1. “Proverbial expression alluding to the unwillingness to perform some action, even if the pretense of doing it is there” (Croce 214).
2. carose (Neap.): See tale 2.6 n14.
3. tortano (Neap.): “A ring-shaped yeast bread made with lard and a lot of pepper, and stuffed with cracklings and, sometimes, small pieces of salami, cheese, and hard-boiled eggs” (Guarini and Burani 260).
4. antecore (Neap.): “Literally, a stomachache accompanied by nausea and faintness” (Croce 217).
*. This tale, devoid of fairy-tale elements, is in the mold of the Boccaccian novella. Both of the main characters are also variations of stock characters familiar to the repertoire of comic theater from Plautus on—the parasite with the bottomless stomach and his miserly host. Penzer gives variants from a number of collections of Italian popular tales; Grimm 61, “Little Farmer,” has some of the same motifs.
1. li deve li butte (Neap.): lit., “that gave her the jerks”; “inflicted upon those condemned to torture by the rope, which caused painful sprains and dislocations” (Rak 432).
2. Pomigliano d’Arco, between Naples and Nola. Cola Iacovo’s surname (Aggrancato) means “stingy” in Neapolitan.
3. “Outside of Naples, it was built over the ancient city of Herculaneum” (Croce 568).
4. “Burlesque ways of indicating an abundance of goods” (Croce 219).
5. See introduction to day 1 n22.
6. “Popular saying that refers to the voracity of gluttons” (Guarini and Burani 263).
7. The heat of the August sun (the solleone or “Sun in Leo” mentioned in other passages).
8. sasina (Neap.): “Small opening or slit in a house that, looking into a neighboring house, causes the neighbors annoyance” (Croce 220).
9. “A reference to the Neapolitan barons who, summoned from their lands to the prince’s court, would spend large amounts of money in pomp and luxuries, and often came to financial ruin because of it” (Croce 220).
10. mazzafranca (Neap.): “An allusion to the game called mazza e piuzo, in which the suspension of play can be requested with the words ‘free club’” (Croce 220).
11. “A place near Naples in whose marshy lake eels were fished” (Guarini and Burani 264).
12. “Famous mask of the commedia dell’arte, already popular in Naples by the end of the 16th century” (Croce 222).
13. “Tribunal which heard cases regarding damages to rural properties and all other cases in which the value in question was no more than three ducats. Its jurisdiction included Naples and its outlying villages” (Croce 568).
14. “Another tribunal that heard cases having to do with currency, weights, and measures, and cases of fraud in sales and purchases” (Croce 569).
15. “As children do, chasing a cat or other animal around the house with a duster” (Croce 222).
16. A reference to the ritual for treatment of insolvent debtors (See tale 1.8 n15).
17. “Reference to the disturbances created by soldiers when they lodged in private houses” (Croce 222).
18. Another allusion to the ailments associated with the month of March.
19. “An allusion to the game of the ring (or ‘sortija,’ as it is called in Spanish), which consisted in trying to ‘tilt’ or slip a pole in a ring while running” (Croce 223).
20. “Said for things that were difficult to find” (Guarini and Burani 267).
21. “Allusion to the pet bears that nobles kept in their palaces and parks” (Guarini and Burani 268).
22. “The Saint-Graal of Perceval and other romances of the Breton cycle: the precious chalice in which Joseph of Arimathaea had gathered Christ’s blood” (Croce 223).
23. “Another river, perhaps the Arno” (Guarini and Burani 268).
24. Proverbial character and expression.
25. See tale 1.8 n10.
1. A swelling on a plant, from which is derived gallic acid, used to make dyes and inks.
2. Derived from the Caesalpina sappan tree, from whose wood a red colorant is extracted (Rak 454).
3. Proverbial expression referring to the state of fear Jews lived in due to the centuries-long persecutions and hatred to which they were subjected. Croce maintains that Basile’s contacts with Jews must have been in Venice and Candia, not in Naples, where there was no longer a community during his time (569).
4. Parody of the verse “un bel morir tutta la vita onora,” from Petrarch, Rerum 1.16.13 (Croce 229).
5. The Saracen warrior of the two best-known Italian chivalric epics, M. M. Boiardo’s Orlando innamorato and L. Ariosto’s Orlando furioso; a symbol of brute force (Rak 454).
6. The heroic defender of Troy in Greek mythology and Homer’s Iliad.
7. I.e., of the galleys.
8. I.e., give you a kick.
9. de cinco (Neap.): a coin of little value.
10. martino (Neap): See tale 2.8 n4. The geographical names that follow indicate concrete locales (Forcella is an area of Naples, Corneto in Abruzzo) and continues the series of puns on having “horns,” or being a cuckold.
