"The Pig King" by Giovanni Francesco Strapola

         The tale begins with the birth of a prince in the form of a pig. The curse was brought upon his mother, Queen Ersilia, when one day she wandered into the garden and fell asleep. Three fairies happened to be flying by when they noticed her there, and with a "scorn" for humanity, contemplated casting a spell on her. The first of them says, "I will that no man shall be able to harm her, and that, the next time she lie with her husband, she may be with child and bear a son who shall not have his equal in all the world for beauty," the second says, "I will that no one shall have power to offend her, and that the prince who shall be born of her shall be gifted with every virtue under the sun," and finally the last of the three says, "And I will that she shall be the wisest among women, but that the son whom she shall conceive shall be born in the skin of a pig, with a pig's ways and manners, and in this state he shall be contained to abide until three times he has taken a women to wife." (pg. 43)
       She goes on to give birth to her child, and though he is in the form of a pig, she loves him equally as much. The king offers to kill the child in order to protect the queen's reputation, but she denies. Both decided to raise him as you would a normal child, but as he grew and began wandering the city, he still showed clear signs of his pig instincts (rolling in the mud). Eventually he began begging to his mother that he wanted to get married and that she needed to find him a wife. At first she is strongly against the idea, but as he continued to beg day after day, she eventually consulted with the king and after thoroughly searching throughout the town, they found a poor mother with three daughters. The queen asked for her eldest daughter to marry the prince, and after a lot of convincing, agreed to marry him. Later on, before the after the wedding, the prince attempts to interact with the new princess, but she pushes him away and insults him and the whole kingdom. That morning he overheard her talking to someone, saying, "What am I to do with this foul beast? This very night, while he lies asleep, I will kill him." (pg. 44) That night, after the princess fell asleep, the pig prince brutally murdered her with his hooves. The queen discovers this in the morning and was outraged, but the prince convinced her if he didn't kill her she would've killed him. The prince then convinces her to ask the mother for the hand of her second daughter, and after even more convincing, they get married. But again, he kills her in her sleep. Her mother scolds him but again but is eventually convinced to ask the last, youngest daughter of the poor mother, Meldina, and surprisingly, the girl is entirely willing to marry him.
        After the marriage the queen tells her that if he tries to touch her, she may push him away, but to this she says, "There are three wise sayings, gracious lady, which I remember having heard. The first is that it is folly to waste time in searching for that which can not be found. The second is that we should not believe anything we hear, except those things which bear the marks of sense and reason. The third is that, when once you have got hold of some rare and precious treasure, prize it well and keep a firm hold upon it." (pg. 46) The prince happened to overhear this, and began to kiss Meldina and her body, and she didn't resist at all. They slept together that night, and in the morning the Queen, expecting to find another corpse, instead finds a mud covered princess "looking pleased and contented" (pg. 46). One night, he told his wife he'd been keeping a secret from everyone, and asked if she is able to keep it. After she convinces him she is, he removes his pig skin and reveals a handsome young man, and they embraced. The next day, the princess couldn't help but tell the Queen, and when she wasn't convinced, she told her to come to her chamber that night. When the time came, the Queen entered to find the pig skin laying on the floor and her son and Meldina in bed. The king and queen are relieved and order the pig skin to be torn to shreds. They all live happily ever after.
            The concept of this tale is similiar to Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" in many ways. For instance, both the Pig King and Beast are both cursed to be "beasts" until they find a certain lover/wife, and both show signs of their beastly attitude and tendencies, such as the pig rolling in the mud and the beast's anger issues and habit of violently smashing things. Both are princes, but don't reveal prince-like personalities. Belle and Meldina also share similarities, like that they both look past the appearance of their partners. Both includes poor families (Belle's family was going bankrupt). But the stories have many differences too. The Pig King goes through two other wives in order to find his true love, but Belle was loyal to the beast alone, though she didn't immediately fall in love with him, like the Pig King with Meldina. The Pig King is also accompanied by his family, while the Beast lives alone in his dark, creepy castle. Disney's version also features an antagonist, the mighty Gaston, a character designed to be a charismatic casanova. The Pig King finds no competition in his search for a wife.

Level 1: Why did the Pig King murder his previous wives?
Level 2: How does Belle relate to Meldina?
Level 3: What does the concept of the Beast say to the children reading/watching?