Book of Stolen Tales (50 page)

O
ver the last six months I'd been through two nerve-shattering experiences. Because of them, my business was hanging by a thread. I seriously considered leaving the profession altogether. The lure of the East was seductive but it had certainly taken its toll. For as long as I could remember I'd emulated my brother, Samuel. My only thought had been to walk in his footsteps. I knew now it was time to leave his influence behind. Hunting for rare books might be a new horizon for me, one I wanted to continue to pursue.

While I grappled with my future, my sleep was frequently disturbed. The episodes of immobility continued. Awakening at night with a rush of panic, I couldn't move a muscle for several long minutes. This occurred more and more often. It was as if I'd internalized the terrible violence I'd witnessed over a few short weeks and the war was still going on inside me. While I hoped this would dissipate over time, my fears finally drove me back to the doctors.

Months of blood tests to identify the anomaly followed. I finally called a halt to them when a specialist in internal medicine tried to coax me into a formal clinical study. After all that effort they hadn't been able to provide a diagnosis of any more merit than the one the trauma doctor in Baghdad gave me. If I wanted answers about my genetic heritage I'd have to begin my own exploration.

Just before Christmas I took Evelyn on an outing to a location in Central Park we loved to visit when I was young. We'd come from viewing the Fifth Avenue Christmas store windows, which always delighted her. Entering through the Lehman Gates I looked back and saw them superimposed black against a sapphire December sky, the immortal wild boy dancing beside his goats on the curled briar. Snowflakes sparkled like winter diamonds, reviving the feeling I'd always had as a youngster of entering a magical realm.

Evelyn sat in her wheelchair wrapped with a comfy blanket. She wore the down coat and warm gloves I'd given her last Christmas. Her arthritis, always worse in winter, bothered her less that day. At the children's zoo we watched a handler reach into his pouch and throw some fish into the air. Two seals, their bodies wriggling like shiny black rubber tubes, leapt out of their pool. Fish flashed silver and disappeared down their throats. The seals barked their approval. Children pressed against the pool's railing, laughing and clapping, their breath clouding in the frosty air.

My past experience at Nineveh and the recent one at Kutha taught me things are never what they seem on the surface. Friends became enemies and fate turned them into friends once more. Alessio and Shaheen were antagonists who became allies. Evelyn had been different, steadfast from the time I was a boy. I felt immeasurably grateful and lucky to have her in my life. And as to the future, I was certain of only one thing—I would discover the true story of my origins, no matter what the consequences.

As Evelyn and I sat in companionable silence enjoying the winter park, my thoughts slipped back to what had gone before. Rational explanations existed for everything. I was convinced Alessio was a descendant of Giambattista Basile and also a skilled illusionist. He'd likely suffered from mental delusions and talked himself into believing he was the long-dead author. I'd also put the terrors of Nergal and Ereshkigal's underworld domain behind me, believing what occurred to be the result of a toxic gas unleashed when Mancini burst open the doors.

Only one thing bothered me that I couldn't explain. If a poisonous vapor felled three men, two of whom were fit and used to the rigors of war, why not me? As we fled the underworld chamber, I sensed Shaheen being consumed while he was unconscious, somehow taken over. Yet he recovered quickly. Had it really been Shaheen who was attacked—or me?

I'd locked away at the back of my mind the memory of the look in the viper's eyes right before I dragged Shaheen away. I'd done so because to confront the truth was too disturbing. The viper's look now came flooding back with a vengeance. Not the cruel gaze of a hunter, nor the cold fixed stare of an animal closing in for a kill. No. More like an unspoken communication between two souls deeply entwined. It was a look of
recognition
.

Notes

To set the record straight, no printer's copy of Giambattista Basile's
The Tale of Tales
exists, to my knowledge. Nor is there any evidence I know of to suggest that José de Ribera illustrated Basile's book.

Part One Opener

Of such great powers or beings there may be conceivably a survival
.

Opening quotation by Algernon Blackwood in “The Call of Cthulhu” by H.P. Lovecraft, first published in
Weird Tales
, February 1928.

Chapter Six

No life could be more unstable or fuller of anxiety
.

N.M. Penzer, editor, introduction to
The Pentamerone of Giambattista Basile
, translated by Benedetto Croce (New York: E.P. Dutton and Company, 1932), xxvi.

You serve now, you serve later … and get out!