11. Possibly an expression used for husbands who turn a blind eye to their wives’ illicit activities (Rak 454).
12. “Too much complaining is cause for disdain.”
13. cunte de l’uerco (Neap.): The first tale of The Tale of Tales is “Lo cunto de l’uerco.”
14. covalera (Neap.): see introduction to day 2 n6.
1. “Many of the dances remembered here are described in Nuove inventioni di balli (Milan, 1604) by the Milanese Cesare Negri, called ‘The Trombone,’ famous and excellent professor of dance, and in Ballarino (Venice, 1631), by Fabritio Caroso de Sermoneta. Del Tufo, in his Ritratto di Napoli, also mentions many of the same dances” (Croce 570). The Sfessania and the Lucia (the last dance mentioned) were similar. In Sgruttendio’s Tiorba a taccone (9, “La catubba”) the dances are described. See also introduction to day 1 n6.
*. ATT 311: Rescue by the Sister. “The name Cannetella existed in Neapolitan dialect, as a diminutive of Canneta, or Candida” (Croce 243). Here it is also a diminutive of canna, or reed. Penzer notes similarities between this tale and Gonzenbach 10, as well as a tale by Luigi Alamanni (1:231); see also Gonzenbach 22.
1. “Probably a common saying to indicate a difficult and useless endeavor” (Rak 476).
2. “The nymph desired by Pan, who was unable to reach her before she transformed into a reed, from which the multi-reeded flute (syrinx), or ‘Pan-pipes,’ was subsequently made (Ovid, Metamorphoses I 690–712), vs. the penis” (Rak 476).
3. “A Neapolitan proverb goes ‘Horns of a sister, horns of gold; horns of a wife, horns for real.’ Perhaps Basile was thinking of this or a similar saying” (Croce 571).
4. “The Jewish community had control of pawnshops” (Rak 476).
5. “A large, sweet grape of oblong shape, either white or dark-colored. Two best friends are referred to as ’nzolia e muscateddu [Ansonic and muscatel]” (Croce 571).
6. Perhaps from lack of use.
7. mazzacano (Neap.): lit., “dog killers.”
8. tonnina (Neap.): a sort of salami made from tuna (Guarini and Burani 294).
*. AT 706: The Maiden without Hands. Penzer discusses the two parts of the tale, “the drastic way the sister puts a stop to her brother’s advances, and . . . the well-known ‘letter of death’ motif.” Of the first, he comments, “The use of self-mutilation to preserve virginity or to keep religious vows has been a favorite theme in both East and West,” from Buddhist to Christian hagiology (see also Grimm 31, “The Maiden without Hands” and Gonzenbach 24). For the letter of death motif, Penzer recalls the stories of Uriah (2 Sam. 11), Bellerophon (Iliad 6.155ff.), and Mutalammis (in Islamic tradition) (1:241).
1
. contiente e conzolate (Neap.): this expression, which frequently appears as a concluding formula, is the rough equivalent in sense to “happily ever after.”
2. “As in trials, when the proceedings of two or more cases are combined” (Croce 252).
3. “Formula taken from medical prescriptions” (Croce 252).
4. “That is, he had gone mad. The cure that at Basile’s time the insane of the Hospital of the Incurables were given consisted in turning the waterwheel to get water from a well; eating a hundred eggs, since they were considered nourishing and light; and receiving periodic beatings” (Croce 252).
5. The meaning of the textual “Chi fatto a tene? Che nasa faise?” is unclear. Guarini and Burani comment that “it could be one of those expressions that characters of The Tale of Tales sometimes use to imitate ‘high’ language by deforming it, or dialect by ‘refining’ it” (297).
6. crapiate (Neap.): “blend of white and red wine; cf. Spanish ‘calabriada’” (Croce 253).
7. See tale 1.4 n6.
8. The expression refers to the incestuous relationship Penta’s brother is proposing, since cheese and oil are two ingredients that do not mix well (Guarini and Burani 297).
9. “Metaphor taken from soccer” (Croce 253), as well as a bawdy reference to the king’s sexual frustration.
10. “Allusion to the tax paid by prostitutes” (Guarini and Burani 298).
11. paletta che da bolee a sto core (Neap.): “The bolea was a risky move in a ball game” (Guarini and Burani 298).
12. “Another example of ‘Turkish’ speech” (Rak 498).
13. Faenza was famous for its highly decorated majolica, which had been manufactured at least since the twelfth century.
14. I.e., like a full moon. “Since Taranto [in Puglia, the southeastern tip of the peninsula] boasts an abundance of exquisite fish and crustaceans, one could spend the meatless period of Lent there and still satisfy one’s appetite and grow big and fat” (Croce 254).
