Reading Notes: Popular Italian Stories, Part A

For my last Reading A, I decided to summarize the story called Water and Salt, from Thomas Crane’s Italian Popular Tales.

Reading Notes

• A king had three daughters, and one day he asked them to prove their love for him.
• One daughter said she loved him as much as her eyes, the second said as much as her heart, and the third said she loved him as much as water and salt.
• The king was angry at this last answer, and ordered her killed.
• The other sisters helped fake the death of their sister, and she was left in a cave.
• A magician who worked for another king found her and took her back to his house;  the king’s son fell in love with her, and they were to be wed.
• The magician told them to kill him before their wedding day, to invite three kings, including the girl’s father, and that all the guests but her father must be given salt and water at the dinner.
• Meanwhile, her father was regretting his decision and initially didn’t want to go, but decided to to avoid any political upsets.
• The day before the wedding, the magician was quartered, and his blood sprinkled all over the place; where his blood was became gold and precious stones.
• At the banquet, the king struggled to eat because he had no water to drink and no salt for flavor.
• They all told stories, and the king talked about his daughter.
• At that point, the bride went and put on the dress she had been wearing when he ordered her killed, and pointed out how important salt and water were after all.
• The king begged her forgiveness, which she gave, and they all lived in contentment after that.

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