A fairy tale of fairy tales

A selection of twenty-nine fairy tales from the famous Pentameron by the Italian poet and fairy tale collector, G. Basile. The Pentameron, or Tale of Tales, was first published in two volumes after the author's death in 1634 and 1636. Although it saw several editions, it was not until the work was rediscovered by the Brothers Grimm that it gained recognition. It is the oldest collection of European fairy tales, and many of the stories that were later popularised by the Brothers Grimm, Charles Perrault, and in our country by K. J. Erben and Božena Němcová, are recorded here for the first time. The fairy tales are written in a rich, baroque language full of metaphors, synonyms, wit, sarcasm and wisdom. In 2015, director Matteo Garrone made the Italian-French-British film Tale of Tales, based on motifs from the Pentameron.