KidLit Forum

THE STOLEN CROWN -Italo Calvino

A: Context
“The Stolen Crown” in an Italian fairy tale. This story was retold from a folktale collected by Italo Calvino, and it is part of Italian Folktales (1956), which is a collection of 200 Italian folktales. While writing the collection, Calvino did not use tales collected from listeners, but he used the work of existing folklorists to a great extent.
Calvino collected “The Stolen Crown” from Dalmatia, Italy. It was translated into English by George Martin (1980). The Stolen Crown is Calivino #46.

B: Summary
The fairy tale tells us about a king who went hunting with his prime minister. Being very weary he fell asleep under a willow. When he woke up he realized that he had no crown. He couldn’t find it anywhere and being very furious about this he slew the prime minister. The king returned to his palace and secluded himself in his room being too ashamed to appear in public without the crown.
The king had three sons . They couldn`t understand their father`s behavior and tried to ask him what was the problem. The king refused to talk to the eldest and the middle son and banished them, but he talked to the youngest, Benjamin, who found out about the loss of the crown and promised to say nothing about it to his brothers and to recover the crown from Fata Alcina, queen of the faeries.
Benjamin saddled a horse ( the faithful friend - like in "Harap Alb") and began his journey to Fata Alcina’s realm. At a certain point, the road branched off three different directions; there was a message at the beginning of each road: the first –WHOEVER TAKES THIS ROAD WILL RETURN, the second –GOODNESS KNOWS WHAT YOUR FATE WILL BE IF YOU TAKE THIS ROAD, the third –WHOEVER TAKES THIS ROAD WILL NEVER RETURN. Benjamin chose the third road.
After a while the horse couldn`t go further, so Benjamin left the horse behind and continued the journey on foot, until he arrived at a stone house. There he met Bora and her husband Aquilo, the North Wind. Benjamin found out information about Fata Alcina and received a magic potion from Aquilo. Dressed as a gardener, he went in the palace. Fata was sleeping when Benjamin entered her room; he picked up the crown, a shawl of stars and a golden apple stolen by Fata from two queens, sisters, who were imprisoned in a well. He had the urge to kiss her but he was saved by the golden apple which sounded a few notes of music, since whoever kissed Fata Alcina turned into a stone statue. Helped by a big goose, Benjamin set free the two queens and gave them their objects back.
Benjamin returned to his father together with the two queens. At the sight of his crown, the king was overjoyed. As a reward Benjamin was named king ( “As you have journeyed to Fata`s realm, and won this prize, it is yours, and you deserve it” – said the king) and he married the younger of the two queens.

C: Position in the Aarne-Thomson-Uther Index.
It belongs to the category of TALES OF MAGIC 300-749, the subcategory AT 551 — "The sons on a quest for a wonderful remedy for their father"
(Benjamin said to his father: “ I prefer death rather than live and see you suffer so”…..” I’ll search the world over for it" )

Concerning the characters and functions according to Vladimir Propp, the fairy tale could have the following characters:
1. The hero- Benjamin, the youngest son
2. The villain- Fata Alcina,
3. The donor - Aquilo
4. The helper- the goose
5. The dispatcher – the king

…and functions :
1. Absentation – the king went hunting
2. Interdiction –whoever take this road will never return
3. The interdiction is violated –Benjamin chose the third road
4. Villainy and lack – Fata Alcina stole the crown
5. Misfortune or lake is made known –Benjamin found out about the loss of the crown
6. The seeker agrees to or decides upon counteraction – Benjamin decided to bring the crown back to his father
7. The hero leaves home – Benjamin saddled a horse and set out on his journey to Fata Alcina`s realm
8. Testing – the road was brambles and stones and all kind of wild animals, the horse couldn’t go further
9. Acquisition – Benjamin received a magical potion from Aquilo
10. Guidance – Benjamin reached Fata Alcina’s palace
11. Resolution – the crown was recovered
12. The hero returns – helped by the goose and his horse he returned to his father
13. The hero is married and ascends the throne – Benjamin was named king by his father and married the younger of the two queens

D: Similarities with other known tales
There is a similarity between “The stolen crown” and “Harap Alb”; both heros go through an initiation journey: they leave the “ordinary world” behind, they enter the “special world,” where they must begin facing a series of trials and tribulations, then return home. But they are no longer the same…

Sources: - http://www.jesterbear.com/Aradia/folkta ... iricoccola
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Folktales
- http://oaks.nvg.org/folktale-types.html#300
- https://archive.org/stream/MorphologyOf ... 9/mode/2up