"The Three Fairies" is an Italian literary

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical ...

written by

Giambattista Basile Giambattista Basile (February 1566 – February 1632) was an Italian poet, courtier, and fairy tale collector. His collections include the oldest recorded forms of many well-known (and more obscure) European fairy tales. He is chiefly remembere ...

in his 1634 work, the ''

Pentamerone The ''Pentamerone'', subtitled ''Lo cunto de li cunti'' ("The Tale of Tales"), is a seventeenth-century Neapolitan fairy tale collection by Italian poet and courtier Giambattista Basile. Background The stories in the ''Pentamerone'' were collec ...

''. It is Aarne–Thompson tale 480, the kind and the unkind girls, and appears to stem from an oral source.Jack Zipes, ''The Great Fairy Tale Tradition: From Straparola and Basile to the Brothers Grimm'', p. 543, Others of this type include "

Diamonds and Toads Diamonds and Toads or Toads and Diamonds is a French fairy tale by Charles Perrault, and titled by him "Les Fées" or "The Fairies". Andrew Lang included it in ''The Blue Fairy Book''. It was illustrated by Laura Valentine in ''Aunt Louisa's nur ...

", "''

Shita-kiri Suzume , translated literally into "Tongue-Cut Sparrow", is a traditional Japanese fable telling of a kind old man, his avaricious wife and an injured sparrow. The story explores the effects of greed, friendship and jealousy on the characters. Andrew L ...

''", "

Mother Hulda "Frau Holle" ( ; also known as "Mother Holle", "Mother Hulda" or "Old Mother Frost") is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm in ''Children's and Household Tales'' in 1812 (KHM 24). It is of Aarne-Thompson type 480. Frau Holle (als ...

", "

The Three Heads in the Well The Three Heads in the Well is a fairy tale collected by Joseph Jacobs in ''English Fairy Tales''. It is Aarne–Thompson tale 480, the kind and the unkind girls. Others of this type include ''Shita-kiri Suzume'', ''Diamonds and Toads'', '' Mo ...

", " Father Frost", "

The Three Little Men in the Wood "The Three Little Men in the Wood" or "The Three Little Gnomes in the Forest" (german: Die drei Männlein im Walde) is a German fairy tale collected in 1812 by the Brothers Grimm in ''Grimm's Fairy Tales'' (KHM 13). Andrew Lang included it in '' Th ...

", "

The Enchanted Wreath The Enchanted Wreath is a Scandinavian fairy tale, collected in Benjamin Thorpe in his ''Yule-Tide Stories: A Collection of Scandinavian and North German Popular Tales and Traditions''. Andrew Lang adapted a variant of it for ''The Orange Fairy B ...

", "

The Old Witch The Old Witch is an English fairy tale collected by Joseph Jacobs in his 1894 book, ''More English Fairy Tales''. It is also included within '' A Book of Witches'' by Ruth Manning-Sanders and ''A Book of British Fairy Tales'' by Alan Garner. It i ...

" and "

The Two Caskets The Two Caskets is a Scandinavian fairy tale included by Benjamin Thorpe in his ''Yule-Tide Stories: A Collection of Scandinavian and North German Popular Tales and Traditions''. Andrew Lang included it in '' The Orange Fairy Book''. It is Aar ...

". Another literary variant is " Aurore and Aimée". In this tale, like many others of this type, the heroine descends into another world where she is tested.

Synopsis

An envious widow, Caradonia, had an ugly daughter, Grannizia. She married a rich landowner with a lovely daughter, Cicella, and in her envy tormented her stepdaughter, dressing her badly, giving her poor food, and making her work. One day, Cicella dropped her basket over a cliff. She saw, below, a hideous

ogre An ogre ( feminine: ogress) is a legendary monster depicted as a large, hideous, man-like being that eats ordinary human beings, especially infants and children. Ogres frequently feature in mythology, folklore, and fiction throughout the wor ...

and politely asked him to help her. He said if she climbed, she would get it. She climbed down and found three beautiful

fairies A fairy (also fay, fae, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Celtic, Slavic, Germanic, English, and French folklore), a form of spirit, o ...

at the bottom of the cliff. She was polite with them, combing their hair and claiming to find pearls and rubies along with lice. They took her to their castle and showed her their treasures; she admired them but was not bedazzled. Finally, they showed her rich clothing and asked her to choose a dress; she chose a cheap one. They asked her how she wanted to leave, and she said the stable door was good enough for her. They gave her a splendid gown, dressed her hair, and brought her to a golden door, telling her to look up when she went through it. A star fell on her forehead. Grannizia went to the same place and was rude, complaining of the lice in their hair. They brought her to the wardrobe, and she grabbed the fanciest dress. They did not give it to her, but sent her out the stable door, where a donkey's testicle fell on her forehead. Her furious mother took Cicella's clothing and gave it to Grannizia, and sent Cicella to tend pigs. There, a nobleman, Cuosemo, saw her and asked her stepmother for leave to marry her. Caradonia agreed, sealed up Cicella in a barrel, and presented Grannizia as the bride instead. After the wedding night, he went back to the house, and a tabby cat told him that Cicella was in the barrel. He let her out, put Grannizia in her place, and fled with her. Caradonia returned with wood, created a fire, and boiled water to scald Cicella to death. She poured it in the barrel. Grannizia died, and Caradonia opened the barrel, saw her own daughter, and drowned herself in the well.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Three Fairies, The Italian fairy tales Fictional fairies and sprites Fiction about suicide Fictional suicides ATU 460-499