“Uncle Wolf,” by Italo Calvino
[Music plays softly] NARRATOR: Hello! I’m the Narrator. Welcome to Mythical, the podcast that wanders the dark and fantastical pages of fairy tale and myths. Throughout season two I’m reading Italian fairy tales. Today’s story is titled “Uncle Wolf,” by Italo Calvino. The part of Uncle Wolf will be played by Shawn Enis, host of the podcast Stories of Yore and Yours; another storytelling podcast with classic and new tales alike. Shawn and I have collaborated in the past and the work he does is always impressive. I’ll begin today’s story as all good stories should, with once upon a time. [Chimes] NARRATOR: There was once a greedy little girl. One day during carnival time, she schoolmistress said to the children, SCHOOLMISTRESS: If you are good and finish your knitting, I will give you pancakes. NARRATOR: But the little girl didn’t know how to knit and asked for permission to go to the privy. There she sat and fell asleep. When she came back into school, the other children had eaten all the pancakes. She went home crying and told her mother what had happened. MOTHER: Be a good little girl, my poor dear. NARRATOR: Said her mother. MOTHER: I’ll make pancakes for you. NARRATOR: But her mother was so poor she didn’t even have a skillet. MOTHER: Go to Uncle Wolf and asked him if he’ll lend us his skillet. NARRATOR: The little girl went to Uncle Wolf’s house and knocked. Knock, knock. UNCLE WOLF: “Who is it?” GIRL: It’s me! UNCLE WOLF: “For years and months no one has knocked at this door! What do you want?” GIRL: Mamma sent me to ask if you’ll lend us your skillet to make pancakes. UNCLE WOLF: “Just a minute, let me put my shirt on.” NARRATOR: Knock, knock. UNCLE WOLF: “Just a minute, let me put on my drawers.” NARRATOR: Knock, knock. UNCLE WOLF: “Just a minute, let me put on my pants.” NARRATOR: Knock, knock. UNCLE WOLF: “Just a minute, let me put on my overcoat.” NARRATOR: Finally Uncle Wolf opened the door and gave her the skillet. UNCLE WOLF: “I’ll lend it to you, but tell Mamma to return it full of pancakes, together with a round loaf of bread and a bottle of wine.” GIRL: Yes, yes, I’ll bring you everything. NARRATOR: When she got home, her mother made her a whole stack of pancakes, and also a stack for Uncle Wolf. Before nightfall she said to the child, MOTHER: Take the pancakes to Uncle Wolf together with this loaf of bread and bottle of wine. NARRATOR: Along the way the child, glutton that she was, began sniffing the pancakes. GIRL: Oh, what a wonderful smell! I think I’ll try just one. NARRATOR: But then she had to eat another and another and another, and soon the pancakes were all gone and followed by the bread, down to the last crumb, and the wine, down to the last drop. Now to fill up the skillet she raked up some donkey manure from off the road. She refilled the bottle with dirty water. To replace the bread, she made a round loaf out of the lime she got from a stonemason working along the way. When she reached Uncle Wolf’s, she gave him this ugly mess. Uncle Wolf bit into a pancake. UNCLE WOLF: “Uck! This is donkey dung!” NARRATOR: He uncorked the wine at once to wash the bad taste out of his mouth. UNCLE WOLF: “Uck! This is dirty water!” NARRATOR: He bit off a piece of bread. UNCLE WOLF: “Uck! This is lime!” NARRATOR: He glared at the child and said, UNCLE WOLF: “Tonight I’m coming to eat you!” NARRATOR: The child ran home to her mother. GIRL: Tonight Uncle Wolf is coming to eat me! NARRATOR: Her mother went around closing doors and windows and stopping up all the holes in the house, so Uncle Wolf couldn’t get in; but she forgot to stop up the chimney. When it was night and the child was already in bed, Uncle Wolf’s voice was heard outside the house. UNCLE WOLF: “I’m going to eat you now. I’m right outside!” NARRATOR: Then a footstep was heard on the roof. UNCLE WOLF: “I’m going to eat you now! I’m on the roof!” NARRATOR: Then a clatter was heard in the chimney. UNCLE WOLF: “I’m going to eat you now. I’m in the chimney!” GIRL” Mamma, Mamma! The wolf is here! MOTHER: Hide under the covers! UNCLE WOLF: “I’m going to eat you now. I’m on the hearth!” NARRATOR: Shaking like a leaf, the child curled up as small as possible in a corner of the bed. UNCLE WOLF: “I’m going to eat you now! I’m in the room!” NARRATOR: The little girl held her breath. UNCLE WOLF: “I’m going to eat you now! I’m at the foot of the bed!” Ahem, here I go!” NARRATOR: And he gobbled her up. So Uncle Woolf always eats greedy little girls. [Chimes] NARRATOR: The moral of this story is, stay true to your word and don’t be a glutton. For if you like to eat so much, you may be eaten yourself. Unlike the more commonly known story of Little Red Riding Hood, the wolf does eat the little girl. But in this version his actions are for revenge, rather than a wolf who happens to be hungry and is looking for a meal. While I wouldn’t murder someone if they ate all my food, I do feel that this story has more of a moral to it than Little Red Riding Hood, and it shows children there are consequences for their actions. Calvino has a note on this story. He mentions how this tale is the simplest for children, with its rudimentary elements: such as the progression of fear and gluttony. He took the richest version, as he called it, for his collection and edits. Coming back to Little Red Riding Hood, Calvino does acknowledge how this Italian tale would lead to the more popular version, and he called Riding Hood, a “perfect grace.” While I do enjoy Little Red Riding Hood, I do also enjoy Uncle Wolf and prefer this ending myself. Today’s story was read from Italian Folktales, Selected and Retold by Italo Calvino. Thank you to Shawn Enis for his voice acting abilities in bringing Uncle Wolf to life. Links to his show, Stories of Yore and Yours, will be in the show notes. If you have a fairy tale you’d like me to read you can email me at [email protected]. You can follow the show on Instagram and Twitter at MythicalPodcast. There I post updates, behind the scenes, and clues to each episode’s fairy tale. Thank you for joining me today! Have a magical week and don’t anger the fairies. [Music fades]
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