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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13102 ***
+
+THE DECAMERON
+
+OF
+
+GIOVANNI BOCCACCIO
+
+Faithfully Translated
+
+By J.M. Rigg
+
+with illustrations by Louis Chalon
+
+
+VOLUME II
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+- FIFTH DAY -
+
+NOVEL I. - Cimon, by loving, waxes wise, wins his wife Iphigenia by
+capture on the high seas, and is imprisoned at Rhodes. He is delivered by
+Lysimachus; and the twain capture Cassandra and recapture Iphigenia in
+the hour of their marriage. They flee with their ladies to Crete, and
+having there married them, are brought back to their homes.
+
+NOVEL II. - Gostanza loves Martuccio Gomito, and hearing that he is dead,
+gives way to despair, and hies her alone aboard a boat, which is wafted
+by the wind to Susa. She finds him alive in Tunis, and makes herself
+known to him, who, having by his counsel gained high place in the king's
+favour, marries her, and returns with her wealthy to Lipari.
+
+NOVEL III. - Pietro Boccamazza runs away with Agnolella, and encounters a
+gang of robbers: the girl takes refuge in a wood, and is guided to a
+castle. Pietro is taken, but escapes out of the hands of the robbers, and
+after some adventures arrives at the castle where Agnolella is, marries
+her, and returns with her to Rome.
+
+NOVEL IV. - Ricciardo Manardi is found by Messer Lizio da Valbona with
+his daughter, whom he marries, and remains at peace with her father.
+
+NOVEL V. - Guidotto da Cremona dies leaving a girl to Giacomino da Pavia.
+She has two lovers in Faenza, to wit, Giannole di Severino and Minghino
+di Mingole, who fight about her. She is discovered to be Giannole's
+sister, and is given to Minghino to wife.
+
+NOVEL VI. - Gianni di Procida, being found with a damsel that he loves,
+and who had been given to King Frederic, is bound with her to a stake, so
+to be burned. He is recognized by Ruggieri dell' Oria, is delivered, and
+marries her.
+
+NOVEL VII. - Teodoro, being enamoured of Violante, daughter of Messer
+Amerigo, his lord, gets her with child, and is sentenced to the gallows;
+but while he is being scourged thither, he is recognized by his father,
+and being set at large, takes Violante to wife.
+
+NOVEL VIII. - Nastagio degli Onesti, loving a damsel of the Traversari
+family, by lavish expenditure gains not her love. At the instance of his
+kinsfolk he hies him to Chiassi, where he sees a knight hunt a damsel and
+slay her and cause her to be devoured by two dogs. He bids his kinsfolk
+and the lady that he loves to breakfast. During the meal the said damsel
+is torn in pieces before the eyes of the lady, who, fearing a like fate,
+takes Nastagio to husband.
+
+NOVEL IX. - Federigo degli Alberighi loves and is not loved in return: he
+wastes his substance by lavishness until nought is left but a single
+falcon, which, his lady being come to see him at his house, he gives her
+to eat: she, knowing his case, changes her mind, takes him to husband and
+makes him rich.
+
+NOVEL X. - Pietro di Vinciolo goes from home to sup: his wife brings a
+boy into the house to bear her company: Pietro returns, and she hides her
+gallant under a hen-coop: Pietro explains that in the house of Ercolano,
+with whom he was to have supped, there was discovered a young man
+bestowed there by Ercolano's wife: the lady thereupon censures Ercolano's
+wife: but unluckily an ass treads on the fingers of the boy that is
+hidden under the hen-coop, so that he cries for pain: Pietro runs to the
+place, sees him, and apprehends the trick played on him by his wife,
+which nevertheless he finally condones, for that he is not himself free
+from blame.
+
+- SIXTH DAY -
+
+NOVEL I. - A knight offers to carry Madonna Oretta a horseback with a
+story, but tells it so ill that she prays him to dismount her.
+
+NOVEL II. - Cisti, a baker, by an apt speech gives Messer Geri Spina to
+know that he has by inadvertence asked that of him which he should not.
+
+NOVEL III. - Monna Nonna de' Pulci by a ready retort silences the scarce
+seemly jesting of the Bishop of Florence.
+
+NOVEL IV. - Chichibio, cook to Currado Gianfigliazzi, owes his safety to
+a ready answer, whereby he converts Currado's wrath into laughter, and
+evades the evil fate with which Currado had threatened him.
+
+NOVEL V. - Messer Forese da Rabatta and Master Giotto, the painter,
+journeying together from Mugello, deride one another's scurvy appearance.
+
+NOVEL VI. - Michele Scalza proves to certain young men that the Baronci
+are the best gentlemen in the world and the Maremma, and wins a supper.
+
+NOVEL VII. - Madonna Filippa, being found by her husband with her lover,
+is cited before the court, and by a ready and jocund answer acquits
+herself, and brings about an alteration of the statute.
+
+NOVEL VIII. - Fresco admonishes his niece not to look at herself in the
+glass, if 'tis, as she says, grievous to her to see nasty folk.
+
+NOVEL IX. - Guido Cavalcanti by a quip meetly rebukes certain Florentine
+gentlemen who had taken him at a disadvantage.
+
+NOVEL X. - Fra Cipolla promises to shew certain country-folk a feather of
+the Angel Gabriel, in lieu of which he finds coals, which he avers to be
+of those with which St. Lawrence was roasted.
+
+- SEVENTH DAY -
+
+NOVEL I. - Gianni Lotteringhi hears a knocking at his door at night: he
+awakens his wife, who persuades him that 'tis the bogey, which they fall
+to exorcising with a prayer; whereupon the knocking ceases.
+
+NOVEL II. - Her husband returning home, Peronella bestows her lover in a
+tun; which, being sold by her husband, she avers to have been already
+sold by herself to one that is inside examining it to set if it be sound.
+Whereupon the lover jumps out, and causes the husband to scour the tun
+for him, and afterwards to carry it to his house.
+
+NOVEL III. - Fra Rinaldo lies with his gossip: her husband finds him in
+the room with her; and they make him believe that he was curing his
+godson of worms by a charm.
+
+NOVEL IV. - Tofano one night locks his wife out of the house: she,
+finding that by no entreaties may she prevail upon him to let her in,
+feigns to throw herself into a well, throwing therein a great stone.
+Tofano hies him forth of the house, and runs to the spot: she goes into
+the house, and locks him out, and hurls abuse at him from within.
+
+NOVEL V. - A jealous husband disguises himself as a priest, and hears his
+own wife's confession: she tells him that she loves a priest, who comes
+to her every night. The husband posts himself at the door to watch for
+the priest, and meanwhile the lady brings her lover in by the roof, and
+tarries with him.
+
+NOVEL VI. - Madonna Isabella has with her Leonetto, her accepted lover,
+when she is surprised by one Messer Lambertuccio, by whom she is beloved:
+her husband coming home about the same time, she sends Messer
+Lambertuccio forth of the house drawn sword in hand, and the husband
+afterwards escorts Leonetto home.
+
+NOVEL VII. - Lodovico discovers to Madonna Beatrice the love that he
+bears her: she sends Egano, her husband, into a garden disguised as
+herself, and lies with Lodovico; who thereafter, being risen, hies him to
+the garden and cudgels Egano.
+
+ NOVEL VIII. - A husband grows jealous of his wife, and discovers that
+she has warning of her lover's approach by a piece of pack-thread, which
+she ties to her great toe a nights. While he is pursuing her lover, she
+puts another woman in bed in her place. The husband, finding her there,
+beats her, and cuts off her hair. He then goes and calls his wife's
+brothers, who, holding his accusation to be false, give him a rating.
+
+NOVEL IX. - Lydia, wife of Nicostratus, loves Pyrrhus, who to assure
+himself thereof, asks three things of her, all of which she does, and
+therewithal enjoys him in presence of Nicostratus, and makes Nicostratus
+believe that what he saw was not real.
+
+NOVEL X. - Two Sienese love a lady, one of them being her gossip: the
+gossip dies, having promised his comrade to return to him from the other
+world; which he does, and tells him what sort of life is led there.
+
+- EIGHTH DAY -
+
+NOVEL I. - Gulfardo borrows moneys of Guasparruolo, which he has agreed
+to give Guasparruolo's wife, that he may lie with her. He gives them to
+her, and in her presence tells Guasparruolo that he has done so, and she
+acknowledges that 'tis true.
+
+NOVEL II. - The priest of Varlungo lies with Monna Belcolore: he leaves
+with her his cloak by way of pledge, and receives from her a mortar. He
+returns the mortar, and demands of her the cloak that he had left in
+pledge, which the good lady returns him with a gibe.
+
+NOVEL III. - Calandrino, Bruno and Buffalmacco go in quest of the
+heliotrope beside the Mugnone. Thinking to have found it, Calandrino gets
+him home laden with stones. His wife chides him: whereat he waxes wroth,
+beats her, and tells his comrades what they know better than he.
+
+NOVEL IV. - The rector of Fiesole loves a widow lady, by whom he is not
+loved, and thinking to lie with her, lies with her maid, with whom the
+lady's brothers cause him to be found by his Bishop.
+
+NOVEL V. - Three young men pull down the breeches of a judge from the
+Marches, while he is administering justice on the bench.
+
+NOVEL VI. - Bruno and Buffalmacco steal a pig from Calandrino, and induce
+him to essay its recovery by means of pills of ginger and vernaccia. Of
+the said pills they give him two, one after the other, made of dog-ginger
+compounded with aloes; and it then appearing as if he had had the pig
+himself, they constrain him to buy them off, if he would not have them
+tell his wife.
+
+NOVEL VII. - A scholar loves a widow lady, who, being enamoured of
+another, causes him to spend a winter's night awaiting her in the snow.
+He afterwards by a stratagem causes her to stand for a whole day in July,
+naked upon a tower, exposed to the flies, the gadflies, and the sun.
+
+NOVEL VIII. - Two men keep with one another: the one lies with the
+other's wife: the other, being ware thereof, manages with the aid of his
+wife to have the one locked in a chest, upon which he then lies with the
+wife of him that is locked therein.
+
+NOVEL IX. - Bruno and Buffalmacco prevail upon Master Simone, a
+physician, to betake him by night to a certain place, there to be
+enrolled in a company that go the course. Buffalmacco throws him into a
+foul ditch, and there they leave him.
+
+NOVEL X. - A Sicilian woman cunningly conveys from a merchant that which
+he has brought to Palermo; he, making a shew of being come back thither
+with far greater store of goods than before, borrows money of her, and
+leaves her in lieu thereof water and tow.
+
+- NINTH DAY -
+
+NOVEL I. - Madonna Francesca, having two lovers, the one Rinuccio, the
+other Alessandro, by name, and loving neither of them, induces the one to
+simulate a corpse in a tomb, and the other to enter the tomb to fetch him
+out: whereby, neither satisfying her demands, she artfully rids herself
+of both.
+
+NOVEL II. - An abbess rises in haste and in the dark, with intent to
+surprise an accused nun abed with her lover: thinking to put on her veil,
+she puts on instead the breeches of a priest that she has with her: the
+nun, espying her headgear, and doing her to wit thereof, is acquitted,
+and thenceforth finds it easier to forgather with her lover.
+
+NOVEL III. - Master Simone, at the instance of Bruno and Buffalmacco and
+Nello, makes Calandrino believe that he is with child. Calandrino,
+accordingly, gives them capons and money for medicines, and is cured
+without being delivered.
+
+NOVEL IV. - Cecco, son of Messer Fortarrigo, loses his all at play at
+Buonconvento, besides the money of Cecco, son of Messer Angiulieri, whom,
+running after him in his shirt and crying out that he has robbed him, he
+causes to be taken by peasants: he then puts on his clothes, mounts his
+palfrey, and leaves him to follow in his shirt.
+
+NOVEL V. - Calandrino being enamoured of a damsel, Bruno gives him a
+scroll, averring that, if he but touch her therewith, she will go with
+him: he is found with her by his wife, who subjects him to a most severe
+and vexatious examination.
+
+NOVEL VI. - Two young men lodge at an inn, of whom the one lies with the
+host's daughter, his wife by inadvertence lying with the other. He that
+lay with the daughter afterwards gets into her father's bed and tells him
+all, taking him to be his comrade. They bandy words: whereupon the good
+woman, apprehending the circumstances, gets her to bed with her daughter,
+and by divers apt words re-establishes perfect accord.
+
+NOVEL VII. - Talano di Molese dreams that a wolf tears and rends all the
+neck and face of his wife: he gives her warning thereof, which she heeds
+not, and the dream comes true.
+
+NOVEL VIII. - Biondello gulls Ciacco in the matter of a breakfast: for
+which prank Ciacco is cunningly avenged on Biondello, causing him to be
+shamefully beaten.
+
+NOVEL IX. - Two young men ask counsel of Solomon; the one, how he is to
+make himself beloved, the other, how he is to reduce an unruly wife to
+order. The King bids the one to love, and the other to go to the Bridge
+of Geese.
+
+NOVEL X. - Dom Gianni at the instance of his gossip Pietro uses an
+enchantment to transform Pietro's wife into a mare; but, when he comes to
+attach the tail, Gossip Pietro, by saying that he will have none of the
+tail, makes the enchantment of no effect.
+
+- TENTH DAY -
+
+NOVEL I. - A knight in the service of the King of Spain deems himself ill
+requited. Wherefore the King, by most cogent proof, shews him that the
+blame rests not with him, but with the knight's own evil fortune; after
+which, he bestows upon him a noble gift.
+
+NOVEL II. - Ghino di Tacco, captures the Abbot of Cluny, cures him of a
+disorder of the stomach, and releases him. The abbot, on his return to
+the court of Rome, reconciles Ghino with Pope Boniface, and makes him
+prior of the Hospital.
+
+NOVEL III. - Mitridanes, holding Nathan in despite by reason of his
+courtesy, journey with intent to kill him, and falling in with him
+unawares, is advised by him how to compass his end. Following his advice,
+he finds him in a copse, and recognizing him, is shame-stricken, and
+becomes his friend.
+
+NOVEL IV. - Messer Gentile de' Carisendi, being come from Modena,
+disinters a lady that he loves, who has been buried for dead. She, being
+reanimated, gives birth to a male child; and Messer Gentile restores her,
+with her son, to Niccoluccio Caccianimico, her husband.
+
+NOVEL V. - Madonna Dianora craves of Messer Ansaldo a garden that shall
+be as fair in January as in May. Messer Ansaldo binds himself to a
+necromancer, and thereby gives her the garden. Her husband gives her
+leave to do Messer Ansaldo's pleasure: he, being apprised of her
+husband's liberality, releases her from her promise; and the necromancer
+releases Messer Ansaldo from his bond, and will tale nought of his.
+
+NOVEL VI. - King Charles the Old, being conqueror, falls in love with a
+young maiden, and afterward growing ashamed of his folly bestows her and
+her sister honourably in marriage.
+
+NOVEL VII. - King Pedro, being apprised of the fervent love borne him by
+Lisa, who thereof is sick, comforts her, and forthwith gives her in
+marriage to a young gentleman, and having kissed her on the brow, ever
+after professes himself her knight.
+
+NOVEL VIII. - Sophronia, albeit she deems herself wife to Gisippus, is
+wife to Titus Quintius Fulvus, and goes with him to Rome, where Gisippus
+arrives in indigence, and deeming himself scorned by Titus, to compass
+his own death, avers that he has slain a man. Titus recognizes him, and
+to save his life, alleges that 'twas he that slew the man: whereof he
+that did the deed being witness, he discovers himself as the murderer.
+Whereby it comes to pass that they are all three liberated by Octavianus;
+and Titus gives Gisippus his sister to wife, and shares with him all his
+substance.
+
+NOVEL IX. - Saladin, in guise of a merchant, is honourably entreated by
+Messer Torello. The Crusade ensuing, Messer Torello appoints a date,
+after which his wife may marry again: he is taken prisoner, and by
+training hawks comes under the Soldan's notice. The Soldan recognizes
+him, makes himself known to him, and entreats him with all honour. Messer
+Torello falls sick, and by magic arts is transported in a single night to
+Pavia, where his wife's second marriage is then to be solemnized, and
+being present thereat, is recognized by her, and returns with her to his
+house.
+
+NOVEL X. - The Marquis of Saluzzo, overborne by the entreaties of his
+vassals, consents to take a wife, but, being minded to please himself in
+the choice of her, takes a husbandman's daughter. He has two children by
+her, both of whom he makes her believe that he has put to death.
+Afterward, feigning to be tired of her, and to have taken another wife,
+he turns her out of doors in her shift, and brings his daughter into the
+house in guise of his bride; but, finding her patient under it all, he
+brings her home again, and shews her her children, now grown up, and
+honours her, and causes her to be honoured, as Marchioness.
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS TO THE DECAMERON
+
+VOLUME II
+
+Pietro and Agnolella (fifth day, third story)
+
+Gianni and Restituta (fifth day, sixth story)
+
+Calandrino singing (ninth day, fifth story)
+
+Titus, Gisippus, and Sophronia (tenth day, eighth story)
+
+
+--
+Endeth here the fourth day of the Decameron, beginneth the fifth, in
+which under the rule of Fiammetta discourse is had of good fortune
+befalling lovers after divers direful or disastrous adventures.
+--
+
+All the east was white, nor any part of our hemisphere unillumined by the
+rising beams, when the carolling of the birds that in gay chorus saluted
+the dawn among the boughs induced Fiammetta to rise and rouse the other
+ladies and the three gallants; with whom adown the hill and about the
+dewy meads of the broad champaign she sauntered, talking gaily of divers
+matters, until the sun had attained some height. Then, feeling his rays
+grow somewhat scorching, they retraced their steps, and returned to the
+villa; where, having repaired their slight fatigue with excellent wines
+and comfits, they took their pastime in the pleasant garden until the
+breakfast hour; when, all things being made ready by the discreet
+seneschal, they, after singing a stampita,(1) and a balladette or two,
+gaily, at the queen's behest, sat them down to eat. Meetly ordered and
+gladsome was the meal, which done, heedful of their rule of dancing, they
+trod a few short measures with accompaniment of music and song.
+Thereupon, being all dismissed by the queen until after the siesta, some
+hied them to rest, while others tarried taking their pleasure in the fair
+garden. But shortly after none, all, at the queen's behest, reassembled,
+according to their wont, by the fountain; and the queen, having seated
+herself on her throne, glanced towards Pamfilo, and bade him with a smile
+lead off with the stories of good fortune. Whereto Pamfilo gladly
+addressed himself, and thus began.
+
+(1) A song accompanied by music, but without dancing.
+
+
+NOVEL I.
+
+--
+Cimon, by loving, waxes wise, wins his wife Iphigenia by capture on the
+high seas, and is imprisoned at Rhodes. He is delivered by Lysimachus;
+and the twain capture Cassandra and recapture Iphigenia in the hour of
+their marriage. They flee with their ladies to Crete, and having there
+married them, are brought back to their homes.
+--
+
+Many stories, sweet my ladies, occur to me as meet for me to tell by way
+of ushering in a day so joyous as this will be: of which one does most
+commend itself to my mind, because not only has it, one of those happy
+endings of which to-day we are in quest, but 'twill enable you to
+understand how holy, how mighty and how salutary are the forces of Love,
+which not a few, witting not what they say, do most unjustly reprobate
+and revile: which, if I err not, should to you, for that I take you to be
+enamoured, be indeed welcome.
+
+Once upon a time, then, as we have read in the ancient histories of the
+Cypriotes, there was in the island of Cyprus a very great noble named
+Aristippus, a man rich in all worldly goods beyond all other of his
+countrymen, and who might have deemed himself incomparably blessed, but
+for a single sore affliction that Fortune had allotted him. Which was
+that among his sons he had one, the best grown and handsomest of them
+all, that was well-nigh a hopeless imbecile. His true name was Galesus;
+but, as neither his tutor's pains, nor his father's coaxing or
+chastisement, nor any other method had availed to imbue him with any
+tincture of letters or manners, but he still remained gruff and savage of
+voice, and in his bearing liker to a beast than to a man, all, as in
+derision, were wont to call him Cimon, which in their language signifies
+the same as "bestione" (brute)(1) in ours. The father, grieved beyond
+measure to see his son's life thus blighted, and having abandoned all
+hope of his recovery, nor caring to have the cause of his mortification
+ever before his eyes, bade him betake him to the farm, and there keep
+with his husbandmen. To Cimon the change was very welcome, because the
+manners and habits of the uncouth hinds were more to his taste than those
+of the citizens. So to the farm Cimon hied him, and addressed himself to
+the work thereof; and being thus employed, he chanced one afternoon as he
+passed, staff on shoulder, from one domain to another, to enter a
+plantation, the like of which for beauty there was not in those parts,
+and which was then--for 'twas the month of May--a mass of greenery; and,
+as he traversed it, he came, as Fortune was pleased to guide him, to a
+meadow girt in with trees exceeding tall, and having in one of its
+corners a fountain most fair and cool, beside which he espied a most
+beautiful girl lying asleep on the green grass, clad only in a vest of
+such fine stuff that it scarce in any measure veiled the whiteness of her
+flesh, and below the waist nought but an apron most white and fine of
+texture; and likewise at her feet there slept two women and a man, her
+slaves. No sooner did Cimon catch sight of her, than, as if he had never
+before seen form of woman, he stopped short, and leaning on his cudgel,
+regarded her intently, saying never a word, and lost in admiration. And
+in his rude soul, which, despite a thousand lessons, had hitherto
+remained impervious to every delight that belongs to urbane life, he felt
+the awakening of an idea, that bade his gross and coarse mind
+acknowledge, that this girl was the fairest creature that had ever been
+seen by mortal eye. And thereupon he began to distinguish her several
+parts, praising her hair, which shewed to him as gold, her brow, her nose
+and mouth, her throat and arms, and above all her bosom, which was as yet
+but in bud, and as he gazed, he changed of a sudden from a husbandman
+into a judge of beauty, and desired of all things to see her eyes, which
+the weight of her deep slumber kept close shut, and many a time he would
+fain have awakened her, that he might see them. But so much fairer seemed
+she to him than any other woman that he had seen, that he doubted she
+must be a goddess; and as he was not so devoid of sense but that he
+deemed things divine more worthy of reverence than things mundane, he
+forbore, and waited until she should awake of her own accord; and though
+he found the delay overlong, yet, enthralled by so unwonted a delight, he
+knew not how to be going. However, after he had tarried a long while, it
+so befell that Iphigenia--such was the girl's name--her slaves still
+sleeping, awoke, and raised her head, and opened her eyes, and seeing
+Cimon standing before her, leaning on his staff, was not a little
+surprised, and said:--"Cimon, what seekest thou in this wood at this
+hour?" For Cimon she knew well, as indeed did almost all the
+country-side, by reason alike of his uncouth appearance as of the rank
+and wealth of his father. To Iphigenia's question he answered never a
+word; but as soon as her eyes were open, nought could he do but intently
+regard them, for it seemed to him that a soft influence emanated from
+them, which filled his soul with a delight that he had never before
+known. Which the girl marking began to misdoubt that by so fixed a
+scrutiny his boorish temper might be prompted to some act that should
+cause her dishonour: wherefore she roused her women, and got up,
+saying:--"Keep thy distance, Cimon, in God's name." Whereto Cimon made
+answer:--"I will come with thee." And, albeit the girl refused his
+escort, being still in fear of him, she could not get quit of him; but he
+attended her home; after which he hied him straight to his father's
+house, and announced that he was minded on no account to go back to the
+farm: which intelligence was far from welcome to his father and kinsmen;
+but nevertheless they suffered him to stay, and waited to see what might
+be the reason of his change of mind. So Cimon, whose heart, closed to all
+teaching, love's shaft, sped by the beauty of Iphigenia, had penetrated,
+did now graduate in wisdom with such celerity as to astonish his father
+and kinsmen, and all that knew him. He began by requesting his father to
+let him go clad in the like apparel, and with, in all respects, the like
+personal equipment as his brothers: which his father very gladly did.
+Mixing thus with the gallants, and becoming familiar with the manners
+proper to gentlemen, and especially to lovers, he very soon, to the
+exceeding great wonder of all, not only acquired the rudiments of
+letters, but waxed most eminent among the philosophic wits. After which
+(for no other cause than the love he bore to Iphigenia) he not only
+modulated his gruff and boorish voice to a degree of smoothness suitable
+to urbane life, but made himself accomplished in singing and music; in
+riding also and in all matters belonging to war, as well by sea as by
+land, he waxed most expert and hardy. And in sum (that I go not about to
+enumerate each of his virtues in detail) he had not completed the fourth
+year from the day of his first becoming enamoured before he was grown the
+most gallant, and courteous, ay, and the most perfect in particular
+accomplishments, of the young cavaliers that were in the island of
+Cyprus. What then, gracious ladies, are we to say of Cimon? Verily nought
+else but that the high faculties, with which Heaven had endowed his noble
+soul, invidious Fortune had bound with the strongest of cords, and
+circumscribed within a very narrow region of his heart; all which cords
+Love, more potent than Fortune, burst and brake in pieces; and then with
+the might, wherewith he awakens dormant powers, he brought them forth of
+the cruel obfuscation, in which they lay, into clear light, plainly
+shewing thereby, whence he may draw, and whither he may guide, by his
+beams the souls that are subject to his sway.
+
+Now, albeit by his love for Iphigenia Cimon was betrayed, as young lovers
+very frequently are, into some peccadillos, yet Aristippus, reflecting
+that it had turned him from a booby into a man, not only bore patiently
+with him, but exhorted him with all his heart to continue steadfast in
+his love. And Cimon, who still refused to be called Galesus, because
+'twas as Cimon that Iphigenia had first addressed him, being desirous to
+accomplish his desire by honourable means, did many a time urge his suit
+upon her father, Cipseus, that he would give her him to wife: whereto
+Cipseus always made the same answer, to wit, that he had promised her to
+Pasimondas, a young Rhodian noble, and was not minded to break faith with
+him. However, the time appointed for Iphigenia's wedding being come, and
+the bridegroom having sent for her, Cimon said to himself:--'Tis now for
+me to shew thee, O Iphigenia, how great is my love for thee: 'tis by thee
+that I am grown a man, nor doubt I, if I shall have thee, that I shall
+wax more glorious than a god, and verily thee will I have, or die. Having
+so said, he privily enlisted in his cause certain young nobles that were
+his friends, and secretly fitted out a ship with all equipment meet for
+combat, and put to sea on the look-out for the ship that was to bear
+Iphigenia to Rhodes and her husband. And at length, when her father had
+done lavishing honours upon her husband's friends, Iphigenia embarked,
+and, the mariners shaping their course for Rhodes, put to sea. Cimon was
+on the alert, and overhauled them the very next day, and standing on his
+ship's prow shouted amain to those that were aboard Iphigenia's
+ship:--"Bring to; strike sails, or look to be conquered and sunk in the
+sea." Then, seeing that the enemy had gotten their arms above deck, and
+were making ready to make a fight of it, he followed up his words by
+casting a grapnel upon the poop of the Rhodians, who were making great
+way; and having thus made their poop fast to his prow, he sprang, fierce
+as a lion, reckless whether he were followed or no, on to the Rhodians'
+ship, making, as it were, no account of them, and animated by love,
+hurled himself, sword in hand, with prodigious force among the enemy, and
+cutting and thrusting right and left, slaughtered them like sheep;
+insomuch that the Rhodians, marking the fury of his onset, threw down
+their arms, and as with one voice did all acknowledge themselves his
+prisoners. To whom Cimon:--"Gallants," quoth he, "'twas neither lust of
+booty nor enmity to you that caused me to put out from Cyprus to attack
+you here with force of arms on the high seas. Moved was I thereto by that
+which to gain is to me a matter great indeed, which peaceably to yield me
+is to you but a slight matter; for 'tis even Iphigenia, whom more than
+aught else I love; whom, as I might not have her of her father in
+peaceable and friendly sort, Love has constrained me to take from you in
+this high-handed fashion and by force of arms; to whom I mean to be even
+such as would have been your Pasimondas: wherefore give her to me, and go
+your way, and God's grace go with you."
+
+Yielding rather to force than prompted by generosity, the Rhodians
+surrendered Iphigenia, all tears, to Cimon; who, marking her tears, said
+to her:--"Grieve not, noble lady; thy Cimon am I, who, by my long love,
+have established a far better right to thee than Pasimondas by the faith
+that was plighted to him." So saying, he sent her aboard his ship,
+whither he followed her, touching nought that belonged to the Rhodians,
+and suffering them to go their way. To have gotten so dear a prize made
+him the happiest man in the world, but for a time 'twas all he could do
+to assuage her grief: then, after taking counsel with his comrades, he
+deemed it best not to return to Cyprus for the present: and so, by common
+consent they shaped their course for Crete, where most of them, and
+especially Cimon, had alliances of old or recent date, and friends not a
+few, whereby they deemed that there they might tarry with Iphigenia in
+security. But Fortune, that had accorded Cimon so gladsome a capture of
+the lady, suddenly proved fickle, and converted the boundless joy of the
+enamoured gallant into woeful and bitter lamentation. 'Twas not yet full
+four hours since Cimon had parted from the Rhodians, when with the
+approach of night, that night from which Cimon hoped such joyance as he
+had never known, came weather most turbulent and tempestuous, which
+wrapped the heavens in cloud, and swept the sea with scathing blasts;
+whereby 'twas not possible for any to see how the ship was to be worked
+or steered, or to steady himself so as to do any duty upon her deck.
+Whereat what grief was Cimon's, it boots not to ask. Indeed it seemed to
+him that the gods had granted his heart's desire only that it might be
+harder for him to die, which had else been to him but a light matter. Not
+less downcast were his comrades; but most of all Iphigenia, who, weeping
+bitterly and shuddering at every wave that struck the ship, did cruelly
+curse Cimon's love and censure his rashness, averring that this tempest
+was come upon them for no other cause than that the gods had decreed,
+that, as 'twas in despite of their will that he purposed to espouse her,
+he should be frustrate of his presumptuous intent, and having lived to
+see her expire, should then himself meet a woeful death.
+
+While thus and yet more bitterly they bewailed them, and the mariners
+were at their wits' end, as the gale grew hourly more violent, nor knew
+they, nor might conjecture, whither they went, they drew nigh the island
+of Rhodes, albeit that Rhodes it was they wist not, and set themselves,
+as best and most skilfully they might, to run the ship aground. In which
+enterprise Fortune favoured them, bringing them into a little bay, where,
+shortly before them, was arrived the Rhodian ship that Cimon had let go.
+Nor were they sooner ware that 'twas Rhodes they had made, than day
+broke, and, the sky thus brightening a little, they saw that they were
+about a bow-shot from the ship that they had released on the preceding
+day. Whereupon Cimon, vexed beyond measure, being apprehensive of that
+which in fact befell them, bade make every effort to win out of the bay,
+and let Fortune carry them whither she would, for nowhere might they be
+in worse plight than there. So might and main they strove to bring the
+ship out, but all in vain: the violence of the gale thwarted them to such
+purpose as not only to preclude their passage out of the bay but to drive
+them, willing nilling, ashore. Whither no sooner were they come, than
+they were recognized by the Rhodian mariners, who were already landed. Of
+whom one ran with all speed to a farm hard by, whither the Rhodian
+gallants were gone, and told them that Fortune had brought Cimon and
+Iphigenia aboard their ship into the same bay to which she had guided
+them. Whereat the gallants were overjoyed, and taking with them not a few
+of the farm-servants, hied them in hot haste to the shore, where, Cimon
+and his men being already landed with intent to take refuge in a
+neighbouring wood, they took them all (with Iphigenia) and brought them
+to the farm. Whence, pursuant to an order of the Senate of Rhodes, to
+which, so soon as he received the news, Pasimondas made his complaint,
+Cimon and his men were all marched off to prison by Lysimachus, chief
+magistrate of the Rhodians for that year, who came down from the city for
+the purpose with an exceeding great company of men at arms. On such wise
+did our hapless and enamoured Cimon lose his so lately won Iphigenia
+before he had had of her more than a kiss or two. Iphigenia was
+entertained and comforted of the annoy, occasioned as well by her recent
+capture as by the fury of the sea, by not a few noble ladies of Rhodes,
+with whom she tarried until the day appointed for her marriage. In
+recompense of the release of the Rhodian gallants on the preceding day
+the lives of Cimon and his men were spared, notwithstanding that
+Pasimondas pressed might and main for their execution; and instead they
+were condemned to perpetual imprisonment: wherein, as may be supposed,
+they abode in dolorous plight, and despaired of ever again knowing
+happiness.
+
+However, it so befell that, Pasimondas accelerating his nuptials to the
+best of his power, Fortune, as if repenting her that in her haste she had
+done Cimon so evil a turn, did now by a fresh disposition of events
+compass his deliverance. Pasimondas had a brother, by name Hormisdas, his
+equal in all respects save in years, who had long been contract to marry
+Cassandra, a fair and noble damsel of Rhodes, of whom Lysimachus was in
+the last degree enamoured; but owing to divers accidents the marriage had
+been from time to time put off. Now Pasimondas, being about to celebrate
+his nuptials with exceeding great pomp, bethought him that he could not
+do better than, to avoid a repetition of the pomp and expense, arrange,
+if so he might, that his brother should be wedded on the same day with
+himself. So, having consulted anew with Cassandra's kinsfolk, and come to
+an understanding with them, he and his brother and they conferred
+together, and agreed that on the same day that Pasimondas married
+Iphigenia, Hormisdas should marry Cassandra. Lysimachus, getting wind of
+this arrangement, was mortified beyond measure, seeing himself thereby
+deprived of the hope which he cherished of marrying Cassandra himself, if
+Hormisdas should not forestall him. But like a wise man he concealed his
+chagrin, and cast about how he might frustrate the arrangement: to which
+end he saw no other possible means but to carry Cassandra off. It did not
+escape him that the office which he held would render this easily
+feasible, but he deemed it all the more dishonourable than if he had not
+held the office; but, in short, after much pondering, honour yielded
+place to love, and he made up his mind that, come what might, he would
+carry Cassandra off. Then, as he took thought what company he should take
+with him, and how he should go about the affair, he remembered Cimon,
+whom he had in prison with his men, and it occurred to him that he could
+not possibly have a better or more trusty associate in such an enterprise
+than Cimon. Wherefore the same night he caused Cimon to be brought
+privily to him in his own room, and thus addressed him:--"Cimon, as the
+gods are most generous and liberal to bestow their gifts on men, so are
+they also most sagacious to try their virtue; and those whom they find to
+be firm and steadfast in all circumstances they honour, as the most
+worthy, with the highest rewards. They have been minded to be certified
+of thy worth by better proofs than thou couldst afford them, as long as
+thy life was bounded by thy father's house amid the superabundant wealth
+which I know him to possess: wherefore in the first place they so wrought
+upon thee with the shrewd incitements of Love that from an insensate
+brute, as I have heard, thou grewest to be a man; since when, it has been
+and is their intent to try whether evil fortune and harsh imprisonment
+may avail to change thee from the temper that was thine when for a short
+while thou hadst joyance of the prize thou hadst won. And so thou prove
+the same that thou wast then, they have in store for thee a boon
+incomparably greater than aught that they vouchsafed thee before: what
+that boon is, to the end thou mayst recover heart and thy wonted
+energies, I will now explain to thee. Pasimondas, exultant in thy
+misfortune and eager to compass thy death, hastens to the best of his
+power his nuptials with thy Iphigenia; that so he may enjoy the prize
+that Fortune, erstwhile smiling, gave thee, and forthwith, frowning, reft
+from thee. Whereat how sore must be thy grief, if rightly I gauge thy
+love, I know by my own case, seeing that his brother Hormisdas addresses
+himself to do me on the same day a like wrong in regard of Cassandra,
+whom I love more than aught else in the world. Nor see I that Fortune has
+left us any way of escape from this her unjust and cruel spite, save what
+we may make for ourselves by a resolved spirit and the might of our right
+hands: take we then the sword, and therewith make we, each, prize of his
+lady, thou for the second, I for the first time: for so thou value the
+recovery, I say not of thy liberty, for without thy lady I doubt thou
+wouldst hold it cheap, but of thy lady, the gods have placed it in thine
+own hands, if thou art but minded to join me in my enterprise."
+
+These words restored to Cimon all that he had lost of heart and hope, nor
+pondered he long, before he replied:--"Lysimachus, comrade stouter or
+more staunch than I thou mightst not have in such an enterprise, if such
+indeed it be as thou sayst: wherefore lay upon me such behest as thou
+shalt deem meet, and thou shalt marvel to witness the vigour of my
+performance." Whereupon Lysimachus:--"On the third day from now," quoth
+he, "their husbands' houses will be newly entered by the brides, and on
+the same day at even we too will enter them in arms, thou with thy men,
+and I with some of mine, in whom I place great trust, and forcing our way
+among the guests and slaughtering all that dare to oppose us, will bear
+the ladies off to a ship which I have had privily got ready." Cimon
+approved the plan, and kept quiet in prison until the appointed time;
+which being come, the nuptials were celebrated with great pomp and
+magnificence, that filled the houses of the two brothers with festal
+cheer. Then Lysimachus having made ready all things meet, and fired Cimon
+and his men and his own friends for the enterprise by a long harangue,
+disposed them in due time, all bearing arms under their cloaks, in three
+companies; and having privily despatched one company to the port, that,
+when the time should come to embark, he might meet with no let, he
+marched with the other two companies to the house of Pasimondas, posted
+the one company at the gate, that, being entered, they might not be shut
+in or debarred their egress, and, with the other company and Cimon,
+ascended the stairs, and gained the saloon, where the brides and not a
+few other ladies were set at several tables to sup in meet order:
+whereupon in they rushed, and overthrew the tables and seized each his
+own lady, and placed them in charge of their men, whom they bade bear
+them off forthwith to the ship that lay ready to receive them. Whereupon
+the brides and the other ladies and the servants with one accord fell a
+sobbing and shrieking, insomuch that a confused din and lamentation
+filled the whole place. Cimon, Lysimachus and their band, none
+withstanding, but all giving way before them, gained the stairs, which
+they were already descending when they encountered Pasimondas, who,
+carrying a great staff in his hand, was making in the direction of the
+noise; but one doughty stroke of Cimon's sword sufficed to cleave his
+skull in twain, and lay him dead at Cimon's feet, and another stroke
+disposed of hapless Hormisdas, as he came running to his brother's aid.
+Some others who ventured to approach them were wounded and beaten off by
+the retinue. So forth of the house, that reeked with blood and resounded
+with tumult and lamentation and woe, sped Simon and Lysimachus with all
+their company, and without any let, in close order, with their fair booty
+in their midst, made good their retreat to the ship; whereon with the
+ladies they one and all embarked, for the shore was now full of armed men
+come to rescue the ladies, and, the oarsmen giving way, put to sea elate.
+Arrived at Crete, they met with a hearty welcome on the part of their
+many friends and kinsfolk; and, having married their ladies, they made
+greatly merry, and had gladsome joyance of their fair booty. Their doings
+occasioned, both in Cyprus and in Rhodes, no small stir and commotion,
+which lasted for a long while: but in the end, by the good offices of
+their friends and kinsfolk in both islands, 'twas so ordered as that
+after a certain term of exile Cimon returned with Iphigenia to Cyprus,
+and in like manner Lysimachus returned with Cassandra to Rhodes; and long
+and blithely thereafter lived they, each well contented with his own wife
+in his own land.
+
+(1) One of the augmentative forms of bestia.
+
+
+NOVEL II.
+
+--
+Gostanza loves Martuccio Gomito, and hearing that he is dead, gives way
+to despair, and hies her alone aboard a boat, which is wafted by the wind
+to Susa. She finds him alive in Tunis, and makes herself known to him,
+who, having by his counsel gained high place in the king's favour,
+marries her, and returns with her wealthy to Lipari.
+--
+
+Pamfilo's story being ended, the queen, after commending it not a little,
+called for one to follow from Emilia; who thus began:--
+
+Meet and right it is that one should rejoice when events so fall out that
+passion meets with its due reward: and as love merits in the long run
+rather joy than suffering, far gladlier obey I the queen's than I did the
+king's behest, and address myself to our present theme. You are to know
+then, dainty ladies, that not far from Sicily there is an islet called
+Lipari, in which, no great while ago, there dwelt a damsel, Gostanza by
+name, fair as fair could be, and of one of the most honourable families
+in the island. And one Martuccio Gomito, who was also of the island, a
+young man most gallant and courteous, and worthy for his condition,
+became enamoured of Gostanza; who in like manner grew so afire for him
+that she was ever ill at ease, except she saw him. Martuccio, craving her
+to wife, asked her of her father, who made answer that, Martuccio being
+poor, he was not minded to give her to him. Mortified to be thus rejected
+by reason of poverty, Martuccio took an oath in presence of some of his
+friends and kinsfolk that Lipari should know him no more, until he was
+wealthy. So away he sailed, and took to scouring the seas as a rover on
+the coast of Barbary, preying upon all whose force matched not his own.
+In which way of life he found Fortune favourable enough, had he but known
+how to rest and be thankful: but 'twas not enough that he and his
+comrades in no long time waxed very wealthy; their covetousness was
+inordinate, and, while they sought to gratify it, they chanced in an
+encounter with certain Saracen ships to be taken after a long defence,
+and despoiled, and, most part of them, thrown into the sea by their
+captors, who, after sinking his ship, took Martuccio with them to Tunis,
+and clapped him in prison, and there kept him a long time in a very sad
+plight.
+
+Meanwhile, not by one or two, but by divers and not a few persons,
+tidings reached Lipari that all that were with Martuccio aboard his bark
+had perished in the sea. The damsel, whose grief on Martuccio's departure
+had known no bounds, now hearing that he was dead with the rest, wept a
+great while, and made up her mind to have done with life; but, lacking
+the resolution to lay violent hands upon herself, she bethought her how
+she might devote herself to death by some novel expedient. So one night
+she stole out of her father's house, and hied her to the port, and there
+by chance she found, lying a little apart from the other craft, a fishing
+boat, which, as the owners had but just quitted her, was still equipped
+with mast and sails and oars. Aboard which boat she forthwith got, and
+being, like most of the women of the island, not altogether without
+nautical skill, she rowed some distance out to sea, and then hoisted
+sail, and cast away oars and tiller, and let the boat drift, deeming that
+a boat without lading or steersman would certainly be either capsized by
+the wind or dashed against some rock and broken in pieces, so that escape
+she could not, even if she would, but must perforce drown. And so, her
+head wrapped in a mantle, she stretched herself weeping on the floor of
+the boat. But it fell out quite otherwise than she had conjectured: for,
+the wind being from the north, and very equable, with next to no sea, the
+boat kept an even keel, and next day about vespers bore her to land hard
+by a city called Susa, full a hundred miles beyond Tunis. To the damsel
+'twas all one whether she were at sea or ashore, for, since she had been
+aboard, she had never once raised, nor, come what might, meant she ever
+to raise, her head.
+
+Now it so chanced, that, when the boat grounded, there was on the shore a
+poor woman that was in the employ of some fishermen, whose nets she was
+just taking out of the sunlight. Seeing the boat under full sail, she
+marvelled how it should be suffered to drive ashore, and conjectured that
+the fishermen on board were asleep. So to the boat she hied her, and
+finding therein only the damsel fast asleep, she called her many times,
+and at length awakened her; and perceiving by her dress that she was a
+Christian, she asked her in Latin how it was that she was come thither
+all alone in the boat. Hearing the Latin speech, the damsel wondered
+whether the wind had not shifted, and carried her back to Lipari: so up
+she started, gazed about her, and finding herself ashore and the aspect
+of the country strange, asked the good woman where she was. To which the
+good woman made answer:--"My daughter, thou art hard by Susa in Barbary."
+Whereupon the damsel, sorrowful that God had not seen fit to accord her
+the boon of death, apprehensive of dishonour, and at her wits' end, sat
+herself down at the foot of her boat, and burst into tears. Which the
+good woman saw not without pity, and persuaded her to come with her into
+her hut, and there by coaxing drew from her how she was come thither; and
+knowing that she could not but be fasting, she set before her her own
+coarse bread and some fish and water, and prevailed upon her to eat a
+little. Gostanza thereupon asked her, who she was that thus spoke Latin;
+whereto she answered that her name was Carapresa, and that she was from
+Trapani, where she had served some Christian fishermen. To the damsel,
+sad indeed though she was, this name Carapresa, wherefore she knew not,
+seemed to be of happy augury, so that she began to take hope, she knew
+not why, and to grow somewhat less fain of death: wherefore without
+disclosing who or whence she was, she earnestly besought the good woman
+for the love of God to have pity on her youth, and advise her how best to
+avoid insult. Whereupon Carapresa, good woman that she was, left her in
+her hut, while with all speed she picked up her nets; and on her return
+she wrapped her in her own mantle, and led her to Susa. Arrived there,
+she said to her:--"Gostanza, I shall bring thee to the house of an
+excellent Saracen lady, for whom I frequently do bits of work, as she has
+occasion: she is an old lady and compassionate: I will commend thee to
+her care as best I may, and I doubt not she will right gladly receive
+thee, and entreat thee as her daughter: and thou wilt serve her, and,
+while thou art with her, do all thou canst to gain her favour, until such
+time as God may send thee better fortune;" and as she said, so she did.
+
+The old lady listened, and then, gazing steadfastly in the damsel's face,
+shed tears, and taking her hand, kissed her forehead, and led her into
+the house, where she and some other women dwelt quite by themselves,
+doing divers kinds of handiwork in silk and palm leaves and leather.
+Wherein the damsel in a few days acquired some skill, and thenceforth
+wrought together with them; and rose wondrous high in the favour and good
+graces of all the ladies, who soon taught her their language.
+
+Now while the damsel, mourned at home as lost and dead, dwelt thus at
+Susa, it so befell that, Mariabdela being then King of Tunis, a young
+chieftain in Granada, of great power, and backed by mighty allies, gave
+out that the realm of Tunis belonged to him, and having gathered a vast
+army, made a descent upon Tunis with intent to expel the King from the
+realm. Martuccio Gomito, who knew the language of Barbary well, heard the
+tidings in prison, and learning that the King of Tunis was mustering a
+mighty host for the defence of his kingdom, said to one of the warders
+that were in charge of him and his comrades:--"If I might have speech of
+the King, I am confident that the advice that I should give him would
+secure him the victory." The warder repeated these words to his chief,
+who forthwith carried them to the King. Wherefore by the King's command
+Martuccio was brought before him, and being asked by him what the advice,
+of which he had spoken, might be, answered on this wise:--"Sire, if in
+old days, when I was wont to visit this country of yours, I duly observed
+the manner in which you order your battle, methinks you place your main
+reliance upon archers; and therefore, if you could contrive that your
+enemy's supply of arrows should give out and your own continue plentiful,
+I apprehend that you would win the battle." "Ay indeed," replied the
+King, "I make no doubt that, could I but accomplish that, I should
+conquer." "Nay but, Sire," returned Martuccio, "you may do it, if you
+will. Listen, and I will tell you how. You must fit the bows of your
+archers with strings much finer than those that are in common use, and
+match them with arrows, the notches of which will not admit any but these
+fine strings; and this you must do so secretly that your enemy may not
+know it, else he will find means to be even with you. Which counsel I
+give you for the following reason:--When your and your enemy's archers
+have expended all their arrows, you wot that the enemy will fall to
+picking up the arrows that your men have shot during the battle, and your
+men will do the like by the enemy's arrows; but the enemy will not be
+able to make use of your men's arrows, by reason that their fine notches
+will not suffice to admit the stout strings, whereas your men will be in
+the contrary case in regard of the enemy's arrows, for the fine string
+will very well receive the large-notched arrow, and so your men will have
+an abundant supply of arrows, while the enemy will be at a loss for
+them."
+
+The King, who lacked not sagacity, appreciated Martuccio's advice, and
+gave full effect to it; whereby he came out of the war a conqueror, and
+Martuccio, being raised to the chief place in his favour, waxed rich and
+powerful. Which matters being bruited throughout the country, it came to
+the ears of Gostanza that Martuccio Gomito, whom she had long supposed to
+be dead, was alive; whereby her love for him, some embers of which still
+lurked in her heart, burst forth again in sudden flame, and gathered
+strength, and revived her dead hope. Wherefore she frankly told all her
+case to the good lady with whom she dwelt, saying that she would fain go
+to Tunis, that her eyes might have assurance of that which the report
+received by her ears had made them yearn to see. The lady fell heartily
+in with the girl's desire, and, as if she had been her mother, embarked
+with her for Tunis, where on their arrival they were honourably received
+in the house of one of her kinswomen. Carapresa, who had attended her,
+being sent to discover what she might touching Martuccio, brought back
+word that he was alive, and high in honour and place. The gentlewoman was
+minded that none but herself should apprise Martuccio of the arrival of
+his Gostanza: wherefore she hied her one day to Martuccio, and
+said:--"Martuccio, there is come to my house a servant of thine from
+Lipari, who would fain speak with thee here privily, and for that he
+would not have me trust another, I am come hither myself to deliver his
+message." Martuccio thanked her, and forthwith hied him with her to her
+house: where no sooner did the girl see him than she all but died for
+joy, and carried away by her feelings, fell upon his neck with open arms
+and embraced him, and, what with sorrow of his past woes and her present
+happiness, said never a word, but softly wept. Martuccio regarded her for
+a while in silent wonder; then, heaving a sigh, he said:--"Thou livest
+then, my Gostanza? Long since I heard that thou wast lost; nor was aught
+known of thee at home." Which said, he tenderly and with tears embraced
+her. Gostanza told him all her adventures, and how honourably she had
+been entreated by the gentlewoman with whom she had dwelt. And so long
+time they conversed, and then Martuccio parted from her, and hied him
+back to his lord the King, and told him all, to wit, his own adventures
+and those of the girl, adding that with his leave he was minded to marry
+her according to our law. Which matters the King found passing strange;
+and having called the girl to him, and learned from her that 'twas even
+as Martuccio had said:--"Well indeed," quoth he, "hast thou won thy
+husband." Then caused he gifts most ample and excellent to be brought
+forth, part of which he gave to Gostanza, and part to Martuccio, leaving
+them entirely to their own devices in regard of one another. Then
+Martuccio, in terms most honourable, bade farewell to the old lady with
+whom Gostanza had dwelt, thanking her for the service she had rendered to
+Gostanza, and giving her presents suited to her condition, and commending
+her to God, while Gostanza shed many a tear: after which, by leave of the
+King, they went aboard a light bark, taking with them Carapresa, and,
+sped by a prosperous breeze, arrived at Lipari, where they were received
+with such cheer as 'twere vain to attempt to describe. There were
+Martuccio and Gostanza wedded with all pomp and splendour; and there long
+time in easeful peace they had joyance of their love.
+
+
+NOVEL III.
+
+--
+Pietro Boccamazza runs away with Agnolella, and encounters a gang of
+robbers: the girl takes refuge in a wood, and is guided to a castle.
+Pietro is taken, but escapes out of the hands of the robbers, and after
+some adventures arrives at the castle where Agnolella is, marries her,
+and returns with her to Rome.
+--
+
+Ended Emilia's story, which none of the company spared to commend, the
+queen, turning to Elisa, bade her follow suit; and she, with glad
+obedience, thus began:--
+
+'Tis a story, sweet ladies, of a woeful night passed by two indiscreet
+young lovers that I have in mind; but, as thereon ensued not a few days
+of joy, 'tis not inapposite to our argument, and shall be narrated.
+
+'Tis no long time since at Rome, which, albeit now the tail,(1) was of
+yore the head, of the world, there dwelt a young man, Pietro Boccamazza
+by name, a scion of one of the most illustrious of the Roman houses, who
+became enamoured of a damsel exceeding fair, and amorous withal--her name
+Agnolella--the daughter of one Gigliuozzo Saullo, a plebeian, but in high
+repute among the Romans. Nor, loving thus, did Pietro lack the address to
+inspire in Agnolella a love as ardent as his own. Wherefore, overmastered
+by his passion, and minded no longer to endure the sore suffering that it
+caused him, he asked her in marriage. Whereof his kinsfolk were no sooner
+apprised, than with one accord they came to him and strongly urged him to
+desist from his purpose: they also gave Gigliuozzo Saullo to understand
+that he were best to pay no sort of heed to Pietro's words, for that, if
+he so did, they would never acknowledge him as friend or relative. Thus
+to see himself debarred of the one way by which he deemed he might attain
+to his desire, Pietro was ready to die for grief, and, all his kinsfolk
+notwithstanding, he would have married Gigliuozzo's daughter, had but the
+father consented. Wherefore at length he made up his mind that, if the
+girl were willing, nought should stand in the way; and having through a
+common friend sounded the damsel and found her apt, he brought her to
+consent to elope with him from Rome. The affair being arranged, Pietro
+and she took horse betimes one morning, and sallied forth for Anagni,
+where Pietro had certain friends, in whom he placed much trust; and as
+they rode, time not serving for full joyance of their love, for they
+feared pursuit, they held converse thereof, and from time to time
+exchanged a kiss. Now it so befell, that, the way being none too well
+known to Pietro, when, perhaps eight miles from Rome, they should have
+turned to the right, they took instead a leftward road. Whereon when they
+had ridden but little more than two miles, they found themselves close to
+a petty castle, whence, so soon as they were observed, there issued some
+dozen men at arms; and, as they drew near, the damsel, espying them, gave
+a cry, and said:--"We are attacked, Pietro, let us flee;" and guiding her
+nag as best she knew towards a great forest, she planted the spurs in his
+sides, and so, holding on by the saddle-bow, was borne by the goaded
+creature into the forest at a gallop. Pietro, who had been too engrossed
+with her face to give due heed to the way, and thus had not been ware, as
+soon as she, of the approach of the men at arms, was still looking about
+to see whence they were coming, when they came up with him, and took him
+prisoner, and forced him to dismount. Then they asked who he was, and,
+when he told them, they conferred among themselves, saying:--"This is one
+of the friends of our enemies: what else can we do but relieve him of his
+nag and of his clothes, and hang him on one of these oaks in scorn of the
+Orsini?" To which proposal all agreeing, they bade Pietro strip himself:
+but while, already divining his fate, he was so doing, an ambuscade of
+full five-and-twenty men at arms fell suddenly upon them,
+crying:--"Death, death!" Thus surprised, they let Pietro go, and stood on
+the defensive; but, seeing that the enemy greatly outnumbered them, they
+took to their heels, the others giving chase. Whereupon Pietro hastily
+resumed his clothes, mounted his nag, and fled with all speed in the
+direction which he had seen the damsel take. But finding no road or path
+through the forest, nor discerning any trace of a horse's hooves, he
+was--for that he found not the damsel--albeit he deemed himself safe out
+of the clutches of his captors and their assailants, the most wretched
+man alive, and fell a weeping and wandering hither and thither about the
+forest, uttering Agnolella's name. None answered; but turn back he dared
+not: so on he went, not knowing whither he went; besides which, he was in
+mortal dread of the wild beasts that infest the forest, as well on
+account of himself as of the damsel, whom momently he seemed to see
+throttled by some bear or wolf. Thus did our unfortunate Pietro spend the
+whole day, wandering about the forest, making it to resound with his
+cries of Agnolella's name, and harking at times back, when he thought to
+go forward; until at last, what with his cries and his tears and his
+fears and his long fasting, he was so spent that he could go no further.
+'Twas then nightfall, and, as he knew not what else to do, he dismounted
+at the foot of an immense oak, and having tethered his nag to the trunk,
+climbed up into the branches, lest he should be devoured by the wild
+beasts during the night. Shortly afterwards the moon rose with a very
+clear sky, and Pietro, who dared not sleep, lest he should fall, and
+indeed, had he been secure from that risk, his misery and his anxiety on
+account of the damsel would not have suffered him to sleep, kept watch,
+sighing and weeping and cursing his evil luck.
+
+Now the damsel, who, as we said before, had fled she knew not whither,
+allowing her nag to carry her whithersoever he would, strayed so far into
+the forest that she lost sight of the place where she had entered it, and
+spent the whole day just as Pietro had done, wandering about the
+wilderness, pausing from time to time, and weeping, and uttering his
+name, and bewailing her evil fortune. At last, seeing that 'twas now the
+vesper hour and Pietro came not, she struck into a path, which the nag
+followed, until, after riding some two miles, she espied at some distance
+a cottage, for which she made with all speed, and found there a good man,
+well stricken in years, with his wife, who was likewise aged. Seeing her
+ride up alone, they said:--"Daughter, wherefore ridest thou thus alone at
+this hour in these parts?" Weeping, the damsel made answer that she had
+lost her companion in the forest, and asked how far might Anagni be from
+there? "My daughter," returned the good man, "this is not the road to
+Anagni; 'tis more than twelve miles away." "And how far off," inquired
+the damsel, "are the nearest houses in which one might find lodging for
+the night?" "There are none so near," replied the good man, "that thou
+canst reach them to-day." "Then, so please you," said the damsel, "since
+go elsewhither I cannot, for God's sake let me pass the night here with
+you." Whereto the good man made answer:--"Damsel, welcome art thou to
+tarry the night with us; but still thou art to know that these parts are
+infested both by day and by night by bands, which, be they friends or be
+they foes, are alike ill to meet with, and not seldom do much despite and
+mischief, and if by misadventure one of these bands should visit us while
+thou wert here, and marking thy youth and beauty should do thee despite
+and dishonour, we should be unable to afford thee any succour. This we
+would have thee know, that if it should so come to pass, thou mayst not
+have cause to reproach us." The damsel heard not the old man's words
+without dismay; but, seeing that the hour was now late, she
+answered:--"God, if He be so pleased, will save both you and me from such
+molestation, and if not, 'tis a much lesser evil to be maltreated by men
+than to be torn in pieces by the wild beasts in the forest." So saying,
+she dismounted, and entered the cottage, where, having supped with the
+poor man and his wife on such humble fare as they had, she laid herself
+in her clothes beside them in their bed. She slept not, however; for her
+own evil plight and that of Pietro, for whom she knew not how to augur
+aught but evil, kept her sighing and weeping all night long. And towards
+matins she heard a great noise as of men that marched; so up she got and
+hied her into a large courtyard that was in rear of the cottage, and part
+of which was covered with a great heap of hay, which she espying, hid
+herself therein, that, if the men came there, they might not so readily
+find her. Scarce had she done so than the men, who proved to be a strong
+company of marauders, were at the door of the cottage, which they forced
+open; and having entered, and found the damsel's nag, still saddled, they
+asked who was there. The damsel being out of sight, the good man
+answered:--"There is none here but my wife and I; but this nag, which has
+given some one the slip, found his way hither last night, and we housed
+him, lest he should be devoured by the wolves." "So!" said the chief of
+the band, "as he has no owner, he will come in very handy for us."
+
+Whereupon, in several parties, they ransacked the cottage from top to
+bottom; and one party went out into the courtyard, where, as they threw
+aside their lances and targets, it so befell that one of them, not
+knowing where else to bestow his lance, tossed it into the hay, and was
+within an ace of killing the damsel that lay hid there, as likewise she
+of betraying her whereabouts, for the lance all but grazing her left
+breast, insomuch that the head tore her apparel, she doubted she was
+wounded, and had given a great shriek, but that, remembering where she
+was, she refrained for fear. By and by the company cooked them a
+breakfast of kid's and other meat, and having eaten and drunken,
+dispersed in divers directions, as their affairs required, taking the
+girl's nag with them. And when they were gotten some little way off, the
+good man asked his wife:--"What became of the damsel, our guest of last
+night, that I have not seen her since we rose?" The good woman answered
+that she knew not where the damsel was, and went to look for her. The
+damsel, discovering that the men were gone, came forth of the hay, and
+the good man, seeing her, was overjoyed that she had not fallen into the
+hands of the ruffians, and, as day was breaking, said to her:--"Now that
+day is at hand, we will, so it like thee, escort thee to a castle, some
+five miles hence, where thou wilt be in safety; but thou must needs go
+afoot, because these villains, that are but just gone, have taken thy nag
+with them." The damsel, resigning herself to her loss, besought them for
+God's sake to take her to the castle: whereupon they set forth, and
+arrived there about half tierce. Now the castle belonged to one of the
+Orsini, Liello di Campo di Fiore by name, whose wife, as it chanced, was
+there. A most kindly and good woman she was, and, recognizing the damsel
+as soon as she saw her, gave her a hearty welcome and would fain have
+from her a particular account of how she came there. So the damsel told
+her the whole story. The lady, to whom Pietro was also known, as being a
+friend of her husband, was distressed to hear of his misadventure, and
+being told where he was taken, gave him up for dead. So she said to the
+damsel:--"Since so it is that thou knowest not how Pietro has fared, thou
+shalt stay here with me until such time as I may have opportunity to send
+thee safely back to Rome."
+
+Meanwhile Pietro, perched on his oak in as woeful a plight as might be,
+had espied, when he should have been in his first sleep, a full score of
+wolves, that, as they prowled, caught sight of the nag, and straightway
+were upon him on all sides. The horse, as soon as he was ware of their
+approach, strained on the reins till they snapped, and tried to make good
+his escape; but, being hemmed in, was brought to bay, and made a long
+fight of it with his teeth and hooves; but in the end they bore him down
+and throttled him and forthwith eviscerated him, and, the whole pack
+falling upon him, devoured him to the bone before they had done with him.
+Whereat Pietro, who felt that in the nag he had lost a companion and a
+comfort in his travail, was sorely dismayed, and began to think that he
+should never get out of the forest. But towards dawn, he, perched there
+in the oak, almost dead with cold, looking around him as he frequently
+did, espied about a mile off a huge fire. Wherefore, as soon as 'twas
+broad day, he got down, not without trepidation, from the oak, and bent
+his steps towards the fire; and being come to it, he found, gathered
+about it, a company of shepherds, eating and making merry, who took pity
+on him and made him welcome. And when he had broken his fast and warmed
+himself, he told them the mishap that had befallen him, and how it was
+that he was come there alone, and asked them if there was a farm or
+castle in those parts, whither he might betake him. The shepherds said
+that about three miles away there was a castle belonging to Liello di
+Campo di Fiore, where his lady was then tarrying. Pietro, much comforted,
+requested to be guided thither by some of their company; whereupon two of
+them right gladly escorted him. So Pietro arrived at the castle, where he
+found some that knew him; and while he was endeavouring to set on foot a
+search for the damsel in the forest, the lady summoned him to her
+presence, and he, forthwith obeying, and seeing Agnolella with her, was
+the happiest man that ever was. He yearned till he all but swooned to go
+and embrace her, but refrained, for bashfulness, in the lady's presence.
+And overjoyed as he was, the joy of the damsel was no less. The lady
+received him with great cheer, and though, when she had heard the story
+of his adventures from his own lips, she chid him not a little for having
+set at nought the wishes of his kinsfolk; yet, seeing that he was still
+of the same mind, and that the damsel was also constant, she said to
+herself:--To what purpose give I myself all this trouble? they love one
+another, they know one another; they love with equal ardour; their love
+is honourable, and I doubt not is well pleasing to God, seeing that the
+one has escaped the gallows and the other the lance, and both the wild
+beasts: wherefore be it as they would have it. Then, turning to them, she
+said:--"If 'tis your will to be joined in wedlock as man and wife, mine
+jumps with it: here shall your nuptials be solemnized and at Liello's
+charges, and for the rest I will see that your peace is made with your
+kinsfolk." So in the castle the pair were wedded, Pietro only less blithe
+than Agnolella, the lady ordering the nuptials as honourably as might be
+in her mountain-home, and there they had most sweet joyance of the first
+fruits of their love. So some days they tarried there, and then
+accompanied by the lady with a strong escort, they took horse and
+returned to Rome, where, very wroth though she found Pietro's kinsfolk
+for what he had done, the lady re-established solid peace between him and
+them; and so at Rome Pietro and Agnolella lived together to a good old
+age in great tranquillity and happiness.
+
+(1) In reference to the forlorn condition of the city while the seat of
+the papacy was at Avignon, 1308-1377.
+
+
+NOVEL IV.
+
+--
+Ricciardo Manardi is found by Messer Lizio da Valbona with his daughter,
+whom he marries, and remains at peace with her father.
+--
+
+In silence Elisa received the praise bestowed on her story by her fair
+companions; and then the queen called for a story from Filostrato, who
+with a laugh began on this wise:--Chidden have I been so often and by so
+many of you for the sore burden, which I laid upon you, of discourse
+harsh and meet for tears, that, as some compensation for such annoy, I
+deem myself bound to tell you somewhat that may cause you to laugh a
+little: wherefore my story, which will be of the briefest, shall be of a
+love, the course whereof, save for sighs and a brief passage of fear
+mingled with shame, ran smooth to a happy consummation.
+
+Know then, noble ladies, that 'tis no long time since there dwelt in
+Romagna a right worthy and courteous knight, Messer Lizio da Valbona by
+name, who was already verging upon old age, when, as it happened, there
+was born to him of his wife, Madonna Giacomina, a daughter, who, as she
+grew up, became the fairest and most debonair of all the girls of those
+parts, and, for that she was the only daughter left to them, was most
+dearly loved and cherished by her father and mother, who guarded her with
+most jealous care, thinking to arrange some great match for her. Now
+there was frequently in Messer Lizio's house, and much in his company, a
+fine, lusty young man, one Ricciardo de' Manardi da Brettinoro, whom
+Messer Lizio and his wife would as little have thought of mistrusting as
+if he had been their own son: who, now and again taking note of the
+damsel, that she was very fair and graceful, and in bearing and behaviour
+most commendable, and of marriageable age, fell vehemently in love with
+her, which love he was very careful to conceal. The damsel detected it,
+however, and in like manner plunged headlong into love with him, to
+Ricciardo's no small satisfaction. Again and again he was on the point of
+speaking to her, but refrained for fear; at length, however, he summoned
+up his courage, and seizing his opportunity, thus addressed
+her:--"Caterina, I implore thee, suffer me not to die for love of thee."
+Whereto the damsel forthwith responded:--"Nay, God grant that it be not
+rather that I die for love of thee." Greatly exhilarated and encouraged,
+Ricciardo made answer:--"'Twill never be by default of mine that thou
+lackest aught that may pleasure thee; but it rests with thee to find the
+means to save thy life and mine." Then said the damsel:--"Thou seest,
+Ricciardo, how closely watched I am, insomuch that I see not how 'twere
+possible for thee to come to me; but if thou seest aught that I may do
+without dishonour, speak the word, and I will do it." Ricciardo was
+silent a while, pondering many matters: then, of a sudden, he
+said:--"Sweet my Caterina, there is but one way that I can see, to wit,
+that thou shouldst sleep either on or where thou mightst have access to
+the terrace by thy father's garden, where, so I but knew that thou
+wouldst be there at night, I would without fail contrive to meet thee,
+albeit 'tis very high." "As for my sleeping there," replied Caterina, "I
+doubt not that it may be managed, if thou art sure that thou canst join
+me." Ricciardo answered in the affirmative. Whereupon they exchanged a
+furtive kiss, and parted.
+
+On the morrow, it being now towards the close of May, the damsel began
+complaining to her mother that by reason of the excessive heat she had
+not been able to get any sleep during the night. "Daughter," said the
+lady, "what heat was there? Nay, there was no heat at all." "Had you
+said, 'to my thinking,' mother," rejoined Caterina, "you would perhaps
+have said sooth; but you should bethink you how much more heat girls have
+in them than ladies that are advanced in years." "True, my daughter,"
+returned the lady, "but I cannot order that it shall be hot and cold, as
+thou perchance wouldst like; we must take the weather as we find it, and
+as the seasons provide it: perchance to-night it will be cooler, and thou
+wilt sleep better." "God grant it be so," said Caterina, "but 'tis not
+wonted for the nights to grow cooler as the summer comes on." "What
+then," said the lady, "wouldst thou have me do?" "With your leave and my
+father's," answered Caterina, "I should like to have a little bed made up
+on the terrace by his room and over his garden, where, hearing the
+nightingales sing, and being in a much cooler place, I should sleep much
+better than in your room." Whereupon:--"Daughter, be of good cheer," said
+the mother; "I will speak to thy father, and we will do as he shall
+decide." So the lady told Messer Lizio what had passed between her and
+the damsel; but he, being old and perhaps for that reason a little
+morose, said:--"What nightingale is this, to whose chant she would fain
+sleep? I will see to it that the cicalas shall yet lull her to sleep."
+Which speech, coming to Caterina's ears, gave her such offence, that for
+anger, rather than by reason of the heat, she not only slept not herself
+that night, but suffered not her mother to sleep, keeping up a perpetual
+complaint of the great heat. Wherefore her mother hied her in the morning
+to Messer Lizio, and said to him:--"Sir, you hold your daughter none too
+dear; what difference can it make to you that she lie on the terrace? She
+has tossed about all night long by reason of the heat; and besides, can
+you wonder that she, girl that she is, loves to hear the nightingale
+sing? Young folk naturally affect their likes." Whereto Messer Lizio made
+answer:--"Go, make her a bed there to your liking, and set a curtain
+round it, and let her sleep there, and hear the nightingale sing to her
+heart's content." Which the damsel no sooner learned, than she had a bed
+made there with intent to sleep there that same night; wherefore she
+watched until she saw Ricciardo, whom by a concerted sign she gave to
+understand what he was to do. Messer Lizio, as soon as he had heard the
+damsel go to bed, locked a door that led from his room to the terrace,
+and went to sleep himself. When all was quiet, Ricciardo with the help of
+a ladder got upon a wall, and standing thereon laid hold of certain
+toothings of another wall, and not without great exertion and risk, had
+he fallen, clambered up on to the terrace, where the damsel received him
+quietly with the heartiest of cheer. Many a kiss they exchanged; and then
+got them to bed, where well-nigh all night long they had solace and
+joyance of one another, and made the nightingale sing not a few times.
+But, brief being the night and great their pleasure, towards dawn, albeit
+they wist it not, they fell asleep, Caterina's right arm encircling
+Ricciardo's neck, while with her left hand she held him by that part of
+his person which your modesty, my ladies, is most averse to name in the
+company of men. So, peacefully they slept, and were still asleep when day
+broke and Messer Lizio rose; and calling to mind that his daughter slept
+on the terrace, softly opened the door, saying to himself:--Let me see
+what sort of night's rest the nightingale has afforded our Caterina? And
+having entered, he gently raised the curtain that screened the bed, and
+saw Ricciardo asleep with her and in her embrace as described, both being
+quite naked and uncovered; and having taken note of Ricciardo, he went
+away, and hied him to his lady's room, and called her, saying:--"Up, up,
+wife, come and see; for thy daughter has fancied the nightingale to such
+purpose that she has caught him, and holds him in her hand." "How can
+this be?" said the lady. "Come quickly, and thou shalt see," replied
+Messer Lizio. So the lady huddled on her clothes, and silently followed
+Messer Lizio, and when they were come to the bed, and had raised the
+curtain, Madonna Giacomina saw plainly enough how her daughter had
+caught, and did hold the nightingale, whose song she had so longed to
+hear. Whereat the lady, deeming that Ricciardo had played her a cruel
+trick, would have cried out and upbraided him; but Messer Lizio said to
+her:--"Wife, as thou valuest my love, say not a word; for in good sooth,
+seeing that she has caught him, he shall be hers. Ricciardo is a
+gentleman and wealthy; an alliance with him cannot but be to our
+advantage: if he would part from me on good terms, he must first marry
+her, so that the nightingale shall prove to have been put in his own cage
+and not in that of another." Whereby the lady was reassured, seeing that
+her husband took the affair so quietly, and that her daughter had had a
+good night, and was rested, and had caught the nightingale. So she kept
+silence; nor had they long to wait before Ricciardo awoke; and, seeing
+that 'twas broad day, deemed that 'twas as much as his life was worth,
+and aroused Caterina, saying:--"Alas! my soul, what shall we do, now that
+day has come and surprised me here?" Which question Messer Lizio answered
+by coming forward, and saying:--"We shall do well." At sight of him
+Ricciardo felt as if his heart were torn out of his body, and sate up in
+the bed, and said:--"My lord, I cry you mercy for God's sake. I wot that
+my disloyalty and delinquency have merited death; wherefore deal with me
+even as it may seem best to you: however, I pray you, if so it may be, to
+spare my life, that I die not." "Ricciardo," replied Messer Lizio, "the
+love I bore thee, and the faith I reposed in thee, merited a better
+return; but still, as so it is, and youth has seduced thee into such a
+transgression, redeem thy life, and preserve my honour, by making
+Caterina thy lawful spouse, that thine, as she has been for this past
+night, she may remain for the rest of her life. In this way thou mayst
+secure my peace and thy safety; otherwise commend thy soul to God."
+Pending this colloquy, Caterina let go the nightingale, and having
+covered herself, began with many a tear to implore her father to forgive
+Ricciardo, and Ricciardo to do as Messer Lizio required, that thereby
+they might securely count upon a long continuance of such nights of
+delight. But there needed not much supplication; for, what with remorse
+for the wrong done, and the wish to make amends, and the fear of death,
+and the desire to escape it, and above all ardent love, and the craving
+to possess the beloved one, Ricciardo lost no time in making frank avowal
+of his readiness to do as Messer Lizio would have him. Wherefore Messer
+Lizio, having borrowed a ring from Madonna Giacomina, Ricciardo did there
+and then in their presence wed Caterina. Which done, Messer Lizio and the
+lady took their leave, saying:--"Now rest ye a while; for so perchance
+'twere better for you than if ye rose." And so they left the young folks,
+who forthwith embraced, and not having travelled more than six miles
+during the night, went two miles further before they rose, and so
+concluded their first day. When they were risen, Ricciardo and Messer
+Lizio discussed the matter with more formality; and some days afterwards
+Ricciardo, as was meet, married the damsel anew in presence of their
+friends and kinsfolk, and brought her home with great pomp, and
+celebrated his nuptials with due dignity and splendour. And so for many a
+year thereafter he lived with her in peace and happiness, and snared the
+nightingales day and night to his heart's content.
+
+
+NOVEL V.
+
+--
+Guidotto da Cremona dies leaving a girl to Giacomino da Pavia. She has
+two lovers in Faenza, to wit, Giannole di Severino and Minghino di
+Mingole, who fight about her. She is discovered to be Giannole's sister,
+and is given to Minghino to wife.
+--
+
+All the ladies laughed so heartily over the story of the nightingale,
+that, even when Filostrato had finished, they could not control their
+merriment. However, when the laughter was somewhat abated, the queen
+said:--"Verily if thou didst yesterday afflict us, to-day thou hast
+tickled us to such purpose that none of us may justly complain of thee."
+Then, as the turn had now come round to Neifile, she bade her give them a
+story. And thus, blithely, Neifile began:--As Filostrato went to Romagna
+for the matter of his discourse, I too am fain to make a short journey
+through the same country in what I am about to relate to you.
+
+I say, then, that there dwelt of yore in the city of Fano two Lombards,
+the one ycleped Guidotto da Cremona and the other Giacomino da Pavia, men
+advanced in life, who, being soldiers, had spent the best part of their
+youth in feats of arms. Now Guidotto, being at the point of death, and
+having no son or any friend or kinsman in whom he placed more trust than
+in Giacomino, left him a girl of about ten years, and all that he had in
+the world, and so, having given him to know not a little of his affairs,
+he died. About the same time the city of Faenza, which had long been at
+war and in a most sorry plight, began to recover some measure of
+prosperity; and thereupon liberty to return thither on honourable terms
+was accorded to all that were so minded. Whither, accordingly, Giacomino,
+who had dwelt there aforetime, and liked the place, returned with all his
+goods and chattels, taking with him the girl left him by Guidotto, whom
+he loved and entreated as his daughter. The girl grew up as beautiful a
+maiden as was to be found in the city; and no less debonair and modest
+was she than fair. Wherefore she lacked not admirers; but above all two
+young men, both very gallant and of equal merit, the one Giannole di
+Severino, the other Minghino di Mingole, affected her with so ardent a
+passion, that, growing jealous, they came to hate one another with an
+inordinate hatred. Right gladly would each have espoused her, she being
+now fifteen years old, but that his kinsmen forbade it; wherefore seeing
+that neither might have her in an honourable way, each determined to
+compass his end as best he might.
+
+Now Giacomino had in his house an ancient maid, and a man, by name
+Crivello, a very pleasant and friendly sort of fellow, with whom Giannole
+grew familiar, and in due time confided to him all his love, praying him
+to further the attainment of his desire, and promising to reward him
+handsomely, if he did so. Crivello made answer:--"Thou must know that
+there is but one way in which I might be of service to thee in this
+affair: I might contrive that thou shouldst be where she is when
+Giacomino is gone off to supper; but, were I to presume to say aught to
+her on thy behalf, she would never listen to me. This, if it please thee,
+I promise to do for thee, and will be as good as my word; and then thou
+canst do whatever thou mayst deem most expedient." Giannole said that he
+asked no more; and so 'twas arranged.
+
+Meanwhile Minghino on his part had made friends with the maid, on whom he
+had so wrought that she had carried several messages to the girl, and had
+gone far to kindle her to his love, and furthermore had promised to
+contrive that he should meet her when for any cause Giacomino should be
+from home in the evening. And so it befell that no long time after these
+parleys, Giacomino, by Crivello's management, was to go sup at the house
+of a friend, and by preconcert between Crivello and Giannole, upon signal
+given, Giannole was to come to Giacomino's house and find the door open.
+The maid, on her part, witting nought of the understanding between
+Crivello and Giannole, let Minghino know that Giacomino would not sup at
+home, and bade him be near the house, so that he might come and enter it
+on sight of a signal from her. The evening came; neither of the lovers
+knew aught of what the other was about; but, being suspicious of one
+another, they came to take possession, each with his own company of armed
+friends. Minghino, while awaiting the signal, rested with his company in
+the house of one of his friends hard by the girl's house: Giannole with
+his company was posted a little farther off. Crivello and the maid, when
+Giacomino was gone, did each their endeavour to get the other out of the
+way. Crivello said to the maid:--"How is it thou takest not thyself off
+to bed, but goest still hither and thither about the house?" And the maid
+said to Crivello:--"Nay, but why goest thou not after thy master? Thou
+hast supped; what awaitest thou here?" And so, neither being able to make
+the other quit the post, Crivello, the hour concerted with Giannole being
+come, said to himself:--What care I for her? If she will not keep quiet,
+'tis like to be the worse for her. Whereupon he gave the signal, and hied
+him to the door, which he had no sooner opened, than Giannole entered
+with two of his companions, and finding the girl in the saloon, laid
+hands on her with intent to carry her off. The girl struggled, and
+shrieked amain, as did also the maid. Minghino, fearing the noise, hasted
+to the spot with his companions; and, seeing that the girl was already
+being borne across the threshold, they drew their swords, and cried out
+in chorus:--"Ah! Traitors that ye are, ye are all dead men! 'Twill go
+otherwise than ye think for. What means this force?" Which said, they
+fell upon them with their swords, while the neighbours, alarmed by the
+noise, came hurrying forth with lights and arms, and protested that 'twas
+an outrage, and took Minghino's part. So, after a prolonged struggle,
+Minghino wrested the girl from Giannole, and set her again in Giacomino's
+house. Nor were the combatants separated before the officers of the
+Governor of the city came up and arrested not a few of them; among them
+Minghino and Giannole and Crivello, whom they marched off to prison.
+However, peace being restored and Giacomino returned, 'twas with no
+little chagrin that he heard of the affair; but finding upon
+investigation that the girl was in no wise culpable, he was somewhat
+reassured; and determined, lest the like should again happen, to bestow
+the girl in marriage as soon as might be.
+
+On the morrow the kinsfolk of the two lovers, having learned the truth of
+the matter, and knowing what evil might ensue to the captives, if
+Giacomino should be minded to take the course which he reasonably might,
+came and gave him good words, beseeching him to let the kindly feeling,
+the love, which they believed he bore to them, his suppliants, count for
+more with him than the wrong that the hare-brained gallants had done him,
+and on their part and their own offering to make any amend that he might
+require. Giacomino, who had seen many things in his time, and lacked not
+sound sense, made answer briefly:--"Gentlemen, were I in my own country,
+as I am in yours, I hold myself in such sort your friend that nought
+would I do in this matter, or in any other, save what might be agreeable
+to you: besides which, I have the more reason to consider your wishes,
+because 'tis against you yourselves that you have offended, inasmuch as
+this damsel, whatever many folk may suppose, is neither of Cremona nor of
+Pavia, but is of Faenza, albeit neither I nor she, nor he from whom I had
+her, did ever wot whose daughter she was: wherefore, touching that you
+ask of me, I will even do just as you bid me." The worthy men found it
+passing strange that the girl should be of Faenza; and having thanked
+Giacomino for his handsome answer, they besought him that he would be
+pleased to tell them how she had come into his hands, and how he knew
+that she was of Faenza. To whom Giacomino replied on this wise:--"A
+comrade and friend I had, Guidotto da Cremona, who, being at the point of
+death, told me that, when this city of Faenza was taken by the Emperor
+Frederic, he and his comrades, entering one of the houses during the
+sack, found there good store of booty, and never a soul save this girl,
+who, being two years old or thereabouts, greeted him as father as he came
+up the stairs; wherefore he took pity on her, and carried her with
+whatever else was in the house away with him to Fano; where on his
+deathbed he left her to me, charging me in due time to bestow her in
+marriage, and give her all his goods and chattels by way of dowry: but,
+albeit she is now of marriageable age, I have not been able to provide
+her with a husband to my mind; though right glad should I be to do so,
+that nought like the event of yesterday may again befall me."
+
+Now among the rest of those present was one Guglielmo da Medicina, who
+had been with Guidotto on that occasion, and knew well whose house it was
+that Guidotto had sacked; and seeing the owner there among the rest, he
+went up to him, and said:--"Dost hear, Bernabuccio, what Giacomino says?"
+"Ay," answered Bernabuccio, "and I gave the more heed thereto, for that I
+call to mind that during those disorders I lost a little daughter of just
+the age that Giacomino speaks of." "'Tis verily she then," said
+Guglielmo, "for once when I was with Guidotto I heard him describe what
+house it was that he had sacked, and I wist that 'twas thine. Wherefore
+search thy memory if there be any sign by which thou thinkest to
+recognize her, and let her be examined that thou mayst be assured that
+she is thy daughter." So Bernabuccio pondered a while, and then
+recollected that she ought to have a scar, shewing like a tiny cross,
+above her left ear, being where he had excised a tumour a little while
+before that affair: wherefore without delay he went up to Giacomino, who
+was still there, and besought him to let him go home with him and see the
+damsel. Giacomino gladly did so, and no sooner was the girl brought into
+Bernabuccio's presence, than, as he beheld her, 'twas as if he saw the
+face of her mother, who was still a beautiful woman. However, he would
+not rest there, but besought Giacomino of his grace to permit him to lift
+a lock or two of hair above her left ear; whereto Giacomino consented. So
+Bernabuccio approached her where she stood somewhat shamefast, and with
+his right hand lifted her locks, and, seeing the cross, wist that in very
+truth she was his daughter, and tenderly wept and embraced her, albeit
+she withstood him; and then, turning to Giacomino, he said:--"My brother,
+the girl is my daughter; 'twas my house that Guidotto sacked, and so
+sudden was the assault that my wife, her mother, forgot her, and we have
+always hitherto supposed, that, my house being burned that same day, she
+perished in the flames." Catching his words, and seeing that he was
+advanced in years, the girl inclined to believe him, and impelled by some
+occult instinct, suffered his embraces, and melting, mingled her tears
+with his. Bernabuccio forthwith sent for her mother and her sisters and
+other kinswomen and her brothers, and having shewn her to them all, and
+told the story, after they had done her great cheer and embraced her a
+thousand times, to Giacomino's no small delight, he brought her home with
+him. Which coming to the ears of the Governor of the city, the worthy
+man, knowing that Giannole, whom he had in ward, was Bernabuccio's son
+and the girl's brother, made up his mind to deal leniently with Giannole:
+wherefore he took upon himself the part of mediator in the affair, and
+having made peace between Bernabuccio and Giacomino and Giannole and
+Minghino, gave Agnesa--such was the damsel's name--to Minghino to wife,
+to the great delight of all Minghino's kinsfolk, and set at liberty not
+only Giannole and Minghino but Crivello, and the others their
+confederates in the affair. Whereupon Minghino with the blithest of
+hearts wedded Agnesa with all due pomp and circumstance, and brought her
+home, where for many a year thereafter he lived with her in peace and
+prosperity.
+
+
+NOVEL VI.
+
+--
+Gianni di Procida, being found with a damsel that he loves, and who had
+been given to King Frederic, is bound with her to a stake, so to be
+burned. He is recognized by Ruggieri dell' Oria, is delivered, and
+marries her.
+--
+
+Neifile's story, with which the ladies were greatly delighted, being
+ended, the queen called for one from Pampinea; who forthwith raised her
+noble countenance, and thus began:--Mighty indeed, gracious ladies, are
+the forces of Love, and great are the labours and excessive and unthought
+of the perils which they induce lovers to brave; as is manifest enough by
+what we have heard to-day and on other occasions: howbeit I mean to shew
+you the same once more by a story of an enamoured youth.
+
+Hard by Naples is the island of Ischia, in which there dwelt aforetime
+with other young damsels one, Restituta by name, daughter of one Marin
+Bolgaro, a gentleman of the island. Very fair was she, and blithe of
+heart, and by a young gallant, Gianni by name, of the neighbouring islet
+of Procida, was beloved more dearly than life, and in like measure
+returned his love. Now, not to mention his daily resort to Ischia to see
+her, there were times not a few when Gianni, not being able to come by a
+boat, would swim across from Procida by night, that he might have sight,
+if of nought else, at least of the walls of her house. And while their
+love burned thus fervently, it so befell that one summer's day, as the
+damsel was all alone on the seashore, picking her way from rock to rock,
+detaching, as she went, shells from their beds with a knife, she came to
+a recess among the rocks, where for the sake, as well of the shade as of
+the comfort afforded by a spring of most cool water that was there, some
+Sicilian gallants, that were come from Naples, had put in with their
+felucca. Who, having taken note of the damsel, that she was very fair,
+and that she was not yet ware of them, and was alone, resolved to capture
+her, and carry her away; nor did they fail to give effect to their
+resolve; but, albeit she shrieked amain, they laid hands on her, and set
+her aboard their boat, and put to sea. Arrived at Calabria, they fell a
+wrangling as to whose the damsel should be, and in brief each claimed her
+for his own: wherefore, finding no means of coming to an agreement, and
+fearing that worse might befall them, and she bring misfortune upon them,
+they resolved with one accord to give her to Frederic, King of Sicily,
+who was then a young man, and took no small delight in commodities of
+that quality; and so, being come to Palermo, they did.
+
+Marking her beauty, the King set great store by her; but as she was
+somewhat indisposed, he commanded that, till she was stronger, she should
+be lodged and tended in a very pretty villa that was in one of his
+gardens, which he called Cuba; and so 'twas done. The purloining of the
+damsel caused no small stir in Ischia, more especially because 'twas
+impossible to discover by whom she had been carried off. But Gianni, more
+concerned than any other, despairing of finding her in Ischia, and being
+apprised of the course the felucca had taken, equipped one himself, and
+put to sea, and in hot haste scoured the whole coast from Minerva to
+Scalea in Calabria, making everywhere diligent search for the damsel, and
+in Scalea learned that she had been taken by Sicilian mariners to
+Palermo. Whither, accordingly, he hied him with all speed; and there
+after long search discovering that she had been given to the King, who
+kept her at Cuba, he was sore troubled, insomuch that he now scarce
+ventured to hope that he should ever set eyes on her, not to speak of
+having her for his own, again. But still, holden by Love, and seeing that
+none there knew him, he sent the felucca away, and tarried there, and
+frequently passing by Cuba, he chanced one day to catch sight of her at a
+window, and was seen of her, to their great mutual satisfaction. And
+Gianni, taking note that the place was lonely, made up to her, and had
+such speech of her as he might, and being taught by her after what
+fashion he must proceed, if he would have further speech of her, he
+departed, but not till he had made himself thoroughly acquainted with the
+configuration of the place; and having waited until night was come and
+indeed far spent, he returned thither, and though the ascent was such
+that 'twould scarce have afforded lodgment to a woodpecker, won his way
+up and entered the garden, where, finding a pole, he set it against the
+window which the damsel had pointed out as hers, and thereby swarmed up
+easily enough.
+
+The damsel had aforetime shewn herself somewhat distant towards him,
+being careful of her honour, but now deeming it already lost, she had
+bethought her that there was none to whom she might more worthily give
+herself than to him; and reckoning upon inducing him to carry her off,
+she had made up her mind to gratify his every desire; and to that end had
+left the window open that his ingress might be unimpeded. So, finding it
+open, Gianni softly entered, lay down beside the damsel, who was awake,
+and before they went further, opened to him all her mind, beseeching him
+most earnestly to take her thence, and carry her off. Gianni replied that
+there was nought that would give him so much pleasure, and that without
+fail, upon leaving her, he would make all needful arrangements for
+bringing her away when he next came. Whereupon with exceeding great
+delight they embraced one another, and plucked that boon than which Love
+has no greater to bestow; and having so done divers times, they
+unwittingly fell asleep in one another's arms.
+
+Now towards daybreak the King, who had been greatly charmed with the
+damsel at first sight, happened to call her to mind, and feeling himself
+fit, resolved, notwithstanding the hour, to go lie with her a while; and
+so, attended by a few of his servants, he hied him privily to Cuba.
+Having entered the house, he passed (the door being softly opened) into
+the room in which he knew the damsel slept. A great blazing torch was
+borne before him, and so, as he bent his glance on the bed, he espied the
+damsel and Gianni lying asleep, naked and in one another's arms. Whereat
+he was seized with a sudden and vehement passion of wrath, insomuch that,
+albeit he said never a word, he could scarce refrain from slaying both of
+them there and then with a dagger that he had with him. Then, bethinking
+him that 'twere the depth of baseness in any man--not to say a king--to
+slay two naked sleepers, he mastered himself, and determined to do them
+to death in public and by fire. Wherefore, turning to a single companion
+that he had with him, he said:--"What thinkest thou of this base woman,
+in whom I had placed my hope?" And then he asked whether he knew the
+gallant, that had presumed to enter his house to do him such outrage and
+despite. Whereto the other replied that he minded not ever to have seen
+him. Thereupon the King hied him out of the room in a rage, and bade take
+the two lovers, naked as they were, and bind them, and, as soon as 'twas
+broad day, bring them to Palermo, and bind them back to back to a stake
+in the piazza, there to remain until tierce, that all might see them,
+after which they were to be burned, as they had deserved. And having so
+ordered, he went back to Palermo, and shut himself up in his room, very
+wroth.
+
+No sooner was he gone than there came unto the two lovers folk not a few,
+who, having awakened them, did forthwith ruthlessly take and bind them:
+whereat, how they did grieve and tremble for their lives, and weep and
+bitterly bewail their fate, may readily be understood.
+
+Pursuant to the King's commandment they were brought to Palermo, and
+bound to a stake in the piazza; and before their eyes faggots and fire
+were made ready to burn them at the hour appointed by the King. Great was
+the concourse of the folk of Palermo, both men and women, that came to
+see the two lovers, the men all agog to feast their eyes on the damsel,
+whom they lauded for shapeliness and loveliness, and no less did the
+women commend the gallant, whom in like manner they crowded to see, for
+the same qualities. Meanwhile the two hapless lovers, both exceeding
+shamefast, stood with bent heads bitterly bewailing their evil fortune,
+and momently expecting their death by the cruel fire. So they awaited the
+time appointed by the King; but their offence being bruited abroad, the
+tidings reached the ears of Ruggieri dell' Oria, a man of peerless worth,
+and at that time the King's admiral, who, being likewise minded to see
+them, came to the place where they were bound, and after gazing on the
+damsel and finding her very fair, turned to look at the gallant, whom
+with little trouble he recognized, and drawing nearer to him, he asked
+him if he were Gianni di Procida. Gianni raised his head, and recognizing
+the admiral, made answer:--"My lord, he, of whom you speak, I was; but I
+am now as good as no more." The admiral then asked him what it was that
+had brought him to such a pass. Whereupon:--"Love and the King's wrath,"
+quoth Gianni. The admiral induced him to be more explicit, and having
+learned from him exactly how it had come about, was turning away, when
+Gianni called him back, saying:--"Oh! my lord, if so it may be, procure
+me one favour of him by whose behest I thus stand here." "What favour?"
+demanded Ruggieri. "I see," returned Gianni, "that die I must, and that
+right soon. I crave, then, as a favour, that, whereas this damsel and I,
+that have loved one another more dearly than life, are here set back to
+back, we may be set face to face, that I may have the consolation of
+gazing on her face as I depart." Ruggieri laughed as he replied:--"With
+all my heart. I will so order it that thou shalt see enough of her to
+tire of her." He then left him and charged the executioners to do nothing
+more without further order of the King; and being assured of their
+obedience, he hied him forthwith to the King, to whom, albeit he found
+him in a wrathful mood, he spared not to speak his mind, saying:--"Sire,
+wherein have they wronged thee, those two young folk, whom thou hast
+ordered to be burned down there in the piazza?" The King told him.
+Whereupon Ruggieri continued:--"Their offence does indeed merit such
+punishment, but not at thy hands, and if misdeeds should not go
+unpunished, services should not go unrewarded; nay, may warrant
+indulgence and mercy. Knowest thou who they are whom thou wouldst have
+burned?" The King signified that he did not. Whereupon Ruggieri:--"But
+I," quoth he, "am minded that thou shouldst know them, to the end that
+thou mayst know with what discretion thou surrenderest thyself to a
+transport of rage. The young man is the son of Landolfo di Procida,
+brother of Messer Gianni di Procida, to whom thou owest it that thou art
+lord and king of this island. The damsel is a daughter of Marin Bolgaro,
+whose might alone to-day prevents Ischia from throwing off thy yoke.
+Moreover, these young folk have long been lovers, and 'tis for that the
+might of Love constrained them, and not that they would do despite to thy
+lordship, that they have committed this offence, if indeed 'tis meet to
+call that an offence which young folk do for Love's sake. Wherefore,
+then, wouldst thou do them to death, when thou shouldst rather do them
+all cheer, and honour them with lordly gifts?" The King gave ear to
+Ruggieri's words, and being satisfied that he spoke sooth, repented him,
+not only of his evil purpose, but of what he had already done, and
+forthwith gave order to loose the two young folk from the stake, and
+bring them before him; and so 'twas done. And having fully apprised
+himself of their case, he saw fit to make them amends of the wrong he had
+done them with honours and largess. Wherefore he caused them to be
+splendidly arrayed, and being assured that they were both minded to wed,
+he himself gave Gianni his bride, and loading them with rich presents,
+sent them well content back to Ischia, where they were welcomed with all
+festal cheer, and lived long time thereafter to their mutual solace and
+delight.
+
+
+NOVEL VII.
+
+--
+Teodoro, being enamoured of Violante, daughter of Messer Amerigo, his
+lord, gets her with child, and is sentenced to the gallows; but while he
+is being scourged thither, he is recognized by his father, and being set
+at large, takes Violante to wife.
+--
+
+While they doubted whether the two lovers would be burned, the ladies
+were all fear and suspense; but when they heard of their deliverance,
+they all with one accord put on a cheerful countenance, praising God. The
+story ended, the queen ordained that the next should be told by Lauretta,
+who blithely thus began:--
+
+Fairest ladies, what time good King Guglielmo ruled Sicily there dwelt on
+the island a gentleman, Messer Amerigo Abate da Trapani by name, who was
+well provided, as with other temporal goods, so also with children. For
+which cause being in need of servants, he took occasion of the appearance
+in Trapani waters of certain Genoese corsairs from the Levant, who,
+scouring the coast of Armenia, had captured not a few boys, to purchase
+of them some of these youngsters, supposing them to be Turks; among whom,
+albeit most shewed as mere shepherd boys, there was one, Teodoro, by
+name, whose less rustic mien seemed to betoken gentle blood. Who, though
+still treated as a slave, was suffered to grow up in the house with
+Messer Amerigo's children, and, nature getting the better of
+circumstance, bore himself with such grace and dignity that Messer
+Amerigo gladly gave him his freedom, and still deeming him to be a Turk,
+had him baptized and named Pietro, and made him his majordomo, and placed
+much trust in him. Now among the other children that grew up in Messer
+Amerigo's house was his fair and dainty daughter, Violante; and, as her
+father was in no hurry to give her in marriage, it so befell that she
+became enamoured of Pietro, but, for all her love and the great conceit
+she had of his qualities and conduct, she nevertheless was too shamefast
+to discover her passion to him. However, Love spared her the pains, for
+Pietro had cast many a furtive glance in her direction, and had grown so
+enamoured of her that 'twas never well with him except he saw her; but
+great was his fear lest any should detect his passion, for he deemed
+'twould be the worse for him. The damsel, who was fain indeed of the
+sight of him, understood his case; and to encourage him dissembled not
+her exceeding great satisfaction. On which footing they remained a great
+while, neither venturing to say aught to the other, much as both longed
+to do so. But, while they both burned with a mutual flame, Fortune, as if
+their entanglement were of her preordaining, found means to banish the
+fear and hesitation that kept them tongue-tied.
+
+Messer Amerigo possessed, a mile or so from Trapani, a goodly estate, to
+which he was wont not seldom to resort with his daughter and other ladies
+by way of recreation; and on one of these days, while there they tarried
+with Pietro, whom they had brought with them, suddenly, as will sometimes
+happen in summer, the sky became overcast with black clouds, insomuch
+that the lady and her companions, lest the storm should surprise them
+there, set out on their return to Trapani, making all the haste they
+might. But Pietro and the girl being young, and sped perchance by Love no
+less than by fear of the storm, completely outstripped her mother and the
+other ladies; and when they were gotten so far ahead as to be well-nigh
+out of sight of the lady and all the rest, the thunder burst upon them
+peal upon peal, hard upon which came a fall of hail very thick and close,
+from which the lady sought shelter in the house of a husbandman. Pietro
+and the damsel, finding no more convenient refuge, betook them to an old,
+and all but ruinous, and now deserted, cottage, which, however, still had
+a bit of roof left, whereunder they both took their stand in such close
+quarters, owing to the exiguity of the shelter, that they perforce
+touched one another. Which contact was the occasion that they gathered
+somewhat more courage to disclose their love; and so it was that Pietro
+began on this wise:--"Now would to God that this hail might never cease,
+that so I might stay here for ever!" "And well content were I," returned
+the damsel. And by and by their hands met, not without a tender pressure,
+and then they fell to embracing and so to kissing one another, while the
+hail continued. And not to dwell on every detail, the sky was not clear
+before they had known the last degree of love's felicity, and had taken
+thought how they might secretly enjoy one another in the future. The
+cottage being close to the city gate, they hied them thither, as soon as
+the storm was overpast, and having there awaited the lady, returned home
+with her. Nor, using all discretion, did they fail thereafter to meet
+from time to time in secret, to their no small solace; and the affair
+went so far that the damsel conceived, whereby they were both not a
+little disconcerted; insomuch that the damsel employed many artifices to
+arrest the course of nature, but to no effect. Wherefore Pietro, being in
+fear of his life, saw nothing for it but flight, and told her so.
+Whereupon:--"If thou leave me," quoth she, "I shall certainly kill
+myself." Much as he loved her, Pietro answered:--"Nay but, my lady,
+wherefore wouldst thou have me tarry here? Thy pregnancy will discover
+our offence: thou wilt be readily forgiven; but 'twill be my woeful lot
+to bear the penalty of thy sin and mine." "Pietro," returned the damsel,
+"too well will they wot of my offence, but be sure that, if thou confess
+not, none will ever wot of thine." Then quoth he:--"Since thou givest me
+this promise, I will stay; but mind thou keep it."
+
+The damsel, who had done her best to keep her condition secret, saw at
+length by the increase of her bulk that 'twas impossible: wherefore one
+day most piteously bewailing herself, she made her avowal to her mother,
+and besought her to shield her from the consequences. Distressed beyond
+measure, the lady chid her severely, and then asked her how it had come
+to pass. The damsel, to screen Pietro, invented a story by which she put
+another complexion on the affair. The lady believed her, and, that her
+fall might not be discovered, took her off to one of their estates;
+where, the time of her delivery being come, and she, as women do in such
+a case, crying out for pain, it so befell that Messer Amerigo, whom the
+lady expected not, as indeed he was scarce ever wont, to come there, did
+so, having been out a hawking, and passing by the chamber where the
+damsel lay, marvelled to hear her cries, and forthwith entered, and asked
+what it meant. On sight of whom the lady rose and sorrowfully gave him
+her daughter's version of what had befallen her. But he, less credulous
+than his wife, averred that it could not be true that she knew not by
+whom she was pregnant, and was minded to know the whole truth: let the
+damsel confess and she might regain his favour; otherwise she must expect
+no mercy and prepare for death.
+
+The lady did all she could to induce her husband to rest satisfied with
+what she had told him; but all to no purpose. Mad with rage, he rushed,
+drawn sword in hand, to his daughter's bedside (she, pending the parley,
+having given birth to a boy) and cried out:--"Declare whose this infant
+is, or forthwith thou diest." Overcome by fear of death, the damsel broke
+her promise to Pietro, and made a clean breast of all that had passed
+between him and her. Whereat the knight, grown fell with rage, could
+scarce refrain from slaying her. However, having given vent to his wrath
+in such words as it dictated, he remounted his horse and rode to Trapani,
+and there before one Messer Currado, the King's lieutenant, laid
+information of the wrong done him by Pietro, in consequence whereof
+Pietro, who suspected nothing, was forthwith taken, and being put to the
+torture, confessed all. Some days later the lieutenant sentenced him to
+be scourged through the city, and then hanged by the neck; and Messer
+Amerigo, being minded that one and the same hour should rid the earth of
+the two lovers and their son (for to have compassed Pietro's death was
+not enough to appease his wrath), mingled poison and wine in a goblet,
+and gave it to one of his servants with a drawn sword, saying:--"Get thee
+with this gear to Violante, and tell her from me to make instant choice
+of one of these two deaths, either the poison or the steel; else, I will
+have her burned, as she deserves, in view of all the citizens; which
+done, thou wilt take the boy that she bore a few days ago, and beat his
+brains out against the wall, and cast his body for a prey to the dogs."
+
+Hearing the remorseless doom thus passed by the angry father upon both
+his daughter and his grandson, the servant, prompt to do evil rather than
+good, hied him thence.
+
+Now, as Pietro in execution of his sentence was being scourged to the
+gallows by the serjeants, 'twas so ordered by the leaders of the band
+that he passed by an inn, where were three noblemen of Armenia, sent by
+the king of that country as ambassadors to Rome, to treat with the Pope
+of matters of the highest importance, touching a crusade that was to be;
+who, having there alighted to rest and recreate them for some days, had
+received not a few tokens of honour from the nobles of Trapani, and most
+of all from Messer Amerigo. Hearing the tramp of Pietro's escort, they
+came to a window to see what was toward; and one of them, an aged man,
+and of great authority, Fineo by name, looking hard at Pietro, who was
+stripped from the waist up, and had his hands bound behind his back,
+espied on his breast a great spot of scarlet, not laid on by art, but
+wrought in the skin by operation of Nature, being such as the ladies here
+call a rose. Which he no sooner saw, than he was reminded of a son that
+had been stolen from him by corsairs on the coast of Lazistan some
+fifteen years before, nor had he since been able to hear tidings of him;
+and guessing the age of the poor wretch that was being scourged, he set
+it down as about what his son's would be, were he living, and, what with
+the mark and the age, he began to suspect that 'twas even his son, and
+bethought him that, if so, he would scarce as yet have forgotten his name
+or the speech of Armenia. Wherefore, as he was within earshot he called
+to him:--"Teodoro!" At the word Pietro raised his head: whereupon Fineo,
+speaking in Armenian, asked him:--"Whence and whose son art thou?" The
+serjeants, that were leading him, paused in deference to the great man,
+and so Pietro answered:--"Of Armenia was I, son of one Fineo, brought
+hither by folk I wot not of, when I was but a little child." Then Fineo,
+witting that in very truth 'twas the boy that he had lost, came down with
+his companions, weeping; and, all the serjeants making way, he ran to
+him, and embraced him, and doffing a mantle of richest texture that he
+wore, he prayed the captain of the band to be pleased to tarry there
+until he should receive orders to go forward, and was answered by the
+captain that he would willingly so wait.
+
+Fineo already knew, for 'twas bruited everywhere, the cause for which
+Pietro was being led to the gallows; wherefore he straightway hied him
+with his companions and their retinue to Messer Currado, and said to
+him:--"Sir, this lad, whom you are sending to the gallows like a slave,
+is freeborn, and my son, and is ready to take to wife her whom, as 'tis
+said, he has deflowered; so please you, therefore, delay the execution
+until such time as it may be understood whether she be minded to have him
+for husband, lest, should she be so minded, you be found to have broken
+the law." Messer Currado marvelled to hear that Pietro was Fineo's son,
+and not without shame, albeit 'twas not his but Fortune's fault,
+confessed that 'twas even as Fineo said: and having caused Pietro to be
+taken home with all speed, and Messer Amerigo to be brought before him,
+told him the whole matter. Messer Amerigo, who supposed that by this time
+his daughter and grandson must be dead, was the saddest man in the world
+to think that 'twas by his deed, witting that, were the damsel still
+alive, all might very easily be set right: however, he sent post haste to
+his daughter's abode, revoking his orders, if they were not yet carried
+out. The servant, whom he had earlier despatched, had laid the sword and
+poison before the damsel, and, for that she was in no hurry to make her
+choice, was giving her foul words, and endeavouring to constrain her
+thereto, when the messenger arrived; but on hearing the injunction laid
+upon him by his lord, he desisted, and went back, and told him how things
+stood. Whereupon Messer Amerigo, much relieved, hied him to Fineo, and
+well-nigh weeping, and excusing himself for what had befallen, as best he
+knew how, craved his pardon, and professed himself well content to give
+Teodoro, so he were minded to have her, his daughter to wife. Fineo
+readily accepted his excuses, and made answer:--"'Tis my will that my son
+espouse your daughter, and, so he will not, let thy sentence passed upon
+him be carried out."
+
+So Fineo and Messer Amerigo being agreed, while Teodoro still languished
+in fear of death, albeit he was glad at heart to have found his father,
+they questioned him of his will in regard of this matter.
+
+When he heard that, if he would, he might have Violante to wife,
+Teodoro's delight was such that he seemed to leap from hell to paradise,
+and said that, if 'twas agreeable to them all, he should deem it the
+greatest of favours. So they sent to the damsel to learn her pleasure:
+who, having heard how it had fared, and was now like to fare, with
+Teodoro, albeit, saddest of women, she looked for nought but death, began
+at length to give some credence to their words, and to recover heart a
+little, and answered that, were she to follow the bent of her desire,
+nought that could happen would delight her more than to be Teodoro's
+wife; but nevertheless she would do as her father bade her.
+
+So, all agreeing, the damsel was espoused with all pomp and festal cheer,
+to the boundless delight of all the citizens, and was comforted, and
+nurtured her little boy, and in no long time waxed more beautiful than
+ever before; and, her confinement being ended, she presented herself
+before Fineo, who was then about to quit Rome on his homeward journey,
+and did him such reverence as is due to a father. Fineo, mighty well
+pleased to have so fair a daughter-in-law, caused celebrate her nuptials
+most bravely and gaily, and received, and did ever thereafter entreat,
+her as his daughter.
+
+And so he took her, not many days after the festivities were ended, with
+his son and little grandson, aboard a galley, and brought them to
+Lazistan, and there thenceforth the two lovers dwelt with him in easeful
+and lifelong peace.
+
+
+NOVEL VIII.
+
+--
+Nastagio degli Onesti, loving a damsel of the Traversari family, by
+lavish expenditure gains not her love. At the instance of his kinsfolk he
+hies him to Chiassi, where he sees a knight hunt a damsel and slay her
+and cause her to be devoured by two dogs. He bids his kinsfolk and the
+lady that he loves to breakfast. During the meal the said damsel is torn
+in pieces before the eyes of the lady, who, fearing a like fate, takes
+Nastagio to husband.
+--
+
+Lauretta was no sooner silent than thus at the queen's behest began
+Filomena:--Sweet ladies, as in us pity has ever its meed of praise, even
+so Divine justice suffers not our cruelty to escape severe chastisement:
+the which that I may shew you, and thereby dispose you utterly to banish
+that passion from your souls, I am minded to tell you a story no less
+touching than delightsome.
+
+In Ravenna, that most ancient city of Romagna, there dwelt of yore
+noblemen and gentlemen not a few, among whom was a young man, Nastagio
+degli Onesti by name, who by the death of his father and one of his
+uncles inherited immense wealth. Being without a wife, Nastagio, as 'tis
+the way with young men, became enamoured of a daughter of Messer Paolo
+Traversaro, a damsel of much higher birth than his, whose love he hoped
+to win by gifts and the like modes of courting, which, albeit they were
+excellent and fair and commendable, not only availed him not, but seemed
+rather to have the contrary effect, so harsh and ruthless and unrelenting
+did the beloved damsel shew herself towards him; for whether it was her
+uncommon beauty or her noble lineage that puffed her up, so haughty and
+disdainful was she grown that pleasure she had none either in him or in
+aught that pleased him. The burden of which disdain Nastagio found so
+hard to bear, that many a time, when he had made his moan, he longed to
+make away with himself. However he refrained therefrom, and many a time
+resolved to give her up altogether, or, if so he might, to hold her in
+despite, as she did him: but 'twas all in vain, for it seemed as if, the
+more his hope dwindled, the greater grew his love. And, as thus he
+continued, loving and spending inordinately, certain of his kinsfolk and
+friends, being apprehensive lest he should waste both himself and his
+substance, did many a time counsel and beseech him to depart Ravenna, and
+go tarry for a time elsewhere, that so he might at once cool his flame
+and reduce his charges. For a long while Nastagio answered their
+admonitions with banter; but as they continued to ply him with them, he
+grew weary of saying no so often, and promised obedience. Whereupon he
+equipped himself as if for a journey to France or Spain, or other distant
+parts, got on horseback and sallied forth of Ravenna, accompanied by not
+a few of his friends, and being come to a place called Chiassi, about
+three miles from Ravenna, he halted, and having sent for tents and
+pavilions, told his companions that there he meant to stay, and they
+might go back to Ravenna. So Nastagio pitched his camp, and there
+commenced to live after as fine and lordly a fashion as did ever any man,
+bidding divers of his friends from time to time to breakfast or sup with
+him, as he had been wont to do. Now it so befell that about the beginning
+of May, the season being very fine, he fell a brooding on the cruelty of
+his mistress, and, that his meditations might be the less disturbed, he
+bade all his servants leave him, and sauntered slowly, wrapt in thought,
+as far as the pinewood. Which he had threaded for a good half-mile, when,
+the fifth hour of the day being well-nigh past, yet he recking neither of
+food nor of aught else, 'twas as if he heard a woman wailing exceedingly
+and uttering most piercing shrieks: whereat, the train of his sweet
+melancholy being broken, he raised his head to see what was toward, and
+wondered to find himself in the pinewood; and saw, moreover, before him
+running through a grove, close set with underwood and brambles, towards
+the place where he was, a damsel most comely, stark naked, her hair
+dishevelled, and her flesh all torn by the briers and brambles, who wept
+and cried piteously for mercy; and at her flanks he saw two mastiffs,
+exceeding great and fierce, that ran hard upon her track, and not seldom
+came up with her and bit her cruelly; and in the rear he saw, riding a
+black horse, a knight sadly accoutred, and very wrathful of mien,
+carrying a rapier in his hand, and with despiteful, blood-curdling words
+threatening her with death. Whereat he was at once amazed and appalled,
+and then filled with compassion for the hapless lady, whereof was bred a
+desire to deliver her, if so he might, from such anguish and peril of
+death. Wherefore, as he was unarmed, he ran and took in lieu of a cudgel
+a branch of a tree, with which he prepared to encounter the dogs and the
+knight. Which the knight observing, called to him before he was come to
+close quarters, saying:--"Hold off, Nastagio, leave the dogs and me alone
+to deal with this vile woman as she has deserved." And, even as he spoke,
+the dogs gripped the damsel so hard on either flank that they arrested
+her flight, and the knight, being come up, dismounted. Whom Nastagio
+approached, saying:--"I know not who thou art, that knowest me so well,
+but thus much I tell thee: 'tis a gross outrage for an armed knight to go
+about to kill a naked woman, and set his dogs upon her as if she were a
+wild beast: rest assured that I shall do all I can to protect her."
+Whereupon:--"Nastagio," replied the knight, "of the same city as thou was
+I, and thou wast yet a little lad when I, Messer Guido degli Anastagi by
+name, being far more enamoured of this damsel than thou art now of her of
+the Traversari, was by her haughtiness and cruelty brought to so woeful a
+pass that one day in a fit of despair I slew myself with this rapier
+which thou seest in my hand; for which cause I am condemned to the
+eternal pains. Nor was it long after my death that she, who exulted
+therein over measure, also died, and for that she repented her not of her
+cruelty and the joy she had of my sufferings, for which she took not
+blame to herself, but merit, was likewise condemned to the pains of hell.
+Nor had she sooner made her descent, than for her pain and mine 'twas
+ordained, that she should flee before me, and that I, who so loved her,
+should pursue her, not as my beloved lady, but as my mortal enemy, and
+so, as often as I come up with her, I slay her with this same rapier with
+which I slew myself, and having ripped her up by the back, I take out
+that hard and cold heart, to which neither love nor pity had ever access,
+and therewith her other inward parts, as thou shalt forthwith see, and
+cast them to these dogs to eat. And in no long time, as the just and
+mighty God decrees, she rises even as if she had not died, and
+recommences her dolorous flight, I and the dogs pursuing her. And it so
+falls out that every Friday about this hour I here come up with her, and
+slaughter her as thou shalt see; but ween not that we rest on other days;
+for there are other places in which I overtake her, places in which she
+used, or devised how she might use, me cruelly; on which wise, changed as
+thou seest from her lover into her foe, I am to pursue her for years as
+many as the months during which she shewed herself harsh to me. Wherefore
+leave me to execute the decree of the Divine justice, and presume not to
+oppose that which thou mayst not avail to withstand."
+
+Affrighted by the knight's words, insomuch that there was scarce a hair
+on his head but stood on end, Nastagio shrank back, still gazing on the
+hapless damsel, and waited all a tremble to see what the knight would do.
+Nor had he long to wait; for the knight, as soon as he had done speaking,
+sprang, rapier in hand, like a mad dog upon the damsel, who, kneeling,
+while the two mastiffs gripped her tightly, cried him mercy; but the
+knight, thrusting with all his force, struck her between the breasts, and
+ran her clean through the body. Thus stricken, the damsel fell forthwith
+prone on the ground sobbing and shrieking: whereupon the knight drew
+forth a knife, and having therewith opened her in the back, took out the
+heart and all the circumjacent parts, and threw them to the two mastiffs,
+who, being famished, forthwith devoured them. And in no long time the
+damsel, as if nought thereof had happened, started to her feet, and took
+to flight towards the sea, pursued, and ever and anon bitten, by the
+dogs, while the knight, having gotten him to horse again, followed them
+as before, rapier in hand; and so fast sped they that they were quickly
+lost to Nastagio's sight.
+
+Long time he stood musing on what he had seen, divided between pity and
+terror, and then it occurred to him that, as this passed every Friday, it
+might avail him not a little. So, having marked the place, he rejoined
+his servants, and in due time thereafter sent for some of his kinsfolk
+and friends, and said to them:--"'Tis now a long while that you urge me
+to give up loving this lady that is no friend to me, and therewith make
+an end of my extravagant way of living; and I am now ready so to do,
+provided you procure me one favour, to wit, that next Friday Messer Paolo
+Traversaro, and his wife and daughter, and all the ladies, their
+kinswomen, and as many other ladies as you may be pleased to bid, come
+hither to breakfast with me: when you will see for yourselves the reason
+why I so desire." A small matter this seemed to them; and so, on their
+return to Ravenna, they lost no time in conveying Nastagio's message to
+his intended guests: and, albeit she was hardly persuaded, yet in the end
+the damsel that Nastagio loved came with the rest.
+
+Nastagio caused a lordly breakfast to be prepared, and had the tables set
+under the pines about the place where he had witnessed the slaughter of
+the cruel lady; and in ranging the ladies and gentlemen at table he so
+ordered it, that the damsel whom he loved was placed opposite the spot
+where it should be enacted. The last course was just served, when the
+despairing cries of the hunted damsel became audible to all, to their no
+small amazement; and each asking, and none knowing, what it might import,
+up they all started intent to see what was toward; and perceived the
+suffering damsel, and the knight and the dogs, who in a trice were in
+their midst. They hollaed amain to dogs and knight, and not a few
+advanced to succour the damsel: but the words of the knight, which were
+such as he had used to Nastagio, caused them to fall back,
+terror-stricken and lost in amazement. And when the knight proceeded to
+do as he had done before, all the ladies that were there, many of whom
+were of kin to the suffering damsel and to the knight, and called to mind
+his love and death, wept as bitterly as if 'twere their own case.
+
+When 'twas all over, and the lady and the knight had disappeared, the
+strange scene set those that witnessed it pondering many and divers
+matters: but among them all none was so appalled as the cruel damsel that
+Nastagio loved, who, having clearly seen and heard all that had passed,
+and being ware that it touched her more nearly than any other by reason
+of the harshness that she had ever shewn to Nastagio, seemed already to
+be fleeing from her angered lover, and to have the mastiffs on her
+flanks. And so great was her terror that, lest a like fate should befall
+her, she converted her aversion into affection, and as soon as occasion
+served, which was that very night, sent a trusty chambermaid privily to
+Nastagio with a request that he would be pleased to come to her, for that
+she was ready in all respects to pleasure him to the full. Nastagio made
+answer that he was greatly flattered, but that he was minded with her
+consent to have his pleasure of her in an honourable way, to wit, by
+marrying her. The damsel, who knew that none but herself was to blame
+that she was not already Nastagio's wife, made answer that she consented.
+Wherefore by her own mouth she acquainted her father and mother that she
+agreed to marry Nastagio; and, they heartily approving her choice,
+Nastagio wedded her on the ensuing Sunday, and lived happily with her
+many a year. Nor was it in her instance alone that this terror was
+productive of good: on the contrary, it so wrought among the ladies of
+Ravenna that they all became, and have ever since been, much more
+compliant with men's desires than they had been wont to be.
+
+
+NOVEL IX.
+
+--
+Federigo degli Alberighi loves and is not loved in return: he wastes his
+substance by lavishness until nought is left but a single falcon, which,
+his lady being come to see him at his house, he gives her to eat: she,
+knowing his case, changes her mind, takes him to husband and makes him
+rich.
+--
+
+So ended Filomena; and the queen, being ware that besides herself only
+Dioneo (by virtue of his privilege) was left to speak, said with gladsome
+mien:--'Tis now for me to take up my parable; which, dearest ladies, I
+will do with a story like in some degree to the foregoing, and that, not
+only that you may know how potent are your charms to sway the gentle
+heart, but that you may also learn how upon fitting occasions to make
+bestowal of your guerdons of your own accord, instead of always waiting
+for the guidance of Fortune, which most times, not wisely, but without
+rule or measure, scatters her gifts.
+
+You are then to know, that Coppo di Borghese Domenichi, a man that in our
+day was, and perchance still is, had in respect and great reverence in
+our city, being not only by reason of his noble lineage, but, and yet
+more, for manners and merit most illustrious and worthy of eternal
+renown, was in his old age not seldom wont to amuse himself by
+discoursing of things past with his neighbours and other folk; wherein he
+had not his match for accuracy and compass of memory and concinnity of
+speech. Among other good stories, he would tell, how that there was of
+yore in Florence a gallant named Federigo di Messer Filippo Alberighi,
+who for feats of arms and courtesy had not his peer in Tuscany; who, as
+is the common lot of gentlemen, became enamoured of a lady named Monna
+Giovanna, who in her day held rank among the fairest and most elegant
+ladies of Florence; to gain whose love he jousted, tilted, gave
+entertainments, scattered largess, and in short set no bounds to his
+expenditure. However the lady, no less virtuous than fair, cared not a
+jot for what he did for her sake, nor yet for him.
+
+Spending thus greatly beyond his means, and making nothing, Federigo
+could hardly fail to come to lack, and was at length reduced to such
+poverty that he had nothing left but a little estate, on the rents of
+which he lived very straitly, and a single falcon, the best in the world.
+The estate was at Campi, and thither, deeming it no longer possible for
+him to live in the city as he desired, he repaired, more in love than
+ever before; and there, in complete seclusion, diverting himself with
+hawking, he bore his poverty as patiently as he might.
+
+Now, Federigo being thus reduced to extreme poverty, it so happened that
+one day Monna Giovanna's husband, who was very rich, fell ill, and,
+seeing that he was nearing his end, made his will, whereby he left his
+estate to his son, who was now growing up, and in the event of his death
+without lawful heir named Monna Giovanna, whom he dearly loved, heir in
+his stead; and having made these dispositions he died.
+
+Monna Giovanna, being thus left a widow, did as our ladies are wont, and
+repaired in the summer to one of her estates in the country which lay
+very near to that of Federigo. And so it befell that the urchin began to
+make friends with Federigo, and to shew a fondness for hawks and dogs,
+and having seen Federigo's falcon fly not a few times, took a singular
+fancy to him, and greatly longed to have him for his own, but still did
+not dare to ask him of Federigo, knowing that Federigo prized him so
+much. So the matter stood when by chance the boy fell sick; whereby the
+mother was sore distressed, for he was her only son, and she loved him as
+much as might be, insomuch that all day long she was beside him, and
+ceased not to comfort him, and again and again asked him if there were
+aught that he wished for, imploring him to say the word, and, if it might
+by any means be had, she would assuredly do her utmost to procure it for
+him. Thus repeatedly exhorted, the boy said:--"Mother mine, do but get me
+Federigo's falcon, and I doubt not I shall soon be well." Whereupon the
+lady was silent a while, bethinking her what she should do. She knew that
+Federigo had long loved her, and had never had so much as a single kind
+look from her: wherefore she said to herself:--How can I send or go to
+beg of him this falcon, which by what I hear is the best that ever flew,
+and moreover is his sole comfort? And how could I be so unfeeling as to
+seek to deprive a gentleman of the one solace that is now left him? And
+so, albeit she very well knew that she might have the falcon for the
+asking, she was perplexed, and knew not what to say, and gave her son no
+answer. At length, however, the love she bore the boy carried the day,
+and she made up her mind, for his contentment, come what might, not to
+send, but to go herself and fetch him the falcon. So:--"Be of good cheer,
+my son," she said, "and doubt not thou wilt soon be well; for I promise
+thee that the very first thing that I shall do tomorrow morning will be
+to go and fetch thee the falcon." Whereat the child was so pleased that
+he began to mend that very day.
+
+On the morrow the lady, as if for pleasure, hied her with another lady to
+Federigo's little house, and asked to see him. 'Twas still, as for some
+days past, no weather for hawking, and Federigo was in his garden, busy
+about some small matters which needed to be set right there. When he
+heard that Monna Giovanna was at the door, asking to see him, he was not
+a little surprised and pleased, and hied him to her with all speed. As
+soon as she saw him, she came forward to meet him with womanly grace, and
+having received his respectful salutation, said to him:--"Good morrow,
+Federigo," and continued:--"I am come to requite thee for what thou hast
+lost by loving me more than thou shouldst: which compensation is this,
+that I and this lady that accompanies me will breakfast with thee without
+ceremony this morning." "Madam," Federigo replied with all humility, "I
+mind not ever to have lost aught by loving you, but rather to have been
+so much profited that, if I ever deserved well in aught, 'twas to your
+merit that I owed it, and to the love that I bore you. And of a surety
+had I still as much to spend as I have spent in the past, I should not
+prize it so much as this visit you so frankly pay me, come as you are to
+one who can afford you but a sorry sort of hospitality." Which said, with
+some confusion, he bade her welcome to his house, and then led her into
+his garden, where, having none else to present to her by way of
+companion, he said:--"Madam, as there is none other here, this good
+woman, wife of this husbandman, will bear you company, while I go to have
+the table set." Now, albeit his poverty was extreme, yet he had not known
+as yet how sore was the need to which his extravagance had reduced him;
+but this morning 'twas brought home to him, for that he could find nought
+wherewith to do honour to the lady, for love of whom he had done the
+honours of his house to men without number: wherefore, distressed beyond
+measure, and inwardly cursing his evil fortune, he sped hither and
+thither like one beside himself, but never a coin found he, nor yet aught
+to pledge. Meanwhile it grew late, and sorely he longed that the lady
+might not leave his house altogether unhonoured, and yet to crave help of
+his own husbandman was more than his pride could brook. In these
+desperate straits his glance happened to fall on his brave falcon on his
+perch in his little parlour. And so, as a last resource, he took him, and
+finding him plump, deemed that he would make a dish meet for such a lady.
+Wherefore, without thinking twice about it, he wrung the bird's neck, and
+caused his maid forthwith pluck him and set him on a spit, and roast him
+carefully; and having still some spotless table linen, he had the table
+laid therewith, and with a cheerful countenance hied him back to his lady
+in the garden, and told her that such breakfast as he could give her was
+ready. So the lady and her companion rose and came to table, and there,
+with Federigo, who waited on them most faithfully, ate the brave falcon,
+knowing not what they ate.
+
+When they were risen from table, and had dallied a while in gay converse
+with him, the lady deemed it time to tell the reason of her visit:
+wherefore, graciously addressing Federigo, thus began she:--"Federigo, by
+what thou rememberest of thy past life and my virtue, which, perchance,
+thou hast deemed harshness and cruelty, I doubt not thou must marvel at
+my presumption, when thou hearest the main purpose of my visit; but if
+thou hadst sons, or hadst had them, so that thou mightest know the full
+force of the love that is borne them, I should make no doubt that thou
+wouldst hold me in part excused. Nor, having a son, may I, for that thou
+hast none, claim exemption from the laws to which all other mothers are
+subject, and, being thus bound to own their sway, I must, though fain
+were I not, and though 'tis neither meet nor right, crave of thee that
+which I know thou dost of all things and with justice prize most highly,
+seeing that this extremity of thy adverse fortune has left thee nought
+else wherewith to delight, divert and console thee; which gift is no
+other than thy falcon, on which my boy has so set his heart that, if I
+bring him it not, I fear lest he grow so much worse of the malady that he
+has, that thereby it may come to pass that I lose him. And so, not for
+the love which thou dost bear me, and which may nowise bind thee, but for
+that nobleness of temper, whereof in courtesy more conspicuously than in
+aught else thou hast given proof, I implore thee that thou be pleased to
+give me the bird, that thereby I may say that I have kept my son alive,
+and thus made him for aye thy debtor."
+
+No sooner had Federigo apprehended what the lady wanted, than, for grief
+that 'twas not in his power to serve her, because he had given her the
+falcon to eat, he fell a weeping in her presence, before he could so much
+as utter a word. At first the lady supposed that 'twas only because he
+was loath to part with the brave falcon that he wept, and as good as made
+up her mind that he would refuse her: however, she awaited with patience
+Federigo's answer, which was on this wise:--"Madam, since it pleased God
+that I should set my affections upon you there have been matters not a
+few, in which to my sorrow I have deemed Fortune adverse to me; but they
+have all been trifles in comparison of the trick that she now plays me:
+the which I shall never forgive her, seeing that you are come here to my
+poor house, where, while I was rich, you deigned not to come, and ask a
+trifling favour of me, which she has put it out of my power to grant: how
+'tis so, I will briefly tell you. When I learned that you, of your grace,
+were minded to breakfast with me, having respect to your high dignity and
+desert, I deemed it due and seemly that in your honour I should regale
+you, to the best of my power, with fare of a more excellent quality than
+is commonly set before others; and, calling to mind the falcon which you
+now ask of me, and his excellence, I judged him meet food for you, and so
+you have had him roasted on the trencher this morning; and well indeed I
+thought I had bestowed him; but, as now I see that you would fain have
+had him in another guise, so mortified am I that I am not able to serve
+you, that I doubt I shall never know peace of mind more." In witness
+whereof he had the feathers and feet and beak of the bird brought in and
+laid before her.
+
+The first thing the lady did, when she had heard Federigo's story, and
+seen the relics of the bird, was to chide him that he had killed so fine
+a falcon to furnish a woman with a breakfast; after which the magnanimity
+of her host, which poverty had been and was powerless to impair, elicited
+no small share of inward commendation. Then, frustrate of her hope of
+possessing the falcon, and doubting of her son's recovery, she took her
+leave with the heaviest of hearts, and hied her back to the boy: who,
+whether for fretting, that he might not have the falcon, or by the
+unaided energy of his disorder, departed this life not many days after,
+to the exceeding great grief of his mother. For a while she would do
+nought but weep and bitterly bewail herself; but being still young, and
+left very wealthy, she was often urged by her brothers to marry again,
+and though she would rather have not done so, yet being importuned, and
+remembering Federigo's high desert, and the magnificent generosity with
+which he had finally killed his falcon to do her honour, she said to her
+brothers:--"Gladly, with your consent, would I remain a widow, but if you
+will not be satisfied except I take a husband, rest assured that none
+other will I ever take save Federigo degli Alberighi." Whereupon her
+brothers derided her, saying:--"Foolish woman, what is't thou sayst? How
+shouldst thou want Federigo, who has not a thing in the world?" To whom
+she answered:--"My brothers, well wot I that 'tis as you say; but I had
+rather have a man without wealth than wealth without a man." The
+brothers, perceiving that her mind was made up, and knowing Federigo for
+a good man and true, poor though he was, gave her to him with all her
+wealth. And so Federigo, being mated with such a wife, and one that he
+had so much loved, and being very wealthy to boot, lived happily, keeping
+more exact accounts, to the end of his days.
