Reading Notes: Italian Popular Tales, Part A

 Week 14

It was cool to see the different stories told between different parts of the world. I took Italian in college and really wanted to read into the Italian section. I read Italian Popular Tales by Thomas Crane. I think these tales have interesting twists on stories that I know of but have been "Americanized" or are just different. This particular section offered stories that have elements that are the same from different units but still tell their own unique story setting them apart. 

(Source: Fair Angiola)

The first story that I found similarities to other units was "The Fair Angiola." It was a story that was very similar to Rapunzel. The reason I saw similarities was because at the very beginning there were signs of the number seven. I know I have noted on this before during past stories. The witch that comes to Angiola's mother even says when she turns 7 she would have to give the witch her daughter. It also goes into the conflict showing that the mother refused to give Angiola, but knew she had to. This story did become much more gruesome than I thought since the witch bites off the girls finger. I really liked that a prince encountered her and the idea of her letting the prince up. It was more original to the version I knew, but definitely not the Disney version. 

The next story I found interesting was called "Water and Salt." This story was definitely one about revenge on her father. I thought it was crazy that he wanted to kill his daughter because of what she said. People need salt and water to survive. I liked the whirlwind story that it followed though. It was a quick story and involved a twist at the end. I thought incorporating the magician was an interesting character to include. It was also really interesting that he was to be killed and set up the king in such a way that lured him in with riches. I kind of didn't really understand the point of it, but I really enjoyed reading the other parts of the story. 

The third story that caught my attention was "The Man, the Serpent, and the Fox." I haven't really seen that many animal stories, they're usually just the human ones that are very strange, so I enjoyed seeing these three characters tie together. The idea of a fox and serpent just felt similar to evil vs. evil. It felts as if we, as the audience, decides who is the lesser evil. The fox stayed in his well known character of tricking the snake. I really enjoyed that because it was something that I wanted to happen. I found it unfair that the hunter freed the snake under the condition that he wouldn't eat him, yet the snake didn't keep that promise. I enjoyed this story a lot because it was clever and fun to read.