15. The fates, in Roman mythology.
16. li testimmonie (Neap.): testimony (or witness) vs. testicles, as elsewhere.
17. “Thoroughbred horses raised in the stables of noble families were branded on their haunches with the initials of the family” (Guarini and Burani 300).
18. “A saying echoing others that go back to ancient times” (Croce 255). The “unpleasant” here refers to women in general.
19. mantiata (Neap.): “From the Spanish ‘mantear,’ to put someone on a blanket held at its corners by four people, who then throw him into the air and catch him again; a joke played among pages and buffoons, and also with Sancho Panza [in Don Quijote]” (Croce 256).
20. lo triego (Neap.): “the first of the three sails: the biggest, square one on the main mast” (Rak 499).
21. “Three categories of people who were commonly removed from their place of residence or exiled from the Kingdom of Naples” (Croce 258). See also tale 1.10 n33.
22. “The giant with a hundred hands and fifty heads who helped Zeus in the battle against the Titans; another common emblem of brute strength. See Homer, Iliad I, 527–29” (Rak 499).
23. I.e., horn.
24. strufole (Neap.): “Neapolitan Christmas sweets made with a flour and egg dough and fried in small rounds and then covered with honey and sprinkles” (Croce 261).
25. “Bright-colored wax was produced in Venice” (Rak 499).
*. AT 313: The Girl as Helper in the Hero’s Flight, and AT 410: Sleeping Beauty. This tale stands out for its unhappy ending (one of the only ones in The Tale of Tales) and its theme of irrevocable fate. Penzer believes that “the fact that Basile has not altered it is an additional proof of the contention that he wrote down the tales as he heard them” (1:250). There are similarities with Gonzenbach 26–28.
1. oglia potrita (Neap.): “The famous Spanish dish [olla podrida], a stew made with various types of meat, sausage, lard, cabbage, and legumes . . . the Spanish version of the Neapolitan pignata maritata [or grassa]” (De Simone 435). See also tale 1.2 n22.
2. uosso mastro (Neap.): “The femur of animals” (Croce 265).
3. magriata (Neap): See tale 1.2 n17.
4. rummo e busse (Neap.): See tale 2.7 n1.
5. vita (Neap.): life vs. grapevine.
6. “The hyacinth stone, a reddish-brown variety of zircon, was set in rings and considered to have health-restoring powers; it brought happiness, strengthened the heart, and favored sleep” (Rak 518).
7. Croce cites from Pietro Aretino (Ragionamenti 1, day 2): “it being time to get rid of the heat with the fan of chatter” (573). This and other passages drawn from Aretino make it clear that Basile was an attentive reader of the burlesque, or anticlassicist, tradition, which included such authors as Cecco Angiolieri, Francesco Berni, Teofilo Folengo, Ruzante, and others and which often drew on the resources of the various dialect traditions.
8. “The seed of a plant of Asian origin (strychnus nux vomica), from which strychnine is extracted” (Rak 519).
9. “An area in Naples (near the main train station) where, in about 1487, the duke of Calabria, Alfonso of Aragon, built a palace and garden. [. . .] These were later torn down and houses built on the same site, and the alleyways of the new ‘Duchesca’ became a meeting-place for prostitutes and criminals” (Croce 269, 573).
10. Children’s games. For the first (Master Iommiento Proclaims and Orders), See tale 2.6 n7; for the second (Anca Nicola), see the introduction to day 2 n3.
11. I.e., “a small profit or a gift worth no more than a piece of cheese” (Croce 269).
12. fede (Neap.): word, faith, or wedding band. Copper was the metal most often used for counterfeit coins, to which was applied a patina of gold or silver (Rak 519).
13. I.e., of little worth.
14. I.e., I declared myself a winner too soon.
15. Metaphors taken from the card game of primero.
16. “Satirical treatment of clerks, those low officials of courts and other places of public administration, and of their tricks and venality, are abundant in Neapolitan dialect literature” (Croce 573). See also the eclogue “The Hook” at the end of day 4.
17. “Two more games, with sexual allusions to the gesture of the male ‘emptying’ and the female being ‘wounded’ on her marriage night” (Rak 519–20).
18. “In this period tobacco was entering into general use, and was considered a cure for many illnesses” (Croce 573). Basile’s contemporary Francesco Zucchi exalts it as a panacea in his work of 1636, La tabaccheide, scherzo estivo sopra il tabacco.
19. “At this time a distinction was made between ‘urine doctors,’ general physicians, and ‘wound doctors,’ surgeons” (Croce 574).
20. “The bones of the executed and suicides, as well as carcasses of horses and other animals, were thrown from the Ricciardo or Maddalena bridges in Naples into the Sebeto River” (Croce 273).
The Tale of Tales Page 63