April 8 - "And Seven!"

“And Seven!”
by Italo Calvino
Italian Folktales (1980)

* * * (Good) Folktale

A lazy woman, challenged with tasks of increasing difficulty by her soon to be husband, is aided by three magical old ladies, each asking only to be invited to the upcoming wedding. When the wedding day arrives, the lazy woman cannot recall the names of her saviors and faces foretold doom on her happy day.

Women are not portrayed very well in these folktales. The hero of this story ends up being rewarded for her gluttony and sloth. I’m curious to see if this depiction of women carries through the collection of Italian folktales assembled here. The neat thing about these stories is that while they may seem predictable, the endings always twist in funny ways – not ways you would expect a story to twist. My favorite part of the story was the scene in the beginning with the mother serving bowl after bowl after bowl of soup to her fat daughter before finally ceasing with seven and a wooden spoon to the indolent daughter's head. It’s just a striking - pun intended - image, and a great way to start the story.