Chapter XX: Introduction

[1] There are some popular tales, chiefly Oriental in their origin, in the _Cente novelle antiche_ (see the notes to Chapter III.), and Boccaccio and his imitators undoubtedly made use of popular material. These popular elements, however, are almost exclusively of the class of jests. The fairy tale, which constitutes by far the largest and most important class of popular tales, is not found in European literature until Straparola. For a few earlier traces of fairy tales in mediaeval literature, see an article by the writer, "Two Mediaeval Folk-Tales," in the _Germania_, XVIII. [New Series], p. 203.

[2] The little that is known of Straparola and a very complete bibliography of his _Piacevoli Notti_ will be found in an excellent monograph entitled, _Giovan Francesco Straparola da Caravaggio_, Inaugural-Dissertation von F. W. J. Brakelmann aus Soest, Goettingen, 1867. Straparola's work, especially the unexpurgated editions, is scarce, and the student will ordinarily be obliged to consult it in the French translation of Louveau and Larivey, of which there is an excellent edition in the _Bibliotheque Elzevirienne_ of P. Jannet, Paris, 1857. There is a German translation with valuable notes of the _maerchen_ contained in the _Piacevoli Notti_ by F. W. Val. Schmidt, Berlin, 1817. Schmidt used, without knowing it, an expurgated edition, and translated eighteen instead of twenty-two popular tales.

[3] The reader will find all the necessary references to Straparola's borrowed materials in Liebrecht's translation of Dunlop's History of Fiction, pp. 283, 493; in Brakelmann's dissertation above cited; in the French version in the _Bib. Elzevir._; and in Grimm, II. 477.

[4] A comparison of Straparola's tales with those of Grimm, and an analysis of those lacking in Schmidt's translation, will be found in Grimm, II. 477-481.

[5] The imitations of Straparola will be found in Dunlop-Liebrecht, p. 284. It is impossible to say with absolute certainty that Perrault borrowed his "_Chat Botte_" and "_Peau d'Ane_" from Straparola. It is, however, quite likely. Perrault's stories appeared 1694-97, and twelve editions of the French translation of Straparola had been issued before that date.

[6] The few details of Basile's life will be found in Grimm, II. 481, Liebrecht's translation, II. p. 316, and Taylor's translation, p. v. An article in a recent number of the periodical named from Basile, vol. II. p. 17, gives the conflicting testimony of a number of Italian writers as to Basile's birth and death. The writer has discovered a mention of Basile's burial in the church of St. Sophia at Giugliano, near Naples, and in a record of deaths kept in the same town, an entry stating that Basile died there on the 23d of February, 1632. The following are all the editions of which I can find mention: Naples, 1637, 8vo, 1644, 12mo, 1645, 1674, 1694 (Graesse), 1697 (Pitre), 1714, 1722, 1728, 1747, 1749 (Liebrecht), 1788, _Collezione di Tutti i Poemi_, etc.; Rome, 1679, 1797 (Pitre). Italian translations appeared at Naples in 1754, 1769, 1784, and 1863, and in Bolognese at Bologna, 1742, 1813, 1872, and at Venice in 1813. The editions used in the preparation of this work will be found in the Bibliography. In spite of the numerous editions above cited, the _Pentamerone_ is a very scarce work, and the scholar will usually have to content himself with Liebrecht's excellent translation. Thirty-one of the fifty stories have been admirably translated by John Edward Taylor, London, 1848, 1850. The _Pentamerone_ suffered the same fate as the _Piacevoli Notti_. It was not known, for instance, in Germany, until Fernow described it in his _Roemische Studien_, Zuerich, 1808, vol. III. pp. 316, 475, although Wieland had taken the material for his "Pervonte" from the third story of the first day.

[7] The frame of the _Pentamerone_ is the story of the "False Bride:" see Gonz., Nos. 11, 12; Pitre, No. 13; Imbriani, "_'E Sette Mane-Mozze_;" and Hahn, Nos. 12, 49. Grimm, II. p. 483, gives the stories in the _Pent._ which have parallels among his own _Kinder- und Hausmaerchen_. The notes to Liebrecht's translation are to be supplemented by the same author's additional notes in his translation of Dunlop, p. 515.

[8] This story is usually printed with Perrault's tales, but its author was really Mlle. Lheritier. See the latest edition of Perrault's tales, _Les Contes de Charles Perrault_, par Andre Lefevre, Paris, Lemerre, 1875, p. xli.

[9] See Dunlop-Liebrecht, p. 408 _et seq._; and Grimm, II. p. 489 _et seq._

[10] References to four of the five stories will be found as follows: I., Pitre, vol. IV. pp. 372, 375; II., Pitre, _ibid._ p. 381; III., _Nov. fior._ pp. 93, 112, Pitre, No. 36; V., Pitre, vol. IV. p. 391. The two editions of Naples, 1684 and 1751, are extremely scarce and the student will be obliged to have recourse to the edition of 1789, contained in the _Collezione di tutti li poeti in lingua Napoletana_.

[11] Pitre, vol. I. p. xliii., mentions some other names, as, _rumanzi_ by the inhabitants of Termini, and _pugaret_ by the Albanian colonists. To these may be added another Milanese appellation, _panzanega_.

[12] Other endings are given by Imbriani, _Pomiglianesi_, p. 129:--

Cuccurucu,
No' noe n' cchiu.

(Cuccurucu, there is no more.)

Cuccurucu.
Sa' 'o vuo' cchiu bello, t' o dice tu.

(Cuccurucu, if you want it finer, tell it yourself.) See also Pitre, vol. I. p. 196, note 2. The most curious introductions and endings are those in De Nino, _Usi e Costumi abruzzesi_, vol. III. There is no general formula, but each _fiaba_ has one of its own. Some are meaningless jingles, but others are quite extensive poems on religious subjects. Among these may be found legends of various saints, St. Nicholas, p. 335, etc.

[13] An interesting article might be written on the Italian story-tellers, generally illiterate women, from whose lips the stories in the modern collections have been taken down. Some details may be found in Pitre, vol. I. p. xvii. (repeated in Ralston's article in _Fraser's Magazine_).

[14] Any attempt at an explanation of these facts would lead into the vexed question of the origin and diffusion of popular tales in general. We cannot refrain, however, from calling attention to a remark by Nerucci in the preface to his _Nov. pop. montalesi_, p. v. He thinks that the Italian popular tale will be found to have much the same origin as the Italian popular poetry, that is, that very much is of a literary origin which has usually been deemed popular. This is undoubtedly true of many stories; but may not two versions of a given story, a popular and a literary one, have had a source common to both? A very interesting study might be made of the Italian popular tales in their relation to literary versions which may be the originals.

The most valuable contributions to the question of the origin of Italian popular tales are those by Pitre in the first volume of his _Fiabe_, pp. xli.-cxlv., and in the same author's _Nov. pop. tosc._ pp. v.-xxxviii.