You may well reap the benefit, Edmund, but are you truly prepared to be despised within the department?
Wendell, I'd like full and docile co-operation on every topic...
This is the city of angels — and you haven't got any wings.
Costanza / Costanzo is an Italian literary
fairy taleA fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...
written by
Giovanni Francesco StraparolaGiovanni Francesco "Gianfrancesco" Straparola was an Italian writer and fairy tale collector from Caravaggio, Italy. He has been termed the progenitor of the literary form of the fairy tale in Europe...
in
The Facetious Nights of Straparola]The Facetious Nights of Straparola , also known as The Nights of Straparola, is a two-volume collection of 75 stories by Italian author and fairy-tale collector Giovanni Francesco Straparola...
.
Synopsis
A king married to have heirs, and his wife bore three daughters. In time, he realized that his wife had come to an age where she would have no more children, and his three daughters were ready for marriage. He married them off and split his kingdom between them, keeping only enough land to support his court. A few years later, the queen gave birth to a fourth daughter, Costanza. Costanza was raised well and became a gracious, educated and accomplished princess. When she was old enough to marry, they proposed that she marry the son of a Marquis, because her dowry would not be enough for a match equal to her birth. Costanza refused to marry below her station, dressed as a man, and left, calling herself Costanzo. She entered a king's service, where the queen desired her as a lover, but Costanza rejected her. The king had long wished to have as a captive one of the
satyrIn Greek mythology, satyrs are a troop of male companions of Pan and Dionysus — "satyresses" were a late invention of poets — that roamed the woods and mountains. In myths they are often associated with pipe-playing....
s that did great damage in his land; the queen suggested to him that so good a servant as Costanza could catch one. The king proposed it to Costanza, who agreed to please him. She asked for a large vessel, wine, and bread. In the woods, she filled the vessel with the wine and bread and climbed a tree. The satyrs smelled it, ate the bread, and fell asleep. Costanza tied up one and carried him off. On the way back, the satyr woke and began to laugh: at a funeral of a child, at a hanging, at a crowd that hailed her as "Costanzo", and at being presented to the king.
The king tried to make the satyr talk. The queen said that Costanzo could certainly make it talk. Costanzo tried to bribe it with food, then threatened it with hunger, and finally promised to free it. It ate and talked. It told that at the funeral, the apparent father was not the father, but the priest was; at the hanging, the crowd was filled with officials who pilfered far more money than the thief to be hanged; and that it would explain the rest the next day. The next day, it explained that they were hailing her by the wrong name, and that the king was deluded into believing his wife's maidens were women, when they were disguised men. The king had his queen and her disguised lovers burned, and married Costanzo.
Variants
The woman who disguises herself as a man is also found in
Giambattista BasileGiambattista Basile was an Italian poet, courtier, and fairy tale collector.- Biography :Born to a Neapolitan middle-class family, Basile was, during his career, a courtier and soldier to various Italian princes, including the doge of Venice. According to Benedetto Croce he was born in 1575, while...
's
The Three CrownsThe Three Crowns is an Italian literary fairy tale written by Giambattista Basile in his 1634 work, the Pentamerone.-Synopsis:A childless king heard a voice asking him whether he would rather have a daughter who would flee him or a son who would destroy him...
. A later French variant,
Belle-Belle ou Le Chevalier FortunéBelle-Belle ou Le Chevalier Fortuné is a French literary fairy tale, written by Madame d'Aulnoy.-Plot summary:A king, driven from his capital by an emperor, was forming an army and demanded that one person from every noble household become a soldier or, face a heavy fine. An impoverished nobleman,...
by
Madame d'AulnoyMarie-Catherine Le Jumel de Barneville, Baroness d'Aulnoy , also known as Countess d'Aulnoy, was a French writer known for her fairy tales...
, shows more influence from Straparola.
The woman disguised as a man is found in folk fairy tales as well, such as
Vasilisa The Priest’s DaughterVasilisa The Priest's Daughter is a Russian fairy tale collected by Aleksandr Afanasyev in Narodnye russkie skazki.-Synopsis:...
.