+
+
+NOVEL X.
+
+--
+Pietro di Vinciolo goes from home to sup: his wife brings a boy into the
+house to bear her company: Pietro returns, and she hides her gallant
+under a hen-coop: Pietro explains that in the house of Ercolano, with
+whom he was to have supped, there was discovered a young man bestowed
+there by Ercolano's wife: the lady thereupon censures Ercolano's wife:
+but unluckily an ass treads on the fingers of the boy that is hidden
+under the hen-coop, so that he cries for pain: Pietro runs to the place,
+sees him, and apprehends the trick played on him by his wife, which
+nevertheless he finally condones, for that he is not himself free from
+blame.
+--
+
+When the queen had done speaking, and all had praised God that He had
+worthily rewarded Federigo, Dioneo, who never waited to be bidden, thus
+began:--I know not whether I am to term it a vice accidental and
+superinduced by bad habits in us mortals, or whether it be a fault seated
+in nature, that we are more prone to laugh at things dishonourable than
+at good deeds, and that more especially when they concern not ourselves.
+However, as the sole scope of all my efforts has been and still shall be
+to dispel your melancholy, and in lieu thereof to minister to you
+laughter and jollity; therefore, enamoured my damsels, albeit the ensuing
+story is not altogether free from matter that is scarce seemly, yet, as
+it may afford you pleasure, I shall not fail to relate it; premonishing
+you my hearers, that you take it with the like discretion as when, going
+into your gardens, you stretch forth your delicate hands and cull the
+roses, leaving the thorns alone: which, being interpreted, means that you
+will leave the caitiff husband to abide in sorry plight with his
+dishonour, and will gaily laugh at the amorous wiles or his wife, and
+commiserate her unfortunate gallant, when occasion requires.
+
+'Tis no great while since there dwelt at Perugia a rich man named Pietro
+di Vinciolo, who rather, perchance, to blind others and mitigate the evil
+repute in which he was held by the citizens of Perugia, than for any
+desire to wed, took a wife: and such being his motive, Fortune provided
+him with just such a spouse as he merited. For the wife of his choice was
+a stout, red-haired young woman, and so hot-blooded that two husbands
+would have been more to her mind than one, whereas one fell to her lot
+that gave her only a subordinate place in his regard. Which she
+perceiving, while she knew herself to be fair and lusty, and felt herself
+to be gamesome and fit, waxed very wroth, and now and again had high
+words with her husband, and led but a sorry life with him at most times.
+Then, seeing that thereby she was more like to fret herself than to
+dispose her husband to conduct less base, she said to herself:--This poor
+creature deserts me to go walk in pattens in the dry; wherefore it shall
+go hard but I will bring another aboard the ship for the wet weather. I
+married him, and brought him a great and goodly dowry, knowing that he
+was a man, and supposing him to have the desires which men have and ought
+to have; and had I not deemed him to be a man, I should never have
+married him. He knew me to be a woman: why then took he me to wife, if
+women were not to his mind? 'Tis not to be endured. Had I not been minded
+to live in the world, I had become a nun; and being minded there to live,
+as I am, if I am to wait until I have pleasure or solace of him, I shall
+wait perchance until I am old; and then, too late, I shall bethink me to
+my sorrow that I have wasted my youth; and as to the way in which I
+should seek its proper solace I need no better teacher and guide than
+him, who finds his delight where I should find mine, and finds it to his
+own condemnation, whereas in me 'twere commendable. 'Tis but the laws
+that I shall set at nought, whereas he sets both them and Nature herself
+at nought.
+
+So the good lady reasoned, and peradventure more than once; and then,
+casting about how she might privily compass her end, she made friends
+with an old beldam, that shewed as a veritable Santa Verdiana,
+foster-mother of vipers, who was ever to be seen going to pardonings with
+a parcel of paternosters in her hand, and talked of nothing but the lives
+of the holy Fathers, and the wounds of St. Francis, and was generally
+reputed a saint; to whom in due time she opened her whole mind. "My
+daughter," replied the beldam, "God, who knows all things, knows that
+thou wilt do very rightly indeed: were it for no other reason, 'twould be
+meet for thee and every other young woman so to do, that the heyday of
+youth be not wasted; for there is no grief like that of knowing that it
+has been wasted. And what the devil are we women fit for when we are old
+except to pore over the cinders on the hearth? The which if any know, and
+may attest it, 'tis I, who, now that I am old, call to mind the time that
+I let slip from me, not without most sore and bitter and fruitless
+regret: and albeit 'twas not all wasted, for I would not have thee think
+that I was entirely without sense, yet I did not make the best use of it:
+whereof when I bethink me, and that I am now, even as thou seest me, such
+a hag that never a spark of fire may I hope to get from any, God knows
+how I rue it. Now with men 'tis otherwise: they are born meet for a
+thousand uses, not for this alone; and the more part of them are of much
+greater consequence in old age than in youth: but women are fit for
+nought but this, and 'tis but for that they bear children that they are
+cherished. Whereof, if not otherwise, thou mayst assure thyself, if thou
+do but consider that we are ever ready for it; which is not the case with
+men; besides which, one woman will tire out many men without being
+herself tired out. Seeing then that 'tis for this we are born, I tell
+thee again that thou wilt do very rightly to give thy husband thy loaf
+for his cake, that in thy old age thy soul may have no cause of complaint
+against thy flesh. Every one has just as much of this life as he
+appropriates: and this is especially true of women, whom therefore it
+behoves, much more than men, to seize the moment as it flies: indeed, as
+thou mayst see for thyself, when we grow old neither husband, nor any
+other man will spare us a glance; but, on the contrary, they banish us to
+the kitchen, there to tell stories to the cat, and to count the pots and
+pans; or, worse, they make rhymes about us:--'To the damsel dainty bits;
+to the beldam ague-fits;' and such-like catches. But to make no more
+words about it, I tell thee at once that there is no person in the world
+to whom thou couldst open thy mind with more advantage than to me; for
+there is no gentleman so fine but I dare speak my mind to him, nor any so
+harsh and forbidding but I know well how to soften him and fashion him to
+my will. Tell me only what thou wouldst have, and leave the rest to me:
+but one word more: I pray thee to have me in kindly remembrance, for that
+I am poor; and thou shalt henceforth go shares with me in all my
+indulgences and every paternoster that I say, that God may make thereof
+light and tapers for thy dead:" wherewith she ended.
+
+So the lady came to an understanding with the beldam, that, as soon as
+she set eyes on a boy that often came along that street, and of whom the
+lady gave her a particular description, she would know what she was to
+do: and thereupon the lady gave her a chunk of salt meat, and bade her
+God-speed. The beldam before long smuggled into the lady's chamber the
+boy of whom she had spoken, and not long after another, such being the
+humour of the lady, who, standing in perpetual dread of her husband, was
+disposed, in this particular, to make the most of her opportunities. And
+one of these days, her husband being to sup in the evening with a friend
+named Ercolano, the lady bade the beldam bring her a boy as pretty and
+dainty as was to be found in Perugia; and so the beldam forthwith did.
+But the lady and the boy being set at table to sup, lo, Pietro's voice
+was heard at the door, bidding open to him. Whereupon the lady gave
+herself up for dead; but being fain, if she might, to screen the boy, and
+knowing not where else to convey or conceal him, bestowed him under a
+hen-coop that stood in a veranda hard by the chamber in which they were
+supping, and threw over it a sorry mattress that she had that day emptied
+of its straw; which done she hastened to open the door to her husband;
+saying to him as he entered:--"You have gulped your supper mighty quickly
+to-night." Whereto Pietro replied:--"We have not so much as tasted it."
+"How so?" enquired the lady. "I will tell thee," said Pietro. "No sooner
+were we set at table, Ercolano, his wife, and I, than we heard a sneeze
+close to us, to which, though 'twas repeated, we paid no heed; but as the
+sneezer continued to sneeze a third, a fourth, a fifth, and many another
+time to boot, we all began to wonder, and Ercolano, who was somewhat out
+of humour with his wife, because she had kept us a long time at the door
+before she opened it, burst out in a sort of rage with:--'What means
+this? Who is't that thus sneezes?' and made off to a stair hard by,
+beneath which and close to its foot was a wooden closet, of the sort
+which, when folk are furnishing their houses, they commonly cause to be
+placed there, to stow things in upon occasion. And as it seemed to him
+that the sneezing proceeded thence, he undid the wicket, and no sooner
+had he opened it than out flew never so strong a stench of brimstone;
+albeit we had already been saluted by a whiff of it, and complained
+thereof, but had been put off by the lady with:--''Tis but that a while
+ago I bleached my veils with brimstone, having sprinkled it on a dish,
+that they might catch its fumes, which dish I then placed under the
+stair, so that it still smells a little.'
+
+"However the door being now, as I have said, open, and the smoke somewhat
+less dense, Ercolano, peering in, espied the fellow that had sneezed, and
+who still kept sneezing, being thereto constrained by the pungency of the
+brimstone. And for all he sneezed, yet was he by this time so well-nigh
+choked with the brimstone that he was like neither to sneeze nor to do
+aught else again. As soon as he caught sight of him, Ercolano bawled
+out:--'Now see I, Madam, why it was that a while ago, when we came here,
+we were kept waiting so long at the gate before 'twas opened; but woe
+betide me for the rest of my days, if I pay you not out.' Whereupon the
+lady, perceiving that her offence was discovered, ventured no excuse, but
+fled from the table, whither I know not. Ercolano, ignoring his wife's
+flight, bade the sneezer again and again to come forth; but he, being by
+this time fairly spent, budged not an inch for aught that Ercolano said.
+Wherefore Ercolano caught him by one of his feet, and dragged him forth,
+and ran off for a knife with intent to kill him; but I, standing in fear
+of the Signory on my own account, got up and would not suffer him to kill
+the fellow or do him any hurt, and for his better protection raised the
+alarm, whereby some of the neighbours came up and took the lad, more dead
+than alive, and bore him off, I know not whither. However, our supper
+being thus rudely interrupted, not only have not gulped it, but I have
+not so much as tasted it, as I said before!"
+
+Her husband's story shewed his wife that there were other ladies as
+knowing as she, albeit misfortune might sometimes overtake them and
+gladly would she have spoken out in defence of Ercolano's wife, but,
+thinking that, by censuring another's sin, she would secure more scope
+for her own, she launched out on this wise:--"Fine doings indeed, a right
+virtuous and saintly lady she must be: here is the loyalty of an honest
+woman, and one to whom I had lief have confessed, so spiritual I deemed
+her; and the worst of it is that, being no longer young, she sets a rare
+example to those that are so. Curses on the hour that she came into the
+world: curses upon her that she make not away with herself, basest, most
+faithless of women that she must needs be, the reproach of her sex, the
+opprobrium of all the ladies of this city, to cast aside all regard for
+her honour, her marriage vow, her reputation before the world, and, lost
+to all sense of shame, to scruple not to bring disgrace upon a man so
+worthy, a citizen so honourable, a husband by whom she was so well
+treated, ay, and upon herself to boot! By my hope of salvation no mercy
+should be shewn to such women; they should pay the penalty with their
+lives; to the fire with them while they yet live, and let them be burned
+to ashes." Then, calling to mind the lover that she had close at hand in
+the hen-coop, she fell to coaxing Pietro to get him to bed, for the hour
+grew late. Pietro, who was more set on eating than sleeping, only asked
+whether there was aught he might have by way of supper. "Supper,
+forsooth!" replied the lady. "Ay, of course 'tis our way to make much of
+supper when thou art not at home. As if I were Ercolano's wife! Now,
+wherefore tarry longer? Go, get thy night's rest: 'twere far better for
+thee."
+
+Now so it was that some of Pietro's husbandmen had come to the house that
+evening with divers things from the farm, and had put up their asses in a
+stable that adjoined the veranda, but had neglected to water them; and
+one of the asses being exceeding thirsty, got his head out of the halter
+and broke loose from the stable, and went about nosing everything, if
+haply he might come by water: whereby he came upon the hen-coop, beneath
+which was the boy; who, being constrained to stand on all fours, had the
+fingers of one hand somewhat protruding from under the hen-coop; and so
+as luck or rather ill-luck would have it, the ass trod on them; whereat,
+being sorely hurt, he set up a great howling, much to the surprise of
+Pietro, who perceived that 'twas within his house. So forth he came, and
+hearing the boy still moaning and groaning, for the ass still kept his
+hoof hard down on the fingers, called out:--"Who is there?" and ran to
+the hen-coop and raised it, and espied the fellow, who, besides the pain
+that the crushing of his fingers by the ass's hoof occasioned him,
+trembled in every limb for fear that Pietro should do him a mischief. He
+was one that Pietro had long been after for his foul purposes: so Pietro,
+recognizing him, asked him:--"What dost thou here?" The boy making no
+answer, save to beseech him for the love of God to do him no hurt, Pietro
+continued:--"Get up, have no fear that I shall hurt thee; but tell
+me:--How, and for what cause comest thou to be here?" The boy then
+confessed everything. Whereupon Pietro, as elated by the discovery as his
+wife was distressed, took him by the hand; and led him into the room
+where the lady in the extremity of terror awaited him; and, having seated
+himself directly in front of her, said:--"'Twas but a moment ago that
+thou didst curse Ercolano's wife, and averred that she ought to be
+burned, and that she was the reproach of your sex: why saidst thou not,
+of thyself? Or, if thou wast not minded to accuse thyself, how hadst thou
+the effrontery to censure her, knowing that thou hadst done even as she?
+Verily 'twas for no other reason than that ye are all fashioned thus, and
+study to cover your own misdeeds with the delinquencies of others: would
+that fire might fall from heaven and burn you all, brood of iniquity that
+ye are!"
+
+The lady, marking that in the first flush of his wrath he had given her
+nothing worse than hard words, and discerning, as she thought, that he
+was secretly overjoyed to hold so beautiful a boy by the hand, took heart
+of grace and said:--"I doubt not indeed that thou wouldst be well pleased
+that fire should fall from heaven and devour us all, seeing that thou art
+as fond of us as a dog is of the stick, though by the Holy Rood thou wilt
+be disappointed; but I would fain have a little argument with thee, to
+know whereof thou complainest. Well indeed were it with me, didst thou
+but place me on an equality with Ercolano's wife, who is an old
+sanctimonious hypocrite, and has of him all that she wants, and is
+cherished by him as a wife should be: but that is not my case. For,
+granted that thou givest me garments and shoes to my mind, thou knowest
+how otherwise ill bested I am, and how long it is since last thou didst
+lie with me; and far liefer had I go barefoot and in rags, and have thy
+benevolence abed, than have all that I have, and be treated as thou dost
+treat me. Understand me, Pietro, be reasonable; consider that I am a
+woman like other women, with the like craving; whereof if thou deny me
+the gratification, 'tis no blame to me that I seek it elsewhere; and at
+least I do thee so much honour as not forgather with stable-boys or
+scurvy knaves."
+
+Pietro perceived that she was like to continue in this vein the whole
+night: wherefore, indifferent as he was to her, he said:--"Now, Madam, no
+more of this; in the matter of which thou speakest I will content thee;
+but of thy great courtesy let us have something to eat by way of supper;
+for, methinks, the boy, as well as I, has not yet supped." "Ay, true
+enough," said the lady, "he has not supped; for we were but just sitting
+down to table to sup, when, beshrew thee, thou madest thy appearance."
+"Go then," said Pietro, "get us some supper; and by and by I will arrange
+this affair in such a way that thou shalt have no more cause of
+complaint." The lady, perceiving that her husband was now tranquil, rose,
+and soon had the table laid again and spread with the supper which she
+had ready; and so they made a jolly meal of it, the caitiff husband, the
+lady and the boy. What after supper Pietro devised for their mutual
+satisfaction has slipped from my memory. But so much as this I know, that
+on the morrow as he wended his way to the piazza, the boy would have been
+puzzled to say, whether of the twain, the wife or the husband, had had
+the most of his company during the night. But this I would say to you,
+dear my ladies, that whoso gives you tit, why, just give him tat; and if
+you cannot do it at once, why, bear it in mind until you can, that even
+as the ass gives, so he may receive.
+
+Dioneo's story, whereat the ladies laughed the less for shamefastness
+rather than for disrelish, being ended, the queen, taking note that the
+term of her sovereignty was come, rose to her feet, and took off the
+laurel wreath and set it graciously upon Elisa's head, saying:--"Madam,
+'tis now your turn to bear sway." The dignity accepted, Elisa followed in
+all respects the example of her predecessors: she first conferred with
+the seneschal, and directed him how meetly to order all things during the
+time of her sovereignty; which done to the satisfaction of the
+company:--"Ofttimes," quoth she, "have we heard how with bright sallies,
+and ready retorts, and sudden devices, not a few have known how to repugn
+with apt checks the bites of others, or to avert imminent perils; and
+because 'tis an excellent argument, and may be profitable, I ordain that
+to-morrow, God helping us, the following be the rule of our discourse; to
+wit, that it be of such as by some sprightly sally have repulsed an
+attack, or by some ready retort or device have avoided loss, peril or
+scorn." The rule being heartily approved by all, the queen rose and
+dismissed them till supper-time. So the honourable company, seeing the
+queen risen, rose all likewise, and as their wont was, betook them to
+their diversions as to each seemed best. But when the cicalas had hushed
+their chirping, all were mustered again for supper; and having blithely
+feasted, they all addressed them to song and dance. And the queen, while
+Emilia led a dance, called for a song from Dioneo, who at once came out
+with:--'Monna Aldruda, come perk up thy mood, a piece of glad tidings I
+bring thee.' Whereat all the ladies fell a laughing, and most of all the
+queen, who bade him give them no more of that, but sing another. Quoth
+Dioneo:--"Madam, had I a tabret, I would sing:--'Up with your smock,
+Monna Lapa!' or:--'Oh! the greensward under the olive!' Or perchance you
+had liefer I should give you:--'Woe is me, the wave of the sea!' But no
+tabret have I: wherefore choose which of these others you will have.
+Perchance you would like:--'Now hie thee to us forth, that so it may be
+cut, as May the fields about.'" "No," returned the queen, "give us
+another." "Then," said Dioneo, "I will sing:--'Monna Simona, embarrel,
+embarrel. Why, 'tis not the month of October.'"(1) "Now a plague upon
+thee," said the queen, with a laugh; "give us a proper song, wilt thou?
+for we will have none of these." "Never fear, Madam," replied Dioneo;
+"only say which you prefer. I have more than a thousand songs by heart.
+Perhaps you would like:--'This my little covert, make I ne'er it overt';
+or:--'Gently, gently, husband mine'; or:--'A hundred pounds were none too
+high a price for me a cock to buy.'" The queen now shewed some offence,
+though the other ladies laughed, and:--"A truce to thy jesting, Dioneo,"
+said she, "and give us a proper song: else thou mayst prove the quality
+of my ire." Whereupon Dioneo forthwith ceased his fooling, and sang on
+this wise:--
+
+So ravishing a light
+  Doth from the fair eyes of my mistress move
+  As keeps me slave to her and thee, O Love.
+
+A beam from those bright orbs did radiate
+  That flame that through mine own eyes to my breast
+  Did whilom entrance gain.
+  Thy majesty, O Love, thy might, how great
+  They be, 'twas her fair face did manifest:
+  Whereon to brood still fain,
+  I felt thee take and chain
+  Each sense, my soul enthralling on such wise
+  That she alone henceforth evokes my sighs.
+
+Wherefore, O dear my Lord, myself I own
+  Thy slave, and, all obedience, wait and yearn,
+  Till thy might me console.
+  Yet wot I not if it be throughly known
+  How noble is the flame wherewith I burn,
+  My loyalty how whole
+  To her that doth control
+  Ev'n in such sort my mind that shall I none,
+  Nor would I, peace receive, save hers alone.
+
+And so I pray thee, sweet my Lord, that thou
+  Give her to feel thy fire, and shew her plain
+  How grievous my disease.
+  This service deign to render; for that now
+  Thou seest me waste for love, and in the pain
+  Dissolve me by degrees:
+  And then the apt moment seize
+  My cause to plead with her, as is but due
+  From thee to me, who fain with thee would sue.
+
+When Dioneo's silence shewed that his song was ended, the queen accorded
+it no stinted meed of praise; after which she caused not a few other
+songs to be sung. Thus passed some part of the night; and then the queen,
+taking note that its freshness had vanquished the heat of the day, bade
+all go rest them, if they would, till the morning.
+
+(1) The song is evidently amoebean.
+
+
+--
+Endeth here the fifth day of the Decameron, beginneth the sixth, wherein,
+under the rule of Elisa, discourse is had of such as by some sprightly
+sally have repulsed an attack, or by some ready retort or device have
+avoided loss, peril or scorn.
+--
+
+Still in mid heaven, the moon had lost her radiance, nor was any part of
+our world unillumined by the fresh splendour of the dawn, when, the queen
+being risen and having mustered her company, they hied them, gently
+sauntering, across the dewy mead some distance from the beautiful hill,
+conversing now of this, now of the other matter, canvassing the stories,
+their greater or less degree of beauty, and laughing afresh at divers of
+their incidents, until, the sun being now in his higher ascendant, they
+began to feel his heat, and turning back by common consent, retraced
+their steps to the palace, where, the tables being already set, and
+fragrant herbs and fair flowers strewn all about, they by the queen's
+command, before it should grow hotter, addressed themselves to their
+meal. So, having blithely breakfasted, they first of all sang some dainty
+and jocund ditties, and then, as they were severally minded, composed
+them to sleep or sat them down to chess or dice, while Dioneo and
+Lauretta fell a singing of Troilus and Cressida.
+
+The hour of session being come, they took their places, at the queen's
+summons, in their wonted order by the fountain; but, when the queen was
+about to call for the first story, that happened which had not happened
+before; to wit, there being a great uproar in the kitchen among the maids
+and men, the sound thereof reached the ears of the queen and all the
+company. Whereupon the queen called the seneschal and asked him who
+bawled so loud, and what was the occasion of the uproar. The seneschal
+made answer that 'twas some contention between Licisca and Tindaro; but
+the occasion he knew not, having but just come to quiet them, when he
+received her summons. The queen then bade him cause Licisca and Tindaro
+to come thither forthwith: so they came, and the queen enquired of them
+the cause of the uproar. Tindaro was about to make answer, when Licisca,
+who was somewhat advanced in years, and disposed to give herself airs,
+and heated to the strife of words, turned to Tindaro, and scowling upon
+him said:--"Unmannerly varlet that makest bold to speak before me; leave
+me to tell the story." Then, turning to the queen, she said:--"Madam,
+this fellow would fain instruct me as to Sicofante's wife, and--neither
+more or less--as if I had not known her well--would have me believe that,
+the first night that Sicofante lay with her, 'twas by force and not
+without effusion of blood that Master Yard made his way into Dusky Hill;
+which I deny, averring that he met with no resistance, but, on the
+contrary, with a hearty welcome on the part of the garrison. And such a
+numskull is he as fondly to believe that the girls are so simple as to
+let slip their opportunities, while they wait on the caprice of father or
+brothers, who six times out of seven delay to marry them for three or
+four years after they should. Ay, ay indeed, doubtless they were well
+advised to tarry so long! Christ's faith! I should know the truth of what
+I swear; there is never a woman in my neighbourhood whose husband had her
+virginity; and well I know how many and what manner of tricks our married
+dames play their husbands; and yet this booby would fain teach me to know
+women as if I were but born yesterday."
+
+While Licisca thus spoke, the ladies laughed till all their teeth were
+ready to start from their heads. Six times at least the queen bade her be
+silent: but all in vain; she halted not till she had said all that she
+had a mind to. When she had done, the queen turned with a smile to Dioneo
+saying:--"This is a question for thee to deal with, Dioneo; so hold
+thyself in readiness to give final judgment upon it, when our stories are
+ended." "Madam," replied Dioneo forthwith, "I give judgment without more
+ado: I say that Licisca is in the right; I believe that 'tis even as she
+says, and that Tindaro is a fool." Whereupon Licisca burst out laughing,
+and turning to Tindaro:--"Now did I not tell thee so?" quoth she. "Begone
+in God's name: dost think to know more than I, thou that art but a
+sucking babe? Thank God, I have not lived for nothing, not I." And had
+not the queen sternly bade her be silent, and make no more disturbance,
+unless she had a mind to be whipped, and sent both her and Tindaro back
+to the kitchen, the whole day would have been spent in nought but
+listening to her. So Licisca and Tindaro having withdrawn, the queen
+charged Filomena to tell the first story: and gaily thus Filomena began.
+
+
+NOVEL I.
+
+--
+A knight offers to carry Madonna Oretta a horseback with a story, but
+tells it so ill that she prays him to dismount her.
+--
+
+As stars are set for an ornament in the serene expanse of heaven, and
+likewise in springtime flowers and leafy shrubs in the green meadows, so,
+damsels, in the hour of rare and excellent discourse, is wit with its
+bright sallies. Which, being brief, are much more proper for ladies than
+for men, seeing that prolixity of speech, where brevity is possible, is
+much less allowable to them. But for whatever cause, be it the sorry
+quality of our understanding, or some especial enmity that heaven bears
+to our generation, few ladies or none are left to-day that, when occasion
+prompts, are able to meet it with apt speech, ay, or if aught of the kind
+they hear, can understand it aright: to our common shame be it spoken!
+But as, touching this matter, enough has already been said by
+Pampinea,(1) I purpose not to enlarge thereon; but, that you may know
+what excellence resides in speech apt for the occasion, I am minded to
+tell you after how courteous a fashion a lady imposed silence upon a
+gentleman.
+
+'Tis no long time since there dwelt in our city a lady, noble, debonair
+and of excellent discourse, whom not a few of you may have seen or heard
+of, whose name--for such high qualities merit not oblivion--was Madonna
+Oretta, her husband being Messer Geri Spina. Now this lady, happening to
+be, as we are, in the country, moving from place to place for pleasure
+with a company of ladies and gentlemen, whom she had entertained the day
+before at breakfast at her house, and the place of their next sojourn,
+whither they were to go afoot, being some considerable distance off, one
+of the gentlemen of the company said to her:--"Madonna Oretta, so please
+you, I will carry you great part of the way a horseback with one of the
+finest stories in the world." "Indeed, Sir," replied the lady, "I pray
+you do so; and I shall deem it the greatest of favours." Whereupon the
+gentleman, who perhaps was no better master of his weapon than of his
+story, began a tale, which in itself was indeed excellent, but which, by
+repeating the same word three, four or six times, and now and again
+harking back, and saying:--"I said not well"; and erring not seldom in
+the names, setting one in place of another, he utterly spoiled; besides
+which, his mode of delivery accorded very ill with the character of the
+persons and incidents: insomuch that Madonna Oretta, as she listened, did
+oft sweat, and was like to faint, as if she were ill and at the point of
+death. And being at length able to bear no more of it, witting that the
+gentleman had got into a mess and was not like to get out of it, she said
+pleasantly to him:--"Sir, this horse of yours trots too hard; I pray you
+be pleased to set me down." The gentleman, being perchance more quick of
+apprehension than he was skilful in narration, missed not the meaning of
+her sally, and took it in all good and gay humour. So, leaving unfinished
+the tale which he had begun, and so mishandled, he addressed himself to
+tell her other stories.
+
+(1) Cf. First Day, Novel X.
+
+
+NOVEL II.
+
+--
+Cisti, a baker, by an apt speech gives Messer Geri Spina to know that he
+has by inadvertence asked that of him which he should not.
+--
+
+All the ladies and the men alike having greatly commended Madonna
+Oretta's apt saying, the queen bade Pampinea follow suit, and thus she
+began:--
+
+Fair ladies, I cannot myself determine whether Nature or Fortune be the
+more at fault, the one in furnishing a noble soul with a vile body, or
+the other in allotting a base occupation to a body endowed with a noble
+soul, whereof we may have seen an example, among others, in our
+fellow-citizen, Cisti; whom, furnished though he was with a most lofty
+soul, Fortune made a baker. And verily I should curse Nature and Fortune
+alike, did I not know that Nature is most discreet, and that Fortune,
+albeit the foolish imagine her blind, has a thousand eyes. For 'tis, I
+suppose, that, being wise above a little, they do as mortals ofttimes do,
+who, being uncertain as to their future, provide against contingencies by
+burying their most precious treasures in the basest places in their
+houses, as being the least likely to be suspected; whence, in the hour of
+their greatest need, they bring them forth, the base place having kept
+them more safe than the dainty chamber would have done. And so these two
+arbitresses of the world not seldom hide their most precious commodities
+in the obscurity of the crafts that are reputed most base, that thence
+being brought to light they may shine with a brighter splendour. Whereof
+how in a trifling matter Cisti, the baker, gave proof, restoring the eyes
+of the mind to Messer Geri Spina, whom the story of his wife, Madonna
+Oretta, has brought to my recollection, I am minded to shew you in a
+narrative which shall be of the briefest.
+
+I say then that Pope Boniface, with whom Messer Geri Spina stood very
+high in favour and honour, having sent divers of his courtiers to
+Florence as ambassadors to treat of certain matters of great moment, and
+they being lodged in Messer Geri's house, where he treated with them of
+the said affairs of the Pope, 'twas, for some reason or another, the wont
+of Messer Geri and the ambassadors of the Pope to pass almost every
+morning by Santa Maria Ughi, where Cisti, the baker, had his bakehouse,
+and plied his craft in person. Now, albeit Fortune had allotted him a
+very humble occupation, she had nevertheless prospered him therein to
+such a degree that he was grown most wealthy, and without ever aspiring
+to change it for another, lived in most magnificent style, having among
+his other good things a cellar of the best wines, white and red, that
+were to be found in Florence, or the country parts; and marking Messer
+Geri and the ambassadors of the Pope pass every morning by his door, he
+bethought him that, as 'twas very hot, 'twould be a very courteous thing
+to give them to drink of his good wine; but comparing his rank with that
+of Messer Geri, he deemed it unseemly to presume to invite him, and cast
+about how he might lead Messer Geri to invite himself. So, wearing always
+the whitest of doublets and a spotless apron, that denoted rather the
+miller, than the baker, he let bring, every morning about the hour that
+he expected Messer Geri and the ambassadors to pass by his door, a
+spick-and-span bucket of fresh and cool spring water, and a small
+Bolognese flagon of his good white wine, and two beakers that shone like
+silver, so bright were they: and there down he sat him, as they came by,
+and after hawking once or twice, fell a drinking his wine with such gusto
+that 'twould have raised a thirst in a corpse. Which Messer Geri having
+observed on two successive mornings, said on the third:--"What is't,
+Cisti? Is't good?" Whereupon Cisti jumped up, and answered:--"Ay, Sir,
+good it is; but in what degree I might by no means make you understand,
+unless you tasted it." Messer Geri, in whom either the heat of the
+weather, or unwonted fatigue, or, perchance, the gusto with which he had
+seen Cisti drink, had bred a thirst, turned to the ambassadors and said
+with a smile:--"Gentlemen, 'twere well to test the quality of this worthy
+man's wine: it may be such that we shall not repent us." And so in a body
+they came up to where Cisti stood; who, having caused a goodly bench to
+be brought out of the bakehouse, bade them be seated, and to their
+servants, who were now coming forward to wash the beakers, said:--"Stand
+back, comrades, and leave this office to me, for I know as well how to
+serve wine as to bake bread; and expect not to taste a drop yourselves."
+Which said, he washed four fine new beakers with his own hands, and
+having sent for a small flagon of his good wine, he heedfully filled the
+beakers, and presented them to Messer Geri and his companions; who deemed
+the wine the best that they had drunk for a great while. So Messer Geri,
+having praised the wine not a little, came there to drink every morning
+with the ambassadors as long as they tarried with him.
+
+Now when the ambassadors had received their conge, and were about to
+depart, Messer Geri gave a grand banquet, to which he bade some of the
+most honourable of the citizens, and also Cisti, who could by no means be
+induced to come. However, Messer Geri bade one of his servants go fetch a
+flask of Cisti's wine, and serve half a beaker thereof to each guest at
+the first course. The servant, somewhat offended, perhaps, that he had
+not been suffered to taste any of the wine, took with him a large flask,
+which Cisti no sooner saw, than:--"Son," quoth he, "Messer Geri does not
+send thee to me": and often as the servant affirmed that he did, he could
+get no other answer: wherewith he was fain at last to return to Messer
+Geri. "Go, get thee back, said Messer Geri, and tell him that I do send
+thee to him, and if he answers thee so again, ask him, to whom then I
+send thee." So the servant came back, and said:--"Cisti, Messer Geri
+does, for sure, send me to thee." "Son," answered Cisti, "Messer Geri
+does, for sure, not send thee to me." "To whom then," said the servant,
+"does he send me?" "To Arno," returned Cisti. Which being reported by the
+servant to Messer Geri, the eyes of his mind were straightway opened,
+and:--"Let me see," quoth he to the servant, "what flask it is thou
+takest there." And when he had seen it:--"Cisti says sooth," he added;
+and having sharply chidden him, he caused him take with him a suitable
+flask, which when Cisti saw:--"Now know I," quoth he, "that 'tis indeed
+Messer Geri that sends thee to me," and blithely filled it. And having
+replenished the rundlet that same day with wine of the same quality, he
+had it carried with due care to Messer Geri's house, and followed after
+himself; where finding Messer Geri he said:--"I would not have you think,
+Sir, that I was appalled by the great flask your servant brought me this
+morning; 'twas but that I thought you had forgotten that which by my
+little beakers I gave you to understand, when you were with me of late;
+to wit, that this is no table wine; and so wished this morning to refresh
+your memory. Now, however, being minded to keep the wine no longer, I
+have sent you all I have of it, to be henceforth entirely at your
+disposal." Messer Geri set great store by Cisti's gift, and thanked him
+accordingly, and ever made much of him and entreated him as his friend.
+
+
+NOVEL III.
+
+--
+Monna Nonna de' Pulci by a ready retort silences the scarce seemly
+jesting of the Bishop of Florence.
+--
+
+Pampinea's story ended, and praise not a little bestowed on Cisti alike
+for his apt speech and for his handsome present, the queen was pleased to
+call forthwith for a story from Lauretta, who blithely thus began:--
+
+Debonair my ladies, the excellency of wit, and our lack thereof, have
+been noted with no small truth first by Pampinea and after her by
+Filomena. To which topic 'twere bootless to return: wherefore to that
+which has been said touching the nature of wit I purpose but to add one
+word, to remind you that its bite should be as a sheep's bite and not as
+a dog's; for if it bite like a dog, 'tis no longer wit but discourtesy.
+With which maxim the words of Madonna Oretta, and the apt reply of Cisti,
+accorded excellently. True indeed it is that if 'tis by way of retort,
+and one that has received a dog's bite gives the biter a like bite in
+return, it does not seem to be reprehensible, as otherwise it would have
+been. Wherefore one must consider how and when and on whom and likewise
+where one exercises one's wit. By ill observing which matters one of our
+prelates did once upon a time receive no less shrewd a bite than he gave;
+as I will shew you in a short story.
+
+While Messer Antonio d'Orso, a prelate both worthy and wise, was Bishop
+of Florence, there came thither a Catalan gentleman, Messer Dego della
+Ratta by name, being King Ruberto's marshal. Now Dego being very goodly
+of person, and inordinately fond of women, it so befell that of the
+ladies of Florence she that he regarded with especial favour was the very
+beautiful niece of a brother of the said bishop. And having learned that
+her husband, though of good family, was but a caitiff, and avaricious in
+the last degree, he struck a bargain with him that he should lie one
+night with the lady for five hundred florins of gold: whereupon he had
+the same number of popolins(1) of silver, which were then current,
+gilded, and having lain with the lady, albeit against her will, gave them
+to her husband. Which coming to be generally known, the caitiff husband
+was left with the loss and the laugh against him; and the bishop, like a
+wise man, feigned to know nought of the affair. And so the bishop and the
+marshal being much together, it befell that on St. John's day, as they
+rode side by side down the street whence they start to run the palio,(2)
+and took note of the ladies, the bishop espied a young gentlewoman, whom
+this present pestilence has reft from us, Monna Nonna de' Pulci by name,
+a cousin of Messer Alesso Rinucci, whom you all must know; whom, for that
+she was lusty and fair, and of excellent discourse and a good courage,
+and but just settled with her husband in Porta San Piero, the bishop
+presented to the marshal; and then, being close beside her, he laid his
+hand on the marshal's shoulder and said to her:--"Nonna, what thinkest
+thou of this gentleman? That thou mightst make a conquest of him?" Which
+words the lady resented as a jibe at her honour, and like to tarnish it
+in the eyes of those, who were not a few, in whose hearing they were
+spoken. Wherefore without bestowing a thought upon the vindication of her
+honour, but being minded to return blow for blow, she retorted
+hastily:--"Perchance, Sir, he might not make a conquest of me; but if he
+did so, I should want good money." The answer stung both the marshal and
+the bishop to the quick, the one as contriver of the scurvy trick played
+upon the bishop's brother in regard of his niece, the other as thereby
+outraged in the person of his brother's niece; insomuch that they dared
+not look one another in the face, but took themselves off in shame and
+silence, and said never a word more to her that day.
+
+In such a case, then, the lady having received a bite, 'twas allowable in
+her wittily to return it.
+
+(1) A coin of the same size and design as the fiorino d'oro, but worth
+only two soldi.
+
+(2) A sort of horse-race still in vogue at Siena.
+
+
+NOVEL IV.
+
+--
+Chichibio, cook to Currado Gianfigliazzi, owes his safety to a ready
+answer, whereby he converts Currado's wrath into laughter, and evades the
+evil fate with which Currado had threatened him.
+--
+
+Lauretta being now silent, all lauded Nonna to the skies; after which
+Neifile received the queen's command to follow suit, and thus began:--
+
+Albeit, loving ladies, ready wit not seldom ministers words apt and
+excellent and congruous with the circumstances of the speakers, 'tis also
+true that Fortune at times comes to the aid of the timid, and
+unexpectedly sets words upon the tongue, which in a quiet hour the
+speaker could never have found for himself: the which 'tis my purpose to
+shew you by my story.
+
+Currado Gianfigliazzi, as the eyes and ears of each of you may bear
+witness, has ever been a noble citizen of our city, open-handed and
+magnificent, and one that lived as a gentleman should with hounds and
+hawks, in which, to say nothing at present of more important matters, he
+found unfailing delight. Now, having one day hard by Peretola despatched
+a crane with one of his falcons, finding it young and plump, he sent it
+to his excellent cook, a Venetian, Chichibio by name, bidding him roast
+it for supper and make a dainty dish of it. Chichibio, who looked, as he
+was, a very green-head, had dressed the crane, and set it to the fire and
+was cooking it carefully, when, the bird being all but roasted, and the
+fumes of the cooking very strong, it so chanced that a girl, Brunetta by
+name, that lived in the same street, and of whom Chichibio was greatly
+enamoured, came into the kitchen, and perceiving the smell and seeing the
+bird, began coaxing Chichibio to give her a thigh. By way of answer
+Chichibio fell a singing:--"You get it not from me, Madam Brunetta, you
+get it not from me." Whereat Madam Brunetta was offended, and said to
+him:--"By God, if thou givest it me not, thou shalt never have aught from
+me to pleasure thee." In short there was not a little altercation; and in
+the end Chichibio, fain not to vex his mistress, cut off one of the
+crane's thighs, and gave it to her. So the bird was set before Currado
+and some strangers that he had at table with him, and Currado, observing
+that it had but one thigh, was surprised, and sent for Chichibio, and
+demanded of him what was become of the missing thigh. Whereto the
+mendacious Venetian answered readily:--"The crane, Sir, has but one thigh
+and one leg." "What the devil?" rejoined Currado in a rage: "so the crane
+has but one thigh and one leg? thinkst thou I never saw crane before
+this?" But Chichibio continued:--"'Tis even so as I say, Sir; and, so
+please you, I will shew you that so it is in the living bird." Currado
+had too much respect for his guests to pursue the topic; he only
+said:--"Since thou promisest to shew me in the living bird what I have
+never seen or heard tell of, I bid thee do so to-morrow, and I shall be
+satisfied, but if thou fail, I swear to thee by the body of Christ that I
+will serve thee so that thou shalt ruefully remember my name for the rest
+of thy days."
+
+No more was said of the matter that evening, but on the morrow, at
+daybreak, Currado, who had by no means slept off his wrath, got up still
+swelling therewith, and ordered his horses, mounted Chichibio on a
+hackney, and saying to him:--"We shall soon see which of us lied
+yesternight, thou or I," set off with him for a place where there was
+much water, beside which there were always cranes to be seen about dawn.
+Chichibio, observing that Currado's ire was unabated, and knowing not how
+to bolster up his lie, rode by Currado's side in a state of the utmost
+trepidation, and would gladly, had he been able, have taken to flight;
+but, as he might not, he glanced, now ahead, now aback, now aside, and
+saw everywhere nought but cranes standing on two feet. However, as they
+approached the river, the very first thing they saw upon the bank was a
+round dozen of cranes standing each and all on one foot, as is their
+wont, when asleep. Which Chichibio presently pointed out to Currado,
+saying:--"Now may you see well enough, Sir, that 'tis true as I said
+yesternight, that the crane has but one thigh and one leg; mark but how
+they stand over there." Whereupon Currado:--"Wait," quoth he, "and I will
+shew thee that they have each thighs and legs twain." So, having drawn a
+little nigher to them, he ejaculated, "Oho!" Which caused the cranes to
+bring each the other foot to the ground, and, after hopping a step or
+two, to take to flight. Currado then turned to Chichibio, saying:--"How
+now, rogue? art satisfied that the bird has thighs and legs twain?"
+Whereto Chichibio, all but beside himself with fear, made answer:--"Ay,
+Sir; but you cried not, oho! to our crane of yestereve: had you done so,
+it would have popped its other thigh and foot forth, as these have done."
+Which answer Currado so much relished, that, all his wrath changed to
+jollity and laughter:--"Chichibio," quoth he, "thou art right, indeed I
+ought to have so done."
+
+Thus did Chichibio by his ready and jocund retort arrest impending evil,
+and make his peace with his master.
+
+
+NOVEL V.
+
+--
+Messer Forese da Rabatta and Master Giotto, the painter, journeying
+together from Mugello, deride one another's scurvy appearance.
+--
+
+Neifile being silent, and the ladies having made very merry over
+Chichibio's retort, Pamfilo at the queen's command thus spoke:--Dearest
+ladies, if Fortune, as Pampinea has shewn us, does sometimes bide
+treasures most rich of native worth in the obscurity of base occupations,
+so in like manner 'tis not seldom found that Nature has enshrined
+prodigies of wit in the most ignoble of human forms. Whereof a notable
+example is afforded by two of our citizens, of whom I purpose for a brief
+while to discourse. The one, Messer Forese da Rabatta by name, was short
+and deformed of person and withal flat-cheeked and flat-nosed, insomuch
+that never a Baroncio(1) had a visage so misshapen but his would have
+shewed as hideous beside it; yet so conversant was this man with the
+laws, that by not a few of those well able to form an opinion he was
+reputed a veritable storehouse of civil jurisprudence. The other, whose
+name was Giotto, was of so excellent a wit that, let Nature, mother of
+all, operant ever by continual revolution of the heavens, fashion what
+she would, he with his style and pen and pencil would depict its like on
+such wise that it shewed not as its like, but rather as the thing itself,
+insomuch that the visual sense of men did often err in regard thereof,
+mistaking for real that which was but painted. Wherefore, having brought
+back to light that art which had for many ages lain buried beneath the
+blunders of those who painted rather to delight the eyes of the ignorant
+than to satisfy the intelligence of the wise, he may deservedly be called
+one of the lights that compose the glory of Florence, and the more so,
+the more lowly was the spirit in which he won that glory, who, albeit he
+was, while he yet lived, the master of others, yet did ever refuse to be
+called their master. And this title that he rejected adorned him with a
+lustre the more splendid in proportion to the avidity with which it was
+usurped by those who were less knowing than he, or were his pupils. But
+for all the exceeding greatness of his art, yet in no particular had he
+the advantage of Messer Forese either in form or in feature. But to come
+to the story:--'Twas in Mugello that Messer Forese, as likewise Giotto,
+had his country-seat, whence returning from a sojourn that he had made
+there during the summer vacation of the courts, and being, as it chanced,
+mounted on a poor jade of a draught horse, he fell in with the said
+Giotto, who was also on his way back to Florence after a like sojourn on
+his own estate, and was neither better mounted, nor in any other wise
+better equipped, than Messer Forese. And so, being both old men, they
+jogged on together at a slow pace: and being surprised by a sudden
+shower, such as we frequently see fall in summer, they presently sought
+shelter in the house of a husbandman that was known to each of them, and
+was their friend. But after a while, as the rain gave no sign of ceasing,
+and they had a mind to be at Florence that same day, they borrowed of the
+husbandman two old cloaks of Romagnole cloth, and two hats much the worse
+for age (there being no better to be had), and resumed their journey.
+Whereon they had not proceeded far, when, taking note that they were
+soaked through and through, and liberally splashed with the mud cast up
+by their nags' hooves (circumstances which are not of a kind to add to
+one's dignity), they, after long silence, the sky beginning to brighten a
+little, began to converse. And Messer Forese, as he rode and hearkened to
+Giotto, who was an excellent talker, surveyed him sideways, and from head
+to foot, and all over, and seeing him in all points in so sorry and
+scurvy a trim, and recking nought of his own appearance, broke into a
+laugh and said:--"Giotto, would e'er a stranger that met us, and had not
+seen thee before, believe, thinkst thou, that thou wert, as thou art,
+the greatest painter in the world." Whereto Giotto answered
+promptly:--"Methinks, Sir, he might, if, scanning you, he gave you credit
+for knowing the A B C." Which hearing, Messer Forese recognized his
+error, and perceived that he had gotten as good as he brought.
+
+(1) The name of a Florentine family famous for the extraordinary ugliness
+of its men: whereby it came to pass that any grotesque or extremely ugly
+man was called a Baroncio. Fanfani, Vocab. della Lingua Italiana, 1891.
+
+
+NOVEL VI.
+
+--
+Michele Scalza proves to certain young men that the Baronci are the best
+gentlemen in the world and the Maremma, and wins a supper.
+--
+
+The ladies were still laughing over Giotto's ready retort, when the queen
+charged Fiammetta to follow suit; wherefore thus Fiammetta
+began:--Pamfilo's mention of the Baronci, who to you, Damsels, are
+perchance not so well known as to him, has brought to my mind a story in
+which 'tis shewn how great is their nobility; and, for that it involves
+no deviation from our rule of discourse, I am minded to tell it you.
+
+'Tis no long time since there dwelt in our city a young man, Michele
+Scalza by name, the pleasantest and merriest fellow in the world, and the
+best furnished with quaint stories: for which reason the Florentine youth
+set great store on having him with them when they forgathered in company.
+Now it so befell that one day, he being with a party of them at Mont'
+Ughi, they fell a disputing together on this wise; to wit, who were the
+best gentlemen and of the longest descent in Florence. One said, the
+Uberti, another, the Lamberti, or some other family, according to the
+predilection of the speaker. Whereat Scalza began to smile, and
+said:--"Now out upon you, out upon you, blockheads that ye are: ye know
+not what ye say. The best gentlemen and of longest descent in all the
+world and the Maremma (let alone Florence) are the Baronci by the common
+consent of all phisopholers,(1) and all that know them as I do; and lest
+you should otherwise conceive me, I say that 'tis of your neighbours the
+Baronci(2) of Santa Maria Maggiore that I speak." Whereupon the young
+men, who had looked for somewhat else from him, said derisively:--"Thou
+dost but jest with us; as if we did not know the Baronci as well as
+thou!" Quoth Scalza:--"By the Gospels I jest not, but speak sooth; and if
+there is any of you will wager a supper to be given to the winner and six
+good fellows whom he shall choose, I will gladly do the like, and--what
+is more--I will abide by the decision of such one of you as you may
+choose." Then said one of them whose name was Neri Mannini:--"I am ready
+to adventure this supper;" and so they agreed together that Piero di
+Fiorentino, in whose house they were, should be judge, and hied them to
+him followed by all the rest, eager to see Scalza lose, and triumph in
+his discomfiture, and told Piero all that had been said. Piero, who was a
+young man of sound sense, heard what Neri had to say; and then turning to
+Scalza:--"And how," quoth he, "mayst thou make good what thou averrest?"
+"I will demonstrate it," returned Scalza, "by reasoning so cogent that
+not only you, but he that denies it shall acknowledge that I say sooth.
+You know, and so they were saying but now, that the longer men's descent,
+the better is their gentility, and I say that the Baronci are of longer
+descent, and thus better gentlemen than any other men. If, then, I prove
+to you that they are of longer descent than any other men, without a
+doubt the victory in this dispute will rest with me. Now you must know
+that when God made the Baronci, He was but a novice in His art, of which,
+when He made the rest of mankind, He was already master. And to assure
+yourself that herein I say sooth, you have but to consider the Baronci,
+how they differ from the rest of mankind, who all have faces well
+composed and duly proportioned, whereas of the Baronci you will see one
+with a face very long and narrow, another with a face inordinately broad,
+one with a very long nose, another with a short one, one with a
+protruding and upturned chin, and great jaws like an ass's; and again
+there will be one that has one eye larger than its fellow, or set on a
+lower plane; so that their faces resemble those that children make when
+they begin to learn to draw. Whereby, as I said, 'tis plainly manifest
+that, when God made them, He was but novice in His art; and so they are
+of longer descent than the rest of mankind, and by consequence better
+gentlemen." By which entertaining argument Piero, the judge, and Neri who
+had wagered the supper, and all the rest, calling to mind the Baronci's
+ugliness, were so tickled, that they fell a laughing, and averred that
+Scalza was in the right, and that he had won the wager, and that without
+a doubt the Baronci were the best gentlemen, and of the longest descent,
+not merely in Florence, but in the world and the Maremma to boot.
+Wherefore 'twas not without reason that Pamfilo, being minded to declare
+Messer Forese's ill-favouredness, said that he would have been hideous
+beside a Baroncio.
+
+(1) In the Italian fisofoli: an evidently intentional distortion.
+
+(2) Villani, Istorie Fiorentine, iv. cap. ix., and Dante, Paradiso, xvi.
+104, spell the name Barucci.
+
+
+NOVEL VII.
+
+--
+Madonna Filippa, being found by her husband with her lover, is cited
+before the court, and by a ready and jocund answer acquits herself, and
+brings about an alteration of the statute.
+--
+
+Fiammetta had been silent some time, but Scalza's novel argument to prove
+the pre-eminent nobility of the Baronci kept all still laughing, when the
+queen called for a story from Filostrato, who thus began:--Noble ladies,
+an excellent thing is apt speech on all occasions, but to be proficient
+therein I deem then most excellent when the occasion does most
+imperatively demand it. As was the case with a gentlewoman, of whom I
+purpose to speak to you, who not only ministered gaiety and merriment to
+her hearers, but extricated herself, as you shall hear, from the toils of
+an ignominious death.
+
+There was aforetime in the city of Prato a statute no less censurable
+than harsh, which, making no distinction between the wife whom her
+husband took in adultery with her lover, and the woman found pleasuring a
+stranger for money, condemned both alike to be burned. While this statute
+was in force, it befell that a gentlewoman, fair and beyond measure
+enamoured, Madonna Filippa by name, was by her husband, Rinaldo de'
+Pugliesi, found in her own chamber one night in the arms of Lazzarino de'
+Guazzagliotri, a handsome young noble of the same city, whom she loved
+even as herself. Whereat Rinaldo, very wroth, scarce refrained from
+falling upon them and killing them on the spot; and indeed, but that he
+doubted how he should afterwards fare himself, he had given way to the
+vehemence of his anger, and so done. Nor, though he so far mastered
+himself, could he forbear recourse to the statute, thereby to compass
+that which he might not otherwise lawfully compass, to wit, the death of
+his lady. Wherefore, having all the evidence needful to prove her guilt,
+he took no further counsel; but, as soon as 'twas day, he charged the
+lady and had her summoned. Like most ladies that are veritably enamoured,
+the lady was of a high courage; and, though not a few of her friends and
+kinsfolk sought to dissuade her, she resolved to appear to the summons,
+having liefer die bravely confessing the truth than basely flee and for
+defiance of the law live in exile, and shew herself unworthy of such a
+lover as had had her in his arms that night. And so, attended by many
+ladies and gentlemen, who all exhorted her to deny the charge, she came
+before the Podesta, and with a composed air and unfaltering voice asked
+whereof he would interrogate her. The Podesta, surveying her, and taking
+note of her extraordinary beauty, and exquisite manners, and the high
+courage that her words evinced, was touched with compassion for her,
+fearing she might make some admission, by reason whereof, to save his
+honour, he must needs do her to death. But still, as he could not refrain
+from examining her of that which was laid to her charge, he
+said:--"Madam, here, as you see, is your husband, Rinaldo, who prefers a
+charge against you, alleging that he has taken you in adultery, and so he
+demands that, pursuant to a statute which is in force here, I punish you
+with death: but this I may not do, except you confess; wherefore be very
+careful what you answer, and tell me if what your husband alleges against
+you be true." The lady, no wise dismayed, and in a tone not a little
+jocund, thus made answer:--"True it is, Sir, that Rinaldo is my husband,
+and that last night he found me in the arms of Lazzarino, in whose arms
+for the whole-hearted love that I bear him I have ofttimes lain; nor
+shall I ever deny it; but, as well I wot you know, the laws ought to be
+common and enacted with the common consent of all that they affect; which
+conditions are wanting to this law, inasmuch as it binds only us poor
+women, in whom to be liberal is much less reprehensible than it were in
+men; and furthermore the consent of no woman was--I say not had, but--so
+much as asked before 'twas made; for which reasons it justly deserves to
+be called a bad law. However, if in scathe of my body and your own soul,
+you are minded to put it in force, 'tis your affair; but, I pray you, go
+not on to try this matter in any wise, until you have granted me this
+trifling grace, to wit, to ask my husband if I ever gainsaid him, but did
+not rather accord him, when and so often as he craved it, complete
+enjoyment of myself." Whereto Rinaldo, without awaiting the Podesta's
+question, forthwith answered, that assuredly the lady had ever granted
+him all that he had asked of her for his gratification. "Then," promptly
+continued the lady, "if he has ever had of me as much as sufficed for his
+solace, what was I or am I to do with the surplus? Am I to cast it to the
+dogs? Is it not much better to bestow it on a gentleman that loves me
+more dearly than himself, than to suffer it to come to nought or worse?"
+Which jocund question being heard by well-nigh all the folk of Prato, who
+had flocked thither all agog to see a dame so fair and of such quality on
+her trial for such an offence, they laughed loud and long, and then all
+with one accord, and as with one voice, exclaimed that the lady was in
+the right and said well; nor left they the court until in concert with
+the Podesta they had so altered the harsh statute as that thenceforth
+only such women as should wrong their husbands for money should be within
+its purview.
+
+Wherefore Rinaldo left the court, discomfited of his foolish enterprise;
+and the lady blithe and free, as if rendered back to life from the
+burning, went home triumphant.
+
+
+NOVEL VIII.
+
+--
+Fresco admonishes his niece not to look at herself in the glass, if 'tis,
+as she says, grievous to her to see nasty folk.
+--
+
+'Twas not at first without some flutterings of shame, evinced by the
+modest blush mantling on their cheeks, that the ladies heard Filostrato's
+story; but afterwards, exchanging glances, they could scarce forbear to
+laugh, and hearkened tittering. However, when he had done, the queen
+turning to Emilia bade her follow suit. Whereupon Emilia, fetching a deep
+breath as if she were roused from sleep, thus began:--Loving ladies,
+brooding thought has kept my spirit for so long time remote from here
+that perchance I may make a shift to satisfy our queen with a much
+shorter story than would have been forthcoming but for my absence of
+mind, wherein I purpose to tell you how a young woman's folly was
+corrected by her uncle with a pleasant jest, had she but had the sense to
+apprehend it. My story, then, is of one, Fresco da Celatico by name, that
+had a niece, Ciesca, as she was playfully called, who, being fair of face
+and person, albeit she had none of those angelical charms that we
+ofttimes see, had so superlative a conceit of herself, that she had
+contracted a habit of disparaging both men and women and all that she
+saw, entirely regardless of her own defects, though for odiousness,
+tiresomeness, and petulance she had not her match among women, insomuch
+that there was nought that could be done to her mind: besides which, such
+was her pride that had she been of the blood royal of France, 'twould
+have been inordinate. And when she walked abroad, so fastidious was her
+humour, she was ever averting her head, as if there was never a soul she
+saw or met but reeked with a foul smell. Now one day--not to speak of
+other odious and tiresome ways that she had--it so befell that being come
+home, where Fresco was, she sat herself down beside him with a most
+languishing air, and did nought but fume and chafe. Whereupon:--"Ciesca,"
+quoth he, "what means this, that, though 'tis a feast-day, yet thou art
+come back so soon?" She, all but dissolved with her vapourish humours,
+made answer:--"Why, the truth is, that I am come back early because
+never, I believe, were there such odious and tiresome men and women in
+this city as there are to-day. I cannot pass a soul in the street that I
+loathe not like ill-luck; and I believe there is not a woman in the world
+that is so distressed by the sight of odious people as I am; and so I am
+come home thus soon to avoid the sight of them." Whereupon Fresco, to,
+whom his niece's bad manners were distasteful in the
+extreme:--"Daughter," quoth he, "if thou loathe odious folk as much as
+thou sayest, thou wert best, so thou wouldst live happy, never to look at
+thyself in the glass." But she, empty as a reed, albeit in her own
+conceit a match for Solomon in wisdom, was as far as any sheep from
+apprehending the true sense of her uncle's jest; but answered that on the
+contrary she was minded to look at herself in the glass like other women.
+And so she remained, and yet remains, hidebound in her folly.
+
+
+NOVEL IX.
+
+--
+Guido Cavalcanti by a quip meetly rebukes certain Florentine gentlemen
+who had taken him at a disadvantage.
+--
+
+The queen, perceiving that Emilia had finished her story, and that none
+but she, and he who had the privilege of speaking last, now remained to
+tell, began on this wise:--Albeit, debonair my ladies, you have
+forestalled me to-day of more than two of the stories, of which I had
+thought to tell one, yet one is still left me to recount, which carries
+at the close of it a quip of such a sort, that perhaps we have as yet
+heard nought so pregnant.
+
+You are to know, then, that in former times there obtained in our city
+customs excellent and commendable not a few, whereof today not one is
+left to us, thanks to the greed which, growing with the wealth of our
+folk, has banished them all from among us. One of which customs was that
+in divers quarters of Florence the gentlemen that there resided would
+assemble together in companies of a limited number, taking care to
+include therein only such as might conveniently bear the expenses, and
+to-day one, another to-morrow, each in his turn for a day, would
+entertain the rest of the company; and so they would not seldom do honour
+to gentlemen from distant parts when they visited the city, and also to
+their fellow-citizens; and in like manner they would meet together at
+least once a year all in the same trim, and on the most notable days
+would ride together through the city, and now and again they would tilt
+together, more especially on the greater feasts, or when the city was
+rejoiced by tidings of victory or some other glad event. Among which
+companies was one of which Messer Betto Brunelleschi was the leading
+spirit, into which Messer Betto and his comrades had striven hard to
+bring Guido, son of Cavalcante de' Cavalcanti, and not without reason,
+inasmuch as, besides being one of the best logicians in the world, and an
+excellent natural philosopher (qualities of which the company made no
+great account), he was without a peer for gallantry and courtesy and
+excellence of discourse and aptitude for all matters which he might set
+his mind to, and that belonged to a gentleman; and therewithal he was
+very rich, and, when he deemed any worthy of honour, knew how to bestow
+it to the uttermost. But, as Messer Betto had never been able to gain him
+over, he and his comrades supposed that 'twas because Guido, being
+addicted to speculation, was thereby estranged from men. And, for that he
+was somewhat inclined to the opinion of the Epicureans, the vulgar
+averred that these speculations of his had no other scope than to prove
+that God did not exist. Now one day it so befell that, Guido being come,
+as was not seldom his wont, from Or San Michele by the Corso degli
+Adimari as far as San Giovanni, around which were then the great tombs of
+marble that are to-day in Santa Reparata, besides other tombs not a few,
+and Guido being between the columns of porphyry, that are there, and the
+tombs and the door of San Giovanni, which was locked, Messer Betto and
+his company came riding on to the piazza of Santa Reparata, and seeing
+him among the tombs, said:--"Go we and flout him." So they set spurs to
+their horses, and making a mock onset, were upon him almost before he saw
+them. Whereupon:--"Guido," they began, "thou wilt be none of our company;
+but, lo now, when thou hast proved that God does not exist, what wilt
+thou have achieved?" Guido, seeing that he was surrounded, presently
+answered:--"Gentlemen, you may say to me what you please in your own
+house." Thereupon he laid his hand on one of the great tombs, and being
+very nimble, vaulted over it, and so evaded them, and went his way, while
+they remained gazing in one another's faces, and some said that he had
+taken leave of his wits, and that his answer was but nought, seeing that
+the ground on which they stood was common to them with the rest of the
+citizens, and among them Guido himself. But Messer Betto, turning to
+them:--"Nay but," quoth he, "'tis ye that have taken leave of your wits,
+if ye have not understood him; for meetly and in few words he has given
+us never so shrewd a reprimand; seeing that, if you consider it well,
+these tombs are the houses of the dead, that are laid and tarry therein;
+which he calls our house, to shew us that we, and all other simple,
+unlettered men, are, in comparison of him and the rest of the learned, in
+sorrier case than dead men, and so being here, we are in our own house."
+Then none was there but understood Guido's meaning and was abashed,
+insomuch that they flouted him no more, and thenceforth reputed Messer
+Betto a gentleman of a subtle and discerning wit.
+
+
+NOVEL X.
+
+--
+Fra Cipolla promises to shew certain country-folk a feather of the Angel
+Gabriel, in lieu of which he finds coals, which he avers to be of those
+with which St. Lawrence was roasted.
+--
+
+All the company save Dioneo being delivered of their several stories, he
+wist that 'twas his turn to speak. Wherefore, without awaiting any very
+express command, he enjoined silence on those that were commending
+Guido's pithy quip, and thus began:--Sweet my ladies, albeit 'tis my
+privilege to speak of what likes me most, I purpose not to-day to deviate
+from that theme whereon you have all discoursed most appositely; but,
+following in your footsteps, I am minded to shew you with what adroitness
+and readiness of resource one of the Friars of St. Antony avoided a
+pickle that two young men had in readiness for him. Nor, if, in order to
+do the story full justice, I be somewhat prolix of speech, should it be
+burdensome to you, if you will but glance at the sun, which is yet in
+mid-heaven.
+
+Certaldo, as perchance you may have heard, is a town of Val d'Elsa within
+our country-side, which, small though it is, had in it aforetime people
+of rank and wealth. Thither, for that there he found good pasture, 'twas
+long the wont of one of the Friars of St. Antony to resort once every
+year, to collect the alms that fools gave them. Fra Cipolla(1)--so hight
+the friar--met with a hearty welcome, no less, perchance, by reason of
+his name than for other cause, the onions produced in that district being
+famous throughout Tuscany. He was little of person, red-haired,
+jolly-visaged, and the very best of good fellows; and therewithal, though
+learning he had none, he was so excellent and ready a speaker that whoso
+knew him not would not only have esteemed him a great rhetorician, but
+would have pronounced him Tully himself or, perchance, Quintilian; and in
+all the country-side there was scarce a soul to whom he was not either
+gossip or friend or lover. Being thus wont from time to time to visit
+Certaldo, the friar came there once upon a time in the month of August,
+and on a Sunday morning, all the good folk of the neighbouring farms
+being come to mass in the parish church, he took occasion to come forward
+and say:--"Ladies and gentlemen, you wot 'tis your custom to send year by
+year to the poor of Baron Master St. Antony somewhat of your wheat and
+oats, more or less, according to the ability and the devoutness of each,
+that blessed St. Antony may save your oxen and asses and pigs and sheep
+from harm; and you are also accustomed, and especially those whose names
+are on the books of our confraternity, to pay your trifling annual dues.
+To collect which offerings, I am hither sent by my superior, to wit,
+Master Abbot; wherefore, with the blessing of God, after none, when you
+hear the bells ring, you will come out of the church to the place where
+in the usual way I shall deliver you my sermon, and you will kiss the
+cross; and therewithal, knowing, as I do, that you are one and all most
+devoted to Baron Master St. Antony, I will by way of especial grace shew
+you a most holy and goodly relic, which I brought myself from the Holy
+Land overseas, which is none other than one of the feathers of the Angel
+Gabriel, which he left behind him in the room of the Virgin Mary, when he
+came to make her the annunciation in Nazareth." And having said thus
+much, he ceased, and went on with the mass. Now among the many that were
+in the church, while Fra Cipolla made this speech, were two very wily
+young wags, the one Giovanni del Bragoniera by name, the other Biagio
+Pizzini; who, albeit they were on the best of terms with Fra Cipolla and
+much in his company, had a sly laugh together over the relic, and
+resolved to make game of him and his feather. So, having learned that Fra
+Cipolla was to breakfast that morning in the town with one of his
+friends, as soon as they knew that he was at table, down they hied them
+into the street, and to the inn where the friar lodged, having complotted
+that Biagio should keep the friar's servant in play, while Giovanni made
+search among the friar's goods and chattels for this feather, whatever it
+might be, to carry it off, that they might see how the friar would
+afterwards explain the matter to the people. Now Fra Cipolla had for
+servant one Guccio,(2) whom some called by way of addition Balena,(3)
+others Imbratta,(4) others again Porco,(5) and who was such a rascallion
+that sure it is that Lippo Topo(6) himself never painted his like.
+Concerning whom Fra Cipolla would ofttimes make merry with his familiars,
+saying:--"My servant has nine qualities, any one of which in Solomon,
+Aristotle, or Seneca, would have been enough to spoil all their virtue,
+wisdom and holiness. Consider, then, what sort of a man he must be that
+has these nine qualities, and yet never a spark of either virtue or
+wisdom or holiness." And being asked upon divers occasions what these
+nine qualities might be, he strung them together in rhyme, and
+answered:--"I will tell you. Lazy and uncleanly and a liar he is,
+Negligent, disobedient and foulmouthed, iwis, And reckless and witless
+and mannerless: and therewithal he has some other petty vices, which
+'twere best to pass over. And the most amusing thing about him is, that,
+wherever he goes, he is for taking a wife and renting a house, and on the
+strength of a big, black, greasy beard he deems himself so very handsome
+a fellow and seductive, that he takes all the women that see him to be in
+love with him, and, if he were left alone, he would slip his girdle and
+run after them all. True it is that he is of great use to me, for that,
+be any minded to speak with me never so secretly, he must still have his
+share of the audience; and, if perchance aught is demanded of me, such is
+his fear lest I should be at a loss what answer to make, that he
+presently replies, ay or no, as he deems meet."
+
+Now, when he left this knave at the inn, Fra Cipolla had strictly
+enjoined him on no account to suffer any one to touch aught of his, and
+least of all his wallet, because it contained the holy things. But Guccio
+Imbratta, who was fonder of the kitchen than any nightingale of the green
+boughs, and most particularly if he espied there a maid, and in the
+host's kitchen had caught sight of a coarse fat woman, short and
+misshapen, with a pair of breasts that shewed as two buckets of muck and
+a face that might have belonged to one of the Baronci, all reeking with
+sweat and grease and smoke, left Fra Cipolla's room and all his things to
+take care of themselves, and like a vulture swooping down upon the
+carrion, was in the kitchen in a trice. Where, though 'twas August, he
+sat him down by the fire, and fell a gossiping with Nuta--such was the
+maid's name--and told her that he was a gentleman by procuration,(7) and
+had more florins than could be reckoned, besides those that he had to
+give away, which were rather more than less, and that he could do and say
+such things as never were or might be seen or heard forever, good Lord!
+and a day. And all heedless of his cowl, which had as much grease upon it
+as would have furnished forth the caldron of Altopascio,(8) and of his
+rent and patched doublet, inlaid with filth about the neck and under the
+armpits, and so stained that it shewed hues more various than ever did
+silk from Tartary or the Indies, and of his shoes that were all to
+pieces, and of his hose that were all in tatters, he told her in a tone
+that would have become the Sieur de Chatillon, that he was minded to
+rehabit her and put her in trim, and raise her from her abject condition,
+and place her where, though she would not have much to call her own, at
+any rate she would have hope of better things, with much more to the like
+effect; which professions, though made with every appearance of good
+will, proved, like most of his schemes, insubstantial as air, and came to
+nothing.
+
+Finding Guccio Porco thus occupied with Nuta, the two young men gleefully
+accounted their work half done, and, none gainsaying them, entered Fra
+Cipolla's room, which was open, and lit at once upon the wallet, in which
+was the feather. The wallet opened, they found, wrapt up in many folds of
+taffeta, a little casket, on opening which they discovered one of the
+tail-feathers of a parrot, which they deemed must be that which the friar
+had promised to shew the good folk of Certaldo. And in sooth he might
+well have so imposed upon them, for in those days the luxuries of Egypt
+had scarce been introduced into Tuscany, though they have since been
+brought over in prodigious abundance, to the grave hurt of all Italy. And
+though some conversance with them there was, yet in those parts folk knew
+next to nothing of them; but, adhering to the honest, simple ways of
+their forefathers, had not seen, nay for the most part had not so much as
+heard tell of, a parrot.
+
+So the young men, having found the feather, took it out with great glee;
+and looking around for something to replace it, they espied in a corner
+of the room some pieces of coal, wherewith they filled the casket; which
+they then closed, and having set the room in order exactly as they had
+found it, they quitted it unperceived, and hied them merrily off with the
+feather, and posted themselves where they might hear what Fra Cipolla
+would say when he found the coals in its stead. Mass said, the simple
+folk that were in the church went home with the tidings that the feather
+of the Angel Gabriel was to be seen after none; and this goodman telling
+his neighbour, and that goodwife her gossip, by the time every one had
+breakfasted, the town could scarce hold the multitude of men and women
+that flocked thither all agog to see this feather.
+
+Fra Cipolla, having made a hearty breakfast and had a little nap, got up
+shortly after none, and marking the great concourse of country-folk that
+were come to see the feather, sent word to Guccio Imbratta to go up there
+with the bells, and bring with him the wallet. Guccio, though 'twas with
+difficulty that he tore himself away from the kitchen and Nuta, hied him
+up with the things required; and though, when he got up, he was winded,
+for he was corpulent with drinking nought but water, he did Fra Cipolla's
+bidding by going to the church door and ringing the bells amain. When all
+the people were gathered about the door, Fra Cipolla, all unwitting that
+aught of his was missing, began his sermon, and after much said in
+glorification of himself, caused the confiteor to be recited with great
+solemnity, and two torches to be lit by way of preliminary to the shewing
+of the feather of the Angel Gabriel: he then bared his head, carefully
+unfolded the taffeta, and took out the casket, which, after a few
+prefatory words in praise and laudation of the Angel Gabriel and his
+relic, he opened. When he saw that it contained nought but coals, he did
+not suspect Guccio Balena of playing the trick, for he knew that he was
+not clever enough, nor did he curse him, that his carelessness had
+allowed another to play it, but he inly imprecated himself, that he had
+committed his things to the keeping of one whom he knew to be "negligent
+and disobedient, reckless and witless." Nevertheless, he changed not
+colour, but with face and hands upturned to heaven, he said in a voice
+that all might hear:--"O God, blessed be Thy might for ever and ever."
+Then, closing the casket, and turning to the people:--"Ladies and
+gentlemen," he said, "you are to know, that when I was yet a very young
+man, I was sent by my superior into those parts where the sun rises, and
+I was expressly bidden to search until I should find the Privileges of
+Porcellana, which, though they cost nothing to seal, are of much more use
+to others than to us. On which errand I set forth, taking my departure
+from Venice, and traversing the Borgo de' Greci,(9) and thence on
+horseback the realm of Algarve,(10) and so by Baldacca(11) I came to
+Parione,(12) whence, somewhat athirst, I after a while got on to
+Sardinia.(13) But wherefore go I about to enumerate all the lands in
+which I pursued my quest? Having passed the straits of San Giorgio, I
+arrived at Truffia(14) and Buffia,(15) countries thickly populated and
+with great nations, whence I pursued my journey to Menzogna,(16) where I
+met with many of our own brethren, and of other religious not a few,
+intent one and all on eschewing hardship for the love of God, making
+little account of others! toil, so they might ensue their own advantage,
+and paying in nought but unminted coin(17) throughout the length and
+breadth of the country; and so I came to the land of Abruzzi, where the
+men and women go in pattens on the mountains, and clothe the hogs with
+their own entrails;(18) and a little further on I found folk that carried
+bread in staves and wine in sacks.(19) And leaving them, I arrived at the
+mountains of the Bachi,(20) where all the waters run downwards. In short
+I penetrated so far that I came at last to India Pastinaca,(21) where I
+swear to you by the habit that I wear, that I saw pruning-hooks(22) fly:
+a thing that none would believe that had not seen it. Whereof be my
+witness that I lie not Maso del Saggio, that great merchant, whom I found
+there cracking nuts, and selling the shells by retail! However, not being
+able to find that whereof I was in quest, because from thence one must
+travel by water, I turned back, and so came at length to the Holy Land,
+where in summer cold bread costs four deniers, and hot bread is to be had
+for nothing. And there I found the venerable father
+Nonmiblasmetesevoipiace,(23) the most worshipful Patriarch of Jerusalem;
+who out of respect for the habit that I have ever worn, to wit, that of
+Baron Master St. Antony, was pleased to let me see all the holy relics
+that he had by him, which were so many, that, were I to enumerate them
+all, I should not come to the end of them in some miles. However, not to
+disappoint you, I will tell you a few of them. In the first place, then,
+he shewed me the finger of the Holy Spirit, as whole and entire as it
+ever was, and the tuft of the Seraph that appeared to St. Francis, and
+one of the nails of the Cherubim, and one of the ribs of the Verbum Caro
+hie thee to the casement,(24) and some of the vestments of the Holy
+Catholic Faith, and some of the rays of the star that appeared to the
+Magi in the East, and a phial of the sweat of St. Michael a battling with
+the Devil and the jaws of death of St. Lazarus, and other relics. And for
+that I gave him a liberal supply of the acclivities(25) of Monte Morello
+in the vulgar and some chapters of Caprezio, of which he had long been in
+quest, he was pleased to let me participate in his holy relics, and gave
+me one of the teeth of the Holy Cross, and in a small phial a bit of the
+sound of the bells of Solomon's temple, and this feather of the Angel
+Gabriel, whereof I have told you, and one of the pattens of San Gherardo
+da Villa Magna, which, not long ago, I gave at Florence to Gherardo di
+Bonsi, who holds him in prodigious veneration. He also gave me some of
+the coals with which the most blessed martyr, St. Lawrence, was roasted.
+All which things I devoutly brought thence, and have them all safe. True
+it is that my superior has not hitherto permitted me to shew them, until
+he should be certified that they are genuine. However, now that this is
+avouched by certain miracles wrought by them, of which we have tidings by
+letter from the Patriarch, he has given me leave to shew them. But,
+fearing to trust them to another, I always carry them with me; and to
+tell you the truth I carry the feather of the Angel Gabriel, lest it
+should get spoiled, in a casket, and the coals, with which St. Lawrence
+was roasted, in another casket; which caskets are so like the one to the
+other, that not seldom I mistake one for the other, which has befallen me
+on this occasion; for, whereas I thought to have brought with me the
+casket wherein is the feather, I have brought instead that which contains
+the coals. Nor deem I this a mischance; nay, methinks, 'tis by
+interposition, of God, and that He Himself put the casket of coals in my
+hand, for I mind me that the feast of St. Lawrence falls but two days
+hence. Wherefore God, being minded that by shewing you the coals, with
+which he was roasted, I should rekindle in your souls the devotion that
+you ought to feel towards him, guided my hand, not to the feather which I
+meant to take, but to the blessed coals that were extinguished by the
+humours that exuded from that most holy body. And so, blessed children,
+bare your heads and devoutly draw nigh to see them. But first of all I
+would have you know, that whoso has the sign of the cross made upon him
+with these coals, may live secure for the whole of the ensuing year, that
+fire shall not touch him, that he feel it not."
+
+Having so said, the friar, chanting a hymn in praise of St. Lawrence,
+opened the casket, and shewed the coals. Whereon the foolish crowd gazed
+a while in awe and reverent wonder, and then came pressing forward in a
+mighty throng about Fra Cipolla with offerings beyond their wont, each
+and all praying him to touch them with the coals. Wherefore Fra Cipolla
+took the coals in his hand, and set about making on their white blouses,
+and on their doublets, and on the veils of the women crosses as big as
+might be, averring the while that whatever the coals might thus lose
+would be made good to them again in the casket, as he had often proved.
+On this wise, to his exceeding great profit, he marked all the folk of
+Certaldo with the cross, and, thanks to his ready wit and resource, had
+his laugh at those, who by robbing him of the feather thought to make a
+laughing-stock of him. They, indeed, being among his hearers, and marking
+his novel expedient, and how voluble he was, and what a long story he
+made of it, laughed till they thought their jaws would break; and, when
+the congregation was dispersed, they went up to him, and never so merrily
+told him what they had done, and returned him his feather; which next
+year proved no less lucrative to him than that day the coals had been.
+
+(1) Onion.
+
+(2) Diminutive of Arriguccio.
+
+(3) Whale.
+
+(4) Filth.
+
+(5) Hog.
+
+(6) The works of this painter seem to be lost.
+
+(7) One of the humorous ineptitudes of which Boccaccio is fond.
+
+(8) An abbey near Lucca famous for its doles of broth.
+
+(9) Perhaps part of the "sesto" of Florence known as the Borgo, as the
+tradition of the commentators that the friar's itinerary is wholly
+Florentine is not to be lightly set aside.
+
+(10) Il Garbo, a quarter or street in Florence, doubtless so called
+because the wares of Algarve were there sold. Rer. Ital. Script.
+(Muratori: Suppl. Tartini) ii. 119. Villani, Istorie Fiorentine, iv. 12,
+xii. 18.
+
+(11) A famous tavern in Florence. Florio, Vocab. Ital. e Ingl., ed
+Torriano, 1659.
+
+(12) A "borgo" in Florence. Villani, Istorie Fiorentine, iv. 7.
+
+(13) A suburb of Florence on the Arno, ib. ix. 256.
+
+(14) The land of Cajolery.
+
+(15) The land of Drollery.
+
+(16) The land of Lies.
+
+(17) I.e. in false promises: suggested by Dante's Pagando di moneta senza
+conio. Parad. xxix. 126.
+
+(18) A reference to sausage-making.
+
+(19) I.e. cakes fashioned in a hollow ring, and wines in leathern
+bottles.
+
+(20) Grubs.
+
+(21) In allusion to the shapeless fish, so called, which was proverbially
+taken as a type of the outlandish.
+
+(22) A jeu de mots, "pennati," pruning-hooks, signifying also feathered,
+though "pennuti" is more common in that sense.
+
+(23) Takemenottotaskanitlikeyou.
+
+(24) Fatti alle finestre, a subterfuge for factum est.
+
+(25) Piagge, jocularly for pagine: doubtless some mighty tome of school
+divinity is meant.
+
+Immense was the delight and diversion which this story afforded to all
+the company alike, and great and general was the laughter over Fra
+Cipolla, and more especially at his pilgrimage, and the relics, as well
+those that he had but seen as those that he had brought back with him.
+Which being ended, the queen, taking note that therewith the close of her
+sovereignty was come, stood up, took off the crown, and set it on
+Dioneo's head, saying with a laugh:--"'Tis time, Dioneo, that thou prove
+the weight of the burden of having ladies to govern and guide. Be thou
+king then; and let thy rule be such that, when 'tis ended, we may have
+cause to commend it." Dioneo took the crown, and laughingly
+answered:--"Kings worthier far than I you may well have seen many a time
+ere now--I speak of the kings in chess; but let me have of you that
+obedience which is due to a true king, and of a surety I will give you to
+taste of that solace, without which perfection of joy there may not be in
+any festivity. But enough of this: I will govern as best I may." Then, as
+was the wont, he sent for the seneschal, and gave him particular
+instruction how to order matters during the term of his sovereignty;
+which done, he said:--"Noble ladies, such and so diverse has been our
+discourse of the ways of men and their various fortunes, that but for the
+visit that we had a while ago from Madam Licisca, who by what she said
+has furnished me with matter of discourse for to-morrow, I doubt I had
+been not a little put to it to find a theme. You heard how she said that
+there was not a woman in her neighbourhood whose husband had her
+virginity; adding that well she knew how many and what manner of tricks
+they, after marriage, played their husbands. The first count we may well
+leave to the girls whom it concerns; the second, methinks, should prove a
+diverting topic: wherefore I ordain that, taking our cue from Madam
+Licisca, we discourse to-morrow of the tricks that, either for love or
+for their deliverance from peril, ladies have heretofore played their
+husbands, and whether they were by the said husbands detected or no." To
+discourse of such a topic some of the ladies deemed unmeet for them, and
+besought the king to find another theme. But the king made
+answer:--"Ladies, what manner of theme I have prescribed I know as well
+as you, nor was I to be diverted from prescribing it by that which you
+now think to declare unto me, for I wot the times are such that, so only
+men and women have a care to do nought that is unseemly, 'tis allowable
+to them to discourse of what they please. For in sooth, as you must know,
+so out of joint are the times that the judges have deserted the
+judgment-seat, the laws are silent, and ample licence to preserve his
+life as best he may is accorded to each and all. Wherefore, if you are
+somewhat less strict of speech than is your wont, not that aught unseemly
+in act may follow, but that you may afford solace to yourselves and
+others, I see not how you can be open to reasonable censure on the part
+of any. Furthermore, nought that has been said from the first day to the
+present moment has, methinks, in any degree sullied the immaculate honour
+of your company, nor, God helping us, shall aught ever sully it. Besides,
+who is there that knows not the quality of your honour? which were proof,
+I make no doubt, against not only the seductive influence of diverting
+discourse, but even the terror of death. And, to tell you the truth,
+whoso wist that you refused to discourse of these light matters for a
+while, would be apt to suspect that 'twas but for that you had yourselves
+erred in like sort. And truly a goodly honour would you confer upon me,
+obedient as I have ever been to you, if after making me your king and
+your lawgiver, you were to refuse to discourse of the theme which I
+prescribe. Away, then, with this scruple fitter for low minds than yours,
+and let each study how she may give us a goodly story, and Fortune
+prosper her therein."
+
+So spake the king, and the ladies, hearkening, said that, even as he
+would, so it should be: whereupon he gave all leave to do as they might
+be severally minded until the supper-hour. The sun was still quite high
+in the heaven, for they had not enlarged in their discourse: wherefore,
+Dioneo with the other gallants being set to play at dice, Elisa called
+the other ladies apart, and said:--"There is a nook hard by this place,
+where I think none of you has ever been: 'tis called the Ladies' Vale:
+whither, ever since we have been here, I have desired to take you, but
+time meet I have not found until today, when the sun is still so high:
+if, then, you are minded to visit it, I have no manner of doubt that,
+when you are there, you will be very glad you came." The ladies answered
+that they were ready, and so, saying nought to the young men, they
+summoned one of their maids, and set forth; nor had they gone much more
+than a mile, when they arrived at the Vale of Ladies. They entered it by
+a very strait gorge, through which there issued a rivulet, clear as
+crystal, and a sight, than which nought more fair and pleasant,
+especially at that time when the heat was great, could be imagined, met
+their eyes. Within the valley, as one of them afterwards told me, was a
+plain about half-a-mile in circumference, and so exactly circular that it
+might have been fashioned according to the compass, though it seemed a
+work of Nature's art, not man's: 'twas girdled about by six hills of no
+great height, each crowned with a palace that shewed as a goodly little
+castle. The slopes of the hills were graduated from summit to base after
+the manner of the successive tiers, ever abridging their circle, that we
+see in our theatres; and as many as fronted the southern rays were all
+planted so close with vines, olives, almond-trees, cherry-trees,
+fig-trees and other fruitbearing trees not a few, that there was not a
+hand's-breadth of vacant space. Those that fronted the north were in like
+manner covered with copses of oak saplings, ashes and other trees, as
+green and straight as might be. Besides which, the plain, which was shut
+in on all sides save that on which the ladies had entered, was full of
+firs, cypresses, and bay-trees, with here and there a pine, in order and
+symmetry so meet and excellent as had they been planted by an artist, the
+best that might be found in that kind; wherethrough, even when the sun
+was in the zenith, scarce a ray of light might reach the ground, which
+was all one lawn of the finest turf, pranked with the hyacinth and divers
+other flowers. Add to which--nor was there aught there more
+delightsome--a rivulet that, issuing from one of the gorges between two
+of the hills, descended over ledges of living rock, making, as it fell, a
+murmur most gratifying to the ear, and, seen from a distance, shewed as a
+spray of finest, powdered quick-silver, and no sooner reached the little
+plain, than 'twas gathered into a tiny channel, by which it sped with
+great velocity to the middle of the plain, where it formed a diminutive
+lake, like the fishponds that townsfolk sometimes make in their gardens,
+when they have occasion for them. The lake was not so deep but that a man
+might stand therein with his breast above the water; and so clear, so
+pellucid was the water that the bottom, which was of the finest gravel,
+shewed so distinct, that one, had he wished, who had nought better to do,
+might have counted the stones. Nor was it only the bottom that was to be
+seen, but such a multitude of fishes, glancing to and fro, as was at once
+a delight and a marvel to behold. Bank it had none, but its margin was
+the lawn, to which it imparted a goodlier freshness. So much of the water
+as it might not contain was received by another tiny channel, through
+which, issuing from the vale, it glided swiftly to the plain below.
+
+To which pleasaunce the damsels being come surveyed it with roving
+glance, and finding it commendable, and marking the lake in front of
+them, did, as 'twas very hot, and they deemed themselves secure from
+observation, resolve to take a bath. So, having bidden their maid wait
+and keep watch over the access to the vale, and give them warning, if
+haply any should approach it, they all seven undressed and got into the
+water, which to the whiteness of their flesh was even such a veil as fine
+glass is to the vermeil of the rose. They, being thus in the water, the
+clearness of which was thereby in no wise affected, did presently begin
+to go hither and thither after the fish, which had much ado where to
+bestow themselves so as to escape out of their hands. In which diversion
+they spent some time, and caught a few, and then they hied them out of
+the water and dressed them again, and bethinking them that 'twas time to
+return to the palace, they began slowly sauntering thither, dilating much
+as they went upon the beauty of the place, albeit they could not extol it
+more than they had already done. 'Twas still quite early when they
+reached the palace, so that they found the gallants yet at play where
+they had left them. To whom quoth Pampinea with a smile:--"We have stolen
+a march upon you to-day." "So," replied Dioneo, "'tis with you do first
+and say after?" "Ay, my lord," returned Pampinea, and told him at large
+whence they came, and what the place was like, and how far 'twas off, and
+what they had done. What she said of the beauty of the spot begat in the
+king a desire to see it: wherefore he straightway ordered supper, whereof
+when all had gaily partaken, the three gallants parted from the ladies
+and hied them with their servants to the vale, where none of them had
+ever been before, and, having marked all its beauties, extolled it as
+scarce to be matched in all the world. Then, as the hour was very late,
+they did but bathe, and as soon as they had resumed their clothes,
+returned to the ladies, whom they found dancing a carol to an air that
+Fiammetta sang, which done, they conversed of the Ladies' Vale, waxing
+eloquent in praise thereof: insomuch that the king called the seneschal,
+and bade him have some beds made ready and carried thither on the morrow,
+that any that were so minded might there take their siesta. He then had
+lights and wine and comfits brought; and when they had taken a slight
+refection, he bade all address them to the dance. So at his behest
+Pamfilo led a dance, and then the king, turning with gracious mien to
+Elisa:--"Fair damsel," quoth he, "'twas thou to-day didst me this honour
+of the crown; and 'tis my will that thine to-night be the honour of the
+song; wherefore sing us whatsoever thou hast most lief." "That gladly
+will I," replied Elisa smiling; and thus with dulcet voice began:--
+
+If of thy talons, Love, be quit I may,
+  I deem it scarce can be
+  But other fangs I may elude for aye.
+
+Service I took with thee, a tender maid,
+  In thy war thinking perfect peace to find,
+  And all my arms upon the ground I laid,
+  Yielding myself to thee with trustful mind:
+  Thou, harpy-tyrant, whom no faith may bind,
+  Eftsoons didst swoop on me,
+  And with thy cruel claws mad'st me thy prey.
+
+Then thy poor captive, bound with many a chain,
+  Thou tookst, and gav'st to him, whom fate did call
+  Hither my death to be; for that in pain
+  And bitter tears I waste away, his thrall:
+  Nor heave I e'er a sigh, or tear let fall,
+  So harsh a lord is he,
+  That him inclines a jot my grief to allay.
+
+My prayers upon the idle air are spent:
+  He hears not, will not hear; wherefore in vain
+  The more each hour my soul doth her torment;
+  Nor may I die, albeit to die were gain.
+  Ah! Lord, have pity of my bitter pain!
+  Help have I none but thee;
+  Then take and bind and at my feet him lay.
+
+But if thou wilt not, do my soul but loose
+  From hope, that her still binds with triple chain.
+  Sure, O my Lord, this prayer thou'lt not refuse:
+  The which so thou to grant me do but deign,
+  I look my wonted beauty to regain,
+  And banish misery
+  With roses white and red bedecked and gay.
+
+So with a most piteous sigh ended Elisa her song, whereat all wondered
+exceedingly, nor might any conjecture wherefore she so sang. But the
+king, who was in a jolly humour, sent for Tindaro, and bade him out with
+his cornemuse, and caused them tread many a measure thereto, until, no
+small part of the night being thus spent, he gave leave to all to betake
+them to rest.
+
+
+--
+Endeth here the sixth day of the Decameron, beginneth the seventh, in
+which, under the rule of Dioneo, discourse is had of the tricks which,
+either for love or for their deliverance from peril, ladies have
+heretofore played their husbands, and whether they were by the said
+husbands detected, or no.
+--
+
+Fled was now each star from the eastern sky, save only that which we call
+Lucifer, which still glowed in the whitening dawn, when uprose the
+seneschal, and with a goodly baggage-train hied him to the Ladies' Vale,
+there to make all things ready according to the ordinance and commandment
+of the king. Nor was it long after his departure that the king rose,
+being awaked by the stir and bustle that the servants made in lading the
+horses, and being risen he likewise roused all the ladies and the other
+gallants; and so, when as yet 'twas scarce clear daybreak, they all took
+the road; nor seemed it to them that the nightingales and the other birds
+had ever chanted so blithely as that morning. By which choir they were
+attended to the Ladies' Vale, where they were greeted by other warblers
+not a few, that seemed rejoiced at their arrival. Roving about the vale,
+and surveying its beauties afresh, they rated them higher than on the
+previous day, as indeed the hour was more apt to shew them forth. Then
+with good wine and comfits they broke their fast, and, that they might
+not lag behind the songsters, they fell a singing, whereto the vale
+responded, ever echoing their strains; nor did the birds, as minded not
+to be beaten, fail to swell the chorus with notes of unwonted sweetness.
+However, breakfast-time came, and then, the tables being laid under a
+living canopy of trees, and beside other goodly trees that fringed the
+little lake, they sat them down in order as to the king seemed meet. So
+they took their meal, glancing from time to time at the lake, where the
+fish darted to and fro in multitudinous shoals, which afforded not only
+delight to their eyes but matter for converse. Breakfast ended, and the
+tables removed, they fell a singing again more blithely than before.
+After which, there being set, in divers places about the little vale,
+beds which the discreet seneschal had duly furnished and equipped within
+and without with store of French coverlets, and other bedgear, all, that
+were so minded, had leave of the king to go to sleep, and those that
+cared not to sleep might betake them, as each might choose, to any of
+their wonted diversions. But, all at length being risen, and the time for
+addressing them to the story-telling being come, the king had carpets
+spread on the sward no great way from the place where they had
+breakfasted; and, all having sat them down beside the lake, he bade
+Emilia begin; which, blithe and smiling, Emilia did on this wise.
+
+
+NOVEL I.
+
+--
+Gianni Lotteringhi hears a knocking at his door at night: he awakens his
+wife, who persuades him that 'tis the bogey, which they fall to
+exorcising with a prayer; whereupon the knocking ceases.
+--
+
+My lord, glad indeed had I been, that, saving your good pleasure, some
+other than I had had precedence of discourse upon so goodly a theme as
+this of which we are to speak--I doubt I am but chosen to teach others
+confidence; but, such being your will, I will gladly obey it. And my
+endeavour shall be, dearest ladies, to tell you somewhat that may be
+serviceable to you in the future: for, if you are, as I am, timorous, and
+that most especially of the bogey, which, God wot, I know not what manner
+of thing it may be, nor yet have found any that knew, albeit we are all
+alike afraid of it, you may learn from this my story how to put it to
+flight, should it intrude upon you, with a holy, salutary and most
+efficacious orison.
+
+There dwelt of yore at Florence, in the quarter of San Pancrazio, a
+master-spinner, Gianni Lotteringhi by name, one that had prospered in his
+business, but had little understanding of aught else; insomuch that being
+somewhat of a simpleton, he had many a time been chosen leader of the
+band of laud-singers of Santa Maria Novella, and had charge of their
+school; and not a few like offices had he often served, upon which he
+greatly plumed himself. Howbeit, 'twas all for no other reason than that,
+being a man of substance, he gave liberal doles to the friars; who, for
+that they got thereof, this one hose, another a cloak, and a third a
+hood, would teach him good orisons, or give him the paternoster in the
+vernacular, or the chant of St. Alexis, or the lament of St. Bernard, or
+the laud of Lady Matilda, or the like sorry stuff, which he greatly
+prized, and guarded with jealous care, deeming them all most conducive to
+the salvation of his soul.
+
+Now our simple master-spinner had a most beautiful wife, and amorous
+withal, her name Monna Tessa. Daughter she was of Mannuccio dalla
+Cuculla, and not a little knowing and keen-witted; and being enamoured of
+Federigo di Neri Pegolotti, a handsome and lusty gallant, as he also of
+her, she, knowing her husband's simplicity, took counsel with her maid,
+and arranged that Federigo should come to chat with her at a right goodly
+pleasure-house that the said Gianni had at Camerata, where she was wont
+to pass the summer, Gianni coming now and again to sup and sleep, and
+going back in the morning to his shop, or, maybe, to his laud-singers.
+Federigo, who desired nothing better, went up there punctually on the
+appointed day about vespers, and as the evening passed without Gianni
+making his appearance, did most comfortably, and to his no small
+satisfaction, sup and sleep with the lady, who lying in his arms taught
+him that night some six of her husband's lauds. But, as neither she nor
+Federigo was minded that this beginning should also be the end of their
+intercourse, and that it might not be needful for the maid to go each
+time to make the assignation with him, they came to the following
+understanding; to wit, that as often as he came and went between the
+house and an estate that he had a little higher up, he should keep an eye
+on a vineyard that was beside the house, where he would see an ass's head
+stuck on one of the poles of the vineyard, and as often as he observed
+the muzzle turned towards Florence, he might visit her without any sort
+of misgiving; and if he found not the door open, he was to tap it thrice,
+and she would open it; and when he saw the muzzle of the ass's head
+turned towards Fiesole, he was to keep away, for then Gianni would be
+there. Following which plan, they forgathered not seldom: but on one of
+these evenings, when Federigo was to sup with Monna Tessa on two fat
+capons that she bad boiled, it so chanced that Gianni arrived there
+unexpectedly and very late, much to the lady's chagrin: so she had a
+little salt meat boiled apart, on which she supped with her husband; and
+the maid by her orders carried the two boiled capons laid in a spotless
+napkin with plenty of fresh eggs and a bottle of good wine into the
+garden, to which there was access otherwise than from the house, and
+where she was wont at times to sup with Federigo; and there the maid set
+them down at the foot of a peach-tree, that grew beside a lawn. But in
+her vexation she forgot to tell the maid to wait till Federigo should
+come, and let him know that Gianni was there, and he must take his supper
+in the garden: and she and Gianni and the maid were scarce gone to bed,
+when Federigo came and tapped once at the door, which being hard by the
+bedroom, Gianni heard the tap, as did also the lady, albeit, that Gianni
+might have no reason to suspect her, she feigned to be asleep. Federigo
+waited a little, and then gave a second tap; whereupon, wondering what it
+might mean, Gianni nudged his wife, saying:--"Tessa, dost hear what I
+hear? Methinks some one has tapped at our door." The lady, who had heard
+the noise much better than he, feigned to wake up, and:--"How? what sayst
+thou?" quoth she. "I say," replied Gianni, "that, meseems, some one has
+tapped at our door." "Tapped at it?" quoth the lady. "Alas, my Gianni,
+wottest thou not what that is? 'Tis the bogey, which for some nights past
+has so terrified me as never was, insomuch that I never hear it but I pop
+my head under the clothes and venture not to put it out again until 'tis
+broad day." "Come, come, wife," quoth Gianni, "if such it is, be not
+alarmed; for before we got into bed I repeated the Te lucis, the
+Intemerata, and divers other good orisons, besides which I made the sign
+of the cross in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit at each
+corner of the bed; wherefore we need have no fear that it may avail to
+hurt us, whatever be its power." The lady, lest Federigo, perchance
+suspecting a rival, should take offence, resolved to get up, and let him
+understand that Gianni was there: so she said to her husband:--"Well
+well; so sayst thou; but I for my part shall never deem myself safe and
+secure, unless we exorcise it, seeing that thou art here." "Oh!" said
+Gianni, "and how does one exorcise it?" "That," quoth the lady, "I know
+right well; for t'other day, when I went to Fiesole for the pardoning,
+one of those anchoresses, the saintliest creature, my Gianni, God be my
+witness, knowing how much afraid I am of the bogey, taught me a holy and
+salutary orison, which she said she had tried many a time before she was
+turned anchoress, and always with success. God wot, I should never have
+had courage to try it alone; but as thou art here, I propose that we go
+exorcise it together." Gianni made answer that he was quite of the same
+mind; so up they got, and stole to the door, on the outside of which
+Federigo, now suspicious, was still waiting. And as soon as they were
+there:--"Now," quoth the lady to Gianni, "thou wilt spit, when I tell
+thee." "Good," said Gianni. Whereupon the lady began her orison,
+saying:--
+
+  "Bogey, bogey that goest by night,
+  Tail erect, thou cam'st, tail erect, take thy flight
+  Hie thee to the garden, and the great peach before,
+  Grease upon grease, and droppings five score
+  Of my hen shalt thou find:
+  Set the flask thy lips to,
+  Then away like the wind,
+  And no scathe unto me or my Gianni do."
+
+And when she had done:--"Now, Gianni," quoth she, "spit": and Gianni
+spat.
+
+There was no more room for jealousy in Federigo's mind as he heard all
+this from without; nay, for all his disappointment, he was like to burst
+with suppressed laughter, and when Gianni spat, he muttered under his
+breath:--"Now out with thy teeth." The lady, having after this fashion
+thrice exorcised the bogey, went back to bed with her husband. Federigo,
+disappointed of the supper that he was to have had with her, and
+apprehending the words of the orison aright, hied him to the garden, and
+having found the two capons and the wine and the eggs at the foot of the
+peach-tree, took them home with him, and supped very comfortably. And
+many a hearty laugh had he and the lady over the exorcism during their
+subsequent intercourse.
+
+Now, true it is that some say that the lady had in fact turned the ass's
+head towards Fiesole, but that a husbandman, passing through the
+vineyard, had given it a blow with his stick, whereby it had swung round,
+and remained fronting Florence, and so it was that Federigo thought that
+he was invited, and came to the house, and that the lady's orison was on
+this wise:--
+
+  "Bogey, a God's name, away thee hie,
+  For whoe'er turned the ass's head, 'twas not I:
+  Another it was, foul fall his eyne;
+  And here am I with Gianni mine."
+
+Wherefore Federigo was fain to take himself off, having neither slept nor
+supped.
+
+But a neighbour of mine, a lady well advanced in years, tells me that, by
+what she heard when she was a girl, both stories are true; but that the
+latter concerned not Gianni Lotteringhi but one Gianni di Nello, that
+lived at Porta San Piero, and was no less a numskull than Gianni
+Lotteringhi. Wherefore, dear my ladies, you are at liberty to choose
+which exorcism you prefer, or take both if you like. They are both of
+extraordinary and approved virtue in such cases, as you have heard: get
+them by heart, therefore, and they may yet stand you in good stead.
+
+
+NOVEL II.
+
+--
+Her husband returning home, Peronella bestows her lover in a tun; which,
+being sold by her husband, she avers to have been already sold by herself
+to one that is inside examining it to see if it be sound. Whereupon the
+lover jumps out, and causes the husband to scour the tun for him, and
+afterwards to carry it to his house.
+--
+
+Great indeed was the laughter with which Emilia's story was received;
+which being ended, and her orison commended by all as good and salutary,
+the king bade Filostrato follow suit; and thus Filostrato began:--Dearest
+my ladies, so many are the tricks that men play you, and most of all your
+husbands, that, when from time to time it so befalls that some lady plays
+her husband a trick, the circumstance, whether it come within your own
+cognizance or be told you by another, should not only give you joy but
+should incite you to publish it on all hands, that men may be ware, that,
+knowing as they are, their ladies also, on their part, know somewhat:
+which cannot but be serviceable to you, for that one does not rashly
+essay to take another with guile whom one wots not to lack that quality.
+Can we doubt, then, that, should but the converse that we shall hold
+to-day touching this matter come to be bruited among men, 'twould serve
+to put a most notable check upon the tricks they play you, by doing them
+to wit of the tricks, which you, in like manner, when you are so minded,
+may play them? Wherefore 'tis my intention to tell you in what manner a
+young girl, albeit she was but of low rank, did, on the spur of the
+moment, beguile her husband to her own deliverance.
+
+'Tis no long time since at Naples a poor man, a mason by craft, took to
+wife a fair and amorous maiden--Peronella was her name--who eked out by
+spinning what her husband made by his craft; and so the pair managed as
+best they might on very slender means. And as chance would have it, one
+of the gallants of the city, taking note of this Peronella one day, and
+being mightily pleased with her, fell in love with her, and by this means
+and that so prevailed that he won her to accord him her intimacy. Their
+times of forgathering they concerted as follows:--to wit, that, her
+husband being wont to rise betimes of a morning to go to work or seek for
+work, the gallant was to be where he might see him go forth, and, the
+street where she dwelt, which is called Avorio, being scarce inhabited,
+was to come into the house as soon as her husband was well out of it; and
+so times not a few they did. But on one of these occasions it befell
+that, the good man being gone forth, and Giannello Sirignario--such was
+the gallant's name--being come into the house, and being with Peronella,
+after a while, back came the good man, though 'twas not his wont to
+return until the day was done; and finding the door locked, he knocked,
+and after knocking, he fell a saying to himself:--O God, praised be Thy
+name forever; for that, albeit Thou hast ordained that I be poor, at
+least Thou hast accorded me the consolation of a good and honest girl for
+wife. Mark what haste she made to shut the door when I was gone forth,
+that none else might enter to give her trouble.
+
+Now Peronella knew by his knock that 'twas her husband;
+wherefore:--"Alas, Giannello mine," quoth she, "I am a dead woman, for
+lo, here is my husband, foul fall him! come back! What it may import, I
+know not, for he is never wont to come back at this hour; perchance he
+caught sight of thee as thou camest in. However, for the love of God, be
+it as it may, get thee into this tun that thou seest here, and I will go
+open to him, and we shall see what is the occasion of this sudden return
+this morning." So Giannello forthwith got into the tun, and Peronella
+went to the door, and let in her husband, and gave him black looks,
+saying:--"This is indeed a surprise that thou art back so soon this
+morning! By what I see thou hast a mind to make this a holiday, that thou
+returnest tools in hand; if so, what are we to live on? whence shall we
+get bread to eat? Thinkest thou I will let thee pawn my gown and other
+bits of clothes? Day and night I do nought else but spin, insomuch that
+the flesh is fallen away from my nails, that at least I may have oil
+enough to keep our lamp alight. Husband, husband, there is never a woman
+in the neighbourhood but marvels and mocks at me, that I am at such
+labour and pains; and thou comest home to me with thy hands hanging idle,
+when thou shouldst be at work." Which said, she fell a weeping and
+repeating:--"Alas, alas, woe 's me, in what evil hour was I born? in what
+luckless moment came I hither, I, that might have had so goodly a young
+man, and I would not, to take up with one that bestows never a thought on
+her whom he has made his wife? Other women have a good time with their
+lovers, and never a one have we here but has two or three; they take
+their pleasure, and make their husbands believe that the moon is the sun;
+and I, alas! for that I am an honest woman, and have no such casual
+amours, I suffer, and am hard bested. I know not why I provide not myself
+with one of these lovers, as others do. Give good heed, husband, to what
+I say: were I disposed to dishonour thee, I were at no loss to find the
+man: for here are gallants enough, that love me, and court me, and have
+sent me many an offer of money--no stint--or dresses or jewels, should I
+prefer them; but my pride would never suffer it, because I was not born
+of a woman of that sort: and now thou comest home to me when thou
+oughtest to be at work."
+
+Whereto the husband:--"Wife, wife, for God's sake distress not thyself:
+thou shouldst give me credit for knowing what manner of woman thou art,
+as indeed I have partly seen this morning. True it is that I went out to
+work; but 'tis plain that thou knowest not, as indeed I knew not, that
+to-day 'tis the feast of San Galeone, and a holiday, and that is why I am
+come home at this hour; but nevertheless I have found means to provide us
+with bread for more than a month; for I have sold to this gentleman, whom
+thou seest with me, the tun, thou wottest of, seeing that it has
+encumbered the house so long, and he will give me five gigliats for it."
+Quoth then Peronella:--"And all this but adds to my trouble: thou, that
+art a man, and goest abroad, and shouldst know affairs, hast sold for
+five gigliats a tun, which I, that am but a woman, and was scarce ever
+out of doors, have, for that it took up so much room in the house, sold
+for seven gigliats to a good man, that but now, as thou cam'st back, got
+therein, to see if 'twere sound." So hearing, the husband was overjoyed,
+and said to the man that was come to take it away:--"Good man, I wish
+thee Godspeed; for, as thou hearest, my wife has sold the tun for seven
+gigliats, whereas thou gavest me only five." Whereupon:--"So be it," said
+the good man, and took himself off. Then said Peronella to her
+husband:--"Now, as thou art here, come up, and arrange the matter with
+the good man."
+
+Now Giannello, who, meanwhile, had been all on the alert to discover if
+there were aught he had to fear or be on his guard against, no sooner
+heard Peronella's last words, than he sprang out of the tun, and feigning
+to know nought of her husband's return, began thus:--"Where art thou,
+good dame?" Whereto the husband, coming up, answered:--"Here am I: what
+wouldst thou of me?" Quoth Giannello:--"And who art thou? I would speak
+with the lady with whom I struck the bargain for this tun." Then said the
+good man:--"Have no fear, you can deal with me; for I am her husband."
+Quoth then Giannello:--"The tun seems to me sound enough; but I think you
+must have let the lees remain in it; for 'tis all encrusted with I know
+not what that is so dry, that I cannot raise it with the nail; wherefore
+I am not minded to take it unless I first see it scoured." Whereupon
+Peronella:--"To be sure: that shall not hinder the bargain; my husband
+will scour it clean." And:--"Well and good," said the husband.
+
+So he laid down his tools, stripped himself to his vest, sent for a light
+and a rasp, and was in the tun, and scraping away, in a trice. Whereupon
+Peronella, as if she were curious to see what he did, thrust her head
+into the vent of the tun, which was of no great size, and therewithal one
+of her arms up to the shoulder, and fell a saying:--"Scrape here, and
+here, and there too, and look, there is a bit left here." So, she being
+in this posture, directing and admonishing her husband, Giannello, who
+had not, that morning, fully satisfied his desire, when the husband
+arrived, now seeing that as he would, he might not, brought his mind to
+his circumstances, and resolved to take his pleasure as he might:
+wherefore he made up to the lady, who completely blocked the vent of the
+tun; and even on such wise as on the open champaign the wild and lusty
+horses do amorously assail the mares of Parthia, he sated his youthful
+appetite; and so it was that almost at the same moment that he did so,
+and was off, the tun was scoured, the husband came forth of it, and
+Peronella withdrew her head from the vent, and turning to Giannello,
+said:--"Take this light, good man, and see if 'tis scoured to thy mind."
+Whereupon Giannello, looking into the tun, said that 'twas in good trim,
+and that he was well content, and paid the husband the seven gigliats,
+and caused him carry the tun to his house.
+
+
+NOVEL III.
+
+--
+Fra Rinaldo lies with his gossip: her husband finds him in the room with
+her; and they make him believe that he was curing his godson of worms by
+a charm.
+--
+
+Filostrato knew not how so to veil what he said touching the mares of
+Parthia, but that the keen-witted ladies laughed thereat, making as if
+'twas at somewhat else. However, his story being ended, the king called
+for one from Elisa, who, all obedience, thus began:--Debonair my ladies,
+we heard from Emilia how the bogey is exorcised, and it brought to my
+mind a story of another incantation: 'tis not indeed so good a story as
+hers; but, as no other, germane to our theme, occurs to me at present, I
+will relate it.
+
+You are to know, then, that there dwelt aforetime at Siena a young man,
+right gallant and of honourable family, his name Rinaldo; who, being in
+the last degree enamoured of one of his neighbours, a most beautiful
+gentlewoman and the wife of a rich man, was not without hopes that, if he
+could but find means to speak with her privately, he might have of her
+all that he desired; but seeing no way, and the lady being pregnant, he
+cast about how he might become her child's godfather. Wherefore, having
+ingratiated himself with her husband, he broached the matter to him in as
+graceful a manner as he might; and 'twas arranged. So Rinaldo, being now
+godfather to Madonna Agnesa's child, and having a more colourable pretext
+for speaking to her, took courage, and told her in words that message of
+his heart which she had long before read in his eyes; but though 'twas
+not displeasing to the lady to hear, it availed him but little.
+
+Now not long afterwards it so befell that, whatever may have been his
+reason, Rinaldo betook him to friarage; and whether it was that he found
+good pasture therein, or what not, he persevered in that way of life. And
+though for a while after he was turned friar, he laid aside the love he
+bore his gossip, and certain other vanities, yet in course of time,
+without putting off the habit, he resumed them, and began to take a pride
+in his appearance, and to go dressed in fine clothes, and to be quite the
+trim gallant, and to compose songs and sonnets and ballades, and to sing
+them, and to make a brave shew in all else that pertained to his new
+character. But why enlarge upon our Fra Rinaldo, of whom we speak? what
+friars are there that do not the like? Ah! opprobrium of a corrupt world!
+Sleek-faced and sanguine, daintily clad, dainty in all their accessories,
+they ruffle it shamelessly before the eyes of all, shewing not as doves
+but as insolent cocks with raised crest and swelling bosom, and, what is
+worse (to say nought of the vases full of electuaries and unguents, the
+boxes packed with divers comfits, the pitchers and phials of artificial
+waters, and oils, the flagons brimming with Malmsey and Greek and other
+wines of finest quality, with which their cells are so packed that they
+shew not as the cells of friars, but rather as apothecaries' or
+perfumers' shops), they blush not to be known to be gouty, flattering
+themselves that other folk wot not that long fasts and many of them, and
+coarse fare and little of it, and sober living, make men lean and thin
+and for the most part healthy; or if any malady come thereof, at any rate
+'tis not the gout, the wonted remedy for which is chastity and all beside
+that belongs to the regimen of a humble friar. They flatter themselves,
+too, that others wot not that over and above the meagre diet, long vigils
+and orisons and strict discipline ought to mortify men and make them
+pale, and that neither St. Dominic nor St. Francis went clad in stuff
+dyed in grain or any other goodly garb, but in coarse woollen habits
+innocent of the dyer's art, made to keep out the cold, and not for shew.
+To which matters 'twere well God had a care, no less than to the souls of
+the simple folk by whom our friars are nourished.
+
+Fra Rinaldo, then, being come back to his first affections, took to
+visiting his gossip very frequently; and gaining confidence, began with
+more insistence than before to solicit her to that which he craved of
+her. So, being much urged, the good lady, to whom Fra Rinaldo, perhaps,
+seemed now more handsome than of yore, had recourse one day, when she
+felt herself unusually hard pressed by him, to the common expedient of
+all that would fain concede what is asked of them, and said:--"Oh! but
+Fra Rinaldo, do friars then do this sort of thing?" "Madam," replied Fra
+Rinaldo, "when I divest myself of this habit, which I shall do easily
+enough, you will see that I am a man furnished as other men, and no
+friar." Whereto with a truly comical air the lady made answer:--"Alas!
+woe's me! you are my child's godfather: how might it be? nay, but 'twere
+a very great mischief; and many a time I have heard that 'tis a most
+heinous sin; and without a doubt, were it not so, I would do as you
+wish." "If," said Fra Rinaldo, "you forego it for such a scruple as this,
+you are a fool for your pains. I say not that 'tis no sin; but there is
+no sin so great but God pardons it, if one repent. Now tell me: whether
+is more truly father to your son, I that held him at the font, or your
+husband that begot him?" "My husband," replied the lady. "Sooth say you,"
+returned the friar, "and does not your husband lie with you?" "Why, yes,"
+said the lady. "Then," rejoined the friar, "I that am less truly your
+son's father than your husband, ought also to lie with you, as does your
+husband." The lady was no logician, and needed little to sway her: she
+therefore believed or feigned to believe that what the friar said was
+true. So:-- "Who might avail to answer your words of wisdom?" quoth she;
+and presently forgot the godfather in the lover, and complied with his
+desires. Nor had they begun their course to end it forthwith: but under
+cover of the friar's sponsorship, which set them more at ease, as it
+rendered them less open to suspicion, they forgathered again and again.
+
+But on one of these occasions it so befell that Fra Rinaldo, being come
+to the lady's house, where he espied none else save a very pretty and
+dainty little maid that waited on the lady, sent his companion away with
+her into the pigeon-house, there to teach her the paternoster, while he
+and the lady, holding her little boy by the hand, went into the bedroom,
+locked themselves in, got them on to a divan that was there, and began to
+disport them. And while thus they sped the time, it chanced that the
+father returned, and, before any was ware of him, was at the bedroom
+door, and knocked, and called the lady by her name. Whereupon:--"'Tis as
+much as my life is worth," quoth Madonna Agnesa; "lo, here is my husband;
+and the occasion of our intimacy cannot but be now apparent to him."
+"Sooth say you," returned Fra Rinaldo, who was undressed, that is to say,
+had thrown off his habit and hood, and was in his tunic; "if I had but my
+habit and hood on me in any sort, 'twould be another matter; but if you
+let him in, and he find me thus, 'twill not be possible to put any face
+on it." But with an inspiration as happy as sudden:--"Now get them on
+you," quoth the lady; "and when you have them on, take your godson in
+your arms, and give good heed to what I shall say to him, that your words
+may accord with mine; and leave the rest to me."
+
+The good man was still knocking, when his wife made answer:-- "Coming,
+coming." And so up she got, and put on a cheerful countenance and hied
+her to the door, and opened it and said:--"Husband mine: well indeed was
+it for us that in came Fra Rinaldo, our sponsor; 'twas God that sent him
+to us; for in sooth, but for that, we had to-day lost our boy." Which the
+poor simpleton almost swooned to hear; and:--"How so?" quoth he. "O
+husband mine," replied the lady, "he was taken but now, all of a sudden,
+with a fainting fit, so that I thought he was dead: and what to do or say
+I knew not, had not Fra Rinaldo, our sponsor, come just in the nick of
+time, and set him on his shoulder, and said:--'Gossip, 'tis that he has
+worms in his body, and getting, as they do, about the heart, they might
+only too readily be the death of him; but fear not; I will say a charm
+that will kill them all; and before I take my leave, you will see your
+boy as whole as you ever saw him.' And because to say certain of the
+prayers thou shouldst have been with us, and the maid knew not where to
+find thee, he caused his companion to say them at the top of the house,
+and he and I came in here. And for that 'tis not meet for any but the
+boy's mother to assist at such a service, that we might not be troubled
+with any one else, we locked the door; and he yet has him in his arms;
+and I doubt not that he only waits till his companion have said his
+prayers, and then the charm will be complete; for the boy is already
+quite himself again."
+
+The good simple soul, taking all this for sooth, and overwrought by the
+love he bore his son, was entirely without suspicion of the trick his
+wife was playing him, and heaving a great sigh, said:--"I will go look
+for him." "Nay," replied the wife, "go not: thou wouldst spoil the
+efficacy of the charm: wait here; I will go see if thou mayst safely go;
+and will call thee."
+
+Whereupon Fra Rinaldo, who had heard all that passed, and was in his
+canonicals, and quite at his ease, and had the boy in his arms, having
+made sure that all was as it should be, cried out:--"Gossip, do I not
+hear the father's voice out there?" "Ay indeed, Sir," replied the
+simpleton. "Come in then," said Fra Rinaldo. So in came the simpleton.
+Whereupon quoth Fra Rinaldo:--"I restore to you your boy made whole by
+the grace of God, whom but now I scarce thought you would see alive at
+vespers. You will do well to have his image fashioned in wax, not less
+than life-size, and set it for a thanksgiving to God, before the statue
+of Master St. Ambrose, by whose merits you have this favour of God."
+
+The boy, catching sight of his father, ran to him with joyous greetings,
+as little children are wont; and the father, taking him in his arms, and
+weeping as if he were restored to him from the grave, fell by turns a
+kissing him and thanking his godfather, that he had cured him. Fra
+Rinaldo's companion, who had taught the maid not one paternoster only,
+but peradventure four or more, and by giving her a little purse of white
+thread that a nun had given him, had made her his devotee, no sooner
+heard Fra Rinaldo call the simpleton into his wife's room, than he
+stealthily got him to a place whence he might see and hear what was going
+on. Observing that the affair was now excellently arranged, he came down,
+and entered the chamber, saying:--"Fra Rinaldo, those four prayers that
+you bade me say, I have said them all." "Then well done, my brother,"
+quoth Fra Rinaldo, "well-breathed must thou be. For my part, I had but
+said two, when my gossip came in; but what with thy travail and mine, God
+of His grace has vouchsafed-us the healing or the boy." The simpleton
+then had good wine and comfits brought in, and did the honours to the
+godfather and his companion in such sort as their occasions did most
+demand. He then ushered them forth of the house, commending them to God;
+and without delay had the waxen image made, and directed it to be set up
+with the others in front of the statue of St. Ambrose, not, be it
+understood, St. Ambrose of Milan.(1)
+
+(1) The statue would doubtless be that of St. Ambrose of Siena, of the
+Dominican Order.
+
+
+NOVEL IV.
+
+--
+Tofano one night locks his wife out of the house: she, finding that by no
+entreaties may she prevail upon him to let her in, feigns to throw
+herself into a well, throwing therein a great stone. Tofano hies him
+forth of the house, and runs to the spot: she goes into the house, and
+locks him out, and hurls abuse at him from within.
+--
+
+The king no sooner wist that Elisa's story was ended, than, turning to
+Lauretta, he signified his will that she should tell somewhat: wherefore
+without delay she began:--O Love, how great and signal is thy potency!
+how notable thy stratagems, thy devices! Was there ever, shall there ever
+be, philosopher or adept competent to inspire, counsel and teach in such
+sort as thou by thine unpremeditated art dost tutor those that follow thy
+lead? Verily laggard teachers are they all in comparison of thee, as by
+the matters heretofore set forth may very well be understood. To which
+store I will add, loving ladies, a stratagem used by a woman of quite
+ordinary understanding, and of such a sort that I know not by whom she
+could have been taught it save by Love.
+
+Know, then, that there dwelt aforetime at Arezzo a rich man, Tofano by
+name, who took to wife Monna Ghita, a lady exceeding fair, of whom, for
+what cause he knew not, he presently grew jealous. Whereof the lady being
+ware, waxed resentful, and having on divers occasions demanded of him the
+reason of his jealousy, and gotten from him nought precise, but only
+generalities and trivialities, resolved at last to give him cause enough
+to die of that evil which without cause he so much dreaded. And being
+ware that a gallant, whom she deemed well worthy of her, was enamoured of
+her, she, using due discretion, came to an understanding with him; which
+being brought to the point that it only remained to give effect to their
+words in act, the lady cast about to devise how this might be. And
+witting that, among other bad habits that her husband had, he was too
+fond of his cups, she would not only commend indulgence, but cunningly
+and not seldom incite him thereto; insomuch that, well-nigh as often as
+she was so minded, she led him to drink to excess; and when she saw that
+he was well drunken, she would put him to bed; and so not once only but
+divers times without any manner of risk she forgathered with her lover;
+nay, presuming upon her husband's intoxication, she grew so bold that,
+not content with bringing her lover into her house, she would at times go
+spend a great part of the night with him at his house, which was not far
+off.
+
+Now such being the enamoured lady's constant practice, it so befell that
+the dishonoured husband took note that, while she egged him on to drink,
+she herself drank never a drop; whereby he came to suspect the truth, to
+wit, that the lady was making him drunk, that afterwards she might take
+her pleasure while he slept. And being minded to put his surmise to the
+proof, one evening, having drunken nought all day, he mimicked never so
+drunken a sot both in speech and in carriage. The lady, deeming him to be
+really as he appeared, and that 'twas needless to ply him with liquor,
+presently put him to bed. Which done, she, as she at times was wont, hied
+her forth to her lover's house, where she tarried until midnight. Tofano
+no sooner perceived that his wife was gone, than up he got, hied him to
+the door, locked it, and then posted himself at the window to observe her
+return, and let her know that he was ware of her misconduct. So there he
+stood until the lady returned, and finding herself locked out, was
+annoyed beyond measure, and sought to force the door open. Tofano let her
+try her strength upon it a while, and then:--"Madam," quoth he, "'tis all
+to no purpose: thou canst not get in. Go get thee back thither where thou
+hast tarried all this while, and rest assured that thou shalt never
+recross this threshold, until I have done thee such honour as is meet for
+thee in the presence of thy kinsfolk and neighbours." Thereupon the lady
+fell entreating him to be pleased to open to her for the love of God, for
+that she was not come whence he supposed, but had only been passing the
+time with one of her gossips, because the nights were long, and she could
+not spend the whole time either in sleep or in solitary watching. But her
+supplications availed her nothing, for the fool was determined that all
+Arezzo should know their shame, whereof as yet none wist aught. So as
+'twas idle to entreat, the lady assumed a menacing tone, saying:--"So
+thou open not to me, I will make thee the saddest man alive." Whereto
+Tofano made answer:--"And what then canst thou do?" The lady, her wits
+sharpened by Love, rejoined:--"Rather than endure the indignity to which
+thou wouldst unjustly subject me, I will cast myself into the well hard
+by here, and when I am found dead there, all the world will believe that
+'twas thou that didst it in thy cups, and so thou wilt either have to
+flee and lose all that thou hast and be outlawed, or forfeit thy head as
+guilty of my death, as indeed thou wilt be." But, for all she said,
+Tofano wavered not a jot in his foolish purpose. So at last:--"Lo, now,"
+quoth the lady, "I can no more abide thy surly humour: God forgive thee:
+I leave thee my distaff here, which be careful to bestow in a safe
+place." So saying, away she hied her to the well, and, the night being so
+dark that wayfarers could scarce see one another as they passed, she took
+up a huge stone that was by the well, and ejaculating, "God forgive me!"
+dropped it therein. Tofano, hearing the mighty splash that the stone made
+as it struck the water, never doubted that she had cast herself in: so,
+bucket and rope in hand, he flung himself out of the house, and came
+running to the well to her rescue. The lady had meanwhile hidden herself
+hard by the door, and seeing him make for the well, was in the house in a
+trice, and having locked the door, hied her to the window, and greeted
+him with:--"'Tis while thou art drinking, not now, when the night is far
+spent, that thou shouldst temper thy wine with water." Thus derided,
+Tofano came back to the door, and finding his ingress barred, began
+adjuring her to let him in. Whereupon, changing the low tone she had
+hitherto used for one so shrill that 'twas well-nigh a shriek, she broke
+out with:--"By the Holy Rood, tedious drunken sot that thou art, thou
+gettest no admittance here to-night; thy ways are more than I can endure:
+'tis time I let all the world know what manner of man thou art, and at
+what hour of the night thou comest home." Tofano, on his part, now grew
+angry, and began loudly to upbraid her; insomuch that the neighbours,
+aroused by the noise, got up, men and women alike, and looked out of the
+windows, and asked what was the matter. Whereupon the lady fell a weeping
+and saying:--"'Tis this wicked man, who comes home drunk at even, or
+falls asleep in some tavern, and then returns at this hour. Long and to
+no purpose have I borne with him; but 'tis now past endurance, and I have
+done him this indignity of locking him out of the house in the hope that
+perchance it may cause him to mend his ways."
+
+Tofano, on his part, told, dolt that he was, just what had happened, and
+was mighty menacing. Whereupon:--"Now mark," quoth the lady to the
+neighbours, "the sort of man he is! What would you say if I were, as he
+is, in the street, and he were in the house, as I am? God's faith, I
+doubt you would believe what he said. Hereby you may gauge his sense. He
+tells you that I have done just what, I doubt not, he has done himself.
+He thought to terrify me by throwing I know not what into the well,
+wherein would to God he had thrown himself indeed, and drowned himself,
+whereby the wine of which he has taken more than enough, had been watered
+to some purpose!" The neighbours, men and women alike, now with one
+accord gave tongue, censuring Tofano, throwing all the blame upon him,
+and answering what he alleged against the lady with loud recrimination;
+and in short the bruit, passing from neighbour to neighbour, reached at
+last the ears of the lady's kinsfolk; who hied them to the spot, and
+being apprised of the affair from this, that and the other of the
+neighbours, laid hands on Tofano, and beat him till he was black and blue
+from head to foot. Which done, they entered his house, stripped it of all
+that belonged to the lady, and took her home with them, bidding Tofano
+look for worse to come. Thus hard bested, and ruing the plight in which
+his jealousy had landed him, Tofano, who loved his wife with all his
+heart, set some friends to work to patch matters up, whereby he did in
+fact induce his lady to forgive him and live with him again, albeit he
+was fain to promise her never again to be jealous, and to give her leave
+to amuse herself to her heart's content, provided she used such
+discretion that he should not be ware of it. On such wise, like the churl
+and booby that he was, being despoiled, he made terms. Now long live
+Love, and perish war, and all that wage it!
+
+
+NOVEL V.
+
+--
+A jealous husband disguises himself as a priest, and hears his own wife's
+confession: she tells him that she loves a priest, who comes to her every
+night. The husband posts himself at the door to watch for the priest, and
+meanwhile the lady brings her lover in by the roof, and tarries with him.
+--
+
+When Lauretta had done speaking, and all had commended the lady, for that
+she had done well, and treated her caitiff husband as he had deserved,
+the king, not to lose time, turned to Fiammetta, and graciously bade her
+take up her parable; which she did on this wise:--Most noble ladies, the
+foregoing story prompts me likewise to discourse of one of these jealous
+husbands, deeming that they are justly requited by their wives, more
+especially when they grow jealous without due cause. And had our
+legislators taken account of everything, I am of opinion that they would
+have visited ladies in such a case with no other penalty than such as
+they provide for those that offend in self-defence, seeing that a jealous
+husband does cunningly practise against the life of his lady, and most
+assiduously machinate her death. All the week the wife stays at home,
+occupied with her domestic duties; after which, on the day that is sacred
+to joy, she, like every one else, craves some solace, some peace, some
+recreation, not unreasonably, for she craves but what the husbandmen take
+in the fields, the craftsmen in the city, the magistrates in the courts,
+nay what God Himself took, when He rested from all His labours on the
+seventh day, and which laws human and Divine, mindful alike of the honour
+of God and the common well-being, have ordained, appropriating certain
+days to work, and others to repose. To which ordinance these jealous
+husbands will in no wise conform; on the contrary by then most sedulously
+secluding their wives, they make those days which to all other women are
+gladsome, to them most grievous and dolorous. And what an affliction it
+is to the poor creatures, they alone know, who have proved it; for which
+reason, to sum up, I say that a wife is rather to be commended than
+censured, if she take her revenge upon a husband that is jealous without
+cause.
+
+Know then that at Rimini there dwelt a merchant, a man of great substance
+in lands and goods and money, who, having a most beautiful woman to wife,
+waxed inordinately jealous of her, and that for no better reason than
+that, loving her greatly, and esteeming her exceeding fair, and knowing
+that she did her utmost endeavour to pleasure him, he must needs suppose
+that every man loved her, and esteemed her fair, and that she, moreover,
+was as zealous to stand well with every other man as with himself;
+whereby you may see that he was a poor creature, and of little sense.
