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Marchetta is abducted by the wind and carried off to the house of an ogress, from whom, after various events, she receives a slap. She departs, dressed as a man, and ends up in the house of a king, where the queen falls in love with her and, resentful that her love is not returned, accuses her in front of her husband of attempting to disgrace her. Marchetta is condemned to hang, but due to the power of a ring given to her by the ogress she is freed, and when her accuser is killed she becomes queen. Popa’s tale gave them extreme pleasure, and there was no one who did not savor Porziella’s good fortune. But there was also no one who envied her a fate that had been bought with so much hardship, since in order to reach the status of royalty she had almost lost her status as a person. When Antonella saw that Porziella’s troubles had darkened the hearts of the prince and his wife, she wished to lift their spirits a little and began to speak in this manner: “Truth, my lords, always rises to the surface like oil, and a lie is a fire that cannot remain hidden; indeed, it is a modern-day musket that kills the person shooting it,1 and it is not without reason that we call those who are not faithful to their words liars, for they burn2 and scorch not only all the virtues and goodness they carry inside their breasts but the lie itself where these words are preserved, as I will make you confess upon hearing the following tale. 6 The Three Crowns Sixth Entertainment of the Fourth Day 336 Penzer discusses the motifs of longing for a child (also found in tales 1.2, 1.9, and 2.5), escaping one’s fate, a woman disguised as a man, and the forbidden door. The last motif often derives from a ritual or tribal taboo, and the imposer of the taboo is typically either a Bluebeard type, in which case the ending is most likely tragic, or a generic magic power, in which case the fatal curiosity may result in hardship but ultimately leads to a happy ending (2:52). For similar motifs, see Straparola 4.1 (“Costanza and Costanzo”); Marie-Catherine d’Aulnoy, “Belle-belle; or, “The Chevalier Fortuné”; Henriette Julie de Murat, “The Savage” (the last two in The Great Fairy Tale Tradition), Gonzenbach 9; and Pitrè, Fiabe, nov. e racc. sic. 75. 1. “Allusion to the shoddy way that ‘modern’ harquebuses, or rifles, were constructed” (Croce 395). Basile served time as a soldier on Crete and thus had firsthand experience with firearms. 2. Wordplay: busciardo (liar) vs. abruscia (burn). “There once was a king, the king of Shaken Valley, who since he could not have children would say at every hour of the day and wherever he happened to be, ‘O heavens, send me an heir to my state so that my house will not be left desolate!’ And on one of the occasions that he was thus lamenting he found himself in a garden, and as he uttered the usual words with loud cries, he heard a voice issue from inside the branches, which said, King, which do you prefer? A daughter who flees from you, Or a son who destroys you? “The king was confused by this proposal, and could not decide how to answer. Thinking that he would consult the wise men of his court, he immediately went off to his chambers, and when he had summoned his counselors he ordered them to discuss the matter. One answered that he should set greater store by his honor than by his life; another that he should value his life more, since it was an intrinsic good, whereas honor was extrinsic and therefore to be considered of lesser value; one said that the price of losing life was small, since it is water that passes, and so too for worldly goods, which are the columns of life set on the glass wheel of fortune, whereas honor, which is lasting and leaves tracks of fame and signs of glory, must be guarded jealously and taken care of lovingly; another argued that life, by which the species is preserved, and worldly goods, by which the greatness of one’s house is maintained, must be considered dearer than honor, since honor is an opinion that derives from virtue, and losing a...

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