Ligurian:
# Narraçioin do Trexento

Narraçion agiografica e moralezzante trexentesca, stæta tiâ da-a vitta do Buddha pe mezo di besantin e dapeu crestianizzâ, l’istöia de Jossaffà a l’é ben apòsta quella do prinçipe Siddharta Gautama, scin da piccin stæto serrou inte unna tore da seu poæ, ch’o l’ea allägnou intanto che o figgio o no vegnisse à savei di patimenti e di bruttoî do mondo; ma unna vòtta ch’o l’é cresciuo, o Jossaffà o veu savei cöse gh’é a-o de feua do seu palaçio e, dòppo tante preghee, seu poæ o ghe ô consentisce.

Inta stramesuâ quantitæ de scriti de trattatistica e cronachistica in zeneise do Trexento, s’attreuva ascì unna vorgarizzaçion do Chronicon Pontificum et Imperatorium (1277-78) do Martin de Troppau, donde se peu destanâ de minime tentative à «infranchî unna tradiçion scrittöia pe-o resto ben ben imbeviâ de moralitæ religiosa». O tòcco donde se træta do Mago Merlin o fa soppoñe inte l’ambito ligure un interesse pe-a lettiatua cavalleresca ciù grande de quello che lascia imaginâ e testimonianse che ne gh’é arrestou.

Mæximo inti Miraculi de la biâ vergen Sancta Maria se peu osservâ de sà e de là a coæ de arrösâse da-i modelli agiografichi pe lasciâse anâ con ciù libertæ a-o piaxei de contâ, con descrive tutto un mondo regaggio de cavaggëi, borgheixi e fratti. Into tòcco che reportemmo chì coscì, s’attrovemmo a-a dreitua de fronte à un embrion de stöia de l’orrô, donde in fæto e motivaçioin edificante passan in segondo cian: de narraçioin semeggeive à sta chì son con probabilitæ a-a reixe de föe e conti popolari liguri, che son caratterizzæ – comm’o l’aiva osservou o Italo Calvino – da un gusto fantastico gotixizzante e grottesco.

English translation:
# Fiction in the 1300s

A hagiographic and moralising 14th-century tale, taken from the life of the Buddha via the Byzantine and Christianised. The story of Jossaffà is precisely that of Prince Siddhartha Gautama, locked up in a tower from an early age by his father, who was worried that he would come to know the sufferings and evils of the world; but once grown up, Jossaffà wants to know what lies outside his palace and, after much prayer, his father grants him this.

Among the countless numbers of treatises and chronicles written in fourteenth-century Genoese, one also finds a translation of the Chronicon Pontificum et Imperatorum (1277-78) by Martin of Troppau, where one can detect very timid attempts to “liberate a writing tradition that was otherwise strongly imbued with religious morality”. The passage on the magician Merlin suggests a more widespread interest in chivalric literature in the Ligurian sphere than the surviving records would otherwise suggest.

Also in the Miraculi de la biâ vergen Sancta Maria one can observe here and there a desire to move away from hagiographic models in order to indulge more freely in the pleasure of storytelling, describing a lively world of knights, bourgeoisie and monks. In the passage quoted here we are even faced with an embryo of a horror tale, where edifying motives actually take second place: narratives such as these are probably at the basis of Ligurian fairy tales and folk tales, characterised – as Italo Calvino observed – by a gothic, grotesque fantasy taste.