Long ago, in the royal city of Provino, three beautiful sisters lived with their father, Messer Rigo, a humble baker. Their names were Brunora, Lionella and Chiaretta. Although they were graceful and well-mannered, their family had little wealth or social standing.
One day, while the sisters were enjoying themselves in their garden, King Ancilotto passed nearby with his courtiers on his way to a hunting expedition.
Watching the splendid procession, Brunora turned to her sisters and declared that if she married the king’s majordomo, she would provide enough wine to quench the thirst of the entire royal court with a single glass.
Lionella quickly followed, saying that if she married the king’s chamberlain, she would spin enough linen from one spindle of yarn to make fine garments for everyone at court.
Chiaretta, the youngest, made a more extraordinary promise. If she became the king’s wife, she would give birth to three children at once: two boys and a girl. Each would have long hair braided with golden threads, a golden necklace around the neck and a shining star upon the forehead.
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A courtier overheard their conversation and hurried to tell the king. Intrigued by their promises, Ancilotto summoned the sisters and asked them to repeat what they had said.
Pleased with their answers, he arranged for Brunora to marry his majordomo and Lionella to marry his chamberlain. He then took Chiaretta as his own wife.
The marriages were celebrated with great splendour, but not everyone welcomed the new queen. Ancilotto’s mother was furious that her son had married a baker’s daughter. She considered Chiaretta’s humble birth an insult to the royal family and could hardly bear to look at her. Brunora and Lionella also became jealous of their younger sister’s elevated position, and the three women soon formed a bitter alliance against her.
In time, Chiaretta became pregnant, bringing great happiness to the king. Unfortunately, just as she was approaching the time of her delivery, Ancilotto had to travel to a distant country. Before leaving, he entrusted his mother with the care of his wife and the children he eagerly expected.
The queen-mother promised to fulfil his instructions.
During his absence, Chiaretta gave birth to three beautiful children, two boys and a girl. Just as she had promised, they had long braided hair threaded with gold, golden necklaces and shining stars upon their foreheads.
But the queen-mother had no intention of allowing the children to live.
On that very day, three black mongrel puppies, two males and a female, were born in the royal stables. By a strange coincidence, each had a white star on its forehead and a mark resembling a necklace around its neck.
Brunora and Lionella seized the opportunity. They brought the puppies to the queen-mother, who immediately understood their wicked suggestion.
Together, they devised a cruel deception. The queen-mother ordered the midwife to help her remove the royal children and replace them with the puppies. When Chiaretta was shown the animals, she was told that these were the children she had delivered.
The poor queen was horrified. She wept and insisted that the puppies could not possibly be her offspring, but the midwife and her sisters supported the queen-mother’s story.
Their next intention was to kill the three innocent children. However, instead of shedding their blood, they placed them inside a carefully sealed wooden box and cast it into the river, leaving the current to carry them away.
Fortunately, a miller named Marmiato spotted the floating box and rescued it. When he opened it, he discovered three beautiful children inside. Believing that some noblewoman had abandoned them, he carried them home to his wife, Gordiana.
Gordiana welcomed the little ones with affection and raised them as her own. She named the boys Acquirino and Fluvio, and the girl Serena.
When Ancilotto returned, he was eager to meet his promised children. His mother, however, had prepared another cruel surprise. She informed him that Chiaretta had given birth to three puppies instead of the beautiful children she had promised.
The king was devastated. He confronted his wife, who desperately denied the accusation, but Brunora and Lionella supported their mother’s story.
Although Ancilotto was deeply disappointed, Chiaretta’s dignity and gentle nature prevented him from ordering her execution. Instead, he condemned her to imprisonment in a miserable cell beneath the place where the royal kitchen utensils were washed. She was given only the filthy scraps swept from the scullery.
Meanwhile, the three children grew up in the miller’s household alongside a son of their foster-parents, named Borghino. Whenever Gordiana cut the children’s hair, precious stones and large white pearls fell from their golden locks. The jewels brought Marmiato considerable wealth, allowing the family to leave their humble occupation and enjoy a comfortable life.
