Chapter Five - Antifascism for Children (1939–1940)

Summary

During that summer of 1939, on one of her trips from Meana to Pollone to visit the Croce family, Ada brought with her a children's story and amused Croce's daughters with the tale. The story had come about somewhat inadvertently the year before.

One day in 1938, on the occasion of a visit by Mussolini to the city of Turin, Ada, Ettore, and Paolo, who was by then around twelve years old, decided to go hiking in the mountains in the Susa Valley near Meana. They wanted to escape the parades and fanfare that celebrated the fascist dictator's arrival. But even in remote Meana, at the railway station, important because the train led to France through the Frejus Tunnel, they saw the words “AL DUCE” and “ALL'IMPERO” (to the leader, to the empire) written in giant letters. Disgusted, they decided to go farther up the mountain. While they were walking, in order to “distract themselves and vent their scorn,” they decided to tell a story. After concluding that an animal would provide the best choice of subject matter for their tale—“better adapted to making it more human while at the same time lending itself to fantasy”—Ada spent some time discussing with Ettore and Paolo what animal to choose:

But what animal? A dog? Too commonplace and pathetic. A tom-cat? Given my deep passion for cats the idea attracted me, but I rejected it, fearing that it would give the story a character that was too autobiographical. A horse? Too detached. A wild beast? Too diffi cult to adapt. A fish? Too silent. For this very reason, Ettore would have liked it, but it did not fit our purpose. One cannot write a story about someone who never talks! A swallow? Too intellectual and sentimental. A rooster? Why not? One of our neighbors, who was really a bit odd, had at home in her residence in the city a little rooster who acted in an unnatural way … singing during the hours of the night…. This type would do fine for a protagonist.

A name for the little rooster became the next problem. Among the names of Paolo's schoolmates, Sebastiano seemed the most fitting.