The Three Crowns is an Italian literary fairy tale

Fairy tale

A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...

 written by Giambattista Basile

Giambattista Basile

Giambattista Basile was an Italian poet, courtier, and fairy tale collector.- Biography :Born to a Neapolitan middle-class family, Basile was, during his career, a courtier and soldier to various Italian princes, including the doge of Venice. According to Benedetto Croce he was born in 1575, while...

 in his 1634 work, the Pentamerone

Pentamerone

The Pentamerone is a seventeenth-century fairy tale collection by Italian poet and courtier Giambattista Basile.-Background:...

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A childless king heard a voice asking him whether he would rather have a daughter who would flee him or a son who would destroy him. After consulting his wise men, who argued over whether the danger to life or honor was the worse, he concluded that the daughter would be less harmful to his realm; he went back to the garden and answered the voice that he wanted the daughter.