The Decamerone Boccaccio's monster collection is an excellent source for period stories of all kinds. From fabliaux tales to stories or romance, chivalry, or grief, it's all in here, all period. This site is an excellent guide to both the book and its historical setting. The text translation is very "forsooth" but, for Italian speakers, there's also an Italian version.
Il Pentamarone By Giambattista Basile, this book is technically post-period having been published in 1637, but it draws heavily from folklore and Basile grew-up in period, thus, I still think of it as a valid source. People may disagree however. Here is an alternate site which is not yet completed, but allows the stories to be viewed on the web as opposed to downloaded.
Le piacevoli notti by Straparola. Unfortunately Straparola's collection is less well-known and thus less translated, making this another ILL search (unless you are near a good university library). The only translation I found was The Facetious nights of Straparola by W.G. Waters. Various stories can be found in other collections. His beautiful, lush (*grin* and for-adult's) Sleeping Beauty story can be found in Here All Dwell Free : Stories to Heal the Wounded Feminine by Gertrude Mueller Nelson, which, revealing my still-Jungian bent (despite a year of very practical folklore-training) I loved. Duralice can be found at the highlighted link.Return to Story Sources