-
6. The Cinderella Cat: Sixth Entertainment of the First Day
- Wayne State University Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
Zezolla, incited by her teacher to kill her stepmother, believes that she will be held dear for having helped the teacher to marry her father; instead she ends up in the kitchen. But due to the power of some fairies, after numerous adventures she wins a king for her husband. The audience looked like statues as they listened to the tale of the flea, and they gave a certificate of asininity to the boorish king, who had exposed his own flesh and blood and the succession of his state to such great risks, and all for a piddling matter. Once they had all corked their mouths, Antonella uncorked hers in the manner that follows: “In the sea of malice, envy always finds herself with a hernia1 in the place of a bladder, and where she expects to see another drown, she finds herself either underwater or dashed against a reef, just as happened to certain envious girls that I have in mind to tell you about. “You should know, then, that there once was a widowed prince who had a daughter so dear to him that he had eyes for no one else. He had taken on a first-rate sewing teacher for her, who taught her how to do the chain-stitch, openwork, fringes, and the hem-stitch, and showed her more affection than words can express. But the father had just remarried; he had taken a fiery, wicked, and demonic thing for his wife, and her stepdaughter soon began to 6 The Cinderella Cat Sixth Entertainment of the First Day 83 AT 510A: Cinderella. Basile’s tale is the earliest literary version of Cinderella in Europe, preceding Perrault’s “Cendrillon” (1697) by over sixty years. Penzer comments on two motifs that do not commonly appear in other versions: “The unusual incident of Cennerentola murdering her mother-in-law by letting the lid of a chest fall on her neck reminds us of Grimm 47 [‘The Juniper Tree’], where the wicked step-mother shuts the lid of the apple-chest on the little boy as he stoops to get an apple.” The other motif, “the stopping of the ship,” appears also in tale 2.8, and in other folktales (Penzer 1:62). See also Grimm 21, Gonzenbach 32, Imbriani 11 and 21, Pitrè, Fiabe, nov. e racc. sic. 42 and 56, and Marie-Catherine d’Aulnoy, “Finette Cendron” (in Zipes, Beauties, Beasts and Enchantment). 1. “It was popular belief that hernias, and especially strangulated hernias, were caused by envy, since one can ‘die’ from both” (Guarini and Burani 81). make this accursed woman’s stomach turn. She gave the girl sour looks, made awful faces at her, and knitted her eyebrows in such a frightful manner that the poor little thing was always complaining to the teacher of her stepmother ’s ill treatment, saying, ‘Oh, God, couldn’t you be my little mommy, you who give me so many smooches and squeezes?’ “She chanted this so incessantly that she planted a wasp in the teacher’s ear, and one day, blinded by evil spirits, the teacher said to her, ‘If you follow the advice of this madcap, I’ll become your mother and you’ll be as dear to me as the pupils of these eyes.’ She was about to go on speaking when Zezolla (for that was the girl’s name) said, ‘Forgive me if I take the words out of your mouth. I know you love me dearly, so mum’s the word, and sufficit; teach me the trade, for I’m new in town; you write and I’ll sign.’ ‘All right, then,’ replied the teacher, ‘listen carefully; keep your ears open and your bread will come out as white as flowers. As soon as your father leaves, tell your stepmother you want one of those old dresses in the big chest in the storeroom so that you can save the one you’re wearing. Since she likes to see you all patched up in rags, she’ll open the chest and say, “Hold the lid up.” And as you’re holding it while she rummages around inside, let it bang shut, and she’ll break her neck. Once that’s done, you know that your father would coin counterfeit money to make you happy, so when he caresses you, beg him to take me for his wife and, lucky you, you’ll become the mistress of my life.’ “After Zezolla heard this...