A Prancing Horse (La rallegrata, 1922)

This third group of fifteen stories was first printed as a part of the 1922 Bemporad edition of Stories for a Year.

Some of the stories here had already appeared in other collected volumes before. “Sun and Shade” (“Sole e ombra”), together with other short stories, was part of Jests of Life and Death (Beffe della morte e della vita) published by the editor Lumachi in Florence in 1902; while ten other tales, “A Prancing Horse” (“La rallegrata”), “Chants the Epistle” (“Canta l’Epistola”), “Bobbio’s Hail Mary” (“L’avemaria di Bobbio”), “The Imbecile” (“L’imbecille”), “The Little Cripple Girl’s Three Thoughts” (“I tre pensieri della sbiobbina”), “Above and Below” (“Sopra e sotto”), “The License” (“La patente”), “Night” (“Notte”), “Either of One or of No One” (“O di uno o di nessuno”), “Nenè and Ninì” (“Nenè e Ninì”), and “Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine!”, were included in the 1915 Treves edition The Trap (La trappola), published in Milan; “Her Majesty” (“Sua Maestà”) had appeared in Weeds From Our Yard (Erba del nostro orto) published by Studio Editoriale Lombardo in Milan in 1915.

Of the fifteen tales in this Collection, some had previously appeared in journals and magazines: “Sun and Shade” in Rassegna settimanale universale, November 1, 1896; “A Dirge” (“Nenia”), in Il Marzocco, February 24, 1901; “Her Majesty”, in Il Marzocco, July 3, 1904. The following tales appeared all in the Corriere della Sera: “The License”, August 9, 1911, “Chants the Epistle”, December 31, 1911, “Bobbio’s Hail Mary”, February 21, 1912, “Nenè and Ninì,” March 31, 1912, “Night”, August 1, 1912, “The Imbecile”, September 11, 1912, “Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine!,” February 16, 1913, and “A Prancing Horse”, October 26, 1913.

The short story “Goy” (“Un goj”) is the only one included in this Collection that was never published before appearing in Naked Life in 1922.

“The Imbecile” was the source for the eponymous one-act play staged in 1922 and later published by Bemporad in 1926, while “The License” was turned into a theatrical text and published by Bemporad in Milan in 1919, being staged in the same year. The story “Either of One or of No One” (“O di uno o di nessuno) inspired a three-act play of the same title, which was published by Bemporad in Florence in 1929 and staged the same year.

In 1938, film director Mario Baffico directed the drama No Man's Land (Terra di nessuno) working from the scenario Where Romulus Built (Dove Romolo edificò) by Stefano Landi (Pirandello). Landi adapted the scenario in 1935 from two of his father’s short stories, following his father’s indications: “Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine!” and “Romolo.”

The short stories contained in the Collection A Prancing Horse are:

“A Prancing Horse” (“La rallegrata”)
“Chants the Epistle” (“Canta l’Epistola”)
“Sun and Shade” (“Sole e ombra”)
“Bobbio’s Hail Mary” (“L’avemaria di Bobbio”)
“The Imbecile” (“L’imbecille”)
“Her Majesty” (“Sua Maestà”)
“The Little Cripple Girl’s Three Thoughts” (“I tre pensieri della sbiobbina”)
“Above and Below” (“Sopra e sotto”)
“A Goy” (“Un goj”)
“The License” (“La patente”)
“Night” (“Notte”)
“Either of One or of No One” (“O di uno o di nessuno”)
“A Dirge” (“Nenia”)
“Nenè and Ninì” (“Nenè e Nini”)
“Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine!”