Giambattista Basile in the context of "Sleeping Beauty"

Cinderella or The Little Glass Slipper, is a French folk tale with thousands of variants that are told throughout the world. The protagonist is a young girl living in unfortunate circumstances who is suddenly blessed with remarkable fortune, ultimately ascending to the throne through marriage. The story of Rhodopis—recounted by the Greek geographer Strabo sometime between 7 BC and AD 23—is about a Greek slave girl who marries the king of Egypt, and is usually considered to be the earliest known variant of the Cinderella story.

The first literary European version of the story was published in Italy by Giambattista Basile in his Pentamerone in 1634. The version that is now most widely known in the English-speaking world was published in French by Charles Perrault in Histoires ou contes du temps passé (translation: "Histories or tales of times passed") in 1697 as Cendrillon, and was anglicized as Cinderella. Another version was later published as Aschenputtel by the Brothers Grimm in their folk tale collection Grimms' Fairy Tales in 1812.

"Rapunzel" (/rəˈpʌnzəl/ rə-PUN-zəl; German: [ʁaˈpʊnt͡sl̩] ; French: Raiponce or Persinette) is a German fairy tale most notably recorded by the Brothers Grimm and it was published in 1812 as part of Children's and Household Tales (KHM 12). The Grimms' story was developed from the French literary fairy tale of Persinette by Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de La Force (1698), which itself is an alternative version of the Italian fairy tale Petrosinella by Giambattista Basile (1634).

The tale is classified as Aarne–Thompson type 310 ("The Maiden in The Tower"). Its plot has been used and parodied in various media. Its best known line is, "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair."

"Sun, Moon, and Talia" (Italian: Sole, Luna, e Talia) is an Italian literary fairy tale written by Giambattista Basile and published posthumously in the last volume of his 1634-36 work, the Pentamerone. Charles Perrault retold this fairy tale in 1697 as "Sleeping Beauty", as did the Brothers Grimm in 1812 as "Little Briar Rose".

It is Aarne-Thompson type 410; other tales of this type include The Glass Coffin and The Young Slave.

The Pentamerone, subtitled Lo cunto de li cunti (lit. 'The Tale of Tales'), is a seventeenth-century Neapolitan fairy tale collection by Italian poet and courtier Giambattista Basile.

"Petrosinella" is a Neapolitan fairy tale, written by Giambattista Basile in his collection of fairy tales in 1634, Lo cunto de li cunti (The Tale of Tales), or Pentamerone.

It is Aarne–Thompson type 310 "the Maiden in the Tower", of which the best known variant is "Rapunzel", and it is the earliest recorded variant of this tale known to exist.

"Puss in Boots" (German: Der gestiefelte Kater; French: Le Maître chat ou le Chat botté; Italian: Il gatto con gli stivali; Dutch: De Gelaarsde Kat) is a European fairy tale about an anthropomorphic cat who uses trickery and deceit to gain power, wealth, and the hand in marriage of a princess for his penniless and low-born master.

The oldest written telling version Costantino Fortunato (Italian for "Lucky Costantino") by Italian author Giovanni Francesco Straparola, included in The Facetious Nights of Straparola (c. 1550–1553), in which the cat is a fairy in disguise who helps his owner, a poor boy named Costantino from Bohemia, to gain his princess by duping a king, a lord, and many commoners. There is a version written by Girolamo Morlini, from whom Straparola used various tales in The Facetious Nights; another version was published in 1634 by Giambattista Basile with the title Cagliuso. The most popular version of the tale was written in French at the close of the seventeenth century by Charles Perrault (1628–1703), a retired civil servant and member of the Académie française.

The Young Slave is an Italian literary fairy tale written by Giambattista Basile in his 1634 work, the Pentamerone.

It is Aarne-Thompson type 709, Snow White; other variants include Bella Venezia and Myrsina. The tale is based in Italy, and is often cited as one of the first Snow White stories to exist.