+Being thus so deeply infected with jealousy, he kept so strict and close
+watch over her, that some, maybe, have lain under sentence of death and
+been less rigorously confined by their warders. 'Twas not merely that the
+lady might not go to a wedding, or a festal gathering, or even to church,
+or indeed set foot out of doors in any sort; but she dared not so much as
+shew herself at a window, or cast a glance outside the house, no matter
+for what purpose. Wherefore she led a most woeful life of it, and found
+it all the harder to bear because she knew herself to be innocent.
+Accordingly, seeing herself evilly entreated by her husband without good
+cause, she cast about how for her own consolation she might devise means
+to justify his usage of her. And for that, as she might not shew herself
+at the window, there could be no interchange of amorous glances between
+her and any man that passed along the street, but she wist that in the
+next house there was a goodly and debonair gallant, she bethought her,
+that, if there were but a hole in the wall that divided the two houses,
+she might watch thereat, until she should have sight of the gallant on
+such wise that she might speak to him, and give him her love, if he cared
+to have it, and, if so it might be contrived, forgather with him now and
+again, and after this fashion relieve the burden of her woeful life,
+until such time as the evil spirit should depart from her husband. So
+peering about, now here, now there, when her husband was away, she found
+in a very remote part of the house a place, where, by chance, the wall
+had a little chink in it. Peering through which, she made out, though not
+without great difficulty, that on the other side was a room, and said to
+herself:--If this were Filippo's room--Filippo was the name of the
+gallant, her neighbour--I should be already halfway to my goal. So
+cautiously, through her maid, who was grieved to see her thus languish,
+she made quest, and discovered that it was indeed the gallant's room,
+where he slept quite alone. Wherefore she now betook her frequently to
+the aperture, and whenever she was ware that the gallant was in the room,
+she would let fall a pebble or the like trifle; whereby at length she
+brought the gallant to the other side of the aperture to see what the
+matter was. Whereupon she softly called him, and he knowing her voice,
+answered; and so, having now the opportunity she had sought, she in few
+words opened to him all her mind. The gallant, being overjoyed, wrought
+at the aperture on such wise that albeit none might be ware thereof, he
+enlarged it; and there many a time they held converse together, and
+touched hands, though further they might not go by reason of the
+assiduous watch that the jealous husband kept.
+
+Now towards Christmas the lady told her husband that, if he approved, she
+would fain go on Christmas morning to church, and confess and
+communicate, like other Christians. "And what sins," quoth he, "hast thou
+committed, that wouldst be shriven?" "How?" returned the lady; "dost thou
+take me for a saint? For all thou keepest me so close, thou must know
+very well that I am like all other mortals. However, I am not minded to
+confess to thee, for that thou art no priest." Her husband, whose
+suspicions were excited by what she had said, cast about how he might
+discover these sins of hers, and having bethought him of what seemed an
+apt expedient, made answer that she had his consent, but he would not
+have her go to any church but their own chapel, where she might hie her
+betimes in the morning, and confess either to their own chaplain or some
+other priest that the chaplain might assign her, but to none other, and
+presently return to the house. The lady thought she half understood him,
+but she answered only that she would do as he required. Christmas morning
+came, and with the dawn the lady rose, dressed herself, and hied her to
+the church appointed by her husband, who also rose, and hied him to the
+same church, where he arrived before her; and having already concerted
+matters with the priest that was in charge, he forthwith put on one of
+the priest's robes with a great hood, overshadowing the face, such as we
+see priests wear, and which he pulled somewhat forward; and so disguised
+he seated himself in the choir.
+
+On entering the church the lady asked for the priest, who came, and
+learning that she was minded to confess, said that he could not hear her
+himself, but would send her one of his brethren; so away he hied him and
+sent her, in an evil hour for him, her husband. For though he wore an air
+of great solemnity, and 'twas not yet broad day, and he had pulled the
+hood well over his eyes, yet all did not avail, but that his lady
+forthwith recognized him, and said to herself:--God be praised! why, the
+jealous rogue is turned priest: but leave it me to give him that whereof
+he is in quest. So she feigned not to know him, and seated herself at his
+feet. (I should tell you that he had put some pebbles in his mouth, that
+his speech, being impeded, might not betray him to his wife, and in all
+other respects he deemed himself so thoroughly disguised that there was
+nought whereby she might recognize him.) Now, to come to the confession,
+the lady, after informing him that she was married, told him among other
+matters that she was enamoured of a priest, who came every night to lie
+with her. Which to hear was to her husband as if he were stricken through
+the heart with a knife; and had it not been that he was bent on knowing
+more, he would have forthwith given over the confession, and taken
+himself off. However he kept his place, and:--"How?" said he to the lady,
+"does not your husband lie with you?" The lady replied in the
+affirmative. "How, then," quoth the husband, "can the priest also lie
+with you?" "Sir," replied she, "what art the priest employs I know not;
+but door there is none, however well locked, in the house, that comes not
+open at his touch; and he tells me that, being come to the door of my
+room, before he opens it, he says certain words, whereby my husband
+forthwith falls asleep; whereupon he opens the door, and enters the room,
+and lies with me; and so 'tis always, without fail." "Then 'tis very
+wrong, Madam, and you must give it up altogether," said the husband.
+"That, Sir," returned the lady, "I doubt I can never do; for I love him
+too much." "In that case," quoth the husband, "I cannot give you
+absolution." "The pity of it!" ejaculated the lady; "I came not hither to
+tell you falsehoods: if I could give it up, I would." "Madam," replied
+the husband, "indeed I am sorry for you; for I see that you are in a fair
+way to lose your soul. However, this I will do for you; I will make
+special supplication to God on your behalf; and perchance you may be
+profited thereby. And from time to time I will send you one of my young
+clerks; and you will tell him whether my prayers have been of any help to
+you, or no, and if they have been so, I shall know what to do next."
+"Nay, Sir," quoth the lady, "do not so; send no man to me at home; for,
+should my husband come to know it, he is so jealous that nothing in the
+world would ever disabuse him of the idea that he came but for an evil
+purpose, and so I should have no peace with him all the year long."
+Madam, returned the husband, "have no fear; rest assured that I will so
+order matters that you shall never hear a word about it from him." "If
+you can make sure of that," quoth the lady, "I have no more to say." And
+so, her confession ended, and her penance enjoined, she rose, and went to
+mass, while the luckless husband, fuming and fretting, hasted to divest
+himself of his priest's trappings, and then went home bent upon devising
+some means to bring the priest and his wife together, and take his
+revenge upon them both.
+
+When the lady came home from church she read in her husband's face that
+she had spoiled his Christmas for him, albeit he dissembled to the
+uttermost, lest she should discover what he had done, and supposed
+himself to have learned. His mind was made up to keep watch for the
+priest that very night by his own front door. So to the lady he said:--"I
+have to go out to-night to sup and sleep; so thou wilt take care that the
+front door, and the mid-stair door, and the bedroom door are well locked;
+and for the rest thou mayst go to bed, at thine own time." "Well and
+good," replied the lady: and as soon as she was able, off she hied her to
+the aperture, and gave the wonted signal, which Filippo no sooner heard,
+than he was at the spot. The lady then told him what she had done in the
+morning, and what her husband had said to her after breakfast,
+adding:--"Sure I am that he will not stir out of the house, but will keep
+watch beside the door; wherefore contrive to come in to-night by the
+roof, that we may be together." "Madam," replied the gallant, nothing
+loath, "trust me for that."
+
+Night came, the husband armed, and noiselessly hid himself in a room on
+the ground floor: the lady locked all the doors, being especially careful
+to secure the mid-stair door, to bar her husband's ascent; and in due
+time the gallant, having found his way cautiously enough over the roof,
+they got them to bed, and there had solace of one another and a good
+time; and at daybreak the gallant hied him back to his house. Meanwhile
+the husband, rueful and supperless, half dead with cold, kept his armed
+watch beside his door, momently expecting the priest, for the best part
+of the night; but towards daybreak, his powers failing him, he lay down
+and slept in the ground-floor room. 'Twas hard upon tierce when he awoke,
+and the front door was then open; so, making as if he had just come in,
+he went upstairs and breakfasted. Not long afterwards he sent to his wife
+a young fellow, disguised as the priest's underling, who asked her if he
+of whom she wist had been with her again. The lady, who quite understood
+what that meant, made answer that he had not come that night, and that,
+if he continued to neglect her so, 'twas possible he might be forgotten,
+though she had no mind to forget him.
+
+Now, to make a long story short, the husband passed many a night in the
+same way, hoping to catch the priest as he came in, the lady and her
+gallant meanwhile having a good time. But at last the husband, being able
+to stand it no longer, sternly demanded of his wife what she had said to
+the priest the morning when she was confessed. The lady answered that she
+was not minded to tell him, for that 'twas not seemly or proper so to do.
+Whereupon:--"Sinful woman," quoth the husband, "in thy despite I know
+what thou saidst to him, and know I must and will who this priest is, of
+whom thou art enamoured, and who by dint of his incantations lies with
+thee a nights, or I will sluice thy veins for thee." "'Tis not true,"
+replied the lady, "that I am enamoured of a priest." "How?" quoth the
+husband, "saidst thou not as much to the priest that confessed thee?"
+"Thou canst not have had it from him," rejoined the lady. "Wast thou then
+present thyself? For sure I never told him so." "Then tell me," quoth the
+husband, "who this priest is; and lose no time about it." Whereat the
+lady began to smile, and:--"I find it not a little diverting," quoth she,
+"that a wise man should suffer himself to be led by a simple woman as a
+ram is led by the horns to the shambles; albeit no wise man art thou: not
+since that fatal hour when thou gavest harbourage in thy breast, thou
+wist not why, to the evil spirit of jealousy; and the more foolish and
+insensate thou art, the less glory have I. Deemest thou, my husband, that
+I am as blind of the bodily eye as thou art of the mind's eye? Nay, but
+for sure I am not so. I knew at a glance the priest that confessed me,
+and that 'twas even thyself. But I was minded to give thee that of which
+thou wast in quest, and I gave it thee. Howbeit, if thou hadst been the
+wise man thou takest thyself to be, thou wouldst not have chosen such a
+way as that to worm out thy good lady's secrets, nor wouldst thou have
+fallen a prey to a baseless suspicion, but wouldst have understood that
+what she confessed was true, and she all the while guiltless. I told thee
+that I loved a priest; and wast not thou, whom I love, though ill enough
+dost thou deserve it, turned priest? I told thee that there was no door
+in my house but would open when he was minded to lie with me: and when
+thou wouldst fain have access to me, what door was ever closed against
+thee? I told thee that the priest lay nightly with me: and what night was
+there that thou didst not lie with me? Thou sentest thy young clerk to
+me: and thou knowest that, as often as thou hadst not been with me, I
+sent word that the priest had not been with me. Who but thou, that hast
+suffered jealousy to blind thee, would have been so witless as not to
+read such a riddle? But thou must needs mount guard at night beside the
+door, and think to make me believe that thou hadst gone out to sup and
+sleep. Consider thy ways, and court not the mockery of those that know
+them as I do, but turn a man again as thou wast wont to be: and let there
+be no more of this strict restraint in which thou keepest me; for I swear
+to thee by God that, if I were minded to set horns on thy brow, I should
+not fail so to take my pastime that thou wouldst never find it out,
+though thou hadst a hundred eyes, as thou hast but two."
+
+Thus admonished, the jealous caitiff, who had flattered himself that he
+had very cunningly discovered his wife's secret, was ashamed, and made no
+answer save to commend his wife's wit and honour; and thus, having cause
+for jealousy, he discarded it, as he had erstwhile been jealous without
+cause. And so the adroit lady had, as it were, a charter of indulgence,
+and needed no more to contrive for her lover to come to her over the roof
+like a cat, but admitted him by the door, and using due discretion, had
+many a good time with him, and sped her life gaily.
+
+
+NOVEL VI.
+
+--
+Madonna Isabella has with her Leonetto, her accepted lover, when she is
+surprised by one Messer Lambertuccio, by whom she is beloved: her husband
+coming home about the same time, she sends Messer Lambertuccio forth of
+the house drawn sword in hand, and the husband afterwards escorts
+Leonetto home.
+--
+
+Wondrous was the delight that all the company had of Fiammetta's story,
+nor was there any but affirmed that the lady had done excellent well, and
+dealt with her insensate husband as he deserved. However, it being ended,
+the king bade Pampinea follow suit; which she did on this wise:--Not a
+few there are that in their simplicity aver that Love deranges the mind,
+insomuch that whoso loves becomes as it were witless: the folly of which
+opinion, albeit I doubt it not, and deem it abundantly proven by what has
+been already said, I purpose once again to demonstrate.
+
+In our city, rich in all manner of good things, there dwelt a young
+gentlewoman, fair exceedingly, and wedded to a most worthy and excellent
+gentleman. And as it not seldom happens that one cannot keep ever to the
+same diet, but would fain at times vary it, so this lady, finding her
+husband not altogether to her mind, became enamoured of a gallant,
+Leonetto by name, who, though of no high rank, was not a little debonair
+and courteous, and he in like manner fell in love with her; and (as you
+know that 'tis seldom that what is mutually desired fails to come about)
+'twas not long before they had fruition of their love. Now the lady
+being, as I said, fair and winsome, it so befell that a gentleman, Messer
+Lambertuccio by name, grew mightily enamoured of her, but so tiresome and
+odious did she find him, that for the world she could not bring herself
+to love him. So, growing tired of fruitlessly soliciting her favour by
+ambassage, Messer Lambertuccio, who was a powerful signior, sent her at
+last another sort of message in which he threatened to defame her if she
+complied not with his wishes. Wherefore the lady, knowing her man, was
+terrified, and disposed herself to pleasure him.
+
+Now it so chanced that Madonna Isabella, for such was the lady's name,
+being gone, as is our Florentine custom in the summer, to spend some time
+on a very goodly estate that she had in the contado, one morning finding
+herself alone, for her husband had ridden off to tarry some days
+elsewhere, she sent for Leonetto to come and keep her company; and
+Leonetto came forthwith in high glee. But while they were together,
+Messer Lambertuccio, who, having got wind that the husband was away, had
+mounted his horse and ridden thither quite alone, knocked at the door.
+Whereupon the lady's maid hied her forthwith to her mistress, who was
+alone with Leonetto, and called her, saying:--"Madam, Messer Lambertuccio
+is here below, quite alone." Whereat the lady was vexed beyond measure;
+and being also not a little dismayed, she said to Leonetto:--"Prithee,
+let it not irk thee to withdraw behind the curtain, and there keep close
+until Messer Lambertuccio be gone." Leonetto, who stood in no less fear
+of Messer Lambertuccio than did the lady, got into his hiding-place; and
+the lady bade the maid go open to Messer Lambertuccio: she did so; and
+having dismounted and fastened his palfrey to a pin, he ascended the
+stairs; at the head of which the lady received him with a smile and as
+gladsome a greeting as she could find words for, and asked him on what
+errand he was come. The gentleman embraced and kissed her, saying:--"My
+soul, I am informed that your husband is not here, and therefore I am
+come to stay a while with you." Which said, they went into the room, and
+locked them in, and Messer Lambertuccio fell a toying with her.
+
+Now, while thus he sped the time with her, it befell that the lady's
+husband, albeit she nowise expected him, came home, and, as he drew nigh
+the palace, was observed by the maid, who forthwith ran to the lady's
+chamber, and said:--"Madam, the master will be here anon; I doubt he is
+already in the courtyard." Whereupon, for that she had two men in the
+house, and the knight's palfrey, that was in the courtyard, made it
+impossible to hide him, the lady gave herself up for dead. Nevertheless
+she made up her mind on the spur of the moment, and springing out of bed
+"Sir," quoth she to Messer Lambertuccio, "if you have any regard for me,
+and would save my life, you will do as I bid you: that is to say, you
+will draw your blade, and put on a fell and wrathful countenance, and hie
+you downstairs, saying:--'By God, he shall not escape me elsewhere.' And
+if my husband would stop you, or ask you aught, say nought but what I
+have told you, and get you on horseback and tarry with him on no
+account." "To hear is to obey," quoth Messer Lambertuccio, who, with the
+flush of his recent exertion and the rage that he felt at the husband's
+return still on his face, and drawn sword in hand, did as she bade him.
+The lady's husband, being now dismounted in the courtyard, and not a
+little surprised to see the palfrey there, was about to go up the stairs,
+when he saw Messer Lambertuccio coming down them, and marvelling both at
+his words and at his mien:--"What means this, Sir?" quoth he. But Messer
+Lambertuccio clapped foot in stirrup, and mounted, saying nought
+but:--"Zounds, but I will meet him elsewhere;" and so he rode off.
+
+The gentleman then ascended the stairs, at the head of which he found his
+lady distraught with terror, to whom he said:--"What manner of thing is
+this? After whom goes Messer Lambertuccio, so wrathful and menacing?"
+Whereto the lady, drawing nigher the room, that Leonetto might hear her,
+made answer:--"Never, Sir, had I such a fright as this. There came
+running in here a young man, who to me is quite a stranger, and at his
+heels Messer Lambertuccio with a drawn sword in his hand; and as it
+happened the young man found the door of this room open, and trembling in
+every limb, cried out:--'Madam, your succour, for God's sake, that I die
+not in your arms.' So up I got, and would have asked him who he was, and
+how bested, when up came Messer Lambertuccio, exclaiming:--'Where art
+thou, traitor?' I planted myself in the doorway, and kept him from
+entering, and seeing that I was not minded to give him admittance, he was
+courteous enough, after not a little parley, to take himself off, as you
+saw." Whereupon:--"Wife," quoth the husband, "thou didst very right.
+Great indeed had been the scandal, had some one been slain here, and
+'twas a gross affront on Messer Lambertuccio's part to pursue a fugitive
+within the house." He then asked where the young man was. Whereto the
+lady answered:--"Nay, where he may be hiding, Sir, I wot not."
+So:--"Where art thou?" quoth the knight. "Fear not to shew thyself." Then
+forth of his hiding-place, all of a tremble, for in truth he had been
+thoroughly terrified, crept Leonetto, who had heard all that had passed.
+To whom:--"What hast thou to do with Messer Lambertuccio?" quoth the
+knight. "Nothing in the world," replied the young man: "wherefore, I
+doubt he must either be out of his mind, or have mistaken me for another;
+for no sooner had he sight of me in the street hard by the palace, than
+he laid his hand on his sword, and exclaimed:--'Traitor, thou art a dead
+man.' Whereupon I sought not to know why, but fled with all speed, and
+got me here, and so, thanks to God and this gentlewoman, I escaped his
+hands." "Now away with thy fears," quoth the knight; "I will see thee
+home safe and sound; and then 'twill be for thee to determine how thou
+shalt deal with him." And so, when they had supped, he set him on
+horseback, and escorted him to Florence, and left him not until he was
+safe in his own house. And the very same evening, following the lady's
+instructions, Leonetto spoke privily with Messer Lambertuccio, and so
+composed the affair with him, that, though it occasioned not a little
+talk, the knight never wist how he had been tricked by his wife.
+
+
+NOVEL VII.
+
+--
+Lodovico discovers to Madonna Beatrice the love that he bears her: she
+sends Egano, her husband, into a garden disguised as herself, and lies
+with Lodovico; who thereafter, being risen, hies him to the garden and
+cudgels Egano.
+--
+
+This device of Madonna Isabella, thus recounted by Pampinea, was held
+nothing short of marvellous by all the company. But, being bidden by the
+king to tell the next story, thus spake Filomena:--Loving ladies, if I
+mistake not, the device, of which you shall presently hear from me, will
+prove to be no less excellent than the last.
+
+You are to know, then, that there dwelt aforetime at Paris a Florentine
+gentleman, who, being by reason of poverty turned merchant, had prospered
+so well in his affairs that he was become very wealthy; and having by his
+lady an only son, Lodovico by name, whose nobility disrelished trade, he
+would not put him in any shop; but that he might be with other gentlemen,
+he caused him to enter the service of the King of France, whereby he
+acquired very fine manners and other accomplishments. Being in this
+service, Lodovico was one day with some other young gallants that talked
+of the fair ladies of France, and England, and other parts of the world,
+when they were joined by certain knights that were returned from the Holy
+Sepulchre; and hearing their discourse, one of the knights fell a saying,
+that of a surety in the whole world, so far as he had explored it, there
+was not any lady, of all that he had ever seen, that might compare for
+beauty with Madonna Beatrice, the wife of Egano de' Galluzzi, of Bologna:
+wherein all his companions, who in common with him had seen the lady at
+Bologna, concurred. Which report Lodovico, who was as yet fancy-free, no
+sooner heard, than he burned with such a yearning to see the lady that he
+was able to think of nought else: insomuch that he made up his mind to
+betake him to Bologna to see her, and if she pleased him, to remain
+there; to which end he gave his father to understand that he would fain
+visit the Holy Sepulchre, whereto his father after no little demur
+consented.
+
+So to Bologna Anichino--for so he now called himself--came; and, as
+Fortune would have it, the very next day, he saw the lady at a festal
+gathering, and deemed her vastly more beautiful than he had expected:
+wherefore he waxed most ardently enamoured of her, and resolved never to
+quit Bologna, until he had gained her love. So, casting about how he
+should proceed, he could devise no other way but to enter her husband's
+service, which was the more easy that he kept not a few retainers: on
+this wise Lodovico surmised that, peradventure, he might compass his end.
+He therefore sold his horses and meetly bestowed his servants, bidding
+them make as if they knew him not; and being pretty familiar with his
+host, he told him that he was minded to take service with some worthy
+lord, it any such he might find. "Thou wouldst make," quoth the host,
+"the very sort of retainer to suit a gentleman of this city, Egano by
+name, who keeps not a few of them, and will have all of them presentable
+like thee: I will mention the matter to him." And so he accordingly did,
+and before he took leave of Egano had placed Anichino with him, to
+Egano's complete satisfaction.
+
+Being thus resident with Egano, and having abundant opportunities of
+seeing the fair lady, Anichino set himself to serve Egano with no little
+zeal; wherein he succeeded so well, that Egano was more than satisfied,
+insomuch that by and by there was nought he could do without his advice,
+and he entrusted to him the guidance not only of himself, but of all his
+affairs. Now it so befell that one day when Egano was gone a hawking,
+having left Anichino at home, Madonna Beatrice, who as yet wist not of
+his love, albeit she had from time to time taken note of him and his
+manners, and had not a little approved and commended them, sat herself
+down with him to a game of chess, which, to please her, Anichino most
+dexterously contrived to lose, to the lady's prodigious delight. After a
+while, the lady's women, one and all, gave over watching their play, and
+left them to it; whereupon Anichino heaved a mighty sigh. The lady,
+looking hard at him, said:--"What ails thee, Anichino? Is it, then, such
+a mortification to thee to be conquered by me?" "Nay, Madam," replied
+Anichino, "my sigh was prompted by a much graver matter." "Then, if thou
+hast any regard for me," quoth the lady, "tell me what it is." Hearing
+himself thus adjured by "any regard" he had for her whom he loved more
+than aught else, Anichino heaved a yet mightier sigh, which caused the
+lady to renew her request that he would be pleased to tell her the
+occasion of his sighs. Whereupon:--"Madam," said Anichino, "I greatly
+fear me, that, were I to tell it you, 'twould but vex you; and, moreover,
+I doubt you might repeat it to some one else." "Rest assured," returned
+the lady, "that I shall neither be annoyed, nor, without thy leave, ever
+repeat to any other soul aught that thou mayst say." "Then," said
+Anichino, "having this pledge from you, I will tell it you." And, while
+the tears all but stood in his eyes, he told her, who he was, the report
+he had heard of her, and where and how he had become enamoured of her,
+and with what intent he had taken service with her husband: after which,
+he humbly besought her, that, if it might be, she would have pity on him,
+and gratify this his secret and ardent desire; and that, if she were not
+minded so to do, she would suffer him to retain his place there, and love
+her. Ah! Bologna! how sweetly mixed are the elements in thy women! How
+commendable in such a case are they all! No delight have they in sighs
+and tears, but are ever inclinable to prayers, and ready to yield to the
+solicitations of Love. Had I but words apt to praise them as they
+deserve, my eloquence were inexhaustible.
+
+The gentlewoman's gaze was fixed on Anichino as he spoke; she made no
+doubt that all he said was true, and yielding to his appeal, she
+entertained his love within her heart in such measure that she too began
+to sigh, and after a sigh or two made answer:--"Sweet my Anichino, be of
+good cheer; neither presents nor promises, nor any courting by gentleman,
+or lord, or whoso else (for I have been and am still courted by not a
+few) was ever able to sway my soul to love any of them: but thou, by the
+few words that thou hast said, hast so wrought with me that, brief though
+the time has been, I am already in far greater measure thine than mine.
+My love I deem thee to have won right worthily; and so I give it thee,
+and vow to give thee joyance thereof before the coming night be past. To
+which end thou wilt come to my room about midnight; I will leave the door
+open; thou knowest the side of the bed on which I sleep; thou wilt come
+there; should I be asleep, thou hast but to touch me, and I shall awake,
+and give thee solace of thy long-pent desire. In earnest whereof I will
+even give thee a kiss." So saying, she threw her arms about his neck, and
+lovingly kissed him, as Anichino her.
+
+Their colloquy thus ended, Anichino betook him elsewhere about some
+matters which he had to attend to, looking forward to midnight with
+boundless exultation. Egano came in from his hawking; and after supper,
+being weary, went straight to bed, whither the lady soon followed him,
+leaving, as she had promised, the door of the chamber open. Thither
+accordingly, at the appointed hour, came Anichino, and having softly
+entered the chamber, and closed the door behind him, stole up to where
+the lady lay, and laying his hand upon her breast, found that she was
+awake. Now, as soon as she wist that Anichino was come, she took his hand
+in both her own; and keeping fast hold of him, she turned about in the
+bed, until she awoke Egano; whereupon:--"Husband," quoth she, "I would
+not say aught of this to thee, yestereve, because I judged thou wast
+weary; but tell me, upon thy hope of salvation, Egano, whom deemest thou
+thy best and most loyal retainer, and the most attached to thee, of all
+that thou hast in the house?" "What a question is this, wife?" returned
+Egano. "Dost not know him? Retainer I have none, nor ever had, so
+trusted, or loved, as Anichino. But wherefore put such a question?"
+
+Now, when Anichino wist that Egano was awake, and heard them talk of
+himself, he more than once tried to withdraw his hand, being mightily
+afraid lest the lady meant to play him false; but she held it so tightly
+that he might not get free, while thus she made answer to Egano:--"I will
+tell thee what he is. I thought that he was all thou sayst, and that none
+was so loyal to thee as he, but he has undeceived me, for that yesterday,
+when thou wast out a hawking, he, being here, chose his time, and had the
+shamelessness to crave of me compliance with his wanton desires: and I,
+that I might not need other evidence than that of thine own senses to
+prove his guilt to thee, I made answer, that I was well content, and that
+to-night, after midnight, I would get me into the garden, and await him
+there at the foot of the pine. Now go thither I shall certainly not; but,
+if thou wouldst prove the loyalty of thy retainer, thou canst readily do
+so, if thou but slip on one of my loose robes, and cover thy face with a
+veil, and go down and attend his coming, for come, I doubt not, he will."
+Whereto Egano:--"Meet indeed it is," quoth he, "that I should go see;"
+and straightway up he got, and, as best he might in the dark, he put on
+one of the lady's loose robes and veiled his face, and then hied him to
+the garden, and sate down at the foot of the pine to await Anichino. The
+lady no sooner wist that he was out of the room, than she rose, and
+locked the door. Anichino, who had never been so terrified in all his
+life, and had struggled with all his might to disengage his hand from the
+lady's clasp, and had inwardly cursed her and his love, and himself for
+trusting her, a hundred thousand times, was overjoyed beyond measure at
+this last turn that she had given the affair. And so, the lady having got
+her to bed again, and he, at her bidding, having stripped and laid him
+down beside her, they had solace and joyance of one another for a good
+while. Then, the lady, deeming it unmeet for Anichino to tarry longer
+with her, caused him to get up and resume his clothes, saying to
+him:--"Sweet my mouth, thou wilt take a stout cudgel, and get thee to the
+garden, and making as if I were there, and thy suit to me had been but to
+try me, thou wilt give Egano a sound rating with thy tongue and a sound
+belabouring with thy cudgel, the sequel whereof will be wondrously
+gladsome and delightful." Whereupon Anichino hied him off to the garden,
+armed with a staff of wild willow; and as he drew nigh the pine, Egano
+saw him, and rose and came forward to meet him as if he would receive him
+with the heartiest of cheer. But:--"Ah! wicked woman!" quoth Anichino;
+"so thou art come! Thou didst verily believe, then, that I was, that I
+am, minded thus to wrong my lord? Foul fall thee a thousand times!" And
+therewith he raised his cudgel, and began to lay about him. Egano,
+however, had heard and seen enough, and without a word took to flight,
+while Anichino pursued him, crying out:--"Away with thee! God send thee a
+bad year, lewd woman that thou art; nor doubt that Egano shall hear of
+this to-morrow." Egano, having received sundry round knocks, got him back
+to his chamber with what speed he might; and being asked by the lady,
+whether Anichino had come into the garden:--"Would to God he had not!"
+quoth he, "for that, taking me for thee, he has beaten me black and blue
+with his cudgel, and rated me like the vilest woman that ever was:
+passing strange, indeed, it had seemed to me that he should have said
+those words to thee with intent to dishonour me; and now 'tis plain that
+'twas but that, seeing thee so blithe and frolicsome, he was minded to
+prove thee." Whereto:--"God be praised," returned the lady, "that he
+proved me by words, as thee by acts: and I doubt not he may say that I
+bear his words with more patience than thou his acts. But since he is so
+loyal to thee, we must make much of him and do him honour." "Ay, indeed,"
+quoth Egano, "thou sayst sooth."
+
+Thus was Egano fortified in the belief that never had any gentleman wife
+so true, or retainer so loyal, as he; and many a hearty laugh had he with
+Anichino and his lady over this affair, which to them was the occasion
+that, with far less let than might else have been, they were able to have
+solace and joyance of one another, so long as it pleased Anichino to
+tarry at Bologna.
+
+
+NOVEL VIII.
+
+--
+A husband grows jealous of his wife, and discovers that she has warning
+of her lover's approach by a piece of pack-thread, which she ties to her
+great toe a nights. While he is pursuing her lover, she puts another
+woman in bed in her place. The husband, finding her there, beats her, and
+cuts off her hair. He then goes and calls his wife's brothers, who,
+holding his accusation to be false, give him a rating.
+--
+
+Rare indeed was deemed by common consent the subtlety shewn by Madonna
+Beatrice in the beguilement of her husband, and all affirmed that the
+terror of Anichino must have been prodigious, when, the lady still
+keeping fast hold of him, he had heard her say that he had made suit of
+love to her. However, Filomena being silent, the king turned to Neifile,
+saying:--"'Tis now for you to tell." Whereupon Neifile, while a slight
+smile died away upon her lips, thus began:--Fair ladies, to entertain you
+with a goodly story, such as those which my predecessors have delighted
+you withal, is indeed a heavy burden, but, God helping me, I trust fairly
+well to acquit myself thereof.
+
+You are to know, then, that there dwelt aforetime in our city a most
+wealthy merchant, Arriguccio Berlinghieri by name, who foolishly, as we
+wot by daily experience is the way of merchants, thinking to compass
+gentility by matrimony, took to wife a young gentlewoman, by no means
+suited to him, whose name was Monna Sismonda. Now Monna Sismonda, seeing
+that her husband was much abroad, and gave her little of his company,
+became enamoured of a young gallant, Ruberto by name, who had long
+courted her: and she being grown pretty familiar with him, and using,
+perchance, too little discretion, for she affected him extremely, it so
+befell that Arriguccio, whether it was that he detected somewhat, or
+howsoever, waxed of all men the most jealous, and gave up going abroad,
+and changed his way of life altogether, and made it his sole care to
+watch over his wife, insomuch that he never allowed himself a wink of
+sleep until he had seen her to bed: which occasioned the lady the most
+grievous dumps, because 'twas on no wise possible for her to be with her
+Ruberto. So, casting about in many ways how she might contrive to meet
+him, and being thereto not a little plied by Ruberto himself, she
+bethought her at last of the following expedient: to wit, her room
+fronting the street, and Arriguccio, as she had often observed, being
+very hard put to it to get him to sleep, but thereafter sleeping very
+soundly, she resolved to arrange with Ruberto that he should come to the
+front door about midnight, whereupon she would get her down, and open the
+door, and stay some time with him while her husband was in his deep
+sleep. And that she might have tidings of his arrival, yet so as that
+none else might wot aught thereof, she adopted the device of lowering a
+pack-thread from the bedroom window on such wise that, while with one end
+it should all but touch the ground, it should traverse the floor of the
+room, until it reached the bed, and then be brought under the clothes, so
+that, when she was abed, she might attach it to her great toe. Having so
+done, she sent word to Ruberto, that when he came, he must be sure to
+jerk the pack-thread, and, if her husband were asleep, she would loose
+it, and go open to him; but, if he were awake, she would hold it taut and
+draw it to herself, to let him know that he must not expect her. Ruberto
+fell in with the idea, came there many times, and now forgathered with
+her and again did not. But at last, they still using this cunning
+practice, it so befell that one night, while the lady slept, Arriguccio,
+letting his foot stray more than he was wont about the bed, came upon the
+pack-thread, and laying his hand upon it, found that it was attached to
+his lady's great toe, and said to himself:--This must be some trick: and
+afterwards discovering that the thread passed out of the window, was
+confirmed in his surmise. Wherefore, he softly severed it from the lady's
+toe, and affixed it to his own; and waited, all attention, to learn the
+result of his experiment. Nor had he long to wait before Ruberto came,
+and Arriguccio felt him jerk the thread according to his wont: and as
+Arriguccio had not known how to attach the thread securely, and Ruberto
+jerked it with some force, it gave way, whereby he understood that he was
+to wait, and did so. Arriguccio straightway arose, caught up his arms,
+and hasted to the door to see who might be there, intent to do him a
+mischief. Now Arriguccio, for all he was a merchant, was a man of spirit,
+and of thews and sinews; and being come to the door, he opened it by no
+means gingerly, as the lady was wont; whereby Ruberto, who was in
+waiting, surmised the truth, to wit, that 'twas Arriguccio by whom the
+door was opened. Wherefore he forthwith took to flight, followed by
+Arriguccio. But at length, when he had run a long way, as Arriguccio gave
+not up the pursuit, he being also armed, drew his sword, and faced about;
+and so they fell to, Arriguccio attacking, and Ruberto defending himself.
+
+Now when Arriguccio undid the bedroom door, the lady awoke, and finding
+the pack-thread cut loose from her toe, saw at a glance that her trick
+was discovered; and hearing Arriguccio running after Ruberto, she
+forthwith got up, foreboding what the result was like to be, and called
+her maid, who was entirely in her confidence: whom she so plied with her
+obsecrations that at last she got her into bed in her room, beseeching
+her not to say who she was, but to bear patiently all the blows that
+Arriguccio might give her; and she would so reward her that she should
+have no reason to complain. Then, extinguishing the light that was in the
+room, forth she hied her, and having found a convenient hiding-place in
+the house, awaited the turn of events. Now Arriguccio and Ruberto being
+hotly engaged in the street, the neighbours, roused by the din of the
+combat, got up and launched their curses upon them. Wherefore Arriguccio,
+fearing lest he should be recognized, drew off before he had so much as
+discovered who the young gallant was, or done him any scathe, and in a
+fell and wrathful mood betook him home. Stumbling into the bedroom, he
+cried out angrily:--"Where art thou, lewd woman? Thou hast put out the
+light, that I may not be able to find thee; but thou hast miscalculated."
+And going to the bedside, he laid hold of the maid, taking her to be his
+wife, and fell a pummelling and kicking her with all the strength he had
+in his hands and feet, insomuch that he pounded her face well-nigh to
+pulp, rating her the while like the vilest woman that ever was; and last
+of all he cut off her hair. The maid wept bitterly, as indeed she well
+might; and though from time to time she ejaculated an "Alas! Mercy, for
+God's sake!" or "Spare me, spare me;" yet her voice was so broken by her
+sobs, and Arriguccio's hearing so dulled by his wrath, that he was not
+able to discern that 'twas not his wife's voice but that of another
+woman. So, having soundly thrashed her, and cut off her hair, as we
+said:--"Wicked woman," quoth he, "I touch thee no more; but I go to find
+thy brothers, and shall do them to wit of thy good works; and then they
+may come here, and deal with thee as they may deem their honour demands,
+and take thee hence, for be sure thou shalt no more abide in this house."
+With this he was gone, locking the door of the room behind him, and
+quitted the house alone.
+
+Now no sooner did Monna Sismonda, who had heard all that passed, perceive
+that her husband was gone, than she opened the door of the bedroom,
+rekindled the light, and finding her maid all bruises and tears, did what
+she could to comfort her, and carried her back to her own room, where,
+causing her to be privily waited on and tended, she helped her so
+liberally from Arriguccio's own store, that she confessed herself
+content. The maid thus bestowed in her room, the lady presently hied her
+back to her own, which she set all in neat and trim order, remaking the
+bed, so that it might appear as if it had not been slept in, relighting
+the lamp, and dressing and tiring herself, until she looked as if she had
+not been abed that night; then, taking with her a lighted lamp and some
+work, she sat her down at the head of the stairs, and began sewing, while
+she waited to see how the affair would end.
+
+Arriguccio meanwhile had hied him with all speed straight from the house
+to that of his wife's brothers, where by dint of much knocking he made
+himself heard, and was admitted. The lady's three brothers, and her
+mother, being informed that 'twas Arriguccio, got up, and having set
+lights a burning, came to him and asked him on what errand he was come
+there at that hour, and alone. Whereupon Arriguccio, beginning with the
+discovery of the pack-thread attached to his lady's great toe, gave them
+the whole narrative of his discoveries and doings down to the very end;
+and to clinch the whole matter, he put in their hands the locks which he
+had cut, as he believed, from his wife's head, adding that 'twas now for
+them to come for her and deal with her on such wise as they might deem
+their honour required, seeing that he would nevermore have her in his
+house. Firmly believing what he told them, the lady's brothers were very
+wroth with her, and having provided themselves with lighted torches, set
+out with Arriguccio, and hied them to his house with intent to scorn her,
+while their mother followed, weeping and beseeching now one, now another,
+not to credit these matters so hastily, until they had seen or heard
+somewhat more thereof; for that the husband might have some other reason
+to be wroth with her, and having ill-treated her, might have trumped up
+this charge by way of exculpation, adding that, if true, 'twas passing
+strange, for well she knew her daughter, whom she had brought up from her
+tenderest years, and much more to the like effect.
+
+However, being come to Arriguccio's house, they entered, and were
+mounting the stairs, when Monna Sismonda, hearing them, called out:--"Who
+is there?" Whereto one of the brothers responded:--"Lewd woman, thou
+shalt soon have cause enough to know who it is." "Now Lord love us!"
+quoth Monna Sismonda, "what would he be at?" Then, rising, she greeted
+them with:--"Welcome, my brothers but what seek ye abroad at this hour,
+all three of you?" They had seen her sitting and sewing with never a sign
+of a blow on her face, whereas Arriguccio had averred that he had
+pummelled her all over: wherefore their first impression was one of
+wonder, and refraining the vehemence of their wrath, they asked her what
+might be the truth of the matter which Arriguccio laid to her charge, and
+threatened her with direful consequences, if she should conceal aught.
+Whereto the lady:--"What you would have me tell you," quoth she, "or what
+Arriguccio may have laid to my charge, that know not I." Arriguccio could
+but gaze upon her, as one that had taken leave of his wits, calling to
+mind how he had pummelled her about the face times without number, and
+scratched it for her, and mishandled her in all manner of ways, and there
+he now saw her with no trace of aught of it all upon her. However, to
+make a long story short, the lady's brothers told her what Arriguccio had
+told them touching the pack-thread and the beating and all the rest of
+it. Whereupon the lady turned to him with:--"Alas, my husband, what is
+this that I hear? Why givest thou me, to thy own great shame, the
+reputation of a lewd woman, when such I am not, and thyself the
+reputation of a wicked and cruel man, which thou art not? Wast thou ever
+to-night, I say not in my company, but so much as in the house until now?
+Or when didst thou beat me? For my part I mind me not of it." Arriguccio
+began:--"How sayst thou, lewd woman? Did we not go to bed together? Did I
+not come back, after chasing thy lover? Did I not give thee bruises not a
+few, and cut thy hair for thee?" But the lady interrupted him,
+saying:--"Nay, thou didst not lie here to-night. But leave we this, of
+which my true words are my sole witness, and pass we to this of the
+beating thou sayst thou gavest me, and how thou didst cut my hair. Never
+a beating had I from thee, and I bid all that are here, and thee among
+them, look at me, and say if I have any trace of a beating on my person;
+nor should I advise thee to dare lay hand upon me; for, by the Holy Rood,
+I would spoil thy beauty for thee. Nor didst thou cut my hair, for aught
+that I saw or felt: however, thou didst it, perchance, on such wise that
+I was not ware thereof: so let me see whether 'tis cut or no." Then,
+unveiling herself, she shewed that her hair was uncut and entire.
+Wherefore her brothers and mother now turned to Arriguccio with:--"What
+means this, Arriguccio? This accords not with what thou gavest us to
+understand thou hadst done; nor know we how thou wilt prove the residue."
+
+Arriguccio was lost, as it were, in a dream, and yet he would fain have
+spoken; but, seeing that what he had thought to prove was otherwise, he
+essayed no reply. So the lady turning to her brothers:--"I see," quoth
+she, "what he would have: he will not be satisfied unless I do what I
+never would otherwise have done, to wit, give you to know what a pitiful
+caitiff he is; as now I shall not fail to do. I make no manner of doubt
+that, as he has said, even so it befell, and so he did. How, you shall
+hear. This worthy man, to whom, worse luck! you gave me to wife, a
+merchant, as he calls himself, and as such would fain have credit, and
+who ought to be more temperate than a religious, and more continent than
+a girl, lets scarce an evening pass but he goes a boozing in the taverns,
+and consorting with this or the other woman of the town; and 'tis for me
+to await his return until midnight or sometimes until matins, even as you
+now find me. I doubt not that, being thoroughly well drunk, he got him to
+bed with one of these wantons, and, awaking, found the pack-thread on her
+foot, and afterwards did actually perform all these brave exploits of
+which he speaks, and in the end came back to her, and beat her, and cut
+her hair off, and being not yet quite recovered from his debauch,
+believed, and, I doubt not, still believes, that 'twas I that he thus
+treated; and if you will but scan his face closely, you will see that he
+is still half drunk. But, whatever he may have said about me, I would
+have you account it as nothing more than the disordered speech of a tipsy
+man; and forgive him as I do." Whereupon the lady's mother raised no
+small outcry, saying:--"By the Holy Rood, my daughter, this may not be! A
+daughter, such as thou, to be mated with one so unworthy of thee! The
+pestilent, insensate cur should be slain on the spot! A pretty state of
+things, indeed! Why, he might have picked thee up from the gutter! Now
+foul fall him! but thou shalt no more be vexed with the tedious drivel of
+a petty dealer in ass's dung, some blackguard, belike, that came hither
+from the country because he was dismissed the service of some petty
+squire, clad in romagnole, with belfry-breeches, and a pen in his arse,
+and for that he has a few pence, must needs have a gentleman's daughter
+and a fine lady to wife, and set up a coat of arms, and say:--'I am of
+the such and such,' and 'my ancestors did thus and thus.' Ah! had my sons
+but followed my advice! Thy honour were safe in the house of the Counts
+Guidi, where they might have bestowed thee, though thou hadst but a
+morsel of bread to thy dowry: but they must needs give thee to this rare
+treasure, who, though better daughter and more chaste there is none than
+thou in Florence, has not blushed this very midnight and in our presence
+to call thee a strumpet, as if we knew thee not. God's faith! so I were
+hearkened to, he should shrewdly smart for it." Then, turning to her
+sons, she said:--"My sons, I told you plainly enough that this ought not
+to be. Now, have you heard how your worthy brother-in-law treats your
+sister? Petty twopenny trader that he is: were it for me to act, as it is
+for you, after what he has said of her and done to her, nought would
+satisfy or appease me, till I had rid the earth of him. And were I a man,
+who am but a woman, none, other but myself should meddle with the affair.
+God's curse upon him, the woeful, shameless sot!" Whereupon the young
+men, incensed by what they had seen and heard, turned to Arriguccio, and
+after giving him the soundest rating that ever was bestowed upon caitiff,
+concluded as follows:--"This once we pardon thee, witting thee to be a
+drunken knave--but as thou holdest thy life dear, have a care that
+henceforth we hear no such tales of thee; for rest assured that if aught
+of the kind do reach our ears, we will requite thee for both turns."
+Which said, they departed. Arriguccio, standing there like one dazed, not
+witting whether his late doings were actual fact or but a dream, made no
+more words about the matter, but left his wife in peace. Thus did she by
+her address not only escape imminent peril, but open a way whereby in
+time to come she was able to gratify her passion to the full without any
+farther fear of her husband.
+
+
+NOVEL IX.
+
+--
+Lydia, wife of Nicostratus, loves Pyrrhus, who to assure himself thereof,
+asks three things of her, all of which she does, and therewithal enjoys
+him in presence of Nicostratus, and makes Nicostratus believe that what
+he saw was not real.
+--
+
+So diverting did the ladies find Neifile's story that it kept them still
+laughing and talking, though the king, having bidden Pamfilo tell his
+story, had several times enjoined silence upon them. However, as soon as
+they had done, Pamfilo thus began:--Methinks, worshipful ladies, there is
+no venture, though fraught with gravest peril, that whoso loves ardently
+will not make: of which truth, exemplified though it has been in stories
+not a few, I purpose to afford you yet more signal proof in one which I
+shall tell you; wherein you will hear of a lady who in her enterprises
+owed far more to the favour of Fortune than to the guidance of reason:
+wherefore I should not advise any of you rashly to follow in her
+footsteps, seeing that Fortune is not always in a kindly mood, nor are
+the eyes of all men equally holden.
+
+In Argos, that most ancient city of Achaia, the fame of whose kings of
+old time is out of all proportion to its size, there dwelt of yore
+Nicostratus, a nobleman, to whom, when he was already verging on old age,
+Fortune gave to wife a great lady, Lydia by name, whose courage matched
+her charms. Nicostratus, as suited with his rank and wealth, kept not a
+few retainers and hounds and hawks, and was mightily addicted to the
+chase. Among his dependants was a young man named Pyrrhus, a gallant of
+no mean accomplishment, and goodly of person and beloved and trusted by
+Nicostratus above all other. Of whom Lydia grew mighty enamoured,
+insomuch that neither by day nor by night might her thoughts stray from
+him: but, whether it was that Pyrrhus wist not her love, or would have
+none of it, he gave no sign of recognition; whereby the lady's suffering
+waxing more than she could bear, she made up her mind to declare her love
+to him; and having a chambermaid, Lusca by name, in whom she placed great
+trust, she called her, and said:--"Lusca, tokens thou hast had from me of
+my regard that should ensure thy obedience and loyalty; wherefore have a
+care that what I shall now tell thee reach the ears of none but him to
+whom I shall bid thee impart it. Thou seest, Lusca, that I am in the
+prime of my youth and lustihead, and have neither lack nor stint of all
+such things as folk desire, save only, to be brief, that I have one cause
+to repine, to wit, that my husband's years so far outnumber my own.
+Wherefore with that wherein young ladies take most pleasure I am but ill
+provided, and, as my desire is no less than theirs, 'tis now some while
+since I determined that, if Fortune has shewn herself so little friendly
+to me by giving me a husband so advanced in years, at least I will not be
+mine own enemy by sparing to devise the means whereby my happiness and
+health may be assured; and that herein, as in all other matters, my joy
+may be complete, I have chosen, thereto to minister by his embraces, our
+Pyrrhus, deeming him more worthy than any other man, and have so set my
+heart upon him that I am ever ill at ease save when he is present either
+to my sight or to my mind, insomuch that, unless I forgather with him
+without delay, I doubt not that 'twill be the death of me. And so, if
+thou holdest my life dear, thou wilt shew him my love on such wise as
+thou mayst deem best, and make my suit to him that he be pleased to come
+to me, when thou shalt go to fetch him." "That gladly will I," replied
+the chambermaid; and as soon as she found convenient time and place, she
+drew Pyrrhus apart, and, as best she knew how, conveyed her lady's
+message to him. Which Pyrrhus found passing strange to hear, for 'twas in
+truth a complete surprise to him, and he doubted the lady did but mean to
+try him. Wherefore he presently, and with some asperity, answered
+thus:--"Lusca, believe I cannot that this message comes from my lady:
+have a care, therefore, what thou sayst, and if, perchance, it does come
+from her, I doubt she does not mean it; and if perchance, she does mean
+it, why, then I am honoured by my lord above what I deserve, and I would
+not for my life do him such a wrong: so have a care never to speak of
+such matters to me again." Lusca, nowise disconcerted by his uncompliant
+tone, rejoined:--"I shall speak to thee, Pyrrhus, of these and all other
+matters, wherewith I may be commissioned by my lady, as often as she
+shall bid me, whether it pleases or irks thee; but thou art a blockhead."
+
+So, somewhat chafed, Lusca bore Pyrrhus' answer back to her lady, who
+would fain have died, when she heard it, and some days afterwards resumed
+the topic, saying:--"Thou knowest, Lusca, that 'tis not the first stroke
+that fells the oak; wherefore, methinks, thou wert best go back to this
+strange man, who is minded to evince his loyalty at my expense, and
+choosing a convenient time, declare to him all my passion, and do thy
+best endeavour that the affair be carried through; for if it should thus
+lapse, 'twould be the death of me; besides which, he would think we had
+but trifled with him, and, whereas 'tis his love we would have, we should
+earn his hatred." So, after comforting the lady, the maid hied her in
+quest of Pyrrhus, whom she found in a gladsome and propitious mood, and
+thus addressed:--"'Tis not many days, Pyrrhus, since I declared to thee
+how ardent is the flame with which thy lady and mine is consumed for love
+of thee, and now again I do thee to wit thereof, and that, if thou shalt
+not relent of the harshness that thou didst manifest the other day, thou
+mayst rest assured that her life will be short: wherefore I pray thee to
+be pleased to give her solace of her desire, and shouldst thou persist in
+thy obduracy, I, that gave thee credit for not a little sense, shall deem
+thee a great fool. How flattered thou shouldst be to know thyself beloved
+above all else by a lady so beauteous and high-born! And how indebted
+shouldst thou feel thyself to Fortune, seeing that she has in store for
+thee a boon so great and so suited to the cravings of thy youth, ay, and
+so like to be of service to thee upon occasion of need! Bethink thee, if
+there be any of thine equals whose life is ordered more agreeably than
+thine will be if thou but be wise. Which of them wilt thou find so well
+furnished with arms and horses, clothes and money as thou shalt be, if
+thou but give my lady thy love? Receive, then, my words with open mind;
+be thyself again; bethink thee that 'tis Fortune's way to confront a man
+but once with smiling mien and open lap, and, if he then accept not her
+bounty, he has but himself to blame, if afterward he find himself in
+want, in beggary. Besides which, no such loyalty is demanded between
+servants and their masters as between friends and kinsfolk; rather 'tis
+for servants, so far as they may, to behave towards their masters as
+their masters behave towards them. Thinkest thou, that, if thou hadst a
+fair wife or mother or daughter or sister that found favour in
+Nicostratus' eyes, he would be so scrupulous on the point of loyalty as
+thou art disposed to be in regard of his lady? Thou art a fool, if so
+thou dost believe. Hold it for certain, that, if blandishments and
+supplications did not suffice, he would, whatever thou mightest think of
+it, have recourse to force. Observe we, then, towards them and theirs the
+same rule which they observe towards us and ours. Take the boon that
+Fortune offers thee; repulse her not; rather go thou to meet her, and
+hail her advance; for be sure that, if thou do not so, to say nought of
+thy lady's death, which will certainly ensue, thou thyself wilt repent
+thee thereof so often that thou wilt be fain of death."
+
+Since he had last seen Lusca, Pyrrhus had repeatedly pondered what she
+had said to him, and had made his mind up that, should she come again, he
+would answer her in another sort, and comply in all respects with the
+lady's desires, provided he might be assured that she was not merely
+putting him to the proof; wherefore he now made answer:--"Lo, now, Lusca,
+I acknowledge the truth of all that thou sayst; but, on the other hand, I
+know that my lord is not a little wise and wary, and, as he has committed
+all his affairs to my charge, I sorely misdoubt me that 'tis with his
+approbation, and by his advice, and but to prove me, that Lydia does
+this: wherefore let her do three things which I shall demand of her for
+my assurance, and then there is nought that she shall crave of me, but I
+will certainly render her prompt obedience. Which three things are
+these:--first, let her in Nicostratus' presence kill his fine
+sparrow-hawk: then she must send me a lock of Nicostratus' beard, and
+lastly one of his best teeth." Hard seemed these terms to Lusca, and hard
+beyond measure to the lady, but Love, that great fautor of enterprise,
+and master of stratagem, gave her resolution to address herself to their
+performance: wherefore through the chambermaid she sent him word that
+what he required of her she would do, and that without either reservation
+or delay; and therewithal she told him, that, as he deemed Nicostratus so
+wise, she would contrive that they should enjoy one another in
+Nicostratus' presence, and that Nicostratus should believe that 'twas a
+mere show. Pyrrhus, therefore, anxiously expected what the lady would do.
+Some days thus passed, and then Nicostratus gave a great breakfast, as
+was his frequent wont, to certain gentlemen, and when the tables were
+removed, the lady, robed in green samite, and richly adorned, came forth
+of her chamber into the hall wherein they sate, and before the eyes of
+Pyrrhus and all the rest of the company hied her to the perch, on which
+stood the sparrow-hawk that Nicostratus so much prized, and loosed him,
+and, as if she were minded to carry him on her hand, took him by the
+jesses and dashed him against the wall so that he died.
+Whereupon:--"Alas! my lady, what hast thou done?" exclaimed Nicostratus:
+but she vouchsafed no answer, save that, turning to the gentlemen that
+had sate at meat with him, she said:--"My lords, ill fitted were I to
+take vengeance on a king that had done me despite, if I lacked the
+courage to be avenged on a sparrow-hawk. You are to know that by this
+bird I have long been cheated of all the time that ought to be devoted by
+gentlemen to pleasuring their ladies; for with the first streaks of dawn
+Nicostratus has been up and got him to horse, and hawk on hand hied him
+to the champaign to see him fly, leaving me, such as you see me, alone
+and ill content abed. For which cause I have oftentimes been minded to do
+that which I have now done, and have only refrained therefrom, that,
+biding my time, I might do it in the presence of men that should judge my
+cause justly, as I trust you will do." Which hearing, the gentlemen, who
+deemed her affections no less fixed on Nicostratus than her words
+imported, broke with one accord into a laugh, and turning to Nicostratus,
+who was sore displeased, fell a saying:--"Now well done of the lady to
+avenge her wrongs by the death of the sparrow-hawk!" and so, the lady
+being withdrawn to her chamber, they passed the affair off with divers
+pleasantries, turning the wrath of Nicostratus to laughter.
+
+Pyrrhus, who had witnessed what had passed, said to himself:--Nobly
+indeed has my lady begun, and on such wise as promises well for the
+felicity of my love. God grant that she so continue. And even so Lydia
+did: for not many days after she had killed the sparrow-hawk, she, being
+with Nicostratus in her chamber, from caressing passed to toying and
+trifling with him, and he, sportively pulling her by the hair, gave her
+occasion to fulfil the second of Pyrrhus' demands; which she did by
+nimbly laying hold of one of the lesser tufts of his beard, and, laughing
+the while, plucking it so hard that she tore it out of his chin. Which
+Nicostratus somewhat resenting:--"Now what cause hast thou," quoth she,
+"to make such a wry face? 'Tis but that I have plucked some half-dozen
+hairs from thy beard. Thou didst not feel it as much as did I but now thy
+tugging of my hair." And so they continued jesting and sporting with one
+another, the lady jealously guarding the tuft that she had torn from the
+beard, which the very same day she sent to her cherished lover. The third
+demand caused the lady more thought; but, being amply endowed with wit,
+and powerfully, seconded by Love, she failed not to hit upon an apt
+expedient.
+
+Nicostratus had in his service two lads, who, being of gentle birth, had
+been placed with him by their kinsfolk, that they might learn manners,
+one of whom, when Nicostratus sate at meat, carved before him, while the
+other gave him to drink. Both lads Lydia called to her, and gave them to
+understand that their breath smelt, and admonished them that, when they
+waited on Nicostratus, they should hold their heads as far back as
+possible, saying never a word of the matter to any. The lads believing
+her, did as she bade them. Whereupon she took occasion to say to
+Nicostratus:--"Hast thou marked what these lads do when they wait upon
+thee?" "Troth, that have I," replied Nicostratus; "indeed I have often
+had it in mind to ask them why they do so." "Nay," rejoined the lady,
+"spare thyself the pains; for I can tell thee the reason, which I have
+for some time kept close, lest it should vex thee; but as I now see that
+others begin to be ware of it, it need no longer be withheld from thee.
+'Tis for that thy breath stinks shrewdly that they thus avert their heads
+from thee: 'twas not wont to be so, nor know I why it should be so; and
+'tis most offensive when thou art in converse with gentlemen; and
+therefore 'twould be well to find some way of curing it." "I wonder what
+it could be," returned Nicostratus; "is it perchance that I have a
+decayed tooth in my jaw?" "That may well be," quoth Lydia: and taking him
+to a window, she caused him open his mouth, and after regarding it on
+this side and that:--"Oh! Nicostratus," quoth she, "how couldst thou have
+endured it so long? Thou hast a tooth here, which, by what I see, is not
+only decayed, but actually rotten throughout; and beyond all manner of
+doubt, if thou let it remain long in thy head, 'twill infect its
+neighbours; so 'tis my advice that thou out with it before the matter
+grows worse." "My judgment jumps with thine," quoth Nicostratus;
+"wherefore send without delay for a chirurgeon to draw it." "God forbid,"
+returned the lady, "that chirurgeon come hither for such a purpose;
+methinks, the case is such that I can very well dispense with him, and
+draw the tooth myself. Besides which, these chirurgeons do these things
+in such a cruel way, that I could never endure to see thee or know thee
+under the hands of any of them: wherefore my mind is quite made up to do
+it myself, that, at least, if thou shalt suffer too much, I may give it
+over at once, as a chirurgeon would not do." And so she caused the
+instruments that are used on such occasions to be brought her, and having
+dismissed all other attendants save Lusca from the chamber, and locked
+the door, made Nicostratus lie down on a table, set the pincers in his
+mouth, and clapped them on one of his teeth, which, while Lusca held him,
+so that, albeit he roared for pain, he might not move, she wrenched by
+main force from his jaw, and keeping it close, took from Lusca's hand
+another and horribly decayed tooth, which she shewed him, suffering and
+half dead as he was, saying:--"See what thou hadst in thy jaw; mark how
+far gone it is." Believing what she said, and deeming that, now the tooth
+was out, his breath would no more be offensive, and being somewhat eased
+of the pain, which had been extreme, and still remained, so that he
+murmured not little, by divers comforting applications, he quitted the
+chamber: whereupon the lady forthwith sent the tooth to her lover, who,
+having now full assurance of her love, placed himself entirely at her
+service. But the lady being minded to make his assurance yet more sure,
+and deeming each hour a thousand till she might be with him, now saw fit,
+for the more ready performance of the promise she had given him, to feign
+sickness; and Nicostratus, coming to see her one day after breakfast,
+attended only by Pyrrhus, she besought him for her better solacement, to
+help her down to the garden. Wherefore Nicostratus on one side, and
+Pyrrhus on the other, took her and bore her down to the garden, and set
+her on a lawn at the foot of a beautiful pear-tree: and after they had
+sate there a while, the lady, who had already given Pyrrhus to understand
+what he must do, said to him:--"Pyrrhus, I should greatly like to have
+some of those pears; get thee up the tree, and shake some of them down."
+Pyrrhus climbed the tree in a trice, and began to shake down the pears,
+and while he did so:--"Fie! Sir," quoth he, "what is this you do? And
+you, Madam, have you no shame, that you suffer him to do so in my
+presence? Think you that I am blind? 'Twas but now that you were gravely
+indisposed. Your cure has been speedy indeed to permit of your so
+behaving: and as for such a purpose you have so many goodly chambers, why
+betake you not yourselves to one of them, if you must needs so disport
+yourselves? 'Twould be much more decent than to do so in my presence."
+Whereupon the lady, turning to her husband:--"Now what can Pyrrhus mean?"
+said she. "Is he mad?" "Nay, Madam," quoth Pyrrhus; "mad am not I. Think
+you I see you not?" Whereat Nicostratus marvelled not a little;
+and:--"Pyrrhus," quoth he, "I verily believe thou dreamest." "Nay, my
+lord," replied Pyrrhus, "not a whit do I dream; neither do you; rather
+you wag it with such vigour, that, if this pear-tree did the like, there
+would be never a pear left on it." Then the lady:--"What can this mean?"
+quoth she: "can it be that it really seems to him to be as he says? Upon
+my hope of salvation, were I but in my former health, I would get me up
+there to judge for myself what these wonders are which he professes to
+see." Whereupon, as Pyrrhus in the pear-tree continued talking in the
+same strange strain:--"Come down," quoth Nicostratus; and when he was
+down:--"Now what," said Nicostratus, "is it thou sayst thou seest up
+there?" "I suppose," replied Pyrrhus, "that you take me to be deluded or
+dreaming: but as I must needs tell you the truth, I saw you lying upon
+your wife, and then, when I came down, I saw you get up and sit you down
+here where you now are." "Therein," said Nicostratus, "thou wast
+certainly deluded, for, since thou clombest the pear-tree, we have not
+budged a jot, save as thou seest." Then said Pyrrhus:--"Why make more
+words about the matter? See you I certainly did; and, seeing you, I saw
+you lying upon your own." Nicostratus' wonder now waxed momently,
+insomuch that he said:--"I am minded to see if this pear-tree be
+enchanted, so that whoso is in it sees marvels;" and so he got him up
+into it. Whereupon the lady and Pyrrhus fell to disporting them, and
+Nicostratus, seeing what they were about, exclaimed:--"Ah! lewd woman,
+what is this thou doest? And thou, Pyrrhus, in whom I so much trusted!"
+And so saying, he began to climb down. Meanwhile the lady and Pyrrhus had
+made answer:--"We are sitting here:" and seeing him descending, they
+placed themselves as they had been when he had left them, whom
+Nicostratus, being come down, no sooner saw, than he fell a rating them.
+Then quoth Pyrrhus:--"Verily, Nicostratus, I now acknowledge, that, as
+you said a while ago, what I saw when I was in the pear-tree was but a
+false show, albeit I had never understood that so it was but that I now
+see and know that thou hast also seen a false show. And that I speak
+truth, you may sufficiently assure yourself, if you but reflect whether
+'tis likely that your wife, who for virtue and discretion has not her
+peer among women, would, if she were minded so to dishonour you, see fit
+to do so before your very eyes. Of myself I say nought, albeit I had
+liefer be hewn in pieces than that I should so much as think of such a
+thing, much less do it in your presence. Wherefore 'tis evident that 'tis
+some illusion of sight that is propagated from the pear-tree; for nought
+in the world would have made me believe that I saw not you lying there in
+carnal intercourse with your wife, had I not heard you say that you saw
+me doing that which most assuredly, so far from doing, I never so much as
+thought of." The lady then started up with a most resentful mien, and
+burst out with:--"Foul fall thee, if thou knowest so little of me as to
+suppose that, if I were minded to do thee such foul dishonour as thou
+sayst thou didst see me do, I would come hither to do it before thine
+eyes! Rest assured that for such a purpose, were it ever mine, I should
+deem one of our chambers more meet, and it should go hard but I would so
+order the matter that thou shouldst never know aught of it." Nicostratus,
+having heard both, and deeming that what they both averred must be true,
+to wit, that they would never have ventured upon such an act in his
+presence, passed from chiding to talk of the singularity of the thing,
+and how marvellous it was that the vision should reshape itself for every
+one that clomb the tree. The lady, however, made a show of being
+distressed that Nicostratus should so have thought of her,
+and:--"Verily," quoth she, "no woman, neither I nor another, shall again
+suffer loss of honour by this pear-tree: run, Pyrrhus, and bring hither
+an axe, and at one and the same time vindicate thy honour and mine by
+felling it, albeit 'twere better far Nicostratus' skull should feel the
+weight of the axe, seeing that in utter heedlessness he so readily
+suffered the eyes of his mind to be blinded; for, albeit this vision was
+seen by the bodily eye, yet ought the understanding by no means to have
+entertained and affirmed it as real."
+
+So Pyrrhus presently hied him to fetch the axe, and returning therewith
+felled the pear; whereupon the lady, turning towards Nicostratus:--"Now
+that this foe of my honour is fallen," quoth she, "my wrath is gone from
+me." Nicostratus then craving her pardon, she graciously granted it him,
+bidding him never again to suffer himself to be betrayed into thinking
+such a thing of her, who loved him more dearly than herself. So the poor
+duped husband went back with her and her lover to the palace, where not
+seldom in time to come Pyrrhus and Lydia took their pastime together more
+at ease. God grant us the like.
+
+
+NOVEL X.
+
+--
+Two Sienese love a lady, one of them being her gossip: the gossip dies,
+having promised his comrade to return to him from the other world; which
+he does, and tells him what sort of life is led there.
+--
+
+None now was left to tell, save the king, who, as soon as the ladies had
+ceased mourning over the fall of the pear-tree, that had done no wrong,
+and were silent, began thus:--Most manifest it is that 'tis the prime
+duty of a just king to observe the laws that he has made; and, if he do
+not so, he is to be esteemed no king, but a slave that has merited
+punishment, into which fault, and under which condemnation, I, your king,
+must, as of necessity, fall. For, indeed, when yesterday I made the law
+which governs our discourse of to-day, I thought not to-day to avail
+myself of my privilege, but to submit to the law, no less than you, and
+to discourse of the same topic whereof you all have discoursed; but not
+only has the very story been told which I had intended to tell, but
+therewithal so many things else, and so very much goodlier have been
+said, that, search my memory as I may, I cannot mind me of aught, nor wot
+I that touching such a matter there is indeed aught, for me to say, that
+would be comparable with what has been said; wherefore, as infringe I
+must the law that I myself have made, I confess myself worthy of
+punishment, and instantly declaring my readiness to pay any forfeit that
+may be demanded of me, am minded to have recourse to my wonted privilege.
+And such, dearest ladies, is the potency of Elisa's story of the
+godfather and his gossip, and therewith of the simplicity of the Sienese,
+that I am prompted thereby to pass from this topic of the beguilement of
+foolish husbands by their cunning wives to a little story touching these
+same Sienese, which, albeit there is not a little therein which you were
+best not to believe, may yet be in some degree entertaining to hear.
+
+Know, then, that at Siena there dwelt in Porta Salaia two young men of
+the people, named, the one, Tingoccio Mini, the other Meuccio di Tura,
+who, by what appeared, loved one another not a little, for they were
+scarce ever out of one another's company; and being wont, like other
+folk, to go to church and listen to sermons, they heard from time to time
+of the glory and the woe, which in the other world are allotted,
+according to merit, to the souls of the dead. Of which matters craving,
+but being unable to come by, more certain assurance, they agreed together
+that, whichever of them should die first, should, if he might, return to
+the survivor, and certify him of that which he would fain know; and this
+agreement they confirmed with an oath. Now, after they had made this
+engagement, and while they were still constantly together, Tingoccio
+chanced to become sponsor to one Ambruogio Anselmini, that dwelt in Campo
+Reggi, who had had a son by his wife, Monna Mita. The lady was exceeding
+fair, and amorous withal, and Tingoccio being wont sometimes to visit her
+as his gossip, and to take Meuccio with him, he, notwithstanding his
+sponsorship, grew enamoured of her, as did also Meuccio, for she pleased
+him not a little, and he heard her much commended by Tingoccio. Which
+love each concealed from the other; but not for the same reason.
+Tingoccio was averse to discover it to Meuccio, for that he deemed it an
+ignominious thing to love his gossip, and was ashamed to let any one know
+it. Meuccio was on his guard for a very different reason, to wit, that he
+was already ware that the lady was in Tingoccio's good graces. Wherefore
+he said to himself:--If I avow my love to him, he will be jealous of me,
+and as, being her gossip, he can speak with her as often as he pleases,
+he will do all he can to make her hate me, and so I shall never have any
+favour of her.
+
+Now, the two young men being thus, as I have said, on terms of most
+familiar friendship, it befell that Tingoccio, being the better able to
+open his heart to the lady, did so order his demeanour and discourse that
+he had from her all that he desired. Nor was his friend's success hidden
+from Meuccio; though, much as it vexed him, yet still cherishing the hope
+of eventually attaining his end, and fearing to give Tingoccio occasion
+to baulk or hamper him in some way, he feigned to know nought of the
+matter. So Tingoccio, more fortunate than his comrade, and rival in love,
+did with such assiduity till his gossip's good land that he got thereby a
+malady, which in the course of some days waxed so grievous that he
+succumbed thereto, and departed this life. And on the night of the third
+day after his decease (perchance because earlier he might not) he made
+his appearance, according to his promise, in Meuccio's chamber, and
+called Meuccio, who was fast asleep, by his name. Whereupon:--"Who art
+thou?" quoth Meuccio, as he awoke. "'Tis I, Tingoccio," replied he, "come
+back, in fulfilment of the pledge I gave thee, to give thee tidings of
+the other world." For a while Meuccio saw him not without terror: then,
+his courage reviving:--"Welcome, my brother," quoth he: and proceeded to
+ask him if he were lost. "Nought is lost but what is irrecoverable,"
+replied Tingoccio: "how then should I be here, if I were lost?" "Nay,"
+quoth then Meuccio; "I mean it not so: I would know of thee, whether thou
+art of the number of the souls that are condemned to the penal fire of
+hell." "Why no," returned Tingoccio, "not just that; but still for the
+sins that I did I am in most sore and grievous torment." Meuccio then
+questioned Tingoccio in detail of the pains there meted out for each of
+the sins done here; and Tingoccio enumerated them all. Whereupon Meuccio
+asked if there were aught he might do for him here on earth. Tingoccio
+answered in the affirmative; to wit, that he might have masses and
+prayers said and alms-deeds done for him, for that such things were of
+great service to the souls there. "That gladly will I," replied Meuccio;
+and then, as Tingoccio was about to take his leave, he bethought him of
+the gossip, and raising his head a little, he said:--"I mind me,
+Tingoccio, of the gossip, with whom thou wast wont to lie when thou wast
+here. Now what is thy punishment for that?" "My brother," returned
+Tingoccio, "as soon as I got down there, I met one that seemed to know
+all my sins by heart, who bade me betake me to a place, where, while in
+direst torment I bewept my sins, I found comrades not a few condemned to
+the same pains; and so, standing there among them, and calling to mind
+what I had done with the gossip, and foreboding in requital thereof a
+much greater torment than had yet been allotted me, albeit I was in a
+great and most vehement flame, I quaked for fear in every part of me.
+Which one that was beside me observing:--'What,' quoth he, 'hast thou
+done more than the rest of us that are here, that thou quakest thus as
+thou standest in the fire?' 'My friend,' quoth I, 'I am in mortal fear of
+the doom that I expect for a great sin that I once committed.' He then
+asked what sin it might be. ''Twas on this wise,' replied I: 'I lay with
+my gossip, and that so much that I died thereof.' Whereat, he did but
+laugh, saying:--'Go to, fool, make thy mind easy; for here there is no
+account taken of gossips.' Which completely revived my drooping spirits."
+
+'Twas now near daybreak: wherefore:--"Adieu! Meuccio," quoth his friend:
+"for longer tarry with thee I may not;" and so he vanished. As for
+Meuccio, having learned that no account was taken of gossips in the other
+world, he began to laugh at his own folly in that he had already spared
+divers such; and so, being quit of his ignorance, he in that respect in
+course of time waxed wise. Which matters had Fra Rinaldo but known, he
+would not have needed to go about syllogizing in order to bring his fair
+gossip to pleasure him.
+
+The sun was westering, and a light breeze blew, when the king, his story
+ended, and none else being left to speak, arose, and taking off the
+crown, set it on Lauretta's head, saying:--"Madam, I crown you with
+yourself(1) queen of our company: 'tis now for you, as our sovereign
+lady, to make such ordinances as you shall deem meet for our common
+solace and delectation;" and having so said, he sat him down again. Queen
+Lauretta sent for the seneschal, and bade him have a care that the tables
+should be set in the pleasant vale somewhat earlier than had been their
+wont, that their return to the palace might be more leisurely; after
+which she gave him to know what else he had to do during her sovereignty.
+Then turning to the company:--"Yesterday," quoth she, "Dioneo would have
+it that to-day we should discourse of the tricks that wives play their
+husbands; and but that I am minded not to shew as of the breed of yelping
+curs, that are ever prompt to retaliate, I would ordain that to-morrow we
+discourse of the tricks that husbands play their wives. However, in lieu
+thereof, I will have every one take thought to tell of those tricks that,
+daily, woman plays man, or man woman, or one man another; wherein, I
+doubt not, there will be matter of discourse no less agreeable than has
+been that of to-day." So saying, she rose and dismissed the company until
+supper-time. So the ladies and the men being risen, some bared their feet
+and betook them to the clear water, there to disport them, while others
+took their pleasure upon the green lawn amid the trees that there grew
+goodly and straight. For no brief while Dioneo and Fiammetta sang in
+concert of Arcite and Palamon. And so, each and all taking their several
+pastimes, they sped the hours with exceeding great delight until
+supper-time. Which being come, they sat them down at table beside the
+little lake, and there, while a thousand songsters charmed their ears,
+and a gentle breeze, that blew from the environing hills, fanned them,
+and never a fly annoyed them, reposefully and joyously they supped. The
+tables removed, they roved a while about the pleasant vale, and then, the
+sun being still high, for 'twas but half vespers, the queen gave the
+word, and they wended their way back to their wonted abode, and going
+slowly, and beguiling the way with quips and quirks without number upon
+divers matters, nor those alone of which they had that day discoursed,
+they arrived, hard upon nightfall, at the goodly palace. There, the short
+walk's fatigue dispelled by wines most cool and comfits, they presently
+gathered for the dance about the fair fountain, and now they footed it to
+the strains of Tindaro's cornemuse, and now to other music. Which done,
+the queen bade Filomena give them a song; and thus Filomena sang:--
+
+Ah! woe is me, my soul!
+  Ah! shall I ever thither fare again
+  Whence I was parted to my grievous dole?
+
+Full sure I know not; but within my breast
+  Throbs ever the same fire
+  Of yearning there where erst I was to be.
+  O thou in whom is all my weal, my rest,
+  Lord of my heart's desire,
+  Ah! tell me thou! for none to ask save thee
+  Neither dare I, nor see.
+  Ah! dear my Lord, this wasted heart disdain
+  Thou wilt not, but with hope at length console.
+
+Kindled the flame I know not what delight,
+  Which me doth so devour,
+  That day and night alike I find no ease;
+  For whether it was by hearing, touch, or sight,
+  Unwonted was the power,
+  And fresh the fire that me each way did seize;
+  Wherein without release
+  I languish still, and of thee, Lord, am fain,
+  For thou alone canst comfort and make whole.
+
+Ah! tell me if it shall be, and how soon,
+  That I again thee meet
+  Where those death-dealing eyes I kissed. Thou, chief
+  Weal of my soul, my very soul, this boon
+  Deny not; say that fleet
+  Thou hiest hither: comfort thus my grief.
+  Ah! let the time be brief
+  Till thou art here, and then long time remain;
+  For I, Love-stricken, crave but Love's control.
+
+Let me but once again mine own thee call,
+  No more so indiscreet
+  As erst, I'll be, to let thee from me part:
+  Nay, I'll still hold thee, let what may befall,
+  And of thy mouth so sweet
+  Such solace take as may content my heart
+  So this be all my art,
+  Thee to entice, me with thine arms to enchain:
+  Whereon but musing inly chants my soul.
+
+This song set all the company conjecturing what new and delightsome love
+might now hold Filomena in its sway; and as its words imported that she
+had had more joyance thereof than sight alone might yield, some that were
+there grew envious of her excess of happiness. However, the song being
+ended, the queen, bethinking her that the morrow was Friday, thus
+graciously addressed them all:--"Ye wot, noble ladies, and ye also, my
+gallants, that to-morrow is the day that is sacred to the passion of our
+Lord, which, if ye remember, we kept devoutly when Neifile was queen,
+intermitting delectable discourse, as we did also on the ensuing
+Saturday. Wherefore, being minded to follow Neifile's excellent example,
+I deem that now, as then, 'twere a seemly thing to surcease from this our
+pastime of story-telling for those two days, and compose our minds to
+meditation on what was at that season accomplished for the weal of our
+souls." All the company having approved their queen's devout speech, she,
+as the night was now far spent, dismissed them; and so they all betook
+them to slumber.
+
+(1) A play upon laurea (laurel wreath) and Lauretta.
+
+
+--
+Endeth here the seventh day of the Decameron, beginneth the eighth, in
+which, under the rule of Lauretta, discourse is had of those tricks that,
+daily, woman plays man, or man woman, or one man another.
+--
+
+The summits of the loftiest mountains were already illumined by the rays
+of the rising sun, the shades of night were fled, and all things plainly
+visible, when the queen and her company arose, and hied them first to the
+dewy mead, where for a while they walked: then, about half tierce, they
+wended their way to a little church that was hard by, where they heard
+Divine service; after which, they returned to the palace, and having
+breakfasted with gay and gladsome cheer, and sung and danced a while,
+were dismissed by the queen, to rest them as to each might seem good. But
+when the sun was past the meridian, the queen mustered them again for
+their wonted pastime; and, all being seated by the fair fountain, thus,
+at her command, Neifile began.
+
+
+NOVEL I.
+
+--
+Gulfardo borrows moneys of Guasparruolo, which he has agreed to give
+Guasparruolo's wife, that he may lie with her. He gives them to her, and
+in her presence tells Guasparruolo that he has done so, and she
+acknowledges that 'tis true.
+--
+
+Sith God has ordained that 'tis for me to take the lead to-day with my
+story, well pleased am I. And for that, loving ladies, much has been said
+touching the tricks that women play men, I am minded to tell you of one
+that a man played a woman, not because I would censure what the man did,
+or say that 'twas not merited by the woman, but rather to commend the man
+and censure the woman, and to shew that men may beguile those that think
+to beguile them, as well as be beguiled by those they think to beguile;
+for peradventure what I am about to relate should in strictness of speech
+not be termed beguilement, but rather retaliation; for, as it behoves
+woman to be most strictly virtuous, and to guard her chastity as her very
+life, nor on any account to allow herself to sully it, which
+notwithstanding, 'tis not possible by reason of our frailty that there
+should be as perfect an observance of this law as were meet, I affirm,
+that she that allows herself to infringe it for money merits the fire;
+whereas she that so offends under the prepotent stress of Love will
+receive pardon from any judge that knows how to temper justice with
+mercy: witness what but the other day we heard from Filostrato touching
+Madonna Filippa at Prato.(1)
+
+Know, then, that there was once at Milan a German mercenary, Gulfardo by
+name, a doughty man, and very loyal to those with whom he took service; a
+quality most uncommon in Germans. And as he was wont to be most faithful
+in repaying whatever moneys he borrowed, he would have had no difficulty
+in finding a merchant to advance him any amount of money at a low rate of
+interest. Now, tarrying thus at Milan, Gulfardo fixed his affection on a
+very fine woman, named Madonna Ambruogia, the wife of a wealthy merchant,
+one Guasparruolo Cagastraccio, with whom he was well acquainted and on
+friendly terms: which amour he managed with such discretion that neither
+the husband nor any one else wist aught of it. So one day he sent her a
+message, beseeching her of her courtesy to gratify his passion, and
+assuring her that he on his part was ready to obey her every behest.
+
+The lady made a great many words about the affair, the upshot of which
+was that she would do as Gulfardo desired upon the following terms: to
+wit, that, in the first place, he should never discover the matter to a
+soul, and, secondly, that, as for some purpose or another she required
+two hundred florins of gold, he out of his abundance should supply her
+necessity; these conditions being satisfied she would be ever at his
+service. Offended by such base sordidness in one whom he had supposed to
+be an honourable woman, Gulfardo passed from ardent love to something
+very like hatred, and cast about how he might flout her. So he sent her
+word that he would right gladly pleasure her in this and in any other
+matter that might be in his power; let her but say when he was to come to
+see her, and he would bring the moneys with him, and none should know of
+the matter except a comrade of his, in whom he placed much trust, and who
+was privy to all that he did. The lady, if she should not rather be
+called the punk, gleefully made answer that in the course of a few days
+her husband, Guasparruolo, was to go to Genoa on business, and that, when
+he was gone, she would let Gulfardo know, and appoint a time for him to
+visit her. Gulfardo thereupon chose a convenient time, and hied him to
+Guasparruolo, to whom:--"I am come," quoth he, "about a little matter of
+business which I have on hand, for which I require two hundred florins of
+gold, and I should be glad if thou wouldst lend them me at the rate of
+interest which thou art wont to charge me." "That gladly will I," replied
+Guasparruolo, and told out the money at once. A few days later
+Guasparruolo being gone to Genoa, as the lady had said, she sent word to
+Gulfardo that he should bring her the two hundred florins of gold. So
+Gulfardo hied him with his comrade to the lady's house, where he found
+her expecting him, and lost no time in handing her the two hundred
+florins of gold in his comrade's presence, saying:--"You will keep the
+money, Madam, and give it to your husband when he returns." Witting not
+why Gulfardo so said, but thinking that 'twas but to conceal from his
+comrade that it was given by way of price, the lady made answer:--"That
+will I gladly; but I must first see whether the amount is right;"
+whereupon she told the florins out upon a table, and when she found that
+the two hundred were there, she put them away in high glee, and turning
+to Gulfardo, took him into her chamber, where, not on that night only but
+on many another night, while her husband was away, he had of her all that
+he craved. On Guasparruolo's return Gulfardo presently paid him a visit,
+having first made sure that the lady would be with him, and so in her
+presence:--"Guasparruolo," quoth he, "I had after all no occasion for the
+money, to wit, the two hundred florins of gold that thou didst lend me
+the other day, being unable to carry through the transaction for which I
+borrowed them, and so I took an early opportunity of bringing them to thy
+wife, and gave them to her: thou wilt therefore cancel the account."
+Whereupon Guasparruolo turned to the lady, and asked her if she had had
+them. She, not daring to deny the fact in presence of the witness,
+answered:--"Why, yes, I had them, and quite forgot to tell thee." "Good,"
+quoth then Guasparruolo, "we are quits, Gulfardo; make thy mind easy; I
+will see that thy account is set right." Gulfardo then withdrew, leaving
+the flouted lady to hand over her ill-gotten gains to her husband; and so
+the astute lover had his pleasure of his greedy mistress for nothing.
+
+(1) Cf. Sixth Day, Novel VII.
+
+
+NOVEL II.
+
+--
+The priest of Varlungo lies with Monna Belcolore: he leaves with her his
+cloak by way of pledge, and receives from her a mortar. He returns the
+mortar, and demands of her the cloak that he had left in pledge, which
+the good lady returns him with a gibe.
+--
+
+Ladies and men alike commended Gulfardo for the check that he gave to the
+greed of the Milanese lady; but before they had done, the queen turned to
+Pamfilo, and with a smile bade him follow suit: wherefore thus Pamfilo
+began:--Fair my ladies, it occurs to me to tell you a short story, which
+reflects no credit on those by whom we are continually wronged without
+being able to retaliate, to wit, the priests, who have instituted a
+crusade against our wives, and deem that, when they have made conquest of
+one of them, they have done a work every whit as worthy of recompense by
+remission of sin and punishment as if they had brought the Soldan in
+chains to Avignon: in which respect 'tis not possible for the hapless
+laity to be even with them: howbeit they are as hot to make reprisals on
+the priests' mothers, sisters, mistresses, and daughters as the priests
+to attack their wives. Wherefore I am minded to give you, as I may do in
+few words, the history of a rustic amour, the conclusion whereof was not
+a little laughable, nor barren of moral, for you may also gather
+therefrom, that 'tis not always well to believe everything that a priest
+says.
+
+I say then, that at Varlungo, a village hard by here, as all of you, my
+ladies, should wot either of your own knowledge or by report, there dwelt
+a worthy priest, and doughty of body in the service of the ladies: who,
+albeit he was none too quick at his book, had no lack of precious and
+blessed solecisms to edify his flock withal of a Sunday under the elm.
+And when the men were out of doors, he would visit their wives as never a
+priest had done before him, bringing them feast-day gowns and holy water,
+and now and again a bit of candle, and giving them his blessing. Now it
+so befell that among those of his fair parishioners whom he most affected
+the first place was at length taken by one Monna Belcolore, the wife of a
+husbandman that called himself Bentivegna del Mazzo. And in good sooth
+she was a winsome and lusty country lass, brown as a berry and buxom
+enough, and fitter than e'er another for his mill. Moreover she had not
+her match in playing the tabret and singing:--The borage is full
+sappy,(1) and in leading a brawl or a breakdown, no matter who might be
+next her, with a fair and dainty kerchief in her hand. Which spells so
+wrought upon Master Priest, that for love of her he grew distracted, and
+did nought all day long but loiter about the village on the chance of
+catching sight of her. And if of a Sunday morning he espied her in
+church, he strove might and main to acquit himself of his Kyrie and
+Sanctus in the style of a great singer, albeit his performance was liker
+to the braying of an ass: whereas, if he saw her not, he scarce exerted
+himself at all. However, he managed with such discretion that neither
+Bentivegna del Mazzo nor any of the neighbours wist aught of his love.
+And hoping thereby to ingratiate himself with Monna Belcolore, he from
+time to time would send her presents, now a clove of fresh garlic, the
+best in all the country-side, from his own garden, which he tilled with
+his own hands, and anon a basket of beans or a bunch of chives or
+shallots; and, when he thought it might serve his turn, he would give her
+a sly glance, and follow it up with a little amorous mocking and mowing,
+which she, with rustic awkwardness, feigned not to understand, and ever
+maintained her reserve, so that Master Priest made no headway.
+
+Now it so befell that one day, when the priest at high noon was aimlessly
+gadding about the village, he encountered Bentivegna del Mazzo at the
+tail of a well laden ass; and greeted him, asking him whither he was
+going. "I'faith, Sir," quoth Bentivegna, "for sure 'tis to town I go,
+having an affair or two to attend to there; and I am taking these things
+to Ser Buonaccorri da Ginestreto, to get him to stand by me in I wot not
+what matter, whereof the justice o' th' coram has by his provoker served
+me with a pertrumpery summons to appear before him." Whereupon:--"'Tis
+well, my son," quoth the priest, overjoyed, "my blessing go with thee:
+good luck to thee and a speedy return; and harkye, shouldst thou see
+Lapuccio or Naldino, do not forget to tell them to send me those thongs
+for my flails." "It shall be done," quoth Bentivegna, and jogged on
+towards Florence, while the priest, thinking that now was his time to hie
+him to Belcolore and try his fortune, put his best leg forward, and
+stayed not till he was at the house, which entering, he said:--"God be
+gracious to us! Who is within?" Belcolore, who was up in the loft, made
+answer:--"Welcome, Sir; but what dost thou, gadding about in the heat?"
+"Why, as I hope for God's blessing," quoth he, "I am just come to stay
+with thee a while, having met thy husband on his way to town." Whereupon
+down came Belcolore, took a seat, and began sifting cabbage-seed that her
+husband had lately threshed. By and by the priest began:--"So, Belcolore,
+wilt thou keep me ever a dying thus?" Whereat Belcolore tittered, and
+said:--"Why, what is't I do to you?" "Truly, nothing at all," replied the
+priest: "but thou sufferest me not to do to thee that which I had lief,
+and which God commands." "Now away with you!" returned Belcolore, "do
+priests do that sort of thing?" "Indeed we do," quoth the priest, "and to
+better purpose than others: why not? I tell you our grinding is far
+better; and wouldst thou know why? 'tis because 'tis intermittent. And in
+truth 'twill be well worth thy while to keep thine own counsel, and let
+me do it." "Worth my while!" ejaculated Belcolore. "How may that be?
+There is never a one of you but would overreach the very Devil." "'Tis
+not for me to say," returned the priest; "say but what thou wouldst have:
+shall it be a pair of dainty shoes? Or wouldst thou prefer a fillet? Or
+perchance a gay riband? What's thy will?" "Marry, no lack have I," quoth
+Belcolore, "of such things as these. But, if you wish me so well, why do
+me not a service? and I would then be at your command." "Name but the
+service," returned the priest, "and gladly will I do it." Quoth then
+Belcolore:--"On Saturday I have to go to Florence to deliver some wool
+that I have spun, and to get my spinning-wheel put in order: lend me but
+five pounds--I know you have them--and I will redeem my perse petticoat
+from the pawnshop, and also the girdle that I wear on saints' days, and
+that I had when I was married--you see that without them I cannot go to
+church or anywhere else, and then I will do just as you wish thenceforth
+and forever." Whereupon:--"So God give me a good year," quoth he, "as I
+have not the money with me: but never fear that I will see that thou hast
+it before Saturday with all the pleasure in life." "Ay, ay," rejoined
+Belcolore, "you all make great promises, but then you never keep them.
+Think you to serve me as you served Biliuzza, whom you left in the lurch
+at last? God's faith, you do not so. To think that she turned woman of
+the world just for that! If you have not the money with you, why, go and
+get it." "Prithee," returned the priest, "send me not home just now. For,
+seest thou, 'tis the very nick of time with me, and the coast is clear,
+and perchance it might not be so on my return, and in short I know not
+when it would be likely to go so well as now." Whereto she did but
+rejoin:--"Good; if you are minded to go, get you gone; if not, stay where
+you are." The priest, therefore, seeing that she was not disposed to give
+him what he wanted, as he was fain, to wit, on his own terms, but was
+bent upon having a quid pro quo, changed his tone; and:--"Lo, now," quoth
+he, "thou doubtest I will not bring thee the money; so to set thy mind at
+rest, I will leave thee this cloak--thou seest 'tis good sky-blue
+silk--in pledge." So raising her head and glancing at the cloak:--"And
+what may the cloak be worth?" quoth Belcolore. "Worth!" ejaculated the
+priest: "I would have thee know that 'tis all Douai, not to say Trouai,
+make: nay, there are some of our folk here that say 'tis Quadrouai; and
+'tis not a fortnight since I bought it of Lotto, the secondhand dealer,
+for seven good pounds, and then had it five good soldi under value, by
+what I hear from Buglietto, who, thou knowest, is an excellent judge of
+these articles." "Oh! say you so?" exclaimed Belcolore. "So help me God,
+I should not have thought it; however, let me look at it." So Master
+Priest, being ready for action, doffed the cloak and handed it to her.
+And she, having put it in a safe place, said to him:--"Now, Sir, we will
+away to the hut; there is never a soul goes there;" and so they did. And
+there Master Priest, giving her many a mighty buss and straining her to
+his sacred person, solaced himself with her no little while.
+
+Which done, he hied him away in his cassock, as if he were come from
+officiating at a wedding; but, when he was back in his holy quarters, he
+bethought him that not all the candles that he received by way of
+offering in the course of an entire year would amount to the half of five
+pounds, and saw that he had made a bad bargain, and repented him that he
+had left the cloak in pledge, and cast about how he might recover it
+without paying anything. And as he did not lack cunning, he hit upon an
+excellent expedient, by which he compassed his end. So on the morrow,
+being a saint's day, he sent a neighbour's lad to Monna Belcolore with a
+request that she would be so good as to lend him her stone mortar, for
+that Binguccio dal Poggio and Nuto Buglietti were to breakfast with him
+that morning, and he therefore wished to make a sauce. Belcolore having
+sent the mortar, the priest, about breakfast time, reckoning that
+Bentivegna del Mazzo and Belcolore would be at their meal, called his
+clerk, and said to him:--"Take the mortar back to Belcolore, and
+say:--'My master thanks you very kindly, and bids you return the cloak
+that the lad left with you in pledge.'" The clerk took the mortar to
+Belcolore's house, where, finding her at table with Bentivegna, he set
+the mortar down and delivered the priest's message. Whereto Belcolore
+would fain have demurred; but Bentivegna gave her a threatening glance,
+saying:--"So, then, thou takest a pledge from Master Priest? By Christ, I
+vow, I have half a mind to give thee a great clout o' the chin. Go, give
+it back at once, a murrain on thee! And look to it that whatever he may
+have a mind to, were it our very ass, he be never denied." So, with a
+very bad grace, Belcolore got up, and went to the wardrobe, and took out
+the cloak, and gave it to the clerk, saying:--"Tell thy master from
+me:--Would to God he may never ply pestle in my mortar again, such honour
+has he done me for this turn!" So the clerk returned with the cloak, and
+delivered the message to Master Priest; who, laughing, made
+answer:--"Tell her, when thou next seest her, that, so she lend us not
+the mortar, I will not lend her the pestle: be it tit for tat."
+
+Bentivegna made no account of his wife's words, deeming that 'twas but
+his chiding that had provoked them. But Belcolore was not a little
+displeased with Master Priest, and had never a word to say to him till
+the vintage; after which, what with the salutary fear in which she stood
+of the mouth of Lucifer the Great, to which he threatened to consign her,
+and the must and roast chestnuts that he sent her, she made it up with
+him, and many a jolly time they had together. And though she got not the
+five pounds from him, he put a new skin on her tabret, and fitted it with
+a little bell, wherewith she was satisfied.
+
+(1) For this folk-song see Cantilene e Ballate, Strambotti e Madrigali,
+ed. Carducci (1871), p. 60. The fragment there printed maybe freely
+rendered as follows:--
+
+The borage is full sappy,
+  And clusters red we see,
+And my love would make me happy;
+  So that maiden give to me.
+
+Ill set I find this dance,
+  And better might it be:
+So, comrade mine, advance,
+  And, changing place with me,
+Stand thou thy love beside.
+
+
+NOVEL III.
+
+--
+Calandrino, Bruno and Buffalmacco go in quest of the heliotrope beside
+the Mugnone. Thinking to have found it, Calandrino gets him home laden
+with stones. His wife chides him: whereat he waxes wroth, beats her, and
+tells his comrades what they know better than he.
+--
+
+Ended Pamfilo's story, which moved the ladies to inextinguishable
+laughter, the queen bade Elisa follow suit: whereupon, laughing, she thus
+began:--I know not, debonair my ladies, whether with my little story,
+which is no less true than entertaining, I shall give you occasion to
+laugh as much as Pamfilo has done with his, but I will do my best.
+
+In our city, where there has never been lack of odd humours and queer
+folk, there dwelt, no long time ago, a painter named Calandrino, a simple
+soul, of uncouth manners, that spent most of his time with two other
+painters, the one Bruno, the other Buffalmacco, by name, pleasant fellows
+enough, but not without their full share of sound and shrewd sense, and
+who kept with Calandrino for that they not seldom found his singular ways
+and his simplicity very diverting. There was also at the same time at
+Florence one Maso del Saggio, a fellow marvellously entertaining by his
+cleverness, dexterity and unfailing resource; who having heard somewhat
+touching Calandrino's simplicity, resolved to make fun of him by playing
+him a trick, and inducing him to believe some prodigy. And happening one
+day to come upon Calandrino in the church of San Giovanni, where he sate
+intently regarding the paintings and intaglios of the tabernacle above
+the altar, which had then but lately been set there, he deemed time and
+place convenient for the execution of his design; which he accordingly
+imparted to one of his comrades: whereupon the two men drew nigh the
+place where Calandrino sate alone, and feigning not to see him fell a
+talking of the virtues of divers stones, of which Maso spoke as aptly and
+pertinently as if he had been a great and learned lapidary. Calandrino
+heard what passed between them, and witting that 'twas no secret, after a
+while got up, and joined them, to Maso's no small delight. He therefore
+continued his discourse, and being asked by Calandrino, where these
+stones of such rare virtues were to be found, made answer:--"Chiefly in
+Berlinzone, in the land of the Basques. The district is called Bengodi,
+and there they bind the vines with sausages, and a denier will buy a
+goose and a gosling into the bargain; and on a mountain, all of grated
+Parmesan cheese, dwell folk that do nought else but make macaroni and
+raviuoli,(1) and boil them in capon's broth, and then throw them down to
+be scrambled for; and hard by flows a rivulet of Vernaccia, the best that
+ever was drunk, and never a drop of water therein." "Ah! 'tis a sweet
+country!" quoth Calandrino; "but tell me, what becomes of the capons that
+they boil?" "They are all eaten by the Basques," replied Maso.
+Then:--"Wast thou ever there?" quoth Calandrino. Whereupon:--"Was I ever
+there, sayst thou?" replied Maso. "Why, if I have been there once, I have
+been there a thousand times." "And how many miles is't from here?" quoth
+Calandrino. "Oh!" returned Maso, "more than thou couldst number in a
+night without slumber." "Farther off, then, than the Abruzzi?" said
+Calandrino. "Why, yes, 'tis a bit farther," replied Maso.
+
+Now Calandrino, like the simple soul that he was, marking the composed
+and grave countenance with which Maso spoke, could not have believed him
+more thoroughly, if he had uttered the most patent truth, and thus taking
+his words for gospel:--"'Tis a trifle too far for my purse," quoth he;
+"were it nigher, I warrant thee, I would go with thee thither one while,
+just to see the macaroni come tumbling down, and take my fill thereof.
+But tell me, so good luck befall thee, are none of these stones, that
+have these rare virtues, to be found in these regions?" "Ay," replied
+Maso, "two sorts of stone are found there, both of virtues extraordinary.
+The one sort are the sandstones of Settignano and Montisci, which being
+made into millstones, by virtue thereof flour is made; wherefore 'tis a
+common saying in those countries that blessings come from God and
+millstones from Montisci: but, for that these sandstones are in great
+plenty, they are held cheap by us, just as by them are emeralds, whereof
+they have mountains, bigger than Monte Morello, that shine at midnight, a
+God's name! And know this, that whoso should make a goodly pair of
+millstones, and connect them with a ring before ever a hole was drilled
+in them, and take them to the Soldan, should get all he would have
+thereby. The other sort of stone is the heliotrope, as we lapidaries call
+it, a stone of very great virtue, inasmuch as whoso carries it on his
+person is seen, so long as he keep it, by never another soul, where he is
+not." "These be virtues great indeed," quoth Calandrino; "but where is
+this second stone to be found?" Whereto Maso made answer that there were
+usually some to be found in the Mugnone. "And what are its size and
+colour?" quoth Calandrino. "The size varies," replied Maso, "for some are
+bigger and some smaller than others; but all are of the same colour,
+being nearly black." All these matters duly marked and fixed in his
+memory, Calandrino made as if he had other things to attend to, and took
+his leave of Maso with the intention of going in quest of the stone, but
+not until he had let his especial friends, Bruno and Buffalmacco, know of
+his project. So, that no time might be lost, but, postponing everything
+else, they might begin the quest at once, he set about looking for them,
+and spent the whole morning in the search. At length, when 'twas already
+past none, he called to mind that they would be at work in the Faentine
+women's convent, and though 'twas excessively hot, he let nothing stand
+in his way, but at a pace that was more like a run than a walk, hied him
+thither; and so soon as he had made them ware of his presence, thus he
+spoke:--"Comrades, so you are but minded to hearken to me, 'tis in our
+power to become the richest men in Florence; for I am informed by one
+that may be trusted that there is a kind of stone in the Mugnone which
+renders whoso carries it invisible to every other soul in the world.
+Wherefore, methinks, we were wise to let none have the start of us, but
+go search for this stone without any delay. We shall find it without a
+doubt, for I know what 'tis like, and when we have found it, we have but
+to put it in the purse, and get us to the moneychangers, whose counters,
+as you know, are always laden with groats and florins, and help ourselves
+to as many as we have a mind to. No one will see us, and so, hey presto!
+we shall be rich folk in the twinkling of an eye, and have no more need
+to go besmearing the walls all day long like so many snails." Whereat
+Bruno and Buffalmacco began only to laugh, and exchanging glances, made
+as if they marvelled exceedingly, and expressed approval of Calandrino's
+project. Then Buffalmacco asked, what might be the name of the stone.
+Calandrino, like the numskull that he was, had already forgotten the
+name: so he made answer:--"Why need we concern ourselves with the name,
+since we know the stone's virtue? methinks, we were best to go look for
+it, and waste no more time." "Well, well," said Bruno, "but what are the
+size and shape of the stone?" "They are of all sizes and shapes," said
+Calandrino, "but they are all pretty nearly black; wherefore, methinks,
+we were best to collect all the black stones that we see until we hit
+upon it: and so, let us be off, and lose no more time." "Nay, but," said
+Bruno, "wait a bit." And turning to Buffalmacco:--"Methinks," quoth he,
+"that Calandrino says well: but I doubt this is not the time for such
+work, seeing that the sun is high, and his rays so flood the Mugnone as
+to dry all the stones; insomuch that stones will now shew as white that
+in the morning, before the sun had dried them, would shew as black:
+besides which, to-day being a working-day, there will be for one cause or
+another folk not a few about the Mugnone, who, seeing us, might guess
+what we were come for, and peradventure do the like themselves; whereby
+it might well be that they found the stone, and we might miss the trot by
+trying after the amble. Wherefore, so you agree, methinks we were best to
+go about it in the morning, when we shall be better able to distinguish
+the black stones from the white, and on a holiday, when there will be
+none to see us."
+
+Buffalmacco's advice being approved by Bruno, Calandrino chimed in; and
+so 'twas arranged that they should all three go in quest of the stone on
+the following Sunday. So Calandrino, having besought his companions above
+all things to let never a soul in the world hear aught of the matter, for
+that it had been imparted to him in strict confidence, and having told
+them what he had heard touching the land of Bengodi, the truth of which
+he affirmed with oaths, took leave of them; and they concerted their
+plan, while Calandrino impatiently expected the Sunday morning. Whereon,
+about dawn, he arose, and called them; and forth they issued by the Porta
+a San Gallo, and hied them to the Mugnone, and following its course,
+began their quest of the stone, Calandrino, as was natural, leading the
+way, and jumping lightly from rock to rock, and wherever he espied a
+black stone, stooping down, picking it up and putting it in the fold of
+his tunic, while his comrades followed, picking up a stone here and a
+stone there. Thus it was that Calandrino had not gone far, before,
+finding that there was no more room in his tunic, he lifted the skirts of
+his gown, which was not cut after the fashion of Hainault, and gathering
+them under his leathern girdle and making them fast on every side, thus
+furnished himself with a fresh and capacious lap, which, however, taking
+no long time to fill, he made another lap out of his cloak, which in like
+manner he soon filled with stones. Wherefore, Bruno and Buffalmacco
+seeing that Calandrino was well laden, and that 'twas nigh upon
+breakfast-time, and the moment for action come:--"Where is Calandrino?"
+quoth Bruno to Buffalmacco. Whereto Buffalmacco, who had Calandrino full
+in view, having first turned about and looked here, there and everywhere,
+made answer:--"That wot not I; but not so long ago he was just in front
+of us." "Not so long ago, forsooth," returned Bruno; "'tis my firm belief
+that at this very moment he is at breakfast at home, having left to us
+this wild-goose chase of black stones in the Mugnone." "Marry," quoth
+Buffalmacco, "he did but serve us right so to trick us and leave, seeing
+that we were so silly as to believe him. Why, who could have thought that
+any but we would have been so foolish as to believe that a stone of such
+rare virtue was to be found in the Mugnone?" Calandrino, hearing their
+colloquy, forthwith imagined that he had the stone in his hand, and by
+its virtue, though present, was invisible to them; and overjoyed by such
+good fortune, would not say a word to undeceive them, but determined to
+hie him home, and accordingly faced about, and put himself in motion.
+Whereupon:--"Ay!" quoth Buffalmacco to Bruno, "what are we about that we
+go not back too?" "Go we then," said Bruno; "but by God I swear that
+Calandrino shall never play me another such trick; and as to this, were I
+nigh him, as I have been all the morning, I would teach him to remember
+it for a month or so, such a reminder would I give him in the heel with
+this stone." And even as he spoke he threw back his arm, and launched the
+stone against Calandrino's heel. Galled by the blow, Calandrino gave a
+great hop and a slight gasp, but said nothing, and halted not. Then,
+picking out one of the stones that he had collected:--"Bruno," quoth
+Buffalmacco, "see what a goodly stone I have here, would it might but
+catch Calandrino in the back;" and forthwith he discharged it with main
+force upon the said back. And in short, suiting action to word, now in
+this way, now in that, they stoned him all the way up the Mugnone as far
+as the Porta a San Gallo. There they threw away the stones they had
+picked up, and tarried a while with the customs' officers, who, being
+primed by them, had let Calandrino pass unchallenged, while their
+laughter knew no bounds.
+
+So Calandrino, halting nowhere, betook him to his house, which was hard
+by the corner of the Macina. And so well did Fortune prosper the trick,
+that all the way by the stream and across the city there was never a soul
+that said a word to Calandrino, and indeed he encountered but few, for
+most folk were at breakfast. But no sooner was Calandrino thus gotten
+home with his stones, than it so happened that his good lady, Monna
+Tessa, shewed her fair face at the stair's head, and catching sight of
+him, and being somewhat annoyed by his long delay, chid him,
+saying:--"What the Devil brings thee here so late? Must breakfast wait
+thee until all other folk have had it?" Calandrino caught the words, and
+angered and mortified to find that he was not invisible, broke out
+with:--"Alas! curst woman! so 'twas thou! Thou hast undone me: but, God's
+faith, I will pay thee out." Whereupon he was upstairs in a trice, and
+having discharged his great load of stones in a parlour, rushed with fell
+intent upon his wife, and laid hold of her by the hair, and threw her
+down at his feet, and beat and kicked her in every part of her person
+with all the force he had in his arms and legs, insomuch that he left
+never a hair of her head or bone of her body unscathed, and 'twas all in
+vain that she laid her palms together and crossed her fingers and cried
+for mercy.
+
+Now Buffalmacco and Bruno, after making merry a while with the warders of
+the gate, had set off again at a leisurely pace, keeping some distance
+behind Calandrino. Arrived at his door, they heard the noise of the sound
+thrashing that he was giving his wife; and making as if they were but
+that very instant come upon the scene, they called him. Calandrino,
+flushed, all of a sweat, and out of breath, shewed himself at the window,
+and bade them come up. They, putting on a somewhat angry air, did so; and
+espied Calandrino sitting in the parlour, amid the stones which lay all
+about, untrussed, and puffing with the air of a man spent with exertion,
+while his lady lay in one of the corners, weeping bitterly, her hair all
+dishevelled, her clothes torn to shreds, and her face livid, bruised and
+battered. So after surveying the room a while:--"What means this,
+Calandrino?" quoth they. "Art thou minded to build thee a wall, that we
+see so many stones about?" And then, as they received no answer, they
+continued:--"And how's this? How comes Monna Tessa in this plight?
+'Twould seem thou hast given her a beating! What unheard-of doings are
+these?" What with the weight of the stones that he had carried, and the
+fury with which he had beaten his wife, and the mortification that he
+felt at the miscarriage of his enterprise, Calandrino was too spent to
+utter a word by way of reply. Wherefore in a menacing tone Buffalmacco
+began again:--"However out of sorts thou mayst have been, Calandrino,
+thou shouldst not have played us so scurvy a trick as thou hast. To take
+us with thee to the Mugnone in quest of this stone of rare virtue, and
+then, without so much as saying either God-speed or Devil-speed, to be
+off, and leave us there like a couple of gowks! We take it not a little
+unkindly: and rest assured that thou shalt never so fool us again."
+Whereto with an effort Calandrino replied:--"Comrades, be not wroth with
+me: 'tis not as you think. I, luckless wight! found the stone: listen,
+and you will no longer doubt that I say sooth. When you began saying one
+to the other:--'Where is Calandrino?' I was within ten paces of you, and
+marking that you came by without seeing me, I went before, and so,
+keeping ever a little ahead of you, I came hither." And then he told them
+the whole story of what they had said and done from beginning to end, and
+shewed them his back and heel, how they had been mauled by the stones;
+after which:--"And I tell you," he went on, "that, laden though I was
+with all these stones, that you see here, never a word was said to me by
+the warders of the gate as I passed in, though you know how vexatious and
+grievous these warders are wont to make themselves in their determination
+to see everything: and moreover I met by the way several of my gossips
+and friends that are ever wont to greet me, and ask me to drink, and
+never a word said any of them to me, no, nor half a word either; but they
+passed me by as men that saw me not. But at last, being come home, I was
+met and seen by this devil of a woman, curses upon her, forasmuch as all
+things, as you know, lose their virtue in the presence of a woman;
+whereby I from being the most lucky am become the most luckless man in
+Florence: and therefore I thrashed her as long as I could stir a hand,
+nor know I wherefore I forbear to sluice her veins for her, cursed be the
+hour that first I saw her, cursed be the hour that I brought her into the
+house!" And so, kindling with fresh wrath, he was about to start up and
+give her another thrashing; when Buffalmacco and Bruno, who had listened
+to his story with an air of great surprise, and affirmed its truth again
+and again, while they all but burst with suppressed laughter, seeing him
+now frantic to renew his assault upon his wife, got up and withstood and
+held him back, averring that the lady was in no wise to blame for what
+had happened, but only he, who, witting that things lost their virtue in
+the presence of women, had not bidden her keep aloof from him that day;
+which precaution God had not suffered him to take, either because the
+luck was not to be his, or because he was minded to cheat his comrades,
+to whom he should have shewn the stone as soon as he found it. And so,
+with many words they hardly prevailed upon him to forgive his injured
+wife, and leaving him to rue the ill-luck that had filled his house with
+stones, went their way.
+
+(1) A sort of rissole.
+
+
+NOVEL IV.
+
+--
+The rector of Fiesole loves a widow lady, by whom he is not loved, and
+thinking to lie with her, lies with her maid, with whom the lady's
+brothers cause him to be found by his Bishop.
+--
+
+Elisa being come to the end of her story, which in the telling had
+yielded no small delight to all the company, the queen, turning to
+Emilia, signified her will, that her story should ensue at once upon that
+of Elisa. And thus with alacrity Emilia began:--Noble ladies, how we are
+teased and tormented by these priests and friars, and indeed by clergy of
+all sorts, I mind me to have been set forth in more than one of the
+stories that have been told; but as 'twere not possible to say so much
+thereof but that more would yet remain to say, I purpose to supplement
+them with the story of a rector, who, in defiance of all the world, was
+bent upon having the favour of a gentlewoman, whether she would or no.
+Which gentlewoman, being discreet above a little, treated him as he
+deserved.
+
+Fiesole, whose hill is here within sight, is, as each of you knows, a
+city of immense antiquity, and was aforetime great, though now 'tis
+fallen into complete decay; which notwithstanding, it always was, and
+still is the see of a bishop. Now there was once a gentlewoman, Monna
+Piccarda by name, a widow, that had an estate at Fiesole, hard by the
+cathedral, on which, for that she was not in the easiest circumstances,
+she lived most part of the year, and with her her two brothers, very
+worthy and courteous young men, both of them. And the lady being wont
+frequently to resort to the cathedral, and being still quite young and
+fair and debonair withal, it so befell that the rector grew in the last
+degree enamoured of her, and waxed at length so bold, that he himself
+avowed his passion to the lady, praying her to entertain his love, and
+requite it in like measure. The rector was advanced in years, but
+otherwise the veriest springald, being bold and of a high spirit, of a
+boundless conceit of himself, and of mien and manners most affected and
+in the worst taste, and withal so tiresome and insufferable that he was
+on bad terms with everybody, and, if with one person more than another,
+with this lady, who not only cared not a jot for him, but had liefer have
+had a headache than his company. Wherefore the lady discreetly made
+answer:--"I may well prize your love, Sir, and love you I should and will
+right gladly; but such love as yours and mine may never admit of aught
+that is not honourable. You are my spiritual father and a priest, and now
+verging towards old age, circumstances which should ensure your honour
+and chastity; and I, on my part, am no longer a girl, such as these love
+affairs might beseem, but a widow, and well you wot how it behoves widows
+to be chaste. Wherefore I pray you to have me excused; for, after the
+sort you crave, you shall never have my love, nor would I in such sort be
+loved by you." With this answer the rector was for the nonce fain to be
+content; but he was not the man to be dismayed and routed by a first
+repulse; and with his wonted temerity and effrontery he plied her again
+and again with letters and ambassages, and also by word of mouth, when he
+espied her entering the church. Wherefore the lady finding this
+persecution more grievous and harassing than she could well bear, cast
+about how she might be quit thereof in such fashion as he deserved,
+seeing that he left her no choice; howbeit she would do nought in the
+matter until she had conferred with her brothers. She therefore told them
+how the rector pursued her, and how she meant to foil him; and, with
+their full concurrence, some few days afterwards she went, as she was
+wont, to church. The rector no sooner saw her, than he approached and
+accosted her, as he was wont, in a tone of easy familiarity. The lady
+greeted him, as he came up, with a glance of gladsome recognition; and
+when he had treated her to not a little of his wonted eloquence, she drew
+him aside, and heaving a great sigh, said:--"I have oftentimes heard it
+said, Sir, that there is no castle so strong, but that, if the siege be
+continued day by day, it will sooner or later be taken; which I now
+plainly perceive is my own case. For so fairly have you hemmed me in with
+this, that, and the other pretty speech or the like blandishments, that
+you have constrained me to make nought of my former resolve, and, seeing
+that I find such favour with you, to surrender myself unto you." Whereto,
+overjoyed, the rector made answer:--"Madam, I am greatly honoured; and,
+sooth to say, I marvelled not a little how you should hold out so long,
+seeing that I have never had the like experience with any other woman,
+insomuch that I have at times said:--'Were women of silver, they would
+not be worth a denier, for there is none but would give under the
+hammer!' But no more of this: when and where may we come together?"
+"Sweet my lord," replied the lady, "for the when, 'tis just as we may
+think best, for I have no husband to whom to render account of my nights,
+but the where passes my wit to conjecture." "How so?" quoth the rector.
+"Why not in your own house?" "Sir," replied the lady, "you know that I
+have two brothers, both young men, who day and night bring their comrades
+into the house, which is none too large: for which reason it might not be
+done there, unless we were minded to make ourselves, as it were, dumb and
+blind, uttering never a word, not so much as a monosyllable, and abiding
+in the dark: in such sort indeed it might be, because they do not intrude
+upon my chamber; but theirs is so near to mine that the very least
+whisper could not but be heard." "Nay but, Madam," returned the rector,
+"let not this stand in our way for a night or two, until I may bethink me
+where else we might be more at our ease." "Be that as you will, Sir,"
+quoth the lady, "I do but entreat that the affair be kept close, so that
+never a word of it get wind." "Have no fear on that score, Madam,"
+replied the priest; "and if so it may be, let us forgather to-night."
+"With pleasure," returned the lady; and having appointed him how and when
+to come, she left him and went home.
+
+Now the lady had a maid, that was none too young, and had a countenance
+the ugliest and most misshapen that ever was seen; for indeed she was
+flat-nosed, wry-mouthed, and thick-lipped, with huge, ill-set teeth, eyes
+that squinted and were ever bleared, and a complexion betwixt green and
+yellow, that shewed as if she had spent the summer not at Fiesole but at
+Sinigaglia: besides which she was hip-shot and somewhat halting on the
+right side. Her name was Ciuta, but, for that she was such a scurvy bitch
+to look upon, she was called by all folk Ciutazza.(1) And being thus
+misshapen of body, she was also not without her share of guile. So the
+lady called her and said:--"Ciutazza, so thou wilt do me a service
+to-night, I will give thee a fine new shift." At the mention of the shift
+Ciutazza made answer:--"So you give me a shift, Madam, I will throw
+myself into the very fire." "Good," said the lady; "then I would have
+thee lie to-night in my bed with a man, whom thou wilt caress; but look
+thou say never a word, that my brothers, who, as thou knowest, sleep in
+the next room, hear thee not; and afterwards I will give thee the shift."
+"Sleep with a man!" quoth Ciutazza: "why, if need be, I will sleep with
+six." So in the evening Master Rector came, as he had been bidden; and
+the two young men, as the lady had arranged, being in their room, and
+making themselves very audible, he stole noiselessly, and in the dark,
+into the lady's room, and got him on to the bed, which Ciutazza, well
+advised by the lady how to behave, mounted from the other side. Whereupon
+Master Rector, thinking to have the lady by his side, took Ciutazza in
+his arms, and fell a kissing her, saying never a word the while, and
+Ciutazza did the like; and so he enjoyed her, plucking the boon which he
+had so long desired.
+
+The rector and Ciutazza thus closeted, the lady charged her brothers to
+execute the rest of her plan. They accordingly stole quietly out of their
+room, and hied them to the piazza, where Fortune proved propitious beyond
+what they had craved of her; for, it being a very hot night, the bishop
+had been seeking them, purposing to go home with them, and solace himself
+with their society, and quench his thirst. With which desire he
+acquainted them, as soon as he espied them coming into the piazza; and so
+they escorted him to their house, and there in the cool of their little
+courtyard, which was bright with many a lamp, he took, to his no small
+comfort, a draught of their good wine. Which done:--"Sir," said the young
+men, "since of your great courtesy you have deigned to visit our poor
+house, to which we were but now about to invite you, we should be
+gratified if you would be pleased to give a look at somewhat, a mere
+trifle though it be, which we have here to shew you." The bishop replied
+that he would do so with pleasure. Whereupon one of the young men took a
+lighted torch and led the way, the bishop and the rest following, to the
+chamber where Master Rector lay with Ciutazza.
+
+Now the rector, being in hot haste, had ridden hard, insomuch that he was
+already gotten above three miles on his way when they arrived; and so,
+being somewhat tired, he was resting, but, hot though the night was, he
+still held Ciutazza in his arms. In which posture he was shewn to the
+bishop, when, preceded by the young man bearing the light, and followed
+by the others, he entered the chamber. And being roused, and observing
+the light and the folk that stood about him, Master Rector was mighty
+ashamed and affrighted, and popped his head under the clothes. But the
+bishop, reprimanding him severely, constrained him to thrust his head out
+again, and take a view of his bed-fellow. Thus made aware of the trick
+which the lady had played him, the rector was now, both on that score and
+by reason of his signal disgrace, the saddest man that ever was; and his
+discomfiture was complete, when, having donned his clothes, he was
+committed by the bishop's command to close custody and sent to prison,
+there to expiate his offence by a rigorous penance.
+
+The bishop was then fain to know how it had come about that he had
+forgathered there with Ciutazza. Whereupon the young men related the
+whole story; which ended, the bishop commended both the lady and the
+young men not a little, for that they had taken condign vengeance upon
+him without imbruing their hands in the blood of a priest. The bishop
+caused him to bewail his transgression forty days; but what with his
+love, and the scornful requital which it had received, he bewailed it
+more than forty and nine days, not to mention that for a great while he
+could not shew himself in the street but the boys would point the finger
+at him and say:--"There goes he that lay with Ciutazza." Which was such
+an affliction to him that he was like to go mad. On this wise the worthy
+lady rid herself of the rector's vexatious importunity, and Ciutazza had
+a jolly night and earned her shift.
+
+(1) An augmentative form, with a suggestion of cagnazza, bitch-like.
+
+
+NOVEL V.
+
+--
+Three young men pull down the breeches of a judge from the Marches, while
+he is administering justice on the bench.
+--
+
+So ended Emilia her story; and when all had commended the widow
+lady:--"'Tis now thy turn to speak," quoth the queen, fixing her gaze
+upon Filostrato, who answered that he was ready, and forthwith thus
+began:--Sweet my ladies, by what I remember of that young man, to wit,
+Maso del Saggio, whom Elisa named a while ago, I am prompted to lay aside
+a story that I had meant to tell you, and to tell you another, touching
+him and some of his comrades, which, notwithstanding there are in it
+certain words (albeit 'tis not unseemly) which your modesty forbears to
+use, is yet so laughable that I shall relate it.
+
+As you all may well have heard, there come not seldom to our city
+magistrates from the Marches, who for the most part are men of a mean
+spirit, and in circumstances so reduced and beggarly, that their whole
+life seems to be but a petty-foggery; and by reason of this their inbred
+sordidness and avarice they bring with them judges and notaries that have
+rather the air of men taken from the plough or the last than trained in
+the schools of law.(1) Now one of these Marchers, being come hither as
+Podesta, brought with him judges not a few, and among them one that
+called himself Messer Niccola da San Lepidio, and looked liker to a
+locksmith than aught else. However, this fellow was assigned with the
+rest of the judges to hear criminal causes. And as folk will often go to
+the court, though they have no concern whatever there, it so befell that
+Maso del Saggio went thither one morning in quest of one of his friends,
+and there chancing to set eyes on this Messer Niccola, where he sate,
+deemed him a fowl of no common feather, and surveyed him from head to
+foot, observing that the vair which he wore on his head was all begrimed,
+that he carried an ink-horn at his girdle, that his gown was longer than
+his robe, and many another detail quite foreign to the appearance of a
+man of birth and breeding, of which that which he deemed most notable was
+a pair of breeches, which, as he saw (for the judge's outer garments
+being none too ample were open in front, as he sate), reached half-way
+down his legs. By which sight his mind was presently diverted from the
+friend whom he came there to seek; and forth he hied him in quest of
+other two of his comrades, the one Ribi, the other Matteuzzo by name,
+fellows both of them not a whit less jolly than Maso himself; and having
+found them, he said to them:--"An you love me, come with me to the court,
+and I will shew you the queerest scarecrow that ever you saw." So the two
+men hied them with him to the court; and there he pointed out to them the
+judge and his breeches. What they saw from a distance served to set them
+laughing: then drawing nearer to the dais on which Master Judge was
+seated, they observed that 'twas easy enough to get under the dais, and
+moreover that the plank, on which the judge's feet rested, was broken, so
+that there was plenty of room for the passage of a hand and arm.
+Whereupon quoth Maso to his comrades:--"'Twere a very easy matter to pull
+these breeches right down: wherefore I propose that we do so." Each of
+the men had marked how it might be done; and so, having concerted both
+what they should do and what they should say, they came to the court
+again next morning; and, the court being crowded, Matteuzzo, observed by
+never a soul, slipped beneath the dais, and posted himself right under
+the spot where the judge's feet rested, while the other two men took
+their stand on either side of the judge, each laying hold of the hem of
+his robe. Then:--"Sir, sir, I pray you for God's sake," began Maso,
+"that, before the pilfering rascal that is there beside you can make off,
+you constrain him to give me back a pair of jack boots that he has stolen
+from me, which theft he still denies, though 'tis not a month since I saw
+him getting them resoled." Meanwhile Ribi, at the top of his voice,
+shouted:--"Believe him not, Sir, the scurvy knave! 'Tis but that he knows
+that I am come to demand restitution of a valise that he has stolen from
+me that he now for the first time trumps up this story about a pair of
+jack boots that I have had in my house down to the last day or two; and
+if you doubt what I say, I can bring as witness Trecca, my neighbour, and
+Grassa, the tripe-woman, and one that goes about gathering the sweepings
+of Santa Maria a Verzaia, who saw him when he was on his way back from
+the farm." But shout as he might, Maso was still even with him, nor for
+all that did Ribi bate a jot of his clamour. And while the judge stood,
+bending now towards the one, now towards the other, the better to hear
+them, Matteuzzo seized his opportunity, and thrusting his hand through
+the hole in the plank caught hold of the judge's breeches, and tugged at
+them amain. Whereby down they came straightway, for the judge was a lean
+man, and shrunk in the buttocks. The judge, being aware of the accident,
+but knowing not how it had come about, would have gathered his outer
+garments together in front, so as to cover the defect, but Maso on the
+one side, and Ribi on the other, held him fast, shouting amain and in
+chorus:--"You do me a grievous wrong, Sir, thus to deny me justice, nay,
+even a hearing, and to think of quitting the court: there needs no writ
+in this city for such a trifling matter as this." And thus they held him
+by the clothes and in parley, until all that were in the court perceived
+that he had lost his breeches. However, after a while, Matteuzzo dropped
+the breeches, and slipped off, and out of the court, without being
+observed, and Ribi, deeming that the joke had gone far enough,
+exclaimed:--"By God, I vow, I will appeal to the Syndics;" while Maso, on
+the other side, let go the robe, saying:--"Nay, but for my part, I will
+come here again and again and again, until I find you less embarrassed
+than you seem to be to-day." And so the one this way, the other that way,
+they made off with all speed. Whereupon Master Judge, disbreeched before
+all the world, was as one that awakens from sleep, albeit he was ware of
+his forlorn condition, and asked whither the parties in the case touching
+the jack boots and the valise were gone. However, as they were not to be
+found, he fell a swearing by the bowels of God, that 'twas meet and
+proper that he should know and wit, whether 'twas the custom at Florence
+to disbreech judges sitting in the seat of justice.
+
+When the affair reached the ears of the Podesta, he made no little stir
+about it; but, being informed by some of his friends, that 'twould not
+have happened, but that the Florentines were minded to shew him, that, in
+place of the judges he should have brought with him, he had brought but
+gowks, to save expense, he deemed it best to say no more about it, and so
+for that while the matter went no further.
+
+(1) It was owing to their internal dissensions that the Florentines were
+from time to time fain to introduce these stranger Podestas.
+
+
+NOVEL VI.
+
+--
+Bruno and Buffalmacco steal a pig from Calandrino, and induce him to
+essay its recovery by means of pills of ginger and vernaccia. Of the said
+pills they give him two, one after the other, made of dog-ginger
+compounded with aloes; and it then appearing as if he had had the pig
+himself, they constrain him to buy them off, if he would not have them
+tell his wife.
+--
+
+Filostrato's story, which elicited not a little laughter, was no sooner
+ended, than the queen bade Filomena follow suit. Wherefore thus Filomena
+began:--As, gracious ladies, 'twas the name of Maso del Saggio that
+prompted Filostrato to tell the story that you have but now heard, even
+so 'tis with me in regard of Calandrino and his comrades, of whom I am
+minded to tell you another story, which you will, I think, find
+entertaining. Who Calandrino, Bruno and Buffalmacco were, I need not
+explain; you know them well enough from the former story; and therefore I
+will tarry no longer than to say that Calandrino had a little estate not
+far from Florence, which his wife had brought him by way of dowry, and
+which yielded them yearly, among other matters, a pig; and 'twas his
+custom every year in the month of December to resort to the farm with his
+wife, there to see to the killing and salting of the said pig. Now, one
+of these years it so happened that his wife being unwell, Calandrino went
+thither alone to kill the pig. And Bruno and Buffalmacco learning that he
+was gone to the farm, and that his wife was not with him, betook them to
+the house of a priest that was their especial friend and a neighbour of
+Calandrino, there to tarry a while. Upon their arrival Calandrino, who
+had that very morning killed the pig, met them with the priest, and
+accosted them, saying:--"A hearty welcome to you. I should like you to
+see what an excellent manager I am;" and so he took them into his house,
+and shewed them the pig. They observed that 'twas a very fine pig; and
+learned from Calandrino that he was minded to salt it for household
+consumption. "Then thou art but a fool," quoth Bruno. "Sell it, man, and
+let us have a jolly time with the money; and tell thy wife that 'twas
+stolen." "Not I," replied Calandrino: "she would never believe me, and
+would drive me out of the house. Urge me no further, for I will never do
+it." The others said a great deal more, but to no purpose; and Calandrino
+bade them to supper, but so coldly that they declined, and left him.
+
+Presently:--"Should we not steal this pig from him to-night?" quoth Bruno
+to Buffalmacco. "Could we so?" returned Buffalmacco. "How?" "Why, as to
+that," rejoined Bruno, "I have already marked how it may be done, if he
+bestow not the pig elsewhere." "So be it, then," said Buffalmacco: "we
+will steal it; and then, perchance, our good host, Master Priest, will
+join us in doing honour to such good cheer?" "That right gladly will I,"
+quoth the priest. Whereupon:--"Some address, though," quoth Bruno, "will
+be needful: thou knowest, Buffalmacco, what a niggardly fellow Calandrino
+is, and how greedily he drinks at other folk's expense. Go we, therefore,
+and take him to the tavern, and there let the priest make as if, to do us
+honour, he would pay the whole score, and suffer Calandrino to pay never
+a soldo, and he will grow tipsy, and then we shall speed excellent well,
+because he is alone in the house."
