“The Serpent." Stories from the Pentamerone, by Giambattista Basile; selected and edited by E.F. Strange, London: Macmillan; 1911, pp. 110-121.

Tale Summary

Once upon a time, there was a poor gardener’s wife named Sapatella who longed for a son. When her husband, named Cola Matteo, one day brought home a bundle of sticks and they found a little snake inside, she despaired that even snakes had children, but not her. The snake spoke, telling her to take him as her child, and she did. When he grew older, he wanted to marry the princess, and told his father to go to the King to ask for her hand. Cola Matteo did this, delivered his message and said:

“The messenger should not be beaten more

Than are the sands upon the shore!”

The King laughed, and promised his permission if the snake could turn all the fruit in his orchard into gold. The serpent, upon hearing this, told his father to gather all of the fruit stones he could find and plant them overnight in the orchard. He did this, and immediately they sprung up into golden fruit trees. The King, pleased, said that the snake must also make the ground and walls of the orchard into precious stones. Cola Matteo collected as much broken crockery as he could find, under the orders of the snake, and threw them into the orchard, where they magically completed the task. The King, again pleased, said that the serpent must turn the castle into gold, and so the snake instructed his father to gather herbs and rub them on the base of the palace. The castle turned into gold, and the king was forced to give up Grannonia, his daughter. When the serpent arrived, everyone except the princess ran and hid out of fear. He took her in his arms, kissed her, and brought her into a room where he shed his snake skin to reveal a handsome youth. The King saw this through the keyhole, and broke in to burn the skin in the fire. The young man then turned into a dove, cutting himself on the window glass as he made an escape. Distraught, the princess snuck out that night to search for him when she came across a fox who offered his company. They slept together in the forest, and when they woke, listened to birdsong. The fox told Grannonia they were talking about what had happened to the King’s son who had been cursed by an ogress to spend seven years as a serpent until he fell in love with a King’s daughter, but also spoke of his head-wound, which was severe. The fox told the girl the only cure was to anoint it with the blood of these birds, and so they waited together for nightfall and the fox then killed them all and put the blood in a bottle. He then told Grannonia the blood was useless unless mixed with his own, and made to run away, but Grannonia lured him back with flattery. She then beat him with a stick and took his blood. When she reached the King of that land, he agreed to give her his son as a husband if he succeeded in curing her. After the blood anointment, the prince was fully healed, and his father said that he had promised him to the maiden who had cured him. The serpent refused, saying that he was already in love, and would never break his devotion to the fair maiden whom he was taken with. Grannonia stepped out of the shadows, and both were joyous. They invited her parents and threw a grand wedding, during which they all made fun of the fox.