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TRANSCRIPT
ZEZOLLA,
THE CAT CINDERELLA
An Italian Fairytale
Story by Giambattista Basile
Translated by John Edward Taylor
Adapted by Rachel Louise Lawrence
BlackdownPublications
This revised edition of Giambattista Basile’s “La gatta Cenerentola” from ‘Lo Cunti de li Cunto’ (1634) and English translation by John Edward Taylor from ‘The Pentamerone’ (1850) first published in 2014 by Blackdown Publications BlackdownPublications Address 83 Blackdown View, Ilminster, Somerset TA19 0BD Email [email protected] Copyright © Rachel Louise Lawrence 2014 Illustration on front cover by Eleanor Abbott (1920) The rights of Rachel Louise Lawrence to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior permission of the author. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. Folklore Type: ATU-510A (Persecuted Heroine)
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Folktale
CONTENTS
PART I: THE TALE OF ZEZOLLA
Chapter I – Changes
PART II: THE TALE OF CENERENTOLA
Chapter II – The Wish Tree
Chapter III – The King’s Feast
PART III: THE FINAL RESOLUTION
Chapter IV – The Shoe-Test
PART I: THE TALE OF ZEZOLLA
Chapter I – Changes
In Italy, there once lived a Prince, who was a widower but who
had a daughter, so dear to him that he saw with no other eyes
than hers. He kept a governess for her, who taught her chain-
work and knitting, and to make point-lace, and showed her such
affection as no words can tell.
But, after a time, the Prince married again. She was a jaded
wife who soon conceived a violent dislike of her stepdaughter. All
day long she terrorised the poor child, who bewailed to her
governess the bad treatment she received from her stepmother,
saying to her many a time, “Oh, that you had been my mother,
you who shows me such kindness and love.”
Zezolla, for that was the name of the young Lady, went on
thus, sighing and singing to this tune so often that, at last, her
governess said to her one day, “If you will do as this foolish head
of mine advises I shall be mother to you, and you will be as dear
to me as the apple of my eye.”
She was going to say more, when Zezolla said, “Pardon me
if I stop the word upon your tongue. I know you wish me well,
therefore, show me the way to get out of my trouble; write and I
will subscribe.”
“Well, then,” answered Carmosina, her governess, “open
your ears and listen, and you will get bread as white as the
flowers. When your father goes out, ask your stepmother to give
you one of the old dresses that are in the large chest in the closet,
in order to save the one you are wearing. Then she, who will like
most of all things to see you in rags and tatters, will open the
chest and say to you, ‘Hold up the lid’, and whilst you are holding
it up, and she is rummaging about inside, let it fall with a bang, so
as to break her neck. When this is done, you know well enough
that your father would even coin false money to please you, so
entreat him when he is caressing you to marry me and make me
his Princess. Then - bless your stars! - you shall be the mistress of
my life.”
When Zezolla heard this, every hour seemed a thousand
years to her until she had done all Carmosina had advised.
As soon as the mourning for her stepmother’s death was
ended, Zezolla began to feel her father’s pulse, and beg him to
marry Carmosina. At first, the Prince took it as a joke, but Zezolla
went on shooting so long past the mark that at length she hit it,
and he gave way to her entreaties. So he married Carmosina, and
gave a great feast at the wedding.
Now, while the young folks danced, Zezolla stood at the
window of her house and a dove came flying and perched upon a
wall, and said to her, “Whenever you need anything send your
request to the Dove of the Fairies in the Island of Sardinia, the
land of your mother, and you will instantly have what you wish.”
For the five or six days following the wedding, Carmosina,
as her new stepmother, overwhelmed Zezolla with caresses,
seating her at the best place at table, giving her the choicest
morsels to eat, and clothing her in the richest apparel. But before
long, forgetting entirely the good service she had received,
Carmosina began to bring forward six daughters of her own,
whom she had kept concealed until then; and she praised them
so much, and worked on her husband in such a fashion, that his
stepdaughters at last won his good graces and he let thoughts of
his own daughter slip out of his heart. In short, it fared so ill for
Zezolla – bad today and worse tomorrow – that, at last, she was
brought down from her royal chamber to the kitchen, from the
canopy of state to the hearth, from her splendid apparel of silks
and gold to dishclouts, from the sceptre to the spit. And not only
was her condition changed, but even her name; for, instead of
Zezolla, she was now called Cenerentola.