Italian Folklore: The Story Of Io And The Horse And The Olive

Folklore is an important aspect of cultures around the world. Folklore is the traditional beliefs, myths, legends, and fairytales spread via the word of mouth. Legends are based on historical facts or beings, but the characters or events are exaggerated. Myths are based on religion, they feature supernatural beings or creators, and they usually explain a natural phenomenon. Fairy Tales have a fantastic element, generally presenting magic, imaginary creatures, and good versus evil. Italian folklore is steeped in all categories of folklore but the historical significance of legends has the greatest concentration. History is a value that is dear to family in Italy. The past is important to the bedrock of Italian folklore because history is believed

In “The Story of Io”, the Roman God, Jupiter, once fell in love with a fair maiden named Io, but the queen who ruled alongside Jupiter, named Juno, hated Io, for Io threatened Juno’s rule. In a rage, Juno transformed Io into a cow and set a watchman named Argus who had 100 eyes. Jupiter called upon his friend, Mercury, to kill Argus and set the cow free. Juno saw Mercury kill her watchman and release Io, so Juno found a gadfly and ordered it to sting the cow so she could not sleep due to the pain. Finally, the cow layed down beside the Nile River at the same time Juno fell asleep in the clouds. Jupiter realized this was his time to save his fair maiden. He flew to Egypt and killed the gadfly and then transformed the cow into Io, the weak fair maiden. Jupiter flew back into the clouds before Juno awoke. Io married the King of Egypt and lived a long happy life. In “The Horse and the Olive”, a town slowly grew and one day, two strangers appeared in the village: Neptune, God of the Sea, and Athena, Goddess of Wisdom. Both rulers competed for the town’s name in exchange for protecting the town. The town doubted the rulers sincerity so Neptune gifted the town with a work animal whereas Athena blessed them with a tree to serve as a hunger pacifier, shelter, and wealth. Neptune offered something the town will be unable to use as they did not have technological advances, but Athena’s present

In “The Bell of Atri”, a bell was placed in the middle of town square for if one has wronged then they ring the bell in hope for forgiveness from the council. As days went on the bell was rang less and less. Until one day, there was a horse eating the hay that formed the rope, in turn ringing the bell. The council punished an old soldier for his blindness with greed because he refused to feed the horse as it would cost him money. In exchange for forgiveness, the old soldier has to spend half his money to pay for the horse’s barn, grazing pasture, food, and shelter. In “The White Wolf”, a King toured an unknown region in hopes to find a wreath of wildflowers for his youngest daughter per her request. The King searched for this wreath and eventually found it on around the neck of a white wolf. In exchange, the wolf receives the first thing that meets the King on his way back to his castle. The King meet nothing until he reached the palace gates for the youngest daughter welcomed him home. The White Wolf came and collected the Princess will few difficulties of a mistaken identity. After a year, the Princess and Wolf attended the eldest sister’s marriage with rules that once the wolf whistled that the Princess must immediately leave with him. The Wolf and Princess returned home safely and then a year and a half, the Wolf and Princess returned to the castle for the second sister’s betrothment. After complications