The King of Love facts for kids

The King of Love is an Italian fairy tale. It was collected by Thomas Frederick Crane in his book Italian Popular Tales. This story is a type of folk tale known as Aarne-Thompson type 425A. This means it shares a similar plot with other well-known stories, often about a girl who marries a magical husband.

The King of Love Story

Rosella Meets the King

The story begins with a father and his youngest daughter, Rosella. One day, while they were together, Rosella pulled up a radish from the ground. Suddenly, a man called a Turk appeared. He told Rosella that she had to come with him to meet his master and be punished for taking the radish.

The Turk led Rosella and her father underground. There, they saw a green bird. The bird washed itself in milk and then magically turned into a man. This man was the Turk's master. The Turk explained what had happened with the radish. Rosella's father argued that there was no sign the radish belonged to the man.

Instead of being angry, the man decided to marry Rosella. He also gave her father a large sack of gold.

A Secret Revealed

One day, while Rosella's husband was away, her sisters came to visit her. Rosella told them that her husband had told her not to ask his name. But her sisters convinced her to ask anyway. When her husband returned, Rosella asked him who he was. He told her he was the King of Love. As soon as he said his name, he vanished!

Rosella's Difficult Journey

Rosella was very sad and began to wander, searching for her husband. She kept calling out for him. An ogress, a giant and scary woman, appeared. She demanded to know why Rosella was calling her nephew. The ogress felt sorry for Rosella and let her stay the night. She told Rosella that she was one of seven sister ogresses. The worst of them was her own mother-in-law, who was also the King of Love's mother.

Each day, Rosella met another of the ogress sisters. On the seventh day, she met a sister of the King of Love. This sister told Rosella to climb up her hair to get into the house while their mother was out. Once inside, the King of Love's sisters told Rosella to grab their mother. They told her to pinch the ogress until she cried out to be left alone, using her son's name.

Rosella did this. The ogress was very angry and wanted to eat Rosella. But her own daughters stopped her.

The Ogress's Tasks

The ogress then insisted that Rosella deliver a letter for her. As Rosella walked through a wild, empty area, she called out to the King of Love again. He appeared and warned her to be kind to everything she met on her way. He told her to drink from and praise two rivers. He also told her to eat and praise fruit from an orchard. She should eat bread from an oven and praise it, feed two dogs, sweep a hall, and polish a knife, a razor, and scissors.

After doing all these things, Rosella delivered the letter. She then quickly grabbed a box from the table and ran away. The ogress called out for things to destroy Rosella, but they refused because Rosella had been kind to them. Rosella became curious and opened the box. Musical instruments flew out! She had to call on her husband again to get them back into the box.

The ogress wanted to eat Rosella again, but her daughters stopped her once more. Next, the ogress ordered Rosella to fill a mattress with feathers from all the birds in the sky. The King of Love helped Rosella by getting the King of Birds to have all the birds fill the mattress.

The King's Clever Plan

Then, the ogress arranged for her son, the King of Love, to marry the daughter of the King of Portugal. She made Rosella hold the torches for the wedding room. But the King of Love cleverly convinced his new bride to switch places with Rosella. When this happened, the ground opened up and swallowed the bride.

The Birth of a Son

The ogress declared that Rosella's child would not be born until she unclasped her hands. The King of Love had his body laid out as if he were dead. His sisters cried and mourned for him. The ogress, curious about how he died, unclasped her hands to ask. At that moment, Rosella's son was born. This made the ogress so angry that she died.