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139

Variant of No. 134. Archivio per lo Studio delle Tradizioni popolari. Palermo, 1882, vol. i, pp. 196-200.

V. "LA DONNINA DI LEGNO."
(From Florence.)

ABSTRACT

Counter-tasks (wooden-case, three dresses, and bird Verderrio) from father--Menial heroine, lives in king's hen-house. Hens sing of her loveliness-Meeting-place (ball)--Threefold flight--Pursuers blinded with sand and quattrini--Love-sick prince--Recognition food (contains presents given at ball)--Happy marriage.

TABULATION

(1) Girl asks her father for a wooden case, three dresses, and the bird Verderrio. She sings:

"I am a lady made of wood,
A cunning piece of womanhood.
If you would show your charity,
Then give to me."

(2) She is taken to the king's palace, and put in hen-house. Hens sing:

"Ko-ko-ko, ke-ke-ke,
What a lovely little keeper have we!"

(3) King falls in love with beautiful stranger at ball, and sends servants to follow her home. She throws sand and quattrini, and half blinds them.-- (4) At length the king falls ill, and finds in his food the present given to beautiful stranger at ball.

Cox, Marian Roalfe. Cinderella: Three Hundred and Forty-five Variants of Cinderella, Catskin, and Cap O' Rushes, abstracted and tabulated. London: David Nutt for the Folklore Society, 1893.

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