In those times, the inexplicable pregnancy of a daughter was clearly a serious concern particularly for noble families, but also for commoners. At stake were the legacy and pride of a family – as in “Peruonto”, when the king announces that “my daughter has provided me with the horns of ink to write the chronicles or rather the debacle of my shame. I’m inclined to deliver her soul from her body before she delivers a bad brood.” (107) This shame stems not only from the lack of purity and innocence that the Princess should typically represent, but also, and more importantly perhaps, from the fact that this was a violation of the family's male patriarchal authority. A woman’s body was considered a possession of her male relatives, father at first and later husband – so the girl's unauthorized pregnancy was seen as a violation of her father’s rule. In both these stories, the father’s pride was hurt to such an extent that considers killing his own daughter: as described in “Pietro the Fool”, the king “decided to have his daughter killed to avoid the disgrace and vicious gossip.” (102)
In keeping with this old-fashioned view of gender roles, the women in these stories are more understanding and submissive than the males. In "Pietro the Fool", the Queen seems more concerned about the actual well-being of the Princess than about her Palace’s reputation. She is in denial about the Princess's fate and strives to attribute the young girl's visible swelling to various incurable diseases. When the King orders the childbearing Princess to be killed, the Queen begs her husband to be compassionate and to spare her until the child is born. Although this does help put off the Princess’ death sentence, ultimately it is the King who has power and he decides to dispose of their daughter by putting her in a barrel and tossing it into the ocean. Once again, the Queen takes pity on her daughter and tries to help her, by supplying the caskets with bread, figs and wine. In “Peruonto”, the Queen is never mentioned but a similarly sympathetic role is filled by the princess’s ladies – who secretly fill the barrel with fruit before it is tossed at sea, ultimately saving the Princess, Peruonto and their two children.
Other than the simple fact that this young respectful girl was impregnated, an important aspect of this magical pregnancy is the father’s status, which ties in with the idea of social class. These tales focus primarily on the issue of the clash between social classes, symbolized by the fact that an innocent, respectful girl from the aristocracy is impregnated by a commoner. But one should highlight another aspect of this class struggle which is here apparent: the contempt which the lower class is viewed is reflected in the physical description of its members. Not only are Pietro and Peruonto poor in wealth and status, but Peruonto is described as an “ ugly monstrosity who made you nauseous and want to vomit just by looking at him” (110) whilst Pietro is described as an “ugly fool” (104). In such tales, wealth and beauty often go together, and both Pietro and Peruonto fit these criteria.
It must be also be noted, finally, that in both these tales the heroes goes through positive transformation, making their stories rise tales, whilst the Princess start out in a position of power, lose it all, and then regain it – thereby having a restoration process. Both Pietro and Peruonto wish for something without knowing where it will take them – and it is only due to the woman’s intelligence and skill that their stories result in a traditional, fairytale happy ending. If the princesses hadn’t taken charge of the wishing and asked for all the positive transformations to take place, their lives would’ve ended miserably.
Although there maybe a few small differences between these two tales, primarily in the way they are told, by examining the storylines though the topic of pregnancy it is easy to conclude that the male-dominated society of the time plays a very important role in the plot and development of the story. Both social class and gender define the characters and shape the story, and the motifs of the miraculous pregnancies are critical for understanding these tales.