+
+As Bruno proposed, so they did: and Calandrino, finding that the priest
+would not suffer him to pay, drank amain, and took a great deal more
+aboard than he had need of; and the night being far spent when he left
+the tavern, he dispensed with supper, and went home, and thinking to have
+shut the door, got him to bed, leaving it open. Buffalmacco and Bruno
+went to sup with the priest; and after supper, taking with them certain
+implements with which to enter Calandrino's house, where Bruno thought it
+most feasible, they stealthily approached it; but finding the door open,
+they entered, and took down the pig, and carried it away to the priest's
+house, and having there bestowed it safely, went to bed. In the morning
+when Calandrino, his head at length quit of the fumes of the wine, got
+up, and came downstairs and found that his pig was nowhere to be seen,
+and that the door was open, he asked this, that, and the other man,
+whether they wist who had taken the pig away, and getting no answer, he
+began to make a great outcry:--"Alas, alas! luckless man that I am, that
+my pig should have been stolen from me!" Meanwhile Bruno and Buffalmacco,
+being also risen, made up to him, to hear what he would say touching the
+pig. Whom he no sooner saw, than well-nigh weeping he called them,
+saying:--"Alas! my friends! my pig is stolen from me." Bruno stepped up
+to him and said in a low tone:--"'Tis passing strange if thou art in the
+right for once." "Alas!" returned Calandrino, "what I say is but too
+true." "Why, then, out with it, man," quoth Bruno, "cry aloud, that all
+folk may know that 'tis so." Calandrino then raised his voice and
+said:--"By the body o' God I say of a truth that my pig has been stolen
+from me." "So!" quoth Bruno, "but publish it, man, publish it; lift up
+thy voice, make thyself well heard, that all may believe thy report."
+"Thou art enough to make me give my soul to the Enemy," replied
+Calandrino. "I say--dost not believe me?--that hang me by the neck if the
+pig is not stolen from me!" "Nay, but," quoth Bruno, "how can it be? I
+saw it here but yesterday. Dost think to make me believe that it has
+taken to itself wings and flown away?" "All the same 'tis as I tell
+thee," returned Calandrino. "Is it possible?" quoth Bruno. "Ay indeed,"
+replied Calandrino; "'tis even so: and I am undone, and know not how to
+go home. Never will my wife believe me; or if she do so, I shall know no
+peace this year." "Upon my hope of salvation," quoth Bruno, "'tis indeed
+a bad business, if so it really is. But thou knowest, Calandrino, that
+'twas but yesterday I counselled thee to make believe that 'twas so. I
+should be sorry to think thou didst befool thy wife and us at the same
+time." "Ah!" vociferated Calandrino, "wilt thou drive me to despair and
+provoke me to blaspheme God and the saints and all the company of heaven?
+I tell thee that the pig has been stolen from me in the night."
+Whereupon:--"If so it be," quoth Buffalmacco, "we must find a way, if we
+can, to recover it." "Find a way?" said Calandrino: "how can we compass
+that?" "Why," replied Buffalmacco, "'tis certain that no one has come
+from India to steal thy pig: it must have been one of thy neighbours, and
+if thou couldst bring them together, I warrant thee, I know how to make
+the assay with bread and cheese, and we will find out in a trice who has
+had the pig." "Ay," struck in Bruno, "make thy assay with bread and
+cheese in the presence of these gentry hereabout, one of whom I am sure
+has had the pig! why, the thing would be seen through: and they would not
+come." "What shall we do, then?" said Buffalmacco. Whereto Bruno made
+answer:--"It must be done with good pills of ginger and good vernaccia;
+and they must be bidden come drink with us. They will suspect nothing,
+and will come; and pills of ginger can be blessed just as well as bread
+and cheese." "Beyond a doubt, thou art right," quoth Buffalmacco; "and
+thou Calandrino, what sayst thou? Shall we do as Bruno says?" "Nay, I
+entreat you for the love of God," quoth Calandrino, "do even so: for if I
+knew but who had had the pig, I should feel myself half consoled for my
+loss." "Go to, now," quoth Bruno, "I am willing to do thy errand to
+Florence for these commodities, if thou givest me the money."
+
+Calandrino had some forty soldi upon him, which he gave to Bruno, who
+thereupon hied him to Florence to a friend of his that was an apothecary,
+and bought a pound of good pills of ginger, two of which, being of
+dog-ginger, he caused to be compounded with fresh hepatic aloes, and then
+to be coated with sugar like the others; and lest they should be lost, or
+any of the others mistaken for them, he had a slight mark set upon them
+by which he might readily recognize them. He also bought a flask of good
+vernaccia, and, thus laden, returned to the farm, and said to
+Calandrino:--"To-morrow morning thou wilt bid those whom thou suspectest
+come hither to drink with thee: as 'twill be a saint's day, they will all
+come readily enough; and to-night I and Buffalmacco will say the
+incantation over the pills, which in the morning I will bring to thee
+here, and for our friendship's sake will administer them myself, and do
+and say all that needs to be said and done." So Calandrino did as Bruno
+advised, and on the morrow a goodly company, as well of young men from
+Florence, that happened to be in the village, as of husbandmen, being
+assembled in front of the church around the elm, Bruno and Buffalmacco
+came, bearing a box containing the ginger, and the flask of wine, and
+ranged the folk in a circle. Whereupon: "Gentlemen," said Bruno, "'tis
+meet I tell you the reason why you are gathered here, that if aught
+unpleasant to you should befall, you may have no ground for complaint
+against me. Calandrino here was the night before last robbed of a fine
+pig, and cannot discover who has had it; and, for that it must have been
+stolen by some one of us here, he would have each of you take and eat one
+of these pills and drink of this vernaccia. Wherefore I forthwith do you
+to wit, that whoso has had the pig will not be able to swallow the pill,
+but will find it more bitter than poison, and will spit it out; and so,
+rather, than he should suffer this shame in presence of so many, 'twere
+perhaps best that he that has had the pig should confess the fact to the
+priest, and I will wash my hands of the affair."
+
+All professed themselves ready enough to eat the pills; and so, having
+set them in a row with Calandrino among them, Bruno, beginning at one
+end, proceeded to give each a pill, and when he came to Calandrino he
+chose one of the pills of dog-ginger and put it in his hand. Calandrino
+thrust it forthwith between his teeth and began to chew it; but no sooner
+was his tongue acquainted with the aloes, than, finding the bitterness
+intolerable, he spat it out. Now, the eyes of all the company being fixed
+on one another to see who should spit out his pill, Bruno, who, not
+having finished the distribution, feigned to be concerned with nought
+else, heard some one in his rear say:--"Ha! Calandrino, what means this?"
+and at once turning round, and marking that Calandrino had spit out his
+pill:--"Wait a while," quoth he, "perchance 'twas somewhat else that
+caused thee to spit: take another;" and thereupon whipping out the other
+pill of dog-ginger, he set it between Calandrino's teeth, and finished
+the distribution. Bitter as Calandrino had found the former pill, he
+found this tenfold more so; but being ashamed to spit it out, he kept it
+a while in his mouth and chewed it, and, as he did so, tears stood in his
+eyes that shewed as large as filberts, and at length, being unable to
+bear it any longer, he spat it out, as he had its predecessor. Which
+being observed by Buffalmacco and Bruno, who were then administering the
+wine, and by all the company, 'twas averred by common consent that
+Calandrino had committed the theft himself; for which cause certain of
+them took him severely to task.
+
+However, the company being dispersed, and Bruno and Buffalmacco left
+alone with Calandrino, Buffalmacco began on this wise:--"I never doubted
+but that thou hadst had it thyself, and wast minded to make us believe
+that it had been stolen from thee, that we might not have of thee so much
+as a single drink out of the price which thou gottest for it."
+Calandrino, with the bitterness of the aloes still on his tongue, fell a
+swearing that he had not had it. Whereupon:--"Nay, but, comrade," quoth
+Buffalmacco, "upon thy honour, what did it fetch? Six florins?" Whereto,
+Calandrino being now on the verge of desperation, Bruno added:--"Now be
+reasonable, Calandrino; among the company that ate and drank with us
+there was one that told me that thou hadst up there a girl that thou
+didst keep for thy pleasure, giving her what by hook or by crook thou
+couldst get together, and that he held it for certain that thou hadst
+sent her this pig. And thou art grown expert in this sort of cozenage.
+Thou tookest us one while adown the Mugnone a gathering black stones, and
+having thus started us on a wild-goose chase, thou madest off; and then
+wouldst fain have us believe that thou hadst found the stone: and now, in
+like manner, thou thinkest by thine oaths to persuade us that this pig
+which thou hast given away or sold, has been stolen from thee. But we
+know thy tricks of old; never another couldst thou play us; and, to be
+round with thee, this spell has cost us some trouble: wherefore we mean
+that thou shalt give us two pair of capons, or we will let Monna Tessa
+know all." Seeing that he was not believed, and deeming his mortification
+ample without the addition of his wife's resentment, Calandrino gave them
+the two pair of capons, with which, when the pig was salted, they
+returned to Florence, leaving Calandrino with the loss and the laugh
+against him.
+
+
+NOVEL VII.
+
+--
+A scholar loves a widow lady, who, being enamoured of another, causes him
+to spend a winter's night awaiting her in the snow. He afterwards by a
+stratagem causes her to stand for a whole day in July, naked upon a
+tower, exposed to the flies, the gadflies, and the sun.
+--
+
+Over the woes of poor Calandrino the ladies laughed not a little, and had
+laughed yet more, but that it irked them that those that had robbed him
+of the pig should also take from him the capons. However, the story being
+ended, the queen bade Pampinea give them hers: and thus forthwith
+Pampinea began:--Dearest ladies, it happens oftentimes that the artful
+scorner meets his match; wherefore 'tis only little wits that delight to
+scorn. In a series of stories we have heard tell of tricks played without
+aught in the way of reprisals following: by mine I purpose in some degree
+to excite your compassion for a gentlewoman of our city (albeit the
+retribution that came upon her was but just) whose flout was returned in
+the like sort, and to such effect that she well-nigh died thereof. The
+which to hear will not be unprofitable to you, for thereby you will learn
+to be more careful how you flout others, and therein you will do very
+wisely.
+
+'Tis not many years since there dwelt at Florence a lady young and fair,
+and of a high spirit, as also of right gentle lineage, and tolerably well
+endowed with temporal goods. Now Elena--such was the lady's name--being
+left a widow, was minded never to marry again, being enamoured of a
+handsome young gallant of her own choosing, with whom she, recking nought
+of any other lover, did, by the help of a maid in whom she placed much
+trust, not seldom speed the time gaily and with marvellous delight.
+Meanwhile it so befell that a young nobleman of our city, Rinieri by
+name, who had spent much time in study at Paris, not that he might
+thereafter sell his knowledge by retail, but that he might learn the
+reasons and causes of things, which accomplishment shews to most
+excellent advantage in a gentleman, returned to Florence, and there lived
+as a citizen in no small honour with his fellows, both by reason of his
+rank and of his learning. But as it is often the case that those who are
+most versed in deep matters are the soonest mastered by Love, so was it
+with Rinieri. For at a festal gathering, to which one day he went, there
+appeared before his eyes this Elena, of whom we spoke, clad in black, as
+is the wont of our Florentine widows, and shewing to his mind so much
+fairer and more debonair than any other woman that he had ever seen, that
+happy indeed he deemed the man might call himself, to whom God in His
+goodness should grant the right to hold her naked in his arms. So now and
+again he eyed her stealthily, and knowing that boons goodly and precious
+are not to be gotten without trouble, he made up his mind to study and
+labour with all assiduity how best to please her, that so he might win
+her love, and thereby the enjoyment of her.
+
+The young gentlewoman was not used to keep her eyes bent ever towards the
+infernal regions; but, rating herself at no less, if not more, than her
+deserts, she was dexterous to move them to and fro, and thus busily
+scanning her company, soon detected the men who regarded her with
+pleasure. By which means having discovered Rinieri's passion, she inly
+laughed, and said:--'Twill turn out that 'twas not for nothing that I
+came here to-day, for, if I mistake not, I have caught a gander by the
+bill. So she gave him an occasional sidelong glance, and sought as best
+she might to make him believe that she was not indifferent to him,
+deeming that the more men she might captivate by her charms, the higher
+those charms would be rated, and most especially by him whom she had made
+lord of them and her love. The erudite scholar bade adieu to
+philosophical meditation, for the lady entirely engrossed his mind; and,
+having discovered her house, he, thinking to please her, found divers
+pretexts for frequently passing by it. Whereon the lady, her vanity
+flattered for the reason aforesaid, plumed herself not a little, and
+shewed herself pleased to see him. Thus encouraged, the scholar found
+means to make friends with her maid, to whom he discovered his love,
+praying her to do her endeavour with her mistress, that he might have her
+favour. The maid was profuse of promises, and gave her mistress his
+message, which she no sooner heard, than she was convulsed with laughter,
+and replied:--"He brought sense enough hither from Paris: knowest thou
+where he has since been to lose it? Go to, now; let us give him that
+which he seeks. Tell him, when he next speaks to you of the matter, that
+I love him vastly more than he loves me, but that I must have regard to
+my reputation, so that I may be able to hold my head up among other
+ladies; which, if he is really the wise man they say, will cause him to
+affect me much more." Ah! poor woman! poor woman! she little knew, my
+ladies, how rash it is to try conclusions with scholars.
+
+The maid found the scholar, and did her mistress's errand. The scholar,
+overjoyed, proceeded to urge his suit with more ardour, to indite
+letters, and send presents. The lady received all that he sent her, but
+vouchsafed no answers save such as were couched in general terms: and on
+this wise she kept him dangling a long while. At last, having disclosed
+the whole affair to her lover, who evinced some resentment and jealousy,
+she, to convince him that his suspicions were groundless, and for that
+she was much importuned by the scholar, sent word to him by her maid,
+that never since he had assured her of his love, had occasion served her
+to do him pleasure, but that next Christmastide she hoped to be with him;
+wherefore, if he were minded to await her in the courtyard of her house
+on the night of the day next following the feast, she would meet him
+there as soon as she could. Elated as ne'er another, the scholar hied him
+at the appointed time to the lady's house, and being ushered into a
+courtyard by the maid, who forthwith turned the key upon him, addressed
+himself there to await the lady's coming.
+
+Now the lady's lover, by her appointment, was with her that evening; and,
+when they had gaily supped, she told him what she had in hand that night,
+adding:--"And so thou wilt be able to gauge the love which I have borne
+and bear this scholar, whom thou hast foolishly regarded as a rival." The
+lover heard the lady's words with no small delight, and waited in eager
+expectancy to see her make them good. The scholar, hanging about there in
+the courtyard, began to find it somewhat chillier than he would have
+liked, for it had snowed hard all day long, so that the snow lay
+everywhere thick on the ground; however, he bore it patiently, expecting
+to be recompensed by and by. After a while the lady said to her
+lover:--"Go we to the chamber and take a peep through a lattice at him of
+whom thou art turned jealous, and mark what he does, and how he will
+answer the maid, whom I have bidden go speak with him." So the pair hied
+them to a lattice, wherethrough they could see without being seen, and
+heard the maid call from another lattice to the scholar,
+saying:--"Rinieri, my lady is distressed as never woman was, for that one
+of her brothers is come here to-night, and after talking a long while
+with her, must needs sup with her, and is not yet gone, but, I think, he
+will soon be off; and that is the reason why she has not been able to
+come to thee, but she will come soon now. She trusts it does not irk thee
+to wait so long." Whereto the scholar, supposing that 'twas true, made
+answer:--"Tell my lady to give herself no anxiety on my account, until
+she can conveniently come to me, but to do so as soon as she may."
+Whereupon the maid withdrew from the window, and went to bed; while the
+lady said to her lover:--"Now, what sayst thou? Thinkst thou that, if I
+had that regard for him, which thou fearest, I would suffer him to tarry
+below there to get frozen?" Which said, the lady and her now partly
+reassured lover got them to bed, where for a great while they disported
+them right gamesomely, laughing together and making merry over the
+luckless scholar.
+
+The scholar, meanwhile, paced up and down the courtyard to keep himself
+warm, nor indeed had he where to sit, or take shelter: in this plight he
+bestowed many a curse upon the lady's brother for his long tarrying, and
+never a sound did he hear but he thought that 'twas the lady opening the
+door. But vain indeed were his hopes: the lady, having solaced herself
+with her lover until hard upon midnight, then said to him:--"How ratest
+thou our scholar, my soul? whether is the greater his wit, or the love I
+bear him, thinkst thou? Will the cold, that, of my ordaining, he now
+suffers, banish from thy breast the suspicion which my light words the
+other day implanted there?" "Ay, indeed, heart of my body!" replied the
+lover, "well wot I now that even as thou art to me, my weal, my
+consolation, my bliss, so am I to thee." "So:" quoth the lady, "then I
+must have full a thousand kisses from thee, to prove that thou sayst
+sooth." The lover's answer was to strain her to his heart, and give her
+not merely a thousand but a hundred thousand kisses. In such converse
+they dallied a while longer, and then:--"Get we up, now," quoth the lady,
+"that we may go see if 'tis quite spent, that fire, with which, as he
+wrote to me daily, this new lover of mine used to burn." So up they got
+and hied them to the lattice which they had used before, and peering out
+into the courtyard, saw the scholar dancing a hornpipe to the music that
+his own teeth made, a chattering for extremity of cold; nor had they ever
+seen it footed so nimbly and at such a pace. Whereupon:--"How sayst thou,
+sweet my hope?" quoth the lady. "Know I not how to make men dance without
+the aid of either trumpet or cornemuse?" "Indeed thou dost my heart's
+delight," replied the lover. Quoth then the lady:--"I have a mind that we
+go down to the door. Thou wilt keep quiet, and I will speak to him, and
+we shall hear what he says, which, peradventure, we shall find no less
+diverting than the sight of him."
+
+So they stole softly out of the chamber and down to the door, which
+leaving fast closed, the lady set her lips to a little hole that was
+there, and with a low voice called the scholar, who, hearing her call
+him, praised God, making too sure that he was to be admitted, and being
+come to the door, said:--"Here am I, Madam; open for God's sake; let me
+in, for I die of cold." "Oh! ay," replied the lady, "I know thou hast a
+chill, and of course, there being a little snow about, 'tis mighty cold;
+but well I wot the nights are colder far at Paris. I cannot let thee in
+as yet, because my accursed brother, that came to sup here this evening,
+is still with me; but he will soon take himself off, and then I will let
+thee in without a moment's delay. I have but now with no small difficulty
+given him the slip, to come and give thee heart that the waiting irk thee
+not." "Nay but, Madam," replied the scholar, "for the love of God, I
+entreat you, let me in, that I may have a roof over my head, because for
+some time past there has been never so thick a fall of snow, and 'tis yet
+snowing; and then I will wait as long as you please." "Alas! sweet my
+love," quoth the lady, "that I may not, for this door makes such a din,
+when one opens it, that my brother would be sure to hear, were I to let
+thee in; but I will go tell him to get him gone, and so come back and
+admit thee." "Go at once, then," returned the scholar, "and prithee, see
+that a good fire be kindled, that, when I get in, I may warm myself, for
+I am now so chilled through and through that I have scarce any feeling
+left." "That can scarce be," rejoined the lady, "if it be true, what thou
+hast so protested in thy letters, that thou art all afire for love of me:
+'tis plain to me now that thou didst but mock me. I now take my leave of
+thee: wait and be of good cheer."
+
+So the lady and her lover, who, to his immense delight, had heard all
+that passed, betook them to bed; however, little sleep had they that
+night, but spent the best part of it in disporting themselves and making
+merry over the unfortunate scholar, who, his teeth now chattering to such
+a tune that he seemed to have been metamorphosed into a stork, perceived
+that he had been befooled, and after making divers fruitless attempts to
+open the door and seeking means of egress to no better purpose, paced to
+and fro like a lion, cursing the villainous weather, the long night, his
+simplicity, and the perversity of the lady, against whom (the vehemence
+of his wrath suddenly converting the love he had so long borne her to
+bitter and remorseless enmity) he now plotted within himself divers and
+grand schemes of revenge, on which he was far more bent than ever he had
+been on forgathering with her.
+
+Slowly the night wore away, and with the first streaks of dawn the maid,
+by her mistress's direction, came down, opened the door of the courtyard,
+and putting on a compassionate air, greeted Rinieri with:--"Foul fall him
+that came here yestereve; he has afflicted us with his presence all night
+long, and has kept thee a freezing out here: but harkye, take it not
+amiss; that which might not be to-night shall be another time: well wot I
+that nought could have befallen that my lady could so ill brook." For all
+his wrath, the scholar, witting, like the wise man he was, that menaces
+serve but to put the menaced on his guard, kept pent within his breast
+that which unbridled resentment would have uttered, and said quietly, and
+without betraying the least trace of anger:--"In truth 'twas the worst
+night I ever spent, but I understood quite well that the lady was in no
+wise to blame, for that she herself, being moved to pity of me, came down
+here to make her excuses, and to comfort me; and, as thou sayst, what has
+not been to-night will be another time: wherefore commend me to her, and
+so, adieu!" Then, well-nigh paralysed for cold, he got him, as best he
+might, home, where, weary and fit to die for drowsiness, he threw himself
+on his bed, and fell into a deep sleep, from which he awoke to find that
+he had all but lost the use of his arms and legs. He therefore sent for
+some physicians, and having told them what a chill he had gotten, caused
+them have a care to his health. But, though they treated him with active
+and most drastic remedies, it cost them some time and no little trouble
+to restore to the cramped muscles their wonted pliancy, and, indeed, but
+for his youth and the milder weather that was at hand, 'twould have gone
+very hard with him.
+
+However, recover he did his health and lustihood, and nursing his enmity,
+feigned to be vastly more enamoured of his widow than ever before. And so
+it was that after a while Fortune furnished him with an opportunity of
+satisfying his resentment, for the gallant of whom the widow was
+enamoured, utterly regardless of the love she bore him, grew enamoured of
+another lady, and was minded no more to pleasure the widow in aught
+either by word or by deed; wherefore she now pined in tears and
+bitterness of spirit. However, her maid, who commiserated her not a
+little, and knew not how to dispel the dumps that the loss of her lover
+had caused her, espying the scholar pass along the street, as he had been
+wont, conceived the silly idea that the lady's lover might be induced to
+return to his old love by some practice of a necromantic order, wherein
+she doubted not that the scholar must be a thorough adept; which idea she
+imparted to her mistress. The lady, being none too well furnished with
+sense, never thinking that, if the scholar had been an adept in
+necromancy, he would have made use of it in his own behoof, gave heed to
+what her maid said, and forthwith bade her learn of the scholar whether
+he would place his skill at her service, and assure him that, if he so
+did, she, in guerdon thereof, would do his pleasure. The maid did her
+mistress's errand well and faithfully. The scholar no sooner heard the
+message, than he said to himself:--Praised be Thy name, O God, that the
+time is now come, when with Thy help I may be avenged upon this wicked
+woman of the wrong she did me in requital of the great love I bore her.
+Then, turning to the maid, he said:--"Tell my lady to set her mind at
+ease touching this matter; for that, were her lover in India, I would
+forthwith bring him hither to crave her pardon of that wherein he has
+offended her. As to the course she should take in the matter, I tarry but
+her pleasure to make it known to her, when and where she may think fit:
+tell her so, and bid her from me to be of good cheer." The maid carried
+his answer to her mistress, and arranged that they should meet in the
+church of Santa Lucia of Prato. Thither accordingly they came, the lady
+and the scholar, and conversed apart, and the lady, quite oblivious of
+the ill-usage by which she had well-nigh done him to death, opened all
+her mind to him, and besought him, if he had any regard to her welfare,
+to aid her to the attainment of her desire. "Madam," replied the scholar,
+"true it is that among other lore that I acquired at Paris was this of
+necromancy, whereof, indeed, I know all that may be known; but, as 'tis
+in the last degree displeasing to God, I had sworn never to practise it
+either for my own or for any other's behoof. 'Tis also true that the love
+I bear you is such that I know not how to refuse you aught that you would
+have me do for you; and so, were this single essay enough to consign me
+to hell, I would adventure it to pleasure you. But I mind me that 'tis a
+matter scarce so easy of performance as, perchance, you suppose, most
+especially when a woman would fain recover the love of a man, or a man
+that of a woman, for then it must be done by the postulant in proper
+person, and at night, and in lonely places, and unattended, so that it
+needs a stout heart; nor know I whether you are disposed to comply with
+these conditions." The lady, too enamoured to be discreet, made
+answer:--"So shrewdly does Love goad me, that there is nought I would not
+do to bring him back to me who wrongfully has deserted me; but tell me,
+prithee, wherein it is that I have need of this stout heart." "Madam,"
+returned the despiteful scholar, "'twill be my part to fashion in tin an
+image of him you would fain lure back to you: and when I have sent you
+the image, 'twill be for you, when the moon is well on the wane, to dip
+yourself, being stark naked, and the image, seven times in a flowing
+stream, and this you must do quite alone about the hour of first sleep,
+and afterwards, still naked, you must get you upon some tree or some
+deserted house, and facing the North, with the image in your hand, say
+certain words that I shall give you in writing seven times; which, when
+you have done, there will come to you two damsels, the fairest you ever
+saw, who will greet you graciously, and ask of you what you would fain
+have; to whom you will disclose frankly and fully all that you crave; and
+see to it that you make no mistake in the name; and when you have said
+all, they will depart, and you may then descend and return to the spot
+where you left your clothes, and resume them and go home. And rest
+assured, that before the ensuing midnight your lover will come to you in
+tears, and crave your pardon and mercy, and that thenceforth he will
+never again desert you for any other woman."
+
+The lady gave entire credence to the scholar's words, and deeming her
+lover as good as in her arms again, recovered half her wonted spirits:
+wherefore:--"Make no doubt," quoth she, "that I shall do as thou biddest;
+and indeed I am most favoured by circumstance; for in upper Val d'Arno I
+have an estate adjoining the river, and 'tis now July, so that to bathe
+will be delightful. Ay, and now I mind me that at no great distance from
+the river there is a little tower, which is deserted, save that now and
+again the shepherds will get them up by the chestnut-wood ladder to the
+roof, thence to look out for their strayed sheep; 'tis a place lonely
+indeed, and quite out of ken; and when I have clomb it, as climb it I
+will, I doubt not 'twill be the best place in all the world to give
+effect to your instructions."
+
+Well pleased to be certified of the lady's intention, the scholar, to
+whom her estate and the tower were very well known, made answer:--"I was
+never in those parts, Madam, and therefore know neither your estate nor
+the tower, but, if 'tis as you say, 'twill certainly be the best place in
+the world for your purpose. So, when time shall serve, I will send you
+the image and the orison. But I pray you, when you shall have your
+heart's desire, and know that I have done you good service, do not forget
+me, but keep your promise to me." "That will I without fail," quoth the
+lady; and so she bade him farewell, and went home. The scholar, gleefully
+anticipating the success of his enterprise, fashioned an image, and
+inscribed it with certain magical signs, and wrote some gibberish by way
+of orison, which in due time he sent to the lady, bidding her the very
+next night do as he had prescribed: and thereupon he hied him privily
+with one of his servants to the house of a friend hard by the tower,
+there to carry his purpose into effect. The lady, on her part, set out
+with her maid, and betook her to her estate, and, night being come, sent
+the maid to bed, as if she were minded to go to rest herself; and about
+the hour of first sleep stole out of the house and down to the tower,
+beside the Arno; and when, having carefully looked about her, she was
+satisfied that never a soul was to be seen or heard, she took off her
+clothes and hid them under a bush; then, with the image in her hand, she
+dipped herself seven times in the river; which done, she hied her with
+the image to the tower. The scholar, having at nightfall couched himself
+with his servant among the willows and other trees that fringed the bank,
+marked all that she did, and how, as she passed by him, the whiteness of
+her flesh dispelled the shades of night, and scanning attentively her
+bosom and every other part of her body, and finding them very fair, felt,
+as he bethought him what would shortly befall them, some pity of her;
+while, on the other hand, he was suddenly assailed by the solicitations
+of the flesh which caused that to stand which had been inert, and
+prompted him to sally forth of his ambush and take her by force, and have
+his pleasure of her. And, what with his compassion and passion, he was
+like to be worsted; but then as he bethought him who he was, and what a
+grievous wrong had been done him, and for what cause, and by whom, his
+wrath, thus rekindled, got the better of the other affections, so that he
+swerved not from his resolve, but suffered her to go her way.
+
+The lady ascended the tower, and standing with her face to the North,
+began to recite the scholar's orison, while he, having stolen into the
+tower but a little behind her, cautiously shifted the ladder that led up
+to the roof on which the lady stood, and waited to observe what she would
+say and do. Seven times the lady said the orison, and then awaited the
+appearance of the two damsels; and so long had she to wait--not to
+mention that the night was a good deal cooler than she would have
+liked--that she saw day break; whereupon, disconcerted that it had not
+fallen out as the scholar had promised, she said to herself:--I misdoubt
+me he was minded to give me such a night as I gave him; but if such was
+his intent, he is but maladroit in his revenge, for this night is not as
+long by a third as his was, besides which, the cold is of another
+quality. And that day might not overtake her there, she began to think of
+descending, but, finding that the ladder was removed, she felt as if the
+world had come to nought beneath her feet, her senses reeled, and she
+fell in a swoon upon the floor of the roof. When she came to herself, she
+burst into tears and piteous lamentations, and witting now very well that
+'twas the doing of the scholar, she began to repent her that she had
+first offended him, and then trusted him unduly, having such good cause
+to reckon upon his enmity; in which frame she abode long time. Then,
+searching if haply she might find some means of descent, and finding
+none, she fell a weeping again, and bitterly to herself she said:--Alas
+for thee, wretched woman! what will thy brothers, thy kinsmen, thy
+neighbours, nay, what will all Florence say of thee, when 'tis known that
+thou hast been found here naked? Thy honour, hitherto unsuspect, will be
+known to have been but a shew, and shouldst thou seek thy defence in
+lying excuses, if any such may be fashioned, the accursed scholar, who
+knows all thy doings, will not suffer it. Ah! poor wretch! that at one
+and the same time hast lost thy too dearly cherished gallant and thine
+own honour! And therewith she was taken with such a transport of grief,
+that she was like to cast herself from the tower to the ground. Then,
+bethinking her that if she might espy some lad making towards the tower
+with his sheep, she might send him for her maid, for the sun was now
+risen, she approached one of the parapets of the tower, and looked out,
+and so it befell that the scholar, awakening from a slumber, in which he
+had lain a while at the foot of a bush, espied her, and she him.
+Whereupon:--"Good-day, Madam," quoth he:--"are the damsels yet come?" The
+lady saw and heard him not without bursting afresh into a flood of tears,
+and besought him to come into the tower, that she might speak with him: a
+request which the scholar very courteously granted. The lady then threw
+herself prone on the floor of the roof; and, only her head being visible
+through the aperture, thus through her sobs she spoke:--"Verily, Rinieri,
+if I gave thee a bad night, thou art well avenged on me, for, though it
+be July, meseemed I was sore a cold last night, standing here with never
+a thread upon me, and, besides, I have so bitterly bewept both the trick
+I played thee and my own folly in trusting thee, that I marvel that I
+have still eyes in my head. Wherefore I implore thee, not for love of me,
+whom thou hast no cause to love, but for the respect thou hast for
+thyself as a gentleman, that thou let that which thou hast already done
+suffice thee to avenge the wrong I did thee, and bring me my clothes,
+that I may be able to get me down from here, and spare to take from me
+that which, however thou mightst hereafter wish, thou couldst not restore
+to me, to wit, my honour; whereas, if I deprived thee of that one night
+with me, 'tis in my power to give thee many another night in recompense
+thereof, and thou hast but to choose thine own times. Let this, then,
+suffice, and like a worthy gentleman be satisfied to have taken thy
+revenge, and to have let me know it: put not forth thy might against a
+woman: 'tis no glory to the eagle to have vanquished a dove; wherefore
+for God's and thine own honour's sake have mercy on me."
+
+The scholar, albeit his haughty spirit still brooded on her evil
+entreatment of him, yet saw her not weep and supplicate without a certain
+compunction mingling with his exultation; but vengeance he had desired
+above all things, to have wreaked it was indeed sweet, and albeit his
+humanity prompted him to have compassion on the hapless woman, yet it
+availed not to subdue the fierceness of his resentment; wherefore thus he
+made answer:--"Madam Elena, had my prayers (albeit art I had none to
+mingle with them tears and honeyed words as thou dost with thine)
+inclined thee that night, when I stood perishing with cold amid the snow
+that filled thy courtyard, to accord me the very least shelter, 'twere
+but a light matter for me to hearken now to thine; but, if thou art now
+so much more careful of thy honour than thou wast wont to be, and it irks
+thee to tarry there naked, address thy prayers to him in whose arms it
+irked thee not naked to pass that night thou mindest thee of, albeit thou
+wist that I with hasty foot was beating time upon the snow in thy
+courtyard to the accompaniment of chattering teeth: 'tis he that thou
+shouldst call to succour thee, to fetch thy clothes, to adjust the ladder
+for thy descent; 'tis he in whom thou shouldst labour to inspire this
+tenderness thou now shewest for thy honour, that honour which for his
+sake thou hast not scrupled to jeopardize both now and on a thousand
+other occasions. Why, then, call'st thou not him to come to thy succour?
+To whom pertains it rather than to him? Thou art his. And of whom will he
+have a care, whom will he succour, if not thee? Thou askedst him that
+night, when thou wast wantoning with him, whether seemed to him the
+greater, my folly or the love thou didst bear him: call him now, foolish
+woman, and see if the love thou bearest him, and thy wit and his, may
+avail to deliver thee from my folly. 'Tis now no longer in thy power to
+shew me courtesy of that which I no more desire, nor yet to refuse it,
+did I desire it. Reserve thy nights for thy lover, if so be thou go hence
+alive. Be they all thine and his. One of them was more than I cared for;
+'tis enough for me to have been flouted once. Ay, and by thy cunning of
+speech thou strivest might and main to conciliate my good-will, calling
+me worthy gentleman, by which insinuation thou wouldst fain induce me
+magnanimously to desist from further chastisement of thy baseness. But
+thy cajoleries shall not now cloud the eyes of my mind, as did once thy
+false promises. I know myself, and better now for thy one night's
+instruction than for all the time I spent at Paris. But, granted that I
+were disposed to be magnanimous, thou art not of those to whom 'tis meet
+to shew magnanimity. A wild beast such as thou, having merited vengeance,
+can claim no relief from suffering save death, though in the case of a
+human being 'twould suffice to temper vengeance with mercy, as thou
+saidst. Wherefore I, albeit no eagle, witting thee to be no dove, but a
+venomous serpent, mankind's most ancient enemy, am minded, bating no jot
+of malice or of might, to harry thee to the bitter end: natheless this
+which I do is not properly to be called vengeance but rather just
+retribution; seeing that vengeance should be in excess of the offence,
+and this my chastisement of thee will fall short of it; for, were I
+minded to be avenged on thee, considering what account thou madest of my
+heart and soul, 'twould not suffice me to take thy life, no, nor the
+lives of a hundred others such as thee; for I should but slay a vile and
+base and wicked woman. And what the Devil art thou more than any other
+pitiful baggage, that I should spare thy little store of beauty, which a
+few years will ruin, covering thy face with wrinkles? And yet 'twas not
+for want of will that thou didst fail to do to death a worthy gentleman,
+as thou but now didst call me, of whom in a single day of his life the
+world may well have more profit than of a hundred thousand like thee
+while the world shall last. Wherefore by this rude discipline I will
+teach thee what it is to flout men of spirit, and more especially what it
+is to flout scholars, that if thou escape with thy life thou mayst have
+good cause ever hereafter to shun such folly. But if thou art so fain to
+make the descent, why cast not thyself down, whereby, God helping, thou
+wouldst at once break thy neck, be quit of the torment thou endurest, and
+make me the happiest man alive? I have no more to say to thee. 'Twas my
+art and craft thus caused thee climb; be it thine to find the way down:
+thou hadst cunning enough, when thou wast minded to flout me."
+
+While the scholar thus spoke, the hapless lady wept incessantly, and
+before he had done, to aggravate her misery, the sun was high in the
+heaven. However, when he was silent, thus she made answer:--"Ah! ruthless
+man, if that accursed night has so rankled with thee, and thou deemest my
+fault so grave that neither my youth and beauty, nor my bitter tears, nor
+yet my humble supplications may move thee to pity, let this at least move
+thee, and abate somewhat of thy remorseless severity, that 'twas my act
+alone, in that of late I trusted thee, and discovered to thee all my
+secret, that did open the way to compass thy end, and make me cognizant
+of my guilt, seeing that, had I not confided in thee, on no wise mightst
+thou have been avenged on me; which thou wouldst seem so ardently to have
+desired. Turn thee, then, turn thee, I pray thee, from thy wrath, and
+pardon me. So thou wilt pardon me, and get me down hence, right gladly
+will I give up for ever my faithless gallant, and thou shalt be my sole
+lover and lord, albeit thou sayst hard things of my beauty, slight and
+shortlived as thou wouldst have it to be, which, however it may compare
+with others, is, I wot, to be prized, if for no other reason, yet for
+this, that 'tis the admiration and solace and delight of young men, and
+thou art not yet old. And albeit I have been harshly treated by thee, yet
+believe I cannot that thou wouldst have me do myself so shamefully to
+death as to cast me down, like some abandoned wretch, before thine eyes,
+in which, unless thou wast then, as thou hast since shewn thyself, a
+liar, I found such favour. Ah! have pity on me for God's and mercy's
+sake! The sun waxes exceeding hot, and having suffered not a little by
+the cold of last night, I now begin to be sorely afflicted by the heat."
+
+"Madam," rejoined the scholar, who held her in parley with no small
+delight, "'twas not for any love that thou didst bear me that thou
+trustedst me, but that thou mightst recover that which thou hadst lost,
+for which cause thou meritest but the greater punishment; and foolish
+indeed art thou if thou supposest that such was the sole means available
+for my revenge. I had a thousand others, and, while I feigned to love
+thee, I had laid a thousand gins for thy feet, into one or other of which
+in no long time, though this had not occurred, thou must needs have
+fallen, and that too to thy more grievous suffering and shame; nor was it
+to spare thee, but that I might be the sooner rejoiced by thy
+discomfiture that I took my present course. And though all other means
+had failed me, I had still the pen, with which I would have written of
+thee such matters and in such a sort, that when thou wist them, as thou
+shouldst have done, thou wouldst have regretted a thousand times that
+thou hadst ever been born. The might of the pen is greater far than they
+suppose, who have not proved it by experience. By God I swear, so may He,
+who has prospered me thus far in this my revenge, prosper me to the end!
+that I would have written of thee things that would have so shamed thee
+in thine own--not to speak of others'--sight that thou hadst put out
+thine eyes that thou mightst no more see thyself; wherefore chide not the
+sea, for that it has sent forth a tiny rivulet. For thy love, or whether
+thou be mine or no, nought care I. Be thou still his, whose thou hast
+been, if thou canst. Hate him as I once did, I now love him, by reason of
+his present entreatment of thee. Ye go getting you enamoured, ye women,
+and nought will satisfy you but young gallants, because ye mark that
+their flesh is ruddier, and their beards are blacker, than other folk's,
+and that they carry themselves well, and foot it featly in the dance, and
+joust; but those that are now more mature were even as they, and possess
+a knowledge which they have yet to acquire. And therewithal ye deem that
+they ride better, and cover more miles in a day, than men of riper age.
+Now that they dust the pelisse with more vigour I certainly allow, but
+their seniors, being more experienced, know better the places where the
+fleas lurk; and spare and dainty diet is preferable to abundance without
+savour: moreover hard trotting will gall and jade even the youngest,
+whereas an easy pace, though it bring one somewhat later to the inn, at
+any rate brings one thither fresh. Ye discern not, witless creatures that
+ye are, how much of evil this little shew of bravery serves to hide. Your
+young gallant is never content with one woman, but lusts after as many as
+he sets eyes on; nor is there any but he deems himself worthy of her:
+wherefore 'tis not possible that their love should be lasting, as thou
+hast but now proved and mayst only too truly witness. Moreover to be
+worshipped, to be caressed by their ladies they deem but their due; nor
+is there aught whereon they plume and boast them so proudly as their
+conquests: which impertinence has caused not a few women to surrender to
+the friars, who keep their own counsel. Peradventure thou wilt say that
+never a soul save thy maid, and I wist aught of thy loves; but, if so,
+thou hast been misinformed, and if thou so believest, thou dost
+misbelieve. Scarce aught else is talked of either in his quarter or in
+thine; but most often 'tis those most concerned whose ears such matters
+reach last. Moreover, they rob you, these young gallants, whereas the
+others make you presents. So, then, having made a bad choice, be thou
+still his to whom thou hast given thyself, and leave me, whom thou didst
+flout, to another, for I have found a lady of much greater charms than
+thine, and that has understood me better than thou didst. And that thou
+mayst get thee to the other world better certified of the desire of my
+eyes than thou wouldst seem to be here by my words, delay no more, but
+cast thyself down, whereby thy soul, taken forthwith, as I doubt not she
+will be, into the embrace of the Devil, may see whether thy headlong fall
+afflicts mine eyes, or no. But, for that I doubt thou meanest not thus to
+gladden me, I bid thee, if thou findest the sun begin to scorch thee,
+remember the cold thou didst cause me to endure, wherewith, by admixture,
+thou mayst readily temper the sun's heat."
+
+The hapless lady, seeing that the scholar's words were ever to the same
+ruthless effect, burst afresh into tears, and said:--"Lo, now, since
+nought that pertains to me may move thee, be thou at least moved by the
+love thou bearest this lady of whom thou speakest, who, thou sayst, is
+wiser than I, and loves thee, and for love of her pardon me, and fetch me
+my clothes, that I may resume them, and get me down hence." Whereat the
+scholar fell a laughing, and seeing that 'twas not a little past tierce,
+made answer:--"Lo, now, I know not how to deny thee, adjuring me as thou
+dost by such a lady: tell me, then, where thy clothes are, and I will go
+fetch them, and bring thee down." The lady, believing him, was somewhat
+comforted, and told him where she had laid her clothes. The scholar then
+quitted the tower, bidding his servant on no account to stir from his
+post, but to keep close by, and, as best he might, bar the tower against
+all comers until his return: which said, he betook him to the house of
+his friend, where he breakfasted much at his ease, and thereafter went to
+sleep. Left alone upon the tower, the lady, somewhat cheered by her fond
+hope, but still exceeding sorrowful, drew nigh to a part of the wall
+where there was a little shade, and there sate down to wait. And now lost
+in most melancholy brooding, now dissolved in tears, now plunged in
+despair of ever seeing the scholar return with her clothes, but never
+more than a brief while in any one mood, spent with grief and the night's
+vigil, she by and by fell asleep. The sun was now in the zenith, and
+smote with extreme fervour full and unmitigated upon her tender and
+delicate frame, and upon her bare head, insomuch that his rays did not
+only scorch but bit by bit excoriate every part of her flesh that was
+exposed to them, and so shrewdly burn her that, albeit she was in a deep
+sleep, the pain awoke her. And as by reason thereof she writhed a little,
+she felt the scorched skin part in sunder and shed itself, as will happen
+when one tugs at a parchment that has been singed by the fire, while her
+head ached so sore that it seemed like to split, and no wonder. Nor might
+she find place either to lie or to stand on the floor of the roof, but
+ever went to and fro, weeping. Besides which there stirred not the least
+breath of wind, and flies and gadflies did swarm in prodigious quantity,
+which, settling upon her excoriate flesh, stung her so shrewdly that
+'twas as if she received so many stabs with a javelin, and she was ever
+restlessly feeling her sores with her hands, and cursing herself, her
+life, her lover, and the scholar.
+
+Thus by the exorbitant heat of the sun, by the flies and gadflies,
+harassed, goaded, and lacerated, tormented also by hunger, and yet more
+by thirst, and, thereto by a thousand distressful thoughts, she panted
+herself erect on her feet, and looked about her, if haply she might see
+or hear any one, with intent, come what might, to call to him and crave
+his succour. But even this hostile Fortune had disallowed her. The
+husbandmen were all gone from the fields by reason of the heat, and
+indeed there had come none to work that day in the neighbourhood of the
+tower, for that all were employed in threshing their corn beside their
+cottages: wherefore she heard but the cicalas, while Arno, tantalizing
+her with the sight of his waters, increased rather than diminished her
+thirst. Ay, and in like manner, wherever she espied a copse, or a patch
+of shade, or a house, 'twas a torment to her, for the longing she had for
+it. What more is to be said of this hapless woman? Only this: that what
+with the heat of the sun above and the floor beneath her, and the
+scarification of her flesh in every part by the flies and gadflies, that
+flesh, which in the night had dispelled the gloom by its whiteness, was
+now become red as madder, and so besprent with clots of blood, that whoso
+had seen her would have deemed her the most hideous object in the world.
+
+Thus resourceless and hopeless, she passed the long hours, expecting
+death rather than aught else, until half none was come and gone; when,
+his siesta ended, the scholar bethought him of his lady, and being minded
+to see how she fared, hied him back to the tower, and sent his servant
+away to break his fast. As soon as the lady espied him, she came, spent
+and crushed by her sore affliction, to the aperture, and thus addressed
+him:--"Rinieri, the cup of thy vengeance is full to overflowing: for if I
+gave thee a night of freezing in my courtyard, thou hast given me upon
+this tower a day of scorching, nay, of burning, and therewithal of
+perishing of hunger and thirst: wherefore by God I entreat thee to come
+up hither, and as my heart fails me to take my life, take it thou, for
+'tis death I desire of all things, such and so grievous is my suffering.
+But if this grace thou wilt not grant, at least bring me a cup of water
+wherewith to lave my mouth, for which my tears do not suffice, so parched
+and torrid is it within." Well wist the scholar by her voice how spent
+she was; he also saw a part of her body burned through and through by the
+sun; whereby, and by reason of the lowliness of her entreaties, he felt
+some little pity for her; but all the same he made answer:--"Nay, wicked
+woman, 'tis not by my hands thou shalt die; thou canst die by thine own
+whenever thou art so minded; and to temper thy heat thou shalt have just
+as much water from me as I had fire from thee to mitigate my cold. I only
+regret that for the cure of my chill the physicians were fain to use
+foul-smelling muck, whereas thy burns can be treated with fragrant
+rose-water; and that, whereas I was like to lose my muscles and the use
+of my limbs, thou, for all thy excoriation by the heat, wilt yet be fair
+again, like a snake that has sloughed off the old skin." "Alas! woe's
+me!" replied the lady, "for charms acquired at such a cost, God grant
+them to those that hate me. But thou, most fell of all wild beasts, how
+hast thou borne thus to torture me? What more had I to expect of thee or
+any other, had I done all thy kith and kin to death with direst torments?
+Verily, I know not what more cruel suffering thou couldst have inflicted
+on a traitor that had put a whole city to the slaughter than this which
+thou hast allotted to me, to be thus roasted, and devoured of the flies,
+and therewithal to refuse me even a cup of water, though the very
+murderers condemned to death by the law, as they go to execution, not
+seldom are allowed wine to drink, so they but ask it. Lo now, I see that
+thou art inexorable in thy ruthlessness, and on no wise to be moved by my
+suffering: wherefore with resignation I will compose me to await death,
+that God may have mercy on my soul. And may this that thou doest escape
+not the searching glance of His just eyes." Which said, she dragged
+herself, sore suffering, toward the middle of the floor, despairing of
+ever escaping from her fiery torment, besides which, not once only, but a
+thousand times she thought to choke for thirst, and ever she wept
+bitterly and bewailed her evil fate. But at length the day wore to
+vespers, and the scholar, being sated with his revenge, caused his
+servant to take her clothes and wrap them in his cloak, and hied him with
+the servant to the hapless lady's house, where, finding her maid sitting
+disconsolate and woebegone and resourceless at the door:--"Good woman,"
+quoth he, "what has befallen thy mistress?" Whereto:--"Sir, I know not,"
+replied the maid. "I looked to find her this morning abed, for methought
+she went to bed last night, but neither there nor anywhere else could I
+find her, nor know I what is become of her; wherefore exceeding great is
+my distress; but have you, Sir, nought to say of the matter?" "Only
+this," returned the scholar, "that I would I had had thee with her there
+where I have had her, that I might have requited thee of thy offence,
+even as I have requited her of hers. But be assured that thou shalt not
+escape my hands, until thou hast from me such wage of thy labour that
+thou shalt never flout man more, but thou shalt mind thee of me." Then,
+turning to his servant, he said:--"Give her these clothes, and tell her
+that she may go bring her mistress away, if she will." The servant did
+his bidding; and the maid, what with the message and her recognition of
+the clothes, was mightily afraid, lest they had slain the lady, and
+scarce suppressing a shriek, took the clothes, and, bursting into tears,
+set off, as soon as the scholar was gone, at a run for the tower.
+
+Now one of the lady's husbandmen had had the misfortune to lose two of
+his hogs that day, and, seeking them, came to the tower not long after
+the scholar had gone thence, and peering about in all quarters, if haply
+he might have sight of his hogs, heard the woeful lamentation that the
+hapless lady made, and got him up into the tower, and called out as loud
+as he might:--"Who wails up there?" The lady recognized her husbandman's
+voice, and called him by name, saying:--"Prithee, go fetch my maid, and
+cause her come up hither to me." The husbandman, knowing her by her
+voice, replied:--"Alas! Madam, who set you there? Your maid has been
+seeking you all day long: but who would ever have supposed that you were
+there?" Whereupon he took the props of the ladder, and set them in
+position, and proceeded to secure the rounds to them with withies. Thus
+engaged he was found by the maid, who, as she entered the tower, beat her
+face and breast, and unable longer to keep silence, cried out:--"Alas,
+sweet my lady, where are you?" Whereto the lady made answer as loud as
+she might:--"O my sister, here above am I, weep not, but fetch me my
+clothes forthwith." Well-nigh restored to heart, to hear her mistress's
+voice, the maid, assisted by the husbandman, ascended the ladder, which
+he had now all but set in order, and gaining the roof, and seeing her
+lady lie there naked, spent and fordone, and liker to a half-burned stump
+than to a human being, she planted her nails in her face and fell a
+weeping over her, as if she were a corpse. However, the lady bade her for
+God's sake be silent, and help her to dress, and having learned from her
+that none knew where she had been, save those that had brought her her
+clothes and the husbandman that was there present, was somewhat consoled,
+and besought her for God's sake to say nought of the matter to any. Thus
+long time they conversed, and then the husbandman took the lady on his
+shoulders, for walk she could not, and bore her safely out of the tower.
+The unfortunate maid, following after with somewhat less caution,
+slipped, and falling from the ladder to the ground, broke her thigh, and
+roared for pain like any lion. So the husbandman set the lady down upon a
+grassy mead, while he went to see what had befallen the maid, whom,
+finding her thigh broken, he brought, and laid beside the lady: who,
+seeing her woes completed by this last misfortune, and that she of whom,
+most of all, she had expected succour, was lamed of a thigh, was
+distressed beyond measure, and wept again so piteously that not only was
+the husbandman powerless to comfort her, but was himself fain to weep.
+However, as the sun was now low, that they might not be there surprised
+by night, he, with the disconsolate lady's approval, hied him home, and
+called to his aid two of his brothers and his wife, who returned with
+him, bearing a plank, whereon they laid the maid, and so they carried her
+to the lady's house. There, by dint of cold water and words of cheer,
+they restored some heart to the lady, whom the husbandman then took upon
+his shoulders, and bore to her chamber. The husbandman's wife fed her
+with sops of bread, and then undressed her, and put her to bed. They also
+provided the means to carry her and the maid to Florence; and so 'twas
+done. There the lady, who was very fertile in artifices, invented an
+entirely fictitious story of what had happened as well in regard of her
+maid as of herself, whereby she persuaded both her brothers and her
+sisters and every one else, that 'twas all due to the enchantments of
+evil spirits. The physicians lost no time, and, albeit the lady's
+suffering and mortification were extreme, for she left more than one skin
+sticking to the sheets, they cured her of a high fever, and certain
+attendant maladies; as also the maid of her fractured thigh. The end of
+all which was that the lady forgot her lover, and having learned
+discretion, was thenceforth careful neither to love nor to flout; and the
+scholar, learning that the maid had broken her thigh, deemed his
+vengeance complete, and was satisfied to say never a word more of the
+affair. Such then were the consequences of her flouts to this foolish
+young woman, who deemed that she might trifle with a scholar with the
+like impunity as with others, not duly understanding that they--I say not
+all, but the more part--know where the Devil keeps his tail.(1)
+Wherefore, my ladies, have a care how you flout men, and more especially
+scholars.
+
+(1) I.e. are a match for the Devil himself in cunning.
+
+
+NOVEL VIII.
+
+--
+Two men keep with one another: the one lies with the other's wife: the
+other, being ware thereof, manages with the aid of his wife to have the
+one locked in a chest, upon which he then lies with the wife of him that
+is locked therein.
+--
+
+Grievous and distressful was it to the ladies to hear how it fared with
+Elena; but as they accounted the retribution in a measure righteous, they
+were satisfied to expend upon her but a moderate degree of compassion,
+albeit they censured the scholar as severe, intemperately relentless, and
+indeed ruthless, in his vengeance. However, Pampinea having brought the
+story to a close, the queen bade Fiammetta follow suit; and prompt to
+obey, Fiammetta thus spoke:--Debonair my ladies, as, methinks, your
+feelings must have been somewhat harrowed by the severity of the
+resentful scholar, I deem it meet to soothe your vexed spirits with
+something of a more cheerful order. Wherefore I am minded to tell you a
+little story of a young man who bore an affront in a milder temper, and
+avenged himself with more moderation. Whereby you may understand that one
+should be satisfied if the ass and the wall are quits, nor by indulging a
+vindictive spirit to excess turn the requital of a wrong into an occasion
+of wrong-doing. You are to know, then, that at Siena, as I have heard
+tell, there dwelt two young men of good substance, and, for plebeians, of
+good family, the one Spinelloccio Tanena, the other Zeppa di Mino, by
+name; who, their houses being contiguous in the Camollia,(1) kept ever
+together, and, by what appeared, loved each other as brothers, or even
+more so, and had each a very fine woman to wife. Now it so befell that
+Spinelloccio, being much in Zeppa's house, as well when Zeppa was not, as
+when he was there, grew so familiar with Zeppa's wife, that he sometimes
+lay with her; and on this wise they continued to forgather a great while
+before any one was ware of it. However, one of these days Zeppa being at
+home, though the lady wist it not, Spinelloccio came in quest of him;
+and, the lady sending word that he was not at home, he forthwith went
+upstairs and found the lady in the saloon, and seeing none else there,
+kissed her, as did she him.
+
+Zeppa saw all that passed, but said nothing and kept close, being minded
+to see how the game would end, and soon saw his wife and Spinelloccio,
+still in one another's arms, hie them to her chamber and lock themselves
+in: whereat he was mightily incensed. But, witting that to make a noise,
+or do aught else overt, would not lessen but rather increase his
+dishonour, he cast about how he might be avenged on such wise that,
+without the affair getting wind, he might content his soul; and having,
+after long pondering, hit, as he thought, upon the expedient, he budged
+not from his retreat, until Spinelloccio had parted from the lady.
+Whereupon he hied him into the chamber, and there finding the lady with
+her head-gear, which Spinelloccio in toying with her had disarranged,
+scarce yet readjusted:--"Madam, what dost thou?" quoth he.
+Whereto:--"Why, dost not see?" returned the lady. "Troth do I," rejoined
+he, "and somewhat else have I seen that I would I had not." And so he
+questioned her of what had passed, and she, being mightily afraid, did
+after long parley confess that which she might not plausibly deny, to
+wit, her intimacy with Spinelloccio, and fell a beseeching him with tears
+to pardon her. "Lo, now, wife," quoth Zeppa, "thou hast done wrong, and,
+so thou wouldst have me pardon thee, have a care to do exactly as I shall
+bid thee; to wit, on this wise: thou must tell Spinelloccio, to find some
+occasion to part from me to-morrow morning about tierce, and come hither
+to thee; and while he is here I will come back, and when thou hearest me
+coming, thou wilt get him into this chest, and lock him in there; which
+when thou hast done, I will tell thee what else thou hast to do, which
+thou mayst do without the least misgiving, for I promise thee I will do
+him no harm." The lady, to content him, promised to do as he bade, and
+she kept her word.
+
+The morrow came, and Zeppa and Spinelloccio being together about tierce,
+Spinelloccio, having promised the lady to come to see her at that hour,
+said to Zeppa:--"I must go breakfast with a friend, whom I had lief not
+keep in waiting; therefore, adieu!" "Nay, but," quoth Zeppa, "'tis not
+yet breakfast-time." "No matter," returned Spinelloccio, "I have business
+on which I must speak with him; so I must be in good time." Whereupon
+Spinelloccio took his leave of Zeppa, and having reached Zeppa's house by
+a slightly circuitous route, and finding his wife there, was taken by her
+into the chamber, where they had not been long together when Zeppa
+returned. Hearing him come, the lady, feigning no small alarm, bundled
+Spinelloccio into the chest, as her husband had bidden her, and having
+locked him in, left him there. As Zeppa came upstairs:--"Wife," quoth he,
+"is it breakfast time?" "Ay, husband, 'tis so," replied the lady.
+Whereupon:--"Spinelloccio is gone to breakfast with a friend to-day,"
+quoth Zeppa, "leaving his wife at home: get thee to the window, and call
+her, and bid her come and breakfast with us." The lady, whose fear for
+herself made her mighty obedient, did as her husband bade her; and after
+much pressing Spinelloccio's wife came to breakfast with them, though she
+was given to understand that her husband would not be of the company. So,
+she being come, Zeppa received her most affectionately, and taking her
+familiarly by the hand, bade his wife, in an undertone, get her to the
+kitchen; he then led Spinelloccio's wife into the chamber, and locked the
+door. Hearing the key turn in the lock:--"Alas!" quoth the lady, "what
+means this, Zeppa? Is't for this you have brought me here? Is this the
+love you bear Spinelloccio? Is this your loyalty to him as your friend
+and comrade?" By the time she had done speaking, Zeppa, still keeping
+fast hold of her, was beside the chest, in which her husband was locked.
+Wherefore:--"Madam," quoth he, "spare me thy reproaches, until thou hast
+heard what I have to say to thee. I have loved, I yet love, Spinelloccio
+as a brother; and yesterday, though he knew it not, I discovered that the
+trust I reposed in him has for its guerdon that he lies with my wife, as
+with thee. Now, for that I love him, I purpose not to be avenged upon him
+save in the sort in which he offended. He has had my wife, and I intend
+to have thee. So thou wilt not grant me what I crave of thee, be sure I
+shall not fail to take it; and having no mind to let this affront pass
+unavenged, will make such play with him that neither thou nor he shall
+ever be happy again." The lady hearkening, and by dint of his repeated
+asseverations coming at length to believe him:--"Zeppa mine," quoth she,
+"as this thy vengeance is to light upon me, well content am I; so only
+thou let not this which we are to do embroil me with thy wife, with whom,
+notwithstanding the evil turn she has done me, I am minded to remain at
+peace." "Have no fear on that score," replied Zeppa; "nay, I will give
+thee into the bargain a jewel so rare and fair that thou hast not the
+like." Which said, he took her in his arms and fell a kissing her, and
+having laid her on the chest, in which her husband was safe under lock
+and key, did there disport himself with her to his heart's content, as
+she with him.
+
+Spinelloccio in the chest heard all that Zeppa had said, and how he was
+answered by the lady, and the Trevisan dance that afterwards went on over
+his head; whereat his mortification was such that for a great while he
+scarce hoped to live through it; and, but for the fear he had of Zeppa,
+he would have given his wife a sound rating, close prisoner though he
+was. But, as he bethought him that 'twas he that had given the first
+affront, and that Zeppa had good cause for acting as he did, and that he
+had dealt with him considerately and as a good fellow should, he resolved
+that if it were agreeable to Zeppa, they should be faster friends than
+ever before. However, Zeppa, having had his pleasure with the lady, got
+down from the chest, and being reminded by the lady of his promise of the
+jewel, opened the door of the chamber and brought his wife in. Quoth she
+with a laugh:--"Madam, you have given me tit for tat," and never a word
+more. Whereupon:--"Open the chest," quoth Zeppa; and she obeying, he
+shewed the lady her Spinelloccio lying therein. 'Twould be hard to say
+whether of the twain was the more shame-stricken, Spinelloccio to be
+confronted with Zeppa, knowing that Zeppa wist what he had done, or the
+lady to meet her husband's eyes, knowing that he had heard what went on
+above his head. "Lo, here is the jewel I give thee," quoth Zeppa to her,
+pointing to Spinelloccio, who, as he came forth of the chest, blurted
+out:--"Zeppa, we are quits, and so 'twere best, as thou saidst a while
+ago to my wife, that we still be friends as we were wont, and as we had
+nought separate, save our wives, that henceforth we have them also in
+common." "Content," quoth Zeppa; and so in perfect peace and accord they
+all four breakfasted together. And thenceforth each of the ladies had two
+husbands, and each of the husbands two wives; nor was there ever the
+least dispute or contention between them on that score.
+
+(1) A suburb of Siena.
+
+
+NOVEL IX.
+
+--
+Bruno and Buffalmacco prevail upon Master Simone, a physician, to betake
+him by night to a certain place, there to be enrolled in a company that
+go the course. Buffalmacco throws him into a foul ditch, and there they
+leave him.
+--
+
+When the ladies had made merry a while over the partnership in wives
+established by the two Sienese, the queen, who now, unless she were
+minded to infringe Dioneo's privilege, alone remained to tell, began on
+this wise:--Fairly earned indeed, loving ladies, was the flout that
+Spinelloccio got from Zeppa. Wherefore my judgment jumps with that which
+Pampinea expressed a while ago, to wit, that he is not severely to be
+censured who bestows a flout on one that provokes it or deserves it; and
+as Spinelloccio deserved it, so 'tis my purpose to tell you of one that
+provoked it, for I deem that those from whom he received it, were rather
+to be commended than condemned. The man that got it was a physician, who,
+albeit he was but a blockhead, returned from Bologna to Florence in
+mantle and hood of vair.
+
+'Tis matter of daily experience that our citizens come back to us from
+Bologna, this man a judge, that a physician, and the other a notary,
+flaunting it in ample flowing robes, and adorned with the scarlet and the
+vair and other array most goodly to see; and how far their doings
+correspond with this fair seeming, is also matter of daily experience.
+Among whom 'tis not long since Master Simone da Villa, one whose
+patrimony was more ample than his knowledge, came back wearing the
+scarlet and a broad stripe(1) on the shoulder, and a doctor, as he called
+himself, and took a house in the street that we now call Via del
+Cocomero. Now this Master Simone, being thus, as we said, come back, had
+this among other singular habits, that he could never see a soul pass
+along the street, but he must needs ask any that was by, who that man
+was; and he was as observant of all the doings of men, and as sedulous to
+store his memory with such matters, as if they were to serve him to
+compound the drugs that he was to give his patients. Now, of all that he
+saw, those that he eyed most observantly were two painters, of whom here
+to-day mention has twice been made, Bruno, to wit, and Buffalmacco, who
+were ever together, and were his neighbours. And as it struck him that
+they daffed the world aside and lived more lightheartedly than any others
+that he knew, as indeed they did, he enquired of not a few folk as to
+their rank. And learning on all hands that they were poor men and
+painters, he could not conceive it possible that they should live thus
+contentedly in poverty, but made his mind up that, being, as he was
+informed, clever fellows, they must have some secret source from which
+they drew immense gains; for which reason he grew all agog to get on
+friendly terms with them, or any rate with one of them, and did succeed
+in making friends with Bruno.
+
+Bruno, who had not needed to be much with him in order to discover that
+this physician was but a dolt, had never such a jolly time in palming off
+his strange stories upon him, while the physician, on his part, was
+marvellously delighted with Bruno; to whom, having bidden him to
+breakfast, and thinking that for that reason he might talk familiarly
+with him, he expressed the amazement with which he regarded both him and
+Buffalmacco, for that, being but poor men, they lived so lightheartedly,
+and asked him to tell him how they managed. At which fresh proof of the
+doctor's simplicity and fatuity Bruno was inclined to laugh; but,
+bethinking him that 'twere best to answer him according to his folly, he
+said:--"Master, there are not many persons to whom I would disclose our
+manner of life, but, as you are my friend, and I know you will not let it
+go further, I do not mind telling you. The fact is that my comrade and I
+live not only as lightheartedly and jovially as you see, but much more
+so; and yet neither our art, nor any property that we possess, yields us
+enough to keep us in water: not that I would have you suppose that we go
+a thieving: no, 'tis that we go the course, and thereby without the least
+harm done to a soul we get all that we need, nay, all that we desire; and
+thus it is that we live so lightheartedly as you see." Which explanation
+the doctor believing none the less readily that he knew not what it
+meant, was lost in wonder, and forthwith burned with a most vehement
+desire to know what going the course might be, and was instant with Bruno
+to expound it, assuring him that he would never tell a soul. "Alas!
+Master," said Bruno, "what is this you ask of me? 'Tis a mighty great
+secret you would have me impart to you: 'twould be enough to undo me, to
+send me packing out of the world, nay, into the very jaws of Lucifer of
+San Gallo,(2) if it came to be known. But such is the respect in which I
+hold your quiditative pumpionship of Legnaia, and the trust I repose in
+you, that I am not able to deny you aught you ask of me; and so I will
+tell it you, on condition that you swear by the cross at Montesone that
+you will keep your promise, and never repeat it to a soul."
+
+The Master gave the required assurance. Whereupon:--"You are then to
+know," quoth Bruno, "sweet my Master, that 'tis not long since there was
+in this city a great master in necromancy, hight Michael Scott, for that
+he was of Scotland, and great indeed was the honour in which he was held
+by not a few gentlemen, most of whom are now dead; and when the time came
+that he must needs depart from Florence, he at their instant entreaty
+left behind him two pupils, adepts both, whom he bade hold themselves
+ever ready to pleasure those gentlemen who had done him honour. And very
+handsomely they did serve the said gentlemen in certain of their love
+affairs and other little matters; and finding the city and the manners of
+the citizens agreeable to them, they made up their minds to stay here
+always, and grew friendly and very intimate with some of the citizens,
+making no distinction between gentle and simple, rich or poor, so only
+they were such as were conformable to their ways. And to gratify these
+their friends they formed a company of perhaps twenty-five men, to meet
+together at least twice a month in a place appointed by them; where, when
+they are met, each utters his desire, and forthwith that same night they
+accomplish it. Now Buffalmacco and I, being extraordinarily great and
+close friends with these two adepts, were by them enrolled in this
+company, and are still members of it. And I assure you that, as often as
+we are assembled together, the adornments of the saloon in which we eat
+are a marvel to see, ay, and the tables laid as for kings, and the
+multitudes of stately and handsome servants, as well women as men, at the
+beck and call of every member of the company, and the basins, and the
+ewers, the flasks and the cups, and all else that is there for our
+service in eating and drinking, of nought but gold and silver, and
+therewithal the abundance and variety of the viands, suited to the taste
+of each, that are set before us, each in due course, these too be
+marvels. 'Twere vain for me to seek to describe to you the sweet concord
+that is there of innumerable instruments of music, and the tuneful songs
+that salute our ears; nor might I hope to tell you how much wax is burned
+at these banquets, or compute the quantity of the comfits that are eaten,
+or the value of the wines that are drunk. Nor, my pumpkin o' wit, would I
+have you suppose that, when we are there, we wear our common clothes,
+such as you now see me wear; nay, there is none there so humble but he
+shews as an emperor, so sumptuous are our garments, so splendid our
+trappings. But among all the delights of the place none may compare with
+the fair ladies, who, so one do but wish, are brought thither from every
+part of the world. Why, you might see there My Lady of the Barbanichs,
+the Queen of the Basques, the Consort of the Soldan, the Empress of
+Osbech, the Ciancianfera of Nornieca, the Semistante of Berlinzone, and
+the Scalpedra of Narsia. But why seek to enumerate them all? They include
+all the queens in the world, ay, even to the Schinchimurra of Prester
+John, who has the horns sprouting out of her nether end: so there's for
+you. Now when these ladies have done with the wine and the comfits, they
+tread a measure or two, each with the man at whose behest she is come,
+and then all go with their gallants to their chambers. And know that each
+of these chambers shews as a very Paradise, so fair is it, ay, and no
+less fragrant than the cases of aromatics in your shop when you are
+pounding the cumin: and therein are beds that you would find more goodly
+than that of the Doge of Venice, and 'tis in them we take our rest; and
+how busily they ply the treadle, and how lustily they tug at the frame to
+make the stuff close and compact, I leave you to imagine. However, among
+the luckiest of all I reckon Buffalmacco and myself; for that Buffalmacco
+for the most part fetches him the Queen of France, and I do the like with
+the Queen of England, who are just the finest women in the world, and we
+have known how to carry it with them so that we are the very eyes of
+their heads. So I leave it to your own judgment to determine whether we
+have not good cause to live and bear ourselves with a lighter heart than
+others, seeing that we are beloved of two such great queens, to say
+nothing of the thousand or two thousand florins that we have of them
+whenever we are so minded. Now this in the vulgar we call going the
+course, because, as the corsairs prey upon all the world, so do we;
+albeit with this difference, that, whereas they never restore their
+spoil, we do so as soon as we have done with it. So now, my worthy
+Master, you understand what we mean by going the course; but how close it
+behoves you to keep such a secret, you may see for yourself; so I spare
+you any further exhortations."
+
+The Master, whose skill did not reach, perhaps, beyond the treatment of
+children for the scurf, took all that Bruno said for gospel, and burned
+with so vehement a desire to be admitted into this company, that he could
+not have longed for the summum bonum itself with more ardour. So, after
+telling Bruno that indeed 'twas no wonder they bore them lightheartedly,
+he could scarce refrain from asking him there and then to have him
+enrolled, albeit he deemed it more prudent to defer his suit, until by
+lavishing honour upon him he had gained a right to urge it with more
+confidence. He therefore made more and more of him, had him to breakfast
+and sup with him, and treated him with extraordinary respect. In short,
+such and so constant was their intercourse that it seemed as though the
+Master wist not how to live without Bruno. As it went so well with him,
+Bruno, to mark his sense of the honour done him by the doctor, painted in
+his saloon a picture symbolical of Lent, and an Agnus Dei at the entrance
+of his chamber, and an alembic over his front door, that those who would
+fain consult him might know him from other physicians, besides a battle
+of rats and mice in his little gallery, which the doctor thought an
+extremely fine piece. And from time to time, when he had not supped with
+the Master, he would say to him:--"Last night I was with the company, and
+being a little tired of the Queen of England, I fetched me the Gumedra of
+the great Can of Tarisi." "Gumedra," quoth the Master; "what is she? I
+know not the meaning of these words." "Thereat, Master," replied Bruno,
+"I marvel not; for I have heard tell that neither Porcograsso nor
+Vannacena say aught thereof." "Thou wouldst say Ippocrasso and Avicenna,"
+returned the Master. "I'faith I know not," quoth Bruno. "I as ill know
+the meaning of your words as you of mine. But Gumedra in the speech of
+the great Can signifies the same as Empress in ours. Ah! a fine woman you
+would find her, and plenty of her! I warrant she would make you forget
+your drugs and prescriptions and plasters." And so, Bruno from time to
+time whetting the Master's appetite, and the Master at length thinking
+that by his honourable entreatment of him he had fairly made a conquest
+of Bruno, it befell that one evening, while he held the light for Bruno,
+who was at work on the battle of rats and mice, he determined to discover
+to him his desire; and as they were alone, thus he spoke:--"God knows,
+Bruno, that there lives not the man, for whom I would do as much as for
+thee: why, if thou wast to bid me go all the way from here to
+Peretola,(3) I almost think I would do so; wherefore I trust thou wilt
+not deem it strange if I talk to thee as an intimate friend and in
+confidence. Thou knowest 'tis not long since thou didst enlarge with me
+on thy gay company and their doings, which has engendered in me such a
+desire as never was to know more thereof. Nor without reason, as thou
+wilt discover, should I ever become a member of the said company, for I
+straightway give thee leave to make game of me, should I not then fetch
+me the fairest maid thou hast seen this many a day, whom I saw last year
+at Cacavincigli, and to whom I am entirely devoted; and by the body of
+Christ I offered her ten Bolognese groats, that she should pleasure me,
+and she would not. Wherefore I do most earnestly entreat thee to instruct
+me what I must do to fit myself for membership in the company; and never
+doubt that in me you will have a true and loyal comrade, and one that
+will do you honour. And above all thou seest how goodly I am of my
+person, and how well furnished with legs, and of face as fresh as a rose;
+and therewithal I am a doctor of medicine, and I scarce think you have
+any such among you; and not a little excellent lore I have, and many a
+good song by heart, of which I will sing thee one;" and forthwith he fell
+a singing.
+
+Bruno had such a mind to laugh, that he could scarce contain himself; but
+still he kept a grave countenance; and, when the Master had ended his
+song, and said:--"How likes it thee?" he answered:--"Verily, no lyre of
+straw could vie with you, so artargutically(4) you refine your strain."
+"I warrant thee," returned the Master, "thou hadst never believed it,
+hadst thou not heard me." "Ay, indeed, sooth sayst thou," quoth Bruno.
+"And I have other songs to boot," said the Master; "but enough of this at
+present. Thou must know that I, such as thou seest me, am a gentleman's
+son, albeit my father lived in the contado; and on my mother's side I
+come of the Vallecchio family. And as thou mayst have observed I have
+quite the finest library and wardrobe of all the physicians in Florence.
+God's faith! I have a robe that cost, all told, close upon a hundred
+pounds in bagattines(5) more than ten years ago. Wherefore I make most
+instant suit to thee that thou get me enrolled, which if thou do, God's
+faith! be thou never so ill, thou shalt pay me not a stiver for my
+tendance of thee." Whereupon Bruno, repeating to himself, as he had done
+many a time before, that the doctor was a very numskull:--"Master," quoth
+he, "shew a little more light here, and have patience until I have put
+the finishing touches to the tails of these rats, and then I will answer
+you." So he finished the tails, and then, putting on an air as if he were
+not a little embarrassed by the request:--"Master mine," quoth he, "I
+should have great things to expect from you; that I know: but yet what
+you ask of me, albeit to your great mind it seems but a little thing, is
+a weighty matter indeed for me; nor know I a soul in the world, to whom,
+though well able, I would grant such a request, save to you alone: and
+this I say not for friendship's sake alone, albeit I love you as I ought,
+but for that your discourse is so fraught with wisdom, that 'tis enough
+to make a beguine start out of her boots, much more, then, to incline me
+to change my purpose; and the more I have of your company, the wiser I
+repute you. Whereto I may add, that, if for no other cause, I should
+still be well disposed towards you for the love I see you bear to that
+fair piece of flesh of which you spoke but now. But this I must tell you:
+'tis not in my power to do as you would have me in this matter; but,
+though I cannot myself do the needful in your behalf, if you will pledge
+your faith, whole and solid as may be, to keep my secret, I will shew you
+how to go about it for yourself, and I make no doubt that, having this
+fine library and the other matters you spoke of a while ago, you will
+compass your end." Quoth then the Master:--"Nay, but speak freely; I see
+thou dost yet scarce know me, and how well I can keep a secret. There
+were few things that Messer Guasparruolo da Saliceto did, when he was
+Podesta of Forlinpopoli, that he did not confide to me, so safe he knew
+they would be in my keeping: and wouldst thou be satisfied that I say
+sooth? I assure you I was the first man whom he told that he was about to
+marry Bergamina: so there's for thee." "Well and good," said Bruno, "if
+such as he confided in you, well indeed may I do the like. Know, then,
+that you will have to proceed on this wise:--Our company is governed by a
+captain and a council of two, who are changed every six months: and on
+the calends without fail Buffalmacco will be captain, and I councillor:
+'tis so fixed: and the captain has not a little power to promote the
+admission and enrolment of whomsoever he will: wherefore, methinks, you
+would do well to make friends with Buffalmacco and honourably entreat
+him: he is one that, marking your great wisdom, will take a mighty liking
+to you forthwith; and when you have just a little dazzled him with your
+wisdom and these fine things of yours, you may make your request to him;
+and he will not know how to say no--I have already talked with him of
+you, and he is as well disposed to you as may be--and having so done you
+will leave the rest to me." Whereupon:--"Thy words are to me for an
+exceeding great joy," quoth the Master: "and if he be one that loves to
+converse with sages, he has but to exchange a word or two with me, and I
+will answer for it that he will be ever coming to see me; for so fraught
+with wisdom am I, that I could furnish a whole city therewith, and still
+remain a great sage."
+
+Having thus set matters in train, Bruno related the whole affair, point
+by point, to Buffalmacco, to whom it seemed a thousand years till he
+should be able to give Master Noodle that of which he was in quest. The
+doctor, now all agog to go the course, lost no time, and found no
+difficulty, in making friends with Buffalmacco, and fell to entertaining
+him, and Bruno likewise, at breakfast and supper in most magnificent
+style; while they fooled him to the top of his bent; for, being gentlemen
+that appreciated excellent wines and fat capons, besides other good cheer
+in plenty, they were inclined to be very neighbourly, and needed no
+second bidding, but, always letting him understand that there was none
+other whose company they relished so much, kept ever with him.
+
+However, in due time the Master asked of Buffalmacco that which he had
+before asked of Bruno. Whereat Buffalmacco feigned to be not a little
+agitated, and turning angrily to Bruno, made a great pother about his
+ears, saying:--"By the Most High God of Pasignano I vow I can scarce
+forbear to give thee that over the head that should make thy nose fall
+about thy heels, traitor that thou art, for 'tis thou alone that canst
+have discovered these secrets to the Master." Whereupon the Master
+interposed with no little vigour, averring with oaths that 'twas from
+another source that he had gotten his knowledge; and Buffalmacco at
+length allowed himself to be pacified by the sage's words. So turning to
+him:--"Master," quoth he, "'tis evident indeed that you have been at
+Bologna, and have come back hither with a mouth that blabs not, and that
+'twas on no pippin, as many a dolt does, but on the good long pumpkin
+that you learned your A B C; and, if I mistake not, you were baptized on
+a Sunday;(6) and though Bruno has told me that 'twas medicine you studied
+there, 'tis my opinion that you there studied the art of catching men, of
+which, what with your wisdom and your startling revelations, you are the
+greatest master that ever I knew." He would have said more, but the
+doctor, turning to Bruno, broke in with:--"Ah! what it is to consort and
+converse with the wise! Who but this worthy man would thus have read my
+mind through and through? Less quick by far to rate me at my true worth
+wast thou. But what said I when thou toldst me that Buffalmacco delighted
+to converse with sages? Confess now; have I not kept my word?" "Verily,"
+quoth Bruno, "you have more than kept it." Then, addressing
+Buffalmacco:--"Ah!" cried the Master, "what hadst thou said, hadst thou
+seen me at Bologna, where there was none, great or small, doctor or
+scholar, but was devoted to me, so well wist I how to entertain them with
+my words of wisdom. Nay more; let me tell thee that there was never a
+word I spoke but set every one a laughing, so great was the pleasure it
+gave them. And at my departure they all deplored it most bitterly, and
+would have had me remain, and by way of inducement went so far as to
+propose that I should be sole lecturer to all the students in medicine
+that were there; which offer I declined, for that I was minded to return
+hither, having vast estates here, that have ever belonged to my family;
+which, accordingly, I did." Quoth then Bruno to Buffalmacco:--"How shews
+it, now, man? Thou didst not believe me when I told thee what he was. By
+the Gospels there is never a physician in this city that has the lore of
+ass's urine by heart as he has: verily, thou wouldst not find his like
+between here and the gates of Paris. Now see if thou canst help doing as
+he would have thee." "'Tis even as Bruno says," observed the doctor, "but
+I am not understood here. You Florentines are somewhat slow of wit. Would
+you could see me in my proper element, among a company of doctors!"
+Whereupon:--"Of a truth, Master," quoth Buffalmacco, "your lore far
+exceeds any I should ever have imputed to you; wherefore, addressing you
+as 'tis meet to address a man of your wisdom, I give you disjointedly to
+understand that without fail I will procure your enrolment in our
+company."
+
+After this promise the honours lavished by the doctor upon the two men
+grew and multiplied; in return for which they diverted themselves by
+setting him a prancing upon every wildest chimera in the world; and
+promised, among other matters, to give him by way of mistress, the
+Countess of Civillari,(7) whom they averred to be the goodliest creature
+to be found in all the Netherlands of the human race; and the doctor
+asking who this Countess might be:--"Mature my gherkin," quoth
+Buffalmacco, "she is indeed a very great lady, and few houses are there
+in the world in which she has not some jurisdiction; nay, the very Friars
+Minors, to say nought of other folk, pay her tribute to the sound of the
+kettle-drum. And I may tell you that, when she goes abroad, she makes her
+presence very sensibly felt, albeit for the most part she keeps herself
+close: however, 'tis no great while since she passed by your door one
+night on her way to the Arno to bathe her feet and get a breath of air;
+but most of her time she abides at Laterina.(8) Serjeants has she not a
+few that go their rounds at short intervals, bearing, one and all, the
+rod and the bucket in token of her sovereignty, and barons in plenty in
+all parts, as Tamagnino della Porta,(9) Don Meta,(10) Manico di
+Scopa,(11) Squacchera,(12) and others, with whom I doubt not you are
+intimately acquainted, though you may not just now bear them in mind.
+Such, then, is the great lady, in whose soft arms we, if we delude not
+ourselves, will certainly place you, in which case you may well dispense
+with her of Cacavincigli."
+
+The doctor, who had been born and bred at Bologna, and understood not
+their words, found the lady quite to his mind; and shortly afterwards the
+painters brought him tidings of his election into the company. Then came
+the day of the nocturnal gathering, and the doctor had the two men to
+breakfast; and when they had breakfasted, he asked them after what manner
+he was to join the company. Whereupon:--"Lo, now, Master," quoth
+Buffalmacco, "you have need of a stout heart; otherwise you may meet with
+some let, to our most grievous hurt; and for what cause you have need of
+this stout heart, you shall hear. You must contrive to be to-night about
+the hour of first sleep on one of the raised tombs that have been lately
+placed outside of Santa Maria Novella; and mind that you wear one of your
+best gowns, that your first appearance may impress the company with a
+proper sense of your dignity, and also because, as we are informed, for
+we were not present at the time, the Countess, by reason that you are a
+gentleman, is minded to make you a Knight of the Bath at her own charges.
+So you will wait there, until one, whom we shall send, come for you: who,
+that you may know exactly what you have to expect, will be a beast black
+and horned, of no great size; and he will go snorting and bounding amain
+about the piazza in front of you, with intent to terrify you; but, when
+he perceives that you are not afraid, he will draw nigh you quietly, and
+when he is close by you, then get you down from the tomb, fearing
+nothing; and, minding you neither of God nor of the saints, mount him,
+and when you are well set on his back, then fold your arms upon your
+breast, as in submission, and touch him no more. Then, going gently, he
+will bear you to us; but once mind you of God, or the saints, or give way
+to fear, and I warn you, he might give you a fall, or dash you against
+something that you would find scarce pleasant; wherefore, if your heart
+misgives you, you were best not to come, for you would assuredly do
+yourself a mischief, and us no good at all." Quoth then the doctor:--"You
+know me not as yet; 'tis perchance because I wear the gloves and the long
+robe that you misdoubt me. Ah! did you but know what feats I have done in
+times past at Bologna, when I used to go after the women with my
+comrades, you would be lost in amazement. God's faith! on one of those
+nights there was one of them, a poor sickly creature she was too, and
+stood not a cubit in height, who would not come with us; so first I
+treated her to many a good cuff, and then I took her up by main force,
+and carried her well-nigh as far as a cross-bow will send a bolt, and so
+caused her, willy-nilly, come with us. And on another occasion I mind me
+that, having none other with me but my servant, a little after the hour
+of Ave Maria, I passed beside the cemetery of the Friars Minors, and,
+though that very day a woman had been there interred, I had no fear at
+all. So on this score you may make your minds easy; for indeed I am a man
+of exceeding great courage and prowess. And to appear before you with due
+dignity, I will don my scarlet gown, in which I took my doctor's degree,
+and it remains to be seen if the company will not give me a hearty
+welcome, and make me captain out of hand. Let me once be there, and you
+will see how things will go; else how is it that this countess, that has
+not yet seen me, is already so enamoured of me that she is minded to make
+me a Knight of the Bath? And whether I shall find knighthood agreeable,
+or know how to support the dignity well or ill, leave that to me."
+Whereupon:--"Well said, excellent well said," quoth Buffalmacco: "but
+look to it you disappoint us not, either by not coming or by not being
+found, when we send for you; and this I say, because 'tis cold weather,
+and you medical gentlemen take great care of your health." "God forbid,"
+replied the doctor, "I am none of your chilly folk; I fear not the cold:
+'tis seldom indeed, when I leave my bed a nights, to answer the call of
+nature, as one must at times, that I do more than throw a pelisse over my
+doublet; so rest assured that I shall be there."
+
+So they parted; and towards nightfall the Master found a pretext for
+leaving his wife, and privily got out his fine gown, which in due time he
+donned, and so hied him to the tombs, and having perched himself on one
+of them, huddled himself together, for 'twas mighty cold, to await the
+coming of the beast. Meanwhile Buffalmacco, who was a tall man and
+strong, provided himself with one of those dominos that were wont to be
+worn in certain revels which are now gone out of fashion; and enveloped
+in a black pelisse turned inside out, shewed like a bear, save that the
+domino had the face of a devil, and was furnished with horns: in which
+guise, Bruno following close behind to see the sport, he hied him to the
+piazza of Santa Maria Novella. And no sooner wist he that the Master was
+on the tomb, than he fell a careering in a most wild and furious manner
+to and fro the piazza, and snorting and bellowing and gibbering like one
+demented, insomuch that, as soon as the Master was ware of him, each
+several hair on his head stood on end, and he fell a trembling in every
+limb, being in sooth more timid than a woman, and wished himself safe at
+home: but as there he was, he strove might and main to keep his spirits
+up, so overmastering was his desire to see the marvels of which Bruno and
+Buffalmacco had told him. However, after a while Buffalmacco allowed his
+fury to abate, and came quietly up to the tomb on which the Master was,
+and stood still. The Master, still all of a tremble with fear, could not
+at first make up his mind, whether to get on the beast's back, or no; but
+at length, doubting it might be the worse for him if he did not mount the
+beast, he overcame the one dread by the aid of the other, got down from
+the tomb, saying under his breath:--"God help me!" and seated himself
+very comfortably on the beast's back; and then, still quaking in every
+limb, he folded his arms as he had been bidden.
+
+Buffalmacco now started, going on all-fours, at a very slow pace, in the
+direction of Santa Maria della Scala, and so brought the Master within a
+short distance of the Convent of the Ladies of Ripoli. Now, in that
+quarter there were divers trenches, into which the husbandmen of those
+parts were wont to discharge the Countess of Civillari, that she might
+afterwards serve them to manure their land. Of one of which trenches, as
+he came by, Buffalmacco skirted the edge, and seizing his opportunity,
+raised a hand, and caught the doctor by one of his feet, and threw him
+off his back and headforemost right into the trench, and then, making a
+terrific noise and frantic gestures as before, went bounding off by Santa
+Maria della Scala towards the field of Ognissanti, where he found Bruno,
+who had betaken him thither that he might laugh at his ease; and there
+the two men in high glee took their stand to observe from a distance how
+the bemired doctor would behave. Finding himself in so loathsome a place,
+the Master struggled might and main to raise himself and get out; and
+though again and again he slipped back, and swallowed some drams of the
+ordure, yet, bemired from head to foot, woebegone and crestfallen, he did
+at last get out, leaving his hood behind him. Then, removing as much of
+the filth as he might with his hands, knowing not what else to do, he got
+him home, where, by dint of much knocking, he at last gained admittance;
+and scarce was the door closed behind the malodorous Master, when Bruno
+and Buffalmacco were at it, all agog to hear after what manner he would
+be received by his wife. They were rewarded by hearing her give him the
+soundest rating that ever bad husband got. "Ah!" quoth she, "fine doings,
+these! Thou hast been with some other woman, and wast minded to make a
+brave shew in thy scarlet gown. So I was not enough for thee! not enough
+for thee forsooth, I that might content a crowd! Would they had choked
+thee with the filth in which they have soused thee; 'twas thy fit
+resting-place. Now, to think that a physician of repute, and a married
+man, should go by night after strange women!" Thus, and with much more to
+the like effect, while the doctor was busy washing himself, she ceased
+not to torment him until midnight.
+
+On the morrow, Bruno and Buffalmacco, having painted their bodies all
+over with livid patches to give them the appearance of having been
+thrashed, came to the doctor's house, and finding that he was already
+risen, went in, being saluted on all hands by a foul smell, for time had
+not yet served thoroughly to cleanse the house. The doctor, being
+informed that they were come to see him, advanced to meet them, and bade
+them good morning. Whereto Bruno and Buffalmacco, having prepared their
+answer, replied:--"No good morning shall you have from us: rather we pray
+God to give you bad years enough to make an end of you, seeing that there
+lives no more arrant and faithless traitor. 'Tis no fault of yours, if
+we, that did our best to honour and pleasure you, have not come by a
+dog's death; your faithlessness has cost us to-night as many sound blows
+as would more than suffice to keep an ass a trotting all the way from
+here to Rome; besides which, we have been in peril of expulsion from the
+company in which we arranged for your enrolment. If you doubt our words,
+look but at our bodies, what a state they are in." And so, baring their
+breasts they gave him a glimpse of the patches they had painted there,
+and forthwith covered them up again. The doctor would have made them his
+excuses, and recounted his misfortunes, and how he had been thrown into
+the trench. But Buffalmacco broke in with:--"Would he had thrown you from
+the bridge into the Arno! Why must you needs mind you of God and the
+saints? Did we not forewarn you?" "God's faith," returned the doctor,
+"that did I not." "How?" quoth Buffalmacco, "you did not? You do so above
+a little; for he that we sent for you told us that you trembled like an
+aspen, and knew not where you were. You have played us a sorry trick; but
+never another shall do so; and as for you, we will give you such requital
+thereof as you deserve." The doctor now began to crave their pardon, and
+to implore them for God's sake not to expose him to shame, and used all
+the eloquence at his command to make his peace with them. And if he had
+honourably entreated them before, he thenceforth, for fear they should
+publish his disgrace, did so much more abundantly, and courted them both
+by entertaining them at his table and in other ways. And so you have
+heard how wisdom is imparted to those that get it not at Bologna.
+
+(1) The distinguishing mark of a doctor in those days. Fanfani, Vocab.
+della Lingua Italiana, 1891, "Batolo."
+
+(2) Perhaps an allusion to some frightful picture.
+
+(3) About four miles from Florence.
+
+(4) In the Italian "artagoticamente," a word of Boccaccio's own minting.
+
+(5) A Venetian coin of extremely low value, being reckoned as 1/4 of the
+Florentine quattrino.
+
+(6) I.e. without salt, that Florentine symbol of wit, not being so
+readily procurable on a holiday as on working-days.
+
+(7) A public sink at Florence.
+
+(8) In the contado of Arezzo: the equivoque is tolerably obvious.
+
+(9) Slang for an ill-kept jakes.
+
+(10) Also slang: signifying a pyramidal pile of ordure.
+
+(11) Broom-handle.
+
+(12) The meaning of this term may perhaps be divined from the sound.
+
+
+NOVEL X.
+
+--
+A Sicilian woman cunningly conveys from a merchant that which he has
+brought to Palermo; he, making a shew of being come back thither with far
+greater store of goods than before, borrows money of her, and leaves her
+in lieu thereof water and tow.
+--
+
+How much in divers passages the queen's story moved the ladies to
+laughter, it boots not to ask: none was there in whose eyes the tears
+stood not full a dozen times for excess of merriment. However, it being
+ended, and Dioneo witting that 'twas now his turn, thus spake
+he:--Gracious ladies, 'tis patent to all that wiles are diverting in the
+degree of the wiliness of him that is by them beguiled. Wherefore, albeit
+stories most goodly have been told by you all, I purpose to relate one
+which should afford you more pleasure than any that has been told, seeing
+that she that was beguiled was far more cunning in beguiling others than
+any of the beguiled of whom you have spoken.
+
+There was, and perhaps still is, a custom in all maritime countries that
+have ports, that all merchants arriving there with merchandise, should,
+on discharging, bring all their goods into a warehouse, called in many
+places "dogana," and maintained by the state, or the lord of the land;
+where those that are assigned to that office allot to each merchant, on
+receipt of an invoice of all his goods and the value thereof, a room in
+which he stores his goods under lock and key; whereupon the said officers
+of the dogana enter all the merchant's goods to his credit in the book of
+the dogana, and afterwards make him pay duty thereon, or on such part as
+he withdraws from the warehouse. By which book of the dogana the brokers
+not seldom find out the sorts and quantities of the merchandise that is
+there, and also who are the owners thereof, with whom, as occasion
+serves, they afterwards treat of exchanges, barters, sales and other
+modes of disposing of the goods. Which custom obtained, as in many other
+places, so also at Palermo in Sicily, where in like manner there were and
+are not a few women, fair as fair can be, but foes to virtue, who by
+whoso knows them not would be reputed great and most virtuous ladies. And
+being given not merely to fleece but utterly to flay men, they no sooner
+espy a foreign merchant in the city, than they find out from the book of
+the dogana how much he has there and what he is good for; and then by
+caressing and amorous looks and gestures, and words of honeyed sweetness,
+they strive to entice and allure the merchant to their love, and not
+seldom have they succeeded, and wrested from him great part or the whole
+of his merchandise; and of some they have gotten goods and ship and flesh
+and bones, so delightsomely have they known how to ply the shears.
+
+Now 'tis not long since one of our young Florentines, Niccolo da Cignano
+by name, albeit he was called Salabaetto, arrived there, being sent by
+his masters with all the woollen stuffs that he had not been able to
+dispose of at Salerno fair, which might perhaps be worth five hundred
+florins of gold; and having given the invoice to the officers of the
+dogana and stored the goods, Salabaetto was in no hurry to get them out
+of bond, but took a stroll or two about the city for his diversion. And
+as he was fresh-complexioned and fair and not a little debonair, it so
+befell that one of these ladies that plied the shears, and called herself
+Jancofiore, began to ogle him. Whereof he taking note, and deeming that
+she was a great lady, supposed that she was taken by his good looks, and
+cast about how he might manage this amour with all due discretion;
+wherefore, saying nought to a soul, he began to pass to and fro before
+her house. Which she observing, occupied herself for a few days in
+inflaming his passion, and then affecting to be dying of love for him,
+sent privily to him a woman that she had in her service, and who was an
+adept in the arts of the procuress. She, after not a little palaver, told
+him, while the tears all but stood in her eyes, that for his handsome
+person and winsome air her mistress was so enamoured of him, that she
+found no peace by day or by night; and therefore, if 'twere agreeable to
+him, there was nought she desired so much as to meet him privily at a
+bagnio: whereupon she drew a ring from her purse, and gave it him by way
+of token from her mistress. Overjoyed as ne'er another to hear such good
+news, Salabaetto took the ring, and, after drawing it across his eyes and
+kissing it, put it on his finger, and told the good woman that, if
+Madonna Jancofiore loved him, she was well requited, for that he loved
+her more dearly than himself, and that he was ready to meet her wherever
+and whenever she might see fit. With which answer the procuress hied her
+back to her mistress, and shortly afterwards Salabaetto was informed that
+he was to meet the lady at a certain bagnio at vespers of the ensuing
+day.
+
+So, saying nought to a soul of the matter, he hied him punctually at the
+appointed hour to the bagnio, and found that it had been taken by the
+lady; nor had he long to wait before two female slaves made their
+appearance, bearing on their heads, the one a great and goodly mattress
+of wadding, and the other a huge and well-filled basket; and having laid
+the mattress on a bedstead in one of the rooms of the bagnio, they
+covered it with a pair of sheets of the finest fabric, bordered with
+silk, and a quilt of the whitest Cyprus buckram, with two
+daintily-embroidered pillows. The slaves then undressed and got into the
+bath, which they thoroughly washed and scrubbed: whither soon afterwards
+the lady, attended by other two female slaves, came, and made haste to
+greet Salabaetto with the heartiest of cheer; and when, after heaving
+many a mighty sigh, she had embraced and kissed him:--"I know not," quoth
+she, "who but thou could have brought me to this, such a fire hast thou
+kindled in my soul, little dog of a Tuscan!" Whereupon she was pleased
+that they should undress, and get into the bath, and two of the slaves
+with them; which, accordingly, they did; and she herself, suffering none
+other to lay a hand upon him, did with wondrous care wash Salabaetto from
+head to foot with soap perfumed with musk and cloves; after which she let
+the slaves wash and shampoo herself. The slaves then brought two spotless
+sheets of finest texture, which emitted such a scent of roses, that 'twas
+as if there was nought there but roses, in one of which having wrapped
+Salabaetto, and in the other the lady, they bore them both to bed, where,
+the sheets in which they were enfolded being withdrawn by the slaves as
+soon as they had done sweating, they remained stark naked in the others.
+The slaves then took from the basket cruets of silver most goodly, and
+full, this of rose-water, that of water of orange-blossom, a third of
+water of jasmine-blossom, and a fourth of nanfa(1) water, wherewith they
+sprinkled them: after which, boxes of comfits and the finest wines being
+brought forth, they regaled them a while. To Salabaetto 'twas as if he
+were in Paradise; a thousand times he scanned the lady, who was indeed
+most beautiful; and he counted each hour as a hundred years until the
+slaves should get them gone, and he find himself in the lady's arms.
+
+At length, by the lady's command, the slaves departed, leaving a lighted
+torch in the room, and then the lady and Salabaetto embraced, and to
+Salabaetto's prodigious delight, for it seemed to him that she was all
+but dissolved for love of him, tarried there a good while. However, the
+time came when the lady must needs rise: so she called the slaves, with
+whose help they dressed, regaled them again for a while with wine and
+comfits, and washed their faces and hands with the odoriferous waters.
+Then as they were going, quoth the lady to Salabaetto:--"If it be
+agreeable to thee, I should deem it a very great favour if thou wouldst
+come to-night to sup and sleep with me." Salabaetto, who, captivated by
+her beauty and her studied graciousness, never doubted but he was dear to
+her as her very heart, made answer:--"Madam, there is nought you can
+desire but is in the last degree agreeable to me; wherefore to-night and
+ever 'tis my purpose to do whatsoever you may be pleased to command." So
+home the lady hied her, and having caused a brave shew to be made in her
+chamber with her dresses and other paraphernalia, and a grand supper to
+be prepared, awaited Salabaetto; who, being come there as soon as 'twas
+dark, had of her a gladsome welcome, and was regaled with an excellent
+and well-served supper. After which, they repaired to the chamber, where
+he was saluted by a wondrous sweet odour of aloe-wood, and observed that
+the bed was profusely furnished with birds,(2) after the fashion of
+Cyprus, and that not a few fine dresses were hanging upon the pegs. Which
+circumstances did, one and all, beget in him the belief that this must be
+a great and wealthy lady; and, though he had heard a hint or two to the
+contrary touching her life, he would by no means credit them; nor,
+supposing that she had perchance taken another with guile, would he
+believe that the same thing might befall him. So to his exceeding great
+solace, he lay with her that night, and ever grew more afire for her. On
+the morrow, as she was investing him with a fair and dainty girdle of
+silver, with a goodly purse attached:--"Sweet my Salabaetto," quoth she,
+"prithee forget me not; even as my person, so is all that I have at thy
+pleasure, and all that I can at thy command."
+
+Salabaetto then embraced and kissed her, and so bade her adieu, and
+betook him to the place where the merchants were wont to congregate. And
+so it befell that he, continuing to consort with her from time to time,
+and being never a denier the poorer thereby, disposed of his merchandise
+for ready money and at no small profit; whereof not by him but by another
+the lady was forthwith advised. And Salabaetto being come to see her one
+evening, she greeted him gaily and gamesomely, and fell a kissing and
+hugging him, and made as if she were so afire for love of him that she
+was like to die thereof in his arms; and offered to give him two most
+goodly silver cups that she had, which Salabaetto would not accept,
+having already had from her (taking one time with another) fully thirty
+florins of gold, while he had not been able to induce her to touch so
+much as a groat of his money. But when by this shew of passion and
+generosity she had thoroughly kindled his flame, in came, as she had
+arranged, one of her slaves, and spoke to her; whereupon out of the room
+she went, and after a while came back in tears, and threw herself prone
+on the bed, and set up the most dolorous lamentation that ever woman
+made. Whereat Salabaetto wondering, took her in his arms, and mingled his
+tears with hers, and said:--"Alas! heart of my body! what ails thee thus
+of a sudden? Wherefore art thou so distressed? Ah! tell me the reason, my
+soul." The lady allowed him to run on in this strain for a good while,
+and then:--"Alas! sweet my lord," quoth she, "I know not either what to
+do or what to say. I have but now received a letter from Messina, in
+which my brother bids me sell, if need be, all that I have here, and send
+him without fail within eight days a thousand florins of gold: otherwise
+he will forfeit his head. I know not how to come by them so soon: had I
+but fifteen days, I would make a shift to raise them in a quarter where I
+might raise a much larger sum, or I would sell one of our estates; but,
+as this may not be, would I had been dead or e'er this bad news had
+reached me!" Which said, affecting to be utterly broken-hearted, she
+ceased not to weep.
+
+Salabaetto, the ardour of whose passion had in great measure deprived him
+of the sagacity which the circumstances demanded, supposed that the tears
+were genuine enough, and the words even more so. Wherefore:--"Madam,"
+quoth he, "I could not furnish you with a thousand, but if five hundred
+florins of gold would suffice, they are at your service, if you think you
+could repay them within fifteen days; and you may deem yourself in luck's
+way, for 'twas only yesterday that I sold my woollens, which had I not
+done, I could not have lent you a groat." "Alas" returned the lady, "then
+thou hast been in straits for money? Oh! why didst thou not apply to me?
+Though I have not a thousand at my command, I could have given thee quite
+a hundred, nay indeed two hundred florins. By what thou hast said thou
+hast made me hesitate to accept the service that thou proposest to render
+me." Which words fairly delivered Salabaetto into the lady's hands,
+insomuch that:--"Madam," quoth he, "I would not have you decline my help
+for such a scruple; for had my need been as great as yours, I should
+certainly have applied to you." Quoth then the lady:--"Ah! Salabaetto
+mine, well I wot that the love thou bearest me is a true and perfect
+love, seeing that, without waiting to be asked, thou dost so handsomely
+come to my aid with so large a sum of money. And albeit I was thine
+without this token of thy love, yet, assuredly, it has made me thine in
+an even greater degree; nor shall I ever forget that 'tis to thee I owe
+my brother's life. But God knows I take thy money from thee reluctantly,
+seeing that thou art a merchant, and 'tis by means of money that
+merchants conduct all their affairs; but, as necessity constrains me, and
+I have good hope of speedily repaying thee, I will even take it, and by
+way of security, if I should find no readier method, I will pawn all that
+I have here." Which said, she burst into tears, and fell upon Salabaetto,
+pressing her cheek upon his.
+
+Salabaetto tried to comfort her; and having spent the night with her, on
+the morrow, being minded to shew himself her most devoted servant,
+brought her, without awaiting any reminder, five hundred fine florins of
+gold: which she, laughing at heart while the tears streamed from her
+eyes, took, Salabaetto trusting her mere promise of repayment. Now that
+the lady had gotten the money, the complexion of affairs began to alter;
+and whereas Salabaetto had been wont to have free access to her, whenever
+he was so minded, now for one reason or another he was denied admittance
+six times out of seven; nor did she greet him with the same smile, or
+shower on him the same caresses, or do him the same cheer as of yore. So
+a month, two months, passed beyond the time when he was to have been
+repaid his money; and when he demanded it, he was put off with words.
+Whereby Salabaetto, being now ware of the cheat which his slender wit had
+suffered the evil-disposed woman to put upon him, and also that, having
+neither writing nor witness against her, he was entirely at her mercy in
+regard of his claim, and being, moreover, ashamed to lodge any complaint
+with any one, as well because he had been forewarned of her character, as
+because he dreaded the ridicule to which his folly justly exposed him,
+was chagrined beyond measure, and inly bewailed his simplicity. And his
+masters having written to him, bidding him change the money and remit it
+to them, he, being apprehensive that, making default as he must, he
+should, if he remained there, be detected, resolved to depart; and having
+taken ship, he repaired, not, as he should have done, to Pisa, but to
+Naples; where at that time resided our gossip, Pietro dello Canigiano,
+treasurer of the Empress of Constantinople, a man of great sagacity and
+acuteness, and a very great friend of Salabaetto and his kinsfolk; to
+whom trusting in his great discretion, Salabaetto after a while
+discovered his distress, telling him what he had done, and the sorry
+plight in which by consequence he stood, and craving his aid and counsel,
+that he might the more readily find means of livelihood there, for that
+he was minded never to go back to Florence. Impatient to hear of such
+folly:--"'Twas ill done of thee," quoth Canigiano, "thou hast misbehaved
+thyself, wronged thy masters, and squandered an exorbitant sum in
+lewdness; however, 'tis done, and we must consider of the remedy." And
+indeed, like the shrewd man that he was, he had already bethought him
+what was best to be done; and forthwith he imparted it to Salabaetto.
+Which expedient Salabaetto approving, resolved to make the adventure; and
+having still a little money, and being furnished with a loan by
+Canigiano, he provided himself with not a few bales well and closely
+corded, and bought some twenty oil-casks, which he filled, and having put
+all on shipboard, returned to Palermo. There he gave the invoice of the
+bales, as also of the oil-casks, to the officers of the dogana, and
+having them all entered to his credit, laid them up in the store-rooms,
+saying that he purposed to leave them there until the arrival of other
+merchandise that he expected.
+
+Which Jancofiore learning, and being informed that the merchandise, that
+he had brought with him, was worth fully two thousand florins of gold, or
+even more, besides that which he expected, which was valued at more than
+three thousand florins of gold, bethought her that she had not aimed high
+enough, and that 'twere well to refund him the five hundred, if so she
+might make the greater part of the five thousand florins her own.
+Wherefore she sent for him, and Salabaetto, having learned his lesson of
+cunning, waited on her. Feigning to know nought of the cargo he had
+brought with him, she received him with marvellous cheer, and
+began:--"Lo, now, if thou wast angry with me because I did not repay thee
+thy money in due time:" but Salabaetto interrupted her, saying with a
+laugh:--"Madam 'tis true I was a little vexed, seeing that I would have
+plucked out my heart to pleasure you; but listen, and you shall learn the
+quality of my displeasure. Such and so great is the love I bear you, that
+I have sold the best part of all that I possess, whereby I have already
+in this port merchandise to the value of more than two thousand florins,
+and expect from the Levant other goods to the value of above three
+thousand florins, and mean to set up a warehouse in this city, and live
+here, to be ever near you, for that I deem myself more blessed in your
+love than any other lover that lives." Whereupon:--"Harkye, Salabaetto,"
+quoth the lady, "whatever advantages thee is mighty grateful to me,
+seeing that I love thee more than my very life, and right glad am I that
+thou art come back with intent to stay, for I hope to have many a good
+time with thee; but something I must say to thee by way of excuse, for
+that, whilst thou wast thinking of taking thy departure, there were times
+when thou wast disappointed of seeing me, and others when thou hadst not
+as gladsome a welcome as thou wast wont to have, and therewithal I kept
+not the time promised for the repayment of thy money. Thou must know that
+I was then in exceeding great trouble and tribulation, and whoso is thus
+bested, love he another never so much, cannot greet him with as gladsome
+a mien, or be as attentive to him, as he had lief; and thou must further
+know that 'tis by no means an easy matter for a lady to come by a
+thousand florins of gold: why, 'tis every day a fresh lie, and never a
+promise kept; and so we in our turn must needs lie to others; and 'twas
+for this cause, and not for any fault of mine, that I did not repay thee
+thy money; however, I had it but a little while after thy departure, and
+had I known whither to send it, be sure I would have remitted it to thee;
+but, as that I wist not, I have kept it safe for thee." She then produced
+a purse, in which were the very same coins that he had brought her, and
+placed it in his hand, saying:--"Count and see if there are five hundred
+there." 'Twas the happiest moment Salabaetto had yet known, as, having
+told them out, and found the sum exact, he made answer:--"Madam, I know
+that you say sooth, and what you have done abundantly proves it;
+wherefore, and for the love I bear you, I warrant you there is no sum you
+might ask of me on any occasion of need, with which, if 'twere in my
+power, I would not accommodate you; whereof, when I am settled here, you
+will be able to assure yourself."
+
+Having thus in words reinstated himself as her lover, he proceeded to
+treat her as his mistress, whereto she responded, doing all that was in
+her power to pleasure and honour him, and feigning to be in the last
+degree enamoured of him. But Salabaetto, being minded to requite her
+guile with his own, went to her one evening, being bidden to sup and
+sleep with her, with an aspect so melancholy and dolorous, that he shewed
+as he had lief give up the ghost. Jancofiore, as she embraced and kissed
+him, demanded of him the occasion of his melancholy. Whereto he, having
+let her be instant with him a good while, made answer:--"I am undone, for
+that the ship, having aboard her the goods that I expected, has been
+taken by the corsairs of Monaco, and held to ransom in ten thousand
+florins of gold, of which it falls to me to pay one thousand, and I have
+not a denier, for the five hundred thou repaidst me I sent forthwith to
+Naples to buy stuffs for this market, and were I to sell the merchandise
+I have here, as 'tis not now the right time to sell, I should scarce get
+half the value; nor am I as yet so well known here as to come by any to
+help me at this juncture, and so what to do or what to say I know not;
+but this I know that, if I send not the money without delay, my
+merchandise will be taken to Monaco, and I shall never touch aught of it
+again." Whereat the lady was mightily annoyed, being apprehensive of
+losing all, and bethought her how she might prevent the goods going to
+Monaco: wherefore:--"God knows," quoth she, "that for the love I bear
+thee I am not a little sorry for thee: but what boots it idly to distress
+oneself? Had I the money, God knows I would lend it thee forthwith, but I
+have it not. One, indeed, there is that accommodated me a day or two ago
+with five hundred florins that I stood in need of, but he requires a
+heavy usance, not less than thirty on the hundred, and if thou shouldst
+have recourse to him, good security must be forthcoming. Now for my part
+I am ready, so I may serve thee, to pledge all these dresses, and my
+person to boot, for as much as he will tend thee thereon; but how wilt
+thou secure the balance?"
+
+Salabaetto divined the motive that prompted her thus to accommodate him,
+and that she was to lend the money herself; which suiting his purpose
+well, he first of all thanked her, and then said that, being constrained
+by necessity, he would not stand out against exorbitant terms, adding
+that, as to the balance, he would secure it upon the merchandise that he
+had at the dogana by causing it to be entered in the name of the lender;
+but that he must keep the key of the storerooms, as well that he might be
+able to shew the goods, if requested, as to make sure that none of them
+should be tampered with or changed or exchanged. The lady said that this
+was reasonable, and that 'twas excellent security. So, betimes on the
+morrow, the lady sent for a broker, in whom she reposed much trust, and
+having talked the matter over with him, gave him a thousand florins of
+gold, which the broker took to Salabaetto, and thereupon had all that
+Salabaetto had at the dogana entered in his name; they then had the
+script and counterscript made out, and, the arrangement thus concluded,
+went about their respective affairs. Salabaetto lost no time in getting
+aboard a bark with his five hundred florins of gold, and being come to
+Naples, sent thence a remittance which fully discharged his obligation to
+his masters that had entrusted him with the stuffs: he also paid all that
+he owed to Pietro dello Canigiano and all his other creditors, and made
+not a little merry with Canigiano over the trick he had played the
+Sicilian lady. He then departed from Naples, and being minded to have
+done with mercantile affairs, betook him to Ferrara.
+
+Jancofiore, surprised at first by Salabaetto's disappearance from
+Palermo, waxed after a while suspicious; and, when she had waited fully
+two months, seeing that he did not return, she caused the broker to break
+open the store-rooms. And trying first of all the casks, she found them
+full of sea-water, save that in each there was perhaps a hog's-head of
+oil floating on the surface. Then undoing the bales, she found them all,
+save two that contained stuffs, full of tow, and in short their whole
+contents put together were not worth more than two hundred florins.
+Wherefore Jancofiore, knowing herself to have been outdone, regretted
+long and bitterly the five hundred florins of gold that she had refunded,
+and still more the thousand that she had lent, repeating many a time to
+herself:--Who with a Tuscan has to do, Had need of eyesight quick and
+true. Thus, left with the loss and the laugh against her, she discovered
+that there were others as knowing as she.
+
+(1) Neither the Vocab. degli Accad. della Crusca nor the Ricchezze
+attempts to define the precise nature of this scent, which Fanfani
+identifies with that of the orange-blossom.
+
+(2) I.e. with a sort of musical boxes in the shape of birds.
+
+No sooner was Dioneo's story ended, than Lauretta, witting that therewith
+the end of her sovereignty was come, bestowed her meed of praise on
+Pietro Canigiano for his good counsel, and also on Salabaetto for the
+equal sagacity which he displayed in carrying it out, and then, taking
+off the laurel wreath, set it on the head of Emilia, saying
+graciously:--"I know not, Madam, how debonair a queen you may prove, but
+at least we shall have in you a fair one. Be it your care, then, that you
+exercise your authority in a manner answerable to your charms." Which
+said, she resumed her seat.
+
+Not so much to receive the crown, as to be thus commended to her face and
+before the company for that which ladies are wont to covet the most,
+Emilia was a little shamefast; a tint like that of the newly-blown rose
+overspread her face, and a while she stood silent with downcast eyes:
+then, as the blush faded away, she raised them; and having given her
+seneschal her commands touching all matters pertaining to the company,
+thus she spake:--"Sweet my ladies, 'tis matter of common experience that,
+when the oxen have swunken a part of the day under the coercive yoke,
+they are relieved thereof and loosed, and suffered to go seek their
+pasture at their own sweet will in the woods; nor can we fail to observe
+that gardens luxuriant with diversity of leafage are not less, but far
+more fair to see, than woods wherein is nought but oaks. Wherefore I deem
+that, as for so many days our discourse has been confined within the
+bounds of certain laws, 'twill be not only meet but profitable for us,
+being in need of relaxation, to roam a while, and so recruit our strength
+to undergo the yoke once more. And therefore I am minded that to-morrow
+the sweet tenor of your discourse be not confined to any particular
+theme, but that you be at liberty to discourse on such wise as to each
+may seem best; for well assured am I that thus to speak of divers matters
+will be no less pleasurable than to limit ourselves to one topic; and by
+reason of this enlargement my successor in the sovereignty will find you
+more vigorous, and be therefore all the more forward to reimpose upon you
+the wonted restraint of our laws." Having so said, she dismissed all the
+company until supper-time.
+
+All approved the wisdom of what the queen had said; and being risen
+betook them to their several diversions, the ladies to weave garlands and
+otherwise disport them, the young men to play and sing; and so they
+whiled away the hours until supper-time; which being come, they gathered
+about the fair fountain, and took their meal with gay and festal cheer.
+Supper ended, they addressed them to their wonted pastime of song and
+dance. At the close of which the queen, notwithstanding the songs which
+divers of the company had already gladly accorded them, called for
+another from Pamfilo, who without the least demur thus sang:--
+
+So great, O Love, the bliss
+  Through thee I prove, so jocund my estate,
+  That in thy flame to burn I bless my fate!
+
+Such plenitude of joy my heart doth know
+  Of that high joy and rare,
+  Wherewith thou hast me blest,
+  As, bounds disdaining, still doth overflow,
+  And by my radiant air
+  My blitheness manifest;
+  For by thee thus possessed
+  With love, where meeter 'twere to venerate,
+  I still consume within thy flame elate.
+
+Well wot I, Love, no song may e'er reveal,
+  Nor any sign declare
+  What in my heart is pent
+  Nay, might they so, that were I best conceal,
+  Whereof were others ware,
+  'Twould serve but to torment
+  Me, whose is such content,
+  That weak were words and all inadequate
+  A tittle of my bliss to adumbrate.
+
+Who would have dreamed that e'er in mine embrace
+  Her I should clip and fold
+  Whom there I still do feel,
+  Or as 'gainst her face e'er to lay my face
+  Attain such grace untold,
+  And unimagined weal?
+  Wherefore my bliss I seal
+  Of mine own heart within the circuit strait,
+  And still in thy sweet flame luxuriate.
+
+So ended Pamfilo his song: whereto all the company responded in full
+chorus; nor was there any but gave to its words an inordinate degree of
+attention, endeavouring by conjecture to penetrate that which he
+intimated that 'twas meet he should keep secret. Divers were the
+interpretations hazarded, but all were wide of the mark. At length,
+however, the queen, seeing that ladies and men alike were fain of rest,
+bade all betake them to bed.
+
+
+--
+Endeth here the eighth day of the Decameron, beginneth the ninth, in
+which, under the rule of Emilia, discourse is had, at the discretion of
+each, of such matters as most commend themselves to each in turn.
+--
+
+The luminary, before whose splendour the night takes wing, had already
+changed the eighth heaven(1) from azure to the lighter blue,(2) and in
+the meads the flowerets were beginning to lift their heads, when Emilia,
+being risen, roused her fair gossips, and, likewise, the young men. And
+so the queen leading the way at an easy pace, and the rest of the company
+following, they hied them to a copse at no great distance from the
+palace. Where, being entered, they saw the goats and stags and other wild
+creatures, as if witting that in this time of pestilence they had nought
+to fear from the hunter, stand awaiting them with no more sign of fear
+than if they had been tamed: and so, making now towards this, now towards
+the other of them as if to touch them, they diverted themselves for a
+while by making them skip and run. But, as soon as the sun was in the
+ascendant, by common consent they turned back, and whoso met them,
+garlanded as they were with oak-leaves, and carrying store of fragrant
+herbs or flowers in their hands might well have said:--"Either shall
+death not vanquish these, or they will meet it with a light heart." So,
+slowly wended they their way, now singing, now bandying quips and merry
+jests, to the palace, where they found all things in order meet, and
+their servants in blithe and merry cheer. A while they rested, nor went
+they to table until six ditties, each gayer than that which went before,
+had been sung by the young men and the ladies; which done, they washed
+their hands, and all by the queen's command were ranged by the seneschal
+at the table; and, the viands being served, they cheerily took their
+meal: wherefrom being risen, they trod some measures to the accompaniment
+of music; and then, by the queen's command, whoso would betook him to
+rest. However, the accustomed hour being come, they all gathered at the
+wonted spot for their discoursing, and the queen, bending her regard upon
+Filomena, bade her make a beginning of the day's story-telling, which she
+with a smile did on this wise:--
+
+(1) I.e. in the Ptolemaic system, the region of the fixed stars.
+
+(2) Cilestro: a word for which we have no exact equivalent, the dominant
+note of the Italian sky, when the sun is well up, being its intense
+luminosity.
+
+
+NOVEL I.
+
+--
+Madonna Francesca, having two lovers, the one Rinuccio, the other
+Alessandro, by name, and loving neither of them, induces the one to
+simulate a corpse in a tomb, and the other to enter the tomb to fetch him
+out: whereby, neither satisfying her demands, she artfully rids herself
+of both.
+--
+
+Madam, since so it pleases you, well pleased am I that in this vast, this
+boundless field of discourse, which you, our Lady Bountiful, have
+furnished us withal, 'tis mine to run the first course; wherein if I do
+well, I doubt not that those, who shall follow me, will do not only well
+but better. Such, sweet my ladies, has been the tenor of our discourse,
+that times not a few the might of Love, how great and singular it is, has
+been set forth, but yet I doubt the topic is not exhausted, nor would it
+be so, though we should continue to speak of nought else for the space of
+a full year. And as Love not only leads lovers to debate with themselves
+whether they were not best to die, but also draws them into the houses of
+the dead in quest of the dead, I am minded in this regard to tell you a
+story, wherein you will not only discern the power of Love, but will also
+learn how the ready wit of a worthy lady enabled her to disembarrass
+herself of two lovers, whose love was displeasing to her.
+
+Know, then, that there dwelt aforetime in the city of Pistoia a most
+beauteous widow lady, of whom it so befell that two of our citizens, the
+one Rinuccio Palermini, the other Alessandro Chiarmontesi, by name,
+tarrying at Pistoia, for that they were banished from Florence, became,
+neither witting how it stood with the other, in the last degree
+enamoured. Wherefore each used all his arts to win the love of Madonna
+Francesca de' Lazzari--such was the lady's name--and she, being thus
+continually plied with ambassages and entreaties on the part of both, and
+having indiscreetly lent ear to them from time to time, found it no easy
+matter discreetly to extricate herself, when she was minded to be rid of
+their pestering, until it occurred to her to adopt the following
+expedient, to wit, to require of each a service, such as, though not
+impracticable, she deemed none would actually perform, to the end that,
+they making default, she might have a decent and colourable pretext for
+refusing any longer to receive their ambassages. Which expedient was on
+this wise. One day there died in Pistoia, and was buried in a tomb
+outside the church of the Friars Minors, a man, who, though his forbears
+had been gentlefolk, was reputed the very worst man, not in Pistoia only,
+but in all the world, and therewithal he was of form and feature so
+preternaturally hideous that whoso knew him not could scarce see him for
+the first time without a shudder. Now, the lady pondering her design on
+the day of this man's death, it occurred to her that he might in a
+measure subserve its accomplishment: wherefore she said to her
+maid:--"Thou knowest to what worry and annoyance I am daily put by the
+ambassages of these two Florentines, Rinuccio, and Alessandro. Now I am
+not disposed to gratify either of them with my love, and therefore, to
+shake them off, I am minded, as they make such great protestations, to
+put them to the proof by requiring of each something which I am sure he
+will not perform, and thus to rid myself of their pestering: so list what
+I mean to do. Thou knowest that this morning there was interred in the
+ground of the Friars Minors this Scannadio (such was the name of the bad
+man of whom we spoke but now) whose aspect, while he yet lived, appalled
+even the bravest among us. Thou wilt therefore go privily, to Alessandro,
+and say to him:--'Madonna Francesca sends thee word by me that the time
+is now come when thou mayst win that which thou hast so much desired, to
+wit, her love and joyance thereof, if thou be so minded, on the following
+terms. For a reason, which thou shalt learn hereafter, one of her kinsmen
+is to bring home to her to-night the corpse of Scannadio, who was buried
+this morning; and she, standing in mortal dread of this dead man, would
+fain not see him; wherefore she prays thee to do her a great service, and
+be so good as to get thee this evening at the hour of first sleep to the
+tomb wherein Scannadio is buried, and go in, and having wrapped thyself
+in his grave-clothes, lie there, as thou wert Scannadio, himself, until
+one come for thee, when thou must say never a word, but let him carry
+thee forth, and bear thee to Madonna Francesca's house, where she will
+give thee welcome, and let thee stay with her, until thou art minded to
+depart, and, for the rest, thou wilt leave it to her.' And if he says
+that he will gladly do so, well and good; if not, then thou wilt tell him
+from me, never more to shew himself where I am, and, as he values his
+life, to have a care to send me no more ambassages. Which done, thou wilt
+go to Rinuccio Palermini, and wilt say to him:--'Madonna Francesca lets
+thee know that she is ready in all respects to comply with thy wishes, so
+thou wilt do her a great service, which is on this wise: to-night, about
+midnight, thou must go to the tomb wherein was this morning interred
+Scannadio, and saying never a word, whatever thou mayst hear or otherwise
+be ware of, bear him gently forth to Madonna Francesca's house, where
+thou shalt learn wherefore she requires this of thee, and shalt have thy
+solace of her; and if thou art not minded to obey her in this, see that
+thou never more send her ambassage.'"
+
+The maid did her mistress's errand, omitting nothing, to both the men,
+and received from each the same answer, to wit, that to pleasure the
+lady, he would adventure a journey to hell, to say nothing of entering a
+tomb. With which answer the maid returned to the lady, who waited to see
+if they would be such fools as to make it good. Night came, and at the
+hour of first sleep Alessandro Chiarmontesi, stripped to his doublet,
+quitted his house, and bent his steps towards Scannadio's tomb, with
+intent there to take the dead man's place. As he walked, there came upon
+him a great fear, and he fell a saying to himself:--Ah! what a fool am I!
+Whither go I? How know I that her kinsmen, having detected my love, and
+surmising that which is not, have not put her upon requiring this of me,
+in order that they may slay me in the tomb? In which event I alone should
+be the loser, for nought would ever be heard of it, so that they would
+escape scot-free. Or how know I but that 'tis some machination of one of
+my ill-wishers, whom perchance she loves, and is therefore minded to
+abet? And again quoth he to himself:--But allowing that 'tis neither the
+one nor the other, and that her kinsmen are really to carry me to her
+house, I scarce believe that 'tis either that they would fain embrace
+Scannadio's corpse themselves, or let her do so: rather it must be that
+they have a mind to perpetrate some outrage upon it, for that, perchance,
+he once did them an evil turn. She bids me say never a word, no matter
+what I may hear or be otherwise ware of. Suppose they were to pluck out
+my eyes, or my teeth, or cut off my hands, or treat me to some other
+horse-play of the like sort, how then? how could I keep quiet? And if I
+open my mouth, they will either recognize me, and perchance do me a
+mischief, or, if they spare me, I shall have been at pains for nought,
+for they will not leave me with the lady, and she will say that I
+disobeyed her command, and I shall never have aught of her favours.
+
+As thus he communed with himself, he was on the point of turning back;
+but his overmastering love plied him with opposing arguments of such
+force that he kept on his way, and reached the tomb; which having opened,
+he entered, and after stripping Scannadio, and wrapping himself in the
+grave-clothes, closed it, and laid himself down in Scannadio's place. He
+then fell a thinking of the dead man, and his manner of life, and the
+things which he had heard tell of as happening by night, and in other
+less appalling places than the houses of the dead; whereby all the hairs
+of his head stood on end, and he momently expected Scannadio to rise and
+cut his throat. However, the ardour of his love so fortified him that he
+overcame these and all other timorous apprehensions, and lay as if he
+were dead, awaiting what should betide him.
+
+Towards midnight Rinuccio, bent likewise upon fulfilling his lady's
+behest, sallied forth of his house, revolving as he went divers
+forebodings of possible contingencies, as that, having Scannadio's corpse
+upon his shoulders, he might fall into the hands of the Signory, and be
+condemned to the fire as a wizard, or that, should the affair get wind,
+it might embroil him with his kinsfolk, or the like, which gave him
+pause. But then with a revulsion of feeling:-- Shall I, quoth he to
+himself, deny this lady, whom I so much have loved and love, the very
+first thing that she asks of me? And that too when I am thereby to win
+her favour? No, though 'twere as much as my life is worth, far be it from
+me to fail of keeping my word. So on he fared, and arrived at the tomb,
+which he had no difficulty in opening, and being entered, laid hold of
+Alessandro, who, though in mortal fear, had given no sign of life, by the
+feet, and dragged him forth, and having hoisted him on to his shoulders,
+bent his steps towards the lady's house. And as he went, being none too
+careful of Alessandro, he swung him from time to time against one or
+other of the angles of certain benches that were by the wayside; and
+indeed the night was so dark and murky that he could not see where he was
+going. And when he was all but on the threshold of the lady's house (she
+standing within at a window with her maid, to mark if Rinuccio would
+bring Alessandro, and being already provided with an excuse for sending
+them both away), it so befell that the patrol of the Signory, who were
+posted in the street in dead silence, being on the look-out for a certain
+bandit, hearing the tramp of Rinuccio's feet, suddenly shewed a light,
+the better to know what was toward, and whither to go, and advancing
+targes and lances, cried out:--"Who goes there?" Whereupon Rinuccio,
+having little leisure for deliberation, let Alessandro fall, and took to
+flight as fast as his legs might carry him. Alessandro, albeit encumbered
+by the graveclothes, which were very long, also jumped up and made off.
+By the light shewn by the patrol the lady had very plainly perceived
+Rinuccio, with Alessandro on his back, as also that Alessandro had the
+grave-clothes upon him; and much did she marvel at the daring of both,
+but, for all that, she laughed heartily to see Rinuccio drop Alessandro,
+and Alessandro run away. Overjoyed at the turn the affair had taken, and
+praising God that He had rid her of their harass, she withdrew from the
+window, and betook her to her chamber, averring to her maid that for
+certain they must both be mightily in love with her, seeing that 'twas
+plain they had both done her bidding.
+
+Crestfallen and cursing his evil fortune, Rinuccio nevertheless went not
+home, but, as soon as the street was clear of the patrol, came back to
+the spot where he had dropped Alessandro, and stooped down and began
+feeling about, if haply he might find him, and so do his devoir to the
+lady; but, as he found him not, he supposed the patrol must have borne
+him thence, and so at last home he went; as did also Alessandro, knowing
+not what else to do, and deploring his mishap. On the morrow, Scannadio's
+tomb being found open and empty, for Alessandro had thrown the corpse
+into the vault below, all Pistoia debated of the matter with no small
+diversity of opinion, the fools believing that Scannadio had been carried
+off by devils. Neither of the lovers, however, forbore to make suit to
+the lady for her favour and love, telling her what he had done, and what
+had happened, and praying her to have him excused that he had not
+perfectly carried out her instructions. But she, feigning to believe
+neither of them, disposed of each with the same curt answer, to wit,
+that, as he had not done her bidding, she would never do aught for him.