Giambattista Basile, in the introduction to
Giambattista Basile's Tale of Tales, or Entertainment for the Little Ones
, translated by Nancy L. Canepa (Detroit, Michigan: Wayne State University Press, 2007), 6.

Chapter Thirteen

In the year 1284, on the days of John and Paul … Koppen Mountain
.

From the Lueneburg Manuscript, 1430–1450, as shown on the website
The Legend and the History of the Pied Piper of Hameln
,
www.triune.de/legend

Externally the body was not very hot to the touch … than stark naked
.

Thucydides' (455–411
B.C
.) account of the Plague of Athens from the website
Thucydides 2.47-55: The Plague
,
www.perseus.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/GreekScience/Thuc.+2.47-55.html

Chapter Fifteen

Ah! My beautiful Naples, behold I am leaving you … windows sugar cakes
. N.M. Penzer, editor, introduction to
The Pentamerone of Giambattista Basile
, translated by Benedetto Croce (New York: E.P. Dutton and Company, 1932), xxii.

Chapter Twenty

There was once upon a time … the rose-leaf that she had swallowed
.

Giambattista Basile, “The Young Slave” (Day 2, Tale 8), N.M. Penzer, editor,
The Pentamerone of Giambattista Basile
, translated by Benedetto Croce (New York: E.P. Dutton and Company, 1932), 192.

Heaven rains favors on us when we least expect it
.

Giambattista Basile, “The Young Slave” (Day 2, Tale 8), N.M. Penzer, editor,
The Pentamerone of Giambattista Basile
, translated by Benedetto Croce (New York: E.P. Dutton and Company, 1932), 195.

There she saw the young girl … asleep
.

Giambattista Basile, “The Young Slave” (Day 2, Tale 8), N.M. Penzer, editor,
The Pentamerone of Giambattista Basile
, translated by Benedetto Croce (New York: E.P. Dutton and Company, 1932), 193.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Feast with that sprig of parsley at the banquet of love
.

Giovan Battista Basile, in N.M. Penzer, editor,
The Pentamerone of Giambattista Basile
, Vol. 2, translated by Benedetto Croce (New York: E.P. Dutton and Company, 1932).

Chapter Thirty-Six

For the scourges of the conflagration … Giovan Battista Basile
.

N.M. Penzer, editor, introduction to
The Pentamerone of Giambattista Basile
, translated by Benedetto Croce (New York: E.P. Dutton and Company, 1932), xxx.

Part Three Opener

To the land of no return, the land of darkness … dust has gathered
.

Mesopotamian myth, “The Descent of the Goddess Ishtar into the Lower World,” in Morris Jastrow,
The Civilization of Babylon and Assyria
(Philadelphia and London: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1915).

Chapter Thirty-Eight

The cruel man is his own executioner
.

Giovan Battista Basile, in N.M. Penzer, editor,
The Pentamerone of Giambattista Basile
, Vol. 2, translated by Benedetto Croce (New York: E.P. Dutton and Company, 1932), 129.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Noctes atque dies patet atri ianua ditis
.

Virgil,
The Aeneid
, Book 6, line 127, in J.B. Greenough, editor,
Bucolics, Aeneid and Georgics of Vergil
(Boston: Ginn & Co., 1900).

Chapter Forty-Six

Her breasts sagged, she had nails … like leeks
.

“Inanna's Descent to the Nether World,”
The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature
, Oxford University, 2001,
http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section1/tr141.htm

Chapter Fifty-One

There once was a great lord … of his sorrow and suffering
.

Giambattista Basile, “Sun, Moon and Talia” (Day 5, Tale 5), N.M. Penzer, editor,
The Pentamerone of Giambattista Basile
, translated by Benedetto Croce (New York: E.P. Dutton and Company, 1932), 130.

Bibliography

I wouldn't have been able to write
The Book of Stolen Tales
without the wealth of information provided by Nancy Canepa in
Giambattista Basile's The Tale of Tales, or Entertainment for Little Ones
. Her expert translation brings Basile's stories—lost treasures in themselves—brilliantly to the forefront. So, too,
The Pentamerone of Giambattista Basile
, edited by N.M. Penzer and based on the introduction and Italian translation by Benedetto Croce. Although a relatively rare book, it's well worth the search.

Books

Abbattutis, Gian Alessio.
Lo Cunto deli Cunti
. Vol. 1. Naples: Beltrano, 1637.

