Pentameron

Il Pentamerone: The Oldest Known Collection of Fairy Tales

Il Pentamerone (also known as Lo cunto de li cunti, or The Tale of Tales) is little-known outside academic circles, yet it is foundational to many popular fairy tales. Published in the 17th century, it predates Perrault’s Tales of Mother Goose and the Brothers Grimm’s Children’s and Household Tales, thereby setting the stage for classic fairy-tale literature.

Understanding Il Pentamerone’s special place in history requires context about its era and Basile’s intent. Its importance lies in its role as the cornerstone of the evolution of fairy-tale storytelling.

Indeed, some of the oldest versions of well-known tales, including Rapunzel, Cinderella, and The Beauty and the Beast, can be found in The Pentameron.

The Book

One of the most popular books in the 15th and 16th centuries was definitely Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron. It presents 100 stories, each told by one of 10 people over 10 days.

How the Tales Came to Be Told by Warwick Goble (left) and The Goat-Faced Girl by Henry Justice Ford (right)

Such a framed format, with fictional people telling fictional tales, was popular for centuries and reached its peak with the publication of Galland’s Arabian Nights at the beginning of the 18th century. Gianbattista Basile chose the same format but decided to write 50 stories, not 100, as in the Decameron. This logically leads to the unofficial name Pentameron. Another important influence was Giovanni Francesco Straparola’s The Pleasant Nights, perhaps the first collection of written fairy tales (though it contains other types of stories as well). Some of the plots that appear later in Basile’s book were already present in The Pleasant Nights. Straparola’s major contribution to the then nonexistent genre was the structure of the tales. It was revolutionary in that it presented the possibility of climbing the social ladder thanks to magic. Straparola introduced a so-called rags-to-riches plot.

Basile, who likely held a higher social position than Straparola (whose life is shrouded in mystery), preferred a different kind of plot. The main character starts out as a prince, rich merchant, or similar member of the upper class, but loses this position due to circumstances beyond his or her control, such as war, illness, or accident.

But through the story, the fallen star regains his or her position, which may be even higher at the end of the story. Such a plot was definitely less problematic for the target audience than Straparola’s.

Yet just like Straprola, Basile didn’t want to risk – he never published his stories. They were printed only several years after his death, when his sister brought the manuscripts to the printers.

Portraits of Giambattista Basile and his sister Nicoletta

Basile’s Tale of Tales was published in two volumes: the first in 1534 and the second in 1536. Not even his sister dared to use the author’s real name, so the book was published under the pseudonym Gian Alesio Abbatutis.

The style of narration is typical baroque with numerous unnecessary descriptions, which soon made the tales unfit for the new times, and they were almost forgotten until Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm discovered them in the translation of one of their colleagues, Felix Liebrecht.

They praised the book as the first collection of national fairy tales in history. Its famous collection contains recognizable plots of many well-known tales. One of the reasons for staying unknown to a wider audience was the language of Pentamerone. It was written in Neapolitan dialect with numerous vulgarisms and many elements unsuitable for sensitive ears.

Parsley (left), Three Enchanted Princes (middle) by Warwick Goble, and The Serpent Prince by Edmund Dulac (right)

The Stories

The Pentamerone starts with a frame story about Princess Zoza, who was unable to laugh. Her father finally manages to make her laugh, but she offended an old lady who put a spell on Zoza. She can marry a prince only if she fills a jug with her tears in three days. Just before the jug was filled, Zoza fell asleep, her slave stole it, and ended the task instead of her. The slave marries the prince, becomes pregnant, and demands to hear stories for her amusement. Ten storytellers, including Zoza (in disguise), told her five stories each, and one of them discloses a slave’s fraud. She is punished (cruelly), and Zoza finally gets her husband.

Among the told stories, we can find many of the first known written versions of popular fairy tales like Rapunzel (Parsley), Snow White (The Young Slave), Brother and Sister (Nennillo and Nennella), Diamonds and Toads (The Two Cakes), King Thrushbeard (Pride Punished) … Despite the subtitle (Stories for Little Ones) these tales were obviously not meant for kids. They are full of themes more fitting for yellowback literature, such as unfaithful spouses, treacherous servants, and evil neighbors. They are also the first written collection of fairy tales, most of which have plots present in many countries. This makes the Pentamerone a very special literary treasure.

Il Pentamerone, illustrations by George Cruikshank

Some of the biting sharpness of the original Pentamerone was lost through translations. Actually, most of the book was heavily censored. For example, the first English translation (Taylor, 1848) included only 30 stories instead of 50 because the general public deemed Basile’s humor unacceptable. The second edition of Taylor’s translation in 1912 kept only 12 stories! But thanks to the widow of Richard Burton, famous translator of the Arabian Nights, English still got a complete book in 1893, three years after his death. However, the second edition of this book in 1927 was heavily censored, a fact that the editors briefly explained as ‘some corrections.’The best available translation today is probably by Nancy Canepa. It is a direct translation from the Neapolitan dialect, featuring all 50 stories, and is backed by extensive research. It’s definitely not a children’s book, but an important document from which everybody can learn a lot about the literature, our society, and ourselves.

The Movie

The Tale of Tales (Il racconto dei racconti) is a movie extravaganza by Matteo Garrone, with Salma Hayek, Shirley Henderson, Vincent Cassel, Toby Jones, John C. Reilly, and other movie stars. The book comprises three tales: The Enchanted Doe, The Flea, and The Flayed Old Lady, enriched with elements from other fairy tales in the Pentamerone.

The Enchanted Snake (left) and The Myrtle (right) by Warwick Goble

The movie is a unique creation with exotic settings, costumes, and music. Still, the plots and specific scenes may be a bit too gruesome for the general audience. The movie’s earnings (less than $6 million), despite its $12 million budget, reflect this concern. However, it will likely become a classic, a must-see for every film enthusiast willing to explore film beyond its ordinary limits. (And over two hours in length.) Beware: it’s R-rated for nudity and violence.

Giving Credit to the Original

The Pentameron, also known as The Tale of Tales, is arguably the most important book most people haven’t heard of. It introduced a so-called restoration plot into the story. In combination with fantastic elements, this plot forms the basis not only of fairy tales, but also of a significant portion of fiction in general.

The Enchanted Snake (left) and The Goat-Faced Girl (right) by Henry Justice Ford

The giants like Madame d’Aulnoy, Charles Perrault, Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, but also J. R. R. Tolkien or J. K. Rowling all profited on this base, and it’s only fair to put the name of Giambattista Basile in the same group.