Eventually, Acquirino, Fluvio and Serena discovered that Marmiato and Gordiana were not their birth parents. Learning that they had been found floating in a box on the river, they decided to leave and discover their origins.
After travelling for several days, they arrived in Provino, their father’s city. They rented a house and supported themselves by selling the precious stones that continued to fall from their hair.
One day, King Ancilotto happened to pass their home. Hearing his approach, the three young people came outside and respectfully greeted him.
The king was immediately struck by their appearance. Their faces were beautiful, and each bore a golden star upon the forehead. His heart stirred with a feeling he could not explain. He wondered whether these strangers might be the children Chiaretta had once promised him.
He stopped to question them, learned their names and invited them to dine at the palace the following day.
When he returned home, he told his mother about the three remarkable young people. The queen-mother immediately became frightened. Suspecting that the children she had abandoned might have survived, she summoned the midwife.
The midwife devised a new plan.
She visited Serena when her brothers were away and began speaking to her about a wonderful substance known as dancing water. She described how beautiful it was and suggested that bathing her face in it would make her even more lovely.
Curious, Serena asked where it could be found.
The woman encouraged her to send her brothers in search of it. When Acquirino and Fluvio returned, Serena begged them to obtain the magical water. Although they initially refused, they eventually agreed because they loved their sister dearly.
During their journey, they came upon a fountain where a snow-white dove was drinking. The bird asked what they were seeking. When the brothers explained, it warned them that the water was guarded by fierce beasts and poisonous dragons.
The dove offered to retrieve it for them.
Taking their little bottle, the bird flew away and soon returned with it filled with the precious water. The grateful brothers carried it home and warned Serena never to send them on such a dangerous expedition again.
But the midwife was not finished.
When she next visited Serena, she told her about another wonder: a singing apple whose music was more beautiful than anything she had ever heard.
Once again, Serena begged her brothers to find it. Though reluctant after their previous adventure, they eventually agreed.
On their journey, they stopped at an inn and asked the host where the apple could be found. He explained that it grew in a beautiful garden guarded by a poisonous beast that killed anyone who approached the tree.
However, he offered them a way to succeed. He gave them a robe covered in mirrors and instructed one brother to wear it into the garden while the other remained outside. When the beast saw its own reflection multiplied across the robe, it would become confused and fall to the ground.
The young men followed his instructions carefully. The beast was deceived by its many reflections, allowing them to approach the tree and pluck the singing apple.
They returned home safely with their prize.
Still, Serena’s troubles were not over. The midwife visited once more and told her about a magnificent green bird that could speak with extraordinary wisdom. She persuaded the girl that possessing such a creature would make her happiness complete.
Serena begged her brothers to find it.
This time, Acquirino and Fluvio were particularly unwilling. Their previous adventures had nearly cost them their lives, but Serena’s tears eventually persuaded them to undertake the journey.
After riding for several days, they arrived at a beautiful meadow filled with flowers. In its centre stood a tall tree, surrounded by magnificent marble statues. A little stream flowed nearby, and high among the branches lived the green bird, speaking in a voice that seemed almost divine.
The brothers dismounted to examine the statues. But the moment they touched them, they were transformed into marble themselves.
Months passed without their return.
Serena grew increasingly anxious. At last, fearing that her brothers had met with disaster, she mounted her horse and set out to find them.
She eventually reached the meadow and recognised her brothers among the marble figures. Their horses were still grazing nearby, but the young men stood motionless, trapped in stone.
Determined to save them, Serena approached the tree quietly and caught the green bird.
The bird pleaded for its freedom, promising to reward her kindness in the future. But Serena refused to release it until it restored her brothers.
The bird instructed her to look beneath its left wing, where she would find a special green feather marked with yellow. She was to pluck it and touch the eyes of the marble statues.
Serena followed its instructions. At once, Acquirino and Fluvio returned to life and embraced their sister with joy.
The bird again begged to be released, promising to help Serena whenever she needed it. But she had another demand. Before granting its freedom, it must help them discover their true parents.
