Italian Folktales

First edition

Italian Folktales (Fiabe italiane) is a collection of 200 Italian folktales published in 1956 by Italo Calvino. Calvino began the project in 1954, influenced by Vladimir Propp's Morphology of the Folktale; his intention was to emulate the Straparola in producing a popular collection of Italian fairy tales for the general reader. He did not compile tales from listeners, but made extensive use of the existing work of folklorists; he noted the source of each individual tale, but warned that was merely the version he used.

He included extensive notes on his alterations to make the tales more readable and the logic of his selections, such as renaming the heroine of The Little Girl Sold with the Pears Perina rather than Margheritina to connect to the pears, and selecting Bella Venezia as the Italian variant of Snow White because it featured robbers, rather than the variants containing dwarfs, which he suspected were imported from Germany.

It was first translated into English in 1962; a further translation is by Sylvia Mulcahy (Dent, 1975) and constituted the first comprehensive collection of Italian folktales.

List of tales

1. Dauntless Little John (Giovannino senza paura; Fearless Giovannino [Johnny])
2. The Man Wreathed in Seaweed (Riviera di Ponente) (L'uomo verde d'alghe; The man's green algae)
3. The Ship with Three Decks (Riviera di Ponente (Il bastimento a tre piani)
4. The Man Who Came Out Only at Night (Riviera di Ponente) (L'uomo che usciva solo di notte)
5. And Seven! (Riviera di Ponente) (E Sette!)
6. Body-without-Soul (Riviera di Ponente) (Corpo-senza-anima)
7. Money Can Do Everything (Genoa) (Il denaro fa tutto)
8. The Little Shepherd (Genoese hinterland) (Il pastore che non cresceva mai)
9. Silver Nose (Langhe) (Naso d'argento)
10. The Count's Beard (Bra)
11. The Little Girl Sold with the Pears (Montferrat)
12. The Snake (Montferrat)
13. The Three Castles (Montferrat)
14. The Prince Who Married a Frog (Montferrat)
15. The Parrot (Montferrat) (Il pappagallo)
16. The Twelve Oxen (Montferrat) (I dodici buoi)
17. Crack and Crook (Montferrat)
18. The Canary Prince (Turin)
19. King Crin (Colline del Po)
20. Those Stubborn Souls, the Biellese (Province of Biella)
21. The Pot of Marjoram (Milan)
22. The Billiards Player (Milan)
23. Animal Speech (Mantua)
24. The Three Cottages (Mantua)
25. The Peasant Astrologer (Mantua)
26. The Wolf and the Three Girls (Lake Garda)
27. The Land Where One Never Dies (Verona)
28. The Devotee of St. Joseph (Verona)
29. The Three Crones (Venice)
30. The Crab Prince (Venice)
31. Silent for Seven Years (Venice)
32. The Dead Man's Palace (Venice)
33. Pome and Peel (Venice)
34. The Cloven Youth (Venice)
35. Invisible Grandfather (Venice)
36. The King of Denmark's Son (Venice)
37. Petie Pete Versus Witch Bea-Witch (Friuli)
38. Quack, Quack! Stick to My Back! (Friuli)
39. The Happy Man's Shirt (Friuli)
40. One Night in Paradise (Friuli)
41. Jesus and St. Peter in Friuli (Friuli)
42. The Magic Ring (Trentino)
43. The Dead Man's Arm (Trentino)
44. The Science of Laziness (Trieste)
45. Fair Brow (Istria)
46. The Stolen Crown (Dalmatia)
47. The King's Daughter Who Could Never Get Enough Figs (Rome)
48. The Three Dogs (Romagna)
49. Uncle Wolf (Romagna)
50. Giricoccola (Bologna)
51. Tabagnino the Hunchback (Bologna)
52. The King of the Animals (Bologna)
53. The Devil's Breeches (Bologna)
54. Dear as Salt (Bologna)
55. The Queen of the Three Mountains of Gold (Bologna)
56. Lose Your Temper, and You Lose Your Bet (Bologna)
57. The Feathered Ogre (Garfagnana estense)
58. The Dragon with Seven Heads (Montale)
59. Bellinda and the Monster (Montale)
60. The Shepherd at Court (Montale)
61. The Sleeping Queen (Montale)
62. The Son of the Merchant from Milan (Montale)
63. Monkey Palace (Montale)
