This play seems to be one of the first adaptations for puppets of Carlo Gozzi’s (1720-1806) “fiaba”—Il Mostro Turchino (The Blue Monster). The manuscript is preserved in the Carlo Colla & Figli’s archives; it used to belong to the puppeteer Giuseppe Fiando, who performed in Turin and then in Milan between the end of the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century. On the front cover is the wax stamp of the Milan prefecture, which granted the right to perform the play on condition that “the character of Gerolamo is as decent as he can possibly be”. The adaptation is quite faithful to Gozzi’s play, but it made a few significant modifications, most importantly by replacing Truffaldino with Gerolamo (the character created by the puppeteer Fiando) and Smeraldina with Colombina. These characters are the servants of the two main characters (respectively, of Taer and Dardanè); they feature in two comical scenes.

The action is set in China. It begins inside a cave, where the genie Zelou has been turned into the Mostro Turchino (Blue Monster) after having offended the Wise Men of the Sacred Mountain. Zelou will only be freed if he passes this curse to someone else. He unleashes a storm on the lovers Taer and Dardanè and thus separates them. The young girl, Dardanè, is turned into a young man named Acmed; Zelou reveals that she will have to defeat three plagues which are ruining the kingdom of Nanquin if she wants to reunite with her lover Taer: the Mostro Turchino, the Cavaliere Fatato (Enchanted Knight) and an Idra (seven-headed Hydra).

These three plagues appeared in the kingdom when the king Fanfur remarried with the beautiful slave Gulindì. Dardanè, looking like the prince Acmed, arouses Gulindì’s love; when she is rejected, the latter forces Dardanè to defeat the plagues.

Then, Zelou meets Taer and tells him about Dardanè / Acmed’s fate and about the threats that loom over the kingdom. He invites Taer to enter the cave to read a book which relates his misadventures; then, Zelou summons the Wise Men and passes the Mostro’s appearance onto Taer.

Thanks to the Mostro Turchino / Taer’s valuable advice, Dardanè / Acmed defeats the plagues. The Mostro Turchino lets himself be chained, without struggling; the Cavaliere is overcome and, when Dardanè kills the Idra, she also kills Gulindì. Just before she dies, the latter accuses Dardanè / Acmed of having poisoned her. Dardanè / Acmed is sent to jail with the Mostro Turchino. When she is about to be taken to be put to death, the Mostro Turchino reveals the young woman’s true identity, thus breaking the spell which was keeping her in a male body. The Mostro must die, since he has not managed to make Dardanè fall in love with his grotesque appearance; however, just before it is too late, she declares her love to him and the spell which bound Taer to the Mostro’s body is also broken.