The three siblings agreed to keep the bird in Serena’s care until their request was fulfilled.
When they returned to Provino, King Ancilotto was delighted to see them again. He had repeatedly passed their empty house and wondered where they had gone. Now that they had returned, he invited them to the palace once more.
This time, they accepted.
Before leaving, however, they secretly prepared the three magical treasures. Acquirino carried the dancing water, Fluvio took the singing apple, and Serena brought the green bird.
At the royal banquet, the king welcomed them warmly. After the meal, the young people asked permission to demonstrate some extraordinary wonders.
Acquirino poured the dancing water into a silver cup. Fluvio placed the singing apple beside it, while Serena set the green bird upon the table.
Immediately, the water began to dance and the apple filled the hall with beautiful music. The king and his courtiers watched in amazement.
But the queen-mother, Brunora and Lionella were terrified. They recognised the very wonders they had hoped would never return to the palace.
When the music and dancing finally stopped, the green bird addressed the king. It asked what punishment should be given to those who had plotted the deaths of two brothers and their sister.
Before anyone could answer, the queen-mother declared that such criminals deserved nothing less than death by burning.
The singing apple and dancing water immediately condemned her words, declaring that she had pronounced the very sentence that would fall upon herself, the two jealous sisters and the wicked midwife.
The king was astonished.
Then the green bird revealed the truth. The three remarkable young people were his own children, the very children he had longed to meet. Their innocent mother, Chiaretta, was still imprisoned beneath the filthy royal scullery.
Ancilotto was overcome with horror and regret. He immediately ordered that Chiaretta be brought out, washed, dressed in her royal garments and restored to her rightful position.
Despite the years of suffering she had endured, she had retained her beauty and dignity.
When she appeared before the king, he embraced her tenderly, along with their three children. The green bird then recounted the entire history of the wicked deception, revealing how the queen-mother, Brunora, Lionella and the midwife had conspired against the royal family.
With the truth finally exposed, the dancing water, singing apple and talking bird were released. Having fulfilled their purpose, they disappeared.
The following day, Ancilotto ordered a great fire to be lit in the centre of the marketplace. Before the assembled people, his mother, the two jealous sisters and the midwife were condemned to be burned alive for their crimes.
At last, Chiaretta was restored to her husband and her children. The king lived happily with his beloved family for many years. He eventually arranged an honourable marriage for Serena, while Acquirino and Fluvio became heirs to his kingdom.
Thus, the three children who had once been abandoned in a river returned to their rightful home, and the cruel plot intended to destroy their family brought about the downfall of those who had devised it.
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Moral
Jealousy and deceit may temporarily succeed in concealing the truth, but wrongdoing eventually brings consequences. The story also celebrates the strength of family loyalty, showing how love, courage and determination can overcome even the cruelest betrayal.
Knowledge Check
1. What did Chiaretta promise when she said she would marry King Ancilotto?
She promised to give birth to three children at once, two boys and a girl, each bearing a golden necklace and a star on the forehead.
2. Who rescued the three children after they were abandoned in the river?
A miller named Marmiato discovered their box and took them home to his wife, Gordiana, who raised them.
3. What were the three magical treasures Serena’s brothers obtained?
The dancing water, the singing apple and the talking green bird.
4. How did Serena rescue her brothers from their marble forms?
The green bird instructed her to use a special feather hidden beneath its left wing to touch the eyes of the statues.
5. How was the truth about Chiaretta’s children revealed?
The magical objects and talking bird exposed the queen-mother’s deception during a royal banquet, revealing the children’s identity and their mother’s imprisonment.
6. Which literary tradition does the story belong to?
It is an Italian literary fairy tale from Giovanni Francesco Straparola’s collection, The Nights of Straparola.
Source
This retelling is based on Giovanni Francesco Straparola’s The Nights of Straparola, Volume I, translated into English by W. G. Waters and illustrated by Edward Robert Hughes. Published in London by Lawrence and Bullen in 1894.The assigned narrative is Night the Fourth, Third Fable: “Ancilotto, King of Provino”, printed pages 186–198.
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