64. Rosina in the Oven (Montale)
65. The Salamanna Grapes (Montale)
66. The Enchanted Palace (Montale)
67. Buffalo Head (Montale)
68. The King of Portugal's Son (Montale)
69. Fanta-Ghiro the Beautiful (Montale)
70. The Old Woman's Hide (Montale)
71. Olive (Montale)
72. Catherine, Sly Country Lass (Montale)
73. The Traveler from Turin (Montale)
74. The Daughter of the Sun (Pisa)
75. The Dragon and the Enchanted Filly (Pisa)
76. The Florentine (Pisa)
77. Ill-Fated Royalty (Pisa)
78. The Golden Ball (Pisa)
79. Fioravante and Beautiful Isolina (Pisa)
80. Fearless Simpleton (Livorno)
81. The Milkmaid Queen (Livorno)
82. The Story of Campriano (Province of Lucca)
83. The North Wind's Gift (Mugello)
84. The Sorceress's Head
85. Apple Girl
86. Prezzemolina
87. The Fine Greenbird
88. The King in the Basket
89. The One-Handed Murderer
90. The Two Hunchbacks
91. Pete and the Ox
92. The King of the Peacocks
93. The Palace of the Doomed Queen
94. The Little Geese
95. Water in the Basket
96. Fourteen
97. Jack Strong, Slayer of Five Hundred
98. Crystal Rooster
99. A Boat for Land and Water
100. The Neapolitan Soldier
101. Belmiele and Belsole
102. The Haughty Prince
103. Wooden Maria
104. Louse Hide
105. Cicco Petrillo
106. Nero and Bertha
107. The Love of the Three Pomegranates
108. Joseph Ciufolo, Tiller-Flutist
109. Bella Venezia
110. The Mangy One
111. The Wildwood King
112. Mandorlinfiore
113. The Three Blind Queens
114. Hunchback Wryneck Hobbler
115. One-Eye
116. The False Grandmother
117. Frankie-Boy's Trade
118. Shining Fish
119. Miss North Wind and Mr. Zephyr
120. The Palace Mouse and the Garden Mouse
121. The Moor's Bones
122. The Chicken Laundress
123. Crack, Crook, and Hook
124. First Sword and Last Broom
125. Mrs. Fox and Mr. Wolf
126. The Five Scapegraces
127. Ari-Ari, Donkey, Donkey, Money, Money!
128. The School of Salamanca
129. The Tale of the Cats (Taranto)
130. Chick
131. The Slave Mother
132. The Sire Wife
133. The Princesses Wed to the First Passer-By
134. Liombruno
135. Cannelora
136. Filo d'Oro and Filomena
137. The Thirteen Bandits
138. The Three Orphans
139. Sleeping Beauty and Her Children
140. The Handmade King
141. The Turkey Hen
142. The Three Chicory Gatherers
143. Beauty-with-the-Seven-Dresses
144. Serpent King
145. The Widow and the Brigand
146. The Crab with the Golden Eggs
147. Nick Fish
148. Grattula-Beddattula
149. Misfortune
150. Pippina the Serpent
151. Catherine the Wise
152. The Ismailian Merchant
153. The Thieving Dove
154. Dealer in Peas and Beans
155. The Sultan with the Itch
156. The Wife Who Lived on Wind
157. Wormwood
158. The King of Spain and the English Milord
159. The Bejeweled Boot
160. The Left-Hand Squire
161. Rosemary
162. Lame Devil
163. Three Tales by Three Sons of Three Merchants
164. The Dove Girl
165. Jesus and St. Peter in Sicily
166. The Barber's Timepiece
167. The Count's Sister
168. Master Francesco Sit-Down-and-Eat
169. The Marriage of Queen and a Bandit
170. The Seven Lamb Heads
171. The Two Sea Merchants
172. Out in the World
173. A Boat Loaded with…
174. The King's Son in the Henhouse
175. The Mincing Princess
176. The Great Narbone
177. Animal Talk and the Nosy Wife
178. The Calf with the Golden Horns
179. The Captain and the General
180. The Peacock Feather
181. The Garden Witch
182. The Mouse with the Long Tail
183. The Two Cousins
184. The Two Muleteers
185. Giovannuzza the Fox
186. The Child that Fed the Crucifix
187. Steward Truth
188. The Foppish King
189. The Princess with the Horns
190. Giufa
191. Fra Ignazio
192. Solomon's Advice
193. The Man Who Robbed the Robbers
194. The Lions' Grass
195. The Convent of Nuns and the Monastery of Monks
196. The Male Fern
197. St. Anthony's Gift
198. March and the Shepherd (Marzo e il Pastore)
199. John Balento
200. Jump into My Sack

References

• Chronology of Calvino's works