8 h 51 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 8 h 51 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the fairy tales you know turn sharp, bawdy and strange in the telling?
Stories from the Pentamerone brings together a selection of Giambattista Basile’s fairy tales, rich with southern Italian flavour. A princess named Zoza never laughs. Her story frames a gathering of ten storytellers, whose tales unfold over five days like boxes opening inside other boxes.
Here, familiar plots wear less familiar faces. Zezolla struggles with trouble at home in The Cat Cinderella. A warning about flax shadows Talia in Sun, Moon and Talia. Cagliuso inherits a scheming cat, while Petrosinella longs to escape an ogress’s tower. These stories mix humour, cruelty and wild images rather than offer gentle comfort.
What you’ll discover
- A princess without laughter Meet Zoza, whose sadness opens the frame that holds this lively world of tales.
- Cinderella with sharp edges Follow clever Zezolla as trouble comes from the people closest to her.
- A warning over Talia Discover a darker Sleeping Beauty tale, beginning with a newborn daughter and a warning about flax.
- Cats, towers and ogresses Encounter Cagliuso’s ambitious cat and Petrosinella’s longing to break out of captivity.
- Language running wild Explore Basile’s taste for proverbs, puns and comparisons that pile image upon image.
Who will love it
You will love this book if you enjoy fairy tales in their earthy, original forms, with sharp humor and sudden magic. It suits lovers of folklore and anyone curious about where these stories began.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A curse becomes a journey
- Kindness opens the door to magic
- Careless actions put others at risk
- Good fortune calls for gratitude
- Wit succeeds where strength cannot
- Love continues after magic divides
- Strange gifts can change fortunes
- Words and desires carry consequences
- The tales belong inside another tale
Who’s who
- ZozaA princess who has never laughed, she walks seven years to the tomb of Prince Taddeo and hopes to win him with her tears.
- TaddeoThe Prince of Round-Field, he wakes from an enchanted tomb and calls ten women to tell tales for his wife.
- The SlaveShe steals Zoza's place beside Taddeo and demands stories, then listens uneasily as the tales begin to echo her own deceit.
- PeruontoA foolish lad whose kindness to three sleeping youths earns him a charm that grants every wish.
- CenerentolaKnown as Zezolla, she is pushed to the hearth by her stepmother and finds help in a magic date tree.
- CienzoA merchant's son who flees after a quarrel and later kills a seven-headed dragon to save a princess.
- PippoA poor young man who inherits only a cat, and the cat sets out to make him rich.
- ParmetellaA gardener's youngest daughter who follows a golden tree into a cavern and loses a husband through curiosity.
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- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 14 minutes, to read today.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
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Stories from the Pentamerone
by Giambattista Basile · 1634
A princess who never laughs sets out to find a prince, then uses three magic gifts after a slave steals her place.
Medium level2–5 hours to read2 languages
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In short
What would you do if a stranger's curse told you where your true love lies? Stories from the Pentamerone was written by Giambattista Basile, a poet and courtier from Naples, who died in 1632.
Stories from the Pentamerone at a glance
- Reading time
- About 4 h 55 min3 h 55 min fast, 5 h 55 min slow
- Length
- 70,700 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1634by Giambattista Basile
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A curse sends a princess to a tomb
The book opens with a frame that holds every other tale. Zoza, daughter of the King of Woody Valley, never laughs, and her father is desperate to cure her sadness.
At last he builds a fountain of oil outside the palace gates. An old woman comes to soak up the oil with a sponge, and a young page smashes her pitcher with a stone. The two trade insults so wildly that Zoza laughs until she nearly faints. The furious old woman curses her, saying she will never have a husband unless she marries the Prince of Round-Field.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1634
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 5 h 45 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Basile, Giambattista. Stories from the Pentamerone. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/stories-from-the-pentamerone.
Basile, G. (2026). Stories from the Pentamerone. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/stories-from-the-pentamerone (Original work published 1634)
Basile, Giambattista. Stories from the Pentamerone. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/stories-from-the-pentamerone.
@book{basile2026stories,
author = {Basile, Giambattista},
title = {Stories from the Pentamerone},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/stories-from-the-pentamerone},
note = {First published 1634}
}
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What is Stories from the Pentamerone about?
It is a collection of fairy tales set within a frame story. A prince asks ten women to tell tales to his wife, a slave who stole Zoza's place. The tales feature ogres, fairies, cats, princes and clever girls.
Which famous fairy tales come from the Pentamerone?
Early forms of Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Puss in Boots, Rapunzel and Hansel and Gretel appear in these pages. Basile's versions are livelier and stranger, with different names, tests and endings.
Who wrote the Pentamerone and when?
Giambattista Basile, a poet and courtier from Naples, wrote it in the early seventeenth century. He died in 1632. The tales draw on folk stories told in southern Italy, retold in a rich, playful style.
The author
Giambattista Basile
1566–1632 · Italian fairy tale writer
Giambattista Basile was an Italian writer born in 1566. He lived in the Naples region and died in 1632. He wrote poetry and stories in Italian and Neapolitan. His collection of tales, known as the Pentamerone, was published after his death, in 1634–1636, in the Neapolitan language.
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