Major Works Data Sheet
Title: Sun, Moon, and Talia
Author: Giambattista Basile
Date of Publication: 1630s
Genre: Fairytale, Fantasy
Biographical information about the author
-
Born in Giugliano 1575/1566(unknown)
Died February 1632
Napoleon poet
Courtier
Collector of fairytales
Historical information about period of publication
-
Popcorn is introduced to English colonists
The Italian Plague of 1629 reaches Venice
Swedish intervention in the Thirty years
War
The city of Boston Massachusetts is
founded
Deccan famine kills 2 million in India
First French newspaper was founded
Taj Mahal is constructed
Mount Vesuvius erupts in Pompeii
Galileo convicted of heresy
France declares war on Spain
Characteristics of the genre
Fairytales/fantasy:
- Happy endings
- Teaching morals
- Defined good characters
- Defined evil characters
- Good gets rewarded, evil punished
Plot summary
A king has a newborn girl and has her horoscope taken, but the horoscope says the daughter will die
of a piece of stalk in some flax, causing the king to ban flax or hemp or any such-like thing into his
house. One day the grown up daughter sees a woman with a spindle, she calls the woman up to her
room and a piece of the stalk in the flax got under her fingernail she fell into a death-like sleep. The
king in despair placed her in one of his estates alone. In the future another king on a hunt follows his
falcon into the castle spying on the girl; he then rapes her, and leaves her on the bed and goes back
home. The daughter has two twins while on the bed and when looking for milk the baby girl chews
on her finger causing the flax to be pulled out. The princess then wakes up immediately and lives in
the castle these two. The father of the twins- the king goes back to the castle and names the twins
Sun and Moon and falls in love with them, he goes back home where his wife hears hi mentioning
the names of the children and the princess and grows suspicious. She pretending to be the king and
sent a message to the princess telling her to send her twins to the castle, she then tells the cook to
cook the two in the finest ways possible. The cook was kind to the children and hid them with his
wife and cooked some lamb instead. The king finds out about him apparently eating the children
after eating his meal and gets enraged and leaves. The wife wants to do more and calls the princess
to the castle now and lights a bonfire to put her into. The princess takes of her garment screaming in
grief after each piece catching the attention of the king. The king tells the queen to go into the first
and the cook, but the cook brings out the children and the kind rewards the cook generously.
Describe the author’s style
The author’s style seems like it is in a very
rushed tone with hardly any breaks. He describes
items with simple imagery and doesn’t explain
much into each topic.
Examples that demonstrate style
“So, after admiring her beauty for a while, the
King returned home to his kingdom, where for a
long time he forgot all that had happened.”
“Then, taking the distaff in her hand, Talia began
to draw out the thread, when, by mischance, a
piece of stalk in the flax getting under her fingernail, she feel dead upon the ground; at which
sight the old woman hobbled downstairs as
quickly as she could.
Memorable quotations
“THERE was once a great Lord, who, having a
daughter born to him named Talia,
commanded the seers and wise men of his
kingdom to come and tell him her fortune;
and after various counsellings they came to
the conclusion, that a great peril awaited her
from a piece of stalk in some flax.”
“So, after admiring her beauty for a while, the
King returned home to his kingdom, where for a
long time he forgot all that had happened.”
“He who has luck may go to bed,
And bliss will rain upon his head”
Significance of quotations
The first line of the story is the whole reason for
everything, summed up. Its brief and gets
straight to the point, helps add a sense of time
rushing fast.
The king couldn’t wake her so he raped her
instead; this is an example of a darker story that
wouldn’t be allowed for little children to learn in
school. It also explains with a feeling of no
emotion of what was normal and allowed back in
that time
This is the last line, like the first line it
summarizes the story, the moral of the story is
within this one quote.
Characters
Name
Great Lord
Role in story
Father of Talia, tries
to ban flax in his
house
Significance
He is the father of the main character,
he placed Talia within the castle that
the king found her in.
Adjectives
Sad, loving
Talia
The main character,
A victim, main character, represents
she falls into a death- the good and gets rewarded in the end
like sleep and
awakes to have
children, later on
gets married to the
king
Simple, obedient,
loving
Certain King
King rapes Talia,
father of the twins,
the hero of the story
To be the hero, save Talia, and give
rewards to others and punish the evil
Just, Loving, Sad
Twins
Children of Talia,
supposedly the cook
feeds them to the
king obeying the
queens orders but
instead hides them
They wake Talia up from her deep
sleep, the king falls in love with them
causing the queen to do the evil acts
Good-looking,
nice
Queen
Tries to have the
twins cooked and
then tries to put Talia
in a bonfire
Representing the evil character
Cook
Saves the twins and
doesn’t cook them
Represents an example; he did a good
deed by saving the twins and in the end
got rewarded
Soft-hearted,
kind, sly
Secretary
Follows the queens
orders, gets killed in
the bonfire as
punishment
The victim who was ruled by fear and
letting that happen in the end, he only
got punished
Obedient, loyal
Evil, cold-hearted
Setting
The estate which Talia grew up in and fell
into the death-like sleep
The estate where her father kept her after
she “died”
The kings castle
Significance of opening scene
It’s a brief introduction to the story but it sums up the
reason to why the main character went through what
she did and is the main reason for everything.
Symbols
Significance of closing scene
Sums up the whole moral and lesson trying to be
directed through the story
-The flax under Talia’s nail
- the estate she was put into
- the falcon that brought the king into
the estate
-the lamb that the king ate
- the bonfire
-the reward the cook got at the end of
the story
Old AP questions
a)
Possible themes / Topics of discussion
a) Why was this story so popular at that time
b) Why do you think it has changed overtime
c) Do you prefer the modified version to this
original? Why or why not?
d) If there was one thing you could change about
this story, what would it be?
e) Why do you think the tone of the author is
presented this way?