A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
Overview
Zelinda’s father cannot find her requested rose at a January fair and takes one from a walled garden. Noise and flames accompany the appearance of a hissing, dragon-shaped monster, which threatens death and demands Zelinda in his place. When father and daughter arrive, four marble statues step down with torches and guide them to food and rooms; invisible hands supply breakfast. The monster’s fiery eyes and dragonlike form belong to this Tuscan witness, rather than the green-bird husband in Crane’s preceding Sicilian tale.
After dismissing the father, the monster treats Zelinda generously but repeatedly asks her to become his wife. She initially refuses. He later shows her a mirror in which her father is dying, and she agrees to marriage while begging for his rescue. The monster immediately becomes a handsome youth and identifies himself as the King of the Oranges’ son. He explains that an old witch’s touch changed him and confined him to the rose-bush until a beautiful girl accepted him.
Crane does not print the rest of Nerucci’s story continuously: he summarizes the parents’ refusal of the marriage, the couple’s flight and their eventual escape from an ogre and his wife. That editorial condensation limits the available detail about the ending. The subsequent Rosina and Elizabeth examples are separately introduced Sicilian variants, not further actions of Zelinda. In particular, their return deadlines, rings and healing ointment are not silently assigned to this prince.
Origins & earliest records
Crane, Italian Popular Tales (1885), II, Zelinda and the Monster, pp.7–11. The story list identifies Tuscan collector Gherardo Nerucci, No.1, Zelinda e il Mostro; the surrounding introduction places it at Montale near Pistoja. The selected English narrative ends with a compressed summary of the remaining episode.
Records & interpretation
Crane’s selected version directly gives dragon form, fiery eyes, speaking threats, palace attendants, mirror and released enchantment. His last paragraph summarizes an omitted continuation. The English witness supports those represented actions without supplying a complete transcription of the underlying Tuscan tale.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Italian Popular Tales, II: Zelinda and the Monster, pp.7–11
Complete selected English presentation, with its explicitly summarized final continuation; underlying Nerucci text not independently collated.
Family, evolution & connections
King of the Oranges (Zelinda account)
After the change of form, the youth identifies himself as the King of the Oranges’ son. The witch causes the enchantment; she is not identified as a relative. No royal mother’s name is supplied.
Zelinda (Crane’s selected telling)
Zelinda initially refuses marriage and promises it when shown her dying father. Crane then calls the pair husband and wife while condensing their further escape. This is separate from the subsequent Rosina and Elizabeth variants.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Primary textCrane, Italian Popular Tales (1885): selected tale and source listResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.