+
+
+NOVEL II.
+
+--
+An abbess rises in haste and in the dark, with intent to surprise an
+accused nun abed with her lover: thinking to put on her veil, she puts on
+instead the breeches of a priest that she has with her: the nun, espying
+her headgear, and doing her to wit thereof, is acquitted, and thenceforth
+finds it easier to forgather with her lover.
+--
+
+So ended Filomena; and when all had commended the address shewn by the
+lady in ridding herself of the two lovers that she affected not, and
+contrariwise had censured the hardihood of the two lovers as not love but
+madness, the queen turned to Elisa, and with a charming air:--"Now,
+Elisa, follow," quoth she: whereupon Elisa began on this wise:--Dearest
+ladies, 'twas cleverly done of Madonna Francesca, to disembarrass herself
+in the way we have heard: but I have to tell of a young nun, who by a
+happy retort, and the favour of Fortune, delivered herself from imminent
+peril. And as you know that there are not a few most foolish folk, who,
+notwithstanding their folly, take upon themselves the governance and
+correction of others; so you may learn from my story that Fortune at
+times justly puts them to shame; which befell the abbess, who was the
+superior of the nun of whom I am about to speak.
+
+You are to know, then, that in a convent in Lombardy of very great repute
+for strict and holy living there was, among other ladies that there wore
+the veil, a young woman of noble family, and extraordinary beauty. Now
+Isabetta--for such was her name--having speech one day of one of her
+kinsmen at the grate, became enamoured of a fine young gallant that was
+with him; who, seeing her to be very fair, and reading her passion in her
+eyes, was kindled with a like flame for her: which mutual and unsolaced
+love they bore a great while not without great suffering to both. But at
+length, both being intent thereon, the gallant discovered a way by which
+he might with all secrecy visit his nun; and she approving, he paid her
+not one visit only, but many, to their no small mutual solace. But, while
+thus they continued their intercourse, it so befell that one night one of
+the sisters observed him take his leave of Isabetta and depart, albeit
+neither he nor she was ware that they had thus been discovered. The
+sister imparted what she had seen to several others. At first they were
+minded to denounce her to the abbess, one Madonna Usimbalda, who was
+reputed by the nuns, and indeed by all that knew her, to be a good and
+holy woman; but on second thoughts they deemed it expedient, that there
+might be no room for denial, to cause the abbess to take her and the
+gallant in the act. So they held their peace, and arranged between them
+to keep her in watch and close espial, that they might catch her
+unawares. Of which practice Isabetta recking, witting nought, it so
+befell that one night, when she had her lover to see her, the sisters
+that were on the watch were soon ware of it, and at what they deemed the
+nick of time parted into two companies of which one mounted guard at the
+threshold of Isabetta's cell, while the other hasted to the abbess's
+chamber, and knocking at the door, roused her, and as soon as they heard
+her voice, said:--"Up, Madam, without delay: we have discovered that
+Isabetta has a young man with her in her cell."
+
+Now that night the abbess had with her a priest whom she used not seldom
+to have conveyed to her in a chest; and the report of the sisters making
+her apprehensive lest for excess of zeal and hurry they should force the
+door open, she rose in a trice; and huddling on her clothes as best she
+might in the dark, instead of the veil that they wear, which they call
+the psalter, she caught up the priest's breeches, and having clapped them
+on her head, hied her forth, and locked the door behind her,
+saying:--"Where is this woman accursed of God?" And so, guided by the
+sisters, all so agog to catch Isabetta a sinning that they perceived not
+what manner of headgear the abbess wore, she made her way to the cell,
+and with their aid broke open the door; and entering they found the two
+lovers abed in one another's arms; who, as it were, thunderstruck to be
+thus surprised, lay there, witting not what to do. The sisters took the
+young nun forthwith, and by command of the abbess brought her to the
+chapter-house. The gallant, left behind in the cell, put on his clothes
+and waited to see how the affair would end, being minded to make as many
+nuns as he might come at pay dearly for any despite that might be done
+his mistress, and to bring her off with him. The abbess, seated in the
+chapter-house with all her nuns about her, and all eyes bent upon the
+culprit, began giving her the severest reprimand that ever woman got, for
+that by her disgraceful and abominable conduct, should it get wind, she
+had sullied the fair fame of the convent; whereto she added menaces most
+dire. Shamefast and timorous, the culprit essayed no defence, and her
+silence begat pity of her in the rest; but, while the abbess waxed more
+and more voluble, it chanced that the girl raised her head and espied the
+abbess's headgear, and the points that hung down on this side and that.
+The significance whereof being by no means lost upon her, she quite
+plucked up heart, and:--"Madam," quoth she, "so help you God, tie up your
+coif, and then you may say what you will to me." Whereto the abbess, not
+understanding her, replied:--"What coif, lewd woman? So thou hast the
+effrontery to jest! Think'st thou that what thou hast done is a matter
+meet for jests?" Whereupon:--"Madam," quoth the girl again, "I pray you,
+tie up your coif, and then you may say to me whatever you please." Which
+occasioned not a few of the nuns to look up at the abbess's head, and the
+abbess herself to raise her hands thereto, and so she and they at one and
+the same time apprehended Isabetta's meaning. Wherefore the abbess,
+finding herself detected by all in the same sin, and that no disguise was
+possible, changed her tone, and held quite another sort of language than
+before, the upshot of which was that 'twas impossible to withstand the
+assaults of the flesh, and that, accordingly, observing due secrecy as
+theretofore, all might give themselves a good time, as they had
+opportunity. So, having dismissed Isabetta to rejoin her lover in her
+cell, she herself returned to lie with her priest. And many a time
+thereafter, in spite of the envious, Isabetta had her gallant to see her,
+the others, that lacked lovers, doing in secret the best they might to
+push their fortunes.
+
+
+NOVEL III.
+
+--
+Master Simone, at the instance of Bruno and Buffalmacco and Nello, makes
+Calandrino believe that he is with child. Calandrino, accordingly, gives
+them capons and money for medicines, and is cured without being
+delivered.
+--
+
+When Elisa had ended her story, and all had given thanks to God that He
+had vouchsafed the young nun a happy escape from the fangs of her envious
+companions, the queen bade Filostrato follow suit; and without expecting
+a second command, thus Filostrato began:--Fairest my ladies, the uncouth
+judge from the Marches, of whom I told you yesterday, took from the tip
+of my tongue a story of Calandrino, which I was on the point of
+narrating: and as nought can be said of him without mightily enhancing
+our jollity, albeit not a little has already been said touching him and
+his comrades, I will now give you the story which I had meant yesterday
+to give you. Who they were, this Calandrino and the others that I am to
+tell of in this story, has already been sufficiently explained;
+wherefore, without more ado, I say that one of Calandrino's aunts having
+died, leaving him two hundred pounds in petty cash, Calandrino gave out
+that he was minded to purchase an estate, and, as if he had had ten
+thousand florins of gold to invest, engaged every broker in Florence to
+treat for him, the negotiation always falling through, as soon as the
+price was named. Bruno and Buffalmacco, knowing what was afoot, told him
+again and again that he had better give himself a jolly time with them
+than go about buying earth as if he must needs make pellets;(1) but so
+far were they from effecting their purpose, that they could not even
+prevail upon him to give them a single meal. Whereat as one day they
+grumbled, being joined by a comrade of theirs, one Nello, also a painter,
+they all three took counsel how they might wet their whistle at
+Calandrino's expense; and, their plan being soon concerted, the next
+morning Calandrino was scarce gone out, when Nello met him,
+saying:--"Good day, Calandrino:" whereto Calandrino replied:--"God give
+thee a good day and a good year." Nello then drew back a little, and
+looked him steadily in the face, until:--"What seest thou to stare at?"
+quoth Calandrino. "Hadst thou no pain in the night?" returned Nello;
+"thou seemest not thyself to me." Which Calandrino no sooner heard, than
+he began to be disquieted, and:--"Alas! How sayst thou?" quoth he. "What
+tak'st thou to be the matter with me?" "Why, as to that I have nothing to
+say," returned Nello; "but thou seemest to be quite changed: perchance
+'tis not what I suppose;" and with that he left him.
+
+Calandrino, anxious, though he could not in the least have said why, went
+on; and soon Buffalmacco, who was not far off, and had observed him part
+from Nello, made up to him, and greeted him, asking him if he was not in
+pain. "I cannot say," replied Calandrino; "'twas but now that Nello told
+me that I looked quite changed: can it be that there is aught the matter
+with me?" "Aught?" quoth Buffalmacco, "ay, indeed, there might be a
+trifle the matter with thee. Thou look'st to be half dead, man."
+Calandrino now began to think he must have a fever. And then up came
+Bruno; and the first thing he said was:--"Why, Calandrino, how ill thou
+look'st! thy appearance is that of a corpse. How dost thou feel?" To be
+thus accosted by all three left no doubt in Calandrino's mind that he was
+ill, and so:--"What shall I do?" quoth he, in a great fright. "My
+advice," replied Bruno, "is that thou go home and get thee to bed and
+cover thee well up, and send thy water to Master Simone, who, as thou
+knowest, is such a friend of ours. He will tell thee at once what thou
+must do; and we will come to see thee, and will do aught that may be
+needful." And Nello then joining them, they all three went home with
+Calandrino, who, now quite spent, went straight to his room, and said to
+his wife:--"Come now, wrap me well up; I feel very ill." And so he laid
+himself on the bed, and sent a maid with his water to Master Simone, who
+had then his shop in the Mercato Vecchio, at the sign of the pumpkin.
+Whereupon quoth Bruno to his comrades:--"You will stay here with him, and
+I will go hear what the doctor has to say, and if need be, will bring him
+hither." "Prithee, do so, my friend," quoth Calandrino, "and bring me
+word how it is with me, for I feel as how I cannot say in my inside." So
+Bruno hied him to Master Simone, and before the maid arrived with the
+water, told him what was afoot. The Master, thus primed, inspected the
+water, and then said to the maid:--"Go tell Calandrino to keep himself
+very warm, and I will come at once, and let him know what is the matter
+with him, and what he must do." With which message the maid was scarce
+returned, when the Master and Bruno arrived, and the Master, having
+seated himself beside Calandrino, felt his pulse, and by and by, in the
+presence of his wife, said:--"Harkye, Calandrino, I speak to thee as a
+friend, and I tell thee that what is amiss with thee is just that thou
+art with child." Whereupon Calandrino cried out querulously:--"Woe's me!
+'Tis thy doing, Tessa, for that thou must needs be uppermost: I told thee
+plainly what would come of it," Whereat the lady, being not a little
+modest, coloured from brow to neck, and with downcast eyes, withdrew from
+the room, saying never a word by way of answer. Calandrino ran on in the
+same plaintive strain:--"Alas! woe's me! What shall I do? How shall I be
+delivered of this child? What passage can it find? Ah! I see only too
+plainly that the lasciviousness of this wife of mine has been the death
+of me: God make her as wretched as I would fain be happy! Were I as well
+as I am not, I would get me up and thrash her, till I left not a whole
+bone in her body, albeit it does but serve me right for letting her get
+the upper place; but if I do win through this, she shall never have it
+again; verily she might pine to death for it, but she should not have
+it."
+
+Which to hear, Bruno and Buffalmacco and Nello were like to burst with
+suppressed laughter, and Master Scimmione(2) laughed so frantically, that
+all his teeth were ready to start from his jaws. However, at length, in
+answer to Calandrino's appeals and entreaties for counsel and
+succour:--"Calandrino," quoth the Master, "thou mayst dismiss thy fears,
+for, God be praised, we were apprised of thy state in such good time that
+with but little trouble, in the course of a few days, I shall set thee
+right; but 'twill cost a little." "Woe's me," returned Calandrino, "be it
+so, Master, for the love of God: I have here two hundred pounds, with
+which I had thoughts of buying an estate: take them all, all, if you must
+have all, so only I may escape being delivered, for I know not how I
+should manage it, seeing that women, albeit 'tis much easier for them, do
+make such a noise in the hour of their labour, that I misdoubt me, if I
+suffered so, I should die before I was delivered." "Disquiet not
+thyself," said the doctor: "I will have a potion distilled for thee; of
+rare virtue it is, and not a little palatable, and in the course of three
+days 'twill purge thee of all, and leave thee in better fettle than a
+fish; but thou wilt do well to be careful thereafter, and commit no such
+indiscretions again. Now to make this potion we must have three pair of
+good fat capons, and, for divers other ingredients, thou wilt give one of
+thy friends here five pounds in small change to purchase them, and thou
+wilt have everything sent to my shop, and so, please God, I will send
+thee this distilled potion to-morrow morning, and thou wilt take a good
+beakerful each time." Whereupon:--"Be it as you bid, Master mine," quoth
+Calandrino, and handing Bruno five pounds, and money enough to purchase
+three pair of capons, he begged him, if it were not too much trouble, to
+do him the service to buy these things for him. So away went the doctor,
+and made a little decoction by way of draught, and sent it him. Bruno
+bought the capons and all else that was needed to furnish forth the
+feast, with which he and his comrades and the doctor regaled them.
+Calandrino drank of the decoction for three mornings, after which he had
+a visit from his friends and the doctor, who felt his pulse, and
+then:--"Beyond a doubt, Calandrino," quoth he, "thou art cured, and so
+thou hast no more occasion to keep indoors, but needst have no fear to do
+whatever thou hast a mind to." Much relieved, Calandrino got up, and
+resumed his accustomed way of life, and, wherever he found any one to
+talk to, was loud in praise of Master Simone for the excellent manner in
+which he had cured him, causing him in three days without the least
+suffering to be quit of his pregnancy. And Bruno and Buffalmacco and
+Nello were not a little pleased with themselves that they had so cleverly
+got the better of Calandrino's niggardliness, albeit Monna Tessa, who was
+not deceived, murmured not a little against her husband.
+
+(1) I.e. bolts of clay for the cross-bow.
+
+(2) I.e. great ape: with a play on Simone.
+
+
+NOVEL IV.
+
+--
+Cecco, son of Messer Fortarrigo, loses his all at play at Buonconvento,
+besides the money of Cecco, son of Messer Angiulieri; whom, running after
+him in his shirt and crying out that he has robbed him, he causes to be
+taken by peasants: he then puts on his clothes, mounts his palfrey, and
+leaves him to follow in his shirt.
+--
+
+All the company laughed beyond measure to hear what Calandrino said
+touching his wife: but, when Filostrato had done, Neifile, being bidden
+by the queen, thus began:--Noble ladies, were it not more difficult for
+men to evince their good sense and virtue than their folly and their
+vice, many would labour in vain to set bounds to their flow of words:
+whereof you have had a most conspicuous example in poor blundering
+Calandrino, who, for the better cure of that with which in his simplicity
+he supposed himself to be afflicted, had no sort of need to discover in
+public his wife's secret pleasures. Which affair has brought to my mind
+one that fell out contrariwise, inasmuch as the guile of one discomfited
+the good sense of another to the grievous loss and shame of the
+discomfited: the manner whereof I am minded to relate to you.
+
+'Tis not many years since there were in Siena two young men, both of age,
+and both alike named Cecco, the one being son of Messer Angiulieri, the
+other of Messer Fortarrigo. Who, albeit in many other respects their
+dispositions accorded ill, agreed so well in one, to wit, that they both
+hated their fathers, that they became friends, and kept much together.
+Now Angiulieri, being a pretty fellow, and well-mannered, could not brook
+to live at Siena on the allowance made him by his father, and learning
+that there was come into the March of Ancona, as legate of the Pope, a
+cardinal, to whom he was much bounden, resolved to resort to him there,
+thinking thereby to improve his circumstances. So, having acquainted his
+father with his purpose, he prevailed upon him to give him there and then
+all that he would have given him during the next six months, that he
+might have the wherewith to furnish himself with apparel and a good
+mount, so as to travel in a becoming manner. And as he was looking out
+for some one to attend him as his servant, Fortarrigo, hearing of it,
+came presently to him and besought him with all earnestness to take him
+with him as his groom, or servant, or what he would, and he would be
+satisfied with his keep, without any salary whatsoever. Whereto
+Angiulieri made answer that he was not disposed to take him, not but that
+he well knew that he was competent for any service that might be required
+of him, but because he was given to play, and therewithal would at times
+get drunk. Fortarrigo assured him with many an oath that he would be on
+his guard to commit neither fault, and added thereto such instant
+entreaties, that Angiulieri was, as it were, vanquished, and consented.
+So one morning they took the road for Buonconvento, being minded there to
+breakfast. Now when Angiulieri had breakfasted, as 'twas a very hot day,
+he had a bed made in the inn, and having undressed with Fortarrigo's
+help, he composed himself to sleep, telling Fortarrigo to call him on the
+stroke of none. Angiulieri thus sleeping, Fortarrigo repaired to the
+tavern, where, having slaked his thirst, he sate down to a game with some
+that were there, who speedily won from him all his money, and thereafter
+in like manner all the clothes he had on his back: wherefore he, being
+anxious to retrieve his losses, went, stripped as he was to his shirt, to
+the room where lay Angiulieri; and seeing that he was sound asleep, he
+took from his purse all the money that he had, and so went back to the
+gaming-table, and staked it, and lost it all, as he had his own.
+
+By and by Angiulieri awoke, and got up, and dressed, and called for
+Fortarrigo; and as Fortarrigo answered not, he supposed that he must have
+had too much to drink, and be sleeping it off somewhere, as was his wont.
+He accordingly determined to leave him alone; and doubting not to find a
+better servant at Corsignano, he let saddle his palfrey and attach the
+valise; but when, being about to depart, he would have paid the host,
+never a coin could he come by. Whereat there was no small stir, so that
+all the inn was in an uproar, Angiulieri averring that he had been robbed
+in the house, and threatening to have them all arrested and taken to
+Siena; when, lo, who should make his appearance but Fortarrigo in his
+shirt, intent now to steal the clothes, as he had stolen the moneys, of
+Angiulieri? And marking that Angiulieri was accoutred for the road:--"How
+is this, Angiulieri?" quoth he. "Are we to start so soon? Nay, but wait a
+little. One will be here presently that has my doublet in pawn for
+thirty-eight soldi; I doubt not he will return it me for thirty-five
+soldi, if I pay money down." And while they were yet talking, in came one
+that made it plain to Angiulieri that 'twas Fortarrigo that had robbed
+him of his money, for he told him the amount that Fortarrigo had lost.
+Whereat Angiulieri, in a towering passion, rated Fortarrigo right
+soundly, and, but that he stood more in fear of man than of God, would
+have suited action to word; and so, threatening to have him hanged by the
+neck and proclaimed an outlaw at the gallows-tree of Siena, he mounted
+his horse.
+
+Fortarrigo, making as if 'twas not to him, but to another, that
+Angiulieri thus spoke, made answer:--"Come now, Angiulieri, we were best
+have done with all this idle talk, and consider the matter of substance:
+we can redeem for thirty-five soldi, if we pay forthwith, but if we wait
+till to-morrow, we shall not get off with less than thirty-eight, the
+full amount of the loan; and 'tis because I staked by his advice that he
+will make me this allowance. Now why should not we save these three
+soldi?" Whereat Angiulieri waxed well-nigh desperate, more particularly
+that he marked that the bystanders were scanning him suspiciously, as if,
+so far from understanding that Fortarrigo had staked and lost his,
+Angiulieri's money, they gave him credit for still being in funds: so he
+cried out:--"What have I to do with thy doublet? 'Tis high time thou wast
+hanged by the neck, that, not content with robbing me and gambling away
+my money, thou must needs also keep me in parley here and make mock of
+me, when I would fain be gone." Fortarrigo, however, still persisted in
+making believe that Angiulieri did not mean this for him, and only
+said:--"Nay, but why wilt not thou save me these three soldi? Think'st
+thou I can be of no more use to thee? Prithee, an thou lov'st me, do me
+this turn. Wherefore in such a hurry? We have time enough to get to
+Torrenieri this evening. Come now, out with thy purse. Thou knowest I
+might search Siena through, and not find a doublet that would suit me so
+well as this: and for all I let him have it for thirty-eight soldi, 'tis
+worth forty or more; so thou wilt wrong me twice over." Vexed beyond
+measure that, after robbing him, Fortarrigo should now keep him clavering
+about the matter, Angiulieri made no answer, but turned his horse's head,
+and took the road for Torrenieri. But Fortarrigo with cunning malice
+trotted after him in his shirt, and 'twas still his doublet, his doublet,
+that he would have of him: and when they had thus ridden two good miles,
+and Angiulieri was forcing the pace to get out of earshot of his
+pestering, Fortarrigo espied some husbandmen in a field beside the road a
+little ahead of Angiulieri, and fell a shouting to them amain:--"Take
+thief! take thief!" Whereupon they came up with their spades and their
+mattocks, and barred Angiulieri's way, supposing that he must have robbed
+the man that came shouting after him in his shirt, and stopped him and
+apprehended him; and little indeed did it avail him to tell them who he
+was, and how the matter stood. For up came Fortarrigo with a wrathful
+air, and:--"I know not," quoth he, "why I spare to kill thee on the spot,
+traitor, thief that thou art, thus to despoil me and give me the slip!"
+And then, turning to the peasants:--"You see, gentlemen," quoth he, "in
+what a trim he left me in the inn, after gambling away all that he had
+with him and on him. Well indeed may I say that under God 'tis to you I
+owe it that I have thus come by my own again: for which cause I shall
+ever be beholden to you." Angiulieri also had his say; but his words
+passed unheeded. Fortarrigo with the help of the peasants compelled him
+to dismount; and having stripped him, donned his clothes, mounted his
+horse, and leaving him barefoot and in his shirt, rode back to Siena,
+giving out on all hands that he had won the palfrey and the clothes from
+Angiulieri. So Angiulieri, having thought to present himself to the
+cardinal in the March a wealthy man, returned to Buonconvento poor and in
+his shirt; and being ashamed for the time to shew himself in Siena,
+pledged the nag that Fortarrigo had ridden for a suit of clothes, and
+betook him to his kinsfolk at Corsignano, where he tarried, until he
+received a fresh supply of money from his father. Thus, then,
+Fortarrigo's guile disconcerted Angiulieri's judicious purpose, albeit
+when time and occasion served, it was not left unrequited.
+
+
+NOVEL V.
+
+--
+Calandrino being enamoured of a damsel, Bruno gives him a scroll,
+averring that, if he but touch her therewith, she will go with him: he is
+found with her by his wife who subjects him to a most severe and
+vexatious examination.
+--
+
+So, at no great length, ended Neifile her story, which the company
+allowed to pass with none too much laughter or remark: whereupon the
+queen, turning to Fiammetta, bade her follow suit. Fiammetta, with mien
+most gladsome, made answer that she willingly obeyed, and thus began:--As
+I doubt not, ye know, ladies most debonair, be the topic of discourse
+never so well worn, it will still continue to please, if the speaker
+knows how to make due choice of time and occasion meet. Wherefore,
+considering the reason for which we are here (how that 'tis to make merry
+and speed the time gaily, and that merely), I deem that there is nought
+that may afford us mirth and solace but here may find time and occasion
+meet, and, after serving a thousand turns of discourse, should still
+prove not unpleasing for another thousand. Wherefore, notwithstanding
+that of Calandrino and his doings not a little has from time to time been
+said among us, yet, considering that, as a while ago Filostrato observed,
+there is nought that concerns him that is not entertaining, I will make
+bold to add to the preceding stories another, which I might well, had I
+been minded to deviate from the truth, have disguised, and so recounted
+it to you, under other names; but as whoso in telling a story diverges
+from the truth does thereby in no small measure diminish the delight of
+his hearers, I purpose for the reason aforesaid to give you the narrative
+in proper form.
+
+Niccolo Cornacchini, one of our citizens, and a man of wealth, had among
+other estates a fine one at Camerata, on which he had a grand house
+built, and engaged Bruno and Buffalmacco to paint it throughout; in which
+task, for that 'twas by no means light, they associated with them Nello
+and Calandrino, and so set to work. There were a few rooms in the house
+provided with beds and other furniture, and an old female servant lived
+there as caretaker, but otherwise the house was unoccupied, for which
+cause Niccolo's son, Filippo, being a young man and a bachelor, was wont
+sometimes to bring thither a woman for his pleasure, and after keeping
+her there for a few days to escort her thence again. Now on one of these
+occasions it befell that he brought thither one Niccolosa, whom a vile
+fellow, named Mangione, kept in a house at Camaldoli as a common
+prostitute. And a fine piece of flesh she was, and wore fine clothes, and
+for one of her sort, knew how to comport herself becomingly and talk
+agreeably.
+
+Now one day at high noon forth tripped the damsel from her chamber in a
+white gown, her locks braided about her head, to wash her hands and face
+at a well that was in the courtyard of the house, and, while she was so
+engaged, it befell that Calandrino came there for water, and greeted her
+familiarly. Having returned his salutation, she, rather because
+Calandrino struck her as something out of the common, than for any other
+interest she felt in him, regarded him attentively. Calandrino did the
+like by her, and being smitten by her beauty, found reasons enough why he
+should not go back to his comrades with the water; but, as he knew not
+who she was, he made not bold to address her. She, upon whom his gaze was
+not lost, being minded to amuse herself at his expense, let her glance
+from time to time rest upon him, while she heaved a slight sigh or two.
+Whereby Calandrino was forthwith captivated, and tarried in the
+courtyard, until Filippo called her back into the chamber. Returned to
+his work, Calandrino sighed like a furnace: which Bruno, who was ever
+regardful of his doings for the diversion they afforded him, failed not
+to mark, and by and by:--"What the Devil is amiss with thee, comrade
+Calandrino?" quoth he. "Thou dost nought but puff and blow." "Comrade,"
+replied Calandrino, "I should be in luck, had I but one to help me." "How
+so?" quoth Bruno. "Why," returned Calandrino, "'tis not to go farther,
+but there is a damsel below, fairer than a lamia, and so mightily in love
+with me that 'twould astonish thee. I observed it but now, when I went to
+fetch the water." "Nay, but, Calandrino, make sure she be not Filippo's
+wife," quoth Bruno. "I doubt 'tis even so," replied Calandrino, "for he
+called her and she joined him in the chamber; but what signifies it? I
+would circumvent Christ Himself in such case, not to say Filippo. Of a
+truth, comrade, I tell thee she pleases me I could not say how."
+"Comrade," returned Bruno, "I will find out for thee who she is, and if
+she be Filippo's wife, two words from me will make it all straight for
+thee, for she is much my friend. But how shall we prevent Buffalmacco
+knowing it? I can never have a word with her but he is with me." "As to
+Buffalmacco," replied Calandrino: "I care not if he do know it; but let
+us make sure that it come not to Nello's ears, for he is of kin to Monna
+Tessa, and would spoil it all." Whereto:--"Thou art in the right,"
+returned Bruno.
+
+Now Bruno knew what the damsel was, for he had seen her arrive, and
+moreover Filippo had told him. So, Calandrino having given over working
+for a while, and betaken him to her, Bruno acquainted Nello and
+Buffalmacco with the whole story; and thereupon they privily concerted
+how to entreat him in regard of this love affair. Wherefore, upon his
+return, quoth Bruno softly:--"Didst see her?" "Ay, woe's me!" replied
+Calandrino: "she has stricken me to the death." Quoth Bruno:--"I will go
+see if she be the lady I take her to be, and if I find that 'tis so,
+leave the rest to me." Whereupon down went Bruno, and found Filippo and
+the damsel, and fully apprised them what sort of fellow Calandrino was,
+and what he had told them, and concerted with them what each should do
+and say, that they might have a merry time together over Calandrino's
+love affair. He then rejoined Calandrino, saying:--"'Tis the very same;
+and therefore the affair needs very delicate handling, for, if Filippo
+were but ware thereof, not all Arno's waters would suffice to cleanse us.
+However, what should I say to her from thee, if by chance I should get
+speech of her?" "I'faith," replied Calandrino, "why, first, first of all,
+thou wilt tell her that I wish her a thousand bushels of the good seed of
+generation, and then that I am her servant, and if she is fain
+of--aught--thou tak'st me?" "Ay," quoth Bruno, "leave it to me."
+
+Supper-time came; and, the day's work done, they went down into the
+courtyard, Filippo and Niccolosa being there, and there they tarried a
+while to advance Calandrino's suit. Calandrino's gaze was soon riveted on
+Niccolosa, and such and so strange and startling were the gestures that
+he made that they would have given sight to the blind. She on her part
+used all her arts to inflame his passion, primed as she had been by
+Bruno, and diverted beyond measure as she was by Calandrino's antics,
+while Filippo, Buffalmacco and the rest feigned to be occupied in
+converse, and to see nought of what passed. However, after a while, to
+Calandrino's extreme disgust, they took their leave; and as they bent
+their steps towards Florence:--"I warrant thee," quoth Bruno to
+Calandrino, "she wastes away for thee like ice in the sunlight; by the
+body o' God, if thou wert to bring thy rebeck, and sing her one or two of
+thy love-songs, she'd throw herself out of window to be with thee." Quoth
+Calandrino:--"Think'st thou, comrade, think'st thou, 'twere well I
+brought it?" "Ay, indeed," returned Bruno. Whereupon:--"Ah! comrade,"
+quoth Calandrino, "so thou wouldst not believe me when I told thee
+to-day? Of a truth I perceive there's ne'er another knows so well what he
+would be at as I. Who but I would have known how so soon to win the love
+of a lady like that? Lucky indeed might they deem themselves, if they did
+it, those young gallants that go about, day and night, up and down, a
+strumming on the one-stringed viol, and would not know how to gather a
+handful of nuts once in a millennium. Mayst thou be by to see when I
+bring her the rebeck! thou wilt see fine sport. List well what I say: I
+am not so old as I look; and she knows it right well: ay, and anyhow I
+will soon let her know it, when I come to grapple her. By the very body
+of Christ I will have such sport with her, that she will follow me as any
+love-sick maid follows her swain." "Oh!" quoth Bruno, "I doubt not thou
+wilt make her thy prey: and I seem to see thee bite her dainty vermeil
+mouth and her cheeks, that shew as twin roses, with thy teeth, that are
+as so many lute-pegs, and afterwards devour her bodily." So encouraged,
+Calandrino fancied himself already in action, and went about singing and
+capering in such high glee that 'twas as if he would burst his skin. And
+so next day he brought the rebeck, and to the no small amusement of all
+the company sang several songs to her. And, in short, by frequently
+seeing her, he waxed so mad with passion that he gave over working; and a
+thousand times a day he would run now to the window, now to the door, and
+anon to the courtyard on the chance of catching sight of her; nor did
+she, astutely following Bruno's instructions, fail to afford him
+abundance of opportunity. Bruno played the go-between, bearing him her
+answers to all his messages, and sometimes bringing him messages from
+her. When she was not at home, which was most frequently the case, he
+would send him letters from her, in which she gave great encouragement to
+his hopes, at the same time giving him to understand that she was at the
+house of her kinsfolk, where as yet he might not visit her.
+
+On this wise Bruno and Buffalmacco so managed the affair as to divert
+themselves inordinately, causing him to send her, as at her request, now
+an ivory comb, now a purse, now a little knife, and other such dainty
+trifles; in return for which they brought him, now and again, a
+counterfeit ring of no value, with which Calandrino was marvellously
+pleased. And Calandrino, to stimulate their zeal in his interest, would
+entertain them hospitably at table, and otherwise flatter them. Now, when
+they had thus kept him in play for two good months, and the affair was
+just where it had been, Calandrino, seeing that the work was coming to an
+end, and bethinking him that, if it did so before he had brought his love
+affair to a successful issue, he must give up all hopes of ever so doing,
+began to be very instant and importunate with Bruno. So, in the presence
+of the damsel, and by preconcert with her and Filippo, quoth Bruno to
+Calandrino:--"Harkye, comrade, this lady has vowed to me a thousand times
+that she will do as thou wouldst have her, and as, for all that, she does
+nought to pleasure thee, I am of opinion that she leads thee by the nose:
+wherefore, as she keeps not her promises, we will make her do so,
+willy-nilly, if thou art so minded." "Nay, but, for the love of God, so
+be it," replied Calandrino, "and that speedily." "Darest thou touch her,
+then, with a scroll that I shall give thee?" quoth Bruno. "I dare,"
+replied Calandrino. "Fetch me, then," quoth Bruno, "a bit of the skin of
+an unborn lamb, a live bat, three grains of incense, and a blessed
+candle; and leave the rest to me." To catch the bat taxed all
+Calandrino's art and craft for the whole of the evening; but having at
+length taken him, he brought him with the other matters to Bruno: who,
+having withdrawn into a room by himself, wrote on the skin some
+cabalistic jargon, and handed it to him, saying:--"Know, Calandrino,
+that, if thou touch her with this scroll, she will follow thee forthwith,
+and do whatever thou shalt wish. Wherefore, should Filippo go abroad
+to-day, get thee somehow up to her, and touch her; and then go into the
+barn that is hereby--'tis the best place we have, for never a soul goes
+there--and thou wilt see that she will come there too. When she is there,
+thou wottest well what to do." Calandrino, overjoyed as ne'er another,
+took the scroll, saying only:--"Comrade, leave that to me."
+
+Now Nello, whom Calandrino mistrusted, entered with no less zest than the
+others into the affair, and was their confederate for Calandrino's
+discomfiture; accordingly by Bruno's direction he hied to Florence, and
+finding Monna Tessa:--"Thou hast scarce forgotten, Tessa," quoth he,
+"what a beating Calandrino gave thee, without the least cause, that day
+when he came home with the stones from Mugnone; for which I would have
+thee be avenged, and, so thou wilt not, call me no more kinsman or
+friend. He is fallen in love with a lady up there, who is abandoned
+enough to go closeting herself not seldom with him, and 'tis but a short
+while since they made assignation to forgather forthwith: so I would have
+thee go there, and surprise him in the act, and give him a sound
+trouncing." Which when the lady heard, she deemed it no laughing matter;
+but started up and broke out with:--"Alas, the arrant knave! is't thus he
+treats me? By the Holy Rood, never fear but I will pay him out!" And
+wrapping herself in her cloak, and taking a young woman with her for
+companion, she sped more at a run than at a walk, escorted by Nello, up
+to Camerata. Bruno, espying her from afar, said to Filippo:--"Lo, here
+comes our friend." Whereupon Filippo went to the place where Calandrino
+and the others were at work, and said:--"My masters, I must needs go at
+once to Florence; slacken not on that account." And so off he went, and
+hid himself where, unobserved, he might see what Calandrino would do.
+Calandrino waited only until he saw that Filippo was at some distance,
+and then he went down into the courtyard, where he found Niccolosa alone,
+and fell a talking with her. She, knowing well what she had to do, drew
+close to him, and shewed him a little more familiarity than she was wont:
+whereupon Calandrino touched her with the scroll, and having so done,
+saying never a word, bent his steps towards the barn, whither Niccolosa
+followed him, and being entered, shut the door, and forthwith embraced
+him, threw him down on the straw that lay there, and got astride of him,
+and holding him fast by the arms about the shoulders, suffered him not to
+approach his face to hers, but gazing upon him, as if he were the delight
+of her heart:--"O Calandrino, sweet my Calandrino," quoth she, "heart of
+my body, my very soul, my bliss, my consolation, ah! how long have I
+yearned to hold thee in my arms and have thee all my own! Thy endearing
+ways have utterly disarmed me; thou hast made prize of my heart with thy
+rebeck. Do I indeed hold thee in mine embrace?" Calandrino, scarce able
+to move, murmured:--"Ah! sweet my soul, suffer me to kiss thee."
+Whereto:--"Nay, but thou art too hasty," replied Niccolosa. "Let me first
+feast mine eyes on thee; let me but sate them with this sweet face of
+thine."
+
+Meanwhile Bruno and Buffalmacco had joined Filippo, so that what passed
+was seen and heard by all three. And while Calandrino was thus intent to
+kiss Niccolosa, lo, up came Nello with Monna Tessa. "By God, I swear they
+are both there," ejaculated Nello, as they entered the doorway; but the
+lady, now fairly furious, laid hold of him and thrust him aside, and
+rushing in, espied Niccolosa astride of Calandrino. Niccolosa no sooner
+caught sight of the lady, than up she jumped, and in a trice was beside
+Filippo. Monna Tessa fell upon Calandrino, who was still on the floor,
+planted her nails in his face, and scratched it all over: she then seized
+him by the hair, and hauling him to and fro about the barn:--"Foul,
+pestilent cur," quoth she, "is this the way thou treatest me? Thou old
+fool! A murrain on the love I have borne thee! Hast thou not enough to do
+at home, that thou must needs go falling in love with strange women? And
+a fine lover thou wouldst make! Dost not know thyself, knave? Dost not
+know thyself, wretch? Thou, from whose whole body 'twere not possible to
+wring enough sap for a sauce! God's faith, 'twas not Tessa that got thee
+with child: God's curse on her, whoever she was: verily she must be a
+poor creature to be enamoured of a jewel of thy rare quality." At sight
+of his wife, Calandrino, suspended, as it were, between life and death,
+ventured no defence; but, his face torn to shreds, his hair and clothes
+all disordered, fumbled about for his capuche, which having found, up he
+got, and humbly besought his wife not to publish the matter, unless she
+were minded that he should be cut to pieces, for that she that was with
+him was the wife of the master of the house. "Then God give her a bad
+year," replied the lady. Whereupon Bruno and Buffalmacco, who by this
+time had laughed their fill with Filippo and Niccolosa, came up as if
+attracted by the noise; and after not a little ado pacified the lady, and
+counselled Calandrino to go back to Florence, and stay there, lest
+Filippo should get wind of the affair, and do him a mischief. So
+Calandrino, crestfallen and woebegone, got him back to Florence with his
+face torn to shreds; where, daring not to shew himself at Camerata again,
+he endured day and night the grievous torment of his wife's vituperation.
+Such was the issue, to which, after ministering not a little mirth to his
+comrades, as also to Niccolosa and Filippo, this ardent lover brought his
+amour.
+
+
+NOVEL VI.
+
+--
+Two young men lodge at an inn, of whom the one lies with the host's
+daughter, his wife by inadvertence lying with the other. He that lay with
+the daughter afterwards gets into her father's bed and tells him all,
+taking him to be his comrade. They bandy words: whereupon the good woman,
+apprehending the circumstances, gets her to bed with her daughter, and by
+divers apt words re-establishes perfect accord.
+--
+
+Calandrino as on former occasions, so also on this, moved the company to
+laughter. However, when the ladies had done talking of his doings, the
+queen called for a story from Pamfilo, who thus spoke:--Worshipful
+ladies, this Niccolosa, that Calandrino loved, has brought to my mind a
+story of another Niccolosa; which I am minded to tell you, because 'twill
+shew you how a good woman by her quick apprehension avoided a great
+scandal.
+
+In the plain of Mugnone there was not long ago a good man that furnished
+travellers with meat and drink for money, and, for that he was in poor
+circumstances, and had but a little house, gave not lodging to every
+comer, but only to a few that he knew, and if they were hard bested. Now
+the good man had to wife a very fine woman, and by her had two children,
+to wit, a pretty and winsome girl of some fifteen or sixteen summers, as
+yet unmarried, and a little boy, not yet one year old, whom the mother
+suckled at her own breast. The girl had found favour in the eyes of a
+goodly and mannerly young gentleman of our city, who was not seldom in
+those parts, and loved her to the point of passion. And she, being
+mightily flattered to be loved by such a gallant, studied how to comport
+herself so debonairly as to retain his regard, and while she did so, grew
+likewise enamoured of him; and divers times, by consent of both their
+love had had its fruition, but that Pinuccio--such was the gallant's
+name--shrank from the disgrace that 'twould bring upon the girl and
+himself alike. But, as his passion daily waxed apace, Pinuccio, yearning
+to find himself abed with her, bethought him that he were best contrive
+to lodge with her father, deeming, from what he knew of her father's
+economy, that, if he did so, he might effect his purpose, and never a
+soul be the wiser: which idea no sooner struck him, than he set about
+carrying it into effect.
+
+So, late one evening Pinuccio and a trusty comrade, Adriano by name, to
+whom he had confided his love, hired two nags, and having set upon them
+two valises, filled with straw or such-like stuff, sallied forth of
+Florence, and rode by a circuitous route to the plain of Mugnone, which
+they reached after nightfall; and having fetched a compass, so that it
+might seem as if they were coming from Romagna, they rode up to the good
+man's house, and knocked at the door. The good man, knowing them both
+very well, opened to them forthwith: whereupon:--"Thou must even put us
+up to-night," quoth Pinuccio; "we thought to get into Florence, but, for
+all the speed we could make, we are but arrived here, as thou seest, at
+this hour." "Pinuccio," replied the host, "thou well knowest that I can
+but make a sorry shift to lodge gentlemen like you; but yet, as night has
+overtaken you here, and time serves not to betake you elsewhere, I will
+gladly give you such accommodation as I may." The two gallants then
+dismounted and entered the inn, and having first looked to their horses,
+brought out some supper that they had carried with them, and supped with
+the host.
+
+Now the host had but one little bedroom, in which were three beds, set,
+as conveniently as he could contrive, two on one side of the room, and
+the third on the opposite side, but, for all that, there was scarce room
+enough to pass through. The host had the least discomfortable of the
+three beds made up for the two friends; and having quartered them there,
+some little while afterwards, both being awake, but feigning to be
+asleep, he caused his daughter to get into one of the other two beds,
+while he and his wife took their places in the third, the good woman
+setting the cradle, in which was her little boy, beside the bed. Such,
+then, being the partition made of the beds, Pinuccio, who had taken exact
+note thereof, waited only until he deemed all but himself to be asleep,
+and then got softly up and stole to the bed in which lay his beloved, and
+laid himself beside her; and she according him albeit a timorous yet a
+gladsome welcome, he stayed there, taking with her that solace of which
+both were most fain.
+
+Pinuccio being thus with the girl, it chanced that certain things, being
+overset by a cat, fell with a noise that aroused the good woman, who,
+fearing that it might be a matter of more consequence, got up as best she
+might in the dark, and betook her to the place whence the noise seemed to
+proceed. At the same time Adriano, not by reason of the noise, which he
+heeded not, but perchance to answer the call of nature, also got up, and
+questing about for a convenient place, came upon the cradle beside the
+good woman's bed; and not being able otherwise to go by, took it up, and
+set it beside his own bed, and when he had accomplished his purpose, went
+back, and giving never a thought to the cradle got him to bed. The good
+woman searched until she found that the accident was no such matter as
+she had supposed; so without troubling to strike a light to investigate
+it further, she reproved the cat, and returned to the room, and groped
+her way straight to the bed in which her husband lay asleep; but not
+finding the cradle there, quoth she to herself:--Alas! blunderer that I
+am, what was I about? God's faith! I was going straight to the guests'
+bed; and proceeding a little further, she found the cradle, and laid
+herself down by Adriano in the bed that was beside it, taking Adriano for
+her husband; and Adriano, who was still awake, received her with all due
+benignity, and tackled her more than once to her no small delight.
+
+Meanwhile Pinuccio fearing lest sleep should overtake him while he was
+yet with his mistress, and having satisfied his desire, got up and left
+her, to return to his bed; but when he got there, coming upon the cradle,
+he supposed that 'twas the host's bed; and so going a little further, he
+laid him down beside the host, who thereupon awoke. Supposing that he had
+Adriano beside him:--"I warrant thee," quoth Pinuccio to the host, "there
+was never so sweet a piece of flesh as Niccolosa: by the body of God,
+such delight have I had of her as never had man of woman; and, mark me,
+since I left thee, I have gotten me up to the farm some six times." Which
+tidings the host being none too well pleased to learn, said first of all
+to himself:--What the Devil does this fellow here? Then, his resentment
+getting the better of his prudence:--"'Tis a gross affront thou hast put
+upon me, Pinuccio," quoth he; "nor know I what occasion thou hast to do
+me such a wrong; but by the body of God I will pay thee out." Pinuccio,
+who was not the most discreet of gallants, albeit he was now apprised of
+his error, instead of doing his best to repair it, retorted:--"And how
+wilt thou pay me out? What canst thou do?" "Hark what high words our
+guests are at together!" quoth meanwhile the host's wife to Adriano,
+deeming that she spoke to her husband. "Let them be," replied Adriano
+with a laugh:--"God give them a bad year: they drank too much yestereve."
+The good woman had already half recognized her husband's angry tones, and
+now that she heard Adriano's voice, she at once knew where she was and
+with whom. Accordingly, being a discreet woman, she started up, and
+saying never a word, took her child's cradle, and, though there was not a
+ray of light in the room, bore it, divining rather than feeling her way,
+to the side of the bed in which her daughter slept; and then, as if
+aroused by the noise made by her husband, she called him, and asked what
+he and Pinuccio were bandying words about. "Hearest thou not," replied
+the husband, "what he says he has this very night done to Niccolosa?"
+"Tush! he lies in the throat," returned the good woman: "he has not lain
+with Niccolosa; for what time he might have done so, I laid me beside her
+myself, and I have been wide awake ever since; and thou art a fool to
+believe him. You men take so many cups before going to bed that then you
+dream, and walk in your sleep, and imagine wonders. 'Tis a great pity you
+do not break your necks. What does Pinuccio there? Why keeps he not in
+his own bed?"
+
+Whereupon Adriano, in his turn, seeing how adroitly the good woman
+cloaked her own and her daughter's shame:--"Pinuccio," quoth he, "I have
+told thee a hundred times, that thou shouldst not walk about at night;
+for this thy bad habit of getting up in thy dreams and relating thy
+dreams for truth will get thee into a scrape some time or another: come
+back, and God send thee a bad night." Hearing Adriano thus confirm what
+his wife had said, the host began to think that Pinuccio must be really
+dreaming; so he took him by the shoulder, and fell a shaking him, and
+calling him by his name, saying:--"Pinuccio, wake up, and go back to thy
+bed." Pinuccio, taking his cue from what he had heard, began as a dreamer
+would be like to do, to talk wanderingly; whereat the host laughed amain.
+Then, feigning to be aroused by the shaking, Pinuccio uttered Adriano's
+name, saying:--"Is't already day, that thou callest me?" "Ay, 'tis so,"
+quoth Adriano: "come hither." Whereupon Pinuccio, making as if he were
+mighty drowsy, got him up from beside the host, and back to bed with
+Adriano. On the morrow, when they were risen, the host fell a laughing
+and making merry touching Pinuccio and his dreams. And so the jest passed
+from mouth to mouth, while the gallants' horses were groomed and saddled,
+and their valises adjusted: which done, they drank with the host, mounted
+and rode to Florence, no less pleased with the manner than with the
+matter of the night's adventure. Nor, afterwards, did Pinuccio fail to
+find other means of meeting Niccolosa, who assured her mother that he had
+unquestionably dreamed. For which cause the good woman, calling to mind
+Adriano's embrace, accounted herself the only one that had watched.
+
+
+NOVEL VII.
+
+--
+Talano di Molese dreams that a wolf tears and rends all the neck and face
+of his wife: he gives her warning thereof, which she heeds not, and the
+dream comes true.
+--
+
+When Pamfilo had brought his story to a close, and all had commended the
+good woman's quick perception, the queen bade Pampinea tell hers; and
+thus Pampinea began:--A while ago, debonair my ladies, we held discourse
+of the truths that dreams shew forth, which not a few of us deride; for
+which cause, albeit the topic has been handled before, I shall not spare
+to tell you that which not long ago befell a neighbour of mine, for that
+she disbelieved a dream that her husband had.
+
+I wot not if you knew Talano di Molese, a man right worthy to be had in
+honour; who, having married a young wife--Margarita by name--fair as e'er
+another, but without her match for whimsical, fractious, and perverse
+humours, insomuch that there was nought she would do at the instance of
+another, either for his or her own good, found her behaviour most
+grievous to bear, but was fain to endure what he might not cure. Now it
+so befell that Talano and Margarita being together at an estate that
+Talano had in the contado, he, sleeping, saw in a dream a very beautiful
+wood that was on the estate at no great distance from the house, and his
+lady there walking. And as she went, there leapt forth upon her a huge
+and fierce wolf that griped her by the throat, and bore her down to the
+ground, and (she shrieking the while for succour) would have carried her
+off by main force; but she got quit of his jaws, albeit her neck and face
+shewed as quite disfigured. On the morrow, as soon as he was risen,
+Talano said to his wife:--"Albeit for thy perversity I have not yet known
+a single good day with thee, yet I should be sorry, wife, that harm
+should befall thee; and therefore, if thou take my advice, thou wilt not
+stir out of doors to-day." "Wherefore?" quoth the lady; and thereupon he
+recounted to her all his dream.
+
+The lady shook her head, saying:--"Who means ill, dreams ill. Thou makest
+as if thou wast mighty tender of me, but thou bodest of me in thy dream
+that which thou wouldst fain see betide me. I warrant thee that to-day
+and all days I will have a care to avoid this or any other calamity that
+might gladden thy heart." Whereupon:--"Well wist I," replied Talano,
+"that thou wouldst so say, for such is ever the requital of those that
+comb scurfy heads; but whatever thou mayst be pleased to believe, I for
+my part speak to thee for thy good, and again I advise thee to keep
+indoors to-day, or at least not to walk in the wood." "Good," returned
+the lady, "I will look to it," and then she began communing with herself
+on this wise:--Didst mark how artfully he thinks to have scared me from
+going into the wood to-day? Doubtless 'tis that he has an assignation
+there with some light o' love, with whom he had rather I did not find
+him. Ah! he would sup well with the blind, and what a fool were I to
+believe him! But I warrant he will be disappointed, and needs must I,
+though I stay there all day long, see what commerce it is that he will
+adventure in to-day.
+
+Having so said, she quitted the house on one side, while her husband did
+so on the other; and forthwith, shunning observation as best she might,
+she hied her to the wood, and hid her where 'twas most dense, and there
+waited on the alert, and glancing, now this way and now that, to see if
+any were coming. And while thus she stood, nor ever a thought of a wolf
+crossed her mind, lo, forth of a close covert hard by came a wolf of
+monstrous size and appalling aspect, and scarce had she time to say, God
+help me! before he sprang upon her and griped her by the throat so
+tightly that she might not utter a cry, but, passive as any lambkin, was
+borne off by him, and had certainly been strangled, had he not
+encountered some shepherds, who with shouts compelled him to let her go.
+The shepherds recognized the poor hapless woman, and bore her home, where
+the physicians by dint of long and careful treatment cured her; howbeit
+the whole of her throat and part of her face remained so disfigured that,
+fair as she had been before, she was ever thereafter most foul and
+hideous to look upon. Wherefore, being ashamed to shew her face, she did
+many a time bitterly deplore her perversity, in that, when it would have
+cost her nothing, she would nevertheless pay no heed to the true dream of
+her husband.
+
+
+NOVEL VIII.
+
+--
+Biondello gulls Ciacco in the matter of a breakfast: for which prank
+Ciacco is cunningly avenged on Biondello, causing him to be shamefully
+beaten.
+--
+
+All the company by common consent pronounced it no dream but a vision
+that Talano had had in his sleep, so exactly, no circumstance lacking,
+had it fallen out according as he had seen it. However, as soon as all
+had done speaking, the queen bade Lauretta follow suit; which Lauretta
+did on this wise:--As, most discreet my ladies, those that have preceded
+me to-day have almost all taken their cue from somewhat that has been
+said before, so, prompted by the stern vengeance taken by the scholar in
+Pampinea's narrative of yesterday, I am minded to tell you of a vengeance
+that was indeed less savage, but for all that grievous enough to him on
+whom it was wreaked.
+
+Wherefore I say that there was once at Florence one that all folk called
+Ciacco, a man second to none that ever lived for inordinate gluttony,
+who, lacking the means to support the expenditure which his gluttony
+demanded, and being, for the rest, well-mannered and well furnished with
+excellent and merry jests, did, without turning exactly court jester,
+cultivate a somewhat biting wit, and loved to frequent the houses of the
+rich, and such as kept good tables; whither, bidden or unbidden, he not
+seldom resorted for breakfast or supper. There was also in those days at
+Florence one that was called Biondello, a man very short of stature, and
+not a little debonair, more trim than any fly, with his blond locks
+surmounted by a coif, and never a hair out of place; and he and Ciacco
+were two of a trade.
+
+Now one morning in Lent Biondello, being in the fish-market purchasing
+two mighty fat lampreys for Messer Vieri de' Cerchi, was observed thus
+engaged by Ciacco, who came up to him, and:--"What means this?" quoth he.
+"Why," replied Biondello, "'tis that yestereve Messer Corso Donati had
+three lampreys much finer than these and a sturgeon sent to his house,
+but as they did not suffice for a breakfast that he is to give certain
+gentlemen, he has commissioned me to buy him these two beside. Wilt thou
+not be there?" "Ay, marry, that will I," returned Ciacco. And in what he
+deemed due time he hied him to Messer Corso Donati's house, where he
+found him with some of his neighbours not yet gone to breakfast. And
+being asked by Messer Corso with what intent he was come, he
+answered:--"I am come, Sir, to breakfast with you and your company." "And
+welcome art thou," returned Messer Corso, "go we then to breakfast, for
+'tis now the time." So to table they went, where nought was set before
+them but pease and the inward part of the tunny salted, and afterwards
+the common fish of the Arno fried. Wherefore Ciacco, not a little wroth
+at the trick that he perceived Biondello had played him, resolved to pay
+him out. And not many days after Biondello, who had meanwhile had many a
+laugh with his friends over Ciacco's discomfiture, met him, and after
+greeting him, asked him with a laugh what Messer Corso's lampreys had
+been like. "That question," replied Ciacco, "thou wilt be able to answer
+much better than I before eight days are gone by." And parting from
+Biondello upon the word, he went forthwith and hired a cozening rogue,
+and having thrust a glass bottle into his hand, brought him within sight
+of the Loggia de' Cavicciuli; and there, pointing to a knight, one Messer
+Filippo Argenti, a tall man and stout, and of a high courage, and
+haughty, choleric and cross-grained as ne'er another, he said to
+him:--"Thou wilt go, flask in hand, to Messer Filippo, and wilt say to
+him:--'I am sent to you, Sir, by Biondello, who entreats you to be
+pleased to colour this flask for him with some of your good red wine, for
+that he is minded to have a good time with his catamites.' And of all
+things have a care that he lay not hands upon thee, for he would make
+thee rue the day, and would spoil my sport." "Have I aught else to say?"
+enquired the rogue. "Nothing more," returned Ciacco: "and now get thee
+gone, and when thou hast delivered the message, bring me back the flask,
+and I will pay thee."
+
+So away went the rogue, and did the errand to Messer Filippo, who
+forthwith, being a hasty man, jumped to the conclusion that Biondello,
+whom he knew, was making mock of him, and while an angry flush overspread
+his face:--"Colour the flask, forsooth!" quoth he, "and 'Catamites!' God
+send thee and him a bad year!" and therewith up he started, and reached
+forward to lay hold of the rogue, who, being on the alert, gave him the
+slip and was off, and reported Messer Filippo's answer to Ciacco, who had
+observed what had passed. Having paid the rogue, Ciacco rested not until
+he had found Biondello, to whom:--"Wast thou but now," quoth he, "at the
+Loggia de' Cavicciuli?" "Indeed no," replied Biondello: "wherefore such a
+question?" "Because," returned Ciacco, "I may tell thee that thou art
+sought for by Messer Filippo, for what cause I know not." "Good," quoth
+Biondello, "I will go thither and speak with him." So away went
+Biondello, and Ciacco followed him to see what course the affair would
+take.
+
+Now having failed to catch the rogue, Messer Filippo was still very
+wroth, and inly fumed and fretted, being unable to make out aught from
+what the rogue had said save that Biondello was set on by some one or
+another to flout him. And while thus he vexed his spirit, up came
+Biondello; whom he no sooner espied than he made for him, and dealt him a
+mighty blow in the face, and tore his hair and coif, and cast his capuche
+on the ground, and to his "Alas, Sir, what means this?" still beating him
+amain:--"Traitor," cried he; "I will give thee to know what it means to
+send me such a message. 'Colour the flask,' forsooth, and 'Catamites!'
+Dost take me for a stripling, to be befooled by thee?" And therewith he
+pummelled Biondello's face all over with a pair of fists that were liker
+to iron than aught else, until it was but a mass of bruises; he also tore
+and dishevelled all his hair, tumbled him in the mud, rent all his
+clothes upon his back, and that without allowing him breathing-space to
+ask why he thus used him, or so much as utter a word. "Colour me the
+flask!" and "Catamites!" rang in his ears; but what the words signified
+he knew not. In the end very badly beaten, and in very sorry and ragged
+trim, many folk having gathered around them, they, albeit not without the
+utmost difficulty, rescued him from Messer Filippo's hands, and told him
+why Messer Filippo had thus used him, censuring him for sending him such
+a message, and adding that thenceforth he would know Messer Filippo
+better, and that he was not a man to be trifled with. Biondello told them
+in tearful exculpation that he had never sent for wine to Messer Filippo:
+then, when they had put him in a little better trim, crestfallen and
+woebegone, he went home imputing his misadventure to Ciacco. And when,
+many days afterwards, the marks of his ill-usage being gone from his
+face, he began to go abroad again, it chanced that Ciacco met him, and
+with a laugh:--"Biondello," quoth he, "how didst thou relish Messer
+Filippo's wine?" "Why, as to that," replied Biondello, "would thou hadst
+relished the lampreys of Messer Corso as much!" "So!" returned Ciacco,
+"such meat as thou then gavest me, thou mayst henceforth give me, as
+often as thou art so minded; and I will give thee even such drink as I
+have given thee." So Biondello, witting that against Ciacco his might was
+not equal to his spite, prayed God for his peace, and was careful never
+to flout him again.
+
+
+NOVEL IX.
+
+--
+Two young men ask counsel of Solomon; the one, how he is to make himself
+beloved, the other, how he is to reduce an unruly wife to order. The King
+bids the one to love, and the other to go to the Bridge of Geese.
+--
+
+None now remained to tell save the queen, unless she were minded to
+infringe Dioneo's privilege. Wherefore, when the ladies had laughed their
+fill over the misfortunes of Biondello, thus gaily the queen
+began:--Observe we, lovesome ladies, the order of things with a sound
+mind, and we shall readily perceive that we women are one and all
+subjected by Nature and custom and law unto man, by him to be ruled and
+governed at his discretion; wherefore she, that would fain enjoy quietude
+and solace and comfort with the man to whom she belongs, ought not only
+to be chaste but lowly, patient and obedient: the which is the discreet
+wife's chief and most precious possession. And if the laws, which in all
+matters have regard unto the common weal, and use and wont or custom
+(call it what you will), a power very great and to be had in awe, should
+not suffice to school us thereto; yet abundantly clear is the witness of
+Nature, which has fashioned our frames delicate and sensitive, and our
+spirits timorous and fearful, and has decreed that our bodily strength
+shall be slight, our voices tunable, and our movements graceful; which
+qualities do all avouch that we have need of others' governance. And
+whoso has need of succour and governance ought in all reason to be
+obedient and submissive and reverent towards his governor. And whom have
+we to govern and succour us save men? 'Tis then our bounden duty to give
+men all honour and submit ourselves unto them: from which rule if any
+deviate, I deem her most deserving not only of grave censure but of
+severe chastisement. Which reflections, albeit they are not new to me, I
+am now led to make by what but a little while ago Pampinea told us
+touching the perverse wife of Talano, on whom God bestowed that
+chastisement which the husband had omitted; and accordingly it jumps with
+my judgment that all such women as deviate from the graciousness,
+kindliness and compliancy, which Nature and custom and law prescribe,
+merit, as I said, stern and severe chastisement. Wherefore, as a salutary
+medicine for the healing of those of us who may be afflicted with this
+disease, I am minded to relate to you that which was once delivered by
+Solomon by way of counsel in such a case. Which let none that stands not
+in need of such physic deem to be meant for her, albeit a proverb is
+current among men; to wit:--
+
+  Good steed, bad steed, alike need the rowel's prick,
+  Good wife, bad wife, alike demand the stick.
+
+Which whoso should construe as a merry conceit would find you all ready
+enough to acknowledge its truth. But even in its moral significance I say
+that it ought to command assent. For women are all by nature apt to be
+swayed and to fall; and therefore, for the correction of the wrong-doing
+of such as transgress the bounds assigned to them, there is need of the
+stick punitive; and also for the maintenance of virtue in others, that
+they transgress not these appointed bounds, there is need of the stick
+auxiliary and deterrent. However, to cut short this preachment, and to
+come to that which I purpose to tell you, I say:
+
+That the bruit of the incomparable renown of the prodigious wisdom of
+Solomon, as also of the exceeding great liberality with which he accorded
+proof thereof to all that craved such assurance, being gone forth over
+well-nigh all the earth, many from divers parts were wont to resort to
+him for counsel in matters of most pressing and arduous importance; among
+whom was a young man, Melisso by name, a very wealthy nobleman, who was,
+as had been his fathers before him, of Lazistan, and there dwelt. And as
+Melisso fared toward Jerusalem, on his departure from Antioch he fell in
+with another young man, Giosefo by name, who was going the same way, and
+with whom, after the manner of travellers, he entered into converse.
+Melisso, having learned from Giosefo, who and whence he was, asked him
+whither he went, and on what errand: whereupon Giosefo made an answer
+that he was going to seek counsel of Solomon, how he should deal with his
+wife, who had not her match among women for unruliness and perversity,
+insomuch that neither entreaties nor blandishments nor aught else availed
+him to bring her to a better frame. And thereupon he in like manner asked
+Melisso whence he was, and whither he was bound, and on what errand:
+whereto:--"Of Lazistan, I," replied Melisso, "and like thyself in evil
+plight; for albeit I am wealthy and spend my substance freely in
+hospitably entertaining and honourably entreating my fellow-citizens, yet
+for all that, passing strange though it be to think upon, I find never a
+soul to love me; and therefore I am bound to the self-same place as thou,
+to be advised how it may come to pass that I be beloved."
+
+So the two men fared on together, and being arrived at Jerusalem, were,
+by the good offices of one of Solomon's barons, ushered into his
+presence, and Melisso having briefly laid his case before the King, was
+answered in one word:--"Love." Which said, Melisso was forthwith
+dismissed, and Giosefo discovered the reason of his coming. To whom
+Solomon made no answer but:--"Get thee to the Bridge of Geese." Whereupon
+Giosefo was likewise promptly ushered out of the King's presence, and
+finding Melisso awaiting him, told him what manner of answer he had
+gotten. Which utterances of the King the two men pondered, but finding
+therein nought that was helpful or relevant to their need, they doubted
+the King had but mocked them, and set forth upon their homeward journey.
+
+Now when they had been some days on the road, they came to a river, which
+was spanned by a fine bridge, and a great caravan of sumpter mules and
+horses being about to cross, they must needs tarry, until the caravan had
+passed by. The more part of which had done so, when it chanced that a
+mule turned sulky, as we know they will not seldom do, and stood stock
+still; wherefore a muleteer took a stick and fell a beating the mule
+therewith, albeit at first with no great vigour, to urge the mule
+forward. The mule, however, swerving, now to this, now to the other side
+of the bridge, and sometimes facing about, utterly refused to go forward.
+Whereat the muleteer, wroth beyond measure, fell a belabouring him with
+the stick now on the head, now on the flanks, and anon on the croup,
+never so lustily, but all to no purpose. Which caused Melisso and Giosefo
+ofttimes to say to him:--"How now, caitiff? What is this thou doest?
+Wouldst kill the beast? Why not try if thou canst not manage him kindly
+and gently? He would start sooner so than for this cudgelling of thine."
+To whom:--"You know your horses," replied the muleteer, "and I know my
+mule: leave me to deal with him." Which said, he resumed his cudgelling
+of the mule, and laid about him on this side and on that to such purpose
+that he started him; and so the honours of the day rested with the
+muleteer. Now, as the two young men were leaving the bridge behind them,
+Giosefo asked a good man that sate at its head what the bridge was
+called, and was answered:--"Sir, 'tis called the Bridge of Geese." Which
+Giosefo no sooner heard than he called to mind Solomon's words, and
+turning to Melisso:--"Now, comrade, I warrant thee I may yet find
+Solomon's counsel sound and good, for that I knew not how to beat my wife
+is abundantly clear to me; and this muleteer has shewn me what I have to
+do."
+
+Now some days afterwards they arrived at Antioch, where Giosefo prevailed
+upon Melisso to tarry with him and rest a day or two; and meeting with
+but a sorry welcome on the part of his wife, he told her to take her
+orders as to supper from Melisso, who, seeing that such was Giosefo's
+will, briefly gave her his instructions; which the lady, as had been her
+wont, not only did not obey, but contravened in almost every particular.
+Which Giosefo marking:--"Wast thou not told," quoth he angrily, "after
+what fashion thou wast to order the supper?" Whereto:--"So!" replied the
+lady haughtily: "what means this? If thou hast a mind to sup, why take
+not thy supper? No matter what I was told, 'tis thus I saw fit to order
+it. If it like thee, so be it: if not, 'tis thine affair." Melisso heard
+the lady with surprise and inward disapprobation: Giosefo retorted:--"Ay
+wife, thou art still as thou wast used to be; but I will make thee mend
+thy manners." Then, turning to Melisso:--"Friend," quoth he, "thou wilt
+soon prove the worth of Solomon's counsel: but, prithee, let it not irk
+thee to look on, and deem that what I shall do is but done in sport; and
+if thou shouldst be disposed to stand in my way, bear in mind how we were
+answered by the muleteer, when we pitied his mule." "I am in thy house,"
+replied Melisso, "and thy pleasure is to me law."
+
+Thereupon Giosefo took a stout cudgel cut from an oak sapling, and hied
+him into the room whither the lady had withdrawn from the table in high
+dudgeon, seized her by the hair, threw her on to the floor at his feet,
+and fell a beating her amain with the cudgel. The lady at first uttered a
+shriek or two, from which she passed to threats; but seeing that, for all
+that, Giosefo slackened not, by the time she was thoroughly well
+thrashed, she began to cry him mercy, imploring him not to kill her, and
+adding that henceforth his will should be to her for law. But still
+Giosefo gave not over, but with ever fresh fury dealt her mighty
+swingeing blows, now about the ribs, now on the haunches, now over the
+shoulders; nor had he done with the fair lady, until, in short, he had
+left never a bone or other part of her person whole, and he was fairly
+spent. Then, returning to Melisso:--"To-morrow," quoth he, "we shall see
+whether 'Get thee to the Bridge of Geese' will prove to have been sound
+advice or no." And so, having rested a while, and then washed his hands,
+he supped with Melisso. With great pain the poor lady got upon her feet
+and laid herself on her bed, and having there taken such rest as she
+might, rose betimes on the morrow, and craved to know of Giosefo what he
+was minded to have to breakfast. Giosefo, laughing with Melisso over the
+message, gave her his directions, and when in due time they came to
+breakfast, they found everything excellently ordered according as it had
+been commanded: for which cause the counsel, which they had at first
+failed to understand, now received their highest commendation.
+
+Some few days later Melisso, having taken leave of Giosefo, went home,
+and told a wise man the counsel he had gotten from Solomon.
+Whereupon:--"And no truer or sounder advice could he have given thee,"
+quoth the sage: "thou knowest that thou lovest never a soul, and that the
+honours thou payest and the services thou renderest to others are not
+prompted by love of them, but by love of display. Love, then, as Solomon
+bade thee, and thou shalt be loved." On such wise was the unruly
+chastised; and the young man, learning to love, was beloved.
+
+
+NOVEL X.
+
+--
+Dom Gianni at the instance of his gossip Pietro uses an enchantment to
+transform Pietro's wife into a mare; but, when he comes to attach the
+tail, Gossip Pietro, by saying that he will have none of the tail, makes
+the enchantment of no effect.
+--
+
+The queen's story evoked some murmurs from the ladies and some laughter
+from the young men; however, when they were silent, Dioneo thus
+began:--Dainty my ladies, a black crow among a flock of white doves
+enhances their beauty more than would a white swan; and so, when many
+sages are met together, their ripe wisdom not only shews the brighter and
+goodlier for the presence of one that is not so wise, but may even derive
+pleasure and diversion therefrom. Wherefore as you, my ladies, are one
+and all most discreet and judicious, I, who know myself to be somewhat
+scant of sense, should, for that by my demerit I make your merit shew the
+more glorious, be more dear to you, than if by my greater merit I
+eclipsed yours, and by consequence should have more ample license to
+reveal myself to you as I am; and therefore have more patient sufferance
+on your part than would be due to me, were I more discreet, in the
+relation of the tale which I am about to tell you. 'Twill be, then, a
+story none too long, wherefrom you may gather with what exactitude it
+behoves folk to observe the injunctions of those that for any purpose use
+an enchantment, and how slight an error committed therein make bring to
+nought all the work of the enchanter.
+
+A year or so ago there was at Barletta a priest named Dom Gianni di
+Barolo, who, to eke out the scanty pittance his church afforded him, set
+a pack-saddle upon his mare, and took to going the round of the fairs of
+Apulia, buying and selling merchandise. And so it befell that he clapped
+up a close acquaintance with one Pietro da Tresanti, who plied the same
+trade as he, albeit instead of a mare he had but an ass; whom in token of
+friendship and good-fellowship Dom Gianni after the Apulian fashion
+called ever Gossip Pietro, and had him to his house and there lodged and
+honourably entreated him as often as he came to Barletta. Gossip Pietro
+on his part, albeit he was very poor and had but a little cot at
+Tresanti, that scarce sufficed for himself, his fair, young wife, and
+their ass, nevertheless, whenever Dom Gianni arrived at Tresanti, made
+him welcome, and did him the honours of his house as best he might, in
+requital of the hospitality which he received at Barletta. However, as
+Gossip Pietro had but one little bed, in which he slept with his fair
+wife, 'twas not in his power to lodge Dom Gianni as comfortably as he
+would have liked; but the priest's mare being quartered beside the ass in
+a little stable, the priest himself must needs lie beside her on the
+straw. Many a time when the priest came, the wife, knowing how honourably
+he entreated her husband at Barletta, would fain have gone to sleep with
+a neighbour, one Zita Carapresa di Giudice Leo, that the priest might
+share the bed with her husband, and many a time had she told the priest
+so howbeit he would never agree to it, and on one occasion:--"Gossip
+Gemmata," quoth he, "trouble not thyself about me; I am well lodged; for,
+when I am so minded, I turn the mare into a fine lass and dally with her,
+and then, when I would, I turn her back into a mare; wherefore I could
+ill brook to part from her." The young woman, wondering but believing,
+told her husband what the priest had said, adding:--"If he is even such a
+friend as thou sayst, why dost thou not get him to teach thee the
+enchantment, so that thou mayst turn me into a mare, and have both ass
+and mare for thine occasions? We should then make twice as much gain as
+we do, and thou couldst turn me back into a woman when we came home at
+night."
+
+Gossip Pietro, whose wit was somewhat blunt, believed that 'twas as she
+said, approved her counsel, and began adjuring Dom Gianni, as
+persuasively as he might, to teach him the incantation. Dom Gianni did
+his best to wean him of his folly; but as all was in vain:--"Lo, now,"
+quoth he, "as you are both bent on it, we will be up, as is our wont,
+before the sun to-morrow morning, and I will shew you how 'tis done. The
+truth is that 'tis in the attachment of the tail that the great
+difficulty lies, as thou wilt see." Scarce a wink of sleep had either
+Gossip Pietro or Gossip Gemmata that night, so great was their anxiety;
+and towards daybreak up they got, and called Dom Gianni; who, being
+risen, came in his shirt into Gossip Pietro's little bedroom, and:--"I
+know not," quoth he, "that there is another soul in the world for whom I
+would do this, save you, my gossips; however, as you will have it so, I
+will do it, but it behoves you to do exactly as I bid you, if you would
+have the enchantment work." They promised obedience, and Dom Gianni
+thereupon took a light, which he handed to Gossip Pietro, saying:--"Let
+nought that I shall do or say escape thee; and have a care, so thou
+wouldst not ruin all, to say never a word, whatever thou mayst see or
+hear; and pray God that the tail may be securely attached." So Gossip
+Pietro took the light, and again promised obedience; Dom Gianni caused
+Gossip Gemmata to strip herself stark naked, and stand on all fours like
+a mare, at the same time strictly charging her that, whatever might
+happen, she must utter no word. Then, touching her head and face:--"Be
+this a fine head of a mare," quoth he; in like manner touching her hair,
+he said:--"Be this a fine mane of a mare;" touching her arms:--"Be these
+fine legs and fine hooves of a mare;" then, as he touched her breast and
+felt its firm roundness, and there awoke and arose one that was not
+called:--"And be this a fine breast of a mare," quoth he; and in like
+manner he dealt with her back, belly, croup, thighs, and legs. Last of
+all, the work being complete save for the tail, he lifted his shirt and
+took in his hand the tool with which he was used to plant men, and
+forthwith thrust it into the furrow made for it, saying:--"And be this a
+fine tail of a mare." Whereat Gossip Pietro, who had followed everything
+very heedfully to that point, disapproving that last particular,
+exclaimed:--"No! Dom Gianni, I'll have no tail, I'll have no tail." The
+essential juice, by which all plants are propagated, was already
+discharged, when Dom Gianni withdrew the tool, saying:--"Alas! Gossip
+Pietro, what hast thou done? Did I not tell thee to say never a word, no
+matter what thou mightst see? The mare was all but made; but by speaking
+thou hast spoiled all; and 'tis not possible to repeat the enchantment."
+"Well and good," replied Gossip Pietro, "I would have none of that tail.
+Why saidst thou not to me:--'Make it thou'? And besides, thou wast
+attaching it too low." "'Twas because," returned Dom Gianni, "thou
+wouldst not have known, on the first essay, how to attach it so well as
+I." Whereupon the young woman stood up, and in all good faith said to her
+husband:--"Fool that thou art, wherefore hast thou brought to nought what
+had been for the good of us both? When didst thou ever see mare without a
+tail? So help me God, poor as thou art, thou deservest to be poorer
+still." So, after Gossip Pietro's ill-timed speech, there being no way
+left of turning the young woman into a mare, downcast and melancholy she
+resumed her clothes; and Gossip Pietro plied his old trade with his ass,
+and went with Dom Gianni to the fair of Bitonto, and never asked him so
+to serve him again.
+
+What laughter this story drew from the ladies, who understood it better
+than Dioneo had wished, may be left to the imagination of the fair one
+that now laughs thereat. However, as the stories were ended, and the sun
+now shone with a tempered radiance, the queen, witting that the end of
+her sovereignty was come, stood up and took off the crown, and set it on
+the head of Pamfilo, whom alone it now remained thus to honour; and said
+with a smile:--"My lord, 'tis a great burden that falls upon thee, seeing
+that thou, coming last, art bound to make good my shortcomings and those
+of my predecessors; which God give thee grace to accomplish, even as He
+has given me grace to make thee king." With gladsome acknowledgment of
+the honour:--"I doubt not," replied Pamfilo, "that, thanks to your noble
+qualities and those of my other subjects, I shall win even such praise as
+those that have borne sway before me." Then, following the example of his
+predecessors, he made all meet arrangements in concert with the
+seneschal: after which, he turned to the expectant ladies, and thus
+spoke:--"Enamoured my ladies, Emilia, our queen of to-day, deeming it
+proper to allow you an interval of rest to recruit your powers, gave you
+license to discourse of such matters as should most commend themselves to
+each in turn; and as thereby you are now rested, I judge that 'tis meet
+to revert to our accustomed rule. Wherefore I ordain that for to-morrow
+you do each of you take thought how you may discourse of the ensuing
+theme: to wit, of such as in matters of love, or otherwise, have done
+something with liberality or magnificence. By the telling, and (still
+more) by the doing of such things, your spirits will assuredly be duly
+attuned and animated to emprise high and noble; whereby our life, which
+cannot but be brief, seeing that 'tis enshrined in a mortal body, fame
+shall perpetuate in glory; which whoso serves not the belly, as do the
+beasts, must not only covet, but with all zeal seek after and labour to
+attain."
+
+The gay company having, one and all, approved the theme, rose at a word
+from their new king, and betook them to their wonted pastimes, and so,
+according as they severally had most lief, diverted them, until they
+blithely reunited for supper, which being served with all due care and
+despatched, they rose up to dance, as they were wont, and when they had
+sung, perhaps, a thousand ditties, fitter to please by their words than
+by any excellence of musical art, the king bade Neifile sing one on her
+own account. And promptly and graciously, with voice clear and blithe,
+thus Neifile sang:--
+
+In prime of maidenhood, and fair and feat
+  'Mid spring's fresh foison chant I merrily:
+  Thanks be to Love and to my fancies sweet.
+
+As o'er the grassy mead I, glancing, fare,
+  I mark it white and yellow and vermeil dight
+  With flowers, the thorny rose, the lily white:
+  And all alike to his face I compare,
+  Who, loving, hath me ta'en, and me shall e'er
+  Hold bounden to his will, sith I am she
+  That in his will findeth her joy complete.
+
+Whereof if so it be that I do find
+  Any that I most like to him approve,
+  That pluck I straight and kiss with words of love,
+  Discovering all, as, best I may, my mind;
+  Yea, all my heart's desire; and then entwined
+  I set it in the chaplet daintily,
+  And with my yellow tresses bind and pleat.
+
+And as mine eyes do drink in the delight
+  Which the flower yields them, even so my mind,
+  Fired with his sweet love, doth such solace find,
+  As he himself were present to the sight:
+  But never word of mine discover might
+  That which the flower's sweet smell awakes in me:
+  Witness the true tale that my sighs repeat.
+
+For from my bosom gentle and hot they fly,
+  Not like the gusty sighs that others heave,
+  Whenas they languish and do sorely grieve;
+  And to my love incontinent they hie:
+  Whereof when he is ware, he, by and by,
+  To meward hasting, cometh suddenly,
+  When:--"Lest I faint," I cry, "come, I entreat."
+
+The king and all the ladies did not a little commend Neifile's song;
+after which, as the night was far spent, the king bade all go to rest
+until the morrow.
+
+
+--
+Endeth here the ninth day of the Decameron, and beginneth the tenth, in
+which, under the rule of Pamfilo, discourse is had of such as in matters
+of love, or otherwise, have done something with liberality or
+magnificence.
+--
+
+Some cloudlets in the West still shewed a vermeil flush, albeit those of
+the eastern sky, as the sun's rays smote them anear, were already fringed
+as with most lucent gold, when uprose Pamfilo, and roused the ladies and
+his comrades. And all the company being assembled, and choice made of the
+place whither they should betake them for their diversion, he,
+accompanied by Filomena and Fiammetta, led the way at a slow pace,
+followed by all the rest. So fared they no little space, beguiling the
+time with talk of their future way of life, whereof there was much to
+tell and much to answer, until, as the sun gained strength, they
+returned, having made quite a long round, to the palace; and being
+gathered about the fountain, such as were so minded drank somewhat from
+beakers rinsed in its pure waters; and then in the delicious shade of the
+garden they hied them hither and thither, taking their pleasure until
+breakfast-time. Their meal taken, they slept as they were wont; and then,
+at a spot chosen by the king, they reassembled, where Neifile, having
+received his command to lead the way, blithely thus began.
+
+
+NOVEL I.
+
+--
+A knight in the service of the King of Spain deems himself ill requited.
+Wherefore the King, by most cogent proof, shews him that the blame rests
+not with him, but with the knight's own evil fortune; after which, he
+bestows upon him a noble gift.
+--
+
+Highly graced, indeed, do I deem myself, honourable my ladies, that our
+king should have given to me the precedence in a matter so arduous to
+tell of as magnificence: for, as the sun irradiates all the heaven with
+his glory and beauty, even so does magnificence enhance the purity and
+the splendour of every other virtue. I shall therefore tell you a story,
+which, to my thinking, is not a little pretty; and which, assuredly, it
+must be profitable to call to mind.
+
+You are to know, then, that, among other honourable knights that from
+days of old even until now have dwelt in our city, one, and perchance the
+worthiest of all, was Messer Ruggieri de' Figiovanni. Who, being wealthy
+and magnanimous, reflecting on the customs and manner of life of Tuscany,
+perceived that by tarrying there he was like to find little or no
+occasion of shewing his mettle, and accordingly resolved to pass some
+time at the court of Alfonso, King of Spain, who for the fame of his high
+qualities was without a peer among the potentates of his age. So, being
+well provided with arms and horses and retinue suitable to his rank, he
+hied him to Spain, where he was graciously received by the King. There
+tarrying accordingly, Messer Ruggieri very soon, as well by the splendid
+style in which he lived as by the prodigious feats of arms that he did,
+gave folk to know his high desert.
+
+Now, having tarried there some while, and observed the King's ways with
+much care, and how he would grant castles, cities, or baronies, to this,
+that, or the other of his subjects, he deemed that the King shewed
+therein but little judgment, seeing that he would give them to men that
+merited them not. And for that nought was given to him, he, knowing his
+merit, deemed himself gravely injured in reputation; wherefore he made up
+his mind to depart the realm, and to that end craved license of the King;
+which the King granted him, and therewith gave him one of the best and
+finest mules that was ever ridden, a gift which Messer Ruggieri, as he
+had a long journey to make, did not a little appreciate. The King then
+bade one of his discreet domestics contrive, as best he might, to ride
+with Messer Ruggieri on such wise that it might not appear that he did so
+by the King's command, and charge his memory with whatever Messer
+Ruggieri might say of him, so that he might be able to repeat it; which
+done, he was on the very next morning to bid Ruggieri return to the King
+forthwith. The King's agent was on the alert, and no sooner was Ruggieri
+out of the city, than without any manner of difficulty he joined his
+company, giving out that he was going towards Italy. As thus they rode,
+talking of divers matters, Messer Ruggieri being mounted on the mule
+given him by the King:--"Methinks," quoth the other, it being then hard
+upon tierce, "that 'twere well to give the beasts a voidance;" and by and
+by, being come to a convenient place, they voided all the beasts save the
+mule. Then, as they continued their journey, the squire hearkening
+attentively to the knight's words, they came to a river, and while there
+they watered the beasts, the mule made a voidance in the stream.
+Whereat:--"Ah, foul fall thee, beast," quoth Messer Ruggieri, "that art
+even as thy master, that gave thee to me!" Which remark, as also many
+another that fell from Ruggieri as they rode together throughout the day,
+the squire stored in his memory; but never another word did he hear
+Ruggieri say touching the King, that was not laudatory to the last
+degree.
+
+On the morrow, when they were gotten to horse, and had set their faces
+towards Tuscany, the squire apprised Ruggieri of the King's command, and
+thereupon Ruggieri turned back. On his arrival the King, having already
+heard what he had said touching the mule, gave him gladsome greeting, and
+asked him wherefore he had likened him to the mule, or rather the mule to
+him. Whereto Messer Ruggieri answered frankly:--"My lord, I likened you
+to the mule, for that, as you bestow your gifts where 'tis not meet, and
+where meet it were, bestow them not, so the mule where 'twas meet, voided
+not, and where 'twas not meet, voided." "Messer Ruggieri," replied the
+King, "'tis not because I have not discerned in you a knight most good
+and true, for whose desert no gift were too great, that I have not
+bestowed on you such gifts as I have bestowed upon many others, who in
+comparison of you are nothing worth: the fault is none of mine but solely
+of your fortune, which would not suffer me; and that this which I say is
+true, I will make abundantly plain to you." "My lord," returned Messer
+Ruggieri, "mortified am I, not that you gave me no gift, for thereof I
+had no desire, being too rich, but that you made no sign of recognition
+of my desert; however, I deem your explanation sound and honourable, and
+whatever you shall be pleased that I should see, that gladly will I,
+albeit I believe you without attestation."
+
+The King then led him into one of the great halls, in which, by his
+preordinance, were two chests closed under lock and key, and, not a few
+others being present, said to him:--"Messer Ruggieri, one these chests
+contains my crown, sceptre and orb, with many a fine girdle, buckle,
+ring, and whatever else of jewellery I possess; the other is full of
+earth: choose then, and whichever you shall choose, be it yours; thereby
+you will discover whether 'tis due to me or to your fortune that your
+deserts have lacked requital." Such being the King's pleasure, Messer
+Ruggieri chose one of the chests, which at the King's command being
+opened and found to be that which contained the earth:--"Now, Messer
+Ruggieri," quoth the King with a laugh, "your own eyes may warrant you of
+the truth of what I say touching Fortune; but verily your merit demands
+that I take arms against her in your cause. I know that you are not
+minded to become a Spaniard, and therefore I shall give you neither
+castle nor city; but that chest, which Fortune denied you, I bestow on
+you in her despite, that you may take it with you to your own country,
+and there with your neighbours justly vaunt yourself of your deserts,
+attested by my gifts." Messer Ruggieri took the chest, and having thanked
+the King in a manner befitting such a gift, returned therewith, well
+pleased, to Tuscany.
+
+
+NOVEL II.
+
+--
+Ghino di Tacco captures the Abbot of Cluny, cures him of a disorder of
+the stomach, and releases him. The abbot, on his return to the court of
+Rome, reconciles Ghino with Pope Boniface, and makes him prior of the
+Hospital.
+--
+
+When an end was made of extolling the magnificence shewn by King Alfonso
+towards the Florentine knight, the king, who had listened to the story
+with no small pleasure, bade Elisa follow suit; and forthwith Elisa
+began:--Dainty my ladies, undeniable it is that for a king to be
+magnificent, and to entreat magnificently one that has done him service,
+is a great matter, and meet for commendation. What then shall we say when
+the tale is of a dignitary of the Church that shewed wondrous
+magnificence towards one whom he might well have entreated as an enemy,
+and not have been blamed by a soul? Assuredly nought else than that what
+in the king was virtue was in the prelate nothing less than a miracle,
+seeing that for superlative greed the clergy, one and all, outdo us
+women, and wage war to the knife upon every form of liberality. And
+albeit all men are by nature prone to avenge their wrongs, 'tis notorious
+that the clergy, however they may preach longsuffering, and commend of
+all things the forgiving of trespasses, are more quick and hot to be
+avenged than the rest of mankind. Now this, to wit, after what manner a
+prelate shewed magnificence, will be made manifest to you in my story.
+
+Ghino di Tacco, a man redoubtable by reason of his truculence and his
+high-handed deeds, being banished from Siena, and at enmity with the
+Counts of Santa Fiore, raised Radicofani in revolt against the Church of
+Rome, and there abiding, harried all the surrounding country with his
+soldiers, plundering all wayfarers. Now Pope Boniface VIII. being at
+Rome, there came to court the Abbot of Cluny, who is reputed one of the
+wealthiest prelates in the world; and having there gotten a disorder of
+the stomach, he was advised by the physicians to go to the baths of
+Siena, where (they averred) he would certainly be cured. So, having
+obtained the Pope's leave, reckless of the bruit of Ghino's exploits, he
+took the road, being attended by a great and well-equipped train of
+sumpter-horses and servants. Ghino di Tacco, getting wind of his
+approach, spread his nets to such purpose as without the loss of so much
+as a boy to surround the abbot, with all his servants and effects, in a
+strait pass, from which there was no exit. Which done, he sent one of his
+men, the cunningest of them all, with a sufficient retinue to the abbot,
+who most lovingly on Ghino's part besought the abbot to come and visit
+Ghino at the castle. Whereto the abbot, very wroth, made answer that he
+would none of it, for that nought had he to do with Ghino; but that he
+purposed to continue his journey, and would fain see who would hinder
+him. "Sir," returned the envoy, assuming a humble tone, "you are come to
+a part of the country where we have no fear of aught save the might of
+God, and where excommunications and interdicts are one and all under the
+ban; wherefore you were best be pleased to shew yourself agreeable to
+Ghino in this particular." As they thus spoke, Ghino's soldiers shewed
+themselves on every side, and it being thus manifest to the abbot that he
+and his company were taken prisoners, he, albeit mightily incensed,
+suffered himself with all his train and effects to be conducted by the
+envoy to the castle; where the abbot, being alighted, was lodged in a
+small and very dark and discomfortable room, while his retinue, according
+to their several conditions, were provided with comfortable quarters in
+divers parts of the castle, the horses well stabled and all the effects
+secured, none being in any wise tampered with. Which done, Ghino hied him
+to the abbot, and:--"Sir," quoth he, "Ghino, whose guest you are, sends
+me to entreat you to be pleased to inform him of your destination, and
+the purpose of your journey." The abbot, vailing his pride like a wise
+man, told whither he was bound and for what purpose. Whereupon Ghino left
+him, casting about how he might cure him without a bath. To which end he
+kept a great fire ever burning in the little chamber, and had it closely
+guarded, and returned not to the abbot until the ensuing morning, when he
+brought him in a spotless napkin two slices of toast and a great beaker
+of vernaccia of Corniglia, being of the abbot's own vintage; and:--"Sir,"
+quoth he to the abbot, "Ghino, as a young man, made his studies in
+medicine, and avers that he then learned that there is no better
+treatment for disorder of the stomach than that which he will afford you,
+whereof the matters that I bring you are the beginning; wherefore take
+them and be of good cheer."
+
+The abbot, being far too hungry to make many words about the matter, ate
+(albeit in high dudgeon) the toast, and drank the vernaccia; which done,
+he enlarged on his wrongs in a high tone, with much questioning and
+perpending; and above all he demanded to see Ghino. Part of what the
+abbot said Ghino disregarded as of no substance, to other part he replied
+courteously enough; and having assured him that Ghino would visit him as
+soon as might be, he took his leave of him; nor did he return until the
+morrow, when he brought him toast and vernaccia in the same quantity as
+before; and so he kept him several days: then, having marked that the
+abbot had eaten some dried beans that he had secretly brought and left
+there of set purpose, he asked him in Ghino's name how he felt in the
+stomach. "Were I but out of Ghino's hands," replied the abbot, "I should
+feel myself well, indeed: next to which, I desire most of all a good
+breakfast, so excellent a cure have his medicines wrought on me."
+Whereupon Ghino caused the abbot's servants to furnish a goodly chamber
+with the abbot's own effects, and there on the morrow make ready a grand
+banquet, at which all the abbot's suite and not a few of the garrison
+being assembled, he hied him to the abbot, and:--"Sir," quoth he, "'tis
+time you left the infirmary, seeing that you now feel yourself well;" and
+so saying, he took him by the hand, and led him into the chamber made
+ready for him, and having left him there with his own people, made it his
+chief concern that the banquet should be magnificent. The abbot's spirits
+revived as he found himself again among his men, with whom he talked a
+while, telling them how he had been entreated, wherewith they contrasted
+the signal honour which they, on the other hand, had, one and all,
+received from Ghino.
+
+Breakfast-time came, and with order meet the abbot and the rest were
+regaled with good viands and good wines, Ghino still suffering not the
+abbot to know who he was. But when the abbot had thus passed several
+days, Ghino, having first had all his effects collected in a saloon, and
+all his horses, to the poorest jade, in the courtyard below, hied him to
+the abbot and asked him how he felt, and if he deemed himself strong
+enough to ride. The abbot replied that he was quite strong enough, and
+that 'twould be well indeed with him, were he once out of Ghino's hands.
+Ghino then led him into the saloon in which were his effects and all his
+retinue, and having brought him to a window, whence he might see all his
+horses:--"Sir Abbot," quoth he, "you must know that 'tis not for that he
+has an evil heart, but because, being a gentleman, he is banished from
+his home, and reduced to poverty, and has not a few powerful enemies,
+that in defence of his life and honour, Ghino di Tacco, whom you see
+before you, has become a robber of highways and an enemy to the court of
+Rome. But such as I am, I have cured you of your malady of the stomach,
+and taking you to be a worthy lord, I purpose not to treat you as I would
+another, from whom, were he in my hands, as you are, I should take such
+part of his goods as I should think fit; but I shall leave it to you,
+upon consideration of my need, to assign to me such portion of your goods
+as you yourself shall determine. Here are they before you undiminished
+and unimpaired, and from this window you may see your horses below in the
+courtyard; wherefore take the part or take the whole, as you may see fit,
+and be it at your option to tarry here, or go hence, from this hour
+forth."
+
+The abbot marvelled to hear a highway robber speak thus liberally, and
+such was his gratification that his wrath and fierce resentment departed
+from him, nay, were transformed into kindness, insomuch that in all
+cordial amity he hasted to embrace Ghino, saying:--"By God I swear, that
+to gain the friendship of a man such I now deem thee to be, I would be
+content to suffer much greater wrong than that which until now, meseemed,
+thou hadst done me. Cursed be Fortune that constrains thee to ply so
+censurable a trade." Which said, he selected a very few things, and none
+superfluous, from his ample store, and having done likewise with the
+horses, ceded all else to Ghino, and hied him back to Rome; where, seeing
+him, the Pope, who to his great grief had heard of his capture, asked him
+what benefit he had gotten from the baths. Whereto the abbot made answer
+with a smile:--"Holy Father, I found nearer here than the baths a worthy
+physician who has wrought a most excellent cure on me:" he then recounted
+all the circumstances, whereat the Pope laughed. Afterwards, still
+pursuing the topic, the abbot, yielding to the promptings of
+magnificence, asked a favour of the Pope; who, expecting that he would
+ask somewhat else than he did, liberally promised to give him whatever he
+should demand. Whereupon:--"Holy Father," quoth the abbot, "that which I
+would crave of you is that you restore Ghino di Tacco, my physician, to
+your favour; seeing that among the good men and true and meritorious that
+I have known, he is by no means of the least account. And for the evil
+life that he leads, I impute it to Fortune rather than to him: change
+then his fortune, by giving him the means whereby he may live in manner
+befitting his rank, and I doubt not that in a little while your judgment
+of him will jump with mine." Whereto the Pope, being magnanimous, and an
+admirer of good men and true, made answer that so he would gladly do, if
+Ghino should prove to be such as the abbot said; and that he would have
+him brought under safe conduct to Rome. Thither accordingly under safe
+conduct came Ghino, to the abbot's great delight; nor had he been long at
+court before the Pope approved his worth, and restored him to his favour,
+granting him a great office, to wit, that of prior of the Hospital,
+whereof he made him knight. Which office he held for the rest of his
+life, being ever a friend and vassal of Holy Church and the Abbot of
+Cluny.
+
+
+NOVEL III.
+
+--
+Mitridanes, holding Nathan in despite by reason of his courtesy, journeys
+with intent to kill him, and falling in with him unawares, is advised by
+him how to compass his end. Following his advice, he finds him in a
+copse, and recognizing him, is shame-stricken, and becomes his friend.
+--
+
+Verily like to a miracle seemed it to all to hear that a prelate had done
+aught with magnificence; but when the ladies had made an end of their
+remarks, the king bade Filostrato follow suit; and forthwith Filostrato
+began:--Noble ladies, great was the magnificence of the King of Spain,
+and perchance a thing unheard-of the magnificence of the Abbot of Cluny;
+but peradventure 'twill seem not a whit less marvellous to you to hear of
+one who, to shew liberality towards another, did resolve artfully to
+yield to him his blood, nay, his very life, for which the other thirsted,
+and had so done, had the other chosen to take them, as I shall shew you
+in a little story.
+
+Beyond all question, if we may believe the report of certain Genoese, and
+other folk that have been in those regions, there dwelt of yore in the
+parts of Cathay one Nathan, a man of noble lineage and incomparable
+wealth. Who, having a seat hard by a road, by which whoso would travel
+from the West eastward, or from the East westward, must needs pass, and
+being magnanimous and liberal, and zealous to approve himself such in
+act, did set on work cunning artificers not a few, and cause one of the
+finest and largest and most luxurious palaces that ever were seen, to be
+there builded and furnished in the goodliest manner with all things meet
+for the reception and honourable entertainment of gentlemen. And so,
+keeping a great array of excellent servants, he courteously and
+hospitably did the honours of his house to whoso came and went: in which
+laudable way of life he persevered, until not only the East, but
+well-nigh all the West had heard his fame; which thus, what time he was
+well-stricken in years, albeit not for that cause grown weary of shewing
+courtesy, reached the ears of one Mitridanes, a young man of a country
+not far distant. Who, knowing himself to be no less wealthy than Nathan,
+grew envious of the renown that he had of his good deeds, and resolved to
+obliterate, or at least to obscure it, by a yet greater liberality. So he
+had built for himself a palace like that of Nathan, of which he did the
+honours with a lavish courtesy that none had ever equalled, to whoso came
+or went that way; and verily in a short while he became famous enough.
+
+Now it so befell that on a day when the young man was all alone in the
+courtyard of the palace, there came in by one of the gates a poor woman,
+who asked of him an alms, and had it; but, not content therewith, came
+again to him by the second gate, and asked another alms, and had it, and
+after the like sort did even unto the twelfth time; but, she returning
+for the thirteenth time:--"My good woman," quoth Mitridanes, "thou art
+not a little pertinacious in thy begging:" howbeit he gave her an alms.
+Whereupon:--"Ah! the wondrous liberality of Nathan!" quoth the
+beldam:--"thirty-two gates are there to his palace, by every one of which
+I have entered, and asking alms of him, was never--for aught he
+shewed--recognized, or refused, and here, though I have entered as yet by
+but thirteen gates, I am recognized and reprimanded." And therewith she
+departed, and returned no more. Mitridanes, who accounted the mention of
+Nathan's fame an abatement of his own, was kindled by her words with a
+frenzy of wrath, and began thus to commune with himself:--Alas! when
+shall I attain to the grandeur of Nathan's liberality, to say nought of
+transcending it, as I would fain, seeing that in the veriest trifles I
+cannot approach him? Of a surety my labour is in vain, if I rid not the
+earth of him: which, since old age relieves me not of him, I must
+forthwith do with mine own hands. And in the flush of his despite up he
+started, and giving none to know of his purpose, got to horse with a
+small company, and after three days arrived at the place where Nathan
+abode; and having enjoined his comrades to make as if they were none of
+his, and knew him not, and to go quarter themselves as best they might
+until they had his further orders, he, being thus alone, towards evening
+came upon Nathan, also alone, at no great distance from his splendid
+palace. Nathan was recreating himself by a walk, and was very simply
+clad; so that Mitridanes, knowing him not, asked him if he could shew him
+where Nathan dwelt. "My son," replied Nathan gladsomely, "that can none
+in these parts better than I; wherefore, so it please thee, I will bring
+thee thither." The young man replied that 'twould be mighty agreeable to
+him, but that, if so it might be, he had a mind to be neither known nor
+seen by Nathan. "And herein also," returned Nathan, "since 'tis thy
+pleasure, I will gratify thee." Whereupon Mitridanes dismounted, and with
+Nathan, who soon engaged him in delightsome discourse, walked to the
+goodly palace. Arrived there Nathan caused one of his servants take the
+young man's horse, and drawing close to him, bade him in a whisper to see
+to it without delay that none in the house should tell the young man that
+he was Nathan: and so 'twas done.
+
+Being come into the palace, Nathan quartered Mitridanes in a most goodly
+chamber, where none saw him but those whom he had appointed to wait upon
+him; and he himself kept him company, doing him all possible honour. Of
+whom Mitridanes, albeit he reverenced him as a father, yet, being thus
+with him, forbore not to ask who he was. Whereto Nathan made answer:--"I
+am a petty servant of Nathan: old as I am, I have been with him since my
+childhood, and never has he advanced me to higher office than this
+wherein thou seest me: wherefore, howsoever other folk may praise him,
+little cause have I to do so." Which words afforded Mitridanes some hope
+of carrying his wicked purpose into effect with more of plan and less of
+risk than had otherwise been possible. By and by Nathan very courteously
+asked him who he was, and what business brought him thither; offering him
+such counsel and aid as he might be able to afford him. Mitridanes
+hesitated a while to reply: but at last he resolved to trust him, and
+when with no little circumlocution he had demanded of him fidelity,
+counsel and aid, he fully discovered to him who he was, and the purpose
+and motive of his coming thither. Now, albeit to hear Mitridanes thus
+unfold his horrid design caused Nathan no small inward commotion, yet
+'twas not long before courageously and composedly he thus made
+answer:--"Noble was thy father, Mitridanes, and thou art minded to shew
+thyself not unworthy of him by this lofty emprise of thine, to wit, of
+being liberal to all comers: and for that thou art envious of Nathan's
+merit I greatly commend thee; for were many envious for a like cause, the
+world, from being a most wretched, would soon become a happy place. Doubt
+not that I shall keep secret the design which thou hast confided to me,
+for the furtherance whereof 'tis good advice rather than substantial aid
+that I have to offer thee. Which advice is this. Hence, perhaps half a
+mile off, thou mayst see a copse, in which almost every morning Nathan is
+wont to walk, taking his pleasure, for quite a long while: 'twill be an
+easy matter for thee to find him there, and deal with him as thou mayst
+be minded. Now, shouldst thou slay him, thou wilt get thee home with less
+risk of let, if thou take not the path by which thou camest hither, but
+that which thou seest issue from the copse on the left, for, though 'tis
+somewhat more rough, it leads more directly to thy house, and will be
+safer for thee."
+
+Possessed of this information, Mitridanes, when Nathan had left him,
+privily apprised his comrades, who were likewise lodged in the palace, of
+the place where they were to await him on the ensuing day; which being
+come, Nathan, inflexibly determined to act in all respects according to
+the advice which he had given Mitridanes, hied him forth to the copse
+unattended, to meet his death. Mitridanes, being risen, took his bow and
+sword, for other arms he had none with him, mounted his horse, and rode
+to the copse, through which, while he was yet some way off, he saw Nathan
+passing, quite alone. And being minded, before he fell upon him, to see
+his face and hear the sound of his voice, as, riding at a smart pace, he
+came up with him, he laid hold of him by his head-gear,
+exclaiming:--"Greybeard, thou art a dead man." Whereto Nathan answered
+nought but:--"Then 'tis but my desert." But Mitridanes, hearing the
+voice, and scanning the face, forthwith knew him for the same man that
+had welcomed him heartily, consorted with him familiarly, and counselled
+him faithfully; whereby his wrath presently subsided, and gave place to
+shame. Wherefore, casting away the sword that he held drawn in act to
+strike, he sprang from his horse, and weeping, threw himself at Nathan's
+feet, saying:--"Your liberality, dearest father, I acknowledge to be
+beyond all question, seeing with what craft you did plot your coming
+hither to yield me your life, for which, by mine own avowal, you knew
+that I, albeit cause I had none, did thirst. But God, more regardful of
+my duty than I myself, has now, in this moment of supreme stress, opened
+the eyes of my mind, that wretched envy had fast sealed. The prompter was
+your compliance, the greater is the debt of penitence that I owe you for
+my fault; wherefore wreak even such vengeance upon me as you may deem
+answerable to my transgression." But Nathan raised Mitridanes to his
+feet, and tenderly embraced him, saying:--"My son, thy enterprise,
+howsoever thou mayst denote it, whether evil or otherwise, was not such
+that thou shouldst crave, or I give, pardon thereof; for 'twas not in
+malice but in that thou wouldst fain have been reputed better than I that
+thou ensuedst it. Doubt then no more of me; nay, rest assured that none
+that lives bears thee such love as I, who know the loftiness of thy
+spirit, bent not to heap up wealth, as do the caitiffs, but to dispense
+in bounty thine accumulated store. Think it no shame that to enhance thy
+reputation thou wouldst have slain me; nor deem that I marvel thereat. To
+slay not one man, as thou wast minded, but countless multitudes, to waste
+whole countries with fire, and to raze cities to the ground has been
+well-nigh the sole art, by which the mightiest emperors and the greatest
+kings have extended their dominions, and by consequence their fame.
+Wherefore, if thou, to increase thy fame, wouldst fain have slain me,
+'twas nothing marvellous or strange, but wonted."
+
+Whereto Mitridanes made answer, not to excuse his wicked design, but to
+commend the seemly excuse found for it by Nathan, whom at length he told
+how beyond measure he marvelled that Nathan had not only been consenting
+to the enterprise, but had aided him therein by his counsel. But Nathan
+answered:--"Liefer had I, Mitridanes, that thou didst not marvel either
+at my consent or at my counsel, for that, since I was my own master and
+of a mind to that emprise whereon thou art also bent, never a soul came
+to my house, but, so far as in me lay, I gave him all that he asked of
+me. Thou camest, lusting for my life; and so, when I heard thee crave it
+of me, I forthwith, that thou mightst not be the only guest to depart
+hence ill content, resolved to give it thee; and to that end I gave thee
+such counsel as I deemed would serve thee both to the taking of my life
+and the preservation of thine own. Wherefore yet again I bid thee, nay, I
+entreat thee, if so thou art minded, to take it for thy satisfaction: I
+know not how I could better bestow it. I have had the use of it now for
+some eighty years, and pleasure and solace thereof; and I know that, by
+the course of Nature and the common lot of man and all things mundane, it
+can continue to be mine for but a little while; and so I deem that 'twere
+much better to bestow it, as I have ever bestowed and dispensed my
+wealth, than to keep it, until, against my will, it be reft from me by
+Nature. 'Twere but a trifle, though 'twere a hundred years: how
+insignificant, then, the six or eight years that are all I have to give!
+Take it, then, if thou hadst lief, take it, I pray thee; for, long as I
+have lived here, none have I found but thee to desire it; nor know I when
+I may find another, if thou take it not, to demand it of me. And if,
+peradventure, I should find one such, yet I know that the longer I keep
+it, the less its worth will be; wherefore, ere it be thus cheapened, take
+it, I implore thee."
+
+Sore shame-stricken, Mitridanes made answer:--"Now God forefend that I
+should so much as harbour, as but now I did, such a thought, not to say
+do such a deed, as to wrest from you a thing so precious as your life,
+the years whereof, so far from abridging, I would gladly supplement with
+mine own." "So then," rejoined Nathan promptly, "thou wouldst, if thou
+couldst, add thy years to mine, and cause me to serve thee as I never yet
+served any man, to wit, to take from thee that which is thine, I that
+never took aught from a soul!" "Ay, that would I," returned Mitridanes.
+"Then," quoth Nathan, "do as I shall bid thee. Thou art young: tarry here
+in my house, and call thyself Nathan; and I will get me to thy house, and
+ever call myself Mitridanes." Whereto Mitridanes made answer:--"Were I
+but able to discharge this trust, as you have been and are, scarce would
+I hesitate to accept your offer; but, as too sure am I that aught that I
+might do would but serve to lower Nathan's fame, and I am not minded to
+mar that in another which I cannot mend in myself, accept it I will not."
+
+After which and the like interchange of delectable discourse, Nathan and
+Mitridanes, by Nathan's desire, returned to the palace; where Nathan for
+some days honourably entreated Mitridanes, and by his sage counsel
+confirmed and encouraged him in his high and noble resolve; after which,
+Mitridanes, being minded to return home with his company, took his leave
+of Nathan, fully persuaded that 'twas not possible to surpass him in
+liberality.
+
+
+NOVEL IV.
+
+--
+Messer Gentile de' Carisendi, being come from Modena, disinters a lady
+that he loves, who has been buried for dead. She, being reanimated, gives
+birth to a male child; and Messer Gentile restores her, with her son, to
+Niccoluccio Caccianimico, her husband.
+--
+
+A thing marvellous seemed it to all that for liberality a man should be
+ready to sacrifice his own life; and herein they averred that Nathan had
+without doubt left the King of Spain and the Abbot of Cluny behind.
+However, when they had discussed the matter diversely and at large, the
+king, bending his regard on Lauretta, signified to her his will that she
+should tell; and forthwith, accordingly, Lauretta began:--Goodly matters
+are they and magnificent that have been recounted to you, young ladies;
+nay, so much of our field of discourse is already filled by their
+grandeur, that for us that are yet to tell, there is, methinks, no room
+left, unless we seek our topic there where matter of discourse germane to
+every theme does most richly abound, to wit, in the affairs of love. For
+which cause, as also for that our time of life cannot but make us
+especially inclinable thereto, I am minded that my story shall be of a
+feat of magnificence done by a lover: which, all things considered, will,
+peradventure, seem to you inferior to none that have been shewn you; so
+it be true that to possess the beloved one, men will part with their
+treasures, forget their enmities, and jeopardize their own lives, their
+honour and their reputation, in a thousand ways.
+
+Know, then, that at Bologna, that most famous city of Lombardy, there
+dwelt a knight, Messer Gentile Carisendi by name, worshipful alike for
+his noble lineage and his native worth: who in his youth, being enamoured
+of a young gentlewoman named Madonna Catalina, wife of one Niccoluccio
+Caccianimico, and well-nigh despairing, for that the lady gave him but a
+sorry requital of his love, betook him to Modena, being called thither as
+Podesta. Now what time he was there, Niccoluccio being also away from
+Bologna, and his lady gone, for that she was with child, to lie in at a
+house she had some three miles or so from the city, it befell that she
+was suddenly smitten with a sore malady of such and so virulent a quality
+that it left no sign of life in her, so that the very physicians
+pronounced her dead. And for that the women that were nearest of kin to
+her professed to have been told by her, that she was not so far gone in
+pregnancy that the child could be perfectly formed, they, without more
+ado, laid her in a tomb in a neighbouring church, and after long
+lamentation closed it upon her.
+
+Whereof Messer Gentile being forthwith apprised by one of his friends,
+did, for all she had been most niggardly to him of her favour, grieve not
+a little, and at length fell a communing with himself on this wise:--So,
+Madonna Catalina, thou art dead! While thou livedst, never a glance of
+thine might I have; wherefore, now that thou art dead, 'tis but right
+that I go take a kiss from thee. 'Twas night while he thus mused; and
+forthwith, observing strict secrecy in his departure, he got him to horse
+with a single servant, and halted not until he was come to the place
+where the lady was interred; and having opened the tomb he cautiously
+entered it. Then, having lain down beside her, he set his face against
+hers; and again and again, weeping profusely the while, he kissed it. But
+as 'tis matter of common knowledge that the desires of men, and more
+especially of lovers, know no bounds, but crave ever an ampler
+satisfaction; even so Messer Gentile, albeit he had been minded to tarry
+there no longer, now said to himself:--Wherefore touch I not her bosom a
+while? I have never yet touched it, nor shall I ever touch it again.
+Obeying which impulse, he laid his hand on her bosom, and keeping it
+there some time, felt, as he thought, her heart faintly beating.
+Whereupon, banishing all fear, and examining the body with closer
+attention, he discovered that life was not extinct, though he judged it
+but scant and flickering: and so, aided by his servant, he bore her, as
+gently as he might, out of the tomb; and set her before him upon his
+horse, and brought her privily to his house at Bologna, where dwelt his
+wise and worthy mother, who, being fully apprised by him of the
+circumstances, took pity on the lady, and had a huge fire kindled, and a
+bath made ready, whereby she restored her to life. Whereof the first sign
+she gave was to heave a great sigh, and murmur:--"Alas! where am I?" To
+which the worthy lady made answer:--"Be of good cheer; thou art well
+lodged." By and by the lady, coming to herself, looked about her; and
+finding herself she knew not where, and seeing Messer Gentile before her,
+was filled with wonder, and besought his mother to tell her how she came
+to be there.
+
+Messer Gentile thereupon told her all. Sore distressed thereat, the lady,
+after a while, thanked him as best she might; after which she besought
+him by the love that he had borne her, and of his courtesy, that she
+might, while she tarried in his house, be spared aught that could impair
+her honour and her husband's; and that at daybreak he would suffer her to
+return home. "Madam," replied Messer Gentile, "however I did affect you
+in time past, since God in His goodness has, by means of the love I bore
+you, restored you to me alive, I mean not now, or at any time hereafter,
+to entreat you either here or elsewhere, save as a dear sister; but yet
+the service I have to-night rendered you merits some guerdon, and
+therefore lief had I that you deny me not a favour which I shall ask of
+you." Whereto the lady graciously made answer that she would be prompt to
+grant it, so only it were in her power, and consonant with her honour.
+Said then Messer Gentile:--"Your kinsfolk, Madam, one and all, nay, all
+the folk in Bologna are fully persuaded that you are dead: there is
+therefore none to expect you at home: wherefore the favour I crave of you
+is this, that you will be pleased to tarry privily here with my mother,
+until such time--which will be speedily--as I return from Modena. And
+'tis for that I purpose to make solemn and joyous donation of you to your
+husband in presence of the most honourable folk of this city that I ask
+of you this grace." Mindful of what she owed the knight, and witting that
+what he craved was seemly, the lady, albeit she yearned not a little to
+gladden her kinsfolk with the sight of her in the flesh, consented to do
+as Messer Gentile besought her, and thereto pledged him her faith. And
+scarce had she done so, when she felt that the hour of her travail was
+come; and so, tenderly succoured by Messer Gentile's mother, she not long
+after gave birth to a fine boy. Which event did mightily enhance her own
+and Messer Gentile's happiness. Then, having made all meet provision for
+her, and left word that she was to be tended as if she were his own wife,
+Messer Gentile, observing strict secrecy, returned to Modena.
+
+His time of office there ended, in anticipation of his return to Bologna,
+he appointed for the morning of his arrival in the city a great and
+goodly banquet at his house, whereto were bidden not a few of the
+gentlemen of Bologna, and among them Niccoluccio Caccianimico. Whom, when
+he was returned and dismounted, he found awaiting him, as also the lady,
+fairer and more healthful than ever, and her little son doing well; and
+so with a gladness beyond compare he ranged his guests at table, and
+regaled them with many a course magnificently served. And towards the
+close of the feast, having premonished the lady of his intention, and
+concerted with her how she should behave, thus he spoke:--"Gentlemen, I
+mind me to have once heard tell of (as I deem it) a delightsome custom
+which they have in Persia; to wit, that, when one would do his friend
+especial honour, he bids him to his house, and there shews him that
+treasure, be it wife, or mistress, or daughter, or what not, that he
+holds most dear; assuring him that yet more gladly, were it possible, he
+would shew him his heart. Which custom I am minded to observe here in
+Bologna. You, of your courtesy, have honoured my feast with your
+presence, and I propose to do you honour in the Persian fashion, by
+shewing you that which in all the world I do, and must ever, hold most
+dear. But before I do so, tell me, I pray you, how you conceive of a nice
+question that I shall lay before you. Suppose that one has in his house a
+good and most faithful servant, who falls sick of a grievous disorder;
+and that the master tarries not for the death of the servant, but has him
+borne out into the open street, and concerns himself no more with him:
+that then a stranger comes by, is moved to pity of the sick man, and
+takes him to his house, and by careful tendance and at no small cost
+restores him to his wonted health. Now I would fain know whether the
+first master has in equity any just cause to complain of or be aggrieved
+with the second master, if he retain the servant in his employ, and
+refuse to restore him, when so required."
+
+The gentlemen discussed the matter after divers fashions, and all agreed
+in one sentence, which they committed to Niccoluccio Caccianimico, for
+that he was an eloquent and accomplished speaker, to deliver on the part
+of them all. Niccoluccio began by commending the Persian custom: after
+which he said that he and the others were all of the same opinion, to
+wit, that the first master had no longer any right in his servant, since
+he had not only abandoned but cast him forth; and that by virtue of the
+second master's kind usage of him he must be deemed to have become his
+servant; wherefore, by keeping him, he did the first master no mischief,
+no violence, no wrong. Whereupon the rest that were at the table said,
+one and all, being worthy men, that their judgment jumped with
+Niccoluccio's answer. The knight, well pleased with the answer, and that
+'twas Niccoluccio that gave it, affirmed that he was of the same opinion;
+adding:--"'Tis now time that I shew you that honour which I promised
+you." He then called two of his servants, and sent them to the lady, whom
+he had caused to be apparelled and adorned with splendour, charging them
+to pray her to be pleased to come and gladden the gentlemen with her
+presence. So she, bearing in her arms her most lovely little son, came,
+attended by the two servants, into the saloon, and by the knight's
+direction, took a seat beside a worthy gentleman:
+whereupon:--"Gentlemen," quoth the knight, "this is the treasure that I
+hold, and mean ever to hold, more dear than aught else. Behold, and judge
+whether I have good cause."
+
+The gentlemen said not a little in her honour and praise, averring that
+the knight ought indeed to hold her dear: then, as they regarded her more
+attentively, there were not a few that would have pronounced her to be
+the very woman that she was, had they not believed that woman to be dead.
+But none scanned her so closely as Niccoluccio, who, the knight being
+withdrawn a little space, could no longer refrain his eager desire to
+know who she might be, but asked her whether she were of Bologna, or from
+other parts. The lady, hearing her husband's voice, could scarce forbear
+to answer; but yet, not to disconcert the knight's plan, she kept
+silence. Another asked her if that was her little boy; and yet another,
+if she were Messer Gentile's wife, or in any other wise his connection.
+To none of whom she vouchsafed an answer. Then, Messer Gentile coming
+up:--"Sir," quoth one of the guests, "this treasure of yours is goodly
+indeed; but she seems to be dumb: is she so?" "Gentlemen," quoth Messer
+Gentile, "that she has not as yet spoken is no small evidence of her
+virtue." "Then tell us, you, who she is," returned the other. "That,"
+quoth the knight, "will I right gladly, so you but promise me, that, no
+matter what I may say, none of you will stir from his place, until I have
+ended my story." All gave the required promise, and when the tables had
+been cleared, Messer Gentile, being seated beside the lady, thus
+spoke:--"Gentlemen, this lady is that loyal and faithful servant,
+touching whom a brief while ago I propounded to you my question, whom her
+own folk held none too dear, but cast out into the open street as a thing
+vile and no longer good for aught, but I took thence, and by my careful
+tendance wrested from the clutch of death; whom God, regardful of my good
+will, has changed from the appalling aspect of a corpse to the thing of
+beauty that you see before you. But for your fuller understanding of this
+occurrence, I will briefly explain it to you." He then recounted to them
+in detail all that had happened from his first becoming enamoured of the
+lady to that very hour whereto they hearkened with no small wonder; after
+which:--"And so," he added, "unless you, and more especially Niccoluccio,
+are now of another opinion than you were a brief while ago, the lady
+rightly belongs to me, nor can any man lawfully reclaim her of me."
+
+None answered, for all were intent to hear what more he would say. But,
+while Niccoluccio, and some others that were there, wept for sympathy,
+Messer Gentile stood up, and took the little boy in his arms and the lady
+by the hand, and approached Niccoluccio, saying:--"Rise, my gossip: I do
+not, indeed, restore thee thy wife, whom thy kinsfolk and hers cast
+forth; but I am minded to give thee this lady, my gossip, with this her
+little boy, whom I know well to be thy son, and whom I held at the font,
+and named Gentile: and I pray thee that she be not the less dear to thee
+for that she has tarried three months in my house; for I swear to thee by
+that God, who, peradventure, ordained that I should be enamoured of her,
+to the end that my love might be, as it has been, the occasion of her
+restoration to life, that never with her father, or her mother, or with
+thee, did she live more virtuously than with my mother in my house."
+Which said, he turned to the lady, saying:--"Madam, I now release you
+from all promises made to me, and so deliver you to Niccoluccio." Then,
+leaving the lady and the child in Niccoluccio's embrace, he returned to
+his seat.
+
+Thus to receive his wife and son was to Niccoluccio a delight great in
+the measure of its remoteness from his hope. Wherefore in the most
+honourable terms at his command he thanked the knight, whom all the rest,
+weeping for sympathy, greatly commended for what he had done, as did also
+all that heard thereof. The lady, welcomed home with wondrous cheer, was
+long a portent to the Bolognese, who gazed on her as on one raised from
+the dead. Messer Gentile lived ever after as the friend of Niccoluccio,
+and his and the lady's kinsfolk.
+
+Now what shall be your verdict, gracious ladies? A king's largess, though
+it was of his sceptre and crown, an abbot's reconciliation, at no cost to
+himself, of a malefactor with the Pope, or an old man's submission of his
+throat to the knife of his enemy--will you adjudge that such acts as
+these are comparable to the deed of Messer Gentile? Who, though young,
+and burning with passion, and deeming himself justly entitled to that
+which the heedlessness of another had discarded, and he by good fortune
+had recovered, not only tempered his ardour with honour, but having that
+which with his whole soul he had long been bent on wresting from another,
+did with liberality restore it. Assuredly none of the feats aforesaid
+seem to me like unto this.
+
+
+NOVEL V.
+
+--
+Madonna Dianora craves of Messer Ansaldo a garden that shall be as fair
+in January as in May. Messer Ansaldo binds himself to a necromancer, and
+thereby gives her the garden. Her husband gives her leave to do Messer
+Ansaldo's pleasure: he, being apprised of her husband's liberality,
+releases her from her promise; and the necromancer releases Messer
+Ansaldo from his bond, and will take nought of his.
+--
+
+Each of the gay company had with superlative commendation extolled Messer
+Gentile to the skies, when the king bade Emilia follow suit; and with a
+good courage, as burning to speak, thus Emilia began:--Delicate my
+ladies, none can justly say that 'twas not magnificently done of Messer
+Gentile; but if it be alleged that 'twas the last degree of magnificence,
+'twill perchance not be difficult to shew that more was possible, as is
+my purpose in the little story that I shall tell you.
+
+In Friuli, a country which, though its air is shrewd, is pleasantly
+diversified by fine mountains and not a few rivers and clear fountains,
+is a city called Udine, where dwelt of yore a fair and noble lady,
+Madonna Dianora by name, wife of a wealthy grandee named Giliberto, a
+very pleasant gentleman, and debonair. Now this lady, for her high
+qualities, was in the last degree beloved by a great and noble baron,
+Messer Ansaldo Gradense by name, a man of no little consequence, and
+whose fame for feats of arms and courtesy was spread far and wide. But,
+though with all a lover's ardour he left nought undone that he might do
+to win her love, and to that end frequently plied her with his
+ambassages, 'twas all in vain. And the lady being distressed by his
+importunity, and that, refuse as she might all that he asked of her, he
+none the less continued to love her and press his suit upon her,
+bethought her how she might rid herself of him by requiring of him an
+extraordinary and, as she deemed, impossible feat. So one day, a woman
+that came oftentimes from him to her being with her:--"Good woman," quoth
+she, "thou hast many a time affirmed that Messer Ansaldo loves me above
+all else; and thou hast made proffer to me on his part of wondrous rich
+gifts which I am minded he keep to himself, for that I could never bring
+myself to love him or pleasure him for their sake; but, if I might be
+certified that he loves me as much as thou sayst, then without a doubt I
+should not fail to love him, and do his pleasure; wherefore, so he give
+me the assurance that I shall require, I shall be at his command." "What
+is it, Madam," returned the good woman, "that you would have him do?"
+"This," replied the lady; "I would have this next ensuing January, hard
+by this city, a garden full of green grass and flowers and flowering
+trees, just as if it were May; and if he cannot provide me with this
+garden, bid him never again send either thee or any other to me, for
+that, should he harass me any further, I shall no longer keep silence, as
+I have hitherto done, but shall make my complaint to my husband and all
+my kinsmen, and it shall go hard but I will be quit of him."
+
+The gentleman being apprised of his lady's stipulation and promise,
+notwithstanding that he deemed it no easy matter, nay, a thing almost
+impossible, to satisfy her, and knew besides that 'twas but to deprive
+him of all hope that she made the demand, did nevertheless resolve to do
+his endeavour to comply with it, and causing search to be made in divers
+parts of the world, if any he might find to afford him counsel or aid, he
+lit upon one, who for a substantial reward offered to do the thing by
+necromancy. So Messer Ansaldo, having struck the bargain with him for an
+exceeding great sum of money, gleefully expected the appointed time.
+Which being come with extreme cold, insomuch that there was nought but
+snow and ice, the adept on the night before the calends of January
+wrought with his spells to such purpose that on the morrow, as was
+averred by eye-witnesses, there appeared in a meadow hard by the city one
+of the most beautiful gardens that was ever seen, with no lack of grass
+and trees and fruits of all sorts. At sight whereof Messer Ansaldo was
+overjoyed, and caused some of the finest fruits and flowers that it
+contained to be gathered, and privily presented to his lady, whom he bade
+come and see the garden that she had craved, that thereby she might have
+assurance of his love, and mind her of the promise that she had given him
+and confirmed with an oath, and, as a loyal lady, take thought for its
+performance. When she saw the flowers and fruits, the lady, who had
+already heard not a few folk speak of the wondrous garden, began to
+repent her of her promise. But for all that, being fond of strange
+sights, she hied her with many other ladies of the city to see the
+garden, and having gazed on it with wonderment, and commended it not a
+little, she went home the saddest woman alive, bethinking her to what it
+bound her: and so great was her distress that she might not well conceal
+it; but, being written on her face, 'twas marked by her husband, who was
+minded by all means to know the cause thereof.
+
+The lady long time kept silence: but at last she yielded to his urgency,
+and discovered to him the whole matter from first to last. Whereat
+Giliberto was at first very wroth; but on second thoughts, considering
+the purity of the lady's purpose, he was better advised, and dismissing
+his anger:--"Dianora," quoth he, "'tis not the act of a discreet or
+virtuous lady to give ear to messages of such a sort, nor to enter into
+any compact touching her chastity with any man on any terms. Words that
+the ears convey to the heart have a potency greater than is commonly
+supposed, and there is scarce aught that lovers will not find possible.
+'Twas then ill done of thee in the first instance to hearken, as
+afterwards to make the compact; but, for that I know the purity of thy
+soul, that thou mayst be quit of thy promise, I will grant thee that
+which, perchance, no other man would grant, being also swayed thereto by
+fear of the necromancer, whom Messer Ansaldo, shouldst thou play him
+false, might, peradventure, cause to do us a mischief. I am minded, then,
+that thou go to him, and contrive, if on any wise thou canst, to get thee
+quit of this promise without loss of virtue; but if otherwise it may not
+be, then for the nonce thou mayst yield him thy body, but not thy soul."
+Whereat the lady, weeping, would none of such a favour at her husband's
+hands. But Giliberto, for all the lady's protestations, was minded that
+so it should be.
+
+Accordingly, on the morrow about dawn, apparelled none too ornately,
+preceded by two servants and followed by a chambermaid, the lady hied her
+to Messer Ansaldo's house. Apprised that his lady was come to see him,
+Messer Ansaldo, marvelling not a little, rose, and having called the
+necromancer:--"I am minded," quoth he, "that thou see what goodly gain I
+have gotten by thine art." And the twain having met the lady, Ansaldo
+gave way to no unruly appetite, but received her with a seemly obeisance;
+and then the three repaired to a goodly chamber, where there was a great
+fire, and having caused the lady to be seated, thus spoke
+Ansaldo:--"Madam, if the love that I have so long borne you merit any
+guerdon, I pray you that it be not grievous to you to discover to me the
+true occasion of your coming to me at this hour, and thus accompanied."
+Shamefast, and the tears all but standing in her eyes, the lady made
+answer:--"Sir 'tis neither love that I bear you, nor pledged you, that
+brings me hither, but the command of my husband, who, regarding rather
+the pains you have had of your unbridled passion than his own or my
+honour, has sent me hither; and for that he commands it, I, for the
+nonce, am entirely at your pleasure."
+
+If Messer Ansaldo had marvelled to hear of the lady's coming, he now
+marvelled much more, and touched by Giliberto's liberality, and passing
+from passion to compassion:--"Now, God forbid, Madam," quoth he, "that,
+it being as you say, I should wound the honour of him that has compassion
+on my love; wherefore, no otherwise than as if you were my sister shall
+you abide here, while you are so minded, and be free to depart at your
+pleasure; nor crave I aught of you but that you shall convey from me to
+your husband such thanks as you shall deem meet for courtesy such as his
+has been, and entreat me ever henceforth as your brother and servant."
+Whereat overjoyed in the last degree:--"Nought," quoth the lady, "by what
+I noted of your behaviour, could ever have caused me to anticipate other
+sequel of my coming hither than this which I see is your will, and for
+which I shall ever be your debtor." She then took her leave, and,
+attended by a guard of honour, returned to Giliberto, and told him what
+had passed; between whom and Messer Ansaldo there was thenceforth a most
+close and loyal friendship.
+
+Now the liberality shewn by Giliberto towards Messer Ansaldo, and by
+Messer Ansaldo towards the lady, having been marked by the necromancer,
+when Messer Ansaldo made ready to give him the promised reward:--"Now God
+forbid," quoth he, "that, as I have seen Giliberto liberal in regard of
+his honour, and you liberal in regard of your love, I be not in like
+manner liberal in regard of my reward, which accordingly, witting that
+'tis in good hands, I am minded that you keep." The knight was abashed,
+and strove hard to induce him to take, if not the whole, at least a part
+of the money; but finding that his labour was in vain, and that the
+necromancer, having caused his garden to vanish after the third day, was
+minded to depart, he bade him adieu. And the carnal love he had borne the
+lady being spent, he burned for her thereafter with a flame of honourable
+affection. Now what shall be our verdict in this case, lovesome ladies? A
+lady, as it were dead, and a love grown lukewarm for utter hopelessness!
+Shall we set a liberality shewn in such a case above this liberality of
+Messer Ansaldo, loving yet as ardently, and hoping, perchance, yet more
+ardently than ever, and holding in his hands the prize that he had so
+long pursued? Folly indeed should I deem it to compare that liberality
+with this.
+
+
+NOVEL VI.
+
+--
+King Charles the Old, being conqueror, falls in love with a young maiden,
+and afterward growing ashamed of his folly bestows her and her sister
+honourably in marriage.
