Giambattista Basile

Giambattista Basile (died circa 1637) was the Conte di Torrone, a soldier and government official, who is known for publishing a collection of fairy tales, titled Lo cunto de li cunti (Neapolitan dialect for The Story of Stories), or Il Pentamerone, in Naples, Italy in 1634. This was the first-known printed collection of European folk-tales or fairy tales.

He recorded and adapted the tales, believed to be part of the oral tradition of Crete and Venice, and several were also recorded later by Charles Perrault and the brothers Grimm; examples are versions of Cinderella, Rapunzel, Puss in Boots, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and Hansel and Gretel.

The Pentamerone is the story of the melancholy princess Zoza, who was robbed of marriage to a handsome prince, by a slave who deceitfully took her place. Through an enchantment, Zoza made the pregnant slave-princess demand that she be told stories. Her husband called in many storytellers, each of whom told a story. The last storyteller was Zoza, who told a story revealing the slave's treachery. The slave was killed, and Zoza and her prince lived happily ever after.

Contents of Il Pentamerone:

1. How the Tales came to be told
2. The Myrtle
3. Peruonto
4. Vardiello
5. The Flea
6. Cenerentola
7. The Merchant
8. Goat-Face
9. The Enchanted Doe
10. Petrosinella
11. The Three Sisters
12. Violet
13. Pippo
14. The Serpent
15. The She-Bear
16. The Dove
17. Cannetella
18. Corvetto
19. The Booby
20. The Stone in the Cock's Head
21. The Three Enchanted Princes
22. The Dragon
23. The Two Cakes
24. The Seven Doves
25. The Raven
26. The Months
27. Pintosmalto
28. The Golden Root
29. Sun, Moon, and Talia
30. Nennillo and Nennella
31. The Three Citrons
32. Conclusion