinners]] :# "[[The Dragon (fairy tale)|The Dragon]]" :# "[[The Three Crowns]]" :# "The Two Cakes" – a variant of [[Diamonds and Toads]] :# "The Seven Doves" – a variant of [[The Seven Ravens]] :# "[[The Raven (Italian fairy tale)|The Raven]]" – a variant of [[Trusty John]] :# "Pride Punished" – a variant of [[King Thrushbeard]]
; The Fifth Day :# "The Goose" :# "[[The Months (fairy tale)|The Months]]" :# "[[Pintosmalto]]" – a variant of [[Mr Simigdáli]] :# "[[The Golden Root (Italian fairy tale)|The Golden Root]]" – a variant of [[Cupid and Psyche]] :# "[[Sun, Moon, and Talia]]" – a variant of [[Sleeping Beauty]] :# "Sapia" :# "The Five Sons" :# "Nennillo and Nennella" – a variant of [[Brother and Sister]] :# "The Three Citrons" – a variant of [[The Love for Three Oranges (fairy tale)|The Love for Three Oranges]]
== Translations == The text was translated into German by [[Felix Liebrecht]] in 1846, into English by [[John Edward Taylor (translator)|John Edward Taylor]] in 1847 and again by [[Sir Richard Francis Burton]] in 1893 and into Italian by [[Benedetto Croce]] in 1925. Another English translation was made from Croce's version by Norman N. Penzer in 1934. A new, modern translation by Nancy L. Canepa was published in 2007 by [[Wayne State University Press]], and was later released as a [[Penguin Classics]] paperback in 2016.
== Adaptations == The 2015 Italian film ''[[Tale of Tales (2015 film)|Tale of Tales]]'', directed by [[Matteo Garrone]], is generally based on stories from the collection, starring [[Salma Hayek]], [[Vincent Cassel]] and [[Toby Jones]] as protagonists of the tales "The Enchanted Doe", "The Flayed Old Lady" and "The Flea", respectively.{{Sfn|Vivarelli|2014}}
== References == {{reflist |colwidth=20em |refs=}}
=== Sources === {{refbegin}} * {{cite encyclopedia |last=Croce |first=Benedetto |author-link=Benedetto Croce |year=2001 |title=The Fantastic Accomplishment of Giambattista Basile and His ''Tale of Tales'' |editor-last=Zipes |editor-first=Jack |encyclopedia=The Great Fairy Tale Tradition: From Straparola and Basile to the Brothers Grimm |location=New York |publisher=W W Norton |isbn=978-0-393-97636-6 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/greatfairytaletr00zipe }} * {{cite book |last=Swann Jones |first=Steven |year=1995 |title=The Fairy Tale: The Magic Mirror of Imagination |location=New York |publisher=Twayne |isbn=978-0-8057-0950-6 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/fairytalemagicmi00jone }} * {{cite web|last=Vivarelli|first=Nick|date=15 May 2014|url=https://variety.com/2014/film/news/italo-auteur-matteo-garrone-talks-about-his-tale-of-tales-ecxlusive-1201181531/|title=Cannes: Italo Auteur Matteo Garrone Talks About His 'Tale of Tales' (Exclusive)|work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|access-date=13 March 2015}} {{refend}}
== Further reading == {{refbegin}} * {{Cite book |first=Angela | last=Albanese |title=Metamorfosi del Cunto di Basile. Traduzioni, riscritture, adattamenti |place=Ravenna |publisher=Longo Editore Ravenna |year=2012 |isbn= 978-88-8063-740-0 }} * {{cite book |last=Basile |first=Giambattista |year=2007 |title=Giambattista Basile's "The Tale of Tales, or Entertainment for Little Ones" |others=Translated by Nancy L. Canepa, illustrated by Carmelo Lettere, foreword by Jack Zipes |location=Detroit, MI |publisher=Wayne State University Press |isbn=978-0-8143-2866-8}} * {{cite book |last=Canepa |first=Nancy L. |year=1999 |title=From Court to Forest: Giambattista Basile's "Lo cunto de li cunti" and the Birth of the Literary Fairy Tale |location=Detroit, MI |publisher=Wayne State University Press |isbn=978-0-8143-2758-6}} * Hurbánková, Šárka. (2018). "G. B. Basile and Apuleius: First literary tales. morphological analysis of three fairytales". In: ''Graeco-Latina Brunensia''. 23: 75–93. 10.5817/GLB2018-2-6. * {{cite book |last=Maggi |first=Armando |year=2015 |title=Preserving the Spell: Basile's "The Tale of Tales" and Its Afterlife in the Fairy-Tale Tradition |location=Chicago, IL |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-24296-5}} * {{Cite journal |last=Praet |first=Stijn |title=“Se lieie la favola”: Apuleian Play in Basile's Lo cunto de li cunti |journal=International Journal of the Classical Tradition |volume=25 |pages=315–332 |date=2018 |doi=10.1007/s12138-017-0454-6}} * {{cite journal |last=Schenda |first=Rudolf |author-link=:de:Rudolf Schenda |title=Basile und das Problem der Mündlichkeit: ein Beitrag zur Geschichte unterschiedlicher TextKommunikationen |journal=Schweizerisches Archiv für Volkskunde |volume=97 |date=2001 |pages=13–20 |doi=10.5169/seals-118080 |url=https://www.e-periodica.ch/cntmng?pid=sav-001%3A2001%3A97%3A%3A35 |language=German}}
{{refend}}
== External links == {{Wikisource|The Pentamerone, or The Story of Stories}} {{Wikisourcelang||Lo cunto de li cunte}} {{commons category}} * {{cite encyclopedia |title= Pentamerone |encyclopedia= The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales |year= 2002 |last= Zipes |first= Jack |publisher= [[Oxford University Press]] |isbn= 978-0-19-860509-6 |url= https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198605096.001.0001/acref-9780198605096-e-588 |access-date= 17 September 2023 }} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20060506165520/http://www.locuntodelicunti.it/pg2.htm "La vita di Giambattista Basile"] (in Italian) * [http://www.letteraturaitaliana.net/pdf/Volume_6/t133.pdf The complete text of ''Lo cunto de li cunti''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101204015447/http://www.letteraturaitaliana.net/pdf/Volume_6/t133.pdf |date=2010-12-04 }} (in Neapolitan) * {{gutenberg author|id=855|name=Giambattista Basile}} * [http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/illustrations/pentamerone/goblepentamerone.html Illustrations] by [[Warwick Goble]] * [http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/illustrations/pentamerone/cruikpentamerone.html Illustrations] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514094710/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/illustrations/pentamerone/cruikpentamerone.html |date=2011-05-14 }} by [[George Cruikshank]] * [http://digilander.libero.it/davis2/lezioni/fotoquarta/g.b%20basile.htm Professor S. Cicciotti's page about G. B. Basile] (in Italian) * [http://www.timsheppard.co.uk/story/stories/pentamerone.html Online text of some stories, in English (from Taylor translation)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204070005/http://www.timsheppard.co.uk/story/stories/pentamerone.html |date=2012-02-04 }} {{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pentamerone, The}} [[Category:1634 books]] [[Category:1636 books]] [[Category:Collections of fairy tales]] [[Category:Children's short story collections]] [[Category:Italian short story collections]] [[Category:Italian fairy tales]] [[Category:Culture in Naples]] [[Category:17th-century Italian literature]] [[Category:Books adapted into films]]