"Stretto il viuolo, stretta la via;
Dite la vostra, ch'io detto la mia."
(Narrow the path, narrow the way; tell yours, for I have told mine.) The most common form of the above Tuscan ending is:—
"Stretta è la foglia è larga è la via,
Dite la vostra chè ho detto la mia."
(Narrow is the leaf, broad is the way, etc.) This same ending is also found in Rome.[12] These endings have been omitted in the present work as they do not constitute an integral part of the story, and are often left off by the narrators themselves. The narrative is usually given in the present tense, and in most of the collections is animated and dramatic. Very primitive expedients are employed to indicate the lapse of time, either the verb indicating the action is repeated, as, "he walked, and walked, and walked," a proceeding not unknown to our own stories, or such expressions as the following are used: Cuntu 'un porta tempu, or lu cuntu 'un metti tempu, or 'Ntra li cunti nun cc'è tempu, which are all equivalent to, "The story takes no note of time." These Sicilian expressions are replaced in Tuscany by the similar one: Il tempo delle novelle passa presto ("Time passes quickly in stories"). Sometimes the narrator will bring himself or herself into the story in a very naive manner; as, for example, when a name is wanted. So in telling a Sicilian story which is another version of "The Fair Angiola" given in our text, the narrator, Gna Sabbedda, continues: "The old woman met her once, and said: 'Here, little girl, whose daughter are you?' 'Gna Sabbedda's', for example; I mention myself, but, however, I was not there."[13]
If we turn our attention now to the contents of our stories we shall find that they do not differ materially from those of the rest of Europe, and the same story is found, with trifling variations, all over Italy.[14] There is but little local coloring in the fairy tales, and they are chiefly interesting for purposes of comparison. We have given in our text such a copious selection from all parts of the country that the reader can easily compare them for himself with the tales of other lands in their more general features. If they are not strikingly original they will still, we trust, be found interesting variations of familiar themes; and we shall perhaps deem less strange to us a people whose children are still amused with the same tales as our own.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
Archivio per lo Studio delle Tradizioni popolari. Rivista trimestrale diretta da G. Pitrè e S. Salomone-Marino. Palermo, 1882-1885. 8vo.
The following popular tales have been published in the Archivio: Novelle popolari toscane, edited by G. Pitrè, vol. I. pp. 35-69, 183-205, 520-540; vol. II. pp. 157-172. La Storia del Re Crin, collected by A. Arietti [Piedmont], vol. I. pp. 424-429. Cuntu di lu Ciropiddhu, novellina popolare messinese, collected by T. Cannizzaro, vol. I. pp. 518-519. Novelle popolari sarde, collected by P. E. Guarnerio, vol. II. pp. 19-38, 185-206, 481-502; vol. III. pp. 233-240. La Cenerentola a Parma e a Camerino, collected by Caterina Pigorini-Beri, vol. II. pp. 45-58. Fiabe popolari crennesi [provincia di Milano], collected by V. Imbriani, vol. II. pp. 73-81. Fiaba veneziana [= Pitrè, xxxix.], collected by Cristoforo Pasqualigo, vol. II. pp. 353-358. Il Re Porco, novellina popolare marchigiana, collected by Miss R. H. Busk, vol. II. pp. 403-409. Tre novellini pugliesi di Cerignola, collected by N. Zingarelli, vol. III. pp. 65-72. La Bona Fia, fiaba veneziana, collected by A. Dalmedico, vol. III. pp. 73-74. Tradizioni popolari abruzzesi, Novelle, collected by G. Finamore, vol. III. pp. 359-372, 331-350. I Tre Maghi ovverosia Il Merlo Bianco, novella popolare montalese, collected by G. Nerucci, vol. III. pp. 373-388, 551-568.