Petrosinella

In Basile's 1634 Neapolitan tale, a pregnant woman steals parsley from the garden of an ogress (orca). To recompense the theft she promises the unborn child; the ogress claims the child at birth and names her Petrosinella (after the Neapolitan petrosino/petrusino, 'parsley'). This narrative premise links the heroine's personal identity to the transgressive act that precipitated her surrender and confinement, and identifies Basile's version as the earliest recorded variant of the 'Maiden in the Tower' (ATU 310) which in Basile's telling incorporates the 'Magic Flight' (ATU 313) episode.

Basile's tale and its summaries emphasize Petrosinella's extremely long hair, which the ogress uses to gain access to the tower: the ogress takes her by the hair and climbs to the single window. Retellings note a prince later sees her hair blowing in the wind and is drawn to her; beyond the hair, the supplied sources provide no consistent, detailed physical description.

Within the tower Petrosinella is taught 'magic arts' by the ogress, a detail in Basile's version that gives her active magical knowledge rather than purely passive victimhood. Before escaping she steals three magical gallnuts or acorns; during the flight she throws them behind her to create successive transformations (the items become a dog, then a lion, then a wolf in the account) that delay or neutralize the ogress and enable the couple's escape. She also initiates and carries out the escape plan with the prince, demonstrating initiative and learned magical technique.