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Author
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Comment
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denag
Registered User
(3/28/03 12:54 am)
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Retelling of The Enchanted Doe
Can anyone help me track down a very beautiful retelling of Giambattista Basile's story "The Enchanted Doe"? The story was in a fairy-tale collection we had as children. I have posted a description of the book on booksleuth, but would welcome any insights from here.
This version of the story featured a king+queen who long for children, and are advised that the queen should eat the blue figs which grow in the mountains. These figs are collected, and the palace cook prepares them, inhaling their aroma as she does so. Cook+queen each have a son around the same time (one is called Andrea) who grow up as brothers. One day, one has to leave (cook's son I think) and he plunges his sword into the ground before he goes - a tree and a stream appear, which the prince visits daily to check on his friend's well-being. A day comes when the stream runs cloudy and the tree withers, signalling that the friend is in danger, so the prince rides off to rescue him.
I'd love to know anything I can find out about this story - who re-told it, when, where (and if this led me to the book we had, so much the better).
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Jane Yolen
Unregistered User
(3/28/03 4:10 am)
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others
That story seems to include a number of things that are in other stories, such as the sword/knife/coin that turns cloudy when the friend/loved one's life is in danger.
Jane
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denag
Registered User
(3/28/03 6:22 am)
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Re: others
Which stories are you thinking of?
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Heidi
Anne Heiner
ezOP
(3/28/03 8:29 am)
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Re: others
A version of "The Enchanted Doe" is on SurLaLune with Warwick Goble's illustration at:
www.surlalunefairytales.c...e1911.html
The story is from Basile's "Il Pentamerone" of which you can read a little on SurLaLune, too.
Heidi
Edited by: Heidi Anne Heiner at: 3/28/03 8:31:24 am
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denag
Registered User
(4/8/03 6:26 am)
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Re: others
Heidi - I've already had a wonderful time checking out Il Pentamerone. I was led to it, from links arising from a websearch, via (you guessed it) the SurLaLune link.
It was this that brought me to the discussion pages too.
I have to admit, Fairy Tales is a new area of study for me (I'm a scientist really). I've recently worked my way through the 1001 nights, plus a collection of Grimms Tales, and your annotated tales. Thanks to your bibliographies, I'm now into my first Jack Zipes book (The Great Fairy Tale Tradition), and am "enchanted".
The thing about the story I'm trying to find, is that it seems to be based on Basile's "The Enchanted Doe", but it is this specific re-telling that I would love to find. The main elements (as I recall) are unchanged, but the queen eats blue figs instead of a sea-dragon's heart and instead of having twins, she and the cook each have a son, who grow up like brothers. The illustrations were also beautiful.
I don't really know how to track this version down, but I thought it might be a good idea to look for re-tellings of Basile's stories, and see where that leads me. I imagine this won't be that easy, because they won't have been retold all in one publication. Still, any suggestions of books/sites to try would be much appreciated.
There is another tale (possibly from the same book) that I'm beginning to remember bits of - something about two princesses, one was beautiful like the sun, with golden hair and rosy complexion (possibly called sunlight?), and her younger sister was beautiful like the moon, with dark hair and pale complexion (possibly called moonlight..). I think there may have been a third sister, who might have been rather more ordinary, but I don't recall if they all got along, or if there was a cinderella-like setup. Does this ring any bells? Is it worth me putting the details I've got on the board as a new topic, or do you think it's too long a shot?
Thanks a million for the amazing website, and the discussion board.
Dena
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