Giveaway: Giambattista Basile’s The Tale of Tales

Reviewer Maria Tatar says these stories are “marked by vertiginous fantasy, spirited wit, and baroque excess.” The Tale of Tales, or Entertainment for Little Ones is made up of 49 fairy tales within a fiftieth frame story, containing the earliest versions of Rapunzel, All-Fur, Hansel and Gretel, The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella. Bawdy and irreverent as well as tender and whimsical, this modern translation is by Nancy L. Canepa, with pen-and-ink illustrations by Carmelo Lettere.

A world of fairy-tale unreality is revealed within these pages, as well as the everyday rituals of life in seventeenth-century Naples. These stories influenced later writers like Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm, and they will inspire 21st century readers as well. Fully annotated.

We are giving away two copies of The Tale of Tales. To enter, simply comment by 11:59 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time) December 19, 2009 in response to this imaginative question: In Hansel and Gretel, why were breadcrumbs scattered to mark a path? Please be as creative as possible in your answers. Good luck and have fun! (Sorry, at this time we can only ship to U.S. addresses.)