Caepulla: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 11:44, 6 November 2025

ChildrenDeathDeath of sonDeceitful womanGriefFather/son relationshipsIllnessLesson: women’s cleverness and deceitMedicineMurderSuicide

A man has a gravely ill son, whom no doctors can cure. The boy desperately craves a specific fruit or vegetable. The man's wife persuades the him to not allow the son to eat that food, and eventually the boy dies. An autopsy reveals that a growth of bone in the boy's organs was what had killed him. The doctor later learns that an onion would have cured his son, kills his wife (the boy's mother) and then himself.

Adapted from Wikeley (1983) by Ava Byrne, edited by Jane Bonsall.

Note
In the Italian versions, the son desires an onion. In the Forty Vezirs, it is a watermelon.

Critical Literature
Wikeley (1983), Nishimura (2001)

Caepulla appears in the following versions and secondary versions

Caepulla is narrated in the following occurrences
No recorded narrations available.

Caepulla appears in the following manuscripts
This inset story appears in no manuscripts of the database

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 {{Inset Story
+|Has Critical Literature=Wikeley (1983); Nishimura (2001)
 |Has Motif=Children; Death; Death of son; Deceitful woman; Grief; Father/son relationships; Illness; Lesson: women’s cleverness and deceit; Medicine; Murder; Suicide
-|Has Summary=A doctor has a gravely ill son, who craves a fruit/vegetable. His wife persuades the doctor to not allow his son it, and he died. The doctor learns that the onion would have cured his son, kills his wife (the boy's mother) and then himself.
+|Has Summary=A man has a gravely ill son, whom no doctors can cure. The boy desperately craves a specific fruit or vegetable. The man's wife persuades the him to not allow the son to eat that food, and eventually the boy dies. An autopsy reveals that a growth of bone in the boy's organs was what had killed him. The doctor later learns that an onion would have cured his son, kills his wife (the boy's mother) and then himself.
-Adapted from Wikeley (1983) by Ava Byrne.
+Adapted from Wikeley (1983) by Ava Byrne, edited by Jane Bonsall.
 |Has Note=In the Italian versions, the son desires an onion. In the Forty Vezirs, it is a watermelon.
 }}