Beautiful Angiola

The Lost Sicilian Folk and Fairy Tales of Laura Gonzenbach

Jack Zipes

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• Topic: Literature
• eBook ISBN:
  9781135511753
• Subtopic: English Literary Criticism
• Index: Literature

In one of the most startling literary discoveries of recent years, Jack Zipes has uncovered this neglected treasure trove of Sicilian folk and fairy tales. Like the Grimm brothers before her, Laura Gonzenbach, a talented Swiss-German born in Sicily, set out to gather up the tales told and retold among the peasants. Gonzenbach collected wonderful stories - some on subjects that readers will know from the Grimms or Perrault, some entirely new - and published them in German. Her early death and the destruction of her papers in the Messina earthquake of 1908 only add to the mystery behind her achievement. Beautiful Angiola is an instant classic: a nineteenth-century collection of stories in the great tradition of fairy and folk tales now translated into English for the first time. Gonzenbach delights us with heroines and princes, sorcery and surprise, the deeds of the brave and the treacherous, and the magic of the true storyteller. The Green Bird , The Humiliated Princess , sorfarina , The Magic Cane, the Golden Donkey, and the Little Stick that Hits are titles destine to become new favourites for readers everywhere. Yet while the stories enchant us, the wry taglines with which they often end ('And so they remained rich and consoled, while we keep sitting here and are getting old') gently bring us back to earth.

1

SORFARINA

Once upon a time there was a king and queen who had only one son. Because they wanted him to learn everything that a son should know for someone of his social class, they sent him to a teacher in a school. Many other children also attended this school, and among them a merchant’s daughter more beautiful than the sun, and she was called Sorfarina. Not only was she beautiful, but she learned her lessons better than any of the other children, including the prince, and the teacher was very proud and fond of her.

Now, one day, the teacher had to take a trip and did not know who to place in charge of the school during his absence. While he was contemplating this matter, Sorfarina asked, “Teacher, what’s the matter?”

“Oh, Sorfarina, I have a great dilemma. I have to take a trip, and I don’t know who to place in charge of the school.”

“Place me in charge,” Sorfarina said. “I’ll teach the students while you’re gone.”

The teacher thought this was a good solution, and he departed, while Sorfarina kept the school going. However, one day as she was teaching the prince, he refused to pay attention. She became impatient and gave him a slap in the face. The prince did not react at all, but he remembered the insult in his heart.

Many years passed. The prince no longer attended the school, and Sorfarina had become a marvelously beautiful maiden, so beautiful that he fell passionately in love with her. One day he went to his father and said, “Dear Father, I’ve found a bride whom I like very much. I want Sorfarina to become my wife.”

His father would have preferred to see him marry a princess, but because he could never deny him anything, he said, “All right, my son, if you want her, take her.”

So a splendid wedding was celebrated with many festivities, and the prince married the beautiful Sorfarina. However, when they went into their bedroom to sleep, he said, “Sorfarina, do you remember the slap in the face you gave me when we were younger? Tell me, do you regret it?”

“No,” she answered.

“I didn’t regret it, and I don’t regret it now.

“And if you want another slap, you’ll get one and how!”*

“What?” the prince cried out, extremely angry. “You dare say something like that to me! Well, then I don’t want you in my bed!”

Upon saying this, he kicked her out of the bed, and Sorfarina had to sleep on the ground. However, because he loved her so much, his heart troubled him when he saw her lying on the cold stones, and he said to her, “Dear Sorfarina, tell me, don’t you really regret it?”

“No,” she answered.

“I didn’t regret it, and I don’t regret it now.

“And if you want another slap, you’ll get one and how!”

No matter how many times he asked and no matter how tenderly he spoke to her, she always gave him the same answer so that he finally became furious and cried out, “All right, then stay where you are!”

The next morning he ran to his mother and told her everything.

“Just think,” he said, “after Sorfarina slept the entire night on the cold floor, she still won’t say that she regrets the slap in the face that she gave me!”

