Topic Research: Italian Fairy Tales

I had so much fun reading through Italian Fairy tales! I read several from The Pentamerone. Most of them involved animals, which is an element that I really enjoy!

The She-Bear  was a fun read! A dying queen begs her husband to only remarry if the women is as beautiful as she was. After many years the King decided that he could only marry his daughter because only she was as beautiful as his first wife. The daughter did not want to marry her father so an elderly woman gave her a chip of wood that was suppose to change her into a bear. When she was summed to marry her father she ate the piece of wood. While the daughter was in the woods, she met a prince who was astounded by her gentleness and he took her home. One day, the daughter took out the piece of wood and the prince saw her and fell in love. The princes mother did not understand why he loves this bear, and ordered the bear to be killed. However, the servants were also taken with her gentleness and released her into the woods instead. The prince went after the bear, and begged her to become human again for him. The prince became ill and he asked that the bear be brought to his room, and so his mother gave in. The prince became sicker the more he fell in love with the bear. He begged her for a kiss, and she kissed him. As time time the wood came out of her mouth and he held her tight. She begged him not her expose her. He then married her and promised to keep her safe forever. I found this story to be exciting and I would love to use it as a model to write my own story! I think I would rewrite this story based in Italy, but change the circumstances in which the daughter would want to be changed into a bear.

The Frog is another exciting story about a mother that wants her 3 sons to marry so she creates tests to help them find their bride. This story has a lot of different possibilities for me to write a story using this model.

The Enchanted Snake   was a story about a woman who longed for a child. She ran into a snake, who offered her children to her. The woman and her husband raised the snake. The snake longed to marry the king's daughter and so the king established some challenges in order to give his permission. I would enjoying writing a story with challenges for someone to overcome in order to achieve what they want.

The First Page of The Pentamerone Source: Wiki Images