Page 25 - Dauntless Little John

one of the simplest and, in my view, one of the most beautiful
folktales. Italian tradition sharply diverges from the Grimms'
"Tale of a Boy Who Set Out to Learn Fear" (Grimm no.4)
which is no doubt closer to my no.80. The type of tale is of
European origin and not found in Asia. The disappearance of
the man limb by limb is not traditional, but a personal touch
of my own, to balance his arrival piece by piece. I took the
finishing stroke of the shadow from a Sienese version (De
Gubernatis, 22), and it is merely a simplification of the more
common ending, where Little John is given a salve for
fastening heads back on. He cuts his head off and puts it on
again--backward; the sight of his rear end so horrifies him
that he drops dead.

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