Prunella (fairy tale)
Encyclopedia
Prunella is an Italian fairy tale
. Andrew Lang
included it The Grey Fairy Book. It is Aarne-Thompson type 310, the Maiden in the Tower.
A version of the tale also appears in A Book of Witches
, by Ruth Manning-Sanders
.
Italo Calvino
included a variant Prezzemolina in his Italian Folktales
. He took a variant from Florence, but noted that variants were found over all of Italy.
Prunella grew up as her captive. One day the witch sent her with a basket to the well, with orders to bring it back filled with water. The water seeped out every time, and Prunella cried. A handsome young man asked her what her trouble was, and told her that he was Bensiabel, the witch's son; if she kissed him, he would fill the basket. She refused, because he was a witch's son, but he filled the basket with water anyway. The witch then set her to make bread from wheat while she was gone, and Prunella, knowing it was impossible, set to it for a time, and then cried. Bensiabel appeared. She again refused to kiss a witch's son, but he made the bread for her.
Finally, the witch sent her over the mountains, to get a casket from her sister, knowing her sister was an even more cruel witch, who would starve her to death. Bensiabel told her and offered to save her if she kissed him; she refused. He gave her oil, bread, rope, and a broom, and told her, at his aunt's house, to oil the gate's hinges, give a fierce dog the bread, give the rope to a woman trying to lower the bucket into the well by her hair, and give the broom to a woman trying to clean the hearth with her tongue. Then she should take the casket from the cupboard and leave at once. She did this. As she left, the witch called to all of them to kill her, but they refused because of what Prunella had given them.
The witch was enraged when Prunella returned. She ordered Prunella to tell her in the night which cock had crowed, whenever one did. Prunella still refused to kiss Bensiabel, but he told her each time: the yellow, and the black.
When the third
one crowed, Bensiabel hesitated, because he still hoped to lure Prunella to kiss him, and Prunella begged him to save her. He sprang on the witch, and she fell down the stairs and died.
Prunella was touched by his goodness and agreed to marry him.
; the girl was seized when going to school, but after the fairies had sent her to tell her mother to pay what she owed, and the mother sent back that the fairies should take it.
The hero, Memé, is not the son of a fairy but their cousin, though he helps her as Bensiabel did, despite refusal of kisses.
The tasks altered, in that she had to paint a coal room white and with all the birds in the air, and was sent to Morgan le Fay
to be eaten. Finally, the fairies decided to boil her, and Memé warned her to say that there was not enough wood for the fire and to go to the cellar for it. When she did, he and she blew out the candles that were the fairies' souls, including Morgan le Fay's, and then lived in Morgan le Fay's castle, where they were generous with the servants who had not attacked her on Morgan's orders.
, The Battle of the Birds
, The Grateful Prince
, or The Master Maid
-- but this tale unusually makes the captive a girl and the person the captor's son.
Fairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...
. Andrew Lang
Andrew Lang
Andrew Lang was a Scots poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectures at the University of St Andrews are named after him.- Biography :Lang was born in Selkirk...
included it The Grey Fairy Book. It is Aarne-Thompson type 310, the Maiden in the Tower.
A version of the tale also appears in A Book of Witches
A Book of Witches
A Book of Witches is a 1966 anthology of 12 fairy tales from Europe that have been collected and retold by Ruth Manning-Sanders. It is one in a long series of such anthologies by Manning-Sanders....
, by Ruth Manning-Sanders
Ruth Manning-Sanders
Ruth Manning-Sanders was a prolific British poet and author who was perhaps best known for her series of children's books in which she collected and retold fairy tales from all over the world. All told, she published more than 90 books during her lifetime. The dust jacket for A Book of Giants...
.