+--
+
+Who might fully recount with what diversity of argument the ladies
+debated which of the three, Giliberto, or Messer Ansaldo, or the
+necromancer, behaved with the most liberality in the affair of Madonna
+Dianora? Too long were it to tell. However, when the king had allowed
+them to dispute a while, he, with a glance at Fiammetta, bade her rescue
+them from their wrangling by telling her story. Fiammetta made no demur,
+but thus began:--Illustrious my ladies, I have ever been of opinion that
+in companies like ours one should speak so explicitly that the import of
+what is said should never by excessive circumscription afford matter for
+disputation; which is much more in place among students in the schools,
+than among us, whose powers are scarce adequate to the management of the
+distaff and the spindle. Wherefore I, that had in mind a matter of,
+perchance, some nicety, now that I see you all at variance touching the
+matters last mooted, am minded to lay it aside, and tell you somewhat
+else, which concerns a man by no means of slight account, but a valiant
+king, being a chivalrous action that he did, albeit in no wise thereto
+actuated by his honour.
+
+There is none of you but may not seldom have heard tell of King Charles
+the Old, or the First, by whose magnificent emprise, and the ensuing
+victory gained over King Manfred, the Ghibellines were driven forth of
+Florence, and the Guelfs returned thither. For which cause a knight,
+Messer Neri degli Uberti by name, departing Florence with his household
+and not a little money, resolved to fix his abode under no other sway
+than that of King Charles. And being fain of a lonely place in which to
+end his days in peace, he betook him to Castello da Mare di Stabia; and
+there, perchance a cross-bow-shot from the other houses of the place,
+amid the olives and hazels and chestnuts that abound in those parts, he
+bought an estate, on which he built a goodly house and commodious, with a
+pleasant garden beside it, in the midst of which, having no lack of
+running water, he set, after our Florentine fashion, a pond fair and
+clear, and speedily filled it with fish. And while thus he lived, daily
+occupying himself with nought else but how to make his garden more fair,
+it befell that King Charles in the hot season betook him to Castello da
+Mare to refresh himself a while, and hearing of the beauty of Messer
+Neri's garden, was desirous to view it. And having learned to whom it
+belonged, he bethought him that, as the knight was an adherent of the
+party opposed to him, he would use more familiarity towards him than he
+would otherwise have done; and so he sent him word that he and four
+comrades would sup privily with him in his garden on the ensuing evening.
+Messer Neri felt himself much honoured; and having made his preparations
+with magnificence, and arranged the order of the ceremonies with his
+household, did all he could and knew to make the King cordially welcome
+to his fair garden.
+
+When the King had viewed the garden throughout, as also Messer Neri's
+house, and commended them, he washed, and seated himself at one of the
+tables, which were set beside the pond, and bade Count Guy de Montfort,
+who was one of his companions, sit on one side of him, and Messer Neri on
+the other, and the other three to serve, as they should be directed by
+Messer Neri. The dishes that were set before them were dainty, the wines
+excellent and rare, the order of the repast very fair and commendable,
+without the least noise or aught else that might distress; whereon the
+King bestowed no stinted praise. As thus he gaily supped, well-pleased
+with the lovely spot, there came into the garden two young maidens, each
+perhaps fifteen years old, blonde both, their golden tresses falling all
+in ringlets about them, and crowned with a dainty garland of
+periwinkle-flowers; and so delicate and fair of face were they that they
+shewed liker to angels than aught else, each clad in a robe of finest
+linen, white as snow upon their flesh, close-fitting as might be from the
+waist up, but below the waist ample, like a pavilion to the feet. She
+that was foremost bore on her shoulders a pair of nets, which she held
+with her left hand, carrying in her right a long pole. Her companion
+followed, bearing on her left shoulder a frying-pan, under her left arm a
+bundle of faggots, and in her left hand a tripod, while in the other hand
+she carried a cruse of oil and a lighted taper. At sight of whom the King
+marvelled, and gazed intent to learn what it might import. The two young
+maidens came forward with becoming modesty, and did obeisance to the
+King; which done they hied them to the place of ingress to the pond, and
+she that had the frying-pan having set it down, and afterward the other
+things, took the pole that the other carried, and so they both went down
+into the pond, being covered by its waters to their breasts. Whereupon
+one of Messer Neri's servants, having forthwith lit a fire, and set the
+tripod on the faggots and oil therein, addressed himself to wait, until
+some fish should be thrown to him by the girls. Who, the one searching
+with the pole in those parts where she knew the fish lay hid, while the
+other made ready the nets, did in a brief space of time, to the exceeding
+great delight of the King, who watched them attentively, catch fish not a
+few, which they tossed to the servant, who set them, before the life was
+well out of them, in the frying-pan. After which, the maidens, as
+pre-arranged, addressed them to catch some of the finest fish, and cast
+them on to the table before the King, and Count Guy, and their father.
+The fish wriggled about the table to the prodigious delight of the King,
+who in like manner took some of them, and courteously returned them to
+the girls; with which sport they diverted them, until the servant had
+cooked the fish that had been given him: which, by Messer Neri's command,
+were set before the King rather as a side-dish than as aught very rare or
+delicious.
+
+When the girls saw that all the fish were cooked, and that there was no
+occasion for them to catch any more, they came forth of the pond, their
+fine white garments cleaving everywhere close to their flesh so as to
+hide scarce any part of their delicate persons, took up again the things
+that they had brought, and passing modestly before the King, returned to
+the house. The King, and the Count, and the other gentlemen that waited,
+had regarded the maidens with no little attention, and had, one and all,
+inly bestowed on them no little praise, as being fair and shapely, and
+therewithal sweet and debonair; but 'twas in the King's eyes that they
+especially found favour. Indeed, as they came forth of the water, the
+King had scanned each part of their bodies so intently that, had one then
+pricked him, he would not have felt it, and his thoughts afterwards
+dwelling upon them, though he knew not who they were, nor how they came
+to be there, he felt stir within his heart a most ardent desire to
+pleasure them, whereby he knew very well that, if he took not care, he
+would grow enamoured; howbeit he knew not whether of the twain pleased
+him the more, so like was each to the other. Having thus brooded a while,
+he turned to Messer Neri, and asked who the two damsels were.
+Whereto:--"Sire," replied Messer Neri, "they are my twin daughters, and
+they are called, the one, Ginevra the Fair, and the other, Isotta the
+Blonde." Whereupon the King was loud in praise of them, and exhorted
+Messer Neri to bestow them in marriage. To which Messer Neri demurred,
+for that he no longer had the means. And nought of the supper now
+remaining to serve, save the fruit, in came the two young damsels in
+gowns of taffeta very fine, bearing in their hands two vast silver
+salvers full of divers fruits, such as the season yielded, and set them
+on the table before the King. Which done, they withdrew a little space
+and fell a singing to music a ditty, of which the opening words were as
+follows:--
+
+  Love, many words would not suffice
+  There where I am come to tell.
+
+And so dulcet and delightsome was the strain that to the King, his eyes
+and ears alike charmed, it seemed as if all the nine orders of angels
+were descended there to sing. The song ended, they knelt and respectfully
+craved the King's leave to depart; which, though sorely against his will,
+he gave them with a forced gaiety.
+
+Supper ended, the King and his companions, having remounted their horses,
+took leave of Messer Neri, and conversing of divers matters, returned to
+the royal quarters; where the King, still harbouring his secret passion,
+nor, despite affairs of state that supervened, being able to forget the
+beauty and sweetness of Ginevra the Fair, for whose sake he likewise
+loved her twin sister, was so limed by Love that he could scarce think of
+aught else. So, feigning other reasons, he consorted familiarly with
+Messer Neri, and did much frequent his garden, that he might see Ginevra.
+And at length, being unable to endure his suffering any longer, and being
+minded, for that he could devise no other expedient, to despoil their
+father not only of the one but of the other damsel also, he discovered
+both his love and his project to Count Guy; who, being a good man and
+true, thus made answer:--"Sire, your tale causes me not a little
+astonishment, and that more especially because of your conversation from
+your childhood to this very day, I have, methinks, known more than any
+other man. And as no such passion did I ever mark in you, even in your
+youth, when Love should more readily have fixed you with his fangs, as
+now I discern, when you are already on the verge of old age, 'tis to me
+so strange, so surprising that you should veritably love, that I deem it
+little short of a miracle. And were it meet for me to reprove you, well
+wot I the language I should hold to you, considering that you are yet in
+arms in a realm but lately won, among a people as yet unknown to you, and
+wily and treacherous in the extreme, and that the gravest anxieties and
+matters of high policy engross your mind, so that you are not as yet able
+to sit you down, and nevertheless amid all these weighty concerns you
+have given harbourage to false, flattering Love. This is not the wisdom
+of a great king, but the folly of a feather-pated boy. And moreover, what
+is far worse, you say that you are resolved to despoil this poor knight
+of his two daughters, whom, entertaining you in his house, and honouring
+you to the best of his power, he brought into your presence all but
+naked, testifying thereby, how great is his faith in you, and how assured
+he is that you are a king, and not a devouring wolf. Have you so soon
+forgotten that 'twas Manfred's outrageous usage of his subjects that
+opened you the way into this realm? What treachery was he ever guilty of
+that better merited eternal torment, than 'twould be in you to wrest from
+one that honourably entreats you at once his hope and his consolation?
+What would be said of you if so you should do? Perchance you deem that
+'twould suffice to say:--'I did it because he is a Ghibelline.' Is it
+then consistent with the justice of a king that those, be they who they
+may, who seek his protection, as this man has sought yours, should be
+entreated after this sort? King, I bid you remember that exceeding great
+as is your glory to have vanquished Manfred, yet to conquer oneself is a
+still greater glory: wherefore you, to whom belongs the correction of
+others, see to it that you conquer yourself, and refrain this unruly
+passion; and let not such a blot mar the splendour of your achievements."
+
+Sore stricken at heart by the Count's words, and the more mortified that
+he acknowledged their truth, the King heaved a fervent sigh or two, and
+then:--"Count," quoth he, "that enemy there is none, however mighty, but
+to the practised warrior is weak enough and easy to conquer in comparison
+of his own appetite, I make no doubt, but, great though the struggle will
+be and immeasurable the force that it demands, so shrewdly galled am I by
+your words, that not many days will have gone by before I shall without
+fail have done enough to shew you that I, that am the conqueror of
+others, am no less able to gain the victory over myself." And indeed but
+a few days thereafter, the King, on his return to Naples, being minded at
+once to leave himself no excuse for dishonourable conduct, and to
+recompense the knight for his honourable entreatment of him, did, albeit
+'twas hard for him to endow another with that which he had most ardently
+desired for himself, none the less resolve to bestow the two damsels in
+marriage, and that not as Messer Neri's daughters, but as his own.
+Wherefore, Messer Neri consenting, he provided both with magnificent
+dowries, and gave Ginevra the Fair to Messer Maffeo da Palizzi, and
+Isotta the Blonde to Messer Guglielmo della Magna, noble knights and
+great barons both; which done, sad at heart beyond measure, he betook him
+to Apulia, and by incessant travail did so mortify his vehement appetite
+that he snapped and broke in pieces the fetters of Love, and for the rest
+of his days was no more vexed by such passion.
+
+Perchance there will be those who say that 'tis but a trifle for a king
+to bestow two girls in marriage; nor shall I dispute it: but say we that
+a king in love bestowed in marriage her whom he loved, neither having
+taken nor taking, of his love, leaf or flower or fruit; then this I say
+was a feat great indeed, nay, as great as might be.
+
+After such a sort then did this magnificent King, at once generously
+rewarding the noble knight, commendably honouring the damsels that he
+loved, and stoutly subduing himself.
+
+
+NOVEL VII.
+
+--
+King Pedro, being apprised of the fervent love borne him by Lisa, who
+thereof is sick, comforts her, and forthwith gives her in marriage to a
+young gentleman, and having kissed her on the brow, ever after professes
+himself her knight.
+--
+
+When Fiammetta was come to the end of her story, and not a little praise
+had been accorded to the virile magnificence of King Charles, albeit one
+there was of the ladies, who, being a Ghibelline, joined not therein,
+Pampinea, having received the king's command, thus began:--None is there
+of discernment, worshipful my ladies, that would say otherwise than you
+have said touching good King Charles, unless for some other cause she
+bear him a grudge; however, for that there comes to my mind the,
+perchance no less honourable, entreatment of one of our Florentine girls
+by one of his adversaries, I am minded to recount the same to you.
+
+What time the French were driven forth of Sicily there dwelt at Palermo
+one of our Florentines, that was an apothecary, Bernardo Puccini by name,
+a man of great wealth, that by his lady had an only and exceeding fair
+daughter, then of marriageable age. Now King Pedro of Arragon, being
+instated in the sovereignty of the island, did at Palermo make with his
+barons marvellous celebration thereof; during which, as he tilted after
+the Catalan fashion, it befell that Bernardo's daughter, Lisa by name,
+being with other ladies at a window, did thence espy him in the course,
+whereat being prodigiously delighted, she regarded him again and again,
+and grew fervently enamoured of him; nor yet, when the festivities were
+ended, and she was at home with her father, was there aught she could
+think of but this her exalted and aspiring love. In regard whereof that
+which most irked her was her sense of her low rank, which scarce
+permitted her any hope of a happy issue; but, for all that, give over her
+love for the King she would not; nor yet, for fear of worse to come,
+dared she discover it. The King, meanwhile, recking, witting nothing of
+the matter, her suffering waxed immeasurable, intolerable; and her love
+ever growing with ever fresh accessions of melancholy, the fair maiden,
+overborne at last, fell sick, and visibly day by day wasted like snow in
+sunlight. Distraught with grief thereat, her father and mother afforded
+her such succour as they might with words of good cheer, and counsel of
+physicians, and physic; but all to no purpose; for that she in despair of
+her love was resolved no more to live.
+
+Now her father assuring her that there was no whim of hers but should be
+gratified, the fancy took her that, if she might find apt means, she
+would, before she died, make her love and her resolve known to the King:
+wherefore one day she besought her father to cause Minuccio d'Arezzo, to
+come to her; which Minuccio, was a singer and musician of those days,
+reputed most skilful, and well seen of King Pedro. Bernardo, deeming that
+Lisa desired but to hear him play and sing a while, conveyed her message
+to him; and he, being an agreeable fellow, came to her forthwith, and
+after giving her some words of loving cheer, sweetly discoursed some airs
+upon his viol, and then sang her some songs; whereby, while he thought to
+comfort her, he did but add fire and flame to her love. Presently the
+girl said that she would fain say a few words to him in private, and when
+all else were withdrawn from the chamber:--"Minuccio," quoth she, "thee
+have I chosen, deeming thee most trusty, to be the keeper of my secret,
+relying upon thee in the first place never to betray it to a soul, and
+next to lend me in regard thereof such aid as thou mayst be able; and so
+I pray thee to do. Thou must know, then, Minuccio mine, that on the day
+when our lord King Pedro held the great festival in celebration of his
+triumph, I, seeing him tilt, was so smitten with love of him that thereof
+was kindled within my soul the fire which has brought me, as thou seest,
+to this pass; and knowing how ill it beseems me to love a king, and being
+unable, I say not to banish it from my heart, but so much as to bring it
+within bounds, and finding it exceeding grievous to bear, I have made
+choice of death as the lesser pain; and die I shall. But should he wot
+not of my love before I die, sore disconsolate should I depart; and
+knowing not by whom more aptly than by thee I might give him to know this
+my frame, I am minded to entrust the communication thereof to thee; which
+office I entreat thee not to refuse, and having discharged it, to let me
+know, that dying thus consoled, I may depart this pain." Which said, she
+silently wept.
+
+Marvelling at the loftiness of the girl's spirit and her desperate
+determination, Minuccio commiserated her not a little; and presently it
+occurred to him that there was a way in which he might honourably serve
+her: wherefore:--"Lisa," quoth he, "my faith I plight thee, wherein thou
+mayst place sure confidence that I shall never play thee false, and
+lauding thy high emprise, to wit, the setting thine affections upon so
+great a king, I proffer thee mine aid, whereby, so thou wilt be of good
+cheer, I hope, and believe, that, before thou shalt see the third day
+from now go by, I shall have brought thee tidings which will be to thee
+for an exceeding great joy; and, not to lose time, I will set to work at
+once." And so Lisa, assuring him that she would be of good cheer, and
+plying him afresh with instant obsecrations, bade him Godspeed; and
+Minuccio, having taken leave of her, hied him to one Mico da Siena, a
+very expert rhymester of those days, who at his instant request made the
+ensuing song:--
+
+Hence hie thee, Love; and hasting to my King,
+  Give him to know what torment dire I bear,
+  How that to death I fare,
+  Still close, for fear, my passion harbouring.
+
+Lo, Love, to thee with clasped hands I turn,
+  And pray thee seek him where he tarrieth,
+  And tell him how I oft for him do yearn,
+  So sweetly he my heart enamoureth;
+  And of the fire, wherewith I throughly burn,
+  I think to die, but may the hour uneath
+  Say, when my grievous pain shall with my breath
+  Surcease; till when, neither may fear nor shame
+  The least abate the flame.
+  Ah! to his ears my woeful story bring.
+
+Since of him I was first enamoured,
+  Never hast thou, O Love, my fearful heart
+  With any such fond hope encouraged,
+  As e'er its message to him to impart,
+  To him, my lord, that me so sore bested
+  Holds: dying thus, 'twere grievous to depart:
+  Perchance, were he to know my cruel smart,
+  'Twould not displease him; might I but make bold
+  My soul to him to unfold,
+  And shew him all my woeful languishing.
+
+Love, since 'twas not thy will me to accord
+  Such boldness as that e'er unto my King
+  I may discover my sad heart's full hoard,
+  Or any word or sign thereof him bring:
+  This all my prayer to thee, O sweet my Lord:
+  Hie thee to him, and so him whispering
+  Mind of the day I saw him tourneying
+  With all his paladins environed,
+  And grew enamoured
+  Ev'n to my very heart's disrupturing.
+
+Which words Minuccio forthwith set to music after a soft and plaintive
+fashion befitting their sense; and on the third day thereafter hied him
+to court, while King Pedro was yet at breakfast. And being bidden by the
+King to sing something to the accompaniment of his viol, he gave them
+this song with such sweet concord of words and music that all the folk
+that were in the King's hall seemed, as it were, entranced, so intent and
+absorbed stood they to listen, and the King rather more than the rest.
+And when Minuccio had done singing, the King asked whence the song came,
+that, as far as he knew, he had never heard it before. "Sire," replied
+Minuccio, "'tis not yet three days since 'twas made, words and music
+alike." And being asked by the King in regard of whom 'twas made:--"I
+dare not," quoth he, "discover such a secret save to you alone." Bent on
+hearing the story, the King, when the tables were cleared, took Minuccio
+into his privy chamber; and there Minuccio told him everything exactly as
+he had heard it from Lisa's lips. Whereby the King was much gratified,
+and lauded the maiden not a little, and said that a girl of such high
+spirit merited considerate treatment, and bade Minuccio be his envoy to
+her, and comfort her, and tell her that without fail that very day at
+vespers he would come to visit her. Overjoyed to bear the girl such
+gladsome tidings, Minuccio tarried not, but hied him back to the girl
+with his viol, and being closeted with her, told her all that had passed,
+and then sang the song to the accompaniment of his viol. Whereby the girl
+was so cheered and delighted that forthwith there appeared most marked
+and manifest signs of the amendment of her health, while with passionate
+longing (albeit none in the house knew or divined it) she awaited the
+vesper hour, when she was to see her lord.
+
+Knowing the girl very well, and how fair she was, and pondering divers
+times on what Minuccio had told him, the King, being a prince of a
+liberal and kindly disposition, grew ever more compassionate. So, about
+vespers, he mounted his horse, and rode forth, as if for mere pleasure,
+and being come to the apothecary's house, demanded access to a very
+goodly garden that the apothecary had, and having dismounted, after a
+while enquired of Bernardo touching his daughter, and whether he had yet
+bestowed her in marriage. "Sire," replied Bernardo, "she is not yet
+married; and indeed she has been and still is very ill howbeit since none
+she is wonderfully amended." The significance of which amendment being
+forthwith apprehended by the King:--"In good faith," quoth he, "'twere a
+pity so fair a creature were reft from the world so early; we would go in
+and visit her." And presently, attended only by two of his lords and
+Bernardo, he betook him to her chamber, where being entered, he drew nigh
+the bed, whereon the girl half reclined, half sate in eager expectation
+of his coming; and taking her by the hand:--"Madonna," quoth he, "what
+means this? A maiden like you should be the comfort of others, and you
+suffer yourself to languish. We would entreat you that for love of us you
+be of good cheer, so as speedily to recover your health." To feel the
+touch of his hand whom she loved above all else, the girl, albeit
+somewhat shamefast, was so enraptured that 'twas as if she was in
+Paradise; and as soon as she was able:--"My lord," she said, "'twas the
+endeavour, weak as I am, to sustain a most grievous burden that brought
+this sickness upon me; but 'twill not be long ere you will see me quit
+thereof, thanks to your courtesy." The hidden meaning of which words was
+apprehended only by the King, who momently made more account of the girl,
+and again and again inly cursed Fortune, that had decreed that she should
+be the daughter of such a man. And yet a while he tarried with her, and
+comforted her, and so took his leave. Which gracious behaviour of the
+King was not a little commended, and accounted a signal honour to the
+apothecary and his daughter.
+
+The girl, glad at heart as was ever lady of her lover, mended with
+reviving hope, and in a few days recovered her health, and therewith more
+than all her wonted beauty. Whereupon the King, having taken counsel with
+the Queen how to reward so great a love, got him one day to horse with a
+great company of his barons, and hied him to the apothecary's house; and
+being come into the garden, he sent for the apothecary and his daughter;
+and there, being joined by the Queen with not a few ladies, who received
+the girl into their company, they made such cheer as 'twas a wonder to
+see. And after a while the King and Queen having called Lisa to them,
+quoth the King:--"Honourable damsel, by the great love that you have
+borne us we are moved greatly to honour you; and we trust that, for love
+of us, the honour that we design for you will be acceptable to you. Now
+'tis thus we would honour you: to wit, that, seeing that you are of
+marriageable age, we would have you take for husband him that we shall
+give you; albeit 'tis none the less our purpose ever to call ourself your
+knight, demanding no other tribute of all your love but one sole kiss."
+Scarlet from brow to neck, the girl, making the King's pleasure her own,
+thus with a low voice replied:--"My lord, very sure am I that, should it
+come to be known that I was grown enamoured of you, most folk would hold
+me for a fool, deeming, perchance, that I was out of my mind, and witless
+alike of my own rank and yours; but God, who alone reads the hearts of us
+mortals, knows that even then, when first I did affect you, I wist that
+you were the King, and I but the daughter of Bernardo the apothecary, and
+that to suffer my passion to soar so high did ill become me; but, as you
+know far better than I, none loves of set and discreet purpose, but only
+according to the dictates of impulse and fancy; which law my forces,
+albeit not seldom opposed, being powerless to withstand, I loved and
+still love and shall ever love you. But as no sooner knew I myself
+subjugated to your love, than I vowed to have ever no will but yours;
+therefore not only am I compliant to take right gladly him whom you shall
+be pleased to give me for husband, thereby conferring upon me great
+honour and dignity; but if you should bid me tarry in the fire, delighted
+were I to obey, so thereby I might pleasure you. How far it beseems me to
+have you, my King, for my knight, you best know; and therefore I say
+nought thereof; nor will the kiss which you crave as your sole tribute of
+my love be granted you save by leave of my Lady the Queen. Natheless, may
+you have of this great graciousness that you and my Lady the Queen have
+shewn me, and which I may not requite, abundant recompense in the
+blessing and favour of God;" and so she was silent.
+
+The Queen was mightily delighted with the girl's answer, and deemed her
+as discreet as the King had said. The King then sent for the girl's
+father and mother, and being assured that his intention had their
+approval, summoned to his presence a young man, Perdicone by name, that
+was of gentle birth, but in poor circumstances, and put certain rings
+into his hand, and (he nowise gainsaying) wedded him to Lisa. Which done,
+besides jewels many and precious that he and the Queen gave the girl, he
+forthwith bestowed upon Perdicone two domains, right goodly and of ample
+revenues, to wit, Ceffalu and Calatabellotta, saying:--"We give them to
+thee for thy wife's dowry; what we have in store for thee thou wilt learn
+hereafter." Which said, he turned to the girl, and:--"Now," quoth he, "we
+are minded to cull that fruit which is due to us of thy love;" and so,
+taking her head between both his hands, he kissed her brow. Wherefore,
+great was the joy of Perdicone, and the father and mother of Lisa, and
+Lisa herself, and mighty the cheer they made, and gaily did they
+celebrate the nuptials. And, as many affirm, right well did the King keep
+his promise to the girl; for that ever, while he lived, he called himself
+her knight, nor went to any passage of arms bearing other device than
+that which he had from her.
+
+Now 'tis by doing after this sort that sovereigns win the hearts of their
+subjects, give others occasion of well-doing, and gain for themselves an
+imperishable renown. At which mark few or none in our times have bent the
+bow of their understanding, the more part of the princes having become
+but cruel tyrants.
+
+
+NOVEL VIII.
+
+--
+Sophronia, albeit she deems herself wife to Gisippus, is wife to Titus
+Quintius Fulvus, and goes with him to Rome, where Gisippus arrives in
+indigence, and deeming himself scorned by Titus, to compass his own
+death, avers that he has slain a man. Titus recognizes him, and to save
+his life, alleges that 'twas he that slew the man: whereof he that did
+the deed being witness, he discovers himself as the murderer. Whereby it
+comes to pass that they are all three liberated by Octavianus; and Titus
+gives Gisippus his sister to wife, and shares with him all his substance.
+--
+
+So ceased Pampinea; and when all the ladies, and most of all the
+Ghibelline, had commended King Pedro, Filomena by command of the king
+thus began:--Magnificent my ladies, who wots not that there is nought so
+great but kings, when they have a mind, may accomplish it? As also that
+'tis of them that magnificence is most especially demanded? Now whoso,
+being powerful, does that which it appertains to him to do, does well;
+but therein is no such matter of marvel, or occasion of extolling him to
+the skies, as in his deed, of whom, for that his power is slight, less is
+demanded. Wherefore, as you are so profuse of your words in exaltation of
+the fine deeds, as you deem them, of monarchs, I make no manner of doubt,
+but that the doings of our peers must seem to you yet more delectable and
+commendable, when they equal or surpass those of kings. Accordingly 'tis
+a transaction, laudable and magnificent, that passed between two
+citizens, who were friends, that I purpose to recount to you in my story.
+
+I say, then, that what time Octavianus Caesar, not as yet hight Augustus,
+but being in the office called Triumvirate, swayed the empire of Rome,
+there dwelt at Rome a gentleman, Publius Quintius Fulvus by name, who,
+having a son, Titus Quintius Fulvus, that was a very prodigy of wit, sent
+him to Athens to study philosophy, and to the best of his power commended
+him to a nobleman of that city, Chremes by name, who was his very old
+friend. Chremes lodged Titus in his own house with his son Gisippus, and
+placed both Titus and Gisippus under a philosopher named Aristippus, to
+learn of him his doctrine. And the two youths, thus keeping together,
+found each the other's conversation so congruous with his own, that there
+grew up between them a friendship so close and brotherly that 'twas never
+broken by aught but death; nor knew either rest or solace save when he
+was with the other. So, gifted alike with pre-eminent subtlety of wit,
+they entered on their studies, and with even pace and prodigious applause
+scaled together the glorious heights of philosophy. In which way of life,
+to the exceeding great delight of Chremes, who entreated Titus as no less
+his son than Gisippus, they continued for full three years. At the end
+whereof, it befell (after the common course of things mundane) that
+Chremes (being now aged) departed this life. Whom with equal grief they
+mourned as a common father; and the friends and kinsfolk of Chremes were
+alike at a loss to determine whether of the twain stood in need of the
+more consolation upon the bereavement.
+
+Some months afterward the friends and kinsfolk of Gisippus came to him
+and exhorted him, as did also Titus, to take a wife, and found him a
+maiden, wondrous fair, of one of the most noble houses of Athens, her
+name Sophronia, and her age about fifteen years. So a time was appointed
+for their nuptials, and one day, when 'twas near at hand, Gisippus bade
+Titus come see the maiden, whom as yet he had not seen; and they being
+come into her house, and she sitting betwixt them, Titus, as he were fain
+to observe with care the several charms of his friend's wife that was to
+be, surveyed her with the closest attention, and being delighted beyond
+measure with all that he saw, grew, as inly he extolled her charms to the
+skies, enamoured of her with a love as ardent, albeit he gave no sign of
+it, as ever lover bore to lady. However, after they had tarried a while
+with her, they took their leave, and went home, where Titus repaired to
+his chamber, and there gave himself over to solitary musing on the
+damsel's charms, and the longer he brooded, the more he burned for her.
+Whereon as he reflected, having heaved many a fervent sigh, thus he began
+to commune with himself:--Ah! woe worth thy life, Titus! Whom makest thou
+the mistress of thy soul, thy love, thy hope? Knowest thou not that by
+reason as well of thy honourable entreatment by Chremes and his kin as of
+the wholehearted friendship that is between thee and Gisippus, it behoves
+thee to have his betrothed in even such pious regard as if she were thy
+sister? Whither art thou suffering beguiling love, delusive hope, to
+hurry thee? Open the eyes of thine understanding, and see thyself,
+wretched man, as thou art; obey the dictates of thy reason, refrain thy
+carnal appetite, control thine inordinate desires, and give thy thoughts
+another bent; join battle with thy lust at the outset, and conquer
+thyself while there is yet time. This which thou wouldst have is not
+meet, is not seemly: this which thou art minded to ensue, thou wouldst
+rather, though thou wert, as thou art not, sure of its attainment,
+eschew, hadst thou but the respect thou shouldst have, for the claims of
+true friendship. So, then, Titus, what wilt thou do? What but abandon
+this unseemly love, if thou wouldst do as it behoves thee?
+
+But then, as he remembered Sophronia, his thoughts took the contrary
+direction, and he recanted all he had said, musing on this wise:--The
+laws of Love are of force above all others; they abrogate not only the
+law of human friendship, but the law Divine itself. How many times ere
+now has father loved daughter, brother sister, step-mother step-son?
+aberrations far more notable than that a friend should love his friend's
+wife, which has happened a thousand times. Besides which, I am young, and
+youth is altogether subject to the laws of Love. Love's pleasure, then,
+should be mine. The seemly is for folk of riper years. 'Tis not in my
+power to will aught save that which Love wills. So beauteous is this
+damsel that there is none but should love her; and if I love her, who am
+young, who can justly censure me? I love her not because she is the
+affianced of Gisippus; no matter whose she was, I should love her all the
+same. Herein is Fortune to blame, that gave her to my friend, Gisippus,
+rather than to another. And if she is worthy of love, as for beauty she
+is, Gisippus, if he should come to know that I love her, ought to be less
+jealous than another.
+
+Then, scorning himself that he should indulge such thoughts, he relapsed
+into the opposing mood, albeit not to abide there, but ever veering to
+and fro, he spent not only the whole of that day and the ensuing night,
+but many others; insomuch that, being able neither to eat nor to sleep,
+he grew so weak that he was fain to take to his bed. Gisippus, who had
+marked his moodiness for some days, and now saw that he was fairly sick,
+was much distressed; and with sedulous care, never quitting his side, he
+tended, and strove as best he might to comfort, him, not seldom and most
+earnestly demanding to know of him the cause of his melancholy and his
+sickness. Many were the subterfuges to which Titus resorted; but, as
+Gisippus was not to be put off with his fables, finding himself hard
+pressed by him, with sighs and sobs he made answer on this
+wise:--"Gisippus, had such been the will of the Gods, I were fain rather
+to die than to live, seeing that Fortune has brought me to a strait in
+which needs must my virtue be put to the ordeal, and, to my most grievous
+shame, 'tis found wanting: whereof I confidently expect my due reward, to
+wit, death, which will be more welcome to me than to live, haunted ever
+by the memory of my baseness, which, as there is nought that from thee I
+either should or can conceal, I, not without burning shame, will discover
+to thee." And so he recounted the whole story from first to last, the
+occasion of his melancholy, its several moods, their conflict, and with
+which of them the victory rested, averring that he was dying of love for
+Sophronia, and that, knowing how ill such love beseemed him, he had, for
+penance, elected to die, and deemed the end was now not far off.
+Gisippus, hearing his words and seeing his tears, for a while knew not
+what to say, being himself smitten with the damsel's charms, albeit in a
+less degree than Titus; but ere long he made up his mind that Sophronia
+must be less dear to him than his friend's life.
+
+And so, moved to tears by his friend's tears:--"Titus," quoth he between
+his sobs, "but that thou art in need of comfort, I should reproach thee,
+that thou hast offended against our friendship in that thou hast so long
+kept close from me this most distressful passion; and albeit thou didst
+deem it unseemly, yet unseemly things should no more than things seemly
+be withheld from a friend, for that, as a friend rejoices with his friend
+in things seemly, so he does his endeavour to wean his friend from things
+unseemly: but enough of this for the nonce: I pass to that which, I wot,
+is of greater moment. If thou ardently lovest Sophronia, my affianced, so
+far from marvelling thereat, I should greatly marvel were it not so,
+knowing how fair she is, and how noble is thy soul, and thus the apter to
+be swayed by passion, the more excelling is she by whom thou art charmed.
+And the juster the cause thou hast to love Sophronia, the greater is the
+injustice with which thou complainest of Fortune (albeit thou dost it not
+in so many words) for giving her to me, as if thy love of her had been
+seemly, had she belonged to any other but me; whereas, if thou art still
+the wise man thou wast wont to be, thou must know that to none could
+Fortune have assigned her, with such good cause for thee to thank her, as
+to me. Had any other had her, albeit thy love had been seemly, he had
+loved her as his own, rather than as thine; which, if thou deem me even
+such a friend to thee as I am, thou wilt not apprehend from me, seeing
+that I mind me not that, since we were friends, I had ever aught that was
+not as much thine as mine. And so should I entreat thee herein as in all
+other matters, were the affair gone so far that nought else were
+possible; but as it is, I can make thee sole possessor of her; and so I
+mean to do; for I know not what cause thou shouldst have to prize my
+friendship, if, where in seemly sort it might be done, I knew not how to
+surrender my will to thine. 'Tis true that Sophronia is my betrothed, and
+that I loved her much, and had great cheer in expectation of the
+nuptials: but as thou, being much more discerning than I, dost more
+fervently affect this rare prize, rest assured that she will enter my
+chamber not mine but thine. Wherefore, away with thy moodiness, banish
+thy melancholy, recover thy lost health, thy heartiness and jollity, and
+gladsomely, even from this very hour, anticipate the guerdon of thy love,
+a love worthier far than mine."
+
+Delightful as was the prospect with which hope flattered Titus, as he
+heard Gisippus thus speak, no less was the shame with which right reason
+affected him, admonishing him that the greater was the liberality of
+Gisippus, the less it would become him to profit thereby. Wherefore,
+still weeping, he thus constrained himself to make answer:--"Gisippus,
+thy generous and true friendship leaves me in no doubt as to the manner
+in which it becomes me to act. God forefend that her, whom, as to the
+more worthy, He has given to thee, I should ever accept of thee for mine.
+Had He seen fit that she should be mine, far be it from thee or any other
+to suppose that He would ever have awarded her to thee. Renounce not,
+then, that which thy choice and wise counsel and His gift have made
+thine, and leave me, to whom, as unworthy, He has appointed no such
+happiness, to waste my life in tears; for either I shall conquer my
+grief, which will be grateful to thee, or it will conquer me, and so I
+shall be quit of my pain." Quoth then Gisippus:--"If our friendship,
+Titus, is of such a sort as may entitle me to enforce thee to ensue
+behests of mine, or as may induce thee of thine own free will to ensue
+the same, such is the use to which, most of all, I am minded to put it;
+and if thou lend not considerate ear unto my prayers, I shall by force,
+that force which is lawful in the interest of a friend, make Sophronia
+thine. I know the might of Love, how redoubtable it is, and how, not once
+only, but oftentimes, it has brought ill-starred lovers to a miserable
+death; and thee I see so hard bested that turn back thou mightst not, nor
+get the better of thy grief, but holding on thy course, must succumb, and
+perish, and without doubt I should speedily follow thee. And so, had I no
+other cause to love thee, thy life is precious to me in that my own is
+bound up with it. Sophronia, then, shall be thine; for thou wouldst not
+lightly find another so much to thy mind, and I shall readily find
+another to love, and so shall content both thee and me. In which matter,
+peradventure, I might not be so liberal, were wives so scarce or hard to
+find as are friends; wherefore, as 'tis so easy a matter for me to find
+another wife, I had liefer--I say not lose her, for in giving her to thee
+lose her I shall not, but only transfer her to one that is my alter ego,
+and that to her advantage--I had liefer, I say, transfer her to thee than
+lose thee. And so, if aught my prayers avail with thee, I entreat thee
+extricate thyself from this thy woeful plight, and comfort at once
+thyself and me, and in good hope, address thyself to pluck that boon
+which thy fervent love craves of her for whom thou yearnest."
+
+Still scrupling, for shame, to consent that Sophronia should become his
+wife, Titus remained yet a while inexorable; but, yielding at last to the
+solicitations of Love, reinforced by the exhortations of Gisippus, thus
+he made answer:--"Lo now, Gisippus, I know not how to call it, whether
+'tis more thy pleasure than mine, this which I do, seeing that 'tis as
+thy pleasure that thou so earnestly entreatest me to do it; but, as thy
+liberality is such that my shame, though becoming, may not withstand it,
+I will even do it. But of this rest assured, that I do so, witting well
+that I receive from thee, not only the lady I love, but with her my very
+life. And, Fate permitting, may the Gods grant me to make thee such
+honourable and goodly requital as may shew thee how sensible I am of the
+boon, which thou, more compassionate of me than I am of myself,
+conferrest on me." Quoth then Gisippus:--"Now, for the giving effect to
+our purpose, methinks, Titus, we should proceed on this wise. Thou
+knowest that Sophronia, by treaty at length concluded between my family
+and hers, is become my betrothed: were I now to say that she should not
+be my wife, great indeed were the scandal that would come thereof, and I
+should affront both her family and mine own; whereof, indeed, I should
+make no account, so it gave me to see her become thine; but I fear that,
+were I to give her up at this juncture, her family would forthwith bestow
+her upon another, perchance, than thee, and so we should both be losers.
+Wherefore methinks that, so thou approve, I were best to complete what I
+have begun, bring her home as my wife, and celebrate the nuptials, and
+thereafter we can arrange that thou lie with her, privily, as thy wife.
+Then, time and occasion serving, we will disclose the whole affair, and
+if they are satisfied, well and good; if not, 'twill be done all the
+same, and as it cannot be undone, they must perforce make the best of
+it."
+
+Which counsel being approved by Titus, Gisippus brought the lady home as
+his wife, Titus being now recovered, and quite himself again; and when
+they had made great cheer, and night was come, the ladies, having bedded
+the bride, took their departure. Now the chambers of Titus and Gisippus
+were contiguous, and one might pass from one into the other: Gisippus,
+therefore, being come into his room, extinguished every ray of light, and
+stole into that of Titus, and bade him go get him to bed with his lady.
+Whereat Titus gave way to shame, and would have changed his mind, and
+refused to go in; but Gisippus, no less zealous at heart than in words to
+serve his friend, after no small contention prevailed on him to go
+thither. Now no sooner was Titus abed with the lady, than, taking her in
+his arms, he, as if jestingly, asked in a low tone whether she were
+minded to be his wife. She, taking him to be Gisippus, answered, yes;
+whereupon he set a fair and costly ring on her finger, saying:--"And I am
+minded to be thy husband." And having presently consummated the marriage,
+he long and amorously disported him with her, neither she, nor any other,
+being ever aware that another than Gisippus lay with her.
+
+Now Titus and Sophronia being after this sort wedded, Publius, the father
+of Titus, departed this life. For which cause Titus was bidden by letter
+to return forthwith to Rome to see to his affairs; wherefore he took
+counsel with Gisippus how he might take Sophronia thither with him; which
+might not well be done without giving her to know how matters stood.
+Whereof, accordingly, one day, having called her into the chamber, they
+fully apprised her, Titus for her better assurance bringing to her
+recollection not a little of what had passed between them. Whereat she,
+after glancing from one to the other somewhat disdainfully, burst into a
+flood of tears, and reproached Gisippus that he had so deluded her; and
+forthwith, saying nought of the matter to any there, she hied her forth
+of Gisippus' house and home to her father, to whom and her mother she
+recounted the deceit which Gisippus had practised upon them as upon her,
+averring that she was the wife not of Gisippus, as they supposed, but of
+Titus. Whereby her father was aggrieved exceedingly, and prolonged and
+grave complaint was made thereof by him and his own and Gisippus'
+families, and there was not a little parleying, and a world of pother.
+Gisippus earned the hatred of both his own and Sophronia's kin, and all
+agreed that he merited not only censure but severe punishment. He,
+however, averred that he had done a thing seemly, and that Sophronia's
+kinsfolk owed him thanks for giving her in marriage to one better than
+himself.
+
+All which Titus witnessed with great suffering, and witting that 'twas
+the way of the Greeks to launch forth in high words and menaces, and
+refrain not until they should meet with one that answered them, whereupon
+they were wont to grow not only humble but even abject, was at length
+minded that their clavers should no longer pass unanswered; and, as with
+his Roman temper he united Athenian subtlety, he cleverly contrived to
+bring the kinsfolk, as well of Gisippus as of Sophronia, together in a
+temple, where, being entered, attended only by Gisippus, thus (they being
+intent to hear) he harangued them:--"'Tis the opinion of not a few
+philosophers that whatsoever mortals do is ordained by the providence of
+the immortal Gods; for which cause some would have it that nought either
+is, or ever shall be, done, save of necessity, albeit others there are
+that restrict this necessity to that which is already done. Regard we but
+these opinions with some little attention, and we shall very plainly
+perceive that to censure that which cannot be undone is nought else but
+to be minded to shew oneself wiser than the Gods; by whom we must suppose
+that we and our affairs are swayed and governed with uniform and unerring
+wisdom. Whereby you may very readily understand how vain and foolish a
+presumption it is to pass judgment on their doings, and what manner and
+might of chains they need who suffer themselves to be transported to such
+excess of daring. Among whom, in my judgment, you must one and all be
+numbered, if 'tis true, what I hear, to wit, that you have complained and
+do continue to complain that Sophronia, albeit you gave her to Gisippus,
+is, nevertheless, become my wife; not considering that 'twas ordained
+from all eternity that she should become, not the wife of Gisippus, but
+mine, as the fact does now declare.
+
+"But, for that discourse of the secret providence and purposes of the
+Gods seems to many a matter hard and scarce to be understood, I am
+willing to assume that they meddle in no wise with our concerns, and to
+descend to the region of human counsels; in speaking whereof I must needs
+do two things quite at variance with my wont, to wit, in some degree
+praise myself and censure or vilify another. But, as in either case I
+mean not to deviate from the truth, and 'tis what the occasion demands, I
+shall not fail so to do. With bitter upbraidings, animated rather by rage
+than by reason, you cease not to murmur, nay, to cry out, against
+Gisippus, and to harass him with your abuse, and hold him condemned, for
+that her, whom you saw fit to give him, he has seen fit to give me, to
+wife; wherein I deem him worthy of the highest commendation, and that for
+two reasons, first, because he has done the office of a friend, and
+secondly, because he has done more wisely than you did. After what sort
+the sacred laws of friendship prescribe that friend shall entreat friend,
+'tis not to my present purpose to declare; 'twill suffice to remind you
+that the tie of friendship should be more binding than that of blood, or
+kinship; seeing that our friends are of our own choosing, whereas our
+kinsfolk are appointed us by Fortune; wherefore, if my life was more to
+Gisippus than your goodwill, since I am, as I hold myself, his friend,
+can any wonder thereat?
+
+"But pass we to my second reason; in the exposition whereof I must needs
+with yet more cogency prove to you that he has been wiser than you,
+seeing that, methinks, you wot nought of the providence of the Gods, and
+still less of the consequences of friendship. I say then, that, as 'twas
+your premeditated and deliberate choice that gave Sophronia to this young
+philosopher Gisippus, so 'twas his that gave her to another young
+philosopher. 'Twas your counsel that gave her to an Athenian; 'twas his
+that gave her to a Roman: 'twas your counsel that gave her to a man of
+gentle birth; 'twas his that gave her to one of birth yet gentler:
+wealthy was he to whom your counsel gave her, most wealthy he to whom his
+counsel gave her. Not only did he to whom your counsel gave her, love her
+not, but he scarce knew her, whereas 'twas to one that loved her beyond
+all other blessings, nay, more dearly than his own life, that his counsel
+gave her. And to the end that it may appear more plainly that 'tis even
+as I say, and Gisippus' counsel more to be commended than yours, let us
+examine it point by point. That I, like Gisippus, am young and a
+philosopher, my countenance and my pursuits may, without making more
+words about the matter, sufficiently attest. We are also of the same age,
+and have ever kept pace together in our studies. Now true it is that he
+is an Athenian, and I am a Roman. But, as touching the comparative glory
+of the cities, should the matter be mooted, I say that I am of a free
+city, and he of a city tributary; that I am of a city that is mistress of
+all the world, and he of one that is subject to mine; that I am of a city
+that flourishes mightily in arms, in empire, and in arts; whereas he
+cannot boast his city as famous save in arts.
+
+"Moreover, albeit you see me here in the guise of a most humble scholar,
+I am not born of the dregs of the populace of Rome. My halls and the
+public places of Rome are full of the antique effigies of my forefathers,
+and the annals of Rome abound with the records of triumphs led by the
+Quintii to the Roman Capitol; and so far from age having withered it,
+to-day, yet more abundantly than ever of yore, flourishes the glory of
+our name. Of my wealth I forbear, for shame, to speak, being mindful that
+honest poverty is the time-honoured and richest inheritance of the noble
+citizens of Rome; but, allowing for the nonce the opinion of the vulgar,
+which holds poverty in disrepute, and highly appraises wealth, I, albeit
+I never sought it, yet, as the favoured of Fortune, have abundant store
+thereof. Now well I wot that, Gisippus being of your own city, you justly
+prized and prize an alliance with him; but not a whit less should you
+prize an alliance with me at Rome, considering that there you will have
+in me an excellent host, and a patron apt, zealous and potent to serve
+you as well in matters of public interest as in your private concerns.
+Who, then, dismissing all bias from his mind, and judging with impartial
+reason, would deem your counsel more commendable than that of Gisippus?
+Assuredly none. Sophronia, then, being married to Titus Quintius Fulvus,
+a citizen of Rome, of an ancient and illustrious house, and wealthy, and
+a friend of Gisippus, whoso takes umbrage or offence thereat, does that
+which it behoves him not to do, and knows not what he does.
+
+"Perchance some will say that their complaint is not that Sophronia is
+the wife of Titus, but that she became his wife after such a sort, to
+wit, privily, by theft, neither friend nor any of her kin witting aught
+thereof; but herein is no matter of marvel, no prodigy as yet unheard-of.
+I need not instance those who before now have taken to them husbands in
+defiance of their fathers' will, or have eloped with their lovers and
+been their mistresses before they were their wives, or of whose marriages
+no word has been spoken, until their pregnancy or parturition published
+them to the world, and necessity sanctioned the fact: nought of this has
+happened in the case of Sophronia; on the contrary, 'twas in proper form,
+and in meet and seemly sort, that Gisippus gave her to Titus. And others,
+peradventure, will say that 'twas by one to whom such office belonged not
+that she was bestowed in marriage. Nay, but this is but vain and womanish
+querulousness, and comes of scant consideration. Know we not, then, that
+Fortune varies according to circumstances her methods and her means of
+disposing events to their predetermined ends? What matters it to me, if
+it be a cobbler, rather than a philosopher, that Fortune has ordained to
+compass something for me, whether privily or overtly, so only the result
+is as it should be? I ought, indeed, to take order, if the cobbler be
+indiscreet, that he meddle no more in affairs of mine, but, at the same
+time, I ought to thank him for what he has done. If Gisippus has duly
+bestowed Sophronia in marriage, it is gratuitous folly to find fault with
+the manner and the person. If you mistrust his judgment, have a care that
+it be not in his power to do the like again, but thank him for this turn.
+
+"Natheless, you are to know that I used no cunning practice or deceit to
+sully in any degree the fair fame of your house in the person of
+Sophronia; and, albeit I took her privily to wife, I came not as a
+ravisher to despoil her of her virginity, nor in any hostile sort was I
+minded to make her mine on dishonourable terms, and spurn your alliance;
+but, being fervently enamoured of her bewitching beauty and her noble
+qualities, I wist well that, should I make suit for her with those
+formalities which you, perchance, will say were due, then, for the great
+love you bear her, and for fear lest I should take her away with me to
+Rome, I might not hope to have her. Accordingly I made use of the secret
+practice which is now manifest to you, and brought Gisippus to consent in
+my interest to that whereto he was averse; and thereafter, ardently
+though I loved her, I sought not to commingle with her as a lover, but as
+a husband, nor closed with her, until, as she herself by her true witness
+may assure you, I had with apt words and with the ring made her my lawful
+wife, asking her if she would have me to husband, whereto she answered,
+yes. Wherein if she seem to have been tricked, 'tis not I that am to
+blame, but she, for that she asked me not who I was.
+
+"This, then, is the great wrong, sin, crime, whereof for love and
+friendship's sake Gisippus and I are guilty, that Sophronia is privily
+become the wife of Titus Quintius: 'tis for this that you harass him with
+your menaces and hostile machinations. What more would you do, had he
+given her to a villein, to a caitiff, to a slave? Where would you find
+fetters, dungeons, crosses adequate to your vengeance? But enough of this
+at present: an event, which I did not expect, has now happened; my father
+is dead; and I must needs return to Rome; wherefore, being fain to take
+Sophronia with me, I have discovered to you that which otherwise I had,
+perchance, still kept close. Whereto, if you are wise, you will gladly
+reconcile yourselves; for that, if I had been minded to play you false,
+or put an affront upon you, I might have scornfully abandoned her to you;
+but God forefend that such baseness be ever harboured in a Roman breast.
+Sophronia, then, by the will of the Gods, by force of law, and by my own
+love-taught astuteness, is mine. The which it would seem that you,
+deeming yourselves, peradventure, wiser than the Gods, or the rest of
+mankind, do foolishly set at nought, and that in two ways alike most
+offensive to me; inasmuch as you both withhold from me Sophronia, in whom
+right, as against me, you have none, and also entreat as your enemy
+Gisippus, to whom you are rightfully bounden. The folly whereof I purpose
+not at present fully to expound to you, but in friendly sort to counsel
+you to abate your wrath and abandon all your schemes of vengeance, and
+restore Sophronia to me, that I may part from you on terms of amity and
+alliance, and so abide: but of this rest assured, that whether this,
+which is done, like you or not, if you are minded to contravene it, I
+shall take Gisippus hence with me, and once arrived in Rome, shall in
+your despite find means to recover her who is lawfully mine, and pursuing
+you with unremitting enmity, will apprise you by experience of the full
+measure and effect of a Roman's wrath."
+
+Having so said, Titus started to his feet, his countenance distorted by
+anger, and took Gisippus by the hand, and with manifest contempt for all
+the rest, shaking his head at them and threatening them, led him out of
+the temple. They that remained in the temple, being partly persuaded by
+his arguments to accept his alliance and friendship, partly terrified by
+his last words, resolved by common consent that 'twas better to have the
+alliance of Titus, as they had lost that of Gisippus, than to add to that
+loss the enmity of Titus. Wherefore they followed Titus, and having come
+up with him, told him that they were well pleased that Sophronia should
+be his, and that they should prize his alliance and the friendship of
+dear Gisippus; and having ratified this treaty of amity and alliance with
+mutual cheer, they departed and sent Sophronia to Titus. Sophronia,
+discreetly making a virtue of necessity, transferred forthwith to Titus
+the love she had borne Gisippus, and being come with Titus to Rome, was
+there received with no small honour. Gisippus tarried in Athens, held in
+little account by well-nigh all the citizens, and being involved in
+certain of their broils, was, not long afterwards, with all his
+household, banished the city, poor, nay, destitute, and condemned to
+perpetual exile. Thus hard bested, and at length reduced to mendicancy,
+he made his way, so as least discomfortably he might, to Rome, being
+minded to see whether Titus would remember him: and there, learning that
+Titus lived, and was much affected by all the Romans, and having found
+out his house, he took his stand in front of it, and watched until Titus
+came by; to whom, for shame of the sorry trim that he was in, he ventured
+no word, but did his endeavour that he might be seen of him, hoping that
+Titus might recognize him, and call him by his name: but Titus passing
+on, Gisippus deeming that he had seen and avoided him, and calling to
+mind that which aforetime he had done for him, went away wroth and
+desperate. And fasting and penniless, and--for 'twas now night--knowing
+not whither he went, and yearning above all for death, he wandered by
+chance to a spot, which, albeit 'twas within the city, had much of the
+aspect of a wilderness, and espying a spacious grotto, he took shelter
+there for the night; and worn out at last with grief, on the bare ground,
+wretchedly clad as he was, he fell asleep.
+
+Now two men that had that night gone out a thieving, having committed the
+theft, came towards morning to the grotto, and there quarrelled, and the
+stronger slew the other, and took himself off. Aroused by the noise,
+Gisippus witnessed the murder, and deeming that he had now the means of
+compassing, without suicide, the death for which he so much longed,
+budged not a jot, but stayed there, until the serjeants of the court,
+which had already got wind of the affair, came on the scene, and laid
+violent hands upon him, and led him away. Being examined, he confessed
+that he had slain the man, and had then been unable to make his escape
+from the grotto. Wherefore the praetor, Marcus Varro by name, sentenced
+him to death by crucifixion, as was then the custom. But Titus, who
+happened at that moment to come into the praetorium, being told the crime
+for which he was condemned, and scanning the poor wretch's face,
+presently recognized him for Gisippus, and marvelled how he should come
+to be there, and in such a woeful plight. And most ardently desiring to
+succour him, nor seeing other way to save his life except to exonerate
+him by accusing himself, he straightway stepped forward, and said with a
+loud voice:--"Marcus Varro, call back the poor man on whom thou hast
+passed sentence, for he is innocent. 'Tis enough that I have incurred the
+wrath of the Gods by one deed of violence, to wit, the murder of him whom
+your serjeants found dead this morning, without aggravating my offence by
+the death of another innocent man." Perplexed, and vexed that he should
+have been heard by all in the praetorium, but unable honourably to avoid
+compliance with that which the laws enjoined, Varro had Gisippus brought
+back, and in presence of Titus said to him:--"How camest thou to be so
+mad as, though no constraint was put upon thee, to confess a deed thou
+never didst, thy life being at stake? Thou saidst that 'twas thou by whom
+the man was slain last night, and now comes this other, and says that
+'twas not thou but he that slew him." Gisippus looked, and seeing Titus,
+wist well that, being grateful for the service rendered by him in the
+past, Titus was now minded to save his life at the cost of his own:
+wherefore, affected to tears, he said:--"Nay but, Varro, in very sooth I
+slew him, and 'tis now too late, this tender solicitude of Titus for my
+deliverance." But on his part:--"Praetor," quoth Titus, "thou seest this
+man is a stranger, and was found unarmed beside the murdered man; thou
+canst not doubt that he was fain of death for very wretchedness:
+wherefore discharge him, and let punishment light on me who have merited
+it."
+
+Marvelling at the importunity of both, Varro readily surmised that
+neither was guilty. And while he was casting about how he might acquit
+them, lo, in came a young man, one Publius Ambustus, a desperate
+character, and known to all the Romans for an arrant thief. He it was
+that had verily committed the murder, and witting both the men to be
+innocent of that of which each accused himself, so sore at heart was he
+by reason of their innocence, that, overborne by an exceeding great
+compassion, he presented himself before Varro, and:--"Praetor," quoth he,
+"'tis destiny draws me hither to loose the knot of these men's
+contention; and some God within me leaves me no peace of his whips and
+stings, until I discover my offence: wherefore know that neither of these
+men is guilty of that of which each accuses himself. 'Tis verily I that
+slew the man this morning about daybreak; and before I slew him, while I
+was sharing our plunder with him, I espied this poor fellow asleep there.
+Nought need I say to clear Titus: the general bruit of his illustrious
+renown attests that he is not a man of such a sort. Discharge him,
+therefore, and exact from me the penalty prescribed by the laws."
+
+The affair had by this time come to the ears of Octavianus, who caused
+all three to be brought before him, and demanded to know the causes by
+which they had been severally moved to accuse themselves; and, each
+having told his story, Octavianus released the two by reason of their
+innocence, and the third for love of them. Titus took Gisippus home,
+having first chidden him not a little for his faint-heartedness and
+diffidence, and there, Sophronia receiving him as a brother, did him
+marvellous cheer; and having comforted him a while, and arrayed him in
+apparel befitting his worth and birth, he first shared with him all his
+substance, and then gave him his sister, a young damsel named Fulvia, to
+wife, and said to him:--"Choose now, Gisippus, whether thou wilt tarry
+here with me, or go back to Achaia with all that I have given thee."
+
+Partly perforce of his banishment from his city, partly for that the
+sweet friendship of Titus was justly dear to him, Gisippus consented to
+become a Roman. And so, long and happily they lived together at Rome,
+Gisippus with his Fulvia, and Titus with his Sophronia, in the same
+house, growing, if possible, greater friends day by day.
+
+Exceeding sacred then, is friendship, and worthy not only to be had in
+veneration, but to be extolled with never-ending praise, as the most
+dutiful mother of magnificence and seemliness, sister of gratitude and
+charity, and foe to enmity and avarice; ever, without waiting to be
+asked, ready to do as generously by another as she would be done by
+herself. Rarely indeed is it to-day that twain are found, in whom her
+most holy fruits are manifest; for which is most shamefully answerable
+the covetousness of mankind, which, regarding only private interest, has
+banished friendship beyond earth's farthest bourne, there to abide in
+perpetual exile. How should love, or wealth, or kinship, how should aught
+but friendship have so quickened the soul of Gisippus that the tears and
+sighs of Titus should incline his heart to cede to him the fair and
+gracious lady that was his betrothed and his beloved? Laws, menaces,
+terror! How should these, how should aught but friendship, have withheld
+Gisippus, in lonely places, in hidden retreats, in his own bed, from
+enfolding (not perchance unsolicited by her) the fair damsel within his
+youthful embrace? Honours, rewards, gains! Would Gisippus for these,
+would he for aught but friendship, have made nothing of the loss of
+kindred--his own and Sophronia's--have made nothing of the injurious
+murmurs of the populace, have made nothing of mocks and scorns, so only
+he might content his friend? And on the other hand, for what other cause
+than friendship had Titus, when he might decently have feigned not to
+see, have striven with the utmost zeal to compass his own death, and set
+himself upon the cross in Gisippus' stead? And what but friendship had
+left no place for suspicion in the soul of Titus, and filled it with a
+most fervent desire to give his sister to Gisippus, albeit he saw him to
+be reduced to extreme penury and destitution? But so it is that men covet
+hosts of acquaintance, troops of kinsfolk, offspring in plenty; and the
+number of their dependants increases with their wealth; and they reflect
+not that there is none of these, be he who he may, but will be more
+apprehensive of the least peril threatening himself than cumbered to
+avert a great peril from his lord or kinsman, whereas between friends we
+know 'tis quite contrariwise.
+
+
+NOVEL IX.
+
+--
+Saladin, in guise of a merchant, is honourably entreated by Messer
+Torello. The Crusade ensuing, Messer Torello appoints a date, after which
+his wife may marry again: he is taken prisoner, and by training hawks
+comes under the Soldan's notice. The Soldan recognizes him, makes himself
+known to him, and entreats him with all honour. Messer Torello falls
+sick, and by magic arts is transported in a single night to Pavia, where
+his wife's second marriage is then to be solemnized, and being present
+thereat, is recognized by her, and returns with her to his house.
+--
+
+So ended Filomena her story, and when all alike had commended the
+magnificence shewn by Titus in his gratitude, the king, reserving the
+last place for Dioneo, thus began:--Lovesome my ladies, true beyond all
+question is what Filomena reports of friendship, and with justice did she
+deplore in her closing words the little account in which 'tis held to-day
+among mortals. And were we here for the purpose of correcting, or even of
+censuring, the vices of the age, I should add a copious sequel to her
+discourse; but as we have another end in view, it has occurred to me to
+set before you in a narrative, which will be of considerable length, but
+entertaining throughout, an instance of Saladin's magnificence, to the
+end that, albeit, by reason of our vices, it may not be possible for us
+to gain to the full the friendship of any, yet by the matters whereof you
+shall hear in my story we may at least be incited to take delight in
+doing good offices, in the hope that sooner or later we may come by our
+reward thereof.
+
+I say, then, that in the time of the Emperor Frederic I., as certain
+writers affirm, the Christians made common emprise for the recovery of
+the Holy Land. Whereof that most valiant prince, Saladin, then Soldan of
+Babylonia, being in good time apprised, resolved to see for himself the
+preparations made by the Christian potentates for the said emprise, that
+he might put himself in better trim to meet them. So, having ordered all
+things to his mind in Egypt, he made as if he were bound on a pilgrimage,
+and attended only by two of his chiefest and sagest lords, and three
+servants, took the road in the guise of a merchant. And having surveyed
+many provinces of Christendom, as they rode through Lombardy with intent
+to cross the Alps, they chanced, between Milan and Pavia, to fall in with
+a gentleman, one Messer Torello d'Istria da Pavia, who with his servants
+and his dogs and falcons was betaking him to a fine estate that he had on
+the Ticino, there to tarry a while. Now Messer Torello no sooner espied
+Saladin and his lords than he guessed them to be gentlemen and
+foreigners; and, being zealous to do them honour, when Saladin asked one
+of his servants how far off Pavia might still be, and if he might win
+there in time to enter the town, he suffered not the servant to make
+answer, but:--"No, gentlemen," quoth he, "by the time you reach Pavia
+'twill be too late for you to enter." "So!" replied Saladin, "then might
+you be pleased to direct us, as we are strangers, where we may best be
+lodged?" "That gladly will I," returned Messer Torello. "I was but now
+thinking to send one of these my men on an errand to Pavia; I will send
+him with you, and he will guide you to a place where you will find very
+comfortable quarters." Then, turning to one of his most trusty servants,
+he gave him his instructions, and despatched him with them: after which,
+he repaired to his estate, and forthwith, as best he might, caused a
+goodly supper to be made ready, and the tables set in his garden; which
+done, he stationed himself at the gate on the look-out for his guests.
+
+The servant, conversing with the gentlemen of divers matters, brought
+them by devious roads to his lord's estate without their being ware of
+it. Whom as soon as Messer Torello espied, he came forth afoot to meet
+them, and said with a smile:--"A hearty welcome to you, gentlemen." Now
+Saladin, being very quick of apprehension, perceived that the knight had
+doubted, when he met them, that, were he to bid them to his house, they
+might not accept his hospitality; and accordingly, that it might not be
+in their power to decline it, had brought them to his house by a ruse.
+And so, returning his greeting:--"Sir," quoth he, "were it meet to find
+fault with those that shew courtesy, we should have a grievance against
+you, for that, to say nought of somewhat delaying our journey, you have
+in guerdon of a single greeting constrained us to accept so noble a
+courtesy as yours." Whereto the knight, who was of good understanding and
+well-spoken, made answer:--"Gentlemen, such courtesy as we shew you will,
+in comparison of that which, by what I gather from your aspect, were meet
+for you, prove but a sorry thing; but in sooth this side of Pavia you
+might not anywhere have been well lodged; wherefore take it not amiss
+that you have come somewhat out of your way to find less discomfortable
+quarters." And as he spoke, about them flocked the servants, who, having
+helped them to dismount, saw to their horses; whereupon Messer Torello
+conducted them to the chambers that were made ready for them, where,
+having caused them to be relieved of their boots, and refreshed with the
+coolest of wines, he held pleasant converse with them until supper-time.
+Saladin and his lords and servants all knew Latin, so that they both
+understood and made themselves understood very well, and there was none
+of them but adjudged this knight to be the most agreeable and debonair
+man, and therewithal the best talker, that he had ever seen; while to
+Messer Torello, on the other hand, they shewed as far greater magnificoes
+than he had at first supposed, whereby he was inly vexed that he had not
+been able that evening to do them the honours of company, and a more
+ceremonious banquet. For which default he resolved to make amends on the
+ensuing morning: wherefore, having imparted to one of his servants that
+which he would have done, he sent him to his most judicious and
+highminded lady at Pavia, which was close by, and where never a gate was
+locked. Which done, he brought the gentlemen into the garden, and
+courteously asked them who they were. "We are Cypriote merchants,"
+replied Saladin, "and 'tis from Cyprus we come, and we are on our way to
+Paris on business." Quoth then Messer Torello:--"Would to God that our
+country bred gentlemen of such a quality as are the merchants that I see
+Cyprus breeds!" From which they passed to discourse of other matters,
+until, supper-time being come, he besought them to seat them at table;
+whereat, considering that the supper was but improvised, their
+entertainment was excellent and well-ordered.
+
+The tables being cleared, Messer Torello, surmising that they must be
+weary, kept them no long time from their rest, but bestowed them in most
+comfortable beds, and soon after went to rest himself. Meanwhile the
+servant that he had sent to Pavia did his lord's errand to the lady, who,
+in the style rather of a queen than of a housewife, forthwith assembled
+not a few of Messer Torello's friends and vassals, and caused all meet
+preparation to be made for a magnificent banquet, and by messengers
+bearing torches bade not a few of the noblest of the citizens thereto;
+and had store of silken and other fabrics and vair brought in, and all
+set in order in every point as her husband had directed. Day came, and
+the gentlemen being risen, Messer Torello got him to horse with them, and
+having sent for his hawks, brought them to a ford, and shewed them how
+the hawks flew. By and by, Saladin requesting of him a guide to the best
+inn at Pavia:--"I myself will be your guide," returned Messer Torello,
+"for I have occasion to go thither." Which offer they, nothing doubting,
+did gladly accept, and so with him they set forth; and about tierce,
+being come to the city, and expecting to be directed to the best inn,
+they were brought by Messer Torello, to his own house, where they were
+forthwith surrounded by full fifty of the greatest folk of the city,
+gathered there to give the gentlemen a welcome; and 'twas who should hold
+a bridle or a stirrup, while they dismounted. Whereby Saladin and his
+lords more than guessing the truth:--"Messer Torello," quoth they, "'twas
+not this that we craved of you. Honour enough had we from you last night,
+and far in excess of our desires; wherefore thou mightst very well have
+left us to go our own road." Whereto:--"Gentlemen," replied Messer
+Torello, "for that which was done yestereve I have to thank Fortune
+rather than you: seeing that Fortune surprised you on the road at an hour
+when you must needs repair to my little house: for that which shall be
+done this morning I shall be beholden to you, as will also these
+gentlemen that surround you, with whom, if you deem it courteous so to
+do, you may refuse to breakfast, if you like."
+
+Fairly conquered, Saladin and his lords dismounted, and heartily welcomed
+by the gentlemen, were conducted to the chambers which had been most
+sumptuously adorned for their use; and having laid aside their riding
+dress, and taken some refreshment, repaired to the saloon, where all had
+been made ready with splendour. There, having washed their hands, they
+sat them down to table, and were regaled with a magnificent repast of
+many courses, served with all stately and fair ceremony, insomuch that,
+had the Emperor himself been there, 'twould not have been possible to do
+him more honour. And albeit Saladin and his lords were grandees and used
+to exceeding great displays of pomp and state, nevertheless this shewed
+to them as not a little marvellous, and one of the greatest they had ever
+seen, having regard to the quality of their host, whom they knew to be
+but a citizen, and no lord. Breakfast done, and the tables cleared, they
+conversed a while of high matters, and then, as 'twas very hot, all the
+gentlemen of Pavia--so it pleased Messer Torello--retired for their
+siesta, while he remained with his three guests; with whom he presently
+withdrew into a chamber, whither, that there might be nought that he held
+dear which they had not seen, he called his noble lady. And so the dame,
+exceeding fair and stately of person, and arrayed in rich apparel, with
+her two little boys, that shewed as two angels, on either hand, presented
+herself before them, and graciously greeted them. Whereupon they rose,
+and returned her salutation with reverence, and caused her to sit down
+among them, and made much of her two little boys. But after some
+interchange of gracious discourse, Messer Torello being withdrawn
+somewhat apart, she asked them courteously, whence they came and whither
+they were bound, and had of them the same answer that Messer Torello had
+received. "So!" quoth the lady with a joyful air, "then I see that my
+woman's wit will be of service to you; wherefore I pray you as a special
+favour neither to reject nor to despise the little gift that I am about
+to present to you; but reflecting that, as women have but small minds, so
+they make but small gifts, accept it, having regard rather to the good
+will of the giver than the magnitude of the gift." She then caused bring
+forth for each of them two pair of robes, lined the one with silk, the
+other with vair, no such robes as citizens or merchants, but such as
+lords, use to wear, and three vests of taffeta, besides linen clothes,
+and:--"Take them," quoth she. "The robes I give you are even such as I
+have arrayed my lord withal: the other things, considering that you are
+far from your wives, and have come a long way, and have yet a long way to
+go, and that merchants love to be neat and trim, may, albeit they are of
+no great value, be yet acceptable to you."
+
+Wondering, the gentlemen acknowledged without reserve that there was no
+point of courtesy wherein Messer Torello was not minded to acquit himself
+towards them. And noting the lordly fashion of the robes, unsuited to the
+quality of merchants, they misdoubted that Messer Torello had recognized
+them. However, quoth one of them to the lady:--"Gifts great indeed are
+these, Madam, nor such as lightly to accept, were it not that thereto we
+are constrained by your prayers, to which we may on no account say, no."
+Whereupon, Messer Torello being now come back, the lady bade them adieu,
+and took her leave of them; and in like manner did she cause their
+servants to be supplied with equipment suitable to them. The gentlemen,
+being much importuned thereto by Messer Torello, consented to tarry the
+rest of the day with him; and so, having slept, they donned their robes,
+and rode a while with him about the city; and supper-time being come,
+they feasted magnificently, and with a numerous and honourable company.
+And so in due time they betook them to rest; and at daybreak, being
+risen, they found, in lieu of their jaded nags, three stout and excellent
+palfreys, and in like manner fresh and goodly mounts for their servants.
+Which Saladin marking turned to his lords, and:--"By God," quoth he,
+"never was gentleman more complete and courteous and considerate than
+this Messer Torello, and if the Christian kings are as kingly as he is
+knightly, there is none of them whose onset the Soldan of Babylon might
+well abide, to say nought of so many as we see making ready to fall upon
+him." However, knowing that 'twas not permissible to refuse, he very
+courteously thanked Messer Torello: and so they got them to horse. Messer
+Torello with a numerous company escorted them far beyond the gate of the
+city, until, loath though Saladin was to part from him, so greatly did he
+now affect him, yet as he must needs speed on, he besought him to turn
+back. Whereupon, albeit it irked him to take leave of them:--"Gentlemen,"
+quoth Messer Torello, "since such is your pleasure, I obey; but this I
+must say to you. Who you are I know not, nor would I know more than you
+are pleased to impart; but whoever you may be, you will not make me
+believe that you are merchants this while; and so adieu!" To whom
+Saladin, having already taken leave of all his company, thus made
+answer:--"Peradventure, Sir, we shall one day give you to see somewhat of
+our merchandise, and thereby confirm your belief: and so adieu!"
+
+Thus parted Saladin and his company from Messer Torello, Saladin burning
+with an exceeding great desire, if life should be continued to him, and
+the war, which he anticipated, should not undo him, to shew Messer
+Torello no less honour than he had received at his hands, and conversing
+not a little with his lords both of Messer Torello himself and of his
+lady, and all that he did and that in any wise concerned him, ever more
+highly commending them. However, having with much diligence spied out all
+the West, he put to sea, and returned with his company to Alexandria; and
+having now all needful information, he put himself in a posture of
+defence. Messer Torello, his mind full of his late guests, returned to
+Pavia; but, though he long pondered who they might be, he came never at
+or anywhere near the truth.
+
+Then with great and general mustering of forces came the time for
+embarking on the emprise, and Messer Torello, heeding not the tearful
+entreaties of his wife, resolved to join therein. So, being fully
+equipped and about to take horse, he said to his lady, whom he most
+dearly loved:--"Wife, for honour's sake and for the weal of my soul, I
+go, as thou seest, on this emprise: our substance and our honour I
+commend to thy care. Certain I am of my departure, but, for the thousand
+accidents that may ensue, certitude have I none of my return: wherefore I
+would have thee do me this grace, that, whatever be my fate, shouldst
+thou lack certain intelligence that I live, thou wilt expect me a year
+and a month and a day from this my departure, before thou marry again."
+Whereto the lady, weeping bitterly, made answer:--"Messer Torello, I know
+not how I shall support the distress in which, thus departing, you leave
+me; but should my life not fail beneath it, and aught befall thee, live
+and die secure that I shall live and die the wife of Messer Torello, and
+of his memory." Whereupon:--"Wife," returned Messer Torello, "well
+assured I am that, so far as in thee shall lie, this promise of thine
+will be kept; but thou art young, and fair, and of a great family, and
+thy virtue is rare and generally known: wherefore I make no doubt that,
+should there be any suspicion of my death, thou wilt be asked of thy
+brothers and kinsmen by many a great gentleman: against whose attacks,
+though thou desire it never so, thou wilt not be able to hold out, but
+wilt perforce be fain to gratify one or other of them; for which cause it
+is that I ask thee to wait just so long and no longer." "As I have said,"
+replied the lady, "so, in so far as I may, I shall do; and if I must
+needs do otherwise, rest assured that of this your behest I shall render
+you obedience. But I pray God that He bring neither you nor me to such a
+strait yet a while." Which said, the lady wept, and having embraced
+Messer Torello, drew from her finger a ring, and gave it to him,
+saying:--"Should it betide that I die before I see you again, mind you of
+me, when you look upon it."
+
+Messer Torello took the ring, and got him to horse, and having bidden all
+adieu, fared forth on his journey; and being arrived with his company at
+Genoa, he embarked on a galley, and having departed thence, in no long
+time arrived at Acre, and joined the main Christian host; wherein there
+by and by broke out an exceeding great and mortal sickness; during which,
+whether owing to Saladin's strategy, or his good fortune, he made an easy
+capture of well-nigh all the remnant of the Christians that were escaped,
+and quartered them in divers prisons in many cities; of which captives
+Messer Torello being one, was brought to Alexandria and there confined.
+Where, not being known, and fearing to make himself known, he, under
+constraint of necessity, applied him to the training of hawks, whereof he
+was a very great master; and thereby he fell under the notice of Saladin,
+who took him out of the prison, and made him his falconer. The Soldan
+called him by no other name than "Christian," and neither recognized, nor
+was recognized by, him, who, his whole soul ever in Pavia, essayed many a
+time to escape, that he might return thither, but still without success:
+wherefore, certain Genoese, that were come to Alexandria as ambassadors
+to the Soldan for the redemption of some of their townsfolk, being about
+to return, he resolved to write to his lady, how that he lived, and would
+come back to her, as soon as he might, and that she should expect his
+return; and having so done, he earnestly besought one of the ambassadors,
+whom he knew, to see that the letter reached the hands of the Abbot of
+San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro, who was his uncle.
+
+Now, such being the posture of Messer Torello's affairs, it befell one
+day that, while he talked with Saladin of his hawks, he smiled; whereby
+his mouth shaped itself in a fashion, of which Saladin had taken
+particular note, while he was at Pavia. And so, recalling Messer Torello
+to mind, he fixed his gaze upon him, and it seemed to him that 'twas
+indeed Messer Torello; wherefore, leaving the matter of which they were
+conversing:--"Tell me, Christian," quoth he, "of what country art thou in
+the West?" "My lord," replied Messer Torello, "I am a Lombard, of a city
+called Pavia, a poor man, and of humble condition." Which when he heard,
+Saladin, well-nigh resolved of his doubt, said joyfully to himself:--"God
+has provided me with occasion meet to prove to this man what store I set
+by his courtesy;" and without another word he brought him into a room
+where he kept all his wearing apparel, and said:--"Look, Christian, if
+among these robes there be any that thou hast ever seen before." So
+Messer Torello examined the robes, and espied those which his lady had
+given to Saladin; but, deeming they could not be the same, he
+replied:--"My lord, there is no robe here that I recognize, albeit 'tis
+true that those two robes are such as I once wore myself, in company with
+three merchants that came to my house." Whereupon Saladin could refrain
+himself no longer; but, tenderly embracing him:--"You," quoth he, "are
+Messer Torello d'Istria, and I am one of those three merchants to whom
+your lady gave these robes; and now is the time to warrant you of the
+quality of my merchandise, as, when I parted from you, I told you might
+come to pass." Which to hear, Messer Torello was at once overjoyed and
+abashed, overjoyed to have entertained so illustrious a guest, and
+abashed, for that it seemed to him that he had given him but a sorry
+entertainment. To whom:--"Messer Torello," quoth Saladin, "since hither
+has God sent you to me, deem that 'tis no more I that am lord here, but
+you." And so they made great cheer together; and then Saladin caused
+Messer Torello to be royally arrayed; and presented him to all his
+greatest lords, and having extolled his merit in no stinted measure, bade
+all, as they hoped for grace from him, honour Messer Torello even as
+himself. And so from that hour did they all; but most especially the two
+lords that had been with Saladin at Messer Torello's house.
+
+The glory, to which Messer Torello thus suddenly found himself raised,
+somewhat diverted his mind from the affairs of Lombardy, and the more so,
+for that he entertained no doubt that his letter had reached his uncle's
+hands. But for that in the camp, or rather army, of the Christians, on
+the day when they were taken by Saladin, there died and was buried one
+Messer Torello de Dignes, an obscure knight of Provence, whereas Messer
+Torello d'Istria was known to all the host for a right noble gentleman,
+whoso heard tell that Messer Torello was dead, supposed that 'twas Messer
+Torello d'Istria, and not Messer Torello de Dignes; nor did what happened
+after, to wit, the capture, avail to undeceive them; for not a few
+Italians had carried the report home with them; among whom there were
+some who made bold to say that they had seen Messer Torello d'Istria's
+dead body, and had been present at its interment. Which rumour coming to
+the ears of his lady and his kinsfolk, great indeed, nay, immeasurable
+was the distress that it occasioned not only to them, but to all that had
+known him. The mode and measure of his lady's grief, her mourning, her
+lamentation, 'twere tedious to describe. Enough that, after some months
+spent in almost unmitigated tribulation, her sorrow shewed signs of
+abatement; whereupon, suit being made for her hand by some of the
+greatest men of Lombardy, her brothers and other kinsfolk began to
+importune her to marry again. Times not a few, and with floods of tears,
+she refused; but, overborne at last, she consented to do as they would
+have her, upon the understanding that she was to remain unmarried until
+the term for which she had bound herself to Messer Torello was fulfilled.
+
+Now the lady's affairs being in this posture at Pavia, it befell that
+some eight days or so before the time appointed for her marriage, Messer
+Torello one day espied in Alexandria one that he had observed go with the
+Genoese ambassadors aboard the galley that took them to Genoa; wherefore
+he called him, and asked him what sort of a voyage they had had, and when
+they had reached Genoa. "My lord," replied the other, "the galley made
+but a sorry voyage of it, as I learned in Crete, where I remained; for
+that, while she was nearing Sicily, there arose a terrible gale from the
+North that drove her on to the shoals of Barbary, and never a soul
+escaped, and among the rest my two brothers were lost." Which report
+believing--and 'twas indeed most true--and calling to mind that in a few
+days the term that he had asked of his wife would be fulfilled, and
+surmising that there could be no tidings of him at Pavia, Messer Torello
+made no question but that the lady was provided with another husband;
+whereby he sank into such a depth of woe that he lost all power to eat,
+and betook him to his bed and resigned himself to die. Which when
+Saladin, by whom he was most dearly beloved, learned, he came to him, and
+having plied him with many and most instant entreaties, learned at length
+the cause of his distress and sickness; and, having chidden him not a
+little that he had not sooner apprised him thereof, he besought him to
+put on a cheerful courage, assuring him, that, if so he did, he would
+bring it to pass that he should be in Pavia at the time appointed, and
+told him how. Believing Saladin's words the more readily that he had many
+times heard that 'twas possible, and had not seldom been done, Messer
+Torello recovered heart, and was instant with Saladin that he should make
+all haste.
+
+Accordingly Saladin bade one of his necromancers, of whose skill he had
+already had proof, to devise a method whereby Messer Torello should be
+transported abed in a single night to Pavia: the necromancer made answer
+that it should be done, but that 'twere best he put Messer Torello to
+sleep. The matter being thus arranged, Saladin hied him back to Messer
+Torello, and finding him most earnestly desirous to be in Pavia at the
+time appointed, if so it might be, and if not, to die:--"Messer Torello,"
+quoth he, "if you dearly love your lady, and misdoubt that she may become
+the bride of another, no wise, God wot, do I censure you, for that, of
+all the ladies that ever I saw, she, for bearing, manners, and
+address--to say nought of beauty, which is but the flower that
+perishes--seems to me the most worthy to be lauded and cherished. Much
+had I been gratified, since Fortune has sent you hither to me, that,
+while you and I yet live, we had exercised equal lordship in the
+governance of this my realm, and, if such was not God's will, and this
+must needs come upon you, that you are fain either to be at Pavia at the
+time appointed or to die, I had desired of all things to have been
+apprised thereof at such a time that I might have sent you home with such
+honourable circumstance and state and escort as befit your high desert;
+which not being vouchsafed me, and as nought will content you but to be
+there forthwith, I do what I can, and speed you thither on such wise as I
+have told you." "My lord," replied Messer Torello, "had you said nought,
+you have already done enough to prove your goodwill towards me, and that
+in so high a degree as is quite beyond my deserts, and most assured of
+the truth of what you say shall I live and die, and so had done, had you
+not said it; but, seeing that my resolve is taken, I pray you that that,
+which you promise to do, be done speedily, for that after to-morrow I may
+no longer count on being expected."
+
+Saladin assured him that 'twas so ordered that he should not be
+disappointed. And on the morrow, it being his purpose to speed him on his
+journey that same night, he caused to be set up in one of his great halls
+a most goodly and sumptuous bed composed of mattresses, all, as was their
+wont, of velvet and cloth of gold, and had it covered with a quilt,
+adorned at certain intervals with enormous pearls, and most rare precious
+stones, insomuch that 'twas in after time accounted a priceless treasure,
+and furnished with two pillows to match it. Which done, he bade array
+Messer Torello, who was now quite recovered, in a robe after the
+Saracenic fashion, the richest and goodliest thing of the kind that was
+ever seen, and wrap about his head, according to their wont, one of their
+huge turbans. Then, at a late hour, Saladin, attended by certain of his
+lords, entered the chamber where Messer Torello was, and seating himself
+beside him, all but wept as thus he began:--"Messer Torello, the time is
+nigh at hand when you and I must part; wherefore, since I may neither
+give you my own, nor others' company (the journey that you are about to
+make not permitting it), I am come here, as 'tis fitting, in this chamber
+to take my leave of you. Wherefore, before I bid you adieu, I entreat
+you, by that friendship, that love, which is between us, that you forget
+me not, and that, if it be possible, when you have settled your affairs
+in Lombardy, you come at least once, before our days are ended, to visit
+me, that thereby I may both have the delight of seeing you again, and
+make good that omission which, by reason of your haste, I must needs now
+make; and that in the meanwhile it irk thee not to visit me by letter,
+and to ask of me whatever you shall have a mind to, and be sure that
+there lives not the man whom I shall content more gladly than you."
+Messer Torello could not refrain his tears, and so, with words few, and
+broken by his sobs, he answered that 'twas impossible that the Soldan's
+generous deeds and chivalrous character should ever be forgotten by him,
+and that without fail he would do as he bade him, so soon as occasion
+should serve him. Whereupon Saladin tenderly embraced and kissed him, and
+with many a tear bade him adieu, and quitted the chamber. His lords then
+took leave of Messer Torello, and followed Saladin into the hall, where
+he had had the bed made ready.
+
+'Twas now late, and the necromancer being intent to hasten Messer
+Torello's transit, a physician brought him a potion, and having first
+shewn him what he was to give him by way of viaticum, caused him to drink
+it; and not long after he fell asleep. In which state he was carried by
+Saladin's command, and laid on the goodly bed, whereon he set a large and
+fair and most sumptuous crown, marking it in such sort that there could
+be no mistake that it was sent by Saladin to Messer Torello's wife. He
+next placed on Messer Torello's finger a ring, in which was set a
+carbuncle of such brilliance that it shewed as a lighted torch, and of
+well-nigh inestimable value. After which he girded on him a sword, the
+appointments of which might not readily be appraised. And therewithal he
+adorned him in front with a pendant, wherein were pearls, the like of
+which had never been seen, and not a few other rare jewels. And,
+moreover, on either side of him he set two vast basins of gold full of
+pistoles; and strings of pearls not a few, and rings and girdles, and
+other things, which 'twere tedious to enumerate, he disposed around him.
+Which done, he kissed Messer Torello again, and bade the necromancer
+speed him on his journey. Whereupon, forthwith, the bed, with Messer
+Torello thereon, was borne away from before Saladin's eyes, and he and
+his barons remained conversing thereof.
+
+The bed, as Messer Torello had requested, had already been deposited in
+the church of San Piero in Ciel d'Oro at Pavia, and Messer Torello, with
+all the aforesaid jewels and ornaments upon and about him, was lying
+thereon, and still slept, when, upon the stroke of matins, the sacristan
+came into the church, light in hand, and presently setting eyes on the
+sumptuous bed, was not only amazed, but mightily terrified, insomuch that
+he turned back, and took to flight. Which the abbot and monks observing
+with no small surprise, asked wherefore he fled and he told them.
+Whereupon:--"Oh," quoth the abbot, "thou art no longer a child, nor yet
+so new to this church, that thou shouldst so lightly be appalled: go we
+now, and see who it is that has given thee this childish fright." So,
+with a blaze of torches, the abbot, attended by his monks, entered the
+church, and espied this wondrous costly bed whereon the knight slept, and
+while, hesitant and fearful, daring not to approach the bed, they scanned
+the rare and splendid jewels, it befell that, the efficacy of the potion
+being exhausted, Messer Torello awoke and heaved a great sigh. Whereat
+the monks and the abbot quaking and crying out:--"Lord, help us!" one and
+all took to flight. Messer Torello, opening his eyes and looking about
+him, saw, to his no small satisfaction, that without a doubt he was in
+the very place where he had craved of Saladin to be; so up he sate, and
+taking particular note of the matters with which he was surrounded,
+accounted the magnificence of Saladin to exceed even the measure, great
+though it was, that he already knew. However, he still kept quiet, save
+that, perceiving the monks in flight, and surmising the reason, he began
+to call the abbot by name, bidding him be of good courage, for that he
+was his nephew, Torello. Whereat the abbot did but wax more terrified,
+for that he deemed Torello had been many a month dead; but, after a
+while, as he heard himself still called, sound judgment got the better of
+his fears, and making the sign of the cross, he drew nigh Torello; who
+said to him:--"Father, what is't you fear? By God's grace I live, and
+hither am come back from overseas." Whom, for all he had grown a long
+beard and was dressed in the Saracenic fashion, the abbot after a while
+recognized, and now, quite reassured, took by the hand, saying:--"Son,
+welcome home:" then:--"No cause hast thou to marvel at our fears," he
+went on, "seeing that there is never a soul in these parts but firmly
+believes thee to be dead, insomuch that I may tell thee that Madonna
+Adalieta, thy wife, overborne by the entreaties and menaces of her
+kinsfolk, and against her will, is provided with another husband, to whom
+she is this morning to go, and all is made ready for the nuptials and the
+attendant festivities."
+
+Whereupon Messer Torello, being risen from the sumptuous bed, did the
+abbot and the monks wondrous cheer, and besought them, one and all, to
+tell never a soul of his return, until he had completed something that he
+had on hand. After which, having put the costly jewels in safe keeping,
+he recounted to the abbot all the story of his adventures to that very
+hour. The abbot, rejoicing in his good fortune, joined with him in
+offering thanks to God. Messer Torello then asked him who might be his
+wife's new husband, and the abbot told him. Quoth then Messer
+Torello:--"Before my return be known, I purpose to see how my wife will
+comport herself at the nuptials: wherefore, though 'tis not the wont of
+men of religion to go to such gatherings, I had lief that for love of me
+you arranged for us to go thither together." The abbot answered that, he
+would gladly do so, and as soon as 'twas day, he sent word to the
+bridegroom that he had thoughts of being present at his nuptials,
+accompanied by a friend; whereto the gentleman made answer that he was
+much gratified. So, at the breakfast hour Messer Torello, dressed as he
+was, hied him with the abbot to the bridegroom's house, as many as saw
+them gazing on him with wonder, but none recognizing him, and the abbot
+giving all to understand that he was a Saracen sent by the Soldan as
+ambassador to the King of France. Messer Torello was accordingly seated
+at a table directly opposite that of his lady, whom he eyed with
+exceeding great delight, the more so that he saw that in her face which
+shewed him that she was chagrined by the nuptials. She in like manner
+from time to time bent her regard on him; howbeit, what with his long
+beard, and his foreign garb, and her firm persuasion that he was dead,
+she had still no sort of recollection of him. However, Messer Torello at
+length deemed it time to make trial of her, whether she would remember
+him; wherefore he took the ring that the lady had given, him on his
+departure, and keeping it close in the palm of his hand, he called to him
+a page that waited upon her, and said to him:--"Tell the bride from me
+that 'tis the custom in my country, that, when a stranger, such as I,
+eats with a bride, like herself, at her wedding-feast, she, in token that
+he is welcome to her board, sends him the cup from which she herself
+drinks, full of wine; and when the stranger has drunk his fill, he closes
+the cup, and the bride drinks what is left therein."
+
+The page carried the message to the lady, who, being of good
+understanding and manners, and supposing him to be some very great man,
+by way of shewing that she was gratified by his presence, commanded that
+a gilt cup, that was on the table before her, should be rinsed, and
+filled with wine, and borne to the gentleman. Which being done, Messer
+Torello, having privily conveyed her ring into his mouth, let it fall
+(while he drank) into the cup on such wise that none wist thereof; and
+leaving but a little wine at the bottom, closed the cup and returned it
+to the lady; who, having taken it, that she might do full honour to the
+custom of her guest's country, lifted the lid, and set the cup to her
+mouth; whereby espying the ring, she thereon mutely gazed a while, and
+recognizing it for that which she had given Messer Torello on his
+departure, she steadfastly regarded the supposed stranger, whom now she
+also recognized. Whereupon well-nigh distracted, oversetting the table in
+front of her, she exclaimed:--"'Tis my lord, 'tis verily Messer Torello;"
+and rushing to the table at which he sate, giving never a thought to her
+apparel, or aught that was on the table, she flung herself upon it; and
+reaching forward as far as she could, she threw her arms about him, and
+hugged him; nor, for aught that any said or did, could she be induced to
+release his neck, until Messer Torello himself bade her forbear a while,
+for that she would have time enough to kiss him thereafter. The lady then
+stood up, and for a while all was disorder, albeit the feast was yet more
+gladsome than before by reason of the recovery of so honourable a knight:
+then, at Messer Torello's entreaty, all were silent, while he recounted
+to them the story of his adventures from the day of his departure to that
+hour, concluding by saying that the gentleman who, deeming him to be
+dead, had taken his lady to wife, ought not to be affronted, if he, being
+alive, reclaimed her. The bridegroom, albeit he was somewhat crestfallen,
+made answer in frank and friendly sort, that 'twas for Messer Torello to
+do what he liked with his own. The lady resigned the ring and the crown
+that her new spouse had given her, and put on the ring she had taken from
+the cup, and likewise the crown sent her by the Soldan; and so, forth
+they hied them, and with full nuptial pomp wended their way to Messer
+Torello's house; and there for a great while they made merry with his
+late disconsolate friends and kinsfolk and all the citizens, who
+accounted his restoration as little short of a miracle.
+
+Messer Torello, having bestowed part of his rare jewels upon him who had
+borne the cost of the wedding-feast, and part on the abbot, and many
+other folk; and having by more than one messenger sent word of his safe
+home-coming and prosperous estate to Saladin, acknowledging himself ever
+his friend and vassal, lived many years thereafter with his worthy lady,
+acquitting himself yet more courteously than of yore. Such, then, was the
+end of the troubles of Messer Torello and his dear lady, and such the
+reward of their cheerful and ready courtesies.
+
+Now some there are that strive to do offices of courtesy, and have the
+means, but do them with so ill a grace, that, ere they are done, they
+have in effect sold them at a price above their worth: wherefore, if no
+reward ensue to them thereof, neither they nor other folk have cause to
+marvel.
+
+
+NOVEL X.
+
+--
+The Marquis of Saluzzo, overborne by the entreaties of his vassals,
+consents to take a wife, but, being minded to please himself in the
+choice of her, takes a husbandman's daughter. He has two children by her,
+both of whom he makes her believe that he has put to death. Afterward,
+feigning to be tired of her, and to have taken another wife, he turns her
+out of doors in her shift, and brings his daughter into the house in
+guise of his bride; but, finding her patient under it all, he brings her
+home again, and shews her her children, now grown up, and honours her,
+and causes her to be honoured, as Marchioness.
+--
+
+Ended the king's long story, with which all seemed to be very well
+pleased, quoth Dioneo with a laugh:--"The good man that looked that night
+to cause the bogey's tail to droop, would scarce have contributed two
+pennyworth of all the praise you bestow on Messer Torello:" then, witting
+that it now only remained for him to tell, thus he began:--Gentle my
+ladies, this day, meseems, is dedicate to Kings and Soldans and folk of
+the like quality; wherefore, that I stray not too far from you, I am
+minded to tell you somewhat of a Marquis; certes, nought magnificent, but
+a piece of mad folly, albeit there came good thereof to him in the end.
+The which I counsel none to copy, for that great pity 'twas that it
+turned out well with him.
+
+There was in olden days a certain Marquis of Saluzzo, Gualtieri by name,
+a young man, but head of the house, who, having neither wife nor child,
+passed his time in nought else but in hawking and hunting, and of taking
+a wife and begetting children had no thought; wherein he should have been
+accounted very wise: but his vassals, brooking it ill, did oftentimes
+entreat him to take a wife, that he might not die without an heir, and
+they be left without a lord; offering to find him one of such a pattern,
+and of such parentage, that he might marry with good hope, and be well
+content with the sequel. To whom:--"My friends," replied Gualtieri, "you
+enforce me to that which I had resolved never to do, seeing how hard it
+is to find a wife, whose ways accord well with one's own, and how
+plentiful is the supply of such as run counter thereto, and how grievous
+a life he leads who chances upon a lady that matches ill with him. And to
+say that you think to know the daughters by the qualities of their
+fathers and mothers, and thereby--so you would argue--to provide me with
+a wife to my liking, is but folly; for I wot not how you may penetrate
+the secrets of their mothers so as to know their fathers; and granted
+that you do know them, daughters oftentimes resemble neither of their
+parents. However, as you are minded to rivet these fetters upon me, I am
+content that so it be; and that I may have no cause to reproach any but
+myself, should it turn out ill, I am resolved that my wife shall be of my
+own choosing; but of this rest assured, that, no matter whom I choose, if
+she receive not from you the honour due to a lady, you shall prove to
+your great cost, how sorely I resent being thus constrained by your
+importunity to take a wife against my will."
+
+The worthy men replied that they were well content, so only he would
+marry without more ado. And Gualtieri, who had long noted with approval
+the mien of a poor girl that dwelt on a farm hard by his house, and found
+her fair enough, deemed that with her he might pass a tolerably happy
+life. Wherefore he sought no further, but forthwith resolved to marry
+her; and having sent for her father, who was a very poor man, he
+contracted with him to take her to wife. Which done, Gualtieri assembled
+all the friends he had in those parts, and:--"My friends," quoth he, "you
+were and are minded that I should take a wife, and rather to comply with
+your wishes, than for any desire that I had to marry, I have made up my
+mind to do so. You remember the promise you gave me, to wit, that,
+whomsoever I should take, you would pay her the honour due to a lady.
+Which promise I now require you to keep, the time being come when I am to
+keep mine. I have found hard by here a maiden after mine own heart, whom
+I purpose to take to wife, and to bring hither to my house in the course
+of a few days. Wherefore bethink you, how you may make the nuptial feast
+splendid, and welcome her with all honour; that I may confess myself
+satisfied with your observance of your promise, as you will be with my
+observance of mine." The worthy men, one and all, answered with alacrity
+that they were well content, and that, whoever she might be, they would
+entreat her as a lady, and pay her all due honour as such. After which,
+they all addressed them to make goodly and grand and gladsome celebration
+of the event, as did also Gualtieri. He arranged for a wedding most
+stately and fair, and bade thereto a goodly number of his friends and
+kinsfolk, and great gentlemen, and others, of the neighbourhood; and
+therewithal he caused many a fine and costly robe to be cut and fashioned
+to the figure of a girl who seemed to him of the like proportions as the
+girl that he purposed to wed; and laid in store, besides, of girdles and
+rings, with a costly and beautiful crown, and all the other paraphernalia
+of a bride.
+
+The day that he had appointed for the wedding being come, about half
+tierce he got him to horse with as many as had come to do him honour, and
+having made all needful dispositions:--"Gentlemen," quoth he, "'tis time
+to go bring home the bride." And so away he rode with his company to the
+village; where, being come to the house of the girl's father, they found
+her returning from the spring with a bucket of water, making all the
+haste she could, that she might afterwards go with the other women to see
+Gualtieri's bride come by. Whom Gualtieri no sooner saw, than he called
+her by her name, to wit, Griselda, and asked her where her father was. To
+whom she modestly made answer:--"My lord, he is in the house." Whereupon
+Gualtieri dismounted, and having bidden the rest await him without,
+entered the cottage alone; and meeting her father, whose name was
+Giannucolo:--"I am come," quoth he, "to wed Griselda, but first of all
+there are some matters I would learn from her own lips in thy presence."
+He then asked her, whether, if he took her to wife, she would study to
+comply with his wishes, and be not wroth, no matter what he might say or
+do, and be obedient, with not a few other questions of a like sort: to
+all which she answered, ay. Whereupon Gualtieri took her by the hand, led
+her forth, and before the eyes of all his company, and as many other folk
+as were there, caused her to strip naked, and let bring the garments that
+he had had fashioned for her, and had her forthwith arrayed therein, and
+upon her unkempt head let set a crown; and then, while all
+wondered:--"Gentlemen," quoth he, "this is she whom I purpose to make my
+wife, so she be minded to have me for husband." Then, she standing
+abashed and astonied, he turned to her, saying:--"Griselda, wilt thou
+have me for thy husband?" To whom:--"Ay, my lord," answered she. "And I
+will have thee to wife," said he, and married her before them all. And
+having set her upon a palfrey, he brought her home with pomp.
+
+The wedding was fair and stately, and had he married a daughter of the
+King of France, the feast could not have been more splendid. It seemed as
+if, with the change of her garb, the bride had acquired a new dignity of
+mind and mien. She was, as we have said, fair of form and feature; and
+therewithal she was now grown so engaging and gracious and debonair, that
+she shewed no longer as the shepherdess, and the daughter of Giannucolo,
+but as the daughter of some noble lord, insomuch that she caused as many
+as had known her before to marvel. Moreover, she was so obedient and
+devoted to her husband, that he deemed himself the happiest and luckiest
+man in the world. And likewise so gracious and kindly was she to her
+husband's vassals, that there was none of them but loved her more dearly
+than himself, and was zealous to do her honour, and prayed for her
+welfare and prosperity and aggrandisement, and instead of, as erstwhile,
+saying that Gualtieri had done foolishly to take her to wife, now averred
+that he had not his like in the world for wisdom and discernment, for
+that, save to him, her noble qualities would ever have remained hidden
+under her sorry apparel and the garb of the peasant girl. And in short
+she so comported herself as in no long time to bring it to pass that, not
+only in the marquisate, but far and wide besides, her virtues and her
+admirable conversation were matter of common talk, and, if aught had been
+said to the disadvantage of her husband, when he married her, the
+judgment was now altogether to the contrary effect.
+
+She had not been long with Gualtieri before she conceived; and in due
+time she was delivered of a girl; whereat Gualtieri made great cheer.
+But, soon after, a strange humour took possession of him, to wit, to put
+her patience to the proof by prolonged and intolerable hard usage;
+wherefore he began by afflicting her with his gibes, putting on a vexed
+air, and telling her that his vassals were most sorely dissatisfied with
+her by reason of her base condition, and all the more so since they saw
+that she was a mother, and that they did nought but most ruefully murmur
+at the birth of a daughter. Whereto Griselda, without the least change of
+countenance or sign of discomposure, made answer:--"My lord, do with me
+as thou mayst deem best for thine own honour and comfort, for well I wot
+that I am of less account than they, and unworthy of this honourable
+estate to which of thy courtesy thou hast advanced me." By which answer
+Gualtieri was well pleased, witting that she was in no degree puffed up
+with pride by his, or any other's, honourable entreatment of her. A while
+afterwards, having in general terms given his wife to understand that the
+vassals could not endure her daughter, he sent her a message by a
+servant. So the servant came, and:--"Madam," quoth he with a most
+dolorous mien, "so I value my life, I must needs do my lord's bidding. He
+has bidden me take your daughter and..." He said no more, but the lady by
+what she heard, and read in his face, and remembered of her husband's
+words, understood that he was bidden to put the child to death. Whereupon
+she presently took the child from the cradle, and having kissed and
+blessed her, albeit she was very sore at heart, she changed not
+countenance, but placed it in the servant's arms, saying:--"See that thou
+leave nought undone that my lord and thine has charged thee to do, but
+leave her not so that the beasts and the birds devour her, unless he have
+so bidden thee." So the servant took the child, and told Gualtieri what
+the lady had said; and Gualtieri, marvelling at her constancy, sent him
+with the child to Bologna, to one of his kinswomen, whom he besought to
+rear and educate the child with all care, but never to let it be known
+whose child she was.
+
+Soon after it befell that the lady again conceived, and in due time was
+delivered of a son, whereat Gualtieri was overjoyed. But, not content
+with what he had done, he now even more poignantly afflicted the lady;
+and one day with a ruffled mien:--"Wife," quoth he, "since thou gavest
+birth to this boy, I may on no wise live in peace with my vassals, so
+bitterly do they reproach me that a grandson of Giannucolo is to succeed
+me as their lord; and therefore I fear that, so I be not minded to be
+sent a packing hence, I must even do herein as I did before, and in the
+end put thee away, and take another wife." The lady heard him patiently,
+and answered only:--"My lord, study how thou mayst content thee and best
+please thyself, and waste no thought upon me, for there is nought I
+desire save in so far as I know that 'tis thy pleasure." Not many days
+after, Gualtieri, in like manner as he had sent for the daughter, sent
+for the son, and having made a shew of putting him to death, provided for
+his, as for the girl's, nurture at Bologna. Whereat the lady shewed no
+more discomposure of countenance or speech than at the loss of her
+daughter: which Gualtieri found passing strange, and inly affirmed that
+there was never another woman in the world that would have so done. And
+but that he had marked that she was most tenderly affectionate towards
+her children, while 'twas well pleasing to him, he had supposed that she
+was tired of them, whereas he knew that 'twas of her discretion that she
+so did. His vassals, who believed that he had put the children to death,
+held him mightily to blame for his cruelty, and felt the utmost
+compassion for the lady. She, however, said never aught to the ladies
+that condoled with her on the death of her children, but that the
+pleasure of him that had begotten them was her pleasure likewise.
+
+Years not a few had passed since the girl's birth, when Gualtieri at
+length deemed the time come to put his wife's patience to the final
+proof. Accordingly, in the presence of a great company of his vassals he
+declared that on no wise might he longer brook to have Griselda to wife,
+that he confessed that in taking her he had done a sorry thing and the
+act of a stripling, and that he therefore meant to do what he could to
+procure the Pope's dispensation to put Griselda away, and take another
+wife: for which cause being much upbraided by many worthy men, he made no
+other answer but only that needs must it so be. Whereof the lady being
+apprised, and now deeming that she must look to go back to her father's
+house, and perchance tend the sheep, as she had aforetime, and see him,
+to whom she was utterly devoted, engrossed by another woman, did inly
+bewail herself right sorely: but still with the same composed mien with
+which she had borne Fortune's former buffets, she set herself to endure
+this last outrage. Nor was it long before Gualtieri by counterfeit
+letters, which he caused to be sent to him from Rome, made his vassals
+believe that the Pope had thereby given him a dispensation to put
+Griselda away, and take another wife. Wherefore, having caused her to be
+brought before him, he said to her in the presence of not a few:--"Wife,
+by license granted me by the Pope, I am now free to put thee away, and
+take another wife; and, for that my forbears have always been great
+gentlemen and lords of these parts, whereas thine have ever been
+husbandmen, I purpose that thou go back to Giannucolo's house with the
+dowry that thou broughtest me; whereupon I shall bring home a lady that I
+have found, and who is meet to be my wife."
+
+'Twas not without travail most grievous that the lady, as she heard this
+announcement, got the better of her woman's nature, and suppressing her
+tears, made answer:--"My lord, I ever knew that my low degree was on no
+wise congruous with your nobility, and acknowledged that the rank I had
+with you was of your and God's bestowal, nor did I ever make as if it
+were mine by gift, or so esteem it, but still accounted it as a loan.
+'Tis your pleasure to recall it, and therefore it should be, and is, my
+pleasure to render it up to you. So, here is your ring, with which you
+espoused me; take it back. You bid me take with me the dowry that I
+brought you; which to do will require neither paymaster on your part nor
+purse nor packhorse on mine; for I am not unmindful that naked was I when
+you first had me. And if you deem it seemly that that body in which I
+have borne children, by you begotten, be beheld of all, naked will I
+depart; but yet, I pray you, be pleased, in guerdon of the virginity that
+I brought you and take not away, to suffer me to bear hence upon my back
+a single shift--I crave no more--besides my dowry." There was nought of
+which Gualtieri was so fain as to weep; but yet, setting his face as a
+flint, he made answer:--"I allow thee a shift to thy back; so get thee
+hence." All that stood by besought him to give her a robe, that she, who
+had been his wife for thirteen years and more, might not be seen to quit
+his house in so sorry and shameful a plight, having nought on her but a
+shift. But their entreaties went for nothing: the lady in her shift, and
+barefoot and bareheaded, having bade them adieu, departed the house, and
+went back to her father amid the tears and lamentations of all that saw
+her. Giannucolo, who had ever deemed it a thing incredible that Gualtieri
+should keep his daughter to wife, and had looked for this to happen every
+day, and had kept the clothes that she had put off on the morning that
+Gualtieri had wedded her, now brought them to her; and she, having
+resumed them, applied herself to the petty drudgery of her father's
+house, as she had been wont, enduring with fortitude this cruel
+visitation of adverse Fortune.
+
+Now no sooner had Gualtieri dismissed Griselda, than he gave his vassals
+to understand that he had taken to wife a daughter of one of the Counts
+of Panago. He accordingly made great preparations as for the nuptials,
+during which he sent for Griselda. To whom, being come, quoth he:--"I am
+bringing hither my new bride, and in this her first home-coming I purpose
+to shew her honour; and thou knowest that women I have none in the house
+that know how to set chambers in due order, or attend to the many other
+matters that so joyful an event requires; wherefore do thou, that
+understandest these things better than another, see to all that needs be
+done, and bid hither such ladies as thou mayst see fit, and receive them,
+as if thou wert the lady of the house, and then, when the nuptials are
+ended, thou mayst go back to thy cottage." Albeit each of these words
+pierced Griselda's heart like a knife, for that, in resigning her good
+fortune, she had not been able to renounce the love she bore Gualtieri,
+nevertheless:--"My lord," she made answer, "I am ready and prompt to do
+your pleasure." And so, clad in her sorry garments of coarse romagnole,
+she entered the house, which, but a little before, she had quitted in her
+shift, and addressed her to sweep the chambers, and arrange arras and
+cushions in the halls, and make ready the kitchen, and set her hand to
+everything, as if she had been a paltry serving-wench: nor did she rest
+until she had brought all into such meet and seemly trim as the occasion
+demanded. This done, she invited in Gualtieri's name all the ladies of
+those parts to be present at his nuptials, and awaited the event. The day
+being come, still wearing her sorry weeds, but in heart and soul and mien
+the lady, she received the ladies as they came, and gave each a gladsome
+greeting.
+
+Now Gualtieri, as we said, had caused his children to be carefully
+nurtured and brought up by a kinswoman of his at Bologna, which kinswoman
+was married into the family of the Counts of Panago; and, the girl being
+now twelve years old, and the loveliest creature that ever was seen, and
+the boy being about six years old, he had sent word to his kinswoman's
+husband at Bologna, praying him to be pleased to come with this girl and
+boy of his to Saluzzo, and to see that he brought a goodly and honourable
+company with him, and to give all to understand that he brought the girl
+to him to wife, and on no wise to disclose to any, who she really was.
+The gentleman did as the Marquis bade him, and within a few days of his
+setting forth arrived at Saluzzo about breakfast-time with the girl, and
+her brother, and a noble company, and found all the folk of those parts,
+and much people besides, gathered there in expectation of Gualtieri's new
+bride. Who, being received by the ladies, was no sooner come into the
+hall, where the tables were set, than Griselda advanced to meet her,
+saying with hearty cheer:--"Welcome, my lady." So the ladies, who had
+with much instance, but in vain, besought Gualtieri, either to let
+Griselda keep in another room, or at any rate to furnish her with one of
+the robes that had been hers, that she might not present herself in such
+a sorry guise before the strangers, sate down to table; and the service
+being begun, the eyes of all were set on the girl, and every one said
+that Gualtieri had made a good exchange, and Griselda joined with the
+rest in greatly commending her, and also her little brother. And now
+Gualtieri, sated at last with all that he had seen of his wife's
+patience, marking that this new and strange turn made not the least
+alteration in her demeanour, and being well assured that 'twas not due to
+apathy, for he knew her to be of excellent understanding, deemed it time
+to relieve her of the suffering which he judged her to dissemble under a
+resolute front; and so, having called her to him in presence of them all,
+he said with a smile:--"And what thinkst thou of our bride?" "My lord,"
+replied Griselda, "I think mighty well of her; and if she be but as
+discreet as she is fair--and so I deem her--I make no doubt but you may
+reckon to lead with her a life of incomparable felicity; but with all
+earnestness I entreat you, that you spare her those tribulations which
+you did once inflict upon another that was yours, for I scarce think she
+would be able to bear them, as well because she is younger, as for that
+she has been delicately nurtured, whereas that other had known no respite
+of hardship since she was but a little child." Marking that she made no
+doubt but that the girl was to be his wife, and yet spoke never a whit
+the less sweetly, Gualtieri caused her to sit down beside him,
+and:--"Griselda," said he, "'tis now time that thou see the reward of thy
+long patience, and that those, who have deemed me cruel and unjust and
+insensate, should know that what I did was done of purpose aforethought,
+for that I was minded to give both thee and them a lesson, that thou
+mightst learn to be a wife, and they in like manner might learn how to
+take and keep a wife, and that I might beget me perpetual peace with thee
+for the rest of my life; whereof being in great fear, when I came to take
+a wife, lest I should be disappointed, I therefore, to put the matter to
+the proof, did, and how sorely thou knowest, harass and afflict thee. And
+since I never knew thee either by deed or by word to deviate from my
+will, I now, deeming myself to have of thee that assurance of happiness
+which I desired, am minded to restore to thee at once all that, step by
+step, I took from thee, and by extremity of joy to compensate the
+tribulations that I inflicted on thee. Receive, then, this girl, whom
+thou supposest to be my bride, and her brother, with glad heart, as thy
+children and mine. These are they, whom by thee and many another it has
+long been supposed that I did ruthlessly to death, and I am thy husband,
+that loves thee more dearly than aught else, deeming that other there is
+none that has the like good cause to be well content with his wife."
+
+Which said, he embraced and kissed her; and then, while she wept for joy,
+they rose and hied them there where sate the daughter, all astonied to
+hear the news, whom, as also her brother, they tenderly embraced, and
+explained to them, and many others that stood by, the whole mystery.
+Whereat the ladies, transported with delight, rose from table and betook
+them with Griselda to a chamber, and, with better omen, divested her of
+her sorry garb, and arrayed her in one of her own robes of state; and so,
+in guise of a lady (howbeit in her rags she had shewed as no less) they
+led her back into the hall. Wondrous was the cheer which there they made
+with the children; and, all overjoyed at the event, they revelled and
+made merry amain, and prolonged the festivities for several days; and
+very discreet they pronounced Gualtieri, albeit they censured as
+intolerably harsh the probation to which he had subjected Griselda, and
+most discreet beyond all compare they accounted Griselda.
+
+Some days after, the Count of Panago returned to Bologna, and Gualtieri
+took Giannucolo from his husbandry, and established him in honour as his
+father-in-law, wherein to his great solace he lived for the rest of his
+days. Gualtieri himself, having mated his daughter with a husband of high
+degree, lived long and happily thereafter with Griselda, to whom he ever
+paid all honour.
+
+Now what shall we say in this case but that even into the cots of the
+poor the heavens let fall at times spirits divine, as into the palaces of
+kings souls that are fitter to tend hogs than to exercise lordship over
+men? Who but Griselda had been able, with a countenance not only
+tearless, but cheerful, to endure the hard and unheard-of trials to which
+Gualtieri subjected her? Who perhaps might have deemed himself to have
+made no bad investment, had he chanced upon one, who, having been turned
+out of his house in her shift, had found means so to dust the pelisse of
+another as to get herself thereby a fine robe.
+
+So ended Dioneo's story, whereof the ladies, diversely inclining, one to
+censure where another found matter for commendation, had discoursed not a
+little, when the king, having glanced at the sky, and marked that the sun
+was now low, insomuch that 'twas nigh the vesper hour, still keeping his
+seat, thus began:--"Exquisite my ladies, as, methinks, you wot, 'tis not
+only in minding them of the past and apprehending the present that the
+wit of mortals consists; but by one means or the other to be able to
+foresee the future is by the sages accounted the height of wisdom. Now,
+to-morrow, as you know, 'twill be fifteen days since, in quest of
+recreation and for the conservation of our health and life, we, shunning
+the dismal and dolorous and afflicting spectacles that have ceased not in
+our city since this season of pestilence began, took our departure from
+Florence. Wherein, to my thinking, we have done nought that was not
+seemly; for, if I have duly used my powers of observation, albeit some
+gay stories, and of a kind to stimulate concupiscence, have here been
+told, and we have daily known no lack of dainty dishes and good wine, nor
+yet of music and song, things, one and all, apt to incite weak minds to
+that which is not seemly, neither on your part, nor on ours, have I
+marked deed or word, or aught of any kind, that called for reprehension;
+but, by what I have seen and heard, seemliness and the sweet intimacy of
+brothers and sisters have ever reigned among us. Which, assuredly, for
+the honour and advantage which you and I have had thereof, is most
+grateful to me. Wherefore, lest too long continuance in this way of life
+might beget some occasion of weariness, and that no man may be able to
+misconstrue our too long abidance here, and as we have all of us had our
+day's share of the honour which still remains in me, I should deem it
+meet, so you be of like mind, that we now go back whence we came: and
+that the rather that our company, the bruit whereof has already reached
+divers others that are in our neighbourhood, might be so increased that
+all our pleasure would be destroyed. And so, if my counsel meet with your
+approval, I will keep the crown I have received of you until our
+departure, which, I purpose, shall be tomorrow morning. Should you decide
+otherwise, I have already determined whom to crown for the ensuing day."
+
+Much debate ensued among the ladies and young men; but in the end they
+approved the king's proposal as expedient and seemly; and resolved to do
+even as he had said. The king therefore summoned the seneschal; and
+having conferred with him of the order he was to observe on the morrow,
+he dismissed the company until supper-time. So, the king being risen, the
+ladies and the rest likewise rose, and betook them, as they were wont, to
+their several diversions. Supper-time being come, they supped with
+exceeding great delight. Which done, they addressed them to song and
+music and dancing; and, while Lauretta was leading a dance, the king bade
+Fiammetta give them a song; whereupon Fiammetta right debonairly sang on
+this wise:--
+
+So came but Love, and brought no jealousy,
+  So blithe, I wot, as I,
+  Dame were there none, be she whoe'er she be.
+
+If youth's fresh, lusty pride
+  May lady of her lover well content,
+  Or valour's just renown,
+  Hardihood, prowess tried,
+  Wit, noble mien, discourse most excellent,
+  And of all grace the crown;
+  That she am I, who, fain for love to swoun,
+  There where my hope doth lie
+  These several virtues all conjoined do see.
+
+But, for that I less wise
+  Than me no whit do other dames discern,
+  Trembling with sore dismay,
+  I still the worst surmise,
+  Deeming their hearts with the same flame to burn
+  That of mine maketh prey:
+  Wherefore of him that is my hope's one stay
+  Disconsolate I sigh,
+  Yea mightily, and daily do me dree.
+
+If but my lord as true
+  As worthy to be loved I might approve,
+  I were not jealous then:
+  But, for that charmer new
+  Doth all too often gallant lure to love,
+  Forsworn I hold all men,
+  And sick at heart I am, of death full fain;
+  Nor lady doth him eye,
+  But I do quake, lest she him wrest from me.
+
+'Fore God, then, let each she
+  List to my prayer, nor e'er in my despite
+  Such grievous wrong essay;
+  For should there any be
+  That by or speech or mien's allurements light
+  Of him to rob me may
+  Study or plot, I, witting, shall find way,
+  My beauty it aby!
+  To cause her sore lament such frenesie.
+
+As soon as Fiammetta had ended her song, Dioneo, who was beside her, said
+with a laugh:--"Madam, 'twould be a great courtesy on your part to do all
+ladies to wit, who he is, that he be not stolen from you in ignorance,
+seeing that you threaten such dire resentment." Several other songs
+followed; and it being then nigh upon midnight, all, as the king was
+pleased to order, betook them to rest. With the first light of the new
+day they rose, and, the seneschal having already conveyed thence all
+their chattels, they, following the lead of their discreet king, hied
+them back to Florence; and in Santa Maria Novella, whence they had set
+forth, the three young men took leave of the seven ladies, and departed
+to find other diversions elsewhere, while the ladies in due time repaired
+to their homes.
+
+
+THE AUTHOR'S EPILOGUE.
+
+Most noble damsels, for whose solace I addressed me to this long and
+toilsome task, meseems that, aided by the Divine grace, the bestowal
+whereof I impute to the efficacy of your pious prayers, and in no wise to
+merits of mine, I have now brought this work to the full and perfect
+consummation which in the outset thereof I promised you. Wherefore, it
+but remains for me to render, first to God, and then to you, my thanks,
+and so to give a rest to my pen and weary hand. But this I purpose not to
+allow them, until, briefly, as to questions tacitly mooted--for well
+assured I am that these stories have no especial privilege above any
+others, nay, I forget not that at the beginning of the Fourth Day I have
+made the same plain--I shall have answered certain trifling objections
+that one of you, maybe, or some other, might advance. Peradventure, then,
+some of you will be found to say that I have used excessive license in
+the writing of these stories, in that I have caused ladies at times to
+tell, and oftentimes to list, matters that, whether to tell or to list,
+do not well beseem virtuous women. The which I deny, for that there is
+none of these stories so unseemly, but that it may without offence be
+told by any one, if but seemly words be used; which rule, methinks, has
+here been very well observed. But assume we that 'tis even so (for with
+you I am not minded to engage in argument, witting that you would
+vanquish me), then, I say that for answer why I have so done, reasons
+many come very readily to hand. In the first place, if aught of the kind
+in any of these stories there be, 'twas but such as was demanded by the
+character of the stories, which let but any person of sound judgment scan
+with the eye of reason, and 'twill be abundantly manifest that, unless I
+had been minded to deform them, they could not have been otherwise
+recounted. And if, perchance, they do, after all, contain here and there
+a trifling indiscretion of speech, such as might ill sort with one of
+your precious prudes, who weigh words rather than deeds, and are more
+concerned to appear, than to be, good, I say that so to write was as
+permissible to me, as 'tis to men and women at large in their converse to
+make use of such terms as hole, and pin, and mortar, and pestle, and
+sausage, and polony, and plenty more besides of a like sort. And
+therewithal privilege no less should be allowed to my pen than to the
+pencil of the painter, who without incurring any, or at least any just,
+censure, not only will depict St. Michael smiting the serpent, or St.
+George the dragon, with sword or lance at his discretion; but male he
+paints us Christ, and female Eve, and His feet that for the salvation of
+our race willed to die upon the cross he fastens thereto, now with one,
+now with two nails.
+
+Moreover, 'tis patent to all that 'twas not in the Church, of matters
+whereto pertaining 'tis meet we speak with all purity of heart and
+seemliness of phrase, albeit among her histories there are to be found
+not a few that will ill compare with my writings; nor yet in the schools
+of the philosophers, where, as much as anywhere, seemliness is demanded,
+nor in any place where clergy or philosophers congregate, but in gardens,
+in pleasaunces, and among folk, young indeed, but not so young as to be
+seducible by stories, and at a time when, if so one might save one's
+life, the most sedate might without disgrace walk abroad with his
+breeches for headgear, that these stories were told. Which stories, such
+as they are, may, like all things else, be baneful or profitable
+according to the quality of the hearer. Who knows not that wine is, as
+Cinciglione and Scolaio(1) and many another aver, an excellent thing for
+the living creature, and yet noxious to the fevered patient? Are we, for
+the mischief it does to the fever-stricken, to say that 'tis a bad thing?
+Who knows not that fire is most serviceable, nay, necessary, to mortals?
+Are we to say that, because it burns houses and villages and cities, it
+is a bad thing? Arms, in like manner, are the safeguard of those that
+desire to live in peace, and also by them are men not seldom maliciously
+slain, albeit the malice is not in them, but in those that use them for a
+malicious purpose. Corrupt mind did never yet understand any word in a
+wholesome sense; and as such a mind has no profit of seemly words, so
+such as are scarce seemly may as little avail to contaminate a healthy
+mind as mud the radiance of the sun, or the deformities of earth the
+splendours of the heavens. What books, what words, what letters, are more
+sacred, more excellent, more venerable, than those of Holy Writ? And yet
+there have been not a few that, perversely construing them, have brought
+themselves and others to perdition. Everything is in itself good for
+somewhat, and being put to a bad purpose, may work manifold mischief. And
+so, I say, it is with my stories. If any man shall be minded to draw from
+them matters of evil tendency or consequence, they will not gainsay him,
+if, perchance, such matters there be in them, nor will such matters fail
+to be found in them, if they be wrested and distorted. Nor, if any shall
+seek profit and reward in them, will they deny him the same; and censured
+or accounted as less than profitable and seemly they can never be, if the
+times or the persons when and by whom they are read be such as when they
+were recounted. If any lady must needs say paternosters or make cakes or
+tarts for her holy father, let her leave them alone; there is none after
+whom they will run a begging to be read: howbeit, there are little
+matters that even the beguines tell, ay, and do, now and again.
+
+In like manner there will be some who will say that there are stories
+here which 'twere better far had been omitted. Granted; but 'twas neither
+in my power, nor did it behove me, to write any but such stories as were
+narrated; wherefore, 'twas for those by whom they were told to have a
+care that they were proper; in which case they would have been no less so
+as I wrote them. But, assuming that I not only wrote but invented the
+stories, as I did not, I say that I should take no shame to myself that
+they were not all proper; seeing that artist there is none to be found,
+save God, that does all things well and perfectly. And Charlemagne,
+albeit he created the Paladins, wist not how to make them in such numbers
+as to form an army of them alone. It must needs be that in the multitude
+of things there be found diversities of quality. No field was ever so
+well tilled but that here and there nettle, or thistle, or brier would be
+found in it amid the goodlier growths. Whereto I may add that, having to
+address me to young and unlearned ladies, as you for the most part are, I
+should have done foolishly, had I gone about searching and swinking to
+find matters very exquisite, and been sedulous to speak with great
+precision. However, whoso goes a reading among these stories, let him
+pass over those that vex him, and read those that please him. That none
+may be misled, each bears on its brow the epitome of that which it hides
+within its bosom.
+
+Again, I doubt not there will be such as will say that some of the
+stories are too long. To whom, once more, I answer, that whoso has aught
+else to do would be foolish to read them, albeit they were short. And
+though, now that I approach the end of my labours, 'tis long since I
+began to write, I am not, therefore, oblivious that 'twas to none but
+leisured ladies that I made proffer of my pains; nor can aught be long to
+him that reads but to pass the time, so only he thereby accomplish his
+purpose. Succinctness were rather to be desired by students, who are at
+pains not merely to pass, but usefully to employ, their time, than by
+you, who have as much time at your disposal as you spend not in amorous
+delights. Besides which, as none of you goes either to Athens, or to
+Bologna, or to Paris to study, 'tis meet that what is meant for you
+should be more diffuse than what is to be read by those whose minds have
+been refined by scholarly pursuits.
+
+Nor make I any doubt but there are yet others who will say that the said
+stories are too full of jests and merry conceits, and that it ill beseems
+a man of weight and gravity to have written on such wise. To these I am
+bound to render, and do render, my thanks, for that, prompted by
+well-meant zeal, they have so tender a regard to my reputation. But to
+that, which they urge against me, I reply after this sort:--That I am of
+weight I acknowledge, having been often weighed in my time; wherefore, in
+answer to the fair that have not weighed me, I affirm that I am not of
+gravity; on the contrary I am so light that I float on the surface of the
+water; and considering that the sermons which the friars make, when they
+would chide folk for their sins, are to-day, for the most part, full of
+jests and merry conceits, and drolleries, I deemed that the like stuff
+would not ill beseem my stories, written, as they were, to banish women's
+dumps. However, if thereby they should laugh too much, they may be
+readily cured thereof by the Lament of Jeremiah, the Passion of the
+Saviour, or the Complaint of the Magdalen.
+
+And who shall question but that yet others there are who will say that I
+have an evil tongue and venomous, because here and there I tell the truth
+about the friars? Now for them that so say there is forgiveness, for that
+'tis not to be believed but that they have just cause; seeing that the
+friars are good folk, and eschew hardship for the love of God, and grind
+intermittently, and never blab; and, were they not all a trifle
+malodorous, intercourse with them would be much more agreeable.
+Nevertheless, I acknowledge that the things of this world have no
+stability, but are ever undergoing change; and this may have befallen my
+tongue, albeit, no great while ago, one of my fair neighbours--for in
+what pertains to myself I trust not my own judgment, but forgo it to the
+best of my power--told me 'twas the goodliest and sweetest tongue in the
+world; and in sooth, when this occurred, few of the said stories were yet
+to write; nor, for that those who so tax me do it despitefully, am I
+minded to vouchsafe them any further answer.
+
+So, then, be every lady at liberty to say and believe whatever she may
+think fit: but 'tis now time for me to bring these remarks to a close,
+with humble thanks to Him, by whose help and guidance I, after so long
+travail, have been brought to the desired goal. And may you, sweet my
+ladies, rest ever in His grace and peace; and be not unmindful of me, if,
+peradventure, any of you may, in any measure, have been profited by
+reading these stories.
+
+(1) Noted topers of the day.
+
+
+--
+Endeth here the tenth and last day of the book called Decameron,
+otherwise Prince Galeotto.
+--
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Decameron, Vol. II., by Giovanni Boccaccio
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13102 ***
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #13102 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13102)
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Decameron, Vol. II., by Giovanni Boccaccio
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Decameron, Vol. II.
+
+Author: Giovanni Boccaccio
+
+Release Date: August 3, 2004 [EBook #13102]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DECAMERON, VOL. II. ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Donna Holsten
+
+
+
+
+THE DECAMERON
+
+OF
+
+GIOVANNI BOCCACCIO
+
+Faithfully Translated
+
+By J.M. Rigg
+
+with illustrations by Louis Chalon
+
+
+VOLUME II
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+- FIFTH DAY -
+
+NOVEL I. - Cimon, by loving, waxes wise, wins his wife Iphigenia by
+capture on the high seas, and is imprisoned at Rhodes. He is delivered by
+Lysimachus; and the twain capture Cassandra and recapture Iphigenia in
+the hour of their marriage. They flee with their ladies to Crete, and
+having there married them, are brought back to their homes.
+
+NOVEL II. - Gostanza loves Martuccio Gomito, and hearing that he is dead,
+gives way to despair, and hies her alone aboard a boat, which is wafted
+by the wind to Susa. She finds him alive in Tunis, and makes herself
+known to him, who, having by his counsel gained high place in the king's
+favour, marries her, and returns with her wealthy to Lipari.
+
+NOVEL III. - Pietro Boccamazza runs away with Agnolella, and encounters a
+gang of robbers: the girl takes refuge in a wood, and is guided to a
+castle. Pietro is taken, but escapes out of the hands of the robbers, and
+after some adventures arrives at the castle where Agnolella is, marries
+her, and returns with her to Rome.
+
+NOVEL IV. - Ricciardo Manardi is found by Messer Lizio da Valbona with
+his daughter, whom he marries, and remains at peace with her father.
