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A pregnant woman eats some parsley from an ogress’s garden, is caught in the act, and promises the ogress the offspring she is about to bear. She gives birth to Petrosinella, and the ogress takes her and locks her in a tower. A prince steals her away and with the help of three acorns they are able to flee from the danger of the ogress, and after Petrosinella is brought to her lover’s house she becomes a princess. “My desire to keep the princess happy is so great that all last night, when not a thing could be heard high or low, I did nothing but rummage in the old chests of my mind and search all the closets of my memory, choosing from among the things that the good soul of madam Chiarella Vusciolo, my uncle’s grandmother, used to tell—may she rest in God’s glory, and to your health!— the tales that seemed most appropriate to distribute to you one a day, those that, if I haven’t put my eyes on backward, I imagine will please you. And if they prove not to be squadrons that send the sorrows of your heart to certain defeat, they will at least be trumpets that give these fellow storytellers of mine a wake-up call to enter the battlefield with more transport than my poor forces allow me, so that the riches of their minds may compensate for the lackings of my own words. “There once was a pregnant woman named Pascadozia who, while sitting at a window that overlooked an ogress’s garden, noticed a lovely bed of parsley , for which she got such a craving that she felt she would faint. And so, not being able to resist, she kept close watch until the ogress went out, and then she picked a handful of it. But after the ogress came back home and wanted to make a sauce, she realized that a sickle had been at work and said, ‘May my neck snap if I don’t collar this thief and make him repent, so that he may 1 Petrosinella First Entertainment of the Second Day 147 AT 310: The Maiden in the Tower, and AT 313: The Girl as Helper in the Hero’s Flight. Croce mentions versions from Pitrè (Fiabe, nov. e racc. siciliani 20, “The Old Woman in the Garden,” as well as 13 and 18) and Imbriani (16, “Prezzemolina”). Readers will also, of course, recognize the tale as a predecessor of Grimm 12, “Rapunzel.” A variant closer to Basile’s time can be found in Charlotte -Rose Caumont de la Force’s “Persinette” (in Zipes, ed., The Great Fairy Tale Tradition). learn to eat from his own cutting board and not to dip his spoon into the pot of others.’ “But the poor pregnant woman continued to go down to the garden, until one morning she was caught by the ogress who, all angry and livid, said to her, ‘I’ve got you, you swindling thief! What, you think you pay rent on this garden, so that you can come with so little discretion and pinch my herbs? On my word, I’ll send you to Rome for your penance!’1 The unfortunate Pascadozia started to apologize, explaining that it wasn’t because she was a glutton or ravenous that the demon had blinded her and made her commit this sin, but because she was pregnant and afraid that the face of her newborn would be sown with parsley; in fact, the ogress should be grateful that Pascadozia hadn’t sent her a sty or two.2 ‘The bride wants more than just words!’ answered the ogress. ‘This chatter is no bait for me! You’re finished with the job of life if you don’t promise to give me the baby you’re going to have, and it matters not whether it’s a boy or a girl.’ To escape the dangerous situation in which she found herself, poor Pascadozia swore to this with one hand on the other, and the ogress let her go free. “When it came time to give birth Pascadozia bore a daughter so beautiful that she was a joy to behold, and she named her Petrosinella on account of the lovely little clump of parsley on her chest.3 Petrosinella grew a span every day, and when she was seven her mother sent her to a teacher. And whenever she was on...

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