A friend recently told me how happy she was that her teenage children were learning fairytales at school – Rapunzel, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White.
That surprised me, but what shocked me was when she remarked that the Grimms’ tales weren’t actually “invented” by them at all.
“Hard to believe, yet they were first written in the 1600s by an unknown Italian noble poet from Naples called Giovan Battista Basile,” said my friend Isabella. “And they weren’t set in cold northern countries but in the sunny southern Italian regions of Campania, Calabria and Basilicata.”
The 50 tales were collected and published in a book called the Pentamerone, “The Tale of Tales” (Hollywood made a movie out of it, starring Salma Hayek). The Grimm brothers were, to use an understatement, deeply “inspired” by Basile’s book, and they adapted the stories, transporting them into their now famous northern setting.
And while the Grimms rose to eternal fame, Basile went forgotten and uncredited for his masterpieces.
Many Italian high schools are now resurrecting these original tales and teaching pupils Basile’s works to spread awareness of the origins of these stories that are seen as central to European culture. Children also take part in quizzes and stage school performances to honour the formerly forgotten author.
All of the original Italian tales of the Pentamerone were incredibly gruesome. After all, aren’t fables and fairytales metaphors for life’s harsh teachings and pain? Basile tapped into mankind’s darkest recesses, more so than the Brothers Grimm, who added a dose of sugar to the stories.
So here’s how the most popular tales went down – originally. Basile’s narrative is fascinating and rather nasty.
Take his version of Cinderella. It turns out her real name was Zezolla, and she was a killer. The lovely girl is encouraged by her governess to murder her own stepmother, which she does. The governess then ends up marrying Zezolla’s dad and becoming a second, cruel stepmother. The former governess turns Zezolla into the house slave, till fairies rescue her and introduce her to her prince.
Sleeping Beauty’s name is in fact Talia, and she was not kissed, as the Grimms write. The original is much darker. After she pricks her finger on a poisoned spindle, Talia falls into a coma and while in a semi-dead state, she is raped by a king, gets pregnant and gives birth to twins. The babies can’t find their mom’s breast so suck on her finger, pulling out the splinter and waking her up.
Even Rapunzel’s story is Italian. Her real name in Basile’s work is Petrosinella and she was a good witch. The original tale is of an ogress who steals the baby girl from a woman who had dared to eat from her orchard. The girl, who grows up to perform magic, is locked up in a tower without a door in the middle of a forest. The ogress uses her long hair as a ladder. Then a prince comes by, sees Petrosinella’s golden locks and climbs up. It’s love at first sight, the two escape and Petrosinella uses her magic to kill the ogress chasing after them.
Oh – Hansel and Gretel are Basile’s creations, too.
The Pentamerone was written in Neapolitan vulgar, a common folk language of the 1600s, and I would have had a hard time understanding it myself had it not been for the modern Italian translation.
After spending two days glued to the book, I was frustrated and also a bit angry. Everyone should know that while the Brothers Grimm may have handed down to posterity their own version of the fables, making them famous, the authorship is not theirs.
In my view Basile deserves to be acknowledged as the greatest fairytale teller of all time, alongside the ancient Greek Aesop. At least among Italians. We should be proud of him.
Silvia Marchetti is a freelance reporter living in Rome
