Borea, Wind-mother in Lionbruno

Overview

Borea lives in an ivy-covered woodland dwelling amid dangerous rocks. She warns the arriving Lionbruno that her returning sons may eat him, then hides him in a chest. The winds come home noisily, breaking branches, greet her as mother and detect human flesh. She denies that anyone would risk entering their house, persuades them to abandon the search and feeds them polenta. The next morning she secures their sworn promise not to injure her guest before revealing him.

She questions each son about Colina’s palace. Only the youngest, Sirocco, knows the location and the fairy’s grief, enabling the onward journey. The narrative explicitly identifies Borea as the mother of all the winds, while Lionbruno’s polite address of aunt does not establish his kinship with her. In an attached note, Crane says the original has la Voria, explains that word as breeze in Sicilian and suggests comparison with Italian Boria and Latin Boreas. That etymological interpretation is his proposal; the tale itself does not identify this mother with the male Greek god.

Origins & earliest records

Crane, Italian Popular Tales (1885), XXXVI: Lionbruno, pp. 136–147; story list identifies Basilicata, Comparetti, no. 41.

Records & interpretation

The complete selected English narrative distinguishes the Enemy, Colina and the wind family. Crane’s editorial conclusion distinguishes his oral-tradition selection from circulating chapbook versions; no independent original-language collation is claimed.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

1. 01

   Italian Popular Tales, XXXVI: Lionbruno, pp. 136–147; notes 13–14

   Thomas Frederick Crane; selected from Domenico Comparetti, no. 41 · 1885

   Complete selected narrative through reunion and wedding; the interpretation of Borea’s name is explicitly Crane’s note.

Family, evolution & connections

Borea and her wind sons — Crane XXXVI

Selected Basilicata telling, pp. 144–145 within complete Lionbruno pp. 136–147.

Explicit mother, sons, brothers and youngest-child statements. The other winds are unnamed and their number is unstated. No father is supplied. Polite aunt/my-son addresses to Lionbruno are excluded; no classical family is imported from an editorial name gloss.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

1. Primary textCrane 1885: Lionbruno, complete narrativeResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.