Italo Calvino
Italo Calvino
Italo Calvino was an Italian journalist and writer of short stories and novels. His best known works include the Our Ancestors trilogy , the Cosmicomics collection of short stories , and the novels Invisible Cities and If on a winter's night a traveler .Lionised in Britain and the United States,...
included a variant Prezzemolina in his Italian Folktales
Italian Folktales
Italian Folktales is a collection of 200 Italian folktales published in 1956 by Italo Calvino. Calvino began to undertake the project that will lead to the Italian Folktales in 1954, influenced by Vladimir Propp's Morphology of the Folktale; his intention was to emulate the Brothers Grimm in...
. He took a variant from Florence, but noted that variants were found over all of Italy.
Synopsis
A girl went to school, and every day, she picked a plum from a tree along the way. She was called "Prunella" because of this. But the tree belonged to a witch and one day she caught the girl.Prunella grew up as her captive. One day the witch sent her with a basket to the well, with orders to bring it back filled with water. The water seeped out every time, and Prunella cried. A handsome young man asked her what her trouble was, and told her that he was Bensiabel, the witch's son; if she kissed him, he would fill the basket. She refused, because he was a witch's son, but he filled the basket with water anyway. The witch then set her to make bread from wheat while she was gone, and Prunella, knowing it was impossible, set to it for a time, and then cried. Bensiabel appeared. She again refused to kiss a witch's son, but he made the bread for her.
Finally, the witch sent her over the mountains, to get a casket from her sister, knowing her sister was an even more cruel witch, who would starve her to death. Bensiabel told her and offered to save her if she kissed him; she refused. He gave her oil, bread, rope, and a broom, and told her, at his aunt's house, to oil the gate's hinges, give a fierce dog the bread, give the rope to a woman trying to lower the bucket into the well by her hair, and give the broom to a woman trying to clean the hearth with her tongue. Then she should take the casket from the cupboard and leave at once. She did this. As she left, the witch called to all of them to kill her, but they refused because of what Prunella had given them.
The witch was enraged when Prunella returned. She ordered Prunella to tell her in the night which cock had crowed, whenever one did. Prunella still refused to kiss Bensiabel, but he told her each time: the yellow, and the black.
When the third
Rule of three (writing)
The "rule of three" is a principle in writing that suggests that things that come in threes are inherently funnier, more satisfying, or more effective than other numbers of things. The reader/audience of this form of text is also more likely to consume information if it is written in groups of...
one crowed, Bensiabel hesitated, because he still hoped to lure Prunella to kiss him, and Prunella begged him to save her. He sprang on the witch, and she fell down the stairs and died.
Prunella was touched by his goodness and agreed to marry him.
Prezzemolina
Prezzemolina was captured not because of her own eating, but because of her mother's craving for, and theft of, fairies' parsley (prezzemolo in Italian), as in RapunzelRapunzel
"Rapunzel" is a German fairy tale in the collection assembled by the Brothers Grimm, and first published in 1812 as part of Children's and Household Tales. The Grimm Brothers' story is an adaptation of the fairy tale Persinette by Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de La Force originally published in 1698...
; the girl was seized when going to school, but after the fairies had sent her to tell her mother to pay what she owed, and the mother sent back that the fairies should take it.
The hero, Memé, is not the son of a fairy but their cousin, though he helps her as Bensiabel did, despite refusal of kisses.
The tasks altered, in that she had to paint a coal room white and with all the birds in the air, and was sent to Morgan le Fay
Morgan le Fay
Morgan le Fay , alternatively known as Morgane, Morgaine, Morgana and other variants, is a powerful sorceress in the Arthurian legend. Early works featuring Morgan do not elaborate her character beyond her role as a fay or magician...
to be eaten. Finally, the fairies decided to boil her, and Memé warned her to say that there was not enough wood for the fire and to go to the cellar for it. When she did, he and she blew out the candles that were the fairies' souls, including Morgan le Fay's, and then lived in Morgan le Fay's castle, where they were generous with the servants who had not attacked her on Morgan's orders.
Commentary
The captor who demands his captive to do impossible tasks, and the person, usually the captor's child, who helps with them, is a very common fairy tale theme -- Nix Nought NothingNix Nought Nothing
Nix Nought Nothing is an English fairy tale collected by Joseph Jacobs in his English Fairy Tales. A similar tale was collected by Andrew Lang in Scotland...