“My son,” she responded, “let it go! That’s something which has long since passed.”

“No, Mother,” he declared. “I want her to say it to me once and for all.”

Then he ran back to Sorfarina and said, “Sorfarina, tell me, don’t you regret it?”

“No,” she answered.

“I didn’t regret it, and I don’t regret it now.

“And if you want another slap, you’ll get one and how!”

“Oh, Sorfarina,” he complained, “how stubborn you are! Do you know that I’m going to have you thrown into the well if you don’t say it?”

“Well, have me thrown into the well!”

In short, even though he ran back and forth to her many times during the day and tried this way and that, he wasn’t successful in getting another answer from her. Finally, he became so angry that he had her thrown into the empty well, which was in the courtyard. Yet, he kept running back to her every second to say: “Sorfarina, I beg you. Tell me that you regret it.”

“No,” she answered.

“I didn’t regret it, and I don’t regret it now.

“And if you want another slap, you’ll get one and how!”

“Do you know that I’m going to take a long trip far away, and I’m going to leave you here in the well?”

“Go as far as you want,” she replied. “Just do me a favor before you leave and tell me whether you’re going to travel by land or by sea.”

Many days passed this way, and Sorfarina could not be moved either through pleas or threats to say she regretted what she had done. When the prince realized how stubborn she was, he reached the end of his patience and cried out to her, “Farewell! I’m going to Rome.”

“Have a nice trip! Are you going by land or by sea?”

“By sea.”

“Good,” Sorfarina thought to herself, “I’ll go by land.”

The prince departed, and as soon he left, she climbed out of the well and traveled by land to Rome. Once there she rented a pretty house across from the inn in which the prince was staying. When he looked out his window in the morning, he saw her standing on the balcony across from him. Indeed, he stared at her in astonishment and thought, “Oh, what a beautiful lady! If I hadn’t left my wife Sorfarina in the well, I’d say that it was she.”

Then he greeted her, and she responded to him in a friendly way. After a few days he went over to her house, and in a short time they formed such an intense friendship that, within a year, a handsome baby boy was born. They called him Romano. Meanwhile, the prince had told her that he had a beautiful but stubborn wife at home who would not bring herself to say to him she regretted giving him a slap in his face.

“Oh,” Sorfarina said, “why don’t you forgive the poor woman and take her out of the well?”

“No, I want her to do what I demand, just once.”

One day, when the little boy was a few months old, Sorfarina said to the prince, “Why don’t you go home and see if your poor wife is still sitting in the well? Perhaps she has now reconsidered things for the better.”

So the prince departed for home by sea, while Sorfarina left her child with the fairies, who served her because she could do magic, and traveled home by land. When the prince arrived, she was already sitting in the well.

“Now, Sorfarina,” he said, “do you still want to be stubborn? I beg you. Tell me that you regret it.” “No,” she answered.

“I didn’t regret it, and I don’t regret it now.

“And if you want another slap, you’ll get one and how!”

The prince was completely despondent, for he loved Sorfarina very much, and yet she refused to do his will. One day he said to her, “Sorfarina, if you won’t regret it, then I’m going to travel to Naples today.”

“Have a nice trip! Are you going by land or by sea?”

“By sea.”

“Then I’ll go by land,” she thought, and no sooner did the prince depart than she climbed out of the well and also traveled to Naples. Once she was there, she rented a house across from the inn in which the prince was staying. When he went to the window, she was standing on the balcony across from him, and he stared at her in amazement.

“What’s this now? If I hadn’t left my wife in the well, and my lady friend in Rome, I would have to say that this beautiful woman is one of them.”

He greeted her, and she responded in a friendly way. In short, after a year, the prince had another baby boy named Napolitano. When the child was a few months old, Sorfarina said to him, “Why don’t you go home and see if your wife has reconsidered everything?”

So the prince traveled home, but Sorfarina was faster than he was, and when he came to the well, his wife was already standing there and asked him, “Well, have you had a delightful time in Naples?”