Beecher, Donald, editor, and Luigi Ballerini and Massimo Ciavollela, general editors.
The Pleasant Nights by Giovan Francesco Straparola
. Vols. 1 and 2. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012.

Canepa, Nancy L.
Giambattista Basile's The Tale of Tales, or Entertainment for Little Ones
. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press, 2007.

Heiner, Heidi Anne, editor.
Sleeping Beauties: Sleeping Beauty and Snow White Tales from Around the World
. Nashville, TN: SurLaLune Press, 2010.

Lang, Andrew; illustrations by Henry Justice Ford.
The Yellow Fairy Book
. London: Longmans Green & Co., 1894.

Lyons, Jonathan.
The House of Wisdom: How the Arabs Transformed Western Civilization
. New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2009.

Penzer, N.M., editor; based on the introduction and translation by Benedetto Croce.
The Pentamerone of Giambattista Basile
. New York: E.P. Dutton and Company, 1932.

Peterson, Joseph H., editor and translator.
Grimorium Verum: A Handbook of Black Magic
. Scotts Valley, CA: CreateSpace, 2007.

Pullman, Phillip.
Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm: A New English Version
. New York: Viking, 2012.

Riverbend.
Baghdad Burning: Girl Blog from Iraq
. New York: The Feminist Press, 2005.

Articles and Websites

Allen, Christopher. “Into the Inferno of the Art of Francis Bacon,”
www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/review/into-the-inferno-ofthe-art-of-francis-bacon/story-fn9n8gph-1226531228863
, December 8, 2012.

al-Hadi, Laith. “Baghdad's al-Rashid Street—from Perfume and Music to Motor Oil and Mortars,”
Iraq Updates
, September 3, 2011,
www.iraqupdates.com/free-news/culture-tourism/baghdad'sal-rashid-street-from-perfume-and-music-to-motor-oil-and-mortars/2011-03-10#.UUhwhb-uGjo

“Al-Maidan Square—A Tale of Baghdad's Times,”
Iraq Updates
, January 26, 2008,
www.iraqupdates.com/free-news/culture-tourism/al-maidan-square-a-tale-of-baghdads-times/2008-01-26#.UUeNib-uGjo

“Alpilles, Provence,”
French Moments
, 2012,
www.frenchmoments.eu/?p=1836

Ashliman, D.L. “Sleeping Beauty,”
Folklore and Mythology Electronic Texts
, May 5, 2009,
www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0410.html

Ashliman, D.L. “Snow-White,”
Folklore and Mythology Electronic Texts
, April 11, 2011,
www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0709.html

“Babylon,”
Global Security.org
, September 7, 2011,
www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/babylon.htm

Barbot de Villeneuve, Gabrielle-Suzanne. “Beauty and the Beast,”
Amalia
, n.d.,
www.maerchenlexikon.de/texte/te425C-007.htm

“Beautiful but Cursed Island of Gaiola,”
Travelogue of an Armchair Traveller
, February 8, 2011,
http://armchairtravelogue.blogspot.ca/2011/02/beautiful-but-cursed-island-of-gaiola.html

Biblioteca Nazionale di Napoli home page, 2013,
www.bnnonline.it

Black, J.A., G. Cunningham, E. Fluckiger-Hawker, E. Robson, and G. Zólyomi. “Ningishzida's Journey to the Nether World: Translation,”
The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature
, Oxford, 1998–,
http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section1/tr173.htm

Brothers Grimm,
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brothers_Grimm

Cartwright, Garth. “Partying with the Gypsies in the Camargue,”
The Guardian
, March 26, 2011,
www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2011/mar/26/saintes-maires-gypsy-festival-camargue

“Castle of the Week: Gravensteen Castle, Ghent, Belgium,”
Heraldic Times Blog
, July 26, 2012,
www.heraldicjewelry.com/2/post/2012/07/july-26th-2012.html

“Chesapeake PERL to Produce Nerve Agent Bioscavenger for DTRA,”
PR Newswire
, October 24, 2012,
www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/chesapeake-perl-to-produce-nerve-agent-bioscavenger-for-dtra-175659501.html

Davis, John K. “The Story behind Snow White,”
Suite101.com
, February 9, 2009,
http://john-k-davis.suite101.com/the-story-behind-snow-white-a95097

Deeb, Mary-Jane. “Report on the National Library and the House of Manuscripts,”
The
Library of Congress
, October 27– November 3, 2003,
www.loc.gov/rr/amed/iraqreport/iraqreport.html