It is a well-known fact, that the cruel man is generally his own hangman; and he who throws stones at Heaven, frequently comes off with a broken head. But the reverse of the medal shows us that innocence is a shield of fig-tree wood, upon which the sword of malice is broken, or blunts its point; so that, when a poor man fancies himself already dead and buried, he revives again in bone and flesh, as you shall hear in the story which I am going to draw from the cask of memory with the tap of my tongue.
Giambattista Basile collected tales from the region around Naples, Italy. His sister published them after his death. Here is an amazing presentation of his version of Sleeping Beauty – Sun, Moon, and Talia .
As you can tell from the quote, Basile had a gift for using striking language. He often carried this to an extreme. My Grandpop and Grandmom emigrated from the region near Naples, and on Sundays at the dinner table Grandpop would keep us enthralled with his storytelling gift. Just a heads-up, Basile uses an explicit word beginning with “b” for a character who is very witchy.
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