Stornello Verses

are those in which certain words are harped on and turned about and about. They are common among the Tuscan peasants. The word is from tornaʹre (to return).

“Iʹll tell him the white, and the green, and the red,

Mean our country has flung the vile yoke from her head;

Iʹll tell him the green, and the red, and the white

Would look well by his side as a sword-knot so bright;

Iʹll tell him the red, and the white, and the green

Is the prize that we play for, a prize we will win.”

Notes and Queries.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.