Ancilotto, King of Provino is an Italian literary fairy tale written by Giovanni Francesco Straparola in The Facetious Nights of Straparola.Giovanni Francesco Straparola, The Facetious Nights of Straparola, "Ancilotto, King of Provino "
It is Aarne-Thompson-Uther type 707: "The Three Golden Children" or "the dancing water, the singing apple, and the speaking bird". It is the oldest known variant of this tale, and influenced Madame d'Aulnoy's Princess Belle-Etoile. A variant of this tale appears in Antoine Galland's Arabian Nights collection, but no Arab manuscript exists, and Galland, reporting an oral source, may also have been influenced by this version. It spread and eventually appeared as The Three Little Birds in the Brothers Grimm's collection.Jack Zipes, The Great Fairy Tale Tradition: From Straparola and Basile to the Brothers Grimm, p 220, .
Synopsis Ancilotto, the king, heard three sisters talking: Brunora, the eldest sister, said if she married the king's majordomo, she could give the entire court a drink from one glass of water; Lionella, the second, said if she married the king's chamberlain, she could turn one spindle of linen to give fine shifts to the entire court; Chiaretta, the youngest said if she married the king, she would give him triplets who would have fine hair with gold, a gold necklace, and a star on their forehead. The king married them off as they had said. The Queen mother was angry to have such a daughter-in-law. The king had to leave, and while he was gone, Chiaretta gave birth to two sons and a daughter, as she had described. Three black puppies with white stars had been born, and Chiaretta's sisters brought them to the queen. The queen substituted them for the babies, and the babies were put in a box and thrown into the river. A miller, Marmiato, found them. His wife, Gordiana, named the boys Acquirino and Fluvio, and the girl Serena.
Ancilotto was grief-stricken by the story, but when the Queen mother, the midwife, and the queen's sisters all agreed that Chiaretta had given birth to the puppies, he ordered her kept in the dungeon.
Gordiana gave birth to a son, named Borghino. Marmiato and Gordiana learned that if they cut the children's hair, gems fell out of it, and they lived prosperously; but when the children grew up, they learned that they were foundlings and set out. They found Ancilotto's land and met him; he told his mother that he thought they were the children Chiaretta had borne him.
The Queen mother sent the midwife after them, and she tricked Serena into asking for the dancing water. Acquirino and Fluvio went after it; a dove warned them of the danger and then filled up a vial for them. Ancilotto saw them again, and the Queen mother heard of their survival. The midwife tricked Serena into asking for the singing apple. Acquirino and Fluvio went after it, and on the way, their host one night warned them of the danger, and then gave them a robe of mirrors. This would trick the monster that guarded it, when it saw its own reflection. Fluvio used it and picked the apple. Ancilotto saw them again, and the queen learned they had survived. The midwife tricked Serena into asking for a beautiful green bird that could speak words of wisdom day and night, and when Acquirino and Fluvio found the garden with the bird, they looked at marble statues in it, and were turned into statues themselves.
Serena awaited them anxiously and finally set out after them. She reached the garden, snuck up on the bird, and caught it. It begged for its freedom, and showed her how to turn her brothers back to life. Serena said she would free it only if it brought them to their mother and father.
They went to Ancilotto's palace for dinner and brought the water, apple, and bird. The king and guests marveled at the water and apple, and the bird asked what punishment should be imposed on those who tried to kill two brothers and a sister. The queen mother said death by burning, and everyone agreed. The bird told the story of Chiaretta's children; the king freed her and had his mother, her sisters, and the midwife burned.
Translations An earlier Spanish translation was made in the 16th century by Francisco Truchado, as Honesto y agradable Entretenimiento de Damas y Galanes."Noche Septima, Fabula quarta". Truchado, Francisco. Segunda Parte del Honesto y agradable Entretenimiento de Damas y Galanes. Pamplona: 1612. pp. 22-38. In Truchado's version, published as the fourth story of the seventh night, the king's name is Archiles, the three sisters are daughters of a "nigromántico".Truchado, Francisco; Senn, Doris. "Le piacevoli Notti (1550/53) von Giovan Francesco Straparola, ihre italienischen Editionen und die spanische Übersetzung Honesto y agradable Entretenimiento de Damas y Galanes (1569/81)". In: Fabula 34, no. 1-2 (1993): 43-65. https://doi.org/10.1515/fabl.1993.34.1-2.45Marcello, Elena E. "Sbre la traducción española de "Le piacevoli notti" de G.F. Straparola: antígrafo, configuración de la obra y autocensura en Francisco Truchado". In: Hispanista Escandinava, Nº. 2, 2013, págs. 48-65. Truchado, Francisco. Honesto y agradable Entretenimiento de Damas y Galanes. Edizione, introduzione e note a cura di Marco Federici. Roma: Edizioni Nuova Cultura, 2014. pp. 445-470. .
Analysis The story is considered to be the oldest literary attestation of tale type ATU 707 "The Three Golden Children", and the oldest Italian variant of the tale type.
Late 19th century scholarship (Giuseppe Pitrè, Francis Hindes Groome) commented on the presence of the tale type in Italy, from Sicily to the Alps.Groome, Francis Hindes (1899). "No. 18—The Golden Children". Gypsy folk-tales. London: Hurst and Blackett. pp. 71–72 (footnote). Henry Charles Coote proposed an Eastern origin for the tale, which later migrated to Italy and was integrated into the Italian oral tradition.Coote, Henry Charles. "Folk-Lore The Source of some of M. Galland's Tales". In: The Folk-Lore Record. Vol. III. Part. II. London: The Folk-Lore Society. 1881. pp. 178–191.
