#530 of 1001 · January 12, 2022

Here is an enchanting story shot through with dark magic: Little Parsley, retold and illustrated by Enzo Giannini. When a pregnant woman cannot resist tasting parsley from the garden next door, the witches who own it demand ownership over her unborn daughter. Little Parsley, as she is named, is taken by the old hags several years later, forced to live in their house and obey their orders. With each seemingly impossible task, the witches’ cousin Nino agrees to help Little Parsley, and the two are eventual able to vanquish the wicked crones once and for all. Giannini’s text and art brighten the mood of the otherworldly proceedings. A note for folklore enthusiasts: Giannini has adapted this story from “La Prezzemolina” (Little Parsley), a folktale collected by Vittorio Imbriani in La Novellaja Fiorentina (1877). The plot combines elements of multiple tale types. The theft of the garden plant by the pregnant woman recalls the opening of The Maiden in the Tower (whose best known variant is Rapunzel), while the rest of the tale features a heroine laboring under an evil taskmaster, a structure perhaps most famously used by the Roman writer Apuleius in the tale of Cupid and Psyche. #parsley #witch #witches #magic #book #books #childrensbooks #beautifulbook #beautifulbooks #beautifulbookcover #beautifulbookcovers #picturebook #picturebooks #picturebookillustration #picturebookillustrations #picturebookart #childrensbookillustration #childrensliterature #illustration #kidlit #kidsbooks #bookworm #booklover #booklovers #bibliophile #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagrammers #instabook #instabooks