The Pentamerone is structured around a fantastic frame story, in which fifty stories are related over the course of five days, rather than the ten of the Tuscan compendium. The frame story is that of a cursed, melancholy princess named Zoza ("mud" or "slime" in Neapolitan, but also used as a term of endearment). She cannot laugh, no matter what her father does to amuse her, so he sets up a fountain of oil by the door, thinking people slipping in the oil would make her laugh. An old woman tried to gather oil, a page boy broke her jug, and the old woman grew so angry that she danced about, and Zoza laughed at her. The old woman cursed her to marry only the prince of Round-Field, whom she could only wake by filling a pitcher with tears in three days. With some aid from fairies, who also give her gifts, Zoza found the prince and the pitcher, and nearly filled the pitcher when she fell asleep. A Moorish slave steals it, finishes filling it, and claims the prince.

This frame story in itself is a fairy tale, combining motifs that will appear in other stories: the princess who cannot laugh in The Magic Swan, Golden Goose, and The Princess Who Never Smiled; the curse to marry only one hard-to-find person, in Snow-White-Fire-Red and Anthousa, Xanthousa, Chrisomalousa; and the heroine falling asleep while trying to save the hero, and then losing him because of trickery in The Sleeping Prince and Nourie Hadig.

The now-pregnant slave-queen demands (at the impetus of Zoza's fairy gifts) that her husband tell her stories, or else she would crush the unborn child. The husband hires ten female storytellers to keep her amused; disguised among them is Zoza. Each tells five stories, most of which are more suitable to courtly, rather than juvenile, audiences. The Moorish woman's treachery is revealed in the final story (related, suitably, by Zoza), and she is buried, pregnant, up to her neck in the ground and left to die. Zoza and the Prince live happily ever after.

Many of these fairy tales are the oldest known variants in existence.[6]

The fairy tales are:

The First Day
"The Tale of the Ogre"
"The Myrtle"
"Peruonto"
"Vardiello"
"The Flea"
"Cenerentola" – translated in english as Cinderella
"The Merchant"
"Goat-Face"
"The Enchanted Doe"
"The Three Sisters"
The Second Day
"Parsley" – a variant of Rapunzel
"Green Meadow"
"Violet"
"Pippo" – a variant of Puss In Boots
"The Snake"
"The She-Bear" – a variant of Allerleirauh
"The Dove" – a variant of Snow-White-Fire-Red
"The Young Slave" – a variant of Snow White
"The Padlock"
"The Buddy"
The Third Day
"Cannetella"
"Penta of the Chopped-off Hands" – a variant of The Girl Without Hands
"Face"
"Sapia Liccarda"
"The Cockroach, the Mouse, and the Cricket"
"The Garlic Patch"
"Corvetto"
"The Booby"
"Rosella"
"The Three Fairies"
The Fourth Day
"The Stone in the Cock's Head"
"The Two Brothers"
"The Three Enchanted Princes"
"The Seven Little Pork Rinds"
"The Dragon"
"The Three Crowns"
"The Two Cakes" – a variant of Diamonds and Toads
"The Seven Doves" – a variant of The Seven Ravens
"The Raven"
"Pride Punished" – a variant of King Thrushbeard
The Fifth Day
"The Goose
"The Months"
"Pintosmalto"
"The Golden Root" – a variant of Cupid and Psyche
"Sun, Moon, and Talia" – a variant of Sleeping Beauty
"Sapia"
"The Five Sons"
"Nennillo and Nennella" – a variant of Brother and Sister
"The Three Citrons" – a variant of The Love for Three Oranges