Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Il Novellino by Anonymous Unfinished Stories. There was a shepherd once who went out to the hill to look after his sheep. It was misty and cold, and he had much trouble to find them. At last he had them all but one; and after much searching he found that one too in a peat hag [bog] half drowned. So he took off his plaid, and bent down and took hold of the sheep's tail, and he pulled! The sheep was heavy with water, and he could not lift her, so he took off his coat, and he pulled!! But it was too much for him, and he spit on his hands, and took a good hold of the tail and he PULLED!! And the tail broke! And if it had not been for that, this tale would have been a great deal longer. Source: J. F. Campbell, Popular Tales of the West Highlands (London: Alexander Gardner, 1890), vol. 2, no. 57, p. 494. Norway. Once upon a time a little boy was walking down a road. After he had gone a piece he found a chest. "For sure there is something rare in this chest," he said to himself. But however he examined it, he found no way to open it. "That is very strange," he thought. When he had gone on a piece he found a little key. So he stopped and sat down, and he thought it would be good if the key fit the chest, for there was a little keyhole in it. So he put the little key into his pocket. First he blew into the key's shaft. Then he blew into the keyhole. Then he put the key into the keyhole and turned it around. "Snap!" went the lock. And then he took hold of the lock, and the chest opened. And can you guess what was in the chest? -- It was a calf's tail. And if the calf's tail had been longer, this tale would have been longer as well. Source: Peter Christian Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe, Skrinet med det rare i, Norske Folkeeventyr . Poland. A peasant plowed once around, and he found nothing at all. Then he plowed around again, and he found a chest. Then he plowed around once again, and he found a key to the chest. He opened the chest and found nothing but mouse tails in it. And if the mouse tails had been longer, my story would have been longer. Source: Otto Knoop, "Die kleine Geschichte," Ostmärkische Sagen, Märchen und Erzählungen (Lissa: Oskar Eulitz' Verlag, 1909), no. 90, p. 193. Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. Once in the wintertime when the snow was very deep, a poor boy had to go out and fetch wood on a sled. After he had gathered it together and loaded it, he did not want to go straight home, because he was so frozen, but instead to make a fire and warm himself a little first. So he scraped the snow away, and while he was thus clearing the ground he found a small golden key. Now he believed that where there was a key, there must also be a lock, so he dug in the ground and found a little iron chest. "If only the key fits!" he thought. "Certainly there are valuable things in the chest." He looked, but there was no keyhole. Finally he found one, but so small that it could scarcely be seen. He tried the key, and fortunately it fitted. Then he turned it once, and now we must wait until he has finished unlocking it and has opened the lid. Then we shall find out what kind of wonderful things there were in the little chest. England. Source: Personal recollection, Idaho, 1940's. My mother, Elgarda Zobell Ashliman told this story to indicate that storytime was over. Having never seen the story in print, I am not sure of the spelling of the main character's name. My ear tells me "a Nory," but it could be "o' Nory." Germany. Once upon a time there was a shepherd who had a large, large herd of sheep which he was moving over hill and dale, far out into the world. They came to a deep body of water, over which there was fortunately a bridge. However, the bridge was tiny and narrow, so that only a single sheep could go across it. And another sheep could not even step onto the bridge until the sheep in front was all the way across, or the bridge certainly would have broken. Just think how long it will take until all of the many, many sheep have crossed over. So, you see, we must wait until they are all on the other side with the shepherd, and that will take a while yet, and then I will continue with my story about the shepherd and his large, large herd of sheep. Source: Ernst Meier, Deutsche Volksmärchen aus Schwaben (Stuttgart: C. P. Scheitlin's Verlagshandlung, 1852), no. 90, p. 297. Italy. Messer Azzolino had a storyteller whom he made tell him tales during the long nights of winter. It happened that one night the storyteller had a great desire to sleep, while Azzolino urged him to tell tales. The storyteller began a tale of a countryman who had a hundred byzantines [ancient coins] of his own which he took with him to the market to buy sheep at the price of two per byzantine. Returning with his sheep he came to a river he had passed before much swollen with the rains which had recently fallen. Standing on the bank, he saw a poor fisherman with a boat, but of so small a size that there was only room for the countryman and one sheep at a time. Then the countryman began to cross over with one sheep, and he began to row. The river was wide. He rowed and passed over. And here the storyteller ceased his tale. Azzolino said, "Go on!" And the storyteller replied, "Let the sheep cross over, and then I will tell you the tale." Since the sheep would not have crossed in a year, he could meanwhile sleep at his ease. Il Novellino: The Hundred Tales , translated by Edward Storer (London: George Routledge and Sons, n.d.), no. 31, pp. 95-96. Italy. Once upon a time there was a shepherd who went to feed his sheep in the fields, and he had to cross a stream, and he took the sheep up one by one to carry them over. What then? Go on! When the sheep are over, I will finish the story. Source: Thomas Frederick Crane, Italian Popular Tales (Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin, and Company, 1885), no. 40, p. 156. Il Novellino by Anonymous. After a taste of the Novelle Antiche, translated by Thomas Roscoe in The Italian Novelists , it seemed natural to find the rest. The Introduction by Edward Storer is well done and interesting. The punctuation used in the book is an example of the changes in standard rules of punctuation since the book was published, in the early part of the 20th century. The footnote numbers and end quotes are placed before any period or comma, instead of after, as is the standard today. I hope you are amused, as well as instructed, by Il Novellino , this repertoire of a medieval storyteller, in the "new" language of Italy. Middle Ages, Renaissance, and after. The Middle Ages in Europe was a time of the proliferation, though not necessarily the refinement, of short narratives. The short tale became an important means of diversion and amusement. From the medieval era to the Renaissance, various cultures adopted short fiction for their own purposes. Even the aggressive, grim spirit of the invading Germanic barbarians was amenable to expression in short prose. The myths and sagas extant in Scandinavia and Iceland indicate the kinds of bleak and violent tales the invaders took with them into southern Europe. In contrast, the romantic imagination and high spirits of the Celts remained manifest in their tales. Wherever they appeared—in Ireland, Wales, or Brittany—stories steeped in magic and splendour also appeared. This spirit, easily recognized in such Irish mythological tales as Longes mac n- Uislenn (probably 9th-century), infused the chivalric romances that developed somewhat later on the Continent. The romances usually addressed one of three “Matters”: the “Matter of Britain” (stories of King Arthur and his knights), the “Matter of France” (the Charlemagne cycle), or the “Matter of Rome” (stories out of antiquity, such as those of Pyramus and Thisbe and of Paris and Helen). Many, but not all, of the romances are too long to be considered short stories. Two of the most-influential contributors of short material to the “Matter of Britain” in the 12th century were Chrétien de Troyes and Marie de France. The latter was gifted as a creator of the short narrative poems known as the Breton lays. Only occasionally did a popular short romance like Aucassin and Nicolette (13th century) fail to address any of the three Matters. Also widely respected was the exemplum, a short didactic tale usually intended to dramatize or otherwise inspire model behaviour. Of all the exempla, the best known in the 11th and 12th centuries were the lives of the saints, some 200 of which are extant. The Gesta Romanorum (“Deeds of the Romans”) offered skeletal plots of exempla that preachers could expand into moralistic stories for use in their sermons. Among the common people of the late Middle Ages there appeared a literary movement counter to that of the romance and exemplum.