+
+NOVEL V. - Guidotto da Cremona dies leaving a girl to Giacomino da Pavia.
+She has two lovers in Faenza, to wit, Giannole di Severino and Minghino
+di Mingole, who fight about her. She is discovered to be Giannole's
+sister, and is given to Minghino to wife.
+
+NOVEL VI. - Gianni di Procida, being found with a damsel that he loves,
+and who had been given to King Frederic, is bound with her to a stake, so
+to be burned. He is recognized by Ruggieri dell' Oria, is delivered, and
+marries her.
+
+NOVEL VII. - Teodoro, being enamoured of Violante, daughter of Messer
+Amerigo, his lord, gets her with child, and is sentenced to the gallows;
+but while he is being scourged thither, he is recognized by his father,
+and being set at large, takes Violante to wife.
+
+NOVEL VIII. - Nastagio degli Onesti, loving a damsel of the Traversari
+family, by lavish expenditure gains not her love. At the instance of his
+kinsfolk he hies him to Chiassi, where he sees a knight hunt a damsel and
+slay her and cause her to be devoured by two dogs. He bids his kinsfolk
+and the lady that he loves to breakfast. During the meal the said damsel
+is torn in pieces before the eyes of the lady, who, fearing a like fate,
+takes Nastagio to husband.
+
+NOVEL IX. - Federigo degli Alberighi loves and is not loved in return: he
+wastes his substance by lavishness until nought is left but a single
+falcon, which, his lady being come to see him at his house, he gives her
+to eat: she, knowing his case, changes her mind, takes him to husband and
+makes him rich.
+
+NOVEL X. - Pietro di Vinciolo goes from home to sup: his wife brings a
+boy into the house to bear her company: Pietro returns, and she hides her
+gallant under a hen-coop: Pietro explains that in the house of Ercolano,
+with whom he was to have supped, there was discovered a young man
+bestowed there by Ercolano's wife: the lady thereupon censures Ercolano's
+wife: but unluckily an ass treads on the fingers of the boy that is
+hidden under the hen-coop, so that he cries for pain: Pietro runs to the
+place, sees him, and apprehends the trick played on him by his wife,
+which nevertheless he finally condones, for that he is not himself free
+from blame.
+
+- SIXTH DAY -
+
+NOVEL I. - A knight offers to carry Madonna Oretta a horseback with a
+story, but tells it so ill that she prays him to dismount her.
+
+NOVEL II. - Cisti, a baker, by an apt speech gives Messer Geri Spina to
+know that he has by inadvertence asked that of him which he should not.
+
+NOVEL III. - Monna Nonna de' Pulci by a ready retort silences the scarce
+seemly jesting of the Bishop of Florence.
+
+NOVEL IV. - Chichibio, cook to Currado Gianfigliazzi, owes his safety to
+a ready answer, whereby he converts Currado's wrath into laughter, and
+evades the evil fate with which Currado had threatened him.
+
+NOVEL V. - Messer Forese da Rabatta and Master Giotto, the painter,
+journeying together from Mugello, deride one another's scurvy appearance.
+
+NOVEL VI. - Michele Scalza proves to certain young men that the Baronci
+are the best gentlemen in the world and the Maremma, and wins a supper.
+
+NOVEL VII. - Madonna Filippa, being found by her husband with her lover,
+is cited before the court, and by a ready and jocund answer acquits
+herself, and brings about an alteration of the statute.
+
+NOVEL VIII. - Fresco admonishes his niece not to look at herself in the
+glass, if 'tis, as she says, grievous to her to see nasty folk.
+
+NOVEL IX. - Guido Cavalcanti by a quip meetly rebukes certain Florentine
+gentlemen who had taken him at a disadvantage.
+
+NOVEL X. - Fra Cipolla promises to shew certain country-folk a feather of
+the Angel Gabriel, in lieu of which he finds coals, which he avers to be
+of those with which St. Lawrence was roasted.
+
+- SEVENTH DAY -
+
+NOVEL I. - Gianni Lotteringhi hears a knocking at his door at night: he
+awakens his wife, who persuades him that 'tis the bogey, which they fall
+to exorcising with a prayer; whereupon the knocking ceases.
+
+NOVEL II. - Her husband returning home, Peronella bestows her lover in a
+tun; which, being sold by her husband, she avers to have been already
+sold by herself to one that is inside examining it to set if it be sound.
+Whereupon the lover jumps out, and causes the husband to scour the tun
+for him, and afterwards to carry it to his house.
+
+NOVEL III. - Fra Rinaldo lies with his gossip: her husband finds him in
+the room with her; and they make him believe that he was curing his
+godson of worms by a charm.
+
+NOVEL IV. - Tofano one night locks his wife out of the house: she,
+finding that by no entreaties may she prevail upon him to let her in,
+feigns to throw herself into a well, throwing therein a great stone.
+Tofano hies him forth of the house, and runs to the spot: she goes into
+the house, and locks him out, and hurls abuse at him from within.
+
+NOVEL V. - A jealous husband disguises himself as a priest, and hears his
+own wife's confession: she tells him that she loves a priest, who comes
+to her every night. The husband posts himself at the door to watch for
+the priest, and meanwhile the lady brings her lover in by the roof, and
+tarries with him.
+
+NOVEL VI. - Madonna Isabella has with her Leonetto, her accepted lover,
+when she is surprised by one Messer Lambertuccio, by whom she is beloved:
+her husband coming home about the same time, she sends Messer
+Lambertuccio forth of the house drawn sword in hand, and the husband
+afterwards escorts Leonetto home.
+
+NOVEL VII. - Lodovico discovers to Madonna Beatrice the love that he
+bears her: she sends Egano, her husband, into a garden disguised as
+herself, and lies with Lodovico; who thereafter, being risen, hies him to
+the garden and cudgels Egano.
+
+ NOVEL VIII. - A husband grows jealous of his wife, and discovers that
+she has warning of her lover's approach by a piece of pack-thread, which
+she ties to her great toe a nights. While he is pursuing her lover, she
+puts another woman in bed in her place. The husband, finding her there,
+beats her, and cuts off her hair. He then goes and calls his wife's
+brothers, who, holding his accusation to be false, give him a rating.
+
+NOVEL IX. - Lydia, wife of Nicostratus, loves Pyrrhus, who to assure
+himself thereof, asks three things of her, all of which she does, and
+therewithal enjoys him in presence of Nicostratus, and makes Nicostratus
+believe that what he saw was not real.
+
+NOVEL X. - Two Sienese love a lady, one of them being her gossip: the
+gossip dies, having promised his comrade to return to him from the other
+world; which he does, and tells him what sort of life is led there.
+
+- EIGHTH DAY -
+
+NOVEL I. - Gulfardo borrows moneys of Guasparruolo, which he has agreed
+to give Guasparruolo's wife, that he may lie with her. He gives them to
+her, and in her presence tells Guasparruolo that he has done so, and she
+acknowledges that 'tis true.
+
+NOVEL II. - The priest of Varlungo lies with Monna Belcolore: he leaves
+with her his cloak by way of pledge, and receives from her a mortar. He
+returns the mortar, and demands of her the cloak that he had left in
+pledge, which the good lady returns him with a gibe.
+
+NOVEL III. - Calandrino, Bruno and Buffalmacco go in quest of the
+heliotrope beside the Mugnone. Thinking to have found it, Calandrino gets
+him home laden with stones. His wife chides him: whereat he waxes wroth,
+beats her, and tells his comrades what they know better than he.
+
+NOVEL IV. - The rector of Fiesole loves a widow lady, by whom he is not
+loved, and thinking to lie with her, lies with her maid, with whom the
+lady's brothers cause him to be found by his Bishop.
+
+NOVEL V. - Three young men pull down the breeches of a judge from the
+Marches, while he is administering justice on the bench.
+
+NOVEL VI. - Bruno and Buffalmacco steal a pig from Calandrino, and induce
+him to essay its recovery by means of pills of ginger and vernaccia. Of
+the said pills they give him two, one after the other, made of dog-ginger
+compounded with aloes; and it then appearing as if he had had the pig
+himself, they constrain him to buy them off, if he would not have them
+tell his wife.
+
+NOVEL VII. - A scholar loves a widow lady, who, being enamoured of
+another, causes him to spend a winter's night awaiting her in the snow.
+He afterwards by a stratagem causes her to stand for a whole day in July,
+naked upon a tower, exposed to the flies, the gadflies, and the sun.
+
+NOVEL VIII. - Two men keep with one another: the one lies with the
+other's wife: the other, being ware thereof, manages with the aid of his
+wife to have the one locked in a chest, upon which he then lies with the
+wife of him that is locked therein.
+
+NOVEL IX. - Bruno and Buffalmacco prevail upon Master Simone, a
+physician, to betake him by night to a certain place, there to be
+enrolled in a company that go the course. Buffalmacco throws him into a
+foul ditch, and there they leave him.
+
+NOVEL X. - A Sicilian woman cunningly conveys from a merchant that which
+he has brought to Palermo; he, making a shew of being come back thither
+with far greater store of goods than before, borrows money of her, and
+leaves her in lieu thereof water and tow.
+
+- NINTH DAY -
+
+NOVEL I. - Madonna Francesca, having two lovers, the one Rinuccio, the
+other Alessandro, by name, and loving neither of them, induces the one to
+simulate a corpse in a tomb, and the other to enter the tomb to fetch him
+out: whereby, neither satisfying her demands, she artfully rids herself
+of both.
+
+NOVEL II. - An abbess rises in haste and in the dark, with intent to
+surprise an accused nun abed with her lover: thinking to put on her veil,
+she puts on instead the breeches of a priest that she has with her: the
+nun, espying her headgear, and doing her to wit thereof, is acquitted,
+and thenceforth finds it easier to forgather with her lover.
+
+NOVEL III. - Master Simone, at the instance of Bruno and Buffalmacco and
+Nello, makes Calandrino believe that he is with child. Calandrino,
+accordingly, gives them capons and money for medicines, and is cured
+without being delivered.
+
+NOVEL IV. - Cecco, son of Messer Fortarrigo, loses his all at play at
+Buonconvento, besides the money of Cecco, son of Messer Angiulieri, whom,
+running after him in his shirt and crying out that he has robbed him, he
+causes to be taken by peasants: he then puts on his clothes, mounts his
+palfrey, and leaves him to follow in his shirt.
+
+NOVEL V. - Calandrino being enamoured of a damsel, Bruno gives him a
+scroll, averring that, if he but touch her therewith, she will go with
+him: he is found with her by his wife, who subjects him to a most severe
+and vexatious examination.
+
+NOVEL VI. - Two young men lodge at an inn, of whom the one lies with the
+host's daughter, his wife by inadvertence lying with the other. He that
+lay with the daughter afterwards gets into her father's bed and tells him
+all, taking him to be his comrade. They bandy words: whereupon the good
+woman, apprehending the circumstances, gets her to bed with her daughter,
+and by divers apt words re-establishes perfect accord.
+
+NOVEL VII. - Talano di Molese dreams that a wolf tears and rends all the
+neck and face of his wife: he gives her warning thereof, which she heeds
+not, and the dream comes true.
+
+NOVEL VIII. - Biondello gulls Ciacco in the matter of a breakfast: for
+which prank Ciacco is cunningly avenged on Biondello, causing him to be
+shamefully beaten.
+
+NOVEL IX. - Two young men ask counsel of Solomon; the one, how he is to
+make himself beloved, the other, how he is to reduce an unruly wife to
+order. The King bids the one to love, and the other to go to the Bridge
+of Geese.
+
+NOVEL X. - Dom Gianni at the instance of his gossip Pietro uses an
+enchantment to transform Pietro's wife into a mare; but, when he comes to
+attach the tail, Gossip Pietro, by saying that he will have none of the
+tail, makes the enchantment of no effect.
+
+- TENTH DAY -
+
+NOVEL I. - A knight in the service of the King of Spain deems himself ill
+requited. Wherefore the King, by most cogent proof, shews him that the
+blame rests not with him, but with the knight's own evil fortune; after
+which, he bestows upon him a noble gift.
+
+NOVEL II. - Ghino di Tacco, captures the Abbot of Cluny, cures him of a
+disorder of the stomach, and releases him. The abbot, on his return to
+the court of Rome, reconciles Ghino with Pope Boniface, and makes him
+prior of the Hospital.
+
+NOVEL III. - Mitridanes, holding Nathan in despite by reason of his
+courtesy, journey with intent to kill him, and falling in with him
+unawares, is advised by him how to compass his end. Following his advice,
+he finds him in a copse, and recognizing him, is shame-stricken, and
+becomes his friend.
+
+NOVEL IV. - Messer Gentile de' Carisendi, being come from Modena,
+disinters a lady that he loves, who has been buried for dead. She, being
+reanimated, gives birth to a male child; and Messer Gentile restores her,
+with her son, to Niccoluccio Caccianimico, her husband.
+
+NOVEL V. - Madonna Dianora craves of Messer Ansaldo a garden that shall
+be as fair in January as in May. Messer Ansaldo binds himself to a
+necromancer, and thereby gives her the garden. Her husband gives her
+leave to do Messer Ansaldo's pleasure: he, being apprised of her
+husband's liberality, releases her from her promise; and the necromancer
+releases Messer Ansaldo from his bond, and will tale nought of his.
+
+NOVEL VI. - King Charles the Old, being conqueror, falls in love with a
+young maiden, and afterward growing ashamed of his folly bestows her and
+her sister honourably in marriage.
+
+NOVEL VII. - King Pedro, being apprised of the fervent love borne him by
+Lisa, who thereof is sick, comforts her, and forthwith gives her in
+marriage to a young gentleman, and having kissed her on the brow, ever
+after professes himself her knight.
+
+NOVEL VIII. - Sophronia, albeit she deems herself wife to Gisippus, is
+wife to Titus Quintius Fulvus, and goes with him to Rome, where Gisippus
+arrives in indigence, and deeming himself scorned by Titus, to compass
+his own death, avers that he has slain a man. Titus recognizes him, and
+to save his life, alleges that 'twas he that slew the man: whereof he
+that did the deed being witness, he discovers himself as the murderer.
+Whereby it comes to pass that they are all three liberated by Octavianus;
+and Titus gives Gisippus his sister to wife, and shares with him all his
+substance.
+
+NOVEL IX. - Saladin, in guise of a merchant, is honourably entreated by
+Messer Torello. The Crusade ensuing, Messer Torello appoints a date,
+after which his wife may marry again: he is taken prisoner, and by
+training hawks comes under the Soldan's notice. The Soldan recognizes
+him, makes himself known to him, and entreats him with all honour. Messer
+Torello falls sick, and by magic arts is transported in a single night to
+Pavia, where his wife's second marriage is then to be solemnized, and
+being present thereat, is recognized by her, and returns with her to his
+house.
+
+NOVEL X. - The Marquis of Saluzzo, overborne by the entreaties of his
+vassals, consents to take a wife, but, being minded to please himself in
+the choice of her, takes a husbandman's daughter. He has two children by
+her, both of whom he makes her believe that he has put to death.
+Afterward, feigning to be tired of her, and to have taken another wife,
+he turns her out of doors in her shift, and brings his daughter into the
+house in guise of his bride; but, finding her patient under it all, he
+brings her home again, and shews her her children, now grown up, and
+honours her, and causes her to be honoured, as Marchioness.
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS TO THE DECAMERON
+
+VOLUME II
+
+Pietro and Agnolella (fifth day, third story)
+
+Gianni and Restituta (fifth day, sixth story)
+
+Calandrino singing (ninth day, fifth story)
+
+Titus, Gisippus, and Sophronia (tenth day, eighth story)
+
+
+--
+Endeth here the fourth day of the Decameron, beginneth the fifth, in
+which under the rule of Fiammetta discourse is had of good fortune
+befalling lovers after divers direful or disastrous adventures.
+--
+
+All the east was white, nor any part of our hemisphere unillumined by the
+rising beams, when the carolling of the birds that in gay chorus saluted
+the dawn among the boughs induced Fiammetta to rise and rouse the other
+ladies and the three gallants; with whom adown the hill and about the
+dewy meads of the broad champaign she sauntered, talking gaily of divers
+matters, until the sun had attained some height. Then, feeling his rays
+grow somewhat scorching, they retraced their steps, and returned to the
+villa; where, having repaired their slight fatigue with excellent wines
+and comfits, they took their pastime in the pleasant garden until the
+breakfast hour; when, all things being made ready by the discreet
+seneschal, they, after singing a stampita,(1) and a balladette or two,
+gaily, at the queen's behest, sat them down to eat. Meetly ordered and
+gladsome was the meal, which done, heedful of their rule of dancing, they
+trod a few short measures with accompaniment of music and song.
+Thereupon, being all dismissed by the queen until after the siesta, some
+hied them to rest, while others tarried taking their pleasure in the fair
+garden. But shortly after none, all, at the queen's behest, reassembled,
+according to their wont, by the fountain; and the queen, having seated
+herself on her throne, glanced towards Pamfilo, and bade him with a smile
+lead off with the stories of good fortune. Whereto Pamfilo gladly
+addressed himself, and thus began.
+
+(1) A song accompanied by music, but without dancing.
+
+
+NOVEL I.
+
+--
+Cimon, by loving, waxes wise, wins his wife Iphigenia by capture on the
+high seas, and is imprisoned at Rhodes. He is delivered by Lysimachus;
+and the twain capture Cassandra and recapture Iphigenia in the hour of
+their marriage. They flee with their ladies to Crete, and having there
+married them, are brought back to their homes.
+--
+
+Many stories, sweet my ladies, occur to me as meet for me to tell by way
+of ushering in a day so joyous as this will be: of which one does most
+commend itself to my mind, because not only has it, one of those happy
+endings of which to-day we are in quest, but 'twill enable you to
+understand how holy, how mighty and how salutary are the forces of Love,
+which not a few, witting not what they say, do most unjustly reprobate
+and revile: which, if I err not, should to you, for that I take you to be
+enamoured, be indeed welcome.
+
+Once upon a time, then, as we have read in the ancient histories of the
+Cypriotes, there was in the island of Cyprus a very great noble named
+Aristippus, a man rich in all worldly goods beyond all other of his
+countrymen, and who might have deemed himself incomparably blessed, but
+for a single sore affliction that Fortune had allotted him. Which was
+that among his sons he had one, the best grown and handsomest of them
+all, that was well-nigh a hopeless imbecile. His true name was Galesus;
+but, as neither his tutor's pains, nor his father's coaxing or
+chastisement, nor any other method had availed to imbue him with any
+tincture of letters or manners, but he still remained gruff and savage of
+voice, and in his bearing liker to a beast than to a man, all, as in
+derision, were wont to call him Cimon, which in their language signifies
+the same as "bestione" (brute)(1) in ours. The father, grieved beyond
+measure to see his son's life thus blighted, and having abandoned all
+hope of his recovery, nor caring to have the cause of his mortification
+ever before his eyes, bade him betake him to the farm, and there keep
+with his husbandmen. To Cimon the change was very welcome, because the
+manners and habits of the uncouth hinds were more to his taste than those
+of the citizens. So to the farm Cimon hied him, and addressed himself to
+the work thereof; and being thus employed, he chanced one afternoon as he
+passed, staff on shoulder, from one domain to another, to enter a
+plantation, the like of which for beauty there was not in those parts,
+and which was then--for 'twas the month of May--a mass of greenery; and,
+as he traversed it, he came, as Fortune was pleased to guide him, to a
+meadow girt in with trees exceeding tall, and having in one of its
+corners a fountain most fair and cool, beside which he espied a most
+beautiful girl lying asleep on the green grass, clad only in a vest of
+such fine stuff that it scarce in any measure veiled the whiteness of her
+flesh, and below the waist nought but an apron most white and fine of
+texture; and likewise at her feet there slept two women and a man, her
+slaves. No sooner did Cimon catch sight of her, than, as if he had never
+before seen form of woman, he stopped short, and leaning on his cudgel,
+regarded her intently, saying never a word, and lost in admiration. And
+in his rude soul, which, despite a thousand lessons, had hitherto
+remained impervious to every delight that belongs to urbane life, he felt
+the awakening of an idea, that bade his gross and coarse mind
+acknowledge, that this girl was the fairest creature that had ever been
+seen by mortal eye. And thereupon he began to distinguish her several
+parts, praising her hair, which shewed to him as gold, her brow, her nose
+and mouth, her throat and arms, and above all her bosom, which was as yet
+but in bud, and as he gazed, he changed of a sudden from a husbandman
+into a judge of beauty, and desired of all things to see her eyes, which
+the weight of her deep slumber kept close shut, and many a time he would
+fain have awakened her, that he might see them. But so much fairer seemed
+she to him than any other woman that he had seen, that he doubted she
+must be a goddess; and as he was not so devoid of sense but that he
+deemed things divine more worthy of reverence than things mundane, he
+forbore, and waited until she should awake of her own accord; and though
+he found the delay overlong, yet, enthralled by so unwonted a delight, he
+knew not how to be going. However, after he had tarried a long while, it
+so befell that Iphigenia--such was the girl's name--her slaves still
+sleeping, awoke, and raised her head, and opened her eyes, and seeing
+Cimon standing before her, leaning on his staff, was not a little
+surprised, and said:--"Cimon, what seekest thou in this wood at this
+hour?" For Cimon she knew well, as indeed did almost all the
+country-side, by reason alike of his uncouth appearance as of the rank
+and wealth of his father. To Iphigenia's question he answered never a
+word; but as soon as her eyes were open, nought could he do but intently
+regard them, for it seemed to him that a soft influence emanated from
+them, which filled his soul with a delight that he had never before
+known. Which the girl marking began to misdoubt that by so fixed a
+scrutiny his boorish temper might be prompted to some act that should
+cause her dishonour: wherefore she roused her women, and got up,
+saying:--"Keep thy distance, Cimon, in God's name." Whereto Cimon made
+answer:--"I will come with thee." And, albeit the girl refused his
+escort, being still in fear of him, she could not get quit of him; but he
+attended her home; after which he hied him straight to his father's
+house, and announced that he was minded on no account to go back to the
+farm: which intelligence was far from welcome to his father and kinsmen;
+but nevertheless they suffered him to stay, and waited to see what might
+be the reason of his change of mind. So Cimon, whose heart, closed to all
+teaching, love's shaft, sped by the beauty of Iphigenia, had penetrated,
+did now graduate in wisdom with such celerity as to astonish his father
+and kinsmen, and all that knew him. He began by requesting his father to
+let him go clad in the like apparel, and with, in all respects, the like
+personal equipment as his brothers: which his father very gladly did.
+Mixing thus with the gallants, and becoming familiar with the manners
+proper to gentlemen, and especially to lovers, he very soon, to the
+exceeding great wonder of all, not only acquired the rudiments of
+letters, but waxed most eminent among the philosophic wits. After which
+(for no other cause than the love he bore to Iphigenia) he not only
+modulated his gruff and boorish voice to a degree of smoothness suitable
+to urbane life, but made himself accomplished in singing and music; in
+riding also and in all matters belonging to war, as well by sea as by
+land, he waxed most expert and hardy. And in sum (that I go not about to
+enumerate each of his virtues in detail) he had not completed the fourth
+year from the day of his first becoming enamoured before he was grown the
+most gallant, and courteous, ay, and the most perfect in particular
+accomplishments, of the young cavaliers that were in the island of
+Cyprus. What then, gracious ladies, are we to say of Cimon? Verily nought
+else but that the high faculties, with which Heaven had endowed his noble
+soul, invidious Fortune had bound with the strongest of cords, and
+circumscribed within a very narrow region of his heart; all which cords
+Love, more potent than Fortune, burst and brake in pieces; and then with
+the might, wherewith he awakens dormant powers, he brought them forth of
+the cruel obfuscation, in which they lay, into clear light, plainly
+shewing thereby, whence he may draw, and whither he may guide, by his
+beams the souls that are subject to his sway.
+
+Now, albeit by his love for Iphigenia Cimon was betrayed, as young lovers
+very frequently are, into some peccadillos, yet Aristippus, reflecting
+that it had turned him from a booby into a man, not only bore patiently
+with him, but exhorted him with all his heart to continue steadfast in
+his love. And Cimon, who still refused to be called Galesus, because
+'twas as Cimon that Iphigenia had first addressed him, being desirous to
+accomplish his desire by honourable means, did many a time urge his suit
+upon her father, Cipseus, that he would give her him to wife: whereto
+Cipseus always made the same answer, to wit, that he had promised her to
+Pasimondas, a young Rhodian noble, and was not minded to break faith with
+him. However, the time appointed for Iphigenia's wedding being come, and
+the bridegroom having sent for her, Cimon said to himself:--'Tis now for
+me to shew thee, O Iphigenia, how great is my love for thee: 'tis by thee
+that I am grown a man, nor doubt I, if I shall have thee, that I shall
+wax more glorious than a god, and verily thee will I have, or die. Having
+so said, he privily enlisted in his cause certain young nobles that were
+his friends, and secretly fitted out a ship with all equipment meet for
+combat, and put to sea on the look-out for the ship that was to bear
+Iphigenia to Rhodes and her husband. And at length, when her father had
+done lavishing honours upon her husband's friends, Iphigenia embarked,
+and, the mariners shaping their course for Rhodes, put to sea. Cimon was
+on the alert, and overhauled them the very next day, and standing on his
+ship's prow shouted amain to those that were aboard Iphigenia's
+ship:--"Bring to; strike sails, or look to be conquered and sunk in the
+sea." Then, seeing that the enemy had gotten their arms above deck, and
+were making ready to make a fight of it, he followed up his words by
+casting a grapnel upon the poop of the Rhodians, who were making great
+way; and having thus made their poop fast to his prow, he sprang, fierce
+as a lion, reckless whether he were followed or no, on to the Rhodians'
+ship, making, as it were, no account of them, and animated by love,
+hurled himself, sword in hand, with prodigious force among the enemy, and
+cutting and thrusting right and left, slaughtered them like sheep;
+insomuch that the Rhodians, marking the fury of his onset, threw down
+their arms, and as with one voice did all acknowledge themselves his
+prisoners. To whom Cimon:--"Gallants," quoth he, "'twas neither lust of
+booty nor enmity to you that caused me to put out from Cyprus to attack
+you here with force of arms on the high seas. Moved was I thereto by that
+which to gain is to me a matter great indeed, which peaceably to yield me
+is to you but a slight matter; for 'tis even Iphigenia, whom more than
+aught else I love; whom, as I might not have her of her father in
+peaceable and friendly sort, Love has constrained me to take from you in
+this high-handed fashion and by force of arms; to whom I mean to be even
+such as would have been your Pasimondas: wherefore give her to me, and go
+your way, and God's grace go with you."
+
+Yielding rather to force than prompted by generosity, the Rhodians
+surrendered Iphigenia, all tears, to Cimon; who, marking her tears, said
+to her:--"Grieve not, noble lady; thy Cimon am I, who, by my long love,
+have established a far better right to thee than Pasimondas by the faith
+that was plighted to him." So saying, he sent her aboard his ship,
+whither he followed her, touching nought that belonged to the Rhodians,
+and suffering them to go their way. To have gotten so dear a prize made
+him the happiest man in the world, but for a time 'twas all he could do
+to assuage her grief: then, after taking counsel with his comrades, he
+deemed it best not to return to Cyprus for the present: and so, by common
+consent they shaped their course for Crete, where most of them, and
+especially Cimon, had alliances of old or recent date, and friends not a
+few, whereby they deemed that there they might tarry with Iphigenia in
+security. But Fortune, that had accorded Cimon so gladsome a capture of
+the lady, suddenly proved fickle, and converted the boundless joy of the
+enamoured gallant into woeful and bitter lamentation. 'Twas not yet full
+four hours since Cimon had parted from the Rhodians, when with the
+approach of night, that night from which Cimon hoped such joyance as he
+had never known, came weather most turbulent and tempestuous, which
+wrapped the heavens in cloud, and swept the sea with scathing blasts;
+whereby 'twas not possible for any to see how the ship was to be worked
+or steered, or to steady himself so as to do any duty upon her deck.
+Whereat what grief was Cimon's, it boots not to ask. Indeed it seemed to
+him that the gods had granted his heart's desire only that it might be
+harder for him to die, which had else been to him but a light matter. Not
+less downcast were his comrades; but most of all Iphigenia, who, weeping
+bitterly and shuddering at every wave that struck the ship, did cruelly
+curse Cimon's love and censure his rashness, averring that this tempest
+was come upon them for no other cause than that the gods had decreed,
+that, as 'twas in despite of their will that he purposed to espouse her,
+he should be frustrate of his presumptuous intent, and having lived to
+see her expire, should then himself meet a woeful death.
+
+While thus and yet more bitterly they bewailed them, and the mariners
+were at their wits' end, as the gale grew hourly more violent, nor knew
+they, nor might conjecture, whither they went, they drew nigh the island
+of Rhodes, albeit that Rhodes it was they wist not, and set themselves,
+as best and most skilfully they might, to run the ship aground. In which
+enterprise Fortune favoured them, bringing them into a little bay, where,
+shortly before them, was arrived the Rhodian ship that Cimon had let go.
+Nor were they sooner ware that 'twas Rhodes they had made, than day
+broke, and, the sky thus brightening a little, they saw that they were
+about a bow-shot from the ship that they had released on the preceding
+day. Whereupon Cimon, vexed beyond measure, being apprehensive of that
+which in fact befell them, bade make every effort to win out of the bay,
+and let Fortune carry them whither she would, for nowhere might they be
+in worse plight than there. So might and main they strove to bring the
+ship out, but all in vain: the violence of the gale thwarted them to such
+purpose as not only to preclude their passage out of the bay but to drive
+them, willing nilling, ashore. Whither no sooner were they come, than
+they were recognized by the Rhodian mariners, who were already landed. Of
+whom one ran with all speed to a farm hard by, whither the Rhodian
+gallants were gone, and told them that Fortune had brought Cimon and
+Iphigenia aboard their ship into the same bay to which she had guided
+them. Whereat the gallants were overjoyed, and taking with them not a few
+of the farm-servants, hied them in hot haste to the shore, where, Cimon
+and his men being already landed with intent to take refuge in a
+neighbouring wood, they took them all (with Iphigenia) and brought them
+to the farm. Whence, pursuant to an order of the Senate of Rhodes, to
+which, so soon as he received the news, Pasimondas made his complaint,
+Cimon and his men were all marched off to prison by Lysimachus, chief
+magistrate of the Rhodians for that year, who came down from the city for
+the purpose with an exceeding great company of men at arms. On such wise
+did our hapless and enamoured Cimon lose his so lately won Iphigenia
+before he had had of her more than a kiss or two. Iphigenia was
+entertained and comforted of the annoy, occasioned as well by her recent
+capture as by the fury of the sea, by not a few noble ladies of Rhodes,
+with whom she tarried until the day appointed for her marriage. In
+recompense of the release of the Rhodian gallants on the preceding day
+the lives of Cimon and his men were spared, notwithstanding that
+Pasimondas pressed might and main for their execution; and instead they
+were condemned to perpetual imprisonment: wherein, as may be supposed,
+they abode in dolorous plight, and despaired of ever again knowing
+happiness.
+
+However, it so befell that, Pasimondas accelerating his nuptials to the
+best of his power, Fortune, as if repenting her that in her haste she had
+done Cimon so evil a turn, did now by a fresh disposition of events
+compass his deliverance. Pasimondas had a brother, by name Hormisdas, his
+equal in all respects save in years, who had long been contract to marry
+Cassandra, a fair and noble damsel of Rhodes, of whom Lysimachus was in
+the last degree enamoured; but owing to divers accidents the marriage had
+been from time to time put off. Now Pasimondas, being about to celebrate
+his nuptials with exceeding great pomp, bethought him that he could not
+do better than, to avoid a repetition of the pomp and expense, arrange,
+if so he might, that his brother should be wedded on the same day with
+himself. So, having consulted anew with Cassandra's kinsfolk, and come to
+an understanding with them, he and his brother and they conferred
+together, and agreed that on the same day that Pasimondas married
+Iphigenia, Hormisdas should marry Cassandra. Lysimachus, getting wind of
+this arrangement, was mortified beyond measure, seeing himself thereby
+deprived of the hope which he cherished of marrying Cassandra himself, if
+Hormisdas should not forestall him. But like a wise man he concealed his
+chagrin, and cast about how he might frustrate the arrangement: to which
+end he saw no other possible means but to carry Cassandra off. It did not
+escape him that the office which he held would render this easily
+feasible, but he deemed it all the more dishonourable than if he had not
+held the office; but, in short, after much pondering, honour yielded
+place to love, and he made up his mind that, come what might, he would
+carry Cassandra off. Then, as he took thought what company he should take
+with him, and how he should go about the affair, he remembered Cimon,
+whom he had in prison with his men, and it occurred to him that he could
+not possibly have a better or more trusty associate in such an enterprise
+than Cimon. Wherefore the same night he caused Cimon to be brought
+privily to him in his own room, and thus addressed him:--"Cimon, as the
+gods are most generous and liberal to bestow their gifts on men, so are
+they also most sagacious to try their virtue; and those whom they find to
+be firm and steadfast in all circumstances they honour, as the most
+worthy, with the highest rewards. They have been minded to be certified
+of thy worth by better proofs than thou couldst afford them, as long as
+thy life was bounded by thy father's house amid the superabundant wealth
+which I know him to possess: wherefore in the first place they so wrought
+upon thee with the shrewd incitements of Love that from an insensate
+brute, as I have heard, thou grewest to be a man; since when, it has been
+and is their intent to try whether evil fortune and harsh imprisonment
+may avail to change thee from the temper that was thine when for a short
+while thou hadst joyance of the prize thou hadst won. And so thou prove
+the same that thou wast then, they have in store for thee a boon
+incomparably greater than aught that they vouchsafed thee before: what
+that boon is, to the end thou mayst recover heart and thy wonted
+energies, I will now explain to thee. Pasimondas, exultant in thy
+misfortune and eager to compass thy death, hastens to the best of his
+power his nuptials with thy Iphigenia; that so he may enjoy the prize
+that Fortune, erstwhile smiling, gave thee, and forthwith, frowning, reft
+from thee. Whereat how sore must be thy grief, if rightly I gauge thy
+love, I know by my own case, seeing that his brother Hormisdas addresses
+himself to do me on the same day a like wrong in regard of Cassandra,
+whom I love more than aught else in the world. Nor see I that Fortune has
+left us any way of escape from this her unjust and cruel spite, save what
+we may make for ourselves by a resolved spirit and the might of our right
+hands: take we then the sword, and therewith make we, each, prize of his
+lady, thou for the second, I for the first time: for so thou value the
+recovery, I say not of thy liberty, for without thy lady I doubt thou
+wouldst hold it cheap, but of thy lady, the gods have placed it in thine
+own hands, if thou art but minded to join me in my enterprise."
+
+These words restored to Cimon all that he had lost of heart and hope, nor
+pondered he long, before he replied:--"Lysimachus, comrade stouter or
+more staunch than I thou mightst not have in such an enterprise, if such
+indeed it be as thou sayst: wherefore lay upon me such behest as thou
+shalt deem meet, and thou shalt marvel to witness the vigour of my
+performance." Whereupon Lysimachus:--"On the third day from now," quoth
+he, "their husbands' houses will be newly entered by the brides, and on
+the same day at even we too will enter them in arms, thou with thy men,
+and I with some of mine, in whom I place great trust, and forcing our way
+among the guests and slaughtering all that dare to oppose us, will bear
+the ladies off to a ship which I have had privily got ready." Cimon
+approved the plan, and kept quiet in prison until the appointed time;
+which being come, the nuptials were celebrated with great pomp and
+magnificence, that filled the houses of the two brothers with festal
+cheer. Then Lysimachus having made ready all things meet, and fired Cimon
+and his men and his own friends for the enterprise by a long harangue,
+disposed them in due time, all bearing arms under their cloaks, in three
+companies; and having privily despatched one company to the port, that,
+when the time should come to embark, he might meet with no let, he
+marched with the other two companies to the house of Pasimondas, posted
+the one company at the gate, that, being entered, they might not be shut
+in or debarred their egress, and, with the other company and Cimon,
+ascended the stairs, and gained the saloon, where the brides and not a
+few other ladies were set at several tables to sup in meet order:
+whereupon in they rushed, and overthrew the tables and seized each his
+own lady, and placed them in charge of their men, whom they bade bear
+them off forthwith to the ship that lay ready to receive them. Whereupon
+the brides and the other ladies and the servants with one accord fell a
+sobbing and shrieking, insomuch that a confused din and lamentation
+filled the whole place. Cimon, Lysimachus and their band, none
+withstanding, but all giving way before them, gained the stairs, which
+they were already descending when they encountered Pasimondas, who,
+carrying a great staff in his hand, was making in the direction of the
+noise; but one doughty stroke of Cimon's sword sufficed to cleave his
+skull in twain, and lay him dead at Cimon's feet, and another stroke
+disposed of hapless Hormisdas, as he came running to his brother's aid.
+Some others who ventured to approach them were wounded and beaten off by
+the retinue. So forth of the house, that reeked with blood and resounded
+with tumult and lamentation and woe, sped Simon and Lysimachus with all
+their company, and without any let, in close order, with their fair booty
+in their midst, made good their retreat to the ship; whereon with the
+ladies they one and all embarked, for the shore was now full of armed men
+come to rescue the ladies, and, the oarsmen giving way, put to sea elate.
+Arrived at Crete, they met with a hearty welcome on the part of their
+many friends and kinsfolk; and, having married their ladies, they made
+greatly merry, and had gladsome joyance of their fair booty. Their doings
+occasioned, both in Cyprus and in Rhodes, no small stir and commotion,
+which lasted for a long while: but in the end, by the good offices of
+their friends and kinsfolk in both islands, 'twas so ordered as that
+after a certain term of exile Cimon returned with Iphigenia to Cyprus,
+and in like manner Lysimachus returned with Cassandra to Rhodes; and long
+and blithely thereafter lived they, each well contented with his own wife
+in his own land.
+
+(1) One of the augmentative forms of bestia.
+
+
+NOVEL II.
+
+--
+Gostanza loves Martuccio Gomito, and hearing that he is dead, gives way
+to despair, and hies her alone aboard a boat, which is wafted by the wind
+to Susa. She finds him alive in Tunis, and makes herself known to him,
+who, having by his counsel gained high place in the king's favour,
+marries her, and returns with her wealthy to Lipari.
+--
+
+Pamfilo's story being ended, the queen, after commending it not a little,
+called for one to follow from Emilia; who thus began:--
+
+Meet and right it is that one should rejoice when events so fall out that
+passion meets with its due reward: and as love merits in the long run
+rather joy than suffering, far gladlier obey I the queen's than I did the
+king's behest, and address myself to our present theme. You are to know
+then, dainty ladies, that not far from Sicily there is an islet called
+Lipari, in which, no great while ago, there dwelt a damsel, Gostanza by
+name, fair as fair could be, and of one of the most honourable families
+in the island. And one Martuccio Gomito, who was also of the island, a
+young man most gallant and courteous, and worthy for his condition,
+became enamoured of Gostanza; who in like manner grew so afire for him
+that she was ever ill at ease, except she saw him. Martuccio, craving her
+to wife, asked her of her father, who made answer that, Martuccio being
+poor, he was not minded to give her to him. Mortified to be thus rejected
+by reason of poverty, Martuccio took an oath in presence of some of his
+friends and kinsfolk that Lipari should know him no more, until he was
+wealthy. So away he sailed, and took to scouring the seas as a rover on
+the coast of Barbary, preying upon all whose force matched not his own.
+In which way of life he found Fortune favourable enough, had he but known
+how to rest and be thankful: but 'twas not enough that he and his
+comrades in no long time waxed very wealthy; their covetousness was
+inordinate, and, while they sought to gratify it, they chanced in an
+encounter with certain Saracen ships to be taken after a long defence,
+and despoiled, and, most part of them, thrown into the sea by their
+captors, who, after sinking his ship, took Martuccio with them to Tunis,
+and clapped him in prison, and there kept him a long time in a very sad
+plight.
+
+Meanwhile, not by one or two, but by divers and not a few persons,
+tidings reached Lipari that all that were with Martuccio aboard his bark
+had perished in the sea. The damsel, whose grief on Martuccio's departure
+had known no bounds, now hearing that he was dead with the rest, wept a
+great while, and made up her mind to have done with life; but, lacking
+the resolution to lay violent hands upon herself, she bethought her how
+she might devote herself to death by some novel expedient. So one night
+she stole out of her father's house, and hied her to the port, and there
+by chance she found, lying a little apart from the other craft, a fishing
+boat, which, as the owners had but just quitted her, was still equipped
+with mast and sails and oars. Aboard which boat she forthwith got, and
+being, like most of the women of the island, not altogether without
+nautical skill, she rowed some distance out to sea, and then hoisted
+sail, and cast away oars and tiller, and let the boat drift, deeming that
+a boat without lading or steersman would certainly be either capsized by
+the wind or dashed against some rock and broken in pieces, so that escape
+she could not, even if she would, but must perforce drown. And so, her
+head wrapped in a mantle, she stretched herself weeping on the floor of
+the boat. But it fell out quite otherwise than she had conjectured: for,
+the wind being from the north, and very equable, with next to no sea, the
+boat kept an even keel, and next day about vespers bore her to land hard
+by a city called Susa, full a hundred miles beyond Tunis. To the damsel
+'twas all one whether she were at sea or ashore, for, since she had been
+aboard, she had never once raised, nor, come what might, meant she ever
+to raise, her head.
+
+Now it so chanced, that, when the boat grounded, there was on the shore a
+poor woman that was in the employ of some fishermen, whose nets she was
+just taking out of the sunlight. Seeing the boat under full sail, she
+marvelled how it should be suffered to drive ashore, and conjectured that
+the fishermen on board were asleep. So to the boat she hied her, and
+finding therein only the damsel fast asleep, she called her many times,
+and at length awakened her; and perceiving by her dress that she was a
+Christian, she asked her in Latin how it was that she was come thither
+all alone in the boat. Hearing the Latin speech, the damsel wondered
+whether the wind had not shifted, and carried her back to Lipari: so up
+she started, gazed about her, and finding herself ashore and the aspect
+of the country strange, asked the good woman where she was. To which the
+good woman made answer:--"My daughter, thou art hard by Susa in Barbary."
+Whereupon the damsel, sorrowful that God had not seen fit to accord her
+the boon of death, apprehensive of dishonour, and at her wits' end, sat
+herself down at the foot of her boat, and burst into tears. Which the
+good woman saw not without pity, and persuaded her to come with her into
+her hut, and there by coaxing drew from her how she was come thither; and
+knowing that she could not but be fasting, she set before her her own
+coarse bread and some fish and water, and prevailed upon her to eat a
+little. Gostanza thereupon asked her, who she was that thus spoke Latin;
+whereto she answered that her name was Carapresa, and that she was from
+Trapani, where she had served some Christian fishermen. To the damsel,
+sad indeed though she was, this name Carapresa, wherefore she knew not,
+seemed to be of happy augury, so that she began to take hope, she knew
+not why, and to grow somewhat less fain of death: wherefore without
+disclosing who or whence she was, she earnestly besought the good woman
+for the love of God to have pity on her youth, and advise her how best to
+avoid insult. Whereupon Carapresa, good woman that she was, left her in
+her hut, while with all speed she picked up her nets; and on her return
+she wrapped her in her own mantle, and led her to Susa. Arrived there,
+she said to her:--"Gostanza, I shall bring thee to the house of an
+excellent Saracen lady, for whom I frequently do bits of work, as she has
+occasion: she is an old lady and compassionate: I will commend thee to
+her care as best I may, and I doubt not she will right gladly receive
+thee, and entreat thee as her daughter: and thou wilt serve her, and,
+while thou art with her, do all thou canst to gain her favour, until such
+time as God may send thee better fortune;" and as she said, so she did.
+
+The old lady listened, and then, gazing steadfastly in the damsel's face,
+shed tears, and taking her hand, kissed her forehead, and led her into
+the house, where she and some other women dwelt quite by themselves,
+doing divers kinds of handiwork in silk and palm leaves and leather.
+Wherein the damsel in a few days acquired some skill, and thenceforth
+wrought together with them; and rose wondrous high in the favour and good
+graces of all the ladies, who soon taught her their language.
+
+Now while the damsel, mourned at home as lost and dead, dwelt thus at
+Susa, it so befell that, Mariabdela being then King of Tunis, a young
+chieftain in Granada, of great power, and backed by mighty allies, gave
+out that the realm of Tunis belonged to him, and having gathered a vast
+army, made a descent upon Tunis with intent to expel the King from the
+realm. Martuccio Gomito, who knew the language of Barbary well, heard the
+tidings in prison, and learning that the King of Tunis was mustering a
+mighty host for the defence of his kingdom, said to one of the warders
+that were in charge of him and his comrades:--"If I might have speech of
+the King, I am confident that the advice that I should give him would
+secure him the victory." The warder repeated these words to his chief,
+who forthwith carried them to the King. Wherefore by the King's command
+Martuccio was brought before him, and being asked by him what the advice,
+of which he had spoken, might be, answered on this wise:--"Sire, if in
+old days, when I was wont to visit this country of yours, I duly observed
+the manner in which you order your battle, methinks you place your main
+reliance upon archers; and therefore, if you could contrive that your
+enemy's supply of arrows should give out and your own continue plentiful,
+I apprehend that you would win the battle." "Ay indeed," replied the
+King, "I make no doubt that, could I but accomplish that, I should
+conquer." "Nay but, Sire," returned Martuccio, "you may do it, if you
+will. Listen, and I will tell you how. You must fit the bows of your
+archers with strings much finer than those that are in common use, and
+match them with arrows, the notches of which will not admit any but these
+fine strings; and this you must do so secretly that your enemy may not
+know it, else he will find means to be even with you. Which counsel I
+give you for the following reason:--When your and your enemy's archers
+have expended all their arrows, you wot that the enemy will fall to
+picking up the arrows that your men have shot during the battle, and your
+men will do the like by the enemy's arrows; but the enemy will not be
+able to make use of your men's arrows, by reason that their fine notches
+will not suffice to admit the stout strings, whereas your men will be in
+the contrary case in regard of the enemy's arrows, for the fine string
+will very well receive the large-notched arrow, and so your men will have
+an abundant supply of arrows, while the enemy will be at a loss for
+them."
+
+The King, who lacked not sagacity, appreciated Martuccio's advice, and
+gave full effect to it; whereby he came out of the war a conqueror, and
+Martuccio, being raised to the chief place in his favour, waxed rich and
+powerful. Which matters being bruited throughout the country, it came to
+the ears of Gostanza that Martuccio Gomito, whom she had long supposed to
+be dead, was alive; whereby her love for him, some embers of which still
+lurked in her heart, burst forth again in sudden flame, and gathered
+strength, and revived her dead hope. Wherefore she frankly told all her
+case to the good lady with whom she dwelt, saying that she would fain go
+to Tunis, that her eyes might have assurance of that which the report
+received by her ears had made them yearn to see. The lady fell heartily
+in with the girl's desire, and, as if she had been her mother, embarked
+with her for Tunis, where on their arrival they were honourably received
+in the house of one of her kinswomen. Carapresa, who had attended her,
+being sent to discover what she might touching Martuccio, brought back
+word that he was alive, and high in honour and place. The gentlewoman was
+minded that none but herself should apprise Martuccio of the arrival of
+his Gostanza: wherefore she hied her one day to Martuccio, and
+said:--"Martuccio, there is come to my house a servant of thine from
+Lipari, who would fain speak with thee here privily, and for that he
+would not have me trust another, I am come hither myself to deliver his
+message." Martuccio thanked her, and forthwith hied him with her to her
+house: where no sooner did the girl see him than she all but died for
+joy, and carried away by her feelings, fell upon his neck with open arms
+and embraced him, and, what with sorrow of his past woes and her present
+happiness, said never a word, but softly wept. Martuccio regarded her for
+a while in silent wonder; then, heaving a sigh, he said:--"Thou livest
+then, my Gostanza? Long since I heard that thou wast lost; nor was aught
+known of thee at home." Which said, he tenderly and with tears embraced
+her. Gostanza told him all her adventures, and how honourably she had
+been entreated by the gentlewoman with whom she had dwelt. And so long
+time they conversed, and then Martuccio parted from her, and hied him
+back to his lord the King, and told him all, to wit, his own adventures
+and those of the girl, adding that with his leave he was minded to marry
+her according to our law. Which matters the King found passing strange;
+and having called the girl to him, and learned from her that 'twas even
+as Martuccio had said:--"Well indeed," quoth he, "hast thou won thy
+husband." Then caused he gifts most ample and excellent to be brought
+forth, part of which he gave to Gostanza, and part to Martuccio, leaving
+them entirely to their own devices in regard of one another. Then
+Martuccio, in terms most honourable, bade farewell to the old lady with
+whom Gostanza had dwelt, thanking her for the service she had rendered to
+Gostanza, and giving her presents suited to her condition, and commending
+her to God, while Gostanza shed many a tear: after which, by leave of the
+King, they went aboard a light bark, taking with them Carapresa, and,
+sped by a prosperous breeze, arrived at Lipari, where they were received
+with such cheer as 'twere vain to attempt to describe. There were
+Martuccio and Gostanza wedded with all pomp and splendour; and there long
+time in easeful peace they had joyance of their love.
+
+
+NOVEL III.
+
+--
+Pietro Boccamazza runs away with Agnolella, and encounters a gang of
+robbers: the girl takes refuge in a wood, and is guided to a castle.
+Pietro is taken, but escapes out of the hands of the robbers, and after
+some adventures arrives at the castle where Agnolella is, marries her,
+and returns with her to Rome.
+--
+
+Ended Emilia's story, which none of the company spared to commend, the
+queen, turning to Elisa, bade her follow suit; and she, with glad
+obedience, thus began:--
+
+'Tis a story, sweet ladies, of a woeful night passed by two indiscreet
+young lovers that I have in mind; but, as thereon ensued not a few days
+of joy, 'tis not inapposite to our argument, and shall be narrated.
+
+'Tis no long time since at Rome, which, albeit now the tail,(1) was of
+yore the head, of the world, there dwelt a young man, Pietro Boccamazza
+by name, a scion of one of the most illustrious of the Roman houses, who
+became enamoured of a damsel exceeding fair, and amorous withal--her name
+Agnolella--the daughter of one Gigliuozzo Saullo, a plebeian, but in high
+repute among the Romans. Nor, loving thus, did Pietro lack the address to
+inspire in Agnolella a love as ardent as his own. Wherefore, overmastered
+by his passion, and minded no longer to endure the sore suffering that it
+caused him, he asked her in marriage. Whereof his kinsfolk were no sooner
+apprised, than with one accord they came to him and strongly urged him to
+desist from his purpose: they also gave Gigliuozzo Saullo to understand
+that he were best to pay no sort of heed to Pietro's words, for that, if
+he so did, they would never acknowledge him as friend or relative. Thus
+to see himself debarred of the one way by which he deemed he might attain
+to his desire, Pietro was ready to die for grief, and, all his kinsfolk
+notwithstanding, he would have married Gigliuozzo's daughter, had but the
+father consented. Wherefore at length he made up his mind that, if the
+girl were willing, nought should stand in the way; and having through a
+common friend sounded the damsel and found her apt, he brought her to
+consent to elope with him from Rome. The affair being arranged, Pietro
+and she took horse betimes one morning, and sallied forth for Anagni,
+where Pietro had certain friends, in whom he placed much trust; and as
+they rode, time not serving for full joyance of their love, for they
+feared pursuit, they held converse thereof, and from time to time
+exchanged a kiss. Now it so befell, that, the way being none too well
+known to Pietro, when, perhaps eight miles from Rome, they should have
+turned to the right, they took instead a leftward road. Whereon when they
+had ridden but little more than two miles, they found themselves close to
+a petty castle, whence, so soon as they were observed, there issued some
+dozen men at arms; and, as they drew near, the damsel, espying them, gave
+a cry, and said:--"We are attacked, Pietro, let us flee;" and guiding her
+nag as best she knew towards a great forest, she planted the spurs in his
+sides, and so, holding on by the saddle-bow, was borne by the goaded
+creature into the forest at a gallop. Pietro, who had been too engrossed
+with her face to give due heed to the way, and thus had not been ware, as
+soon as she, of the approach of the men at arms, was still looking about
+to see whence they were coming, when they came up with him, and took him
+prisoner, and forced him to dismount. Then they asked who he was, and,
+when he told them, they conferred among themselves, saying:--"This is one
+of the friends of our enemies: what else can we do but relieve him of his
+nag and of his clothes, and hang him on one of these oaks in scorn of the
+Orsini?" To which proposal all agreeing, they bade Pietro strip himself:
+but while, already divining his fate, he was so doing, an ambuscade of
+full five-and-twenty men at arms fell suddenly upon them,
+crying:--"Death, death!" Thus surprised, they let Pietro go, and stood on
+the defensive; but, seeing that the enemy greatly outnumbered them, they
+took to their heels, the others giving chase. Whereupon Pietro hastily
+resumed his clothes, mounted his nag, and fled with all speed in the
+direction which he had seen the damsel take. But finding no road or path
+through the forest, nor discerning any trace of a horse's hooves, he
+was--for that he found not the damsel--albeit he deemed himself safe out
+of the clutches of his captors and their assailants, the most wretched
+man alive, and fell a weeping and wandering hither and thither about the
+forest, uttering Agnolella's name. None answered; but turn back he dared
+not: so on he went, not knowing whither he went; besides which, he was in
+mortal dread of the wild beasts that infest the forest, as well on
+account of himself as of the damsel, whom momently he seemed to see
+throttled by some bear or wolf. Thus did our unfortunate Pietro spend the
+whole day, wandering about the forest, making it to resound with his
+cries of Agnolella's name, and harking at times back, when he thought to
+go forward; until at last, what with his cries and his tears and his
+fears and his long fasting, he was so spent that he could go no further.
+'Twas then nightfall, and, as he knew not what else to do, he dismounted
+at the foot of an immense oak, and having tethered his nag to the trunk,
+climbed up into the branches, lest he should be devoured by the wild
+beasts during the night. Shortly afterwards the moon rose with a very
+clear sky, and Pietro, who dared not sleep, lest he should fall, and
+indeed, had he been secure from that risk, his misery and his anxiety on
+account of the damsel would not have suffered him to sleep, kept watch,
+sighing and weeping and cursing his evil luck.
+
+Now the damsel, who, as we said before, had fled she knew not whither,
+allowing her nag to carry her whithersoever he would, strayed so far into
+the forest that she lost sight of the place where she had entered it, and
+spent the whole day just as Pietro had done, wandering about the
+wilderness, pausing from time to time, and weeping, and uttering his
+name, and bewailing her evil fortune. At last, seeing that 'twas now the
+vesper hour and Pietro came not, she struck into a path, which the nag
+followed, until, after riding some two miles, she espied at some distance
+a cottage, for which she made with all speed, and found there a good man,
+well stricken in years, with his wife, who was likewise aged. Seeing her
+ride up alone, they said:--"Daughter, wherefore ridest thou thus alone at
+this hour in these parts?" Weeping, the damsel made answer that she had
+lost her companion in the forest, and asked how far might Anagni be from
+there? "My daughter," returned the good man, "this is not the road to
+Anagni; 'tis more than twelve miles away." "And how far off," inquired
+the damsel, "are the nearest houses in which one might find lodging for
+the night?" "There are none so near," replied the good man, "that thou
+canst reach them to-day." "Then, so please you," said the damsel, "since
+go elsewhither I cannot, for God's sake let me pass the night here with
+you." Whereto the good man made answer:--"Damsel, welcome art thou to
+tarry the night with us; but still thou art to know that these parts are
+infested both by day and by night by bands, which, be they friends or be
+they foes, are alike ill to meet with, and not seldom do much despite and
+mischief, and if by misadventure one of these bands should visit us while
+thou wert here, and marking thy youth and beauty should do thee despite
+and dishonour, we should be unable to afford thee any succour. This we
+would have thee know, that if it should so come to pass, thou mayst not
+have cause to reproach us." The damsel heard not the old man's words
+without dismay; but, seeing that the hour was now late, she
+answered:--"God, if He be so pleased, will save both you and me from such
+molestation, and if not, 'tis a much lesser evil to be maltreated by men
+than to be torn in pieces by the wild beasts in the forest." So saying,
+she dismounted, and entered the cottage, where, having supped with the
+poor man and his wife on such humble fare as they had, she laid herself
+in her clothes beside them in their bed. She slept not, however; for her
+own evil plight and that of Pietro, for whom she knew not how to augur
+aught but evil, kept her sighing and weeping all night long. And towards
+matins she heard a great noise as of men that marched; so up she got and
+hied her into a large courtyard that was in rear of the cottage, and part
+of which was covered with a great heap of hay, which she espying, hid
+herself therein, that, if the men came there, they might not so readily
+find her. Scarce had she done so than the men, who proved to be a strong
+company of marauders, were at the door of the cottage, which they forced
+open; and having entered, and found the damsel's nag, still saddled, they
+asked who was there. The damsel being out of sight, the good man
+answered:--"There is none here but my wife and I; but this nag, which has
+given some one the slip, found his way hither last night, and we housed
+him, lest he should be devoured by the wolves." "So!" said the chief of
+the band, "as he has no owner, he will come in very handy for us."
+
+Whereupon, in several parties, they ransacked the cottage from top to
+bottom; and one party went out into the courtyard, where, as they threw
+aside their lances and targets, it so befell that one of them, not
+knowing where else to bestow his lance, tossed it into the hay, and was
+within an ace of killing the damsel that lay hid there, as likewise she
+of betraying her whereabouts, for the lance all but grazing her left
+breast, insomuch that the head tore her apparel, she doubted she was
+wounded, and had given a great shriek, but that, remembering where she
+was, she refrained for fear. By and by the company cooked them a
+breakfast of kid's and other meat, and having eaten and drunken,
+dispersed in divers directions, as their affairs required, taking the
+girl's nag with them. And when they were gotten some little way off, the
+good man asked his wife:--"What became of the damsel, our guest of last
+night, that I have not seen her since we rose?" The good woman answered
+that she knew not where the damsel was, and went to look for her. The
+damsel, discovering that the men were gone, came forth of the hay, and
+the good man, seeing her, was overjoyed that she had not fallen into the
+hands of the ruffians, and, as day was breaking, said to her:--"Now that
+day is at hand, we will, so it like thee, escort thee to a castle, some
+five miles hence, where thou wilt be in safety; but thou must needs go
+afoot, because these villains, that are but just gone, have taken thy nag
+with them." The damsel, resigning herself to her loss, besought them for
+God's sake to take her to the castle: whereupon they set forth, and
+arrived there about half tierce. Now the castle belonged to one of the
+Orsini, Liello di Campo di Fiore by name, whose wife, as it chanced, was
+there. A most kindly and good woman she was, and, recognizing the damsel
+as soon as she saw her, gave her a hearty welcome and would fain have
+from her a particular account of how she came there. So the damsel told
+her the whole story. The lady, to whom Pietro was also known, as being a
+friend of her husband, was distressed to hear of his misadventure, and
+being told where he was taken, gave him up for dead. So she said to the
+damsel:--"Since so it is that thou knowest not how Pietro has fared, thou
+shalt stay here with me until such time as I may have opportunity to send
+thee safely back to Rome."
+
+Meanwhile Pietro, perched on his oak in as woeful a plight as might be,
+had espied, when he should have been in his first sleep, a full score of
+wolves, that, as they prowled, caught sight of the nag, and straightway
+were upon him on all sides. The horse, as soon as he was ware of their
+approach, strained on the reins till they snapped, and tried to make good
+his escape; but, being hemmed in, was brought to bay, and made a long
+fight of it with his teeth and hooves; but in the end they bore him down
+and throttled him and forthwith eviscerated him, and, the whole pack
+falling upon him, devoured him to the bone before they had done with him.
+Whereat Pietro, who felt that in the nag he had lost a companion and a
+comfort in his travail, was sorely dismayed, and began to think that he
+should never get out of the forest. But towards dawn, he, perched there
+in the oak, almost dead with cold, looking around him as he frequently
+did, espied about a mile off a huge fire. Wherefore, as soon as 'twas
+broad day, he got down, not without trepidation, from the oak, and bent
+his steps towards the fire; and being come to it, he found, gathered
+about it, a company of shepherds, eating and making merry, who took pity
+on him and made him welcome. And when he had broken his fast and warmed
+himself, he told them the mishap that had befallen him, and how it was
+that he was come there alone, and asked them if there was a farm or
+castle in those parts, whither he might betake him. The shepherds said
+that about three miles away there was a castle belonging to Liello di
+Campo di Fiore, where his lady was then tarrying. Pietro, much comforted,
+requested to be guided thither by some of their company; whereupon two of
+them right gladly escorted him. So Pietro arrived at the castle, where he
+found some that knew him; and while he was endeavouring to set on foot a
+search for the damsel in the forest, the lady summoned him to her
+presence, and he, forthwith obeying, and seeing Agnolella with her, was
+the happiest man that ever was. He yearned till he all but swooned to go
+and embrace her, but refrained, for bashfulness, in the lady's presence.
+And overjoyed as he was, the joy of the damsel was no less. The lady
+received him with great cheer, and though, when she had heard the story
+of his adventures from his own lips, she chid him not a little for having
+set at nought the wishes of his kinsfolk; yet, seeing that he was still
+of the same mind, and that the damsel was also constant, she said to
+herself:--To what purpose give I myself all this trouble? they love one
+another, they know one another; they love with equal ardour; their love
+is honourable, and I doubt not is well pleasing to God, seeing that the
+one has escaped the gallows and the other the lance, and both the wild
+beasts: wherefore be it as they would have it. Then, turning to them, she
+said:--"If 'tis your will to be joined in wedlock as man and wife, mine
+jumps with it: here shall your nuptials be solemnized and at Liello's
+charges, and for the rest I will see that your peace is made with your
+kinsfolk." So in the castle the pair were wedded, Pietro only less blithe
+than Agnolella, the lady ordering the nuptials as honourably as might be
+in her mountain-home, and there they had most sweet joyance of the first
+fruits of their love. So some days they tarried there, and then
+accompanied by the lady with a strong escort, they took horse and
+returned to Rome, where, very wroth though she found Pietro's kinsfolk
+for what he had done, the lady re-established solid peace between him and
+them; and so at Rome Pietro and Agnolella lived together to a good old
+age in great tranquillity and happiness.
+
+(1) In reference to the forlorn condition of the city while the seat of
+the papacy was at Avignon, 1308-1377.
+
+
+NOVEL IV.
+
+--
+Ricciardo Manardi is found by Messer Lizio da Valbona with his daughter,
+whom he marries, and remains at peace with her father.
+--
+
+In silence Elisa received the praise bestowed on her story by her fair
+companions; and then the queen called for a story from Filostrato, who
+with a laugh began on this wise:--Chidden have I been so often and by so
+many of you for the sore burden, which I laid upon you, of discourse
+harsh and meet for tears, that, as some compensation for such annoy, I
+deem myself bound to tell you somewhat that may cause you to laugh a
+little: wherefore my story, which will be of the briefest, shall be of a
+love, the course whereof, save for sighs and a brief passage of fear
+mingled with shame, ran smooth to a happy consummation.
+
+Know then, noble ladies, that 'tis no long time since there dwelt in
+Romagna a right worthy and courteous knight, Messer Lizio da Valbona by
+name, who was already verging upon old age, when, as it happened, there
+was born to him of his wife, Madonna Giacomina, a daughter, who, as she
+grew up, became the fairest and most debonair of all the girls of those
+parts, and, for that she was the only daughter left to them, was most
+dearly loved and cherished by her father and mother, who guarded her with
+most jealous care, thinking to arrange some great match for her. Now
+there was frequently in Messer Lizio's house, and much in his company, a
+fine, lusty young man, one Ricciardo de' Manardi da Brettinoro, whom
+Messer Lizio and his wife would as little have thought of mistrusting as
+if he had been their own son: who, now and again taking note of the
+damsel, that she was very fair and graceful, and in bearing and behaviour
+most commendable, and of marriageable age, fell vehemently in love with
+her, which love he was very careful to conceal. The damsel detected it,
+however, and in like manner plunged headlong into love with him, to
+Ricciardo's no small satisfaction. Again and again he was on the point of
+speaking to her, but refrained for fear; at length, however, he summoned
+up his courage, and seizing his opportunity, thus addressed
+her:--"Caterina, I implore thee, suffer me not to die for love of thee."
+Whereto the damsel forthwith responded:--"Nay, God grant that it be not
+rather that I die for love of thee." Greatly exhilarated and encouraged,
+Ricciardo made answer:--"'Twill never be by default of mine that thou
+lackest aught that may pleasure thee; but it rests with thee to find the
+means to save thy life and mine." Then said the damsel:--"Thou seest,
+Ricciardo, how closely watched I am, insomuch that I see not how 'twere
+possible for thee to come to me; but if thou seest aught that I may do
+without dishonour, speak the word, and I will do it." Ricciardo was
+silent a while, pondering many matters: then, of a sudden, he
+said:--"Sweet my Caterina, there is but one way that I can see, to wit,
+that thou shouldst sleep either on or where thou mightst have access to
+the terrace by thy father's garden, where, so I but knew that thou
+wouldst be there at night, I would without fail contrive to meet thee,
+albeit 'tis very high." "As for my sleeping there," replied Caterina, "I
+doubt not that it may be managed, if thou art sure that thou canst join
+me." Ricciardo answered in the affirmative. Whereupon they exchanged a
+furtive kiss, and parted.
+
+On the morrow, it being now towards the close of May, the damsel began
+complaining to her mother that by reason of the excessive heat she had
+not been able to get any sleep during the night. "Daughter," said the
+lady, "what heat was there? Nay, there was no heat at all." "Had you
+said, 'to my thinking,' mother," rejoined Caterina, "you would perhaps
+have said sooth; but you should bethink you how much more heat girls have
+in them than ladies that are advanced in years." "True, my daughter,"
+returned the lady, "but I cannot order that it shall be hot and cold, as
+thou perchance wouldst like; we must take the weather as we find it, and
+as the seasons provide it: perchance to-night it will be cooler, and thou
+wilt sleep better." "God grant it be so," said Caterina, "but 'tis not
+wonted for the nights to grow cooler as the summer comes on." "What
+then," said the lady, "wouldst thou have me do?" "With your leave and my
+father's," answered Caterina, "I should like to have a little bed made up
+on the terrace by his room and over his garden, where, hearing the
+nightingales sing, and being in a much cooler place, I should sleep much
+better than in your room." Whereupon:--"Daughter, be of good cheer," said
+the mother; "I will speak to thy father, and we will do as he shall
+decide." So the lady told Messer Lizio what had passed between her and
+the damsel; but he, being old and perhaps for that reason a little
+morose, said:--"What nightingale is this, to whose chant she would fain
+sleep? I will see to it that the cicalas shall yet lull her to sleep."
+Which speech, coming to Caterina's ears, gave her such offence, that for
+anger, rather than by reason of the heat, she not only slept not herself
+that night, but suffered not her mother to sleep, keeping up a perpetual
+complaint of the great heat. Wherefore her mother hied her in the morning
+to Messer Lizio, and said to him:--"Sir, you hold your daughter none too
+dear; what difference can it make to you that she lie on the terrace? She
+has tossed about all night long by reason of the heat; and besides, can
+you wonder that she, girl that she is, loves to hear the nightingale
+sing? Young folk naturally affect their likes." Whereto Messer Lizio made
+answer:--"Go, make her a bed there to your liking, and set a curtain
+round it, and let her sleep there, and hear the nightingale sing to her
+heart's content." Which the damsel no sooner learned, than she had a bed
+made there with intent to sleep there that same night; wherefore she
+watched until she saw Ricciardo, whom by a concerted sign she gave to
+understand what he was to do. Messer Lizio, as soon as he had heard the
+damsel go to bed, locked a door that led from his room to the terrace,
+and went to sleep himself. When all was quiet, Ricciardo with the help of
+a ladder got upon a wall, and standing thereon laid hold of certain
+toothings of another wall, and not without great exertion and risk, had
+he fallen, clambered up on to the terrace, where the damsel received him
+quietly with the heartiest of cheer. Many a kiss they exchanged; and then
+got them to bed, where well-nigh all night long they had solace and
+joyance of one another, and made the nightingale sing not a few times.
+But, brief being the night and great their pleasure, towards dawn, albeit
+they wist it not, they fell asleep, Caterina's right arm encircling
+Ricciardo's neck, while with her left hand she held him by that part of
+his person which your modesty, my ladies, is most averse to name in the
+company of men. So, peacefully they slept, and were still asleep when day
+broke and Messer Lizio rose; and calling to mind that his daughter slept
+on the terrace, softly opened the door, saying to himself:--Let me see
+what sort of night's rest the nightingale has afforded our Caterina? And
+having entered, he gently raised the curtain that screened the bed, and
+saw Ricciardo asleep with her and in her embrace as described, both being
+quite naked and uncovered; and having taken note of Ricciardo, he went
+away, and hied him to his lady's room, and called her, saying:--"Up, up,
+wife, come and see; for thy daughter has fancied the nightingale to such
+purpose that she has caught him, and holds him in her hand." "How can
+this be?" said the lady. "Come quickly, and thou shalt see," replied
+Messer Lizio. So the lady huddled on her clothes, and silently followed
+Messer Lizio, and when they were come to the bed, and had raised the
+curtain, Madonna Giacomina saw plainly enough how her daughter had
+caught, and did hold the nightingale, whose song she had so longed to
+hear. Whereat the lady, deeming that Ricciardo had played her a cruel
+trick, would have cried out and upbraided him; but Messer Lizio said to
+her:--"Wife, as thou valuest my love, say not a word; for in good sooth,
+seeing that she has caught him, he shall be hers. Ricciardo is a
+gentleman and wealthy; an alliance with him cannot but be to our
+advantage: if he would part from me on good terms, he must first marry
+her, so that the nightingale shall prove to have been put in his own cage
+and not in that of another." Whereby the lady was reassured, seeing that
+her husband took the affair so quietly, and that her daughter had had a
+good night, and was rested, and had caught the nightingale. So she kept
+silence; nor had they long to wait before Ricciardo awoke; and, seeing
+that 'twas broad day, deemed that 'twas as much as his life was worth,
+and aroused Caterina, saying:--"Alas! my soul, what shall we do, now that
+day has come and surprised me here?" Which question Messer Lizio answered
+by coming forward, and saying:--"We shall do well." At sight of him
+Ricciardo felt as if his heart were torn out of his body, and sate up in
+the bed, and said:--"My lord, I cry you mercy for God's sake. I wot that
+my disloyalty and delinquency have merited death; wherefore deal with me
+even as it may seem best to you: however, I pray you, if so it may be, to
+spare my life, that I die not." "Ricciardo," replied Messer Lizio, "the
+love I bore thee, and the faith I reposed in thee, merited a better
+return; but still, as so it is, and youth has seduced thee into such a
+transgression, redeem thy life, and preserve my honour, by making
+Caterina thy lawful spouse, that thine, as she has been for this past
+night, she may remain for the rest of her life. In this way thou mayst
+secure my peace and thy safety; otherwise commend thy soul to God."
+Pending this colloquy, Caterina let go the nightingale, and having
+covered herself, began with many a tear to implore her father to forgive
+Ricciardo, and Ricciardo to do as Messer Lizio required, that thereby
+they might securely count upon a long continuance of such nights of
+delight. But there needed not much supplication; for, what with remorse
+for the wrong done, and the wish to make amends, and the fear of death,
+and the desire to escape it, and above all ardent love, and the craving
+to possess the beloved one, Ricciardo lost no time in making frank avowal
+of his readiness to do as Messer Lizio would have him. Wherefore Messer
+Lizio, having borrowed a ring from Madonna Giacomina, Ricciardo did there
+and then in their presence wed Caterina. Which done, Messer Lizio and the
+lady took their leave, saying:--"Now rest ye a while; for so perchance
+'twere better for you than if ye rose." And so they left the young folks,
+who forthwith embraced, and not having travelled more than six miles
+during the night, went two miles further before they rose, and so
+concluded their first day. When they were risen, Ricciardo and Messer
+Lizio discussed the matter with more formality; and some days afterwards
+Ricciardo, as was meet, married the damsel anew in presence of their
+friends and kinsfolk, and brought her home with great pomp, and
+celebrated his nuptials with due dignity and splendour. And so for many a
+year thereafter he lived with her in peace and happiness, and snared the
+nightingales day and night to his heart's content.
+
+
+NOVEL V.
+
+--
+Guidotto da Cremona dies leaving a girl to Giacomino da Pavia. She has
+two lovers in Faenza, to wit, Giannole di Severino and Minghino di
+Mingole, who fight about her. She is discovered to be Giannole's sister,
+and is given to Minghino to wife.
+--
+
+All the ladies laughed so heartily over the story of the nightingale,
+that, even when Filostrato had finished, they could not control their
+merriment. However, when the laughter was somewhat abated, the queen
+said:--"Verily if thou didst yesterday afflict us, to-day thou hast
+tickled us to such purpose that none of us may justly complain of thee."
+Then, as the turn had now come round to Neifile, she bade her give them a
+story. And thus, blithely, Neifile began:--As Filostrato went to Romagna
+for the matter of his discourse, I too am fain to make a short journey
+through the same country in what I am about to relate to you.
+
+I say, then, that there dwelt of yore in the city of Fano two Lombards,
+the one ycleped Guidotto da Cremona and the other Giacomino da Pavia, men
+advanced in life, who, being soldiers, had spent the best part of their
+youth in feats of arms. Now Guidotto, being at the point of death, and
+having no son or any friend or kinsman in whom he placed more trust than
+in Giacomino, left him a girl of about ten years, and all that he had in
+the world, and so, having given him to know not a little of his affairs,
+he died. About the same time the city of Faenza, which had long been at
+war and in a most sorry plight, began to recover some measure of
+prosperity; and thereupon liberty to return thither on honourable terms
+was accorded to all that were so minded. Whither, accordingly, Giacomino,
+who had dwelt there aforetime, and liked the place, returned with all his
+goods and chattels, taking with him the girl left him by Guidotto, whom
+he loved and entreated as his daughter. The girl grew up as beautiful a
+maiden as was to be found in the city; and no less debonair and modest
+was she than fair. Wherefore she lacked not admirers; but above all two
+young men, both very gallant and of equal merit, the one Giannole di
+Severino, the other Minghino di Mingole, affected her with so ardent a
+passion, that, growing jealous, they came to hate one another with an
+inordinate hatred. Right gladly would each have espoused her, she being
+now fifteen years old, but that his kinsmen forbade it; wherefore seeing
+that neither might have her in an honourable way, each determined to
+compass his end as best he might.
+
+Now Giacomino had in his house an ancient maid, and a man, by name
+Crivello, a very pleasant and friendly sort of fellow, with whom Giannole
+grew familiar, and in due time confided to him all his love, praying him
+to further the attainment of his desire, and promising to reward him
+handsomely, if he did so. Crivello made answer:--"Thou must know that
+there is but one way in which I might be of service to thee in this
+affair: I might contrive that thou shouldst be where she is when
+Giacomino is gone off to supper; but, were I to presume to say aught to
+her on thy behalf, she would never listen to me. This, if it please thee,
+I promise to do for thee, and will be as good as my word; and then thou
+canst do whatever thou mayst deem most expedient." Giannole said that he
+asked no more; and so 'twas arranged.
+
+Meanwhile Minghino on his part had made friends with the maid, on whom he
+had so wrought that she had carried several messages to the girl, and had
+gone far to kindle her to his love, and furthermore had promised to
+contrive that he should meet her when for any cause Giacomino should be
+from home in the evening. And so it befell that no long time after these
+parleys, Giacomino, by Crivello's management, was to go sup at the house
+of a friend, and by preconcert between Crivello and Giannole, upon signal
+given, Giannole was to come to Giacomino's house and find the door open.
+The maid, on her part, witting nought of the understanding between
+Crivello and Giannole, let Minghino know that Giacomino would not sup at
+home, and bade him be near the house, so that he might come and enter it
+on sight of a signal from her. The evening came; neither of the lovers
+knew aught of what the other was about; but, being suspicious of one
+another, they came to take possession, each with his own company of armed
+friends. Minghino, while awaiting the signal, rested with his company in
+the house of one of his friends hard by the girl's house: Giannole with
+his company was posted a little farther off. Crivello and the maid, when
+Giacomino was gone, did each their endeavour to get the other out of the
+way. Crivello said to the maid:--"How is it thou takest not thyself off
+to bed, but goest still hither and thither about the house?" And the maid
+said to Crivello:--"Nay, but why goest thou not after thy master? Thou
+hast supped; what awaitest thou here?" And so, neither being able to make
+the other quit the post, Crivello, the hour concerted with Giannole being
+come, said to himself:--What care I for her? If she will not keep quiet,
+'tis like to be the worse for her. Whereupon he gave the signal, and hied
+him to the door, which he had no sooner opened, than Giannole entered
+with two of his companions, and finding the girl in the saloon, laid
+hands on her with intent to carry her off. The girl struggled, and
+shrieked amain, as did also the maid. Minghino, fearing the noise, hasted
+to the spot with his companions; and, seeing that the girl was already
+being borne across the threshold, they drew their swords, and cried out
+in chorus:--"Ah! Traitors that ye are, ye are all dead men! 'Twill go
+otherwise than ye think for. What means this force?" Which said, they
+fell upon them with their swords, while the neighbours, alarmed by the
+noise, came hurrying forth with lights and arms, and protested that 'twas
+an outrage, and took Minghino's part. So, after a prolonged struggle,
+Minghino wrested the girl from Giannole, and set her again in Giacomino's
+house. Nor were the combatants separated before the officers of the
+Governor of the city came up and arrested not a few of them; among them
+Minghino and Giannole and Crivello, whom they marched off to prison.
+However, peace being restored and Giacomino returned, 'twas with no
+little chagrin that he heard of the affair; but finding upon
+investigation that the girl was in no wise culpable, he was somewhat
+reassured; and determined, lest the like should again happen, to bestow
+the girl in marriage as soon as might be.
+
+On the morrow the kinsfolk of the two lovers, having learned the truth of
+the matter, and knowing what evil might ensue to the captives, if
+Giacomino should be minded to take the course which he reasonably might,
+came and gave him good words, beseeching him to let the kindly feeling,
+the love, which they believed he bore to them, his suppliants, count for
+more with him than the wrong that the hare-brained gallants had done him,
+and on their part and their own offering to make any amend that he might
+require. Giacomino, who had seen many things in his time, and lacked not
+sound sense, made answer briefly:--"Gentlemen, were I in my own country,
+as I am in yours, I hold myself in such sort your friend that nought
+would I do in this matter, or in any other, save what might be agreeable
+to you: besides which, I have the more reason to consider your wishes,
+because 'tis against you yourselves that you have offended, inasmuch as
+this damsel, whatever many folk may suppose, is neither of Cremona nor of
+Pavia, but is of Faenza, albeit neither I nor she, nor he from whom I had
+her, did ever wot whose daughter she was: wherefore, touching that you
+ask of me, I will even do just as you bid me." The worthy men found it
+passing strange that the girl should be of Faenza; and having thanked
+Giacomino for his handsome answer, they besought him that he would be
+pleased to tell them how she had come into his hands, and how he knew
+that she was of Faenza. To whom Giacomino replied on this wise:--"A
+comrade and friend I had, Guidotto da Cremona, who, being at the point of
+death, told me that, when this city of Faenza was taken by the Emperor
+Frederic, he and his comrades, entering one of the houses during the
+sack, found there good store of booty, and never a soul save this girl,
+who, being two years old or thereabouts, greeted him as father as he came
+up the stairs; wherefore he took pity on her, and carried her with
+whatever else was in the house away with him to Fano; where on his
+deathbed he left her to me, charging me in due time to bestow her in
+marriage, and give her all his goods and chattels by way of dowry: but,
+albeit she is now of marriageable age, I have not been able to provide
+her with a husband to my mind; though right glad should I be to do so,
+that nought like the event of yesterday may again befall me."
+
+Now among the rest of those present was one Guglielmo da Medicina, who
+had been with Guidotto on that occasion, and knew well whose house it was
+that Guidotto had sacked; and seeing the owner there among the rest, he
+went up to him, and said:--"Dost hear, Bernabuccio, what Giacomino says?"
+"Ay," answered Bernabuccio, "and I gave the more heed thereto, for that I
+call to mind that during those disorders I lost a little daughter of just
+the age that Giacomino speaks of." "'Tis verily she then," said
+Guglielmo, "for once when I was with Guidotto I heard him describe what
+house it was that he had sacked, and I wist that 'twas thine. Wherefore
+search thy memory if there be any sign by which thou thinkest to
+recognize her, and let her be examined that thou mayst be assured that
+she is thy daughter." So Bernabuccio pondered a while, and then
+recollected that she ought to have a scar, shewing like a tiny cross,
+above her left ear, being where he had excised a tumour a little while
+before that affair: wherefore without delay he went up to Giacomino, who
+was still there, and besought him to let him go home with him and see the
+damsel. Giacomino gladly did so, and no sooner was the girl brought into
+Bernabuccio's presence, than, as he beheld her, 'twas as if he saw the
+face of her mother, who was still a beautiful woman. However, he would
+not rest there, but besought Giacomino of his grace to permit him to lift
+a lock or two of hair above her left ear; whereto Giacomino consented. So
+Bernabuccio approached her where she stood somewhat shamefast, and with
+his right hand lifted her locks, and, seeing the cross, wist that in very
+truth she was his daughter, and tenderly wept and embraced her, albeit
+she withstood him; and then, turning to Giacomino, he said:--"My brother,
+the girl is my daughter; 'twas my house that Guidotto sacked, and so
+sudden was the assault that my wife, her mother, forgot her, and we have
+always hitherto supposed, that, my house being burned that same day, she
+perished in the flames." Catching his words, and seeing that he was
+advanced in years, the girl inclined to believe him, and impelled by some
+occult instinct, suffered his embraces, and melting, mingled her tears
+with his. Bernabuccio forthwith sent for her mother and her sisters and
+other kinswomen and her brothers, and having shewn her to them all, and
+told the story, after they had done her great cheer and embraced her a
+thousand times, to Giacomino's no small delight, he brought her home with
+him. Which coming to the ears of the Governor of the city, the worthy
+man, knowing that Giannole, whom he had in ward, was Bernabuccio's son
+and the girl's brother, made up his mind to deal leniently with Giannole:
+wherefore he took upon himself the part of mediator in the affair, and
+having made peace between Bernabuccio and Giacomino and Giannole and
+Minghino, gave Agnesa--such was the damsel's name--to Minghino to wife,
+to the great delight of all Minghino's kinsfolk, and set at liberty not
+only Giannole and Minghino but Crivello, and the others their
+confederates in the affair. Whereupon Minghino with the blithest of
+hearts wedded Agnesa with all due pomp and circumstance, and brought her
+home, where for many a year thereafter he lived with her in peace and
+prosperity.
+
+
+NOVEL VI.
+
+--
+Gianni di Procida, being found with a damsel that he loves, and who had
+been given to King Frederic, is bound with her to a stake, so to be
+burned. He is recognized by Ruggieri dell' Oria, is delivered, and
+marries her.
+--
+
+Neifile's story, with which the ladies were greatly delighted, being
+ended, the queen called for one from Pampinea; who forthwith raised her
+noble countenance, and thus began:--Mighty indeed, gracious ladies, are
+the forces of Love, and great are the labours and excessive and unthought
+of the perils which they induce lovers to brave; as is manifest enough by
+what we have heard to-day and on other occasions: howbeit I mean to shew
+you the same once more by a story of an enamoured youth.
+
+Hard by Naples is the island of Ischia, in which there dwelt aforetime
+with other young damsels one, Restituta by name, daughter of one Marin
+Bolgaro, a gentleman of the island. Very fair was she, and blithe of
+heart, and by a young gallant, Gianni by name, of the neighbouring islet
+of Procida, was beloved more dearly than life, and in like measure
+returned his love. Now, not to mention his daily resort to Ischia to see
+her, there were times not a few when Gianni, not being able to come by a
+boat, would swim across from Procida by night, that he might have sight,
+if of nought else, at least of the walls of her house. And while their
+love burned thus fervently, it so befell that one summer's day, as the
+damsel was all alone on the seashore, picking her way from rock to rock,
+detaching, as she went, shells from their beds with a knife, she came to
+a recess among the rocks, where for the sake, as well of the shade as of
+the comfort afforded by a spring of most cool water that was there, some
+Sicilian gallants, that were come from Naples, had put in with their
+felucca. Who, having taken note of the damsel, that she was very fair,
+and that she was not yet ware of them, and was alone, resolved to capture
+her, and carry her away; nor did they fail to give effect to their
+resolve; but, albeit she shrieked amain, they laid hands on her, and set
+her aboard their boat, and put to sea. Arrived at Calabria, they fell a
+wrangling as to whose the damsel should be, and in brief each claimed her
+for his own: wherefore, finding no means of coming to an agreement, and
+fearing that worse might befall them, and she bring misfortune upon them,
+they resolved with one accord to give her to Frederic, King of Sicily,
+who was then a young man, and took no small delight in commodities of
+that quality; and so, being come to Palermo, they did.
+
+Marking her beauty, the King set great store by her; but as she was
+somewhat indisposed, he commanded that, till she was stronger, she should
+be lodged and tended in a very pretty villa that was in one of his
+gardens, which he called Cuba; and so 'twas done. The purloining of the
+damsel caused no small stir in Ischia, more especially because 'twas
+impossible to discover by whom she had been carried off. But Gianni, more
+concerned than any other, despairing of finding her in Ischia, and being
+apprised of the course the felucca had taken, equipped one himself, and
+put to sea, and in hot haste scoured the whole coast from Minerva to
+Scalea in Calabria, making everywhere diligent search for the damsel, and
+in Scalea learned that she had been taken by Sicilian mariners to
+Palermo. Whither, accordingly, he hied him with all speed; and there
+after long search discovering that she had been given to the King, who
+kept her at Cuba, he was sore troubled, insomuch that he now scarce
+ventured to hope that he should ever set eyes on her, not to speak of
+having her for his own, again. But still, holden by Love, and seeing that
+none there knew him, he sent the felucca away, and tarried there, and
+frequently passing by Cuba, he chanced one day to catch sight of her at a
+window, and was seen of her, to their great mutual satisfaction. And
+Gianni, taking note that the place was lonely, made up to her, and had
+such speech of her as he might, and being taught by her after what
+fashion he must proceed, if he would have further speech of her, he
+departed, but not till he had made himself thoroughly acquainted with the
+configuration of the place; and having waited until night was come and
+indeed far spent, he returned thither, and though the ascent was such
+that 'twould scarce have afforded lodgment to a woodpecker, won his way
+up and entered the garden, where, finding a pole, he set it against the
+window which the damsel had pointed out as hers, and thereby swarmed up
+easily enough.
+
+The damsel had aforetime shewn herself somewhat distant towards him,
+being careful of her honour, but now deeming it already lost, she had
+bethought her that there was none to whom she might more worthily give
+herself than to him; and reckoning upon inducing him to carry her off,
+she had made up her mind to gratify his every desire; and to that end had
+left the window open that his ingress might be unimpeded. So, finding it
+open, Gianni softly entered, lay down beside the damsel, who was awake,
+and before they went further, opened to him all her mind, beseeching him
+most earnestly to take her thence, and carry her off. Gianni replied that
+there was nought that would give him so much pleasure, and that without
+fail, upon leaving her, he would make all needful arrangements for
+bringing her away when he next came. Whereupon with exceeding great
+delight they embraced one another, and plucked that boon than which Love
+has no greater to bestow; and having so done divers times, they
+unwittingly fell asleep in one another's arms.
+
+Now towards daybreak the King, who had been greatly charmed with the
+damsel at first sight, happened to call her to mind, and feeling himself
+fit, resolved, notwithstanding the hour, to go lie with her a while; and
+so, attended by a few of his servants, he hied him privily to Cuba.
+Having entered the house, he passed (the door being softly opened) into
+the room in which he knew the damsel slept. A great blazing torch was
+borne before him, and so, as he bent his glance on the bed, he espied the
+damsel and Gianni lying asleep, naked and in one another's arms. Whereat
+he was seized with a sudden and vehement passion of wrath, insomuch that,
+albeit he said never a word, he could scarce refrain from slaying both of
+them there and then with a dagger that he had with him. Then, bethinking
+him that 'twere the depth of baseness in any man--not to say a king--to
+slay two naked sleepers, he mastered himself, and determined to do them
+to death in public and by fire. Wherefore, turning to a single companion
+that he had with him, he said:--"What thinkest thou of this base woman,
+in whom I had placed my hope?" And then he asked whether he knew the
+gallant, that had presumed to enter his house to do him such outrage and
+despite. Whereto the other replied that he minded not ever to have seen
+him. Thereupon the King hied him out of the room in a rage, and bade take
+the two lovers, naked as they were, and bind them, and, as soon as 'twas
+broad day, bring them to Palermo, and bind them back to back to a stake
+in the piazza, there to remain until tierce, that all might see them,
+after which they were to be burned, as they had deserved. And having so
+ordered, he went back to Palermo, and shut himself up in his room, very
+wroth.
+
+No sooner was he gone than there came unto the two lovers folk not a few,
+who, having awakened them, did forthwith ruthlessly take and bind them:
+whereat, how they did grieve and tremble for their lives, and weep and
+bitterly bewail their fate, may readily be understood.
+
+Pursuant to the King's commandment they were brought to Palermo, and
+bound to a stake in the piazza; and before their eyes faggots and fire
+were made ready to burn them at the hour appointed by the King. Great was
+the concourse of the folk of Palermo, both men and women, that came to
+see the two lovers, the men all agog to feast their eyes on the damsel,
+whom they lauded for shapeliness and loveliness, and no less did the
+women commend the gallant, whom in like manner they crowded to see, for
+the same qualities. Meanwhile the two hapless lovers, both exceeding
+shamefast, stood with bent heads bitterly bewailing their evil fortune,
+and momently expecting their death by the cruel fire. So they awaited the
+time appointed by the King; but their offence being bruited abroad, the
+tidings reached the ears of Ruggieri dell' Oria, a man of peerless worth,
+and at that time the King's admiral, who, being likewise minded to see
+them, came to the place where they were bound, and after gazing on the
+damsel and finding her very fair, turned to look at the gallant, whom
+with little trouble he recognized, and drawing nearer to him, he asked
+him if he were Gianni di Procida. Gianni raised his head, and recognizing
+the admiral, made answer:--"My lord, he, of whom you speak, I was; but I
+am now as good as no more." The admiral then asked him what it was that
+had brought him to such a pass. Whereupon:--"Love and the King's wrath,"
+quoth Gianni. The admiral induced him to be more explicit, and having
+learned from him exactly how it had come about, was turning away, when
+Gianni called him back, saying:--"Oh! my lord, if so it may be, procure
+me one favour of him by whose behest I thus stand here." "What favour?"
+demanded Ruggieri. "I see," returned Gianni, "that die I must, and that
+right soon. I crave, then, as a favour, that, whereas this damsel and I,
+that have loved one another more dearly than life, are here set back to
+back, we may be set face to face, that I may have the consolation of
+gazing on her face as I depart." Ruggieri laughed as he replied:--"With
+all my heart. I will so order it that thou shalt see enough of her to
+tire of her." He then left him and charged the executioners to do nothing
+more without further order of the King; and being assured of their
+obedience, he hied him forthwith to the King, to whom, albeit he found
+him in a wrathful mood, he spared not to speak his mind, saying:--"Sire,
+wherein have they wronged thee, those two young folk, whom thou hast
+ordered to be burned down there in the piazza?" The King told him.
+Whereupon Ruggieri continued:--"Their offence does indeed merit such
+punishment, but not at thy hands, and if misdeeds should not go
+unpunished, services should not go unrewarded; nay, may warrant
+indulgence and mercy. Knowest thou who they are whom thou wouldst have
+burned?" The King signified that he did not. Whereupon Ruggieri:--"But
+I," quoth he, "am minded that thou shouldst know them, to the end that
+thou mayst know with what discretion thou surrenderest thyself to a
+transport of rage. The young man is the son of Landolfo di Procida,
+brother of Messer Gianni di Procida, to whom thou owest it that thou art
+lord and king of this island. The damsel is a daughter of Marin Bolgaro,
+whose might alone to-day prevents Ischia from throwing off thy yoke.
+Moreover, these young folk have long been lovers, and 'tis for that the
+might of Love constrained them, and not that they would do despite to thy
+lordship, that they have committed this offence, if indeed 'tis meet to
+call that an offence which young folk do for Love's sake. Wherefore,
+then, wouldst thou do them to death, when thou shouldst rather do them
+all cheer, and honour them with lordly gifts?" The King gave ear to
+Ruggieri's words, and being satisfied that he spoke sooth, repented him,
+not only of his evil purpose, but of what he had already done, and
+forthwith gave order to loose the two young folk from the stake, and
+bring them before him; and so 'twas done. And having fully apprised
+himself of their case, he saw fit to make them amends of the wrong he had
+done them with honours and largess. Wherefore he caused them to be
+splendidly arrayed, and being assured that they were both minded to wed,
+he himself gave Gianni his bride, and loading them with rich presents,
+sent them well content back to Ischia, where they were welcomed with all
+festal cheer, and lived long time thereafter to their mutual solace and
+delight.
+
+
+NOVEL VII.
+
+--
+Teodoro, being enamoured of Violante, daughter of Messer Amerigo, his
+lord, gets her with child, and is sentenced to the gallows; but while he
+is being scourged thither, he is recognized by his father, and being set
+at large, takes Violante to wife.
+--
+
+While they doubted whether the two lovers would be burned, the ladies
+were all fear and suspense; but when they heard of their deliverance,
+they all with one accord put on a cheerful countenance, praising God. The
+story ended, the queen ordained that the next should be told by Lauretta,
+who blithely thus began:--
+
+Fairest ladies, what time good King Guglielmo ruled Sicily there dwelt on
+the island a gentleman, Messer Amerigo Abate da Trapani by name, who was
+well provided, as with other temporal goods, so also with children. For
+which cause being in need of servants, he took occasion of the appearance
+in Trapani waters of certain Genoese corsairs from the Levant, who,
+scouring the coast of Armenia, had captured not a few boys, to purchase
+of them some of these youngsters, supposing them to be Turks; among whom,
+albeit most shewed as mere shepherd boys, there was one, Teodoro, by
+name, whose less rustic mien seemed to betoken gentle blood. Who, though
+still treated as a slave, was suffered to grow up in the house with
+Messer Amerigo's children, and, nature getting the better of
+circumstance, bore himself with such grace and dignity that Messer
+Amerigo gladly gave him his freedom, and still deeming him to be a Turk,
+had him baptized and named Pietro, and made him his majordomo, and placed
+much trust in him. Now among the other children that grew up in Messer
+Amerigo's house was his fair and dainty daughter, Violante; and, as her
+father was in no hurry to give her in marriage, it so befell that she
+became enamoured of Pietro, but, for all her love and the great conceit
+she had of his qualities and conduct, she nevertheless was too shamefast
+to discover her passion to him. However, Love spared her the pains, for
+Pietro had cast many a furtive glance in her direction, and had grown so
+enamoured of her that 'twas never well with him except he saw her; but
+great was his fear lest any should detect his passion, for he deemed
+'twould be the worse for him. The damsel, who was fain indeed of the
+sight of him, understood his case; and to encourage him dissembled not
+her exceeding great satisfaction. On which footing they remained a great
+while, neither venturing to say aught to the other, much as both longed
+to do so. But, while they both burned with a mutual flame, Fortune, as if
+their entanglement were of her preordaining, found means to banish the
+fear and hesitation that kept them tongue-tied.
+
+Messer Amerigo possessed, a mile or so from Trapani, a goodly estate, to
+which he was wont not seldom to resort with his daughter and other ladies
+by way of recreation; and on one of these days, while there they tarried
+with Pietro, whom they had brought with them, suddenly, as will sometimes
+happen in summer, the sky became overcast with black clouds, insomuch
+that the lady and her companions, lest the storm should surprise them
+there, set out on their return to Trapani, making all the haste they
+might. But Pietro and the girl being young, and sped perchance by Love no
+less than by fear of the storm, completely outstripped her mother and the
+other ladies; and when they were gotten so far ahead as to be well-nigh
+out of sight of the lady and all the rest, the thunder burst upon them
+peal upon peal, hard upon which came a fall of hail very thick and close,
+from which the lady sought shelter in the house of a husbandman. Pietro
+and the damsel, finding no more convenient refuge, betook them to an old,
+and all but ruinous, and now deserted, cottage, which, however, still had
+a bit of roof left, whereunder they both took their stand in such close
+quarters, owing to the exiguity of the shelter, that they perforce
+touched one another. Which contact was the occasion that they gathered
+somewhat more courage to disclose their love; and so it was that Pietro
+began on this wise:--"Now would to God that this hail might never cease,
+that so I might stay here for ever!" "And well content were I," returned
+the damsel. And by and by their hands met, not without a tender pressure,
+and then they fell to embracing and so to kissing one another, while the
+hail continued. And not to dwell on every detail, the sky was not clear
+before they had known the last degree of love's felicity, and had taken
+thought how they might secretly enjoy one another in the future. The
+cottage being close to the city gate, they hied them thither, as soon as
+the storm was overpast, and having there awaited the lady, returned home
+with her. Nor, using all discretion, did they fail thereafter to meet
+from time to time in secret, to their no small solace; and the affair
+went so far that the damsel conceived, whereby they were both not a
+little disconcerted; insomuch that the damsel employed many artifices to
+arrest the course of nature, but to no effect. Wherefore Pietro, being in
+fear of his life, saw nothing for it but flight, and told her so.
+Whereupon:--"If thou leave me," quoth she, "I shall certainly kill
+myself." Much as he loved her, Pietro answered:--"Nay but, my lady,
+wherefore wouldst thou have me tarry here? Thy pregnancy will discover
+our offence: thou wilt be readily forgiven; but 'twill be my woeful lot
+to bear the penalty of thy sin and mine." "Pietro," returned the damsel,
+"too well will they wot of my offence, but be sure that, if thou confess
+not, none will ever wot of thine." Then quoth he:--"Since thou givest me
+this promise, I will stay; but mind thou keep it."
+
+The damsel, who had done her best to keep her condition secret, saw at
+length by the increase of her bulk that 'twas impossible: wherefore one
+day most piteously bewailing herself, she made her avowal to her mother,
+and besought her to shield her from the consequences. Distressed beyond
+measure, the lady chid her severely, and then asked her how it had come
+to pass. The damsel, to screen Pietro, invented a story by which she put
+another complexion on the affair. The lady believed her, and, that her
+fall might not be discovered, took her off to one of their estates;
+where, the time of her delivery being come, and she, as women do in such
+a case, crying out for pain, it so befell that Messer Amerigo, whom the
+lady expected not, as indeed he was scarce ever wont, to come there, did
+so, having been out a hawking, and passing by the chamber where the
+damsel lay, marvelled to hear her cries, and forthwith entered, and asked
+what it meant. On sight of whom the lady rose and sorrowfully gave him
+her daughter's version of what had befallen her. But he, less credulous
+than his wife, averred that it could not be true that she knew not by
+whom she was pregnant, and was minded to know the whole truth: let the
+damsel confess and she might regain his favour; otherwise she must expect
+no mercy and prepare for death.
+
+The lady did all she could to induce her husband to rest satisfied with
+what she had told him; but all to no purpose. Mad with rage, he rushed,
+drawn sword in hand, to his daughter's bedside (she, pending the parley,
+having given birth to a boy) and cried out:--"Declare whose this infant
+is, or forthwith thou diest." Overcome by fear of death, the damsel broke
+her promise to Pietro, and made a clean breast of all that had passed
+between him and her. Whereat the knight, grown fell with rage, could
+scarce refrain from slaying her. However, having given vent to his wrath
+in such words as it dictated, he remounted his horse and rode to Trapani,
+and there before one Messer Currado, the King's lieutenant, laid
+information of the wrong done him by Pietro, in consequence whereof
+Pietro, who suspected nothing, was forthwith taken, and being put to the
+torture, confessed all. Some days later the lieutenant sentenced him to
+be scourged through the city, and then hanged by the neck; and Messer
+Amerigo, being minded that one and the same hour should rid the earth of
+the two lovers and their son (for to have compassed Pietro's death was
+not enough to appease his wrath), mingled poison and wine in a goblet,
+and gave it to one of his servants with a drawn sword, saying:--"Get thee
+with this gear to Violante, and tell her from me to make instant choice
+of one of these two deaths, either the poison or the steel; else, I will
+have her burned, as she deserves, in view of all the citizens; which
+done, thou wilt take the boy that she bore a few days ago, and beat his
+brains out against the wall, and cast his body for a prey to the dogs."
+
+Hearing the remorseless doom thus passed by the angry father upon both
+his daughter and his grandson, the servant, prompt to do evil rather than
+good, hied him thence.
+
+Now, as Pietro in execution of his sentence was being scourged to the
+gallows by the serjeants, 'twas so ordered by the leaders of the band
+that he passed by an inn, where were three noblemen of Armenia, sent by
+the king of that country as ambassadors to Rome, to treat with the Pope
+of matters of the highest importance, touching a crusade that was to be;
+who, having there alighted to rest and recreate them for some days, had
+received not a few tokens of honour from the nobles of Trapani, and most
+of all from Messer Amerigo. Hearing the tramp of Pietro's escort, they
+came to a window to see what was toward; and one of them, an aged man,
+and of great authority, Fineo by name, looking hard at Pietro, who was
+stripped from the waist up, and had his hands bound behind his back,
+espied on his breast a great spot of scarlet, not laid on by art, but
+wrought in the skin by operation of Nature, being such as the ladies here
+call a rose. Which he no sooner saw, than he was reminded of a son that
+had been stolen from him by corsairs on the coast of Lazistan some
+fifteen years before, nor had he since been able to hear tidings of him;
+and guessing the age of the poor wretch that was being scourged, he set
+it down as about what his son's would be, were he living, and, what with
+the mark and the age, he began to suspect that 'twas even his son, and
+bethought him that, if so, he would scarce as yet have forgotten his name
+or the speech of Armenia. Wherefore, as he was within earshot he called
+to him:--"Teodoro!" At the word Pietro raised his head: whereupon Fineo,
+speaking in Armenian, asked him:--"Whence and whose son art thou?" The
+serjeants, that were leading him, paused in deference to the great man,
+and so Pietro answered:--"Of Armenia was I, son of one Fineo, brought
+hither by folk I wot not of, when I was but a little child." Then Fineo,
+witting that in very truth 'twas the boy that he had lost, came down with
+his companions, weeping; and, all the serjeants making way, he ran to
+him, and embraced him, and doffing a mantle of richest texture that he
+wore, he prayed the captain of the band to be pleased to tarry there
+until he should receive orders to go forward, and was answered by the
+captain that he would willingly so wait.
+
+Fineo already knew, for 'twas bruited everywhere, the cause for which
+Pietro was being led to the gallows; wherefore he straightway hied him
+with his companions and their retinue to Messer Currado, and said to
+him:--"Sir, this lad, whom you are sending to the gallows like a slave,
+is freeborn, and my son, and is ready to take to wife her whom, as 'tis
+said, he has deflowered; so please you, therefore, delay the execution
+until such time as it may be understood whether she be minded to have him
+for husband, lest, should she be so minded, you be found to have broken
+the law." Messer Currado marvelled to hear that Pietro was Fineo's son,
+and not without shame, albeit 'twas not his but Fortune's fault,
+confessed that 'twas even as Fineo said: and having caused Pietro to be
+taken home with all speed, and Messer Amerigo to be brought before him,
+told him the whole matter. Messer Amerigo, who supposed that by this time
+his daughter and grandson must be dead, was the saddest man in the world
+to think that 'twas by his deed, witting that, were the damsel still
+alive, all might very easily be set right: however, he sent post haste to
+his daughter's abode, revoking his orders, if they were not yet carried
+out. The servant, whom he had earlier despatched, had laid the sword and
+poison before the damsel, and, for that she was in no hurry to make her
+choice, was giving her foul words, and endeavouring to constrain her
+thereto, when the messenger arrived; but on hearing the injunction laid
+upon him by his lord, he desisted, and went back, and told him how things
+stood. Whereupon Messer Amerigo, much relieved, hied him to Fineo, and
+well-nigh weeping, and excusing himself for what had befallen, as best he
+knew how, craved his pardon, and professed himself well content to give
+Teodoro, so he were minded to have her, his daughter to wife. Fineo
+readily accepted his excuses, and made answer:--"'Tis my will that my son
+espouse your daughter, and, so he will not, let thy sentence passed upon
+him be carried out."
+
+So Fineo and Messer Amerigo being agreed, while Teodoro still languished
+in fear of death, albeit he was glad at heart to have found his father,
+they questioned him of his will in regard of this matter.
+
+When he heard that, if he would, he might have Violante to wife,
+Teodoro's delight was such that he seemed to leap from hell to paradise,
+and said that, if 'twas agreeable to them all, he should deem it the
+greatest of favours. So they sent to the damsel to learn her pleasure:
+who, having heard how it had fared, and was now like to fare, with
+Teodoro, albeit, saddest of women, she looked for nought but death, began
+at length to give some credence to their words, and to recover heart a
+little, and answered that, were she to follow the bent of her desire,
+nought that could happen would delight her more than to be Teodoro's
+wife; but nevertheless she would do as her father bade her.
+
+So, all agreeing, the damsel was espoused with all pomp and festal cheer,
+to the boundless delight of all the citizens, and was comforted, and
+nurtured her little boy, and in no long time waxed more beautiful than
+ever before; and, her confinement being ended, she presented herself
+before Fineo, who was then about to quit Rome on his homeward journey,
+and did him such reverence as is due to a father. Fineo, mighty well
+pleased to have so fair a daughter-in-law, caused celebrate her nuptials
+most bravely and gaily, and received, and did ever thereafter entreat,
+her as his daughter.
+
+And so he took her, not many days after the festivities were ended, with
+his son and little grandson, aboard a galley, and brought them to
+Lazistan, and there thenceforth the two lovers dwelt with him in easeful
+and lifelong peace.
+
+
+NOVEL VIII.
+
+--
+Nastagio degli Onesti, loving a damsel of the Traversari family, by
+lavish expenditure gains not her love. At the instance of his kinsfolk he
+hies him to Chiassi, where he sees a knight hunt a damsel and slay her
+and cause her to be devoured by two dogs. He bids his kinsfolk and the
+lady that he loves to breakfast. During the meal the said damsel is torn
+in pieces before the eyes of the lady, who, fearing a like fate, takes
+Nastagio to husband.
+--
+
+Lauretta was no sooner silent than thus at the queen's behest began
+Filomena:--Sweet ladies, as in us pity has ever its meed of praise, even
+so Divine justice suffers not our cruelty to escape severe chastisement:
+the which that I may shew you, and thereby dispose you utterly to banish
+that passion from your souls, I am minded to tell you a story no less
+touching than delightsome.
+
+In Ravenna, that most ancient city of Romagna, there dwelt of yore
+noblemen and gentlemen not a few, among whom was a young man, Nastagio
+degli Onesti by name, who by the death of his father and one of his
+uncles inherited immense wealth. Being without a wife, Nastagio, as 'tis
+the way with young men, became enamoured of a daughter of Messer Paolo
+Traversaro, a damsel of much higher birth than his, whose love he hoped
+to win by gifts and the like modes of courting, which, albeit they were
+excellent and fair and commendable, not only availed him not, but seemed
+rather to have the contrary effect, so harsh and ruthless and unrelenting
+did the beloved damsel shew herself towards him; for whether it was her
+uncommon beauty or her noble lineage that puffed her up, so haughty and
+disdainful was she grown that pleasure she had none either in him or in
+aught that pleased him. The burden of which disdain Nastagio found so
+hard to bear, that many a time, when he had made his moan, he longed to
+make away with himself. However he refrained therefrom, and many a time
+resolved to give her up altogether, or, if so he might, to hold her in
+despite, as she did him: but 'twas all in vain, for it seemed as if, the
+more his hope dwindled, the greater grew his love. And, as thus he
+continued, loving and spending inordinately, certain of his kinsfolk and
+friends, being apprehensive lest he should waste both himself and his
+substance, did many a time counsel and beseech him to depart Ravenna, and
+go tarry for a time elsewhere, that so he might at once cool his flame
+and reduce his charges. For a long while Nastagio answered their
+admonitions with banter; but as they continued to ply him with them, he
+grew weary of saying no so often, and promised obedience. Whereupon he
+equipped himself as if for a journey to France or Spain, or other distant
+parts, got on horseback and sallied forth of Ravenna, accompanied by not
+a few of his friends, and being come to a place called Chiassi, about
+three miles from Ravenna, he halted, and having sent for tents and
+pavilions, told his companions that there he meant to stay, and they
+might go back to Ravenna. So Nastagio pitched his camp, and there
+commenced to live after as fine and lordly a fashion as did ever any man,
+bidding divers of his friends from time to time to breakfast or sup with
+him, as he had been wont to do. Now it so befell that about the beginning
+of May, the season being very fine, he fell a brooding on the cruelty of
+his mistress, and, that his meditations might be the less disturbed, he
+bade all his servants leave him, and sauntered slowly, wrapt in thought,
+as far as the pinewood. Which he had threaded for a good half-mile, when,
+the fifth hour of the day being well-nigh past, yet he recking neither of
+food nor of aught else, 'twas as if he heard a woman wailing exceedingly
+and uttering most piercing shrieks: whereat, the train of his sweet
+melancholy being broken, he raised his head to see what was toward, and
+wondered to find himself in the pinewood; and saw, moreover, before him
+running through a grove, close set with underwood and brambles, towards
+the place where he was, a damsel most comely, stark naked, her hair
+dishevelled, and her flesh all torn by the briers and brambles, who wept
+and cried piteously for mercy; and at her flanks he saw two mastiffs,
+exceeding great and fierce, that ran hard upon her track, and not seldom
+came up with her and bit her cruelly; and in the rear he saw, riding a
+black horse, a knight sadly accoutred, and very wrathful of mien,
+carrying a rapier in his hand, and with despiteful, blood-curdling words
+threatening her with death. Whereat he was at once amazed and appalled,
+and then filled with compassion for the hapless lady, whereof was bred a
+desire to deliver her, if so he might, from such anguish and peril of
+death. Wherefore, as he was unarmed, he ran and took in lieu of a cudgel
+a branch of a tree, with which he prepared to encounter the dogs and the
+knight. Which the knight observing, called to him before he was come to
+close quarters, saying:--"Hold off, Nastagio, leave the dogs and me alone
+to deal with this vile woman as she has deserved." And, even as he spoke,
+the dogs gripped the damsel so hard on either flank that they arrested
+her flight, and the knight, being come up, dismounted. Whom Nastagio
+approached, saying:--"I know not who thou art, that knowest me so well,
+but thus much I tell thee: 'tis a gross outrage for an armed knight to go
+about to kill a naked woman, and set his dogs upon her as if she were a
+wild beast: rest assured that I shall do all I can to protect her."
+Whereupon:--"Nastagio," replied the knight, "of the same city as thou was
+I, and thou wast yet a little lad when I, Messer Guido degli Anastagi by
+name, being far more enamoured of this damsel than thou art now of her of
+the Traversari, was by her haughtiness and cruelty brought to so woeful a
+pass that one day in a fit of despair I slew myself with this rapier
+which thou seest in my hand; for which cause I am condemned to the
+eternal pains. Nor was it long after my death that she, who exulted
+therein over measure, also died, and for that she repented her not of her
+cruelty and the joy she had of my sufferings, for which she took not
+blame to herself, but merit, was likewise condemned to the pains of hell.
+Nor had she sooner made her descent, than for her pain and mine 'twas
+ordained, that she should flee before me, and that I, who so loved her,
+should pursue her, not as my beloved lady, but as my mortal enemy, and
+so, as often as I come up with her, I slay her with this same rapier with
+which I slew myself, and having ripped her up by the back, I take out
+that hard and cold heart, to which neither love nor pity had ever access,
+and therewith her other inward parts, as thou shalt forthwith see, and
+cast them to these dogs to eat. And in no long time, as the just and
+mighty God decrees, she rises even as if she had not died, and
+recommences her dolorous flight, I and the dogs pursuing her. And it so
+falls out that every Friday about this hour I here come up with her, and
+slaughter her as thou shalt see; but ween not that we rest on other days;
+for there are other places in which I overtake her, places in which she
+used, or devised how she might use, me cruelly; on which wise, changed as
+thou seest from her lover into her foe, I am to pursue her for years as
+many as the months during which she shewed herself harsh to me. Wherefore
+leave me to execute the decree of the Divine justice, and presume not to
+oppose that which thou mayst not avail to withstand."
+
+Affrighted by the knight's words, insomuch that there was scarce a hair
+on his head but stood on end, Nastagio shrank back, still gazing on the
+hapless damsel, and waited all a tremble to see what the knight would do.
+Nor had he long to wait; for the knight, as soon as he had done speaking,
+sprang, rapier in hand, like a mad dog upon the damsel, who, kneeling,
+while the two mastiffs gripped her tightly, cried him mercy; but the
+knight, thrusting with all his force, struck her between the breasts, and
+ran her clean through the body. Thus stricken, the damsel fell forthwith
+prone on the ground sobbing and shrieking: whereupon the knight drew
+forth a knife, and having therewith opened her in the back, took out the
+heart and all the circumjacent parts, and threw them to the two mastiffs,
+who, being famished, forthwith devoured them. And in no long time the
+damsel, as if nought thereof had happened, started to her feet, and took
+to flight towards the sea, pursued, and ever and anon bitten, by the
+dogs, while the knight, having gotten him to horse again, followed them
+as before, rapier in hand; and so fast sped they that they were quickly
+lost to Nastagio's sight.
+
+Long time he stood musing on what he had seen, divided between pity and
+terror, and then it occurred to him that, as this passed every Friday, it
+might avail him not a little. So, having marked the place, he rejoined
+his servants, and in due time thereafter sent for some of his kinsfolk
+and friends, and said to them:--"'Tis now a long while that you urge me
+to give up loving this lady that is no friend to me, and therewith make
+an end of my extravagant way of living; and I am now ready so to do,
+provided you procure me one favour, to wit, that next Friday Messer Paolo
+Traversaro, and his wife and daughter, and all the ladies, their
+kinswomen, and as many other ladies as you may be pleased to bid, come
+hither to breakfast with me: when you will see for yourselves the reason
+why I so desire." A small matter this seemed to them; and so, on their
+return to Ravenna, they lost no time in conveying Nastagio's message to
+his intended guests: and, albeit she was hardly persuaded, yet in the end
+the damsel that Nastagio loved came with the rest.
+
+Nastagio caused a lordly breakfast to be prepared, and had the tables set
+under the pines about the place where he had witnessed the slaughter of
+the cruel lady; and in ranging the ladies and gentlemen at table he so
+ordered it, that the damsel whom he loved was placed opposite the spot
+where it should be enacted. The last course was just served, when the
+despairing cries of the hunted damsel became audible to all, to their no
+small amazement; and each asking, and none knowing, what it might import,
+up they all started intent to see what was toward; and perceived the
+suffering damsel, and the knight and the dogs, who in a trice were in
+their midst. They hollaed amain to dogs and knight, and not a few
+advanced to succour the damsel: but the words of the knight, which were
+such as he had used to Nastagio, caused them to fall back,
+terror-stricken and lost in amazement. And when the knight proceeded to
+do as he had done before, all the ladies that were there, many of whom
+were of kin to the suffering damsel and to the knight, and called to mind
+his love and death, wept as bitterly as if 'twere their own case.
+
+When 'twas all over, and the lady and the knight had disappeared, the
+strange scene set those that witnessed it pondering many and divers
+matters: but among them all none was so appalled as the cruel damsel that
+Nastagio loved, who, having clearly seen and heard all that had passed,
+and being ware that it touched her more nearly than any other by reason
+of the harshness that she had ever shewn to Nastagio, seemed already to
+be fleeing from her angered lover, and to have the mastiffs on her
+flanks. And so great was her terror that, lest a like fate should befall
+her, she converted her aversion into affection, and as soon as occasion
+served, which was that very night, sent a trusty chambermaid privily to
+Nastagio with a request that he would be pleased to come to her, for that
+she was ready in all respects to pleasure him to the full. Nastagio made
+answer that he was greatly flattered, but that he was minded with her
+consent to have his pleasure of her in an honourable way, to wit, by
+marrying her. The damsel, who knew that none but herself was to blame
+that she was not already Nastagio's wife, made answer that she consented.
+Wherefore by her own mouth she acquainted her father and mother that she
+agreed to marry Nastagio; and, they heartily approving her choice,
+Nastagio wedded her on the ensuing Sunday, and lived happily with her
+many a year. Nor was it in her instance alone that this terror was
+productive of good: on the contrary, it so wrought among the ladies of
+Ravenna that they all became, and have ever since been, much more
+compliant with men's desires than they had been wont to be.
+
+
+NOVEL IX.
+
+--
+Federigo degli Alberighi loves and is not loved in return: he wastes his
+substance by lavishness until nought is left but a single falcon, which,
+his lady being come to see him at his house, he gives her to eat: she,
+knowing his case, changes her mind, takes him to husband and makes him
+rich.
+--
+
+So ended Filomena; and the queen, being ware that besides herself only
+Dioneo (by virtue of his privilege) was left to speak, said with gladsome
+mien:--'Tis now for me to take up my parable; which, dearest ladies, I
+will do with a story like in some degree to the foregoing, and that, not
+only that you may know how potent are your charms to sway the gentle
+heart, but that you may also learn how upon fitting occasions to make
+bestowal of your guerdons of your own accord, instead of always waiting
+for the guidance of Fortune, which most times, not wisely, but without
+rule or measure, scatters her gifts.
+
+You are then to know, that Coppo di Borghese Domenichi, a man that in our
+day was, and perchance still is, had in respect and great reverence in
+our city, being not only by reason of his noble lineage, but, and yet
+more, for manners and merit most illustrious and worthy of eternal
+renown, was in his old age not seldom wont to amuse himself by
+discoursing of things past with his neighbours and other folk; wherein he
+had not his match for accuracy and compass of memory and concinnity of
+speech. Among other good stories, he would tell, how that there was of
+yore in Florence a gallant named Federigo di Messer Filippo Alberighi,
+who for feats of arms and courtesy had not his peer in Tuscany; who, as
+is the common lot of gentlemen, became enamoured of a lady named Monna
+Giovanna, who in her day held rank among the fairest and most elegant
+ladies of Florence; to gain whose love he jousted, tilted, gave
+entertainments, scattered largess, and in short set no bounds to his
+expenditure. However the lady, no less virtuous than fair, cared not a
+jot for what he did for her sake, nor yet for him.
+
+Spending thus greatly beyond his means, and making nothing, Federigo
+could hardly fail to come to lack, and was at length reduced to such
+poverty that he had nothing left but a little estate, on the rents of
+which he lived very straitly, and a single falcon, the best in the world.
+The estate was at Campi, and thither, deeming it no longer possible for
+him to live in the city as he desired, he repaired, more in love than
+ever before; and there, in complete seclusion, diverting himself with
+hawking, he bore his poverty as patiently as he might.
+
+Now, Federigo being thus reduced to extreme poverty, it so happened that
+one day Monna Giovanna's husband, who was very rich, fell ill, and,
+seeing that he was nearing his end, made his will, whereby he left his
+estate to his son, who was now growing up, and in the event of his death
+without lawful heir named Monna Giovanna, whom he dearly loved, heir in
+his stead; and having made these dispositions he died.
+
+Monna Giovanna, being thus left a widow, did as our ladies are wont, and
+repaired in the summer to one of her estates in the country which lay
+very near to that of Federigo. And so it befell that the urchin began to
+make friends with Federigo, and to shew a fondness for hawks and dogs,
+and having seen Federigo's falcon fly not a few times, took a singular
+fancy to him, and greatly longed to have him for his own, but still did
+not dare to ask him of Federigo, knowing that Federigo prized him so
+much. So the matter stood when by chance the boy fell sick; whereby the
+mother was sore distressed, for he was her only son, and she loved him as
+much as might be, insomuch that all day long she was beside him, and
+ceased not to comfort him, and again and again asked him if there were
+aught that he wished for, imploring him to say the word, and, if it might
+by any means be had, she would assuredly do her utmost to procure it for
+him. Thus repeatedly exhorted, the boy said:--"Mother mine, do but get me
+Federigo's falcon, and I doubt not I shall soon be well." Whereupon the
+lady was silent a while, bethinking her what she should do. She knew that
+Federigo had long loved her, and had never had so much as a single kind
+look from her: wherefore she said to herself:--How can I send or go to
+beg of him this falcon, which by what I hear is the best that ever flew,
+and moreover is his sole comfort? And how could I be so unfeeling as to
+seek to deprive a gentleman of the one solace that is now left him? And
+so, albeit she very well knew that she might have the falcon for the
+asking, she was perplexed, and knew not what to say, and gave her son no
+answer. At length, however, the love she bore the boy carried the day,
+and she made up her mind, for his contentment, come what might, not to
+send, but to go herself and fetch him the falcon. So:--"Be of good cheer,
+my son," she said, "and doubt not thou wilt soon be well; for I promise
+thee that the very first thing that I shall do tomorrow morning will be
+to go and fetch thee the falcon." Whereat the child was so pleased that
+he began to mend that very day.
+
+On the morrow the lady, as if for pleasure, hied her with another lady to
+Federigo's little house, and asked to see him. 'Twas still, as for some
+days past, no weather for hawking, and Federigo was in his garden, busy
+about some small matters which needed to be set right there. When he
+heard that Monna Giovanna was at the door, asking to see him, he was not
+a little surprised and pleased, and hied him to her with all speed. As
+soon as she saw him, she came forward to meet him with womanly grace, and
+having received his respectful salutation, said to him:--"Good morrow,
+Federigo," and continued:--"I am come to requite thee for what thou hast
+lost by loving me more than thou shouldst: which compensation is this,
+that I and this lady that accompanies me will breakfast with thee without
+ceremony this morning." "Madam," Federigo replied with all humility, "I
+mind not ever to have lost aught by loving you, but rather to have been
+so much profited that, if I ever deserved well in aught, 'twas to your
+merit that I owed it, and to the love that I bore you. And of a surety
+had I still as much to spend as I have spent in the past, I should not
+prize it so much as this visit you so frankly pay me, come as you are to
+one who can afford you but a sorry sort of hospitality." Which said, with
+some confusion, he bade her welcome to his house, and then led her into
+his garden, where, having none else to present to her by way of
+companion, he said:--"Madam, as there is none other here, this good
+woman, wife of this husbandman, will bear you company, while I go to have
+the table set." Now, albeit his poverty was extreme, yet he had not known
+as yet how sore was the need to which his extravagance had reduced him;
+but this morning 'twas brought home to him, for that he could find nought
+wherewith to do honour to the lady, for love of whom he had done the
+honours of his house to men without number: wherefore, distressed beyond
+measure, and inwardly cursing his evil fortune, he sped hither and
+thither like one beside himself, but never a coin found he, nor yet aught
+to pledge. Meanwhile it grew late, and sorely he longed that the lady
+might not leave his house altogether unhonoured, and yet to crave help of
+his own husbandman was more than his pride could brook. In these
+desperate straits his glance happened to fall on his brave falcon on his
+perch in his little parlour. And so, as a last resource, he took him, and
+finding him plump, deemed that he would make a dish meet for such a lady.
+Wherefore, without thinking twice about it, he wrung the bird's neck, and
+caused his maid forthwith pluck him and set him on a spit, and roast him
+carefully; and having still some spotless table linen, he had the table
+laid therewith, and with a cheerful countenance hied him back to his lady
+in the garden, and told her that such breakfast as he could give her was
+ready. So the lady and her companion rose and came to table, and there,
+with Federigo, who waited on them most faithfully, ate the brave falcon,
+knowing not what they ate.
+
+When they were risen from table, and had dallied a while in gay converse
+with him, the lady deemed it time to tell the reason of her visit:
+wherefore, graciously addressing Federigo, thus began she:--"Federigo, by
+what thou rememberest of thy past life and my virtue, which, perchance,
+thou hast deemed harshness and cruelty, I doubt not thou must marvel at
+my presumption, when thou hearest the main purpose of my visit; but if
+thou hadst sons, or hadst had them, so that thou mightest know the full
+force of the love that is borne them, I should make no doubt that thou
+wouldst hold me in part excused. Nor, having a son, may I, for that thou
+hast none, claim exemption from the laws to which all other mothers are
+subject, and, being thus bound to own their sway, I must, though fain
+were I not, and though 'tis neither meet nor right, crave of thee that
+which I know thou dost of all things and with justice prize most highly,
+seeing that this extremity of thy adverse fortune has left thee nought
+else wherewith to delight, divert and console thee; which gift is no
+other than thy falcon, on which my boy has so set his heart that, if I
+bring him it not, I fear lest he grow so much worse of the malady that he
+has, that thereby it may come to pass that I lose him. And so, not for
+the love which thou dost bear me, and which may nowise bind thee, but for
+that nobleness of temper, whereof in courtesy more conspicuously than in
+aught else thou hast given proof, I implore thee that thou be pleased to
+give me the bird, that thereby I may say that I have kept my son alive,
+and thus made him for aye thy debtor."
+
+No sooner had Federigo apprehended what the lady wanted, than, for grief
+that 'twas not in his power to serve her, because he had given her the
+falcon to eat, he fell a weeping in her presence, before he could so much
+as utter a word. At first the lady supposed that 'twas only because he
+was loath to part with the brave falcon that he wept, and as good as made
+up her mind that he would refuse her: however, she awaited with patience
+Federigo's answer, which was on this wise:--"Madam, since it pleased God
+that I should set my affections upon you there have been matters not a
+few, in which to my sorrow I have deemed Fortune adverse to me; but they
+have all been trifles in comparison of the trick that she now plays me:
+the which I shall never forgive her, seeing that you are come here to my
+poor house, where, while I was rich, you deigned not to come, and ask a
+trifling favour of me, which she has put it out of my power to grant: how
+'tis so, I will briefly tell you. When I learned that you, of your grace,
+were minded to breakfast with me, having respect to your high dignity and
+desert, I deemed it due and seemly that in your honour I should regale
+you, to the best of my power, with fare of a more excellent quality than
+is commonly set before others; and, calling to mind the falcon which you
+now ask of me, and his excellence, I judged him meet food for you, and so
+you have had him roasted on the trencher this morning; and well indeed I
+thought I had bestowed him; but, as now I see that you would fain have
+had him in another guise, so mortified am I that I am not able to serve
+you, that I doubt I shall never know peace of mind more." In witness
+whereof he had the feathers and feet and beak of the bird brought in and
+laid before her.
+
+The first thing the lady did, when she had heard Federigo's story, and
+seen the relics of the bird, was to chide him that he had killed so fine
+a falcon to furnish a woman with a breakfast; after which the magnanimity
+of her host, which poverty had been and was powerless to impair, elicited
+no small share of inward commendation. Then, frustrate of her hope of
+possessing the falcon, and doubting of her son's recovery, she took her
+leave with the heaviest of hearts, and hied her back to the boy: who,
+whether for fretting, that he might not have the falcon, or by the
+unaided energy of his disorder, departed this life not many days after,
+to the exceeding great grief of his mother. For a while she would do
+nought but weep and bitterly bewail herself; but being still young, and
+left very wealthy, she was often urged by her brothers to marry again,
+and though she would rather have not done so, yet being importuned, and
+remembering Federigo's high desert, and the magnificent generosity with
+which he had finally killed his falcon to do her honour, she said to her
+brothers:--"Gladly, with your consent, would I remain a widow, but if you
+will not be satisfied except I take a husband, rest assured that none
+other will I ever take save Federigo degli Alberighi." Whereupon her
+brothers derided her, saying:--"Foolish woman, what is't thou sayst? How
+shouldst thou want Federigo, who has not a thing in the world?" To whom
+she answered:--"My brothers, well wot I that 'tis as you say; but I had
+rather have a man without wealth than wealth without a man." The
+brothers, perceiving that her mind was made up, and knowing Federigo for
+a good man and true, poor though he was, gave her to him with all her
+wealth. And so Federigo, being mated with such a wife, and one that he
+had so much loved, and being very wealthy to boot, lived happily, keeping
+more exact accounts, to the end of his days.
+
+
+NOVEL X.
+
+--
+Pietro di Vinciolo goes from home to sup: his wife brings a boy into the
+house to bear her company: Pietro returns, and she hides her gallant
+under a hen-coop: Pietro explains that in the house of Ercolano, with
+whom he was to have supped, there was discovered a young man bestowed
+there by Ercolano's wife: the lady thereupon censures Ercolano's wife:
+but unluckily an ass treads on the fingers of the boy that is hidden
+under the hen-coop, so that he cries for pain: Pietro runs to the place,
+sees him, and apprehends the trick played on him by his wife, which
+nevertheless he finally condones, for that he is not himself free from
+blame.
+--
+
+When the queen had done speaking, and all had praised God that He had
+worthily rewarded Federigo, Dioneo, who never waited to be bidden, thus
+began:--I know not whether I am to term it a vice accidental and
+superinduced by bad habits in us mortals, or whether it be a fault seated
+in nature, that we are more prone to laugh at things dishonourable than
+at good deeds, and that more especially when they concern not ourselves.
