Week 3 Extra Credit Reading: Italian Tales

I read through the Italian Popular Tales unit by Thomas Frederick Crane for my extra credit reading this week. It was quite interesting to read common themes in Italian culture such as the themes of inner beauty and of deception. The two stories that stood out to me the most were Zelinda and the Monster and The Man, the Serpent, and the Fox.

Zelinda and the Monster

This story reminded me of Beauty and the Beast. An old man had three daughter in which his youngest daughter was the most beautiful and the most kind. She was also the father's favorite. The other two daughters were jealous of their little sister's beauty. The father went out of town to find a dress, a shawl, and a rose for his three daughters. He could not find a rose anywhere though. Suddenly, he found a rosebush and plucked one of its rose buds. An angry dragon appeared and threatened to kill the father or to fetch him his daughter. The father gives the dragon his youngest daughter, Zelinda. The dragon fell in love with Zelinda and made her his wife which broke the curse (he was actually a youthful man).

The Man, the Serpent, and the Fox

This story was interesting to me. A man found a snake stuck under a rock. The snake asked for the man's assistance, and the man freed the snake. However, the snake threatened to eat the man. There was a debate of whether the snake should eat the man or not even though the snake promised the man that he wouldn't eat him. They asked a horse and a dog whether they snake had the right to eat the man, and they both replied yes. Then they asked the fox. The fox asked the snake to lead him to the rock where the snake was stuck. The snake crawled under the rock once more to show the fox the exact position that made the snake unable to move freely. The fox then asked, "are you stuck, serpent?" The nodded. The fox then answered, "then stay so always!"

Snake and Fox. Source.