The Queen (Sun, Moon, and Talia)



The Queen is the main antagonist of the Italian fairy tale, Sun, Moon, and Talia, by Giambattista Basile. This is the original version of Sleeping Beauty.

Sun, Moon, and Talia
When she started to notice how her husband, the King, had always mentioned Talia, and her two children Sun and Moon, in his sleep, she began to realize that her husband cheated on her with another woman. The next day, she went to her secretary to inquire his answer on her husband's mysterious admirer. The secretary explained to her that he knew Talia, and that he had children through her. She then orders her children to bring the two children to her. After the secretary had done what she had requested unto him, she goes to her royal cook, and she orders him to cook the two children alive, and then serve them in several dishes to her unsuspecting husband. The cook went against her wishes, and he hid the children and cooked two lambs for his ruler instead. Because the Queen had no idea that the King was actually eating lamb, she continually mocked her husband for seemingly eating his own children.

Later on, still not satisfied with her cruelty, she then makes a decree to send Talia herself to the palace. The guards did as she said, and they soon brought the young girl to her. She then demanded to her guards that she should be thrown into a great bonfire on the floor. When Talia was desperately pleading for her life, the Queen simply asks her to strip down and to give her clothes to her, stating that those clothes didn't deserve to burn with a lowly person.

Thankfully, the King himself barged in at the right moment, and he then sentences his wife to death. The Queen requested that she take her valuable clothes off first so that they wouldn't burn with her, and after this was done, she was thrown into the great bonfire that she had set up for Talia. The King and Talia soon marry afterwards, and they lived happily ever after.