Reading Notes: Italian Fairy Tales, Part B

(The son after he became the Pope. Source)

• A father had a son who went to school for ten years.
• When he could no longer go to school, the father held a celebration for his son where he invited the most noble gentlemen of the country
• They asked the son what he learned from school, and the son replied that he learned the language of the animals
• They laughed at him and make fun of him and his father. His embarrassed father then ordered servants to kill him. The servants told the father they killed his son but they let him escape
• The son fled and came upon a castle with a treasurer. Shortly after a lot of dogs came to the castle. The treasurer asked the son why and the son said that it meant a hundred assassins were going to attack the castle that night. Sure enough, the assassins came and they were easily caught. The treasurer asked for the son to marry his daughter but he declined and said he would be back in a year and three days
• After leaving the treasurer's castle, he came upon a city where the king's daughter was sick. The son found out that it was being the frogs at a nearby fountain kept croaking, and they were croaking because the princess threw her cross into their fountain. After the cross was removed, the king asked the son to marry his daughter. He declined and said he would be back in a year and three days
• After leaving the king's city, he came upon Rome and found three companions. One day, a giant flock of birds came to them and sang loudly. One of them asked why the birds were singing so joyfully, to which the son replied that they are rejoicing the new Pope which is one of them. The son is the one who became the Pope
• After becoming the pope, he sent for his father, the treasurer, and the king. The Pope revealed his identity to his father and said that he tried to have him killed for knowing the language of the animals while the treasurer and king were very grateful for the son's knowledge
• The father apologized and the son accepted his apology

Bibliography
Italian Popular Tales: The Language of Animals by Thomas Frederick Crane