By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘Apple Girl’ is an Italian folktale which was memorably told by Italo Calvino (1923-85) in his 1956 collection Italian Folktales. The story concerns a queen who gives birth to an apple, which the king of a neighbouring kingdom sees and falls in love with. Before we analyse ‘Apple Girl’ it might be worth quickly summarising the plot of this short tale.