Gatto Mammone, meaning Mammon cat, is one of the creatures of myth in Italy. Long time ago there was a woman who had two daughters, one is ugly and one is very beautiful. Surprisingly, the woman loved the ugly daughter more and they were jealous of another daughters’s beauty. One day they decided to sent the beautiful daughter to a curse fairy to ask for a sieve. On her way to the castle of the fairy, she met a man who helped her and told her how to behave to find the object she sough after. In the castle, she must help the cats to do housework. The Gatto Mammone, who lives in the castle, is thankful and gives her what she asked for, along with a warning: on her way back home, she must not turn at the call of the donkey, but only when she hears a rooster. As she does so, a beautiful star is magically embedded in her forehead. After she came back, her sister also wanted to get the beautiful star so she went to the castle as well. However, she was shunned away by the cats. On her way back, she turns at the bray of the ass, and a donkey’s tail is magically embedded in her forehead.
Author Archives: Wanlu Ni
Italian Proverb
Original Script: Nel vino c’è la verità
Translation: In the wine there is truth
Background information: I was in the study abroad program in Italy last year. When I stayed in Italy, I realized how wine has always been an important element of the Italian culture, deeply rooted in the history and the land.
Thoughts about the piece: This proverb indicates how wine helps us reveal our inner thoughts and feelings that we would otherwise keep to ourselves if we were sober.
Italian Proverb
Original Script: Nella botte piccola c’è il vino buono
Translation: In the small barrel, there is the good wine.
Background information: This Italian proverb refers to the fact that the finest wine is usually produced in limited quantities. It’s in contrast to the thought that “big” necessarily means “better,” suggesting that the concept of quality often doesn’t coincide with that of quantity.
Thoughts about the piece: Like lots of provers in Italy are related to wine, this one uses wine as a metaphor to talk about people and things in general.
The rooster from Barcelos
Original Script: There is a legend about the rooster from Barcelos. Barcelos is a small town in Portugal, and one day there was a crime happened in the town but people could not find the criminal. Later a pilgrim on his way to Santiago de Compostela was suspected by the police. He was caught by the police and nobody believe in his innocence. Finally, he was condemned to death by hanging. The pilgrim then argued for his innocence by saying that, “My innocence is as certain as the roasted rooster will crow three times if I should be hung.” Everybody laughed at him because the rooster was roasted and it was dead. However, when the man was to be hung, the roasted rooster stood up and began to crow. People then believed in his innocence and set him free. The rooster from Barcelos later represents honesty and trust in Portugal.
Background information: The rooster from Barcelos is a mascot in Portugal. It is a rooster with lively colors that appears on souvenirs such as the t-shirt, keychain, and tea cups.
Portuguese Proverb
Original Script: Quem não tem cão, caça com gato.
Translation: those who don’t have a dog, hunt with a cat.
Background information: the original proverb is “caça como gato”, which means “hunts like a cat.” Dogs help people during hunting, but cats are always alone. The original meaning of the proverb is that when you want to do something but cannot find a companion, you should go doing it alone. Now the meaning of the proverb changed slightly and it used to indicate that when you cannot find the necessary means to do what you need, you should try to find other means.
Thoughts about the piece: cats always give people the impression of lonely and independent.