“Silver Nose”
by Italo Calvino
Italian Folktales (1980)
* * * * (Great) Folktale
A widowed woman reluctantly agrees to send her three daughters to work for an ominous, silver-nosed man. The third, most clever, daughter is obligated to save her more curious, trapped sisters.
This is one of the more normal folktales I’ve come across in this collection. The characters are placed in situations where their poor choices come back to haunt them, and only the most clever of girls can outwit the big bad. The story is predictable in a way that is expected, and thus enjoyable. This is the type of story young children (me) grow up hearing. One interesting observation: in all the ways I’ve heard the devil described, silver-nosed is new. I don’t know – if it was me – a dude comes asking for my daughters, slick as oil, complete with silver nose, I’m going to tell the beast to keep walking.
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