The fairy tale recreates the wonder of a complex universe, using few elements. It achieves maximum results with minimum expenditure of means. From remote times, through the slow rumination of generations, it continues to offer us an explanation of life. Fairy tales, as a whole, are the catalogue of destinies that can be given to man: from birth, which is always an omen or a condemnation, to youth, to separation from home, to the trials of becoming an adult, up to the confirmation of the individual as a human being. The fable of Zoza is a free adaptation of the work of Giambattista Basile, Lo cunto de li cunti (1634), the oldest book of European fables. Its language, a highly cultured, imaginative, theatrical, unprejudiced Neapolitan, responds to the author’s need to offer a summary of styles that range from popular Campanian to the repertoire of the comedians of the Art, up to the courtly style.
The result is a true baroque delirium; but also an archaic narration around the fire, because the Cunto is a tale “of those who were used to tell the old women to entertain the sheep”. Its destination was reading in the small Neapolitan courts, after lunch, when the tables were cleared. Then, between jokes, music, dances, games, small theatrical actions, the Cunto was recited to entertain the listeners.