The "Istituto centrale per i beni sonori ed audiovisivi" ("Central Institute of Sound and Audiovisual Heritage") promoted research and registration throughout the Italian territory between the years 1968–1969 and 1972. In 1975 the Institute published a catalog edited by Alberto Maria Cirese and Liliana Serafini including 55 variants of the ATU 707 type, under the banner I tre figli dai capelli d'oro ("The Three Children with Golden Hair").
Regional tales By Giuseppe Pitrè Italian folklorist of Sicilian origin, Giuseppe Pitrè collected at least five variants in his book Fiabe Novelle e Racconti Popolari Siciliani, Vol. 1 (1875).As referenced by Vittorio Imbrianni. Imbriani, Vittorio. La Novellaja Fiorentina. Italia, Florence: Coi tipi di F. Vigo. 1887. p. 97. His work continued in the supplement publication of Curiosità popolari tradizionali, which recorded a variant from Lazio (Gli tre figli);Targioni, Tozzetti, G. "Saggio di Novelline, Canti ed Usanze popolari della Ciociaria". In: Curiosità popolari tradizionali. Vol X. Palermo: Libreria Internazionale. 1891. pp. 10–13. and a variant from Sardinia (Is tres sorris; English: "The three sisters").Mango, Francesco. "Novelline popolari Sarde". In: Curiosità popolari tradizionali. Vol IX. Palermo: Libreria Internazionale. 1890. pp. 62–64, 125–127.
By Gherardo Nerucci Italian lawyer collected an Italian variant titled El canto e 'l sono della Sara Sybilla ("The Sing-Song of Sybilla Sara"). In this tale, the elder sister wishes to marry the king's cook and promises to bake bread in a single day to feed the court for a whole year; the middle sister wishes to marry the king's vintner and promises to give a single wine cup to the whole court; the youngest promises to bear two boys with a golden chain around the neck and a girl with a star on the front. Years later, the siblings quest for an indescribable MacGuffin, obtained from a supernatural old woman, which also reveals the whole plot at the end of the tale.Nerucci, Gherardo. Sessanta novelle popolari montalesi: circondario di Pistoia. Italy, Florence: Successori Le Monnier. 1880. pp. 195–205.Imbriani, Vittorio. La Novellaja Fiorentina. Italia, Florence: Coi tipi di F. Vigo. 1887. pp. 125–136. British author translated the tale as The Sound and Song of the Lovely Sibyl, and sourced it from Tuscany. In her translation, the third sister promises to bear three children (two boys and a girl) with a knight's red cross on their chests, and the bird reappears as the truth-teller to the King.Anderton, Isabella Mary. Tuscan folk-lore and sketches, together with some other papers. London: A. Fairbairns, 1905. pp. 55–64.
Nerucci compiled another variant titled I figlioli della campagnola ("The Children of the Peasant Woman"), in his Sessanta novelle popolari montalesi: circondario di Pistoia. In this tale, the elder sister wants to marry the king's baker, the middle sister the king's cobbler, and the youngest the king himself, and promises to bear him triplets: a boy with golden hair, and two girls with golden hair and a star on the front.Nerucci, Gherardo. Sessanta novelle popolari montalesi: circondario di Pistoia. Italy, Florence: Successori Le Monnier. 1880. pp. 238–247.
By Vittorio Imbriani gathered two variants from Florence in La Novellaja Fiorentina. In the first tale, L'Uccellino, che parla ("The Little Bird, Which Talks"), the king's cook overhears three women talking, the first wants to be the king's squire's wife; the second the king's majordomo's wife; and the third the king's wife, for she will bear him three children: two boys "of milk and blood" and golden hair; and a girl "of milk and blood", with golden hair and a star on the front. The king marries the third woman and she gives birth to the three children she promised. They are cast in the water by the jealous women, but are saved by a fisherman. Years later, an old woman comes to the siblings' palace garden and tells them about the "uccello che parla, albero che canta, fontana che brilla" (bird that talks, the tree that sings and the fountain that shines).Imbriani, Vittorio. La Novellaja Fiorentina. Italia, Florence: Coi tipi di F. Vigo. 1887. pp. 81–93.
In the second tale, L'Uccel Bel-Verde ("The Beautiful Green Bird"), the King of France finds a beautiful maiden in the woods. He marries her, to his mother's chagrin. The queen mother, intent on preserving the royal dynasty, falsified a letter to her son, who is fighting in a distant war, with information that his wife and three children have died. Eighteen years later, a grieving king takes notice of a girl who reminds him of "his Uliva". The queen mother notices it is her granddaughter, and her brothers are two of the royal guards. So the queen mother sends a witch to send the three siblings, named Amalia, Federico and Alfredo, after the beautiful green bird, the water that dances, sings and sounds, and the tree of the Sun that reflects the Sun's rays.Imbriani, Vittorio. La Novellaja Fiorentina. Italia, Florence: Coi tipi di F. Vigo. 1887. pp. 104–110.
He also compiled a Milanese variant titled La regina in del desert, which he acknowledged as a sister story to that of Sarnelli's and Straparola's.Imbriani, Vittorio. La Novellaja Milanese: Esempii e Panzale Lombarde raccolte nel milanese. Bologna. 1872. pp. 78–79.Imbriani, Vittorio. La Novellaja Fiorentina. Italia, Florence: Coi tipi di F. Vigo. 1887. pp. 97–102.
By Domenico Comparetti