(1575-1632) Italian writer of poetry and
short stories. He is most well known for his
collection of fairy tales published after his
death in 1634 under the name of Il Pentamerone (from Greek penta, five, and hemera,
day). It is composed of a total of fifty stories relayed by ten women over a
period of five days for the
purpose of entertaining a prince and his new bride (a slave who had taken the
place of the true princess).