“Prezzemolina”- The little Parsley Princess
Once upon a time in the provinces of South Italy, there lived a little princess in a small hut together with her poor grandmother.
Her parents, the king and queen of the town, had died and their palace was inhabited by a bad ogre called “Nannorchio” and his wife “Nannorchia”. The ogre was horrible and he took all the girls of the city as prisoners in the dungeons of the palace. All but the little princess as he didn’t know that the royal couple had a daughter. A lot of brave men tried to kill the ogre but all of them failed and no one saw them again.
To make their living, the little princess and her grandmother grew parsley and sold it in the town market. One day, while the little princess was gathering parsley, she found a bunch of parsley different from the others. It was magic! The bunch whispered to the little princess to wish whatever she wanted the most. She took the bunch with her and went to the palace where the ogre lived.
When she reached the gate of the palace she shouted at the ogre to come out. As soon as the ogre appeared on the balcony, the princess wished that everything would turn back to normal again. In seconds, the ogre and his wife magically disappeared in a cloud of ash and black smoke, his horse turned into a handsome prince, the dog turned into a servant and the parrots of the palace turned into soldiers.
The little princess could not believe her eyes! From now on, she and her grandmother could live in the palace again! The girls of the town were freed by the handsome prince. As soon as the prince saw the little princess, he fell in love with her. They got married and they lived happily ever after!