Rabbit Ears Book Blog: Fairy Tale and Folktale Fridays #23: Strega Nona

Friday, April 20, 2018

Fairy Tale and Folktale Fridays #23: Strega Nona

Hey there! Welcome to "Fairy Tale and Folktale Fridays," a new feature on my blog where I discuss about some fairy tales and folktales I have read throughout the years. This feature was inspired by Chrissi Reads' "Fairy Tale Friday" meme and I was so inspired by those posts that I wanted to do a feature that details my love for fairy tales and folktales!

Strega Nona

Type: Folktale

Country of Origin: Italy

Main Character Hero or Heroine: Heroine

Recommend?: Yes!

The story starts off with a wise old woman named Strega Nona who would help out the people in the town with their problems by using her magic potions. One day, Strega Nona decided that she needed help around her home, so she hires a clumsy man named Big Anthony to help her around the house. Big Anthony was doing fine with his chores, when one night, he sees Strega Nona doing a dance around her magic pot and the pot was automatically filled with pasta. When Big Anthony sees this, he decided to show off the magic pot's ability to produce pasta to the townsfolk while Strega Nona was out of town. Unfortunately, Big Anthony doesn't know the magic words to make the pasta pot stop producing pasta...

This was seriously one of my all time favorite folktales from Italy! I just loved the combination of drama and humor in this story and I was so glad that Strega Nona became such a huge icon when it came to Italian folktales! I really enjoyed all the characters in this story, especially Big Anthony himself as he became a huge favorite of mine with his clumsy nature constantly causing trouble for both Strega Nona and the townspeople.

1. Do you enjoy eating pasta?

Sometimes I do, especially when it comes to Spaghetti and that bar lobster bake from Red Lobster. Of course, I know that I wouldn't be able to eat a town full of pasta in one day! LOL!

2. Should Big Anthony have obeyed Strega Nona's warnings about not touching the pasta pot?

Yes, he definitely should have. This story had a very clever way of warning children to not disobey their parents or else bad things could happen to them if they are not careful.

3. What are your favorite Italian folktales?

So far, Strega Nona has been one of the few Italian folktales I had read, but I'm hoping to read more someday so I can feature them in this meme!