, The Battle of the Birds
The Battle of the Birds
The Battle of the Birds is a Scottish fairy tale collected by John Francis Campbell in his Popular Tales of the West Highlands. He recorded it from a fisherman near Inverary, John Mackenzie...
, The Grateful Prince
The Grateful Prince
The Grateful Prince is an Estonian fairy tale, collected by Dr. Friedrich Kreutzwald in Eestirahwa Ennemuistesed jutud. W. F. Kirby included in The Hero of Esthonia. Andrew Lang included it in The Violet Fairy Book; he listed his source as Ehstnische Märchen, which was the German translation of...
, or The Master Maid
The Master Maid
The Master Maid is a Norwegian fairy tale collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in their Norske Folkeeventyr. "Master" indicates "superior, skilled." Jørgen Moe wrote the tale down from the storyteller Anne Godlid in Seljord on a short visit in the autumn of 1842.It is...
-- but this tale unusually makes the captive a girl and the person the captor's son.
See also
- PuddockyPuddocky"Puddocky" is a German fairy tale. A variant, "Cherry," was collected by the Brothers Grimm, and in French, Madame d'Aulnoy retold it in a literary fairy tale as "The White Cat", altering the tale's frog into a cat.-Synopsis:...
- MaroulaMaroulaMaroula is a Greek fairy tale collected by Georgios A. Megas in Folktales of Greece.Andrew Lang included a variant, The Sunchild, in The Grey Fairy Book, without listing any source information....
- The WitchThe Witch (fairy tale)The Witch is a Russian fairy tale. Andrew Lang included it in The Yellow Fairy Book.A version of the tale, under the title "The Twins and the Snarling Witch", appears in A Book of Witches, by Ruth Manning-Sanders.-Synopsis:...
- The Two CasketsThe Two CasketsThe Two Caskets is a Scandinavian fairy tale included by Benjamin Thorpe in his Yule-Tide Stories: A Collection of Scandinavian and North German Popular Tales and Traditions. Andrew Lang included it in The Orange Fairy Book....
- The Magic Swan GeeseThe Magic Swan GeeseThe Magic Swan Geese or is a Russian fairy tale collected by Alexander Afanasyev in Narodnye russkie skazki.It is Aarne-Thompson type 451...
- The Enchanted CanaryThe Enchanted CanaryThe Enchanted Canary is a French fairy tale collected by Charles Deulin. Andrew Lang included it in The Red Fairy Book.-Synopsis:A lord was the fattest lord in Flanders. He loved his son dearly. One day, the young man told him he did not find the women in Flanders beautiful; he did not wish to...
- The Little Girl Sold with the PearsThe Little Girl Sold with the Pears"The Little Girl Sold with the Pears" is an Italian fairy tale collected by Italo Calvino in Italian Folktales, from Piedmont. Ruth Manning-Sanders included a variant, as "The Girl in the Basket", in A Book of Ogres and Trolls.-Plot summary:...
- The Water of LifeThe Water of Life (German fairy tale)The Water of Life is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, tale number 97.It is Aarne-Thompson type 551.John Francis Campbell noted it as a parallel of the Scottish fairy tale, The Brown Bear of the Green Glen.-Synopsis:...
- The King of LoveThe King of LoveThe King of Love is an Italian fairy tale collected by Thomas Frederick Crane in Italian Popular Tales.It is Aarne-Thompson type 425A. Others of this type include The Black Bull of Norroway, The Brown Bear of Norway, The Daughter of the Skies, East of the Sun and West of the Moon, The Enchanted...
- Fairer-than-a-FairyFairer-than-a-FairyFairer-than-a-Fairy is a French literary fairy tale written by Charlotte-Rose de Caumont La Force. Andrew Lang included it in The Yellow Fairy Book.-Synopsis:...