“Oh, Sorfarina, if you would only do what I say, you can’t imagine how much I’d love to stay with you. Please, dear Sorfarina, tell me that you regret it!”

However, Sorfarina gave him the same answer, no matter how much he pleaded with her or threatened her. One day he became so furious that he went to her and said, “Sorfarina, either say it or I’m going to travel to Genoa today!”

“Have a nice trip!” she cried in a mocking tone, and as soon as he had departed, she climbed out of the well and arrived in Genoa at the same time he did. Once again she rented a house across from the inn in which her husband was staying, and the first thing he saw when he looked out his window was the beautiful lady standing across from him on her balcony.

“Something’s not right here!” he cried. “Here’s another woman who looks just like my Sorfarina. If I hadn’t left my wife in the well, and my lady friend in Rome, and my other one in Naples, I’d have to think that she was one of them.”

Now he greeted her. She thanked him. Soon they formed a friendship, and before a year had passed, a little daughter saw the light of day, and they called her Genova. One day, when the girl was a few months old, Sorfarina said, “Why don’t you go back home and see what has happened to your poor wife? Who knows, perhaps she has reconsidered everything!”

So, the prince traveled home, but Sorfarina was not lazy, and when he came to the well, she was already standing in it.

“Dear Sorfarina,” he begged, “you’re certainly not stubborn anymore. I beg you, tell me that you regret it.”

“No,” she answered.

“I didn’t regret it, and I don’t regret it now.

“And if you want another slap, you’ll get one and how!”

No matter how often the prince went to the well, Sorfarina always gave him the same answer.

“Sorfarina!” he finally said, “if you don’t do what I want, I’m going to take another woman for my wife!”

“Take her!” she answered.

So, he sent for a beautiful princess, and plans were made for a splendid wedding celebration. Bu...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Laura Gonzenbach’s Buried Treasure
• A Note on the Translation and Acknowledgments
• 1. Sorfarina
• 2. The Green Bird
• 3. The Snake Who Bore Witness for a Maiden
• 4. The Sister of Muntifiuri
• 5. The Story About Ciccu
• 6. Count Piro
• 7. Beautiful Angiola
• 8. Betta Pilusa
• 9. Lignu di Scupa
• 10. Don Giovanni di la Fortuna
• 11. Federico and Epomata
• 12. The Fearless Young Man
• 13. Caruseddu
• 14. How Saint Joseph Helped a Young Man Win the Daughter of a King
• 15. The Courageous Maiden
• 16. The Humiliated Princess
• 17. Rags and Leaves
• 18. The Brave Shoemaker
• 19. Prince Scursuni
• 20. Maria and Her Brother
• 21. Autumunti and Paccaredda
• 22. Giufà
• 23. The Magic Cane, The Gold Donkey, and The Little Stick That Hits
• 24. The Singing Bagpipe
• 25. Giovanni and Katerina
• 26. The Shepherd Who Made the Princess Laugh
• 27. Beautiful Cardia
• 28. Quaddaruni and His Sister
• 29. The Daughter of the Sun
• 30. Paperarello
• 31. The Lion, Horse, and Fox
• 32. Giuseppinu
• 33. Crivòliu
• 34. Saint Onirià
• 35. The Abbot Who Rescued the Princess
• 36. Fata Morgana
• 37. The Pig King
• 38. The Courageous Prince and His Many Adventures
• 39. The King Who Wanted a Beautiful Wife
• 40. Ferrazzanu
• 41. Sciauranciovi
• 42. Cacciaturino
• 43. The Virgin Mary’s Child
• 44. The Story About Ohmy
• 45. The Daughter of Prince Cirimimminu
• 46. The Godchild of Saint Francis of Paula
• 47. The Story About The Merchant’s Son Peppino
• 48. Spadònia
• 49. King Cardiddu
• 50. The Princess and King Chicchereddu
• Notes
• Bibliography