+However, as the sole scope of all my efforts has been and still shall be
+to dispel your melancholy, and in lieu thereof to minister to you
+laughter and jollity; therefore, enamoured my damsels, albeit the ensuing
+story is not altogether free from matter that is scarce seemly, yet, as
+it may afford you pleasure, I shall not fail to relate it; premonishing
+you my hearers, that you take it with the like discretion as when, going
+into your gardens, you stretch forth your delicate hands and cull the
+roses, leaving the thorns alone: which, being interpreted, means that you
+will leave the caitiff husband to abide in sorry plight with his
+dishonour, and will gaily laugh at the amorous wiles or his wife, and
+commiserate her unfortunate gallant, when occasion requires.
+
+'Tis no great while since there dwelt at Perugia a rich man named Pietro
+di Vinciolo, who rather, perchance, to blind others and mitigate the evil
+repute in which he was held by the citizens of Perugia, than for any
+desire to wed, took a wife: and such being his motive, Fortune provided
+him with just such a spouse as he merited. For the wife of his choice was
+a stout, red-haired young woman, and so hot-blooded that two husbands
+would have been more to her mind than one, whereas one fell to her lot
+that gave her only a subordinate place in his regard. Which she
+perceiving, while she knew herself to be fair and lusty, and felt herself
+to be gamesome and fit, waxed very wroth, and now and again had high
+words with her husband, and led but a sorry life with him at most times.
+Then, seeing that thereby she was more like to fret herself than to
+dispose her husband to conduct less base, she said to herself:--This poor
+creature deserts me to go walk in pattens in the dry; wherefore it shall
+go hard but I will bring another aboard the ship for the wet weather. I
+married him, and brought him a great and goodly dowry, knowing that he
+was a man, and supposing him to have the desires which men have and ought
+to have; and had I not deemed him to be a man, I should never have
+married him. He knew me to be a woman: why then took he me to wife, if
+women were not to his mind? 'Tis not to be endured. Had I not been minded
+to live in the world, I had become a nun; and being minded there to live,
+as I am, if I am to wait until I have pleasure or solace of him, I shall
+wait perchance until I am old; and then, too late, I shall bethink me to
+my sorrow that I have wasted my youth; and as to the way in which I
+should seek its proper solace I need no better teacher and guide than
+him, who finds his delight where I should find mine, and finds it to his
+own condemnation, whereas in me 'twere commendable. 'Tis but the laws
+that I shall set at nought, whereas he sets both them and Nature herself
+at nought.
+
+So the good lady reasoned, and peradventure more than once; and then,
+casting about how she might privily compass her end, she made friends
+with an old beldam, that shewed as a veritable Santa Verdiana,
+foster-mother of vipers, who was ever to be seen going to pardonings with
+a parcel of paternosters in her hand, and talked of nothing but the lives
+of the holy Fathers, and the wounds of St. Francis, and was generally
+reputed a saint; to whom in due time she opened her whole mind. "My
+daughter," replied the beldam, "God, who knows all things, knows that
+thou wilt do very rightly indeed: were it for no other reason, 'twould be
+meet for thee and every other young woman so to do, that the heyday of
+youth be not wasted; for there is no grief like that of knowing that it
+has been wasted. And what the devil are we women fit for when we are old
+except to pore over the cinders on the hearth? The which if any know, and
+may attest it, 'tis I, who, now that I am old, call to mind the time that
+I let slip from me, not without most sore and bitter and fruitless
+regret: and albeit 'twas not all wasted, for I would not have thee think
+that I was entirely without sense, yet I did not make the best use of it:
+whereof when I bethink me, and that I am now, even as thou seest me, such
+a hag that never a spark of fire may I hope to get from any, God knows
+how I rue it. Now with men 'tis otherwise: they are born meet for a
+thousand uses, not for this alone; and the more part of them are of much
+greater consequence in old age than in youth: but women are fit for
+nought but this, and 'tis but for that they bear children that they are
+cherished. Whereof, if not otherwise, thou mayst assure thyself, if thou
+do but consider that we are ever ready for it; which is not the case with
+men; besides which, one woman will tire out many men without being
+herself tired out. Seeing then that 'tis for this we are born, I tell
+thee again that thou wilt do very rightly to give thy husband thy loaf
+for his cake, that in thy old age thy soul may have no cause of complaint
+against thy flesh. Every one has just as much of this life as he
+appropriates: and this is especially true of women, whom therefore it
+behoves, much more than men, to seize the moment as it flies: indeed, as
+thou mayst see for thyself, when we grow old neither husband, nor any
+other man will spare us a glance; but, on the contrary, they banish us to
+the kitchen, there to tell stories to the cat, and to count the pots and
+pans; or, worse, they make rhymes about us:--'To the damsel dainty bits;
+to the beldam ague-fits;' and such-like catches. But to make no more
+words about it, I tell thee at once that there is no person in the world
+to whom thou couldst open thy mind with more advantage than to me; for
+there is no gentleman so fine but I dare speak my mind to him, nor any so
+harsh and forbidding but I know well how to soften him and fashion him to
+my will. Tell me only what thou wouldst have, and leave the rest to me:
+but one word more: I pray thee to have me in kindly remembrance, for that
+I am poor; and thou shalt henceforth go shares with me in all my
+indulgences and every paternoster that I say, that God may make thereof
+light and tapers for thy dead:" wherewith she ended.
+
+So the lady came to an understanding with the beldam, that, as soon as
+she set eyes on a boy that often came along that street, and of whom the
+lady gave her a particular description, she would know what she was to
+do: and thereupon the lady gave her a chunk of salt meat, and bade her
+God-speed. The beldam before long smuggled into the lady's chamber the
+boy of whom she had spoken, and not long after another, such being the
+humour of the lady, who, standing in perpetual dread of her husband, was
+disposed, in this particular, to make the most of her opportunities. And
+one of these days, her husband being to sup in the evening with a friend
+named Ercolano, the lady bade the beldam bring her a boy as pretty and
+dainty as was to be found in Perugia; and so the beldam forthwith did.
+But the lady and the boy being set at table to sup, lo, Pietro's voice
+was heard at the door, bidding open to him. Whereupon the lady gave
+herself up for dead; but being fain, if she might, to screen the boy, and
+knowing not where else to convey or conceal him, bestowed him under a
+hen-coop that stood in a veranda hard by the chamber in which they were
+supping, and threw over it a sorry mattress that she had that day emptied
+of its straw; which done she hastened to open the door to her husband;
+saying to him as he entered:--"You have gulped your supper mighty quickly
+to-night." Whereto Pietro replied:--"We have not so much as tasted it."
+"How so?" enquired the lady. "I will tell thee," said Pietro. "No sooner
+were we set at table, Ercolano, his wife, and I, than we heard a sneeze
+close to us, to which, though 'twas repeated, we paid no heed; but as the
+sneezer continued to sneeze a third, a fourth, a fifth, and many another
+time to boot, we all began to wonder, and Ercolano, who was somewhat out
+of humour with his wife, because she had kept us a long time at the door
+before she opened it, burst out in a sort of rage with:--'What means
+this? Who is't that thus sneezes?' and made off to a stair hard by,
+beneath which and close to its foot was a wooden closet, of the sort
+which, when folk are furnishing their houses, they commonly cause to be
+placed there, to stow things in upon occasion. And as it seemed to him
+that the sneezing proceeded thence, he undid the wicket, and no sooner
+had he opened it than out flew never so strong a stench of brimstone;
+albeit we had already been saluted by a whiff of it, and complained
+thereof, but had been put off by the lady with:--''Tis but that a while
+ago I bleached my veils with brimstone, having sprinkled it on a dish,
+that they might catch its fumes, which dish I then placed under the
+stair, so that it still smells a little.'
+
+"However the door being now, as I have said, open, and the smoke somewhat
+less dense, Ercolano, peering in, espied the fellow that had sneezed, and
+who still kept sneezing, being thereto constrained by the pungency of the
+brimstone. And for all he sneezed, yet was he by this time so well-nigh
+choked with the brimstone that he was like neither to sneeze nor to do
+aught else again. As soon as he caught sight of him, Ercolano bawled
+out:--'Now see I, Madam, why it was that a while ago, when we came here,
+we were kept waiting so long at the gate before 'twas opened; but woe
+betide me for the rest of my days, if I pay you not out.' Whereupon the
+lady, perceiving that her offence was discovered, ventured no excuse, but
+fled from the table, whither I know not. Ercolano, ignoring his wife's
+flight, bade the sneezer again and again to come forth; but he, being by
+this time fairly spent, budged not an inch for aught that Ercolano said.
+Wherefore Ercolano caught him by one of his feet, and dragged him forth,
+and ran off for a knife with intent to kill him; but I, standing in fear
+of the Signory on my own account, got up and would not suffer him to kill
+the fellow or do him any hurt, and for his better protection raised the
+alarm, whereby some of the neighbours came up and took the lad, more dead
+than alive, and bore him off, I know not whither. However, our supper
+being thus rudely interrupted, not only have not gulped it, but I have
+not so much as tasted it, as I said before!"
+
+Her husband's story shewed his wife that there were other ladies as
+knowing as she, albeit misfortune might sometimes overtake them and
+gladly would she have spoken out in defence of Ercolano's wife, but,
+thinking that, by censuring another's sin, she would secure more scope
+for her own, she launched out on this wise:--"Fine doings indeed, a right
+virtuous and saintly lady she must be: here is the loyalty of an honest
+woman, and one to whom I had lief have confessed, so spiritual I deemed
+her; and the worst of it is that, being no longer young, she sets a rare
+example to those that are so. Curses on the hour that she came into the
+world: curses upon her that she make not away with herself, basest, most
+faithless of women that she must needs be, the reproach of her sex, the
+opprobrium of all the ladies of this city, to cast aside all regard for
+her honour, her marriage vow, her reputation before the world, and, lost
+to all sense of shame, to scruple not to bring disgrace upon a man so
+worthy, a citizen so honourable, a husband by whom she was so well
+treated, ay, and upon herself to boot! By my hope of salvation no mercy
+should be shewn to such women; they should pay the penalty with their
+lives; to the fire with them while they yet live, and let them be burned
+to ashes." Then, calling to mind the lover that she had close at hand in
+the hen-coop, she fell to coaxing Pietro to get him to bed, for the hour
+grew late. Pietro, who was more set on eating than sleeping, only asked
+whether there was aught he might have by way of supper. "Supper,
+forsooth!" replied the lady. "Ay, of course 'tis our way to make much of
+supper when thou art not at home. As if I were Ercolano's wife! Now,
+wherefore tarry longer? Go, get thy night's rest: 'twere far better for
+thee."
+
+Now so it was that some of Pietro's husbandmen had come to the house that
+evening with divers things from the farm, and had put up their asses in a
+stable that adjoined the veranda, but had neglected to water them; and
+one of the asses being exceeding thirsty, got his head out of the halter
+and broke loose from the stable, and went about nosing everything, if
+haply he might come by water: whereby he came upon the hen-coop, beneath
+which was the boy; who, being constrained to stand on all fours, had the
+fingers of one hand somewhat protruding from under the hen-coop; and so
+as luck or rather ill-luck would have it, the ass trod on them; whereat,
+being sorely hurt, he set up a great howling, much to the surprise of
+Pietro, who perceived that 'twas within his house. So forth he came, and
+hearing the boy still moaning and groaning, for the ass still kept his
+hoof hard down on the fingers, called out:--"Who is there?" and ran to
+the hen-coop and raised it, and espied the fellow, who, besides the pain
+that the crushing of his fingers by the ass's hoof occasioned him,
+trembled in every limb for fear that Pietro should do him a mischief. He
+was one that Pietro had long been after for his foul purposes: so Pietro,
+recognizing him, asked him:--"What dost thou here?" The boy making no
+answer, save to beseech him for the love of God to do him no hurt, Pietro
+continued:--"Get up, have no fear that I shall hurt thee; but tell
+me:--How, and for what cause comest thou to be here?" The boy then
+confessed everything. Whereupon Pietro, as elated by the discovery as his
+wife was distressed, took him by the hand; and led him into the room
+where the lady in the extremity of terror awaited him; and, having seated
+himself directly in front of her, said:--"'Twas but a moment ago that
+thou didst curse Ercolano's wife, and averred that she ought to be
+burned, and that she was the reproach of your sex: why saidst thou not,
+of thyself? Or, if thou wast not minded to accuse thyself, how hadst thou
+the effrontery to censure her, knowing that thou hadst done even as she?
+Verily 'twas for no other reason than that ye are all fashioned thus, and
+study to cover your own misdeeds with the delinquencies of others: would
+that fire might fall from heaven and burn you all, brood of iniquity that
+ye are!"
+
+The lady, marking that in the first flush of his wrath he had given her
+nothing worse than hard words, and discerning, as she thought, that he
+was secretly overjoyed to hold so beautiful a boy by the hand, took heart
+of grace and said:--"I doubt not indeed that thou wouldst be well pleased
+that fire should fall from heaven and devour us all, seeing that thou art
+as fond of us as a dog is of the stick, though by the Holy Rood thou wilt
+be disappointed; but I would fain have a little argument with thee, to
+know whereof thou complainest. Well indeed were it with me, didst thou
+but place me on an equality with Ercolano's wife, who is an old
+sanctimonious hypocrite, and has of him all that she wants, and is
+cherished by him as a wife should be: but that is not my case. For,
+granted that thou givest me garments and shoes to my mind, thou knowest
+how otherwise ill bested I am, and how long it is since last thou didst
+lie with me; and far liefer had I go barefoot and in rags, and have thy
+benevolence abed, than have all that I have, and be treated as thou dost
+treat me. Understand me, Pietro, be reasonable; consider that I am a
+woman like other women, with the like craving; whereof if thou deny me
+the gratification, 'tis no blame to me that I seek it elsewhere; and at
+least I do thee so much honour as not forgather with stable-boys or
+scurvy knaves."
+
+Pietro perceived that she was like to continue in this vein the whole
+night: wherefore, indifferent as he was to her, he said:--"Now, Madam, no
+more of this; in the matter of which thou speakest I will content thee;
+but of thy great courtesy let us have something to eat by way of supper;
+for, methinks, the boy, as well as I, has not yet supped." "Ay, true
+enough," said the lady, "he has not supped; for we were but just sitting
+down to table to sup, when, beshrew thee, thou madest thy appearance."
+"Go then," said Pietro, "get us some supper; and by and by I will arrange
+this affair in such a way that thou shalt have no more cause of
+complaint." The lady, perceiving that her husband was now tranquil, rose,
+and soon had the table laid again and spread with the supper which she
+had ready; and so they made a jolly meal of it, the caitiff husband, the
+lady and the boy. What after supper Pietro devised for their mutual
+satisfaction has slipped from my memory. But so much as this I know, that
+on the morrow as he wended his way to the piazza, the boy would have been
+puzzled to say, whether of the twain, the wife or the husband, had had
+the most of his company during the night. But this I would say to you,
+dear my ladies, that whoso gives you tit, why, just give him tat; and if
+you cannot do it at once, why, bear it in mind until you can, that even
+as the ass gives, so he may receive.
+
+Dioneo's story, whereat the ladies laughed the less for shamefastness
+rather than for disrelish, being ended, the queen, taking note that the
+term of her sovereignty was come, rose to her feet, and took off the
+laurel wreath and set it graciously upon Elisa's head, saying:--"Madam,
+'tis now your turn to bear sway." The dignity accepted, Elisa followed in
+all respects the example of her predecessors: she first conferred with
+the seneschal, and directed him how meetly to order all things during the
+time of her sovereignty; which done to the satisfaction of the
+company:--"Ofttimes," quoth she, "have we heard how with bright sallies,
+and ready retorts, and sudden devices, not a few have known how to repugn
+with apt checks the bites of others, or to avert imminent perils; and
+because 'tis an excellent argument, and may be profitable, I ordain that
+to-morrow, God helping us, the following be the rule of our discourse; to
+wit, that it be of such as by some sprightly sally have repulsed an
+attack, or by some ready retort or device have avoided loss, peril or
+scorn." The rule being heartily approved by all, the queen rose and
+dismissed them till supper-time. So the honourable company, seeing the
+queen risen, rose all likewise, and as their wont was, betook them to
+their diversions as to each seemed best. But when the cicalas had hushed
+their chirping, all were mustered again for supper; and having blithely
+feasted, they all addressed them to song and dance. And the queen, while
+Emilia led a dance, called for a song from Dioneo, who at once came out
+with:--'Monna Aldruda, come perk up thy mood, a piece of glad tidings I
+bring thee.' Whereat all the ladies fell a laughing, and most of all the
+queen, who bade him give them no more of that, but sing another. Quoth
+Dioneo:--"Madam, had I a tabret, I would sing:--'Up with your smock,
+Monna Lapa!' or:--'Oh! the greensward under the olive!' Or perchance you
+had liefer I should give you:--'Woe is me, the wave of the sea!' But no
+tabret have I: wherefore choose which of these others you will have.
+Perchance you would like:--'Now hie thee to us forth, that so it may be
+cut, as May the fields about.'" "No," returned the queen, "give us
+another." "Then," said Dioneo, "I will sing:--'Monna Simona, embarrel,
+embarrel. Why, 'tis not the month of October.'"(1) "Now a plague upon
+thee," said the queen, with a laugh; "give us a proper song, wilt thou?
+for we will have none of these." "Never fear, Madam," replied Dioneo;
+"only say which you prefer. I have more than a thousand songs by heart.
+Perhaps you would like:--'This my little covert, make I ne'er it overt';
+or:--'Gently, gently, husband mine'; or:--'A hundred pounds were none too
+high a price for me a cock to buy.'" The queen now shewed some offence,
+though the other ladies laughed, and:--"A truce to thy jesting, Dioneo,"
+said she, "and give us a proper song: else thou mayst prove the quality
+of my ire." Whereupon Dioneo forthwith ceased his fooling, and sang on
+this wise:--
+
+So ravishing a light
+  Doth from the fair eyes of my mistress move
+  As keeps me slave to her and thee, O Love.
+
+A beam from those bright orbs did radiate
+  That flame that through mine own eyes to my breast
+  Did whilom entrance gain.
+  Thy majesty, O Love, thy might, how great
+  They be, 'twas her fair face did manifest:
+  Whereon to brood still fain,
+  I felt thee take and chain
+  Each sense, my soul enthralling on such wise
+  That she alone henceforth evokes my sighs.
+
+Wherefore, O dear my Lord, myself I own
+  Thy slave, and, all obedience, wait and yearn,
+  Till thy might me console.
+  Yet wot I not if it be throughly known
+  How noble is the flame wherewith I burn,
+  My loyalty how whole
+  To her that doth control
+  Ev'n in such sort my mind that shall I none,
+  Nor would I, peace receive, save hers alone.
+
+And so I pray thee, sweet my Lord, that thou
+  Give her to feel thy fire, and shew her plain
+  How grievous my disease.
+  This service deign to render; for that now
+  Thou seest me waste for love, and in the pain
+  Dissolve me by degrees:
+  And then the apt moment seize
+  My cause to plead with her, as is but due
+  From thee to me, who fain with thee would sue.
+
+When Dioneo's silence shewed that his song was ended, the queen accorded
+it no stinted meed of praise; after which she caused not a few other
+songs to be sung. Thus passed some part of the night; and then the queen,
+taking note that its freshness had vanquished the heat of the day, bade
+all go rest them, if they would, till the morning.
+
+(1) The song is evidently amoebean.
+
+
+--
+Endeth here the fifth day of the Decameron, beginneth the sixth, wherein,
+under the rule of Elisa, discourse is had of such as by some sprightly
+sally have repulsed an attack, or by some ready retort or device have
+avoided loss, peril or scorn.
+--
+
+Still in mid heaven, the moon had lost her radiance, nor was any part of
+our world unillumined by the fresh splendour of the dawn, when, the queen
+being risen and having mustered her company, they hied them, gently
+sauntering, across the dewy mead some distance from the beautiful hill,
+conversing now of this, now of the other matter, canvassing the stories,
+their greater or less degree of beauty, and laughing afresh at divers of
+their incidents, until, the sun being now in his higher ascendant, they
+began to feel his heat, and turning back by common consent, retraced
+their steps to the palace, where, the tables being already set, and
+fragrant herbs and fair flowers strewn all about, they by the queen's
+command, before it should grow hotter, addressed themselves to their
+meal. So, having blithely breakfasted, they first of all sang some dainty
+and jocund ditties, and then, as they were severally minded, composed
+them to sleep or sat them down to chess or dice, while Dioneo and
+Lauretta fell a singing of Troilus and Cressida.
+
+The hour of session being come, they took their places, at the queen's
+summons, in their wonted order by the fountain; but, when the queen was
+about to call for the first story, that happened which had not happened
+before; to wit, there being a great uproar in the kitchen among the maids
+and men, the sound thereof reached the ears of the queen and all the
+company. Whereupon the queen called the seneschal and asked him who
+bawled so loud, and what was the occasion of the uproar. The seneschal
+made answer that 'twas some contention between Licisca and Tindaro; but
+the occasion he knew not, having but just come to quiet them, when he
+received her summons. The queen then bade him cause Licisca and Tindaro
+to come thither forthwith: so they came, and the queen enquired of them
+the cause of the uproar. Tindaro was about to make answer, when Licisca,
+who was somewhat advanced in years, and disposed to give herself airs,
+and heated to the strife of words, turned to Tindaro, and scowling upon
+him said:--"Unmannerly varlet that makest bold to speak before me; leave
+me to tell the story." Then, turning to the queen, she said:--"Madam,
+this fellow would fain instruct me as to Sicofante's wife, and--neither
+more or less--as if I had not known her well--would have me believe that,
+the first night that Sicofante lay with her, 'twas by force and not
+without effusion of blood that Master Yard made his way into Dusky Hill;
+which I deny, averring that he met with no resistance, but, on the
+contrary, with a hearty welcome on the part of the garrison. And such a
+numskull is he as fondly to believe that the girls are so simple as to
+let slip their opportunities, while they wait on the caprice of father or
+brothers, who six times out of seven delay to marry them for three or
+four years after they should. Ay, ay indeed, doubtless they were well
+advised to tarry so long! Christ's faith! I should know the truth of what
+I swear; there is never a woman in my neighbourhood whose husband had her
+virginity; and well I know how many and what manner of tricks our married
+dames play their husbands; and yet this booby would fain teach me to know
+women as if I were but born yesterday."
+
+While Licisca thus spoke, the ladies laughed till all their teeth were
+ready to start from their heads. Six times at least the queen bade her be
+silent: but all in vain; she halted not till she had said all that she
+had a mind to. When she had done, the queen turned with a smile to Dioneo
+saying:--"This is a question for thee to deal with, Dioneo; so hold
+thyself in readiness to give final judgment upon it, when our stories are
+ended." "Madam," replied Dioneo forthwith, "I give judgment without more
+ado: I say that Licisca is in the right; I believe that 'tis even as she
+says, and that Tindaro is a fool." Whereupon Licisca burst out laughing,
+and turning to Tindaro:--"Now did I not tell thee so?" quoth she. "Begone
+in God's name: dost think to know more than I, thou that art but a
+sucking babe? Thank God, I have not lived for nothing, not I." And had
+not the queen sternly bade her be silent, and make no more disturbance,
+unless she had a mind to be whipped, and sent both her and Tindaro back
+to the kitchen, the whole day would have been spent in nought but
+listening to her. So Licisca and Tindaro having withdrawn, the queen
+charged Filomena to tell the first story: and gaily thus Filomena began.
+
+
+NOVEL I.
+
+--
+A knight offers to carry Madonna Oretta a horseback with a story, but
+tells it so ill that she prays him to dismount her.
+--
+
+As stars are set for an ornament in the serene expanse of heaven, and
+likewise in springtime flowers and leafy shrubs in the green meadows, so,
+damsels, in the hour of rare and excellent discourse, is wit with its
+bright sallies. Which, being brief, are much more proper for ladies than
+for men, seeing that prolixity of speech, where brevity is possible, is
+much less allowable to them. But for whatever cause, be it the sorry
+quality of our understanding, or some especial enmity that heaven bears
+to our generation, few ladies or none are left to-day that, when occasion
+prompts, are able to meet it with apt speech, ay, or if aught of the kind
+they hear, can understand it aright: to our common shame be it spoken!
+But as, touching this matter, enough has already been said by
+Pampinea,(1) I purpose not to enlarge thereon; but, that you may know
+what excellence resides in speech apt for the occasion, I am minded to
+tell you after how courteous a fashion a lady imposed silence upon a
+gentleman.
+
+'Tis no long time since there dwelt in our city a lady, noble, debonair
+and of excellent discourse, whom not a few of you may have seen or heard
+of, whose name--for such high qualities merit not oblivion--was Madonna
+Oretta, her husband being Messer Geri Spina. Now this lady, happening to
+be, as we are, in the country, moving from place to place for pleasure
+with a company of ladies and gentlemen, whom she had entertained the day
+before at breakfast at her house, and the place of their next sojourn,
+whither they were to go afoot, being some considerable distance off, one
+of the gentlemen of the company said to her:--"Madonna Oretta, so please
+you, I will carry you great part of the way a horseback with one of the
+finest stories in the world." "Indeed, Sir," replied the lady, "I pray
+you do so; and I shall deem it the greatest of favours." Whereupon the
+gentleman, who perhaps was no better master of his weapon than of his
+story, began a tale, which in itself was indeed excellent, but which, by
+repeating the same word three, four or six times, and now and again
+harking back, and saying:--"I said not well"; and erring not seldom in
+the names, setting one in place of another, he utterly spoiled; besides
+which, his mode of delivery accorded very ill with the character of the
+persons and incidents: insomuch that Madonna Oretta, as she listened, did
+oft sweat, and was like to faint, as if she were ill and at the point of
+death. And being at length able to bear no more of it, witting that the
+gentleman had got into a mess and was not like to get out of it, she said
+pleasantly to him:--"Sir, this horse of yours trots too hard; I pray you
+be pleased to set me down." The gentleman, being perchance more quick of
+apprehension than he was skilful in narration, missed not the meaning of
+her sally, and took it in all good and gay humour. So, leaving unfinished
+the tale which he had begun, and so mishandled, he addressed himself to
+tell her other stories.
+
+(1) Cf. First Day, Novel X.
+
+
+NOVEL II.
+
+--
+Cisti, a baker, by an apt speech gives Messer Geri Spina to know that he
+has by inadvertence asked that of him which he should not.
+--
+
+All the ladies and the men alike having greatly commended Madonna
+Oretta's apt saying, the queen bade Pampinea follow suit, and thus she
+began:--
+
+Fair ladies, I cannot myself determine whether Nature or Fortune be the
+more at fault, the one in furnishing a noble soul with a vile body, or
+the other in allotting a base occupation to a body endowed with a noble
+soul, whereof we may have seen an example, among others, in our
+fellow-citizen, Cisti; whom, furnished though he was with a most lofty
+soul, Fortune made a baker. And verily I should curse Nature and Fortune
+alike, did I not know that Nature is most discreet, and that Fortune,
+albeit the foolish imagine her blind, has a thousand eyes. For 'tis, I
+suppose, that, being wise above a little, they do as mortals ofttimes do,
+who, being uncertain as to their future, provide against contingencies by
+burying their most precious treasures in the basest places in their
+houses, as being the least likely to be suspected; whence, in the hour of
+their greatest need, they bring them forth, the base place having kept
+them more safe than the dainty chamber would have done. And so these two
+arbitresses of the world not seldom hide their most precious commodities
+in the obscurity of the crafts that are reputed most base, that thence
+being brought to light they may shine with a brighter splendour. Whereof
+how in a trifling matter Cisti, the baker, gave proof, restoring the eyes
+of the mind to Messer Geri Spina, whom the story of his wife, Madonna
+Oretta, has brought to my recollection, I am minded to shew you in a
+narrative which shall be of the briefest.
+
+I say then that Pope Boniface, with whom Messer Geri Spina stood very
+high in favour and honour, having sent divers of his courtiers to
+Florence as ambassadors to treat of certain matters of great moment, and
+they being lodged in Messer Geri's house, where he treated with them of
+the said affairs of the Pope, 'twas, for some reason or another, the wont
+of Messer Geri and the ambassadors of the Pope to pass almost every
+morning by Santa Maria Ughi, where Cisti, the baker, had his bakehouse,
+and plied his craft in person. Now, albeit Fortune had allotted him a
+very humble occupation, she had nevertheless prospered him therein to
+such a degree that he was grown most wealthy, and without ever aspiring
+to change it for another, lived in most magnificent style, having among
+his other good things a cellar of the best wines, white and red, that
+were to be found in Florence, or the country parts; and marking Messer
+Geri and the ambassadors of the Pope pass every morning by his door, he
+bethought him that, as 'twas very hot, 'twould be a very courteous thing
+to give them to drink of his good wine; but comparing his rank with that
+of Messer Geri, he deemed it unseemly to presume to invite him, and cast
+about how he might lead Messer Geri to invite himself. So, wearing always
+the whitest of doublets and a spotless apron, that denoted rather the
+miller, than the baker, he let bring, every morning about the hour that
+he expected Messer Geri and the ambassadors to pass by his door, a
+spick-and-span bucket of fresh and cool spring water, and a small
+Bolognese flagon of his good white wine, and two beakers that shone like
+silver, so bright were they: and there down he sat him, as they came by,
+and after hawking once or twice, fell a drinking his wine with such gusto
+that 'twould have raised a thirst in a corpse. Which Messer Geri having
+observed on two successive mornings, said on the third:--"What is't,
+Cisti? Is't good?" Whereupon Cisti jumped up, and answered:--"Ay, Sir,
+good it is; but in what degree I might by no means make you understand,
+unless you tasted it." Messer Geri, in whom either the heat of the
+weather, or unwonted fatigue, or, perchance, the gusto with which he had
+seen Cisti drink, had bred a thirst, turned to the ambassadors and said
+with a smile:--"Gentlemen, 'twere well to test the quality of this worthy
+man's wine: it may be such that we shall not repent us." And so in a body
+they came up to where Cisti stood; who, having caused a goodly bench to
+be brought out of the bakehouse, bade them be seated, and to their
+servants, who were now coming forward to wash the beakers, said:--"Stand
+back, comrades, and leave this office to me, for I know as well how to
+serve wine as to bake bread; and expect not to taste a drop yourselves."
+Which said, he washed four fine new beakers with his own hands, and
+having sent for a small flagon of his good wine, he heedfully filled the
+beakers, and presented them to Messer Geri and his companions; who deemed
+the wine the best that they had drunk for a great while. So Messer Geri,
+having praised the wine not a little, came there to drink every morning
+with the ambassadors as long as they tarried with him.
+
+Now when the ambassadors had received their conge, and were about to
+depart, Messer Geri gave a grand banquet, to which he bade some of the
+most honourable of the citizens, and also Cisti, who could by no means be
+induced to come. However, Messer Geri bade one of his servants go fetch a
+flask of Cisti's wine, and serve half a beaker thereof to each guest at
+the first course. The servant, somewhat offended, perhaps, that he had
+not been suffered to taste any of the wine, took with him a large flask,
+which Cisti no sooner saw, than:--"Son," quoth he, "Messer Geri does not
+send thee to me": and often as the servant affirmed that he did, he could
+get no other answer: wherewith he was fain at last to return to Messer
+Geri. "Go, get thee back, said Messer Geri, and tell him that I do send
+thee to him, and if he answers thee so again, ask him, to whom then I
+send thee." So the servant came back, and said:--"Cisti, Messer Geri
+does, for sure, send me to thee." "Son," answered Cisti, "Messer Geri
+does, for sure, not send thee to me." "To whom then," said the servant,
+"does he send me?" "To Arno," returned Cisti. Which being reported by the
+servant to Messer Geri, the eyes of his mind were straightway opened,
+and:--"Let me see," quoth he to the servant, "what flask it is thou
+takest there." And when he had seen it:--"Cisti says sooth," he added;
+and having sharply chidden him, he caused him take with him a suitable
+flask, which when Cisti saw:--"Now know I," quoth he, "that 'tis indeed
+Messer Geri that sends thee to me," and blithely filled it. And having
+replenished the rundlet that same day with wine of the same quality, he
+had it carried with due care to Messer Geri's house, and followed after
+himself; where finding Messer Geri he said:--"I would not have you think,
+Sir, that I was appalled by the great flask your servant brought me this
+morning; 'twas but that I thought you had forgotten that which by my
+little beakers I gave you to understand, when you were with me of late;
+to wit, that this is no table wine; and so wished this morning to refresh
+your memory. Now, however, being minded to keep the wine no longer, I
+have sent you all I have of it, to be henceforth entirely at your
+disposal." Messer Geri set great store by Cisti's gift, and thanked him
+accordingly, and ever made much of him and entreated him as his friend.
+
+
+NOVEL III.
+
+--
+Monna Nonna de' Pulci by a ready retort silences the scarce seemly
+jesting of the Bishop of Florence.
+--
+
+Pampinea's story ended, and praise not a little bestowed on Cisti alike
+for his apt speech and for his handsome present, the queen was pleased to
+call forthwith for a story from Lauretta, who blithely thus began:--
+
+Debonair my ladies, the excellency of wit, and our lack thereof, have
+been noted with no small truth first by Pampinea and after her by
+Filomena. To which topic 'twere bootless to return: wherefore to that
+which has been said touching the nature of wit I purpose but to add one
+word, to remind you that its bite should be as a sheep's bite and not as
+a dog's; for if it bite like a dog, 'tis no longer wit but discourtesy.
+With which maxim the words of Madonna Oretta, and the apt reply of Cisti,
+accorded excellently. True indeed it is that if 'tis by way of retort,
+and one that has received a dog's bite gives the biter a like bite in
+return, it does not seem to be reprehensible, as otherwise it would have
+been. Wherefore one must consider how and when and on whom and likewise
+where one exercises one's wit. By ill observing which matters one of our
+prelates did once upon a time receive no less shrewd a bite than he gave;
+as I will shew you in a short story.
+
+While Messer Antonio d'Orso, a prelate both worthy and wise, was Bishop
+of Florence, there came thither a Catalan gentleman, Messer Dego della
+Ratta by name, being King Ruberto's marshal. Now Dego being very goodly
+of person, and inordinately fond of women, it so befell that of the
+ladies of Florence she that he regarded with especial favour was the very
+beautiful niece of a brother of the said bishop. And having learned that
+her husband, though of good family, was but a caitiff, and avaricious in
+the last degree, he struck a bargain with him that he should lie one
+night with the lady for five hundred florins of gold: whereupon he had
+the same number of popolins(1) of silver, which were then current,
+gilded, and having lain with the lady, albeit against her will, gave them
+to her husband. Which coming to be generally known, the caitiff husband
+was left with the loss and the laugh against him; and the bishop, like a
+wise man, feigned to know nought of the affair. And so the bishop and the
+marshal being much together, it befell that on St. John's day, as they
+rode side by side down the street whence they start to run the palio,(2)
+and took note of the ladies, the bishop espied a young gentlewoman, whom
+this present pestilence has reft from us, Monna Nonna de' Pulci by name,
+a cousin of Messer Alesso Rinucci, whom you all must know; whom, for that
+she was lusty and fair, and of excellent discourse and a good courage,
+and but just settled with her husband in Porta San Piero, the bishop
+presented to the marshal; and then, being close beside her, he laid his
+hand on the marshal's shoulder and said to her:--"Nonna, what thinkest
+thou of this gentleman? That thou mightst make a conquest of him?" Which
+words the lady resented as a jibe at her honour, and like to tarnish it
+in the eyes of those, who were not a few, in whose hearing they were
+spoken. Wherefore without bestowing a thought upon the vindication of her
+honour, but being minded to return blow for blow, she retorted
+hastily:--"Perchance, Sir, he might not make a conquest of me; but if he
+did so, I should want good money." The answer stung both the marshal and
+the bishop to the quick, the one as contriver of the scurvy trick played
+upon the bishop's brother in regard of his niece, the other as thereby
+outraged in the person of his brother's niece; insomuch that they dared
+not look one another in the face, but took themselves off in shame and
+silence, and said never a word more to her that day.
+
+In such a case, then, the lady having received a bite, 'twas allowable in
+her wittily to return it.
+
+(1) A coin of the same size and design as the fiorino d'oro, but worth
+only two soldi.
+
+(2) A sort of horse-race still in vogue at Siena.
+
+
+NOVEL IV.
+
+--
+Chichibio, cook to Currado Gianfigliazzi, owes his safety to a ready
+answer, whereby he converts Currado's wrath into laughter, and evades the
+evil fate with which Currado had threatened him.
+--
+
+Lauretta being now silent, all lauded Nonna to the skies; after which
+Neifile received the queen's command to follow suit, and thus began:--
+
+Albeit, loving ladies, ready wit not seldom ministers words apt and
+excellent and congruous with the circumstances of the speakers, 'tis also
+true that Fortune at times comes to the aid of the timid, and
+unexpectedly sets words upon the tongue, which in a quiet hour the
+speaker could never have found for himself: the which 'tis my purpose to
+shew you by my story.
+
+Currado Gianfigliazzi, as the eyes and ears of each of you may bear
+witness, has ever been a noble citizen of our city, open-handed and
+magnificent, and one that lived as a gentleman should with hounds and
+hawks, in which, to say nothing at present of more important matters, he
+found unfailing delight. Now, having one day hard by Peretola despatched
+a crane with one of his falcons, finding it young and plump, he sent it
+to his excellent cook, a Venetian, Chichibio by name, bidding him roast
+it for supper and make a dainty dish of it. Chichibio, who looked, as he
+was, a very green-head, had dressed the crane, and set it to the fire and
+was cooking it carefully, when, the bird being all but roasted, and the
+fumes of the cooking very strong, it so chanced that a girl, Brunetta by
+name, that lived in the same street, and of whom Chichibio was greatly
+enamoured, came into the kitchen, and perceiving the smell and seeing the
+bird, began coaxing Chichibio to give her a thigh. By way of answer
+Chichibio fell a singing:--"You get it not from me, Madam Brunetta, you
+get it not from me." Whereat Madam Brunetta was offended, and said to
+him:--"By God, if thou givest it me not, thou shalt never have aught from
+me to pleasure thee." In short there was not a little altercation; and in
+the end Chichibio, fain not to vex his mistress, cut off one of the
+crane's thighs, and gave it to her. So the bird was set before Currado
+and some strangers that he had at table with him, and Currado, observing
+that it had but one thigh, was surprised, and sent for Chichibio, and
+demanded of him what was become of the missing thigh. Whereto the
+mendacious Venetian answered readily:--"The crane, Sir, has but one thigh
+and one leg." "What the devil?" rejoined Currado in a rage: "so the crane
+has but one thigh and one leg? thinkst thou I never saw crane before
+this?" But Chichibio continued:--"'Tis even so as I say, Sir; and, so
+please you, I will shew you that so it is in the living bird." Currado
+had too much respect for his guests to pursue the topic; he only
+said:--"Since thou promisest to shew me in the living bird what I have
+never seen or heard tell of, I bid thee do so to-morrow, and I shall be
+satisfied, but if thou fail, I swear to thee by the body of Christ that I
+will serve thee so that thou shalt ruefully remember my name for the rest
+of thy days."
+
+No more was said of the matter that evening, but on the morrow, at
+daybreak, Currado, who had by no means slept off his wrath, got up still
+swelling therewith, and ordered his horses, mounted Chichibio on a
+hackney, and saying to him:--"We shall soon see which of us lied
+yesternight, thou or I," set off with him for a place where there was
+much water, beside which there were always cranes to be seen about dawn.
+Chichibio, observing that Currado's ire was unabated, and knowing not how
+to bolster up his lie, rode by Currado's side in a state of the utmost
+trepidation, and would gladly, had he been able, have taken to flight;
+but, as he might not, he glanced, now ahead, now aback, now aside, and
+saw everywhere nought but cranes standing on two feet. However, as they
+approached the river, the very first thing they saw upon the bank was a
+round dozen of cranes standing each and all on one foot, as is their
+wont, when asleep. Which Chichibio presently pointed out to Currado,
+saying:--"Now may you see well enough, Sir, that 'tis true as I said
+yesternight, that the crane has but one thigh and one leg; mark but how
+they stand over there." Whereupon Currado:--"Wait," quoth he, "and I will
+shew thee that they have each thighs and legs twain." So, having drawn a
+little nigher to them, he ejaculated, "Oho!" Which caused the cranes to
+bring each the other foot to the ground, and, after hopping a step or
+two, to take to flight. Currado then turned to Chichibio, saying:--"How
+now, rogue? art satisfied that the bird has thighs and legs twain?"
+Whereto Chichibio, all but beside himself with fear, made answer:--"Ay,
+Sir; but you cried not, oho! to our crane of yestereve: had you done so,
+it would have popped its other thigh and foot forth, as these have done."
+Which answer Currado so much relished, that, all his wrath changed to
+jollity and laughter:--"Chichibio," quoth he, "thou art right, indeed I
+ought to have so done."
+
+Thus did Chichibio by his ready and jocund retort arrest impending evil,
+and make his peace with his master.
+
+
+NOVEL V.
+
+--
+Messer Forese da Rabatta and Master Giotto, the painter, journeying
+together from Mugello, deride one another's scurvy appearance.
+--
+
+Neifile being silent, and the ladies having made very merry over
+Chichibio's retort, Pamfilo at the queen's command thus spoke:--Dearest
+ladies, if Fortune, as Pampinea has shewn us, does sometimes bide
+treasures most rich of native worth in the obscurity of base occupations,
+so in like manner 'tis not seldom found that Nature has enshrined
+prodigies of wit in the most ignoble of human forms. Whereof a notable
+example is afforded by two of our citizens, of whom I purpose for a brief
+while to discourse. The one, Messer Forese da Rabatta by name, was short
+and deformed of person and withal flat-cheeked and flat-nosed, insomuch
+that never a Baroncio(1) had a visage so misshapen but his would have
+shewed as hideous beside it; yet so conversant was this man with the
+laws, that by not a few of those well able to form an opinion he was
+reputed a veritable storehouse of civil jurisprudence. The other, whose
+name was Giotto, was of so excellent a wit that, let Nature, mother of
+all, operant ever by continual revolution of the heavens, fashion what
+she would, he with his style and pen and pencil would depict its like on
+such wise that it shewed not as its like, but rather as the thing itself,
+insomuch that the visual sense of men did often err in regard thereof,
+mistaking for real that which was but painted. Wherefore, having brought
+back to light that art which had for many ages lain buried beneath the
+blunders of those who painted rather to delight the eyes of the ignorant
+than to satisfy the intelligence of the wise, he may deservedly be called
+one of the lights that compose the glory of Florence, and the more so,
+the more lowly was the spirit in which he won that glory, who, albeit he
+was, while he yet lived, the master of others, yet did ever refuse to be
+called their master. And this title that he rejected adorned him with a
+lustre the more splendid in proportion to the avidity with which it was
+usurped by those who were less knowing than he, or were his pupils. But
+for all the exceeding greatness of his art, yet in no particular had he
+the advantage of Messer Forese either in form or in feature. But to come
+to the story:--'Twas in Mugello that Messer Forese, as likewise Giotto,
+had his country-seat, whence returning from a sojourn that he had made
+there during the summer vacation of the courts, and being, as it chanced,
+mounted on a poor jade of a draught horse, he fell in with the said
+Giotto, who was also on his way back to Florence after a like sojourn on
+his own estate, and was neither better mounted, nor in any other wise
+better equipped, than Messer Forese. And so, being both old men, they
+jogged on together at a slow pace: and being surprised by a sudden
+shower, such as we frequently see fall in summer, they presently sought
+shelter in the house of a husbandman that was known to each of them, and
+was their friend. But after a while, as the rain gave no sign of ceasing,
+and they had a mind to be at Florence that same day, they borrowed of the
+husbandman two old cloaks of Romagnole cloth, and two hats much the worse
+for age (there being no better to be had), and resumed their journey.
+Whereon they had not proceeded far, when, taking note that they were
+soaked through and through, and liberally splashed with the mud cast up
+by their nags' hooves (circumstances which are not of a kind to add to
+one's dignity), they, after long silence, the sky beginning to brighten a
+little, began to converse. And Messer Forese, as he rode and hearkened to
+Giotto, who was an excellent talker, surveyed him sideways, and from head
+to foot, and all over, and seeing him in all points in so sorry and
+scurvy a trim, and recking nought of his own appearance, broke into a
+laugh and said:--"Giotto, would e'er a stranger that met us, and had not
+seen thee before, believe, thinkst thou, that thou wert, as thou art,
+the greatest painter in the world." Whereto Giotto answered
+promptly:--"Methinks, Sir, he might, if, scanning you, he gave you credit
+for knowing the A B C." Which hearing, Messer Forese recognized his
+error, and perceived that he had gotten as good as he brought.
+
+(1) The name of a Florentine family famous for the extraordinary ugliness
+of its men: whereby it came to pass that any grotesque or extremely ugly
+man was called a Baroncio. Fanfani, Vocab. della Lingua Italiana, 1891.
+
+
+NOVEL VI.
+
+--
+Michele Scalza proves to certain young men that the Baronci are the best
+gentlemen in the world and the Maremma, and wins a supper.
+--
+
+The ladies were still laughing over Giotto's ready retort, when the queen
+charged Fiammetta to follow suit; wherefore thus Fiammetta
+began:--Pamfilo's mention of the Baronci, who to you, Damsels, are
+perchance not so well known as to him, has brought to my mind a story in
+which 'tis shewn how great is their nobility; and, for that it involves
+no deviation from our rule of discourse, I am minded to tell it you.
+
+'Tis no long time since there dwelt in our city a young man, Michele
+Scalza by name, the pleasantest and merriest fellow in the world, and the
+best furnished with quaint stories: for which reason the Florentine youth
+set great store on having him with them when they forgathered in company.
+Now it so befell that one day, he being with a party of them at Mont'
+Ughi, they fell a disputing together on this wise; to wit, who were the
+best gentlemen and of the longest descent in Florence. One said, the
+Uberti, another, the Lamberti, or some other family, according to the
+predilection of the speaker. Whereat Scalza began to smile, and
+said:--"Now out upon you, out upon you, blockheads that ye are: ye know
+not what ye say. The best gentlemen and of longest descent in all the
+world and the Maremma (let alone Florence) are the Baronci by the common
+consent of all phisopholers,(1) and all that know them as I do; and lest
+you should otherwise conceive me, I say that 'tis of your neighbours the
+Baronci(2) of Santa Maria Maggiore that I speak." Whereupon the young
+men, who had looked for somewhat else from him, said derisively:--"Thou
+dost but jest with us; as if we did not know the Baronci as well as
+thou!" Quoth Scalza:--"By the Gospels I jest not, but speak sooth; and if
+there is any of you will wager a supper to be given to the winner and six
+good fellows whom he shall choose, I will gladly do the like, and--what
+is more--I will abide by the decision of such one of you as you may
+choose." Then said one of them whose name was Neri Mannini:--"I am ready
+to adventure this supper;" and so they agreed together that Piero di
+Fiorentino, in whose house they were, should be judge, and hied them to
+him followed by all the rest, eager to see Scalza lose, and triumph in
+his discomfiture, and told Piero all that had been said. Piero, who was a
+young man of sound sense, heard what Neri had to say; and then turning to
+Scalza:--"And how," quoth he, "mayst thou make good what thou averrest?"
+"I will demonstrate it," returned Scalza, "by reasoning so cogent that
+not only you, but he that denies it shall acknowledge that I say sooth.
+You know, and so they were saying but now, that the longer men's descent,
+the better is their gentility, and I say that the Baronci are of longer
+descent, and thus better gentlemen than any other men. If, then, I prove
+to you that they are of longer descent than any other men, without a
+doubt the victory in this dispute will rest with me. Now you must know
+that when God made the Baronci, He was but a novice in His art, of which,
+when He made the rest of mankind, He was already master. And to assure
+yourself that herein I say sooth, you have but to consider the Baronci,
+how they differ from the rest of mankind, who all have faces well
+composed and duly proportioned, whereas of the Baronci you will see one
+with a face very long and narrow, another with a face inordinately broad,
+one with a very long nose, another with a short one, one with a
+protruding and upturned chin, and great jaws like an ass's; and again
+there will be one that has one eye larger than its fellow, or set on a
+lower plane; so that their faces resemble those that children make when
+they begin to learn to draw. Whereby, as I said, 'tis plainly manifest
+that, when God made them, He was but novice in His art; and so they are
+of longer descent than the rest of mankind, and by consequence better
+gentlemen." By which entertaining argument Piero, the judge, and Neri who
+had wagered the supper, and all the rest, calling to mind the Baronci's
+ugliness, were so tickled, that they fell a laughing, and averred that
+Scalza was in the right, and that he had won the wager, and that without
+a doubt the Baronci were the best gentlemen, and of the longest descent,
+not merely in Florence, but in the world and the Maremma to boot.
+Wherefore 'twas not without reason that Pamfilo, being minded to declare
+Messer Forese's ill-favouredness, said that he would have been hideous
+beside a Baroncio.
+
+(1) In the Italian fisofoli: an evidently intentional distortion.
+
+(2) Villani, Istorie Fiorentine, iv. cap. ix., and Dante, Paradiso, xvi.
+104, spell the name Barucci.
+
+
+NOVEL VII.
+
+--
+Madonna Filippa, being found by her husband with her lover, is cited
+before the court, and by a ready and jocund answer acquits herself, and
+brings about an alteration of the statute.
+--
+
+Fiammetta had been silent some time, but Scalza's novel argument to prove
+the pre-eminent nobility of the Baronci kept all still laughing, when the
+queen called for a story from Filostrato, who thus began:--Noble ladies,
+an excellent thing is apt speech on all occasions, but to be proficient
+therein I deem then most excellent when the occasion does most
+imperatively demand it. As was the case with a gentlewoman, of whom I
+purpose to speak to you, who not only ministered gaiety and merriment to
+her hearers, but extricated herself, as you shall hear, from the toils of
+an ignominious death.
+
+There was aforetime in the city of Prato a statute no less censurable
+than harsh, which, making no distinction between the wife whom her
+husband took in adultery with her lover, and the woman found pleasuring a
+stranger for money, condemned both alike to be burned. While this statute
+was in force, it befell that a gentlewoman, fair and beyond measure
+enamoured, Madonna Filippa by name, was by her husband, Rinaldo de'
+Pugliesi, found in her own chamber one night in the arms of Lazzarino de'
+Guazzagliotri, a handsome young noble of the same city, whom she loved
+even as herself. Whereat Rinaldo, very wroth, scarce refrained from
+falling upon them and killing them on the spot; and indeed, but that he
+doubted how he should afterwards fare himself, he had given way to the
+vehemence of his anger, and so done. Nor, though he so far mastered
+himself, could he forbear recourse to the statute, thereby to compass
+that which he might not otherwise lawfully compass, to wit, the death of
+his lady. Wherefore, having all the evidence needful to prove her guilt,
+he took no further counsel; but, as soon as 'twas day, he charged the
+lady and had her summoned. Like most ladies that are veritably enamoured,
+the lady was of a high courage; and, though not a few of her friends and
+kinsfolk sought to dissuade her, she resolved to appear to the summons,
+having liefer die bravely confessing the truth than basely flee and for
+defiance of the law live in exile, and shew herself unworthy of such a
+lover as had had her in his arms that night. And so, attended by many
+ladies and gentlemen, who all exhorted her to deny the charge, she came
+before the Podesta, and with a composed air and unfaltering voice asked
+whereof he would interrogate her. The Podesta, surveying her, and taking
+note of her extraordinary beauty, and exquisite manners, and the high
+courage that her words evinced, was touched with compassion for her,
+fearing she might make some admission, by reason whereof, to save his
+honour, he must needs do her to death. But still, as he could not refrain
+from examining her of that which was laid to her charge, he
+said:--"Madam, here, as you see, is your husband, Rinaldo, who prefers a
+charge against you, alleging that he has taken you in adultery, and so he
+demands that, pursuant to a statute which is in force here, I punish you
+with death: but this I may not do, except you confess; wherefore be very
+careful what you answer, and tell me if what your husband alleges against
+you be true." The lady, no wise dismayed, and in a tone not a little
+jocund, thus made answer:--"True it is, Sir, that Rinaldo is my husband,
+and that last night he found me in the arms of Lazzarino, in whose arms
+for the whole-hearted love that I bear him I have ofttimes lain; nor
+shall I ever deny it; but, as well I wot you know, the laws ought to be
+common and enacted with the common consent of all that they affect; which
+conditions are wanting to this law, inasmuch as it binds only us poor
+women, in whom to be liberal is much less reprehensible than it were in
+men; and furthermore the consent of no woman was--I say not had, but--so
+much as asked before 'twas made; for which reasons it justly deserves to
+be called a bad law. However, if in scathe of my body and your own soul,
+you are minded to put it in force, 'tis your affair; but, I pray you, go
+not on to try this matter in any wise, until you have granted me this
+trifling grace, to wit, to ask my husband if I ever gainsaid him, but did
+not rather accord him, when and so often as he craved it, complete
+enjoyment of myself." Whereto Rinaldo, without awaiting the Podesta's
+question, forthwith answered, that assuredly the lady had ever granted
+him all that he had asked of her for his gratification. "Then," promptly
+continued the lady, "if he has ever had of me as much as sufficed for his
+solace, what was I or am I to do with the surplus? Am I to cast it to the
+dogs? Is it not much better to bestow it on a gentleman that loves me
+more dearly than himself, than to suffer it to come to nought or worse?"
+Which jocund question being heard by well-nigh all the folk of Prato, who
+had flocked thither all agog to see a dame so fair and of such quality on
+her trial for such an offence, they laughed loud and long, and then all
+with one accord, and as with one voice, exclaimed that the lady was in
+the right and said well; nor left they the court until in concert with
+the Podesta they had so altered the harsh statute as that thenceforth
+only such women as should wrong their husbands for money should be within
+its purview.
+
+Wherefore Rinaldo left the court, discomfited of his foolish enterprise;
+and the lady blithe and free, as if rendered back to life from the
+burning, went home triumphant.
+
+
+NOVEL VIII.
+
+--
+Fresco admonishes his niece not to look at herself in the glass, if 'tis,
+as she says, grievous to her to see nasty folk.
+--
+
+'Twas not at first without some flutterings of shame, evinced by the
+modest blush mantling on their cheeks, that the ladies heard Filostrato's
+story; but afterwards, exchanging glances, they could scarce forbear to
+laugh, and hearkened tittering. However, when he had done, the queen
+turning to Emilia bade her follow suit. Whereupon Emilia, fetching a deep
+breath as if she were roused from sleep, thus began:--Loving ladies,
+brooding thought has kept my spirit for so long time remote from here
+that perchance I may make a shift to satisfy our queen with a much
+shorter story than would have been forthcoming but for my absence of
+mind, wherein I purpose to tell you how a young woman's folly was
+corrected by her uncle with a pleasant jest, had she but had the sense to
+apprehend it. My story, then, is of one, Fresco da Celatico by name, that
+had a niece, Ciesca, as she was playfully called, who, being fair of face
+and person, albeit she had none of those angelical charms that we
+ofttimes see, had so superlative a conceit of herself, that she had
+contracted a habit of disparaging both men and women and all that she
+saw, entirely regardless of her own defects, though for odiousness,
+tiresomeness, and petulance she had not her match among women, insomuch
+that there was nought that could be done to her mind: besides which, such
+was her pride that had she been of the blood royal of France, 'twould
+have been inordinate. And when she walked abroad, so fastidious was her
+humour, she was ever averting her head, as if there was never a soul she
+saw or met but reeked with a foul smell. Now one day--not to speak of
+other odious and tiresome ways that she had--it so befell that being come
+home, where Fresco was, she sat herself down beside him with a most
+languishing air, and did nought but fume and chafe. Whereupon:--"Ciesca,"
+quoth he, "what means this, that, though 'tis a feast-day, yet thou art
+come back so soon?" She, all but dissolved with her vapourish humours,
+made answer:--"Why, the truth is, that I am come back early because
+never, I believe, were there such odious and tiresome men and women in
+this city as there are to-day. I cannot pass a soul in the street that I
+loathe not like ill-luck; and I believe there is not a woman in the world
+that is so distressed by the sight of odious people as I am; and so I am
+come home thus soon to avoid the sight of them." Whereupon Fresco, to,
+whom his niece's bad manners were distasteful in the
+extreme:--"Daughter," quoth he, "if thou loathe odious folk as much as
+thou sayest, thou wert best, so thou wouldst live happy, never to look at
+thyself in the glass." But she, empty as a reed, albeit in her own
+conceit a match for Solomon in wisdom, was as far as any sheep from
+apprehending the true sense of her uncle's jest; but answered that on the
+contrary she was minded to look at herself in the glass like other women.
+And so she remained, and yet remains, hidebound in her folly.
+
+
+NOVEL IX.
+
+--
+Guido Cavalcanti by a quip meetly rebukes certain Florentine gentlemen
+who had taken him at a disadvantage.
+--
+
+The queen, perceiving that Emilia had finished her story, and that none
+but she, and he who had the privilege of speaking last, now remained to
+tell, began on this wise:--Albeit, debonair my ladies, you have
+forestalled me to-day of more than two of the stories, of which I had
+thought to tell one, yet one is still left me to recount, which carries
+at the close of it a quip of such a sort, that perhaps we have as yet
+heard nought so pregnant.
+
+You are to know, then, that in former times there obtained in our city
+customs excellent and commendable not a few, whereof today not one is
+left to us, thanks to the greed which, growing with the wealth of our
+folk, has banished them all from among us. One of which customs was that
+in divers quarters of Florence the gentlemen that there resided would
+assemble together in companies of a limited number, taking care to
+include therein only such as might conveniently bear the expenses, and
+to-day one, another to-morrow, each in his turn for a day, would
+entertain the rest of the company; and so they would not seldom do honour
+to gentlemen from distant parts when they visited the city, and also to
+their fellow-citizens; and in like manner they would meet together at
+least once a year all in the same trim, and on the most notable days
+would ride together through the city, and now and again they would tilt
+together, more especially on the greater feasts, or when the city was
+rejoiced by tidings of victory or some other glad event. Among which
+companies was one of which Messer Betto Brunelleschi was the leading
+spirit, into which Messer Betto and his comrades had striven hard to
+bring Guido, son of Cavalcante de' Cavalcanti, and not without reason,
+inasmuch as, besides being one of the best logicians in the world, and an
+excellent natural philosopher (qualities of which the company made no
+great account), he was without a peer for gallantry and courtesy and
+excellence of discourse and aptitude for all matters which he might set
+his mind to, and that belonged to a gentleman; and therewithal he was
+very rich, and, when he deemed any worthy of honour, knew how to bestow
+it to the uttermost. But, as Messer Betto had never been able to gain him
+over, he and his comrades supposed that 'twas because Guido, being
+addicted to speculation, was thereby estranged from men. And, for that he
+was somewhat inclined to the opinion of the Epicureans, the vulgar
+averred that these speculations of his had no other scope than to prove
+that God did not exist. Now one day it so befell that, Guido being come,
+as was not seldom his wont, from Or San Michele by the Corso degli
+Adimari as far as San Giovanni, around which were then the great tombs of
+marble that are to-day in Santa Reparata, besides other tombs not a few,
+and Guido being between the columns of porphyry, that are there, and the
+tombs and the door of San Giovanni, which was locked, Messer Betto and
+his company came riding on to the piazza of Santa Reparata, and seeing
+him among the tombs, said:--"Go we and flout him." So they set spurs to
+their horses, and making a mock onset, were upon him almost before he saw
+them. Whereupon:--"Guido," they began, "thou wilt be none of our company;
+but, lo now, when thou hast proved that God does not exist, what wilt
+thou have achieved?" Guido, seeing that he was surrounded, presently
+answered:--"Gentlemen, you may say to me what you please in your own
+house." Thereupon he laid his hand on one of the great tombs, and being
+very nimble, vaulted over it, and so evaded them, and went his way, while
+they remained gazing in one another's faces, and some said that he had
+taken leave of his wits, and that his answer was but nought, seeing that
+the ground on which they stood was common to them with the rest of the
+citizens, and among them Guido himself. But Messer Betto, turning to
+them:--"Nay but," quoth he, "'tis ye that have taken leave of your wits,
+if ye have not understood him; for meetly and in few words he has given
+us never so shrewd a reprimand; seeing that, if you consider it well,
+these tombs are the houses of the dead, that are laid and tarry therein;
+which he calls our house, to shew us that we, and all other simple,
+unlettered men, are, in comparison of him and the rest of the learned, in
+sorrier case than dead men, and so being here, we are in our own house."
+Then none was there but understood Guido's meaning and was abashed,
+insomuch that they flouted him no more, and thenceforth reputed Messer
+Betto a gentleman of a subtle and discerning wit.
+
+
+NOVEL X.
+
+--
+Fra Cipolla promises to shew certain country-folk a feather of the Angel
+Gabriel, in lieu of which he finds coals, which he avers to be of those
+with which St. Lawrence was roasted.
+--
+
+All the company save Dioneo being delivered of their several stories, he
+wist that 'twas his turn to speak. Wherefore, without awaiting any very
+express command, he enjoined silence on those that were commending
+Guido's pithy quip, and thus began:--Sweet my ladies, albeit 'tis my
+privilege to speak of what likes me most, I purpose not to-day to deviate
+from that theme whereon you have all discoursed most appositely; but,
+following in your footsteps, I am minded to shew you with what adroitness
+and readiness of resource one of the Friars of St. Antony avoided a
+pickle that two young men had in readiness for him. Nor, if, in order to
+do the story full justice, I be somewhat prolix of speech, should it be
+burdensome to you, if you will but glance at the sun, which is yet in
+mid-heaven.
+
+Certaldo, as perchance you may have heard, is a town of Val d'Elsa within
+our country-side, which, small though it is, had in it aforetime people
+of rank and wealth. Thither, for that there he found good pasture, 'twas
+long the wont of one of the Friars of St. Antony to resort once every
+year, to collect the alms that fools gave them. Fra Cipolla(1)--so hight
+the friar--met with a hearty welcome, no less, perchance, by reason of
+his name than for other cause, the onions produced in that district being
+famous throughout Tuscany. He was little of person, red-haired,
+jolly-visaged, and the very best of good fellows; and therewithal, though
+learning he had none, he was so excellent and ready a speaker that whoso
+knew him not would not only have esteemed him a great rhetorician, but
+would have pronounced him Tully himself or, perchance, Quintilian; and in
+all the country-side there was scarce a soul to whom he was not either
+gossip or friend or lover. Being thus wont from time to time to visit
+Certaldo, the friar came there once upon a time in the month of August,
+and on a Sunday morning, all the good folk of the neighbouring farms
+being come to mass in the parish church, he took occasion to come forward
+and say:--"Ladies and gentlemen, you wot 'tis your custom to send year by
+year to the poor of Baron Master St. Antony somewhat of your wheat and
+oats, more or less, according to the ability and the devoutness of each,
+that blessed St. Antony may save your oxen and asses and pigs and sheep
+from harm; and you are also accustomed, and especially those whose names
+are on the books of our confraternity, to pay your trifling annual dues.
+To collect which offerings, I am hither sent by my superior, to wit,
+Master Abbot; wherefore, with the blessing of God, after none, when you
+hear the bells ring, you will come out of the church to the place where
+in the usual way I shall deliver you my sermon, and you will kiss the
+cross; and therewithal, knowing, as I do, that you are one and all most
+devoted to Baron Master St. Antony, I will by way of especial grace shew
+you a most holy and goodly relic, which I brought myself from the Holy
+Land overseas, which is none other than one of the feathers of the Angel
+Gabriel, which he left behind him in the room of the Virgin Mary, when he
+came to make her the annunciation in Nazareth." And having said thus
+much, he ceased, and went on with the mass. Now among the many that were
+in the church, while Fra Cipolla made this speech, were two very wily
+young wags, the one Giovanni del Bragoniera by name, the other Biagio
+Pizzini; who, albeit they were on the best of terms with Fra Cipolla and
+much in his company, had a sly laugh together over the relic, and
+resolved to make game of him and his feather. So, having learned that Fra
+Cipolla was to breakfast that morning in the town with one of his
+friends, as soon as they knew that he was at table, down they hied them
+into the street, and to the inn where the friar lodged, having complotted
+that Biagio should keep the friar's servant in play, while Giovanni made
+search among the friar's goods and chattels for this feather, whatever it
+might be, to carry it off, that they might see how the friar would
+afterwards explain the matter to the people. Now Fra Cipolla had for
+servant one Guccio,(2) whom some called by way of addition Balena,(3)
+others Imbratta,(4) others again Porco,(5) and who was such a rascallion
+that sure it is that Lippo Topo(6) himself never painted his like.
+Concerning whom Fra Cipolla would ofttimes make merry with his familiars,
+saying:--"My servant has nine qualities, any one of which in Solomon,
+Aristotle, or Seneca, would have been enough to spoil all their virtue,
+wisdom and holiness. Consider, then, what sort of a man he must be that
+has these nine qualities, and yet never a spark of either virtue or
+wisdom or holiness." And being asked upon divers occasions what these
+nine qualities might be, he strung them together in rhyme, and
+answered:--"I will tell you. Lazy and uncleanly and a liar he is,
+Negligent, disobedient and foulmouthed, iwis, And reckless and witless
+and mannerless: and therewithal he has some other petty vices, which
+'twere best to pass over. And the most amusing thing about him is, that,
+wherever he goes, he is for taking a wife and renting a house, and on the
+strength of a big, black, greasy beard he deems himself so very handsome
+a fellow and seductive, that he takes all the women that see him to be in
+love with him, and, if he were left alone, he would slip his girdle and
+run after them all. True it is that he is of great use to me, for that,
+be any minded to speak with me never so secretly, he must still have his
+share of the audience; and, if perchance aught is demanded of me, such is
+his fear lest I should be at a loss what answer to make, that he
+presently replies, ay or no, as he deems meet."
+
+Now, when he left this knave at the inn, Fra Cipolla had strictly
+enjoined him on no account to suffer any one to touch aught of his, and
+least of all his wallet, because it contained the holy things. But Guccio
+Imbratta, who was fonder of the kitchen than any nightingale of the green
+boughs, and most particularly if he espied there a maid, and in the
+host's kitchen had caught sight of a coarse fat woman, short and
+misshapen, with a pair of breasts that shewed as two buckets of muck and
+a face that might have belonged to one of the Baronci, all reeking with
+sweat and grease and smoke, left Fra Cipolla's room and all his things to
+take care of themselves, and like a vulture swooping down upon the
+carrion, was in the kitchen in a trice. Where, though 'twas August, he
+sat him down by the fire, and fell a gossiping with Nuta--such was the
+maid's name--and told her that he was a gentleman by procuration,(7) and
+had more florins than could be reckoned, besides those that he had to
+give away, which were rather more than less, and that he could do and say
+such things as never were or might be seen or heard forever, good Lord!
+and a day. And all heedless of his cowl, which had as much grease upon it
+as would have furnished forth the caldron of Altopascio,(8) and of his
+rent and patched doublet, inlaid with filth about the neck and under the
+armpits, and so stained that it shewed hues more various than ever did
+silk from Tartary or the Indies, and of his shoes that were all to
+pieces, and of his hose that were all in tatters, he told her in a tone
+that would have become the Sieur de Chatillon, that he was minded to
+rehabit her and put her in trim, and raise her from her abject condition,
+and place her where, though she would not have much to call her own, at
+any rate she would have hope of better things, with much more to the like
+effect; which professions, though made with every appearance of good
+will, proved, like most of his schemes, insubstantial as air, and came to
+nothing.
+
+Finding Guccio Porco thus occupied with Nuta, the two young men gleefully
+accounted their work half done, and, none gainsaying them, entered Fra
+Cipolla's room, which was open, and lit at once upon the wallet, in which
+was the feather. The wallet opened, they found, wrapt up in many folds of
+taffeta, a little casket, on opening which they discovered one of the
+tail-feathers of a parrot, which they deemed must be that which the friar
+had promised to shew the good folk of Certaldo. And in sooth he might
+well have so imposed upon them, for in those days the luxuries of Egypt
+had scarce been introduced into Tuscany, though they have since been
+brought over in prodigious abundance, to the grave hurt of all Italy. And
+though some conversance with them there was, yet in those parts folk knew
+next to nothing of them; but, adhering to the honest, simple ways of
+their forefathers, had not seen, nay for the most part had not so much as
+heard tell of, a parrot.
+
+So the young men, having found the feather, took it out with great glee;
+and looking around for something to replace it, they espied in a corner
+of the room some pieces of coal, wherewith they filled the casket; which
+they then closed, and having set the room in order exactly as they had
+found it, they quitted it unperceived, and hied them merrily off with the
+feather, and posted themselves where they might hear what Fra Cipolla
+would say when he found the coals in its stead. Mass said, the simple
+folk that were in the church went home with the tidings that the feather
+of the Angel Gabriel was to be seen after none; and this goodman telling
+his neighbour, and that goodwife her gossip, by the time every one had
+breakfasted, the town could scarce hold the multitude of men and women
+that flocked thither all agog to see this feather.
+
+Fra Cipolla, having made a hearty breakfast and had a little nap, got up
+shortly after none, and marking the great concourse of country-folk that
+were come to see the feather, sent word to Guccio Imbratta to go up there
+with the bells, and bring with him the wallet. Guccio, though 'twas with
+difficulty that he tore himself away from the kitchen and Nuta, hied him
+up with the things required; and though, when he got up, he was winded,
+for he was corpulent with drinking nought but water, he did Fra Cipolla's
+bidding by going to the church door and ringing the bells amain. When all
+the people were gathered about the door, Fra Cipolla, all unwitting that
+aught of his was missing, began his sermon, and after much said in
+glorification of himself, caused the confiteor to be recited with great
+solemnity, and two torches to be lit by way of preliminary to the shewing
+of the feather of the Angel Gabriel: he then bared his head, carefully
+unfolded the taffeta, and took out the casket, which, after a few
+prefatory words in praise and laudation of the Angel Gabriel and his
+relic, he opened. When he saw that it contained nought but coals, he did
+not suspect Guccio Balena of playing the trick, for he knew that he was
+not clever enough, nor did he curse him, that his carelessness had
+allowed another to play it, but he inly imprecated himself, that he had
+committed his things to the keeping of one whom he knew to be "negligent
+and disobedient, reckless and witless." Nevertheless, he changed not
+colour, but with face and hands upturned to heaven, he said in a voice
+that all might hear:--"O God, blessed be Thy might for ever and ever."
+Then, closing the casket, and turning to the people:--"Ladies and
+gentlemen," he said, "you are to know, that when I was yet a very young
+man, I was sent by my superior into those parts where the sun rises, and
+I was expressly bidden to search until I should find the Privileges of
+Porcellana, which, though they cost nothing to seal, are of much more use
+to others than to us. On which errand I set forth, taking my departure
+from Venice, and traversing the Borgo de' Greci,(9) and thence on
+horseback the realm of Algarve,(10) and so by Baldacca(11) I came to
+Parione,(12) whence, somewhat athirst, I after a while got on to
+Sardinia.(13) But wherefore go I about to enumerate all the lands in
+which I pursued my quest? Having passed the straits of San Giorgio, I
+arrived at Truffia(14) and Buffia,(15) countries thickly populated and
+with great nations, whence I pursued my journey to Menzogna,(16) where I
+met with many of our own brethren, and of other religious not a few,
+intent one and all on eschewing hardship for the love of God, making
+little account of others! toil, so they might ensue their own advantage,
+and paying in nought but unminted coin(17) throughout the length and
+breadth of the country; and so I came to the land of Abruzzi, where the
+men and women go in pattens on the mountains, and clothe the hogs with
+their own entrails;(18) and a little further on I found folk that carried
+bread in staves and wine in sacks.(19) And leaving them, I arrived at the
+mountains of the Bachi,(20) where all the waters run downwards. In short
+I penetrated so far that I came at last to India Pastinaca,(21) where I
+swear to you by the habit that I wear, that I saw pruning-hooks(22) fly:
+a thing that none would believe that had not seen it. Whereof be my
+witness that I lie not Maso del Saggio, that great merchant, whom I found
+there cracking nuts, and selling the shells by retail! However, not being
+able to find that whereof I was in quest, because from thence one must
+travel by water, I turned back, and so came at length to the Holy Land,
+where in summer cold bread costs four deniers, and hot bread is to be had
+for nothing. And there I found the venerable father
+Nonmiblasmetesevoipiace,(23) the most worshipful Patriarch of Jerusalem;
+who out of respect for the habit that I have ever worn, to wit, that of
+Baron Master St. Antony, was pleased to let me see all the holy relics
+that he had by him, which were so many, that, were I to enumerate them
+all, I should not come to the end of them in some miles. However, not to
+disappoint you, I will tell you a few of them. In the first place, then,
+he shewed me the finger of the Holy Spirit, as whole and entire as it
+ever was, and the tuft of the Seraph that appeared to St. Francis, and
+one of the nails of the Cherubim, and one of the ribs of the Verbum Caro
+hie thee to the casement,(24) and some of the vestments of the Holy
+Catholic Faith, and some of the rays of the star that appeared to the
+Magi in the East, and a phial of the sweat of St. Michael a battling with
+the Devil and the jaws of death of St. Lazarus, and other relics. And for
+that I gave him a liberal supply of the acclivities(25) of Monte Morello
+in the vulgar and some chapters of Caprezio, of which he had long been in
+quest, he was pleased to let me participate in his holy relics, and gave
+me one of the teeth of the Holy Cross, and in a small phial a bit of the
+sound of the bells of Solomon's temple, and this feather of the Angel
+Gabriel, whereof I have told you, and one of the pattens of San Gherardo
+da Villa Magna, which, not long ago, I gave at Florence to Gherardo di
+Bonsi, who holds him in prodigious veneration. He also gave me some of
+the coals with which the most blessed martyr, St. Lawrence, was roasted.
+All which things I devoutly brought thence, and have them all safe. True
+it is that my superior has not hitherto permitted me to shew them, until
+he should be certified that they are genuine. However, now that this is
+avouched by certain miracles wrought by them, of which we have tidings by
+letter from the Patriarch, he has given me leave to shew them. But,
+fearing to trust them to another, I always carry them with me; and to
+tell you the truth I carry the feather of the Angel Gabriel, lest it
+should get spoiled, in a casket, and the coals, with which St. Lawrence
+was roasted, in another casket; which caskets are so like the one to the
+other, that not seldom I mistake one for the other, which has befallen me
+on this occasion; for, whereas I thought to have brought with me the
+casket wherein is the feather, I have brought instead that which contains
+the coals. Nor deem I this a mischance; nay, methinks, 'tis by
+interposition, of God, and that He Himself put the casket of coals in my
+hand, for I mind me that the feast of St. Lawrence falls but two days
+hence. Wherefore God, being minded that by shewing you the coals, with
+which he was roasted, I should rekindle in your souls the devotion that
+you ought to feel towards him, guided my hand, not to the feather which I
+meant to take, but to the blessed coals that were extinguished by the
+humours that exuded from that most holy body. And so, blessed children,
+bare your heads and devoutly draw nigh to see them. But first of all I
+would have you know, that whoso has the sign of the cross made upon him
+with these coals, may live secure for the whole of the ensuing year, that
+fire shall not touch him, that he feel it not."
+
+Having so said, the friar, chanting a hymn in praise of St. Lawrence,
+opened the casket, and shewed the coals. Whereon the foolish crowd gazed
+a while in awe and reverent wonder, and then came pressing forward in a
+mighty throng about Fra Cipolla with offerings beyond their wont, each
+and all praying him to touch them with the coals. Wherefore Fra Cipolla
+took the coals in his hand, and set about making on their white blouses,
+and on their doublets, and on the veils of the women crosses as big as
+might be, averring the while that whatever the coals might thus lose
+would be made good to them again in the casket, as he had often proved.
+On this wise, to his exceeding great profit, he marked all the folk of
+Certaldo with the cross, and, thanks to his ready wit and resource, had
+his laugh at those, who by robbing him of the feather thought to make a
+laughing-stock of him. They, indeed, being among his hearers, and marking
+his novel expedient, and how voluble he was, and what a long story he
+made of it, laughed till they thought their jaws would break; and, when
+the congregation was dispersed, they went up to him, and never so merrily
+told him what they had done, and returned him his feather; which next
+year proved no less lucrative to him than that day the coals had been.
+
+(1) Onion.
+
+(2) Diminutive of Arriguccio.
+
+(3) Whale.
+
+(4) Filth.
+
+(5) Hog.
+
+(6) The works of this painter seem to be lost.
+
+(7) One of the humorous ineptitudes of which Boccaccio is fond.
+
+(8) An abbey near Lucca famous for its doles of broth.
+
+(9) Perhaps part of the "sesto" of Florence known as the Borgo, as the
+tradition of the commentators that the friar's itinerary is wholly
+Florentine is not to be lightly set aside.
+
+(10) Il Garbo, a quarter or street in Florence, doubtless so called
+because the wares of Algarve were there sold. Rer. Ital. Script.
+(Muratori: Suppl. Tartini) ii. 119. Villani, Istorie Fiorentine, iv. 12,
+xii. 18.
+
+(11) A famous tavern in Florence. Florio, Vocab. Ital. e Ingl., ed
+Torriano, 1659.
+
+(12) A "borgo" in Florence. Villani, Istorie Fiorentine, iv. 7.
+
+(13) A suburb of Florence on the Arno, ib. ix. 256.
+
+(14) The land of Cajolery.
+
+(15) The land of Drollery.
+
+(16) The land of Lies.
+
+(17) I.e. in false promises: suggested by Dante's Pagando di moneta senza
+conio. Parad. xxix. 126.
+
+(18) A reference to sausage-making.
+
+(19) I.e. cakes fashioned in a hollow ring, and wines in leathern
+bottles.
+
+(20) Grubs.
+
+(21) In allusion to the shapeless fish, so called, which was proverbially
+taken as a type of the outlandish.
+
+(22) A jeu de mots, "pennati," pruning-hooks, signifying also feathered,
+though "pennuti" is more common in that sense.
+
+(23) Takemenottotaskanitlikeyou.
+
+(24) Fatti alle finestre, a subterfuge for factum est.
+
+(25) Piagge, jocularly for pagine: doubtless some mighty tome of school
+divinity is meant.
+
+Immense was the delight and diversion which this story afforded to all
+the company alike, and great and general was the laughter over Fra
+Cipolla, and more especially at his pilgrimage, and the relics, as well
+those that he had but seen as those that he had brought back with him.
+Which being ended, the queen, taking note that therewith the close of her
+sovereignty was come, stood up, took off the crown, and set it on
+Dioneo's head, saying with a laugh:--"'Tis time, Dioneo, that thou prove
+the weight of the burden of having ladies to govern and guide. Be thou
+king then; and let thy rule be such that, when 'tis ended, we may have
+cause to commend it." Dioneo took the crown, and laughingly
+answered:--"Kings worthier far than I you may well have seen many a time
+ere now--I speak of the kings in chess; but let me have of you that
+obedience which is due to a true king, and of a surety I will give you to
+taste of that solace, without which perfection of joy there may not be in
+any festivity. But enough of this: I will govern as best I may." Then, as
+was the wont, he sent for the seneschal, and gave him particular
+instruction how to order matters during the term of his sovereignty;
+which done, he said:--"Noble ladies, such and so diverse has been our
+discourse of the ways of men and their various fortunes, that but for the
+visit that we had a while ago from Madam Licisca, who by what she said
+has furnished me with matter of discourse for to-morrow, I doubt I had
+been not a little put to it to find a theme. You heard how she said that
+there was not a woman in her neighbourhood whose husband had her
+virginity; adding that well she knew how many and what manner of tricks
+they, after marriage, played their husbands. The first count we may well
+leave to the girls whom it concerns; the second, methinks, should prove a
+diverting topic: wherefore I ordain that, taking our cue from Madam
+Licisca, we discourse to-morrow of the tricks that, either for love or
+for their deliverance from peril, ladies have heretofore played their
+husbands, and whether they were by the said husbands detected or no." To
+discourse of such a topic some of the ladies deemed unmeet for them, and
+besought the king to find another theme. But the king made
+answer:--"Ladies, what manner of theme I have prescribed I know as well
+as you, nor was I to be diverted from prescribing it by that which you
+now think to declare unto me, for I wot the times are such that, so only
+men and women have a care to do nought that is unseemly, 'tis allowable
+to them to discourse of what they please. For in sooth, as you must know,
+so out of joint are the times that the judges have deserted the
+judgment-seat, the laws are silent, and ample licence to preserve his
+life as best he may is accorded to each and all. Wherefore, if you are
+somewhat less strict of speech than is your wont, not that aught unseemly
+in act may follow, but that you may afford solace to yourselves and
+others, I see not how you can be open to reasonable censure on the part
+of any. Furthermore, nought that has been said from the first day to the
+present moment has, methinks, in any degree sullied the immaculate honour
+of your company, nor, God helping us, shall aught ever sully it. Besides,
+who is there that knows not the quality of your honour? which were proof,
+I make no doubt, against not only the seductive influence of diverting
+discourse, but even the terror of death. And, to tell you the truth,
+whoso wist that you refused to discourse of these light matters for a
+while, would be apt to suspect that 'twas but for that you had yourselves
+erred in like sort. And truly a goodly honour would you confer upon me,
+obedient as I have ever been to you, if after making me your king and
+your lawgiver, you were to refuse to discourse of the theme which I
+prescribe. Away, then, with this scruple fitter for low minds than yours,
+and let each study how she may give us a goodly story, and Fortune
+prosper her therein."
+
+So spake the king, and the ladies, hearkening, said that, even as he
+would, so it should be: whereupon he gave all leave to do as they might
+be severally minded until the supper-hour. The sun was still quite high
+in the heaven, for they had not enlarged in their discourse: wherefore,
+Dioneo with the other gallants being set to play at dice, Elisa called
+the other ladies apart, and said:--"There is a nook hard by this place,
+where I think none of you has ever been: 'tis called the Ladies' Vale:
+whither, ever since we have been here, I have desired to take you, but
+time meet I have not found until today, when the sun is still so high:
+if, then, you are minded to visit it, I have no manner of doubt that,
+when you are there, you will be very glad you came." The ladies answered
+that they were ready, and so, saying nought to the young men, they
+summoned one of their maids, and set forth; nor had they gone much more
+than a mile, when they arrived at the Vale of Ladies. They entered it by
+a very strait gorge, through which there issued a rivulet, clear as
+crystal, and a sight, than which nought more fair and pleasant,
+especially at that time when the heat was great, could be imagined, met
+their eyes. Within the valley, as one of them afterwards told me, was a
+plain about half-a-mile in circumference, and so exactly circular that it
+might have been fashioned according to the compass, though it seemed a
+work of Nature's art, not man's: 'twas girdled about by six hills of no
+great height, each crowned with a palace that shewed as a goodly little
+castle. The slopes of the hills were graduated from summit to base after
+the manner of the successive tiers, ever abridging their circle, that we
+see in our theatres; and as many as fronted the southern rays were all
+planted so close with vines, olives, almond-trees, cherry-trees,
+fig-trees and other fruitbearing trees not a few, that there was not a
+hand's-breadth of vacant space. Those that fronted the north were in like
+manner covered with copses of oak saplings, ashes and other trees, as
+green and straight as might be. Besides which, the plain, which was shut
+in on all sides save that on which the ladies had entered, was full of
+firs, cypresses, and bay-trees, with here and there a pine, in order and
+symmetry so meet and excellent as had they been planted by an artist, the
+best that might be found in that kind; wherethrough, even when the sun
+was in the zenith, scarce a ray of light might reach the ground, which
+was all one lawn of the finest turf, pranked with the hyacinth and divers
+other flowers. Add to which--nor was there aught there more
+delightsome--a rivulet that, issuing from one of the gorges between two
+of the hills, descended over ledges of living rock, making, as it fell, a
+murmur most gratifying to the ear, and, seen from a distance, shewed as a
+spray of finest, powdered quick-silver, and no sooner reached the little
+plain, than 'twas gathered into a tiny channel, by which it sped with
+great velocity to the middle of the plain, where it formed a diminutive
+lake, like the fishponds that townsfolk sometimes make in their gardens,
+when they have occasion for them. The lake was not so deep but that a man
+might stand therein with his breast above the water; and so clear, so
+pellucid was the water that the bottom, which was of the finest gravel,
+shewed so distinct, that one, had he wished, who had nought better to do,
+might have counted the stones. Nor was it only the bottom that was to be
+seen, but such a multitude of fishes, glancing to and fro, as was at once
+a delight and a marvel to behold. Bank it had none, but its margin was
+the lawn, to which it imparted a goodlier freshness. So much of the water
+as it might not contain was received by another tiny channel, through
+which, issuing from the vale, it glided swiftly to the plain below.
+
+To which pleasaunce the damsels being come surveyed it with roving
+glance, and finding it commendable, and marking the lake in front of
+them, did, as 'twas very hot, and they deemed themselves secure from
+observation, resolve to take a bath. So, having bidden their maid wait
+and keep watch over the access to the vale, and give them warning, if
+haply any should approach it, they all seven undressed and got into the
+water, which to the whiteness of their flesh was even such a veil as fine
+glass is to the vermeil of the rose. They, being thus in the water, the
+clearness of which was thereby in no wise affected, did presently begin
+to go hither and thither after the fish, which had much ado where to
+bestow themselves so as to escape out of their hands. In which diversion
+they spent some time, and caught a few, and then they hied them out of
+the water and dressed them again, and bethinking them that 'twas time to
+return to the palace, they began slowly sauntering thither, dilating much
+as they went upon the beauty of the place, albeit they could not extol it
+more than they had already done. 'Twas still quite early when they
+reached the palace, so that they found the gallants yet at play where
+they had left them. To whom quoth Pampinea with a smile:--"We have stolen
+a march upon you to-day." "So," replied Dioneo, "'tis with you do first
+and say after?" "Ay, my lord," returned Pampinea, and told him at large
+whence they came, and what the place was like, and how far 'twas off, and
+what they had done. What she said of the beauty of the spot begat in the
+king a desire to see it: wherefore he straightway ordered supper, whereof
+when all had gaily partaken, the three gallants parted from the ladies
+and hied them with their servants to the vale, where none of them had
+ever been before, and, having marked all its beauties, extolled it as
+scarce to be matched in all the world. Then, as the hour was very late,
+they did but bathe, and as soon as they had resumed their clothes,
+returned to the ladies, whom they found dancing a carol to an air that
+Fiammetta sang, which done, they conversed of the Ladies' Vale, waxing
+eloquent in praise thereof: insomuch that the king called the seneschal,
+and bade him have some beds made ready and carried thither on the morrow,
+that any that were so minded might there take their siesta. He then had
+lights and wine and comfits brought; and when they had taken a slight
+refection, he bade all address them to the dance. So at his behest
+Pamfilo led a dance, and then the king, turning with gracious mien to
+Elisa:--"Fair damsel," quoth he, "'twas thou to-day didst me this honour
+of the crown; and 'tis my will that thine to-night be the honour of the
+song; wherefore sing us whatsoever thou hast most lief." "That gladly
+will I," replied Elisa smiling; and thus with dulcet voice began:--
+
+If of thy talons, Love, be quit I may,
+  I deem it scarce can be
+  But other fangs I may elude for aye.
+
+Service I took with thee, a tender maid,
+  In thy war thinking perfect peace to find,
+  And all my arms upon the ground I laid,
+  Yielding myself to thee with trustful mind:
+  Thou, harpy-tyrant, whom no faith may bind,
+  Eftsoons didst swoop on me,
+  And with thy cruel claws mad'st me thy prey.
+
+Then thy poor captive, bound with many a chain,
+  Thou tookst, and gav'st to him, whom fate did call
+  Hither my death to be; for that in pain
+  And bitter tears I waste away, his thrall:
+  Nor heave I e'er a sigh, or tear let fall,
+  So harsh a lord is he,
+  That him inclines a jot my grief to allay.
+
+My prayers upon the idle air are spent:
+  He hears not, will not hear; wherefore in vain
+  The more each hour my soul doth her torment;
+  Nor may I die, albeit to die were gain.
+  Ah! Lord, have pity of my bitter pain!
+  Help have I none but thee;
+  Then take and bind and at my feet him lay.
+
+But if thou wilt not, do my soul but loose
+  From hope, that her still binds with triple chain.
+  Sure, O my Lord, this prayer thou'lt not refuse:
+  The which so thou to grant me do but deign,
+  I look my wonted beauty to regain,
+  And banish misery
+  With roses white and red bedecked and gay.
+
+So with a most piteous sigh ended Elisa her song, whereat all wondered
+exceedingly, nor might any conjecture wherefore she so sang. But the
+king, who was in a jolly humour, sent for Tindaro, and bade him out with
+his cornemuse, and caused them tread many a measure thereto, until, no
+small part of the night being thus spent, he gave leave to all to betake
+them to rest.
+
+
+--
+Endeth here the sixth day of the Decameron, beginneth the seventh, in
+which, under the rule of Dioneo, discourse is had of the tricks which,
+either for love or for their deliverance from peril, ladies have
+heretofore played their husbands, and whether they were by the said
+husbands detected, or no.
+--
+
+Fled was now each star from the eastern sky, save only that which we call
+Lucifer, which still glowed in the whitening dawn, when uprose the
+seneschal, and with a goodly baggage-train hied him to the Ladies' Vale,
+there to make all things ready according to the ordinance and commandment
+of the king. Nor was it long after his departure that the king rose,
+being awaked by the stir and bustle that the servants made in lading the
+horses, and being risen he likewise roused all the ladies and the other
+gallants; and so, when as yet 'twas scarce clear daybreak, they all took
+the road; nor seemed it to them that the nightingales and the other birds
+had ever chanted so blithely as that morning. By which choir they were
+attended to the Ladies' Vale, where they were greeted by other warblers
+not a few, that seemed rejoiced at their arrival. Roving about the vale,
+and surveying its beauties afresh, they rated them higher than on the
+previous day, as indeed the hour was more apt to shew them forth. Then
+with good wine and comfits they broke their fast, and, that they might
+not lag behind the songsters, they fell a singing, whereto the vale
+responded, ever echoing their strains; nor did the birds, as minded not
+to be beaten, fail to swell the chorus with notes of unwonted sweetness.
+However, breakfast-time came, and then, the tables being laid under a
+living canopy of trees, and beside other goodly trees that fringed the
+little lake, they sat them down in order as to the king seemed meet. So
+they took their meal, glancing from time to time at the lake, where the
+fish darted to and fro in multitudinous shoals, which afforded not only
+delight to their eyes but matter for converse. Breakfast ended, and the
+tables removed, they fell a singing again more blithely than before.
+After which, there being set, in divers places about the little vale,
+beds which the discreet seneschal had duly furnished and equipped within
+and without with store of French coverlets, and other bedgear, all, that
+were so minded, had leave of the king to go to sleep, and those that
+cared not to sleep might betake them, as each might choose, to any of
+their wonted diversions. But, all at length being risen, and the time for
+addressing them to the story-telling being come, the king had carpets
+spread on the sward no great way from the place where they had
+breakfasted; and, all having sat them down beside the lake, he bade
+Emilia begin; which, blithe and smiling, Emilia did on this wise.
+
+
+NOVEL I.
+
+--
+Gianni Lotteringhi hears a knocking at his door at night: he awakens his
+wife, who persuades him that 'tis the bogey, which they fall to
+exorcising with a prayer; whereupon the knocking ceases.
+--
+
+My lord, glad indeed had I been, that, saving your good pleasure, some
+other than I had had precedence of discourse upon so goodly a theme as
+this of which we are to speak--I doubt I am but chosen to teach others
+confidence; but, such being your will, I will gladly obey it. And my
+endeavour shall be, dearest ladies, to tell you somewhat that may be
+serviceable to you in the future: for, if you are, as I am, timorous, and
+that most especially of the bogey, which, God wot, I know not what manner
+of thing it may be, nor yet have found any that knew, albeit we are all
+alike afraid of it, you may learn from this my story how to put it to
+flight, should it intrude upon you, with a holy, salutary and most
+efficacious orison.
+
+There dwelt of yore at Florence, in the quarter of San Pancrazio, a
+master-spinner, Gianni Lotteringhi by name, one that had prospered in his
+business, but had little understanding of aught else; insomuch that being
+somewhat of a simpleton, he had many a time been chosen leader of the
+band of laud-singers of Santa Maria Novella, and had charge of their
+school; and not a few like offices had he often served, upon which he
+greatly plumed himself. Howbeit, 'twas all for no other reason than that,
+being a man of substance, he gave liberal doles to the friars; who, for
+that they got thereof, this one hose, another a cloak, and a third a
+hood, would teach him good orisons, or give him the paternoster in the
+vernacular, or the chant of St. Alexis, or the lament of St. Bernard, or
+the laud of Lady Matilda, or the like sorry stuff, which he greatly
+prized, and guarded with jealous care, deeming them all most conducive to
+the salvation of his soul.
+
+Now our simple master-spinner had a most beautiful wife, and amorous
+withal, her name Monna Tessa. Daughter she was of Mannuccio dalla
+Cuculla, and not a little knowing and keen-witted; and being enamoured of
+Federigo di Neri Pegolotti, a handsome and lusty gallant, as he also of
+her, she, knowing her husband's simplicity, took counsel with her maid,
+and arranged that Federigo should come to chat with her at a right goodly
+pleasure-house that the said Gianni had at Camerata, where she was wont
+to pass the summer, Gianni coming now and again to sup and sleep, and
+going back in the morning to his shop, or, maybe, to his laud-singers.
+Federigo, who desired nothing better, went up there punctually on the
+appointed day about vespers, and as the evening passed without Gianni
+making his appearance, did most comfortably, and to his no small
+satisfaction, sup and sleep with the lady, who lying in his arms taught
+him that night some six of her husband's lauds. But, as neither she nor
+Federigo was minded that this beginning should also be the end of their
+intercourse, and that it might not be needful for the maid to go each
+time to make the assignation with him, they came to the following
+understanding; to wit, that as often as he came and went between the
+house and an estate that he had a little higher up, he should keep an eye
+on a vineyard that was beside the house, where he would see an ass's head
+stuck on one of the poles of the vineyard, and as often as he observed
+the muzzle turned towards Florence, he might visit her without any sort
+of misgiving; and if he found not the door open, he was to tap it thrice,
+and she would open it; and when he saw the muzzle of the ass's head
+turned towards Fiesole, he was to keep away, for then Gianni would be
+there. Following which plan, they forgathered not seldom: but on one of
+these evenings, when Federigo was to sup with Monna Tessa on two fat
+capons that she bad boiled, it so chanced that Gianni arrived there
+unexpectedly and very late, much to the lady's chagrin: so she had a
+little salt meat boiled apart, on which she supped with her husband; and
+the maid by her orders carried the two boiled capons laid in a spotless
+napkin with plenty of fresh eggs and a bottle of good wine into the
+garden, to which there was access otherwise than from the house, and
+where she was wont at times to sup with Federigo; and there the maid set
+them down at the foot of a peach-tree, that grew beside a lawn. But in
+her vexation she forgot to tell the maid to wait till Federigo should
+come, and let him know that Gianni was there, and he must take his supper
+in the garden: and she and Gianni and the maid were scarce gone to bed,
+when Federigo came and tapped once at the door, which being hard by the
+bedroom, Gianni heard the tap, as did also the lady, albeit, that Gianni
+might have no reason to suspect her, she feigned to be asleep. Federigo
+waited a little, and then gave a second tap; whereupon, wondering what it
+might mean, Gianni nudged his wife, saying:--"Tessa, dost hear what I
+hear? Methinks some one has tapped at our door." The lady, who had heard
+the noise much better than he, feigned to wake up, and:--"How? what sayst
+thou?" quoth she. "I say," replied Gianni, "that, meseems, some one has
+tapped at our door." "Tapped at it?" quoth the lady. "Alas, my Gianni,
+wottest thou not what that is? 'Tis the bogey, which for some nights past
+has so terrified me as never was, insomuch that I never hear it but I pop
+my head under the clothes and venture not to put it out again until 'tis
+broad day." "Come, come, wife," quoth Gianni, "if such it is, be not
+alarmed; for before we got into bed I repeated the Te lucis, the
+Intemerata, and divers other good orisons, besides which I made the sign
+of the cross in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit at each
+corner of the bed; wherefore we need have no fear that it may avail to
+hurt us, whatever be its power." The lady, lest Federigo, perchance
+suspecting a rival, should take offence, resolved to get up, and let him
+understand that Gianni was there: so she said to her husband:--"Well
+well; so sayst thou; but I for my part shall never deem myself safe and
+secure, unless we exorcise it, seeing that thou art here." "Oh!" said
+Gianni, "and how does one exorcise it?" "That," quoth the lady, "I know
+right well; for t'other day, when I went to Fiesole for the pardoning,
+one of those anchoresses, the saintliest creature, my Gianni, God be my
+witness, knowing how much afraid I am of the bogey, taught me a holy and
+salutary orison, which she said she had tried many a time before she was
+turned anchoress, and always with success. God wot, I should never have
+had courage to try it alone; but as thou art here, I propose that we go
+exorcise it together." Gianni made answer that he was quite of the same
+mind; so up they got, and stole to the door, on the outside of which
+Federigo, now suspicious, was still waiting. And as soon as they were
+there:--"Now," quoth the lady to Gianni, "thou wilt spit, when I tell
+thee." "Good," said Gianni. Whereupon the lady began her orison,
+saying:--
+
+  "Bogey, bogey that goest by night,
+  Tail erect, thou cam'st, tail erect, take thy flight
+  Hie thee to the garden, and the great peach before,
+  Grease upon grease, and droppings five score
+  Of my hen shalt thou find:
+  Set the flask thy lips to,
+  Then away like the wind,
+  And no scathe unto me or my Gianni do."
+
+And when she had done:--"Now, Gianni," quoth she, "spit": and Gianni
+spat.
+
+There was no more room for jealousy in Federigo's mind as he heard all
+this from without; nay, for all his disappointment, he was like to burst
+with suppressed laughter, and when Gianni spat, he muttered under his
+breath:--"Now out with thy teeth." The lady, having after this fashion
+thrice exorcised the bogey, went back to bed with her husband. Federigo,
+disappointed of the supper that he was to have had with her, and
+apprehending the words of the orison aright, hied him to the garden, and
+having found the two capons and the wine and the eggs at the foot of the
+peach-tree, took them home with him, and supped very comfortably. And
+many a hearty laugh had he and the lady over the exorcism during their
+subsequent intercourse.
+
+Now, true it is that some say that the lady had in fact turned the ass's
+head towards Fiesole, but that a husbandman, passing through the
+vineyard, had given it a blow with his stick, whereby it had swung round,
+and remained fronting Florence, and so it was that Federigo thought that
+he was invited, and came to the house, and that the lady's orison was on
+this wise:--
+
+  "Bogey, a God's name, away thee hie,
+  For whoe'er turned the ass's head, 'twas not I:
+  Another it was, foul fall his eyne;
+  And here am I with Gianni mine."
+
+Wherefore Federigo was fain to take himself off, having neither slept nor
+supped.
+
+But a neighbour of mine, a lady well advanced in years, tells me that, by
+what she heard when she was a girl, both stories are true; but that the
+latter concerned not Gianni Lotteringhi but one Gianni di Nello, that
+lived at Porta San Piero, and was no less a numskull than Gianni
+Lotteringhi. Wherefore, dear my ladies, you are at liberty to choose
+which exorcism you prefer, or take both if you like. They are both of
+extraordinary and approved virtue in such cases, as you have heard: get
+them by heart, therefore, and they may yet stand you in good stead.
+
+
+NOVEL II.
+
+--
+Her husband returning home, Peronella bestows her lover in a tun; which,
+being sold by her husband, she avers to have been already sold by herself
+to one that is inside examining it to see if it be sound. Whereupon the
+lover jumps out, and causes the husband to scour the tun for him, and
+afterwards to carry it to his house.
+--
+
+Great indeed was the laughter with which Emilia's story was received;
+which being ended, and her orison commended by all as good and salutary,
+the king bade Filostrato follow suit; and thus Filostrato began:--Dearest
+my ladies, so many are the tricks that men play you, and most of all your
+husbands, that, when from time to time it so befalls that some lady plays
+her husband a trick, the circumstance, whether it come within your own
+cognizance or be told you by another, should not only give you joy but
+should incite you to publish it on all hands, that men may be ware, that,
+knowing as they are, their ladies also, on their part, know somewhat:
+which cannot but be serviceable to you, for that one does not rashly
+essay to take another with guile whom one wots not to lack that quality.
+Can we doubt, then, that, should but the converse that we shall hold
+to-day touching this matter come to be bruited among men, 'twould serve
+to put a most notable check upon the tricks they play you, by doing them
+to wit of the tricks, which you, in like manner, when you are so minded,
+may play them? Wherefore 'tis my intention to tell you in what manner a
+young girl, albeit she was but of low rank, did, on the spur of the
+moment, beguile her husband to her own deliverance.
+
+'Tis no long time since at Naples a poor man, a mason by craft, took to
+wife a fair and amorous maiden--Peronella was her name--who eked out by
+spinning what her husband made by his craft; and so the pair managed as
+best they might on very slender means. And as chance would have it, one
+of the gallants of the city, taking note of this Peronella one day, and
+being mightily pleased with her, fell in love with her, and by this means
+and that so prevailed that he won her to accord him her intimacy. Their
+times of forgathering they concerted as follows:--to wit, that, her
+husband being wont to rise betimes of a morning to go to work or seek for
+work, the gallant was to be where he might see him go forth, and, the
+street where she dwelt, which is called Avorio, being scarce inhabited,
+was to come into the house as soon as her husband was well out of it; and
+so times not a few they did. But on one of these occasions it befell
+that, the good man being gone forth, and Giannello Sirignario--such was
+the gallant's name--being come into the house, and being with Peronella,
+after a while, back came the good man, though 'twas not his wont to
+return until the day was done; and finding the door locked, he knocked,
+and after knocking, he fell a saying to himself:--O God, praised be Thy
+name forever; for that, albeit Thou hast ordained that I be poor, at
+least Thou hast accorded me the consolation of a good and honest girl for
+wife. Mark what haste she made to shut the door when I was gone forth,
+that none else might enter to give her trouble.
+
+Now Peronella knew by his knock that 'twas her husband;
+wherefore:--"Alas, Giannello mine," quoth she, "I am a dead woman, for
+lo, here is my husband, foul fall him! come back! What it may import, I
+know not, for he is never wont to come back at this hour; perchance he
+caught sight of thee as thou camest in. However, for the love of God, be
+it as it may, get thee into this tun that thou seest here, and I will go
+open to him, and we shall see what is the occasion of this sudden return
+this morning." So Giannello forthwith got into the tun, and Peronella
+went to the door, and let in her husband, and gave him black looks,
+saying:--"This is indeed a surprise that thou art back so soon this
+morning! By what I see thou hast a mind to make this a holiday, that thou
+returnest tools in hand; if so, what are we to live on? whence shall we
+get bread to eat? Thinkest thou I will let thee pawn my gown and other
+bits of clothes? Day and night I do nought else but spin, insomuch that
+the flesh is fallen away from my nails, that at least I may have oil
+enough to keep our lamp alight. Husband, husband, there is never a woman
+in the neighbourhood but marvels and mocks at me, that I am at such
+labour and pains; and thou comest home to me with thy hands hanging idle,
+when thou shouldst be at work." Which said, she fell a weeping and
+repeating:--"Alas, alas, woe 's me, in what evil hour was I born? in what
+luckless moment came I hither, I, that might have had so goodly a young
+man, and I would not, to take up with one that bestows never a thought on
+her whom he has made his wife? Other women have a good time with their
+lovers, and never a one have we here but has two or three; they take
+their pleasure, and make their husbands believe that the moon is the sun;
+and I, alas! for that I am an honest woman, and have no such casual
+amours, I suffer, and am hard bested. I know not why I provide not myself
+with one of these lovers, as others do. Give good heed, husband, to what
+I say: were I disposed to dishonour thee, I were at no loss to find the
+man: for here are gallants enough, that love me, and court me, and have
+sent me many an offer of money--no stint--or dresses or jewels, should I
+prefer them; but my pride would never suffer it, because I was not born
+of a woman of that sort: and now thou comest home to me when thou
+oughtest to be at work."
+
+Whereto the husband:--"Wife, wife, for God's sake distress not thyself:
+thou shouldst give me credit for knowing what manner of woman thou art,
+as indeed I have partly seen this morning. True it is that I went out to
+work; but 'tis plain that thou knowest not, as indeed I knew not, that
+to-day 'tis the feast of San Galeone, and a holiday, and that is why I am
+come home at this hour; but nevertheless I have found means to provide us
+with bread for more than a month; for I have sold to this gentleman, whom
+thou seest with me, the tun, thou wottest of, seeing that it has
+encumbered the house so long, and he will give me five gigliats for it."
+Quoth then Peronella:--"And all this but adds to my trouble: thou, that
+art a man, and goest abroad, and shouldst know affairs, hast sold for
+five gigliats a tun, which I, that am but a woman, and was scarce ever
+out of doors, have, for that it took up so much room in the house, sold
+for seven gigliats to a good man, that but now, as thou cam'st back, got
+therein, to see if 'twere sound." So hearing, the husband was overjoyed,
+and said to the man that was come to take it away:--"Good man, I wish
+thee Godspeed; for, as thou hearest, my wife has sold the tun for seven
+gigliats, whereas thou gavest me only five." Whereupon:--"So be it," said
+the good man, and took himself off. Then said Peronella to her
+husband:--"Now, as thou art here, come up, and arrange the matter with
+the good man."
+
+Now Giannello, who, meanwhile, had been all on the alert to discover if
+there were aught he had to fear or be on his guard against, no sooner
+heard Peronella's last words, than he sprang out of the tun, and feigning
+to know nought of her husband's return, began thus:--"Where art thou,
+good dame?" Whereto the husband, coming up, answered:--"Here am I: what
+wouldst thou of me?" Quoth Giannello:--"And who art thou? I would speak
+with the lady with whom I struck the bargain for this tun." Then said the
+good man:--"Have no fear, you can deal with me; for I am her husband."
+Quoth then Giannello:--"The tun seems to me sound enough; but I think you
+must have let the lees remain in it; for 'tis all encrusted with I know
+not what that is so dry, that I cannot raise it with the nail; wherefore
+I am not minded to take it unless I first see it scoured." Whereupon
+Peronella:--"To be sure: that shall not hinder the bargain; my husband
+will scour it clean." And:--"Well and good," said the husband.
+
+So he laid down his tools, stripped himself to his vest, sent for a light
+and a rasp, and was in the tun, and scraping away, in a trice. Whereupon
+Peronella, as if she were curious to see what he did, thrust her head
+into the vent of the tun, which was of no great size, and therewithal one
+of her arms up to the shoulder, and fell a saying:--"Scrape here, and
+here, and there too, and look, there is a bit left here." So, she being
+in this posture, directing and admonishing her husband, Giannello, who
+had not, that morning, fully satisfied his desire, when the husband
+arrived, now seeing that as he would, he might not, brought his mind to
+his circumstances, and resolved to take his pleasure as he might:
+wherefore he made up to the lady, who completely blocked the vent of the
+tun; and even on such wise as on the open champaign the wild and lusty
+horses do amorously assail the mares of Parthia, he sated his youthful
+appetite; and so it was that almost at the same moment that he did so,
+and was off, the tun was scoured, the husband came forth of it, and
+Peronella withdrew her head from the vent, and turning to Giannello,
+said:--"Take this light, good man, and see if 'tis scoured to thy mind."
+Whereupon Giannello, looking into the tun, said that 'twas in good trim,
+and that he was well content, and paid the husband the seven gigliats,
+and caused him carry the tun to his house.
+
+
+NOVEL III.
+
+--
+Fra Rinaldo lies with his gossip: her husband finds him in the room with
+her; and they make him believe that he was curing his godson of worms by
+a charm.
+--
+
+Filostrato knew not how so to veil what he said touching the mares of
+Parthia, but that the keen-witted ladies laughed thereat, making as if
+'twas at somewhat else. However, his story being ended, the king called
+for one from Elisa, who, all obedience, thus began:--Debonair my ladies,
+we heard from Emilia how the bogey is exorcised, and it brought to my
+mind a story of another incantation: 'tis not indeed so good a story as
+hers; but, as no other, germane to our theme, occurs to me at present, I
+will relate it.
+
+You are to know, then, that there dwelt aforetime at Siena a young man,
+right gallant and of honourable family, his name Rinaldo; who, being in
+the last degree enamoured of one of his neighbours, a most beautiful
+gentlewoman and the wife of a rich man, was not without hopes that, if he
+could but find means to speak with her privately, he might have of her
+all that he desired; but seeing no way, and the lady being pregnant, he
+cast about how he might become her child's godfather. Wherefore, having
+ingratiated himself with her husband, he broached the matter to him in as
+graceful a manner as he might; and 'twas arranged. So Rinaldo, being now
+godfather to Madonna Agnesa's child, and having a more colourable pretext
+for speaking to her, took courage, and told her in words that message of
+his heart which she had long before read in his eyes; but though 'twas
+not displeasing to the lady to hear, it availed him but little.
+
+Now not long afterwards it so befell that, whatever may have been his
+reason, Rinaldo betook him to friarage; and whether it was that he found
+good pasture therein, or what not, he persevered in that way of life. And
+though for a while after he was turned friar, he laid aside the love he
+bore his gossip, and certain other vanities, yet in course of time,
+without putting off the habit, he resumed them, and began to take a pride
+in his appearance, and to go dressed in fine clothes, and to be quite the
+trim gallant, and to compose songs and sonnets and ballades, and to sing
+them, and to make a brave shew in all else that pertained to his new
+character. But why enlarge upon our Fra Rinaldo, of whom we speak? what
+friars are there that do not the like? Ah! opprobrium of a corrupt world!
+Sleek-faced and sanguine, daintily clad, dainty in all their accessories,
+they ruffle it shamelessly before the eyes of all, shewing not as doves
+but as insolent cocks with raised crest and swelling bosom, and, what is
+worse (to say nought of the vases full of electuaries and unguents, the
+boxes packed with divers comfits, the pitchers and phials of artificial
+waters, and oils, the flagons brimming with Malmsey and Greek and other
+wines of finest quality, with which their cells are so packed that they
+shew not as the cells of friars, but rather as apothecaries' or
+perfumers' shops), they blush not to be known to be gouty, flattering
+themselves that other folk wot not that long fasts and many of them, and
+coarse fare and little of it, and sober living, make men lean and thin
+and for the most part healthy; or if any malady come thereof, at any rate
+'tis not the gout, the wonted remedy for which is chastity and all beside
+that belongs to the regimen of a humble friar. They flatter themselves,
+too, that others wot not that over and above the meagre diet, long vigils
+and orisons and strict discipline ought to mortify men and make them
+pale, and that neither St. Dominic nor St. Francis went clad in stuff
+dyed in grain or any other goodly garb, but in coarse woollen habits
+innocent of the dyer's art, made to keep out the cold, and not for shew.
+To which matters 'twere well God had a care, no less than to the souls of
+the simple folk by whom our friars are nourished.
+
+Fra Rinaldo, then, being come back to his first affections, took to
+visiting his gossip very frequently; and gaining confidence, began with
+more insistence than before to solicit her to that which he craved of
+her. So, being much urged, the good lady, to whom Fra Rinaldo, perhaps,
+seemed now more handsome than of yore, had recourse one day, when she
+felt herself unusually hard pressed by him, to the common expedient of
+all that would fain concede what is asked of them, and said:--"Oh! but
+Fra Rinaldo, do friars then do this sort of thing?" "Madam," replied Fra
+Rinaldo, "when I divest myself of this habit, which I shall do easily
+enough, you will see that I am a man furnished as other men, and no
+friar." Whereto with a truly comical air the lady made answer:--"Alas!
+woe's me! you are my child's godfather: how might it be? nay, but 'twere
+a very great mischief; and many a time I have heard that 'tis a most
+heinous sin; and without a doubt, were it not so, I would do as you
+wish." "If," said Fra Rinaldo, "you forego it for such a scruple as this,
+you are a fool for your pains. I say not that 'tis no sin; but there is
+no sin so great but God pardons it, if one repent. Now tell me: whether
+is more truly father to your son, I that held him at the font, or your
+husband that begot him?" "My husband," replied the lady. "Sooth say you,"
+returned the friar, "and does not your husband lie with you?" "Why, yes,"
+said the lady. "Then," rejoined the friar, "I that am less truly your
+son's father than your husband, ought also to lie with you, as does your
+husband." The lady was no logician, and needed little to sway her: she
+therefore believed or feigned to believe that what the friar said was
+true. So:-- "Who might avail to answer your words of wisdom?" quoth she;
+and presently forgot the godfather in the lover, and complied with his
+desires. Nor had they begun their course to end it forthwith: but under
+cover of the friar's sponsorship, which set them more at ease, as it
+rendered them less open to suspicion, they forgathered again and again.
+
+But on one of these occasions it so befell that Fra Rinaldo, being come
+to the lady's house, where he espied none else save a very pretty and
+dainty little maid that waited on the lady, sent his companion away with
+her into the pigeon-house, there to teach her the paternoster, while he
+and the lady, holding her little boy by the hand, went into the bedroom,
+locked themselves in, got them on to a divan that was there, and began to
+disport them. And while thus they sped the time, it chanced that the
+father returned, and, before any was ware of him, was at the bedroom
+door, and knocked, and called the lady by her name. Whereupon:--"'Tis as
+much as my life is worth," quoth Madonna Agnesa; "lo, here is my husband;
+and the occasion of our intimacy cannot but be now apparent to him."
+"Sooth say you," returned Fra Rinaldo, who was undressed, that is to say,
+had thrown off his habit and hood, and was in his tunic; "if I had but my
+habit and hood on me in any sort, 'twould be another matter; but if you
+let him in, and he find me thus, 'twill not be possible to put any face
+on it." But with an inspiration as happy as sudden:--"Now get them on
+you," quoth the lady; "and when you have them on, take your godson in
+your arms, and give good heed to what I shall say to him, that your words
+may accord with mine; and leave the rest to me."
+
+The good man was still knocking, when his wife made answer:-- "Coming,
+coming." And so up she got, and put on a cheerful countenance and hied
+her to the door, and opened it and said:--"Husband mine: well indeed was
+it for us that in came Fra Rinaldo, our sponsor; 'twas God that sent him
+to us; for in sooth, but for that, we had to-day lost our boy." Which the
+poor simpleton almost swooned to hear; and:--"How so?" quoth he. "O
+husband mine," replied the lady, "he was taken but now, all of a sudden,
+with a fainting fit, so that I thought he was dead: and what to do or say
+I knew not, had not Fra Rinaldo, our sponsor, come just in the nick of
+time, and set him on his shoulder, and said:--'Gossip, 'tis that he has
+worms in his body, and getting, as they do, about the heart, they might
+only too readily be the death of him; but fear not; I will say a charm
+that will kill them all; and before I take my leave, you will see your
+boy as whole as you ever saw him.' And because to say certain of the
+prayers thou shouldst have been with us, and the maid knew not where to
+find thee, he caused his companion to say them at the top of the house,
+and he and I came in here. And for that 'tis not meet for any but the
+boy's mother to assist at such a service, that we might not be troubled
+with any one else, we locked the door; and he yet has him in his arms;
+and I doubt not that he only waits till his companion have said his
+prayers, and then the charm will be complete; for the boy is already
+quite himself again."
+
+The good simple soul, taking all this for sooth, and overwrought by the
+love he bore his son, was entirely without suspicion of the trick his
+wife was playing him, and heaving a great sigh, said:--"I will go look
+for him." "Nay," replied the wife, "go not: thou wouldst spoil the
+efficacy of the charm: wait here; I will go see if thou mayst safely go;
+and will call thee."
+
+Whereupon Fra Rinaldo, who had heard all that passed, and was in his
+canonicals, and quite at his ease, and had the boy in his arms, having
+made sure that all was as it should be, cried out:--"Gossip, do I not
+hear the father's voice out there?" "Ay indeed, Sir," replied the
+simpleton. "Come in then," said Fra Rinaldo. So in came the simpleton.
+Whereupon quoth Fra Rinaldo:--"I restore to you your boy made whole by
+the grace of God, whom but now I scarce thought you would see alive at
+vespers. You will do well to have his image fashioned in wax, not less
+than life-size, and set it for a thanksgiving to God, before the statue
+of Master St. Ambrose, by whose merits you have this favour of God."
+
+The boy, catching sight of his father, ran to him with joyous greetings,
+as little children are wont; and the father, taking him in his arms, and
+weeping as if he were restored to him from the grave, fell by turns a
+kissing him and thanking his godfather, that he had cured him. Fra
+Rinaldo's companion, who had taught the maid not one paternoster only,
+but peradventure four or more, and by giving her a little purse of white
+thread that a nun had given him, had made her his devotee, no sooner
+heard Fra Rinaldo call the simpleton into his wife's room, than he
+stealthily got him to a place whence he might see and hear what was going
+on. Observing that the affair was now excellently arranged, he came down,
+and entered the chamber, saying:--"Fra Rinaldo, those four prayers that
+you bade me say, I have said them all." "Then well done, my brother,"
+quoth Fra Rinaldo, "well-breathed must thou be. For my part, I had but
+said two, when my gossip came in; but what with thy travail and mine, God
+of His grace has vouchsafed-us the healing or the boy." The simpleton
+then had good wine and comfits brought in, and did the honours to the
+godfather and his companion in such sort as their occasions did most
+demand. He then ushered them forth of the house, commending them to God;
+and without delay had the waxen image made, and directed it to be set up
+with the others in front of the statue of St. Ambrose, not, be it
+understood, St. Ambrose of Milan.(1)
+
+(1) The statue would doubtless be that of St. Ambrose of Siena, of the
+Dominican Order.
+
+
+NOVEL IV.
+
+--
+Tofano one night locks his wife out of the house: she, finding that by no
+entreaties may she prevail upon him to let her in, feigns to throw
+herself into a well, throwing therein a great stone. Tofano hies him
+forth of the house, and runs to the spot: she goes into the house, and
+locks him out, and hurls abuse at him from within.
+--
+
+The king no sooner wist that Elisa's story was ended, than, turning to
+Lauretta, he signified his will that she should tell somewhat: wherefore
+without delay she began:--O Love, how great and signal is thy potency!
+how notable thy stratagems, thy devices! Was there ever, shall there ever
+be, philosopher or adept competent to inspire, counsel and teach in such
+sort as thou by thine unpremeditated art dost tutor those that follow thy
+lead? Verily laggard teachers are they all in comparison of thee, as by
+the matters heretofore set forth may very well be understood. To which
+store I will add, loving ladies, a stratagem used by a woman of quite
+ordinary understanding, and of such a sort that I know not by whom she
+could have been taught it save by Love.
+
+Know, then, that there dwelt aforetime at Arezzo a rich man, Tofano by
+name, who took to wife Monna Ghita, a lady exceeding fair, of whom, for
+what cause he knew not, he presently grew jealous. Whereof the lady being
+ware, waxed resentful, and having on divers occasions demanded of him the
+reason of his jealousy, and gotten from him nought precise, but only
+generalities and trivialities, resolved at last to give him cause enough
+to die of that evil which without cause he so much dreaded. And being
+ware that a gallant, whom she deemed well worthy of her, was enamoured of
+her, she, using due discretion, came to an understanding with him; which
+being brought to the point that it only remained to give effect to their
+words in act, the lady cast about to devise how this might be. And
+witting that, among other bad habits that her husband had, he was too
+fond of his cups, she would not only commend indulgence, but cunningly
+and not seldom incite him thereto; insomuch that, well-nigh as often as
+she was so minded, she led him to drink to excess; and when she saw that
+he was well drunken, she would put him to bed; and so not once only but
+divers times without any manner of risk she forgathered with her lover;
+nay, presuming upon her husband's intoxication, she grew so bold that,
+not content with bringing her lover into her house, she would at times go
+spend a great part of the night with him at his house, which was not far
+off.
+
+Now such being the enamoured lady's constant practice, it so befell that
+the dishonoured husband took note that, while she egged him on to drink,
+she herself drank never a drop; whereby he came to suspect the truth, to
+wit, that the lady was making him drunk, that afterwards she might take
+her pleasure while he slept. And being minded to put his surmise to the
+proof, one evening, having drunken nought all day, he mimicked never so
+drunken a sot both in speech and in carriage. The lady, deeming him to be
+really as he appeared, and that 'twas needless to ply him with liquor,
+presently put him to bed. Which done, she, as she at times was wont, hied
+her forth to her lover's house, where she tarried until midnight. Tofano
+no sooner perceived that his wife was gone, than up he got, hied him to
+the door, locked it, and then posted himself at the window to observe her
+return, and let her know that he was ware of her misconduct. So there he
+stood until the lady returned, and finding herself locked out, was
+annoyed beyond measure, and sought to force the door open. Tofano let her
+try her strength upon it a while, and then:--"Madam," quoth he, "'tis all
+to no purpose: thou canst not get in. Go get thee back thither where thou
+hast tarried all this while, and rest assured that thou shalt never
+recross this threshold, until I have done thee such honour as is meet for
+thee in the presence of thy kinsfolk and neighbours." Thereupon the lady
+fell entreating him to be pleased to open to her for the love of God, for
+that she was not come whence he supposed, but had only been passing the
+time with one of her gossips, because the nights were long, and she could
+not spend the whole time either in sleep or in solitary watching. But her
+supplications availed her nothing, for the fool was determined that all
+Arezzo should know their shame, whereof as yet none wist aught. So as
+'twas idle to entreat, the lady assumed a menacing tone, saying:--"So
+thou open not to me, I will make thee the saddest man alive." Whereto
+Tofano made answer:--"And what then canst thou do?" The lady, her wits
+sharpened by Love, rejoined:--"Rather than endure the indignity to which
+thou wouldst unjustly subject me, I will cast myself into the well hard
+by here, and when I am found dead there, all the world will believe that
+'twas thou that didst it in thy cups, and so thou wilt either have to
+flee and lose all that thou hast and be outlawed, or forfeit thy head as
+guilty of my death, as indeed thou wilt be." But, for all she said,
+Tofano wavered not a jot in his foolish purpose. So at last:--"Lo, now,"
+quoth the lady, "I can no more abide thy surly humour: God forgive thee:
+I leave thee my distaff here, which be careful to bestow in a safe
+place." So saying, away she hied her to the well, and, the night being so
+dark that wayfarers could scarce see one another as they passed, she took
+up a huge stone that was by the well, and ejaculating, "God forgive me!"
+dropped it therein. Tofano, hearing the mighty splash that the stone made
+as it struck the water, never doubted that she had cast herself in: so,
+bucket and rope in hand, he flung himself out of the house, and came
+running to the well to her rescue. The lady had meanwhile hidden herself
+hard by the door, and seeing him make for the well, was in the house in a
+trice, and having locked the door, hied her to the window, and greeted
+him with:--"'Tis while thou art drinking, not now, when the night is far
+spent, that thou shouldst temper thy wine with water." Thus derided,
+Tofano came back to the door, and finding his ingress barred, began
+adjuring her to let him in. Whereupon, changing the low tone she had
+hitherto used for one so shrill that 'twas well-nigh a shriek, she broke
+out with:--"By the Holy Rood, tedious drunken sot that thou art, thou
+gettest no admittance here to-night; thy ways are more than I can endure:
+'tis time I let all the world know what manner of man thou art, and at
+what hour of the night thou comest home." Tofano, on his part, now grew
+angry, and began loudly to upbraid her; insomuch that the neighbours,
+aroused by the noise, got up, men and women alike, and looked out of the
+windows, and asked what was the matter. Whereupon the lady fell a weeping
+and saying:--"'Tis this wicked man, who comes home drunk at even, or
+falls asleep in some tavern, and then returns at this hour. Long and to
+no purpose have I borne with him; but 'tis now past endurance, and I have
+done him this indignity of locking him out of the house in the hope that
+perchance it may cause him to mend his ways."
+
+Tofano, on his part, told, dolt that he was, just what had happened, and
+was mighty menacing. Whereupon:--"Now mark," quoth the lady to the
+neighbours, "the sort of man he is! What would you say if I were, as he
+is, in the street, and he were in the house, as I am? God's faith, I
+doubt you would believe what he said. Hereby you may gauge his sense. He
+tells you that I have done just what, I doubt not, he has done himself.
+He thought to terrify me by throwing I know not what into the well,
+wherein would to God he had thrown himself indeed, and drowned himself,
+whereby the wine of which he has taken more than enough, had been watered
+to some purpose!" The neighbours, men and women alike, now with one
+accord gave tongue, censuring Tofano, throwing all the blame upon him,
+and answering what he alleged against the lady with loud recrimination;
+and in short the bruit, passing from neighbour to neighbour, reached at
+last the ears of the lady's kinsfolk; who hied them to the spot, and
+being apprised of the affair from this, that and the other of the
+neighbours, laid hands on Tofano, and beat him till he was black and blue
+from head to foot. Which done, they entered his house, stripped it of all
+that belonged to the lady, and took her home with them, bidding Tofano
+look for worse to come. Thus hard bested, and ruing the plight in which
+his jealousy had landed him, Tofano, who loved his wife with all his
+heart, set some friends to work to patch matters up, whereby he did in
+fact induce his lady to forgive him and live with him again, albeit he
+was fain to promise her never again to be jealous, and to give her leave
+to amuse herself to her heart's content, provided she used such
+discretion that he should not be ware of it. On such wise, like the churl
+and booby that he was, being despoiled, he made terms. Now long live
+Love, and perish war, and all that wage it!
+
+
+NOVEL V.
+
+--
+A jealous husband disguises himself as a priest, and hears his own wife's
+confession: she tells him that she loves a priest, who comes to her every
+night. The husband posts himself at the door to watch for the priest, and
+meanwhile the lady brings her lover in by the roof, and tarries with him.
+--
+
+When Lauretta had done speaking, and all had commended the lady, for that
+she had done well, and treated her caitiff husband as he had deserved,
+the king, not to lose time, turned to Fiammetta, and graciously bade her
+take up her parable; which she did on this wise:--Most noble ladies, the
+foregoing story prompts me likewise to discourse of one of these jealous
+husbands, deeming that they are justly requited by their wives, more
+especially when they grow jealous without due cause. And had our
+legislators taken account of everything, I am of opinion that they would
+have visited ladies in such a case with no other penalty than such as
+they provide for those that offend in self-defence, seeing that a jealous
+husband does cunningly practise against the life of his lady, and most
+assiduously machinate her death. All the week the wife stays at home,
+occupied with her domestic duties; after which, on the day that is sacred
+to joy, she, like every one else, craves some solace, some peace, some
+recreation, not unreasonably, for she craves but what the husbandmen take
+in the fields, the craftsmen in the city, the magistrates in the courts,
+nay what God Himself took, when He rested from all His labours on the
+seventh day, and which laws human and Divine, mindful alike of the honour
+of God and the common well-being, have ordained, appropriating certain
+days to work, and others to repose. To which ordinance these jealous
+husbands will in no wise conform; on the contrary by then most sedulously
+secluding their wives, they make those days which to all other women are
+gladsome, to them most grievous and dolorous. And what an affliction it
+is to the poor creatures, they alone know, who have proved it; for which
+reason, to sum up, I say that a wife is rather to be commended than
+censured, if she take her revenge upon a husband that is jealous without
+cause.
+
+Know then that at Rimini there dwelt a merchant, a man of great substance
+in lands and goods and money, who, having a most beautiful woman to wife,
+waxed inordinately jealous of her, and that for no better reason than
+that, loving her greatly, and esteeming her exceeding fair, and knowing
+that she did her utmost endeavour to pleasure him, he must needs suppose
+that every man loved her, and esteemed her fair, and that she, moreover,
+was as zealous to stand well with every other man as with himself;
+whereby you may see that he was a poor creature, and of little sense.
+Being thus so deeply infected with jealousy, he kept so strict and close
+watch over her, that some, maybe, have lain under sentence of death and
+been less rigorously confined by their warders. 'Twas not merely that the
+lady might not go to a wedding, or a festal gathering, or even to church,
+or indeed set foot out of doors in any sort; but she dared not so much as
+shew herself at a window, or cast a glance outside the house, no matter
+for what purpose. Wherefore she led a most woeful life of it, and found
+it all the harder to bear because she knew herself to be innocent.
+Accordingly, seeing herself evilly entreated by her husband without good
+cause, she cast about how for her own consolation she might devise means
+to justify his usage of her. And for that, as she might not shew herself
+at the window, there could be no interchange of amorous glances between
+her and any man that passed along the street, but she wist that in the
+next house there was a goodly and debonair gallant, she bethought her,
+that, if there were but a hole in the wall that divided the two houses,
+she might watch thereat, until she should have sight of the gallant on
+such wise that she might speak to him, and give him her love, if he cared
+to have it, and, if so it might be contrived, forgather with him now and
+again, and after this fashion relieve the burden of her woeful life,
+until such time as the evil spirit should depart from her husband. So
+peering about, now here, now there, when her husband was away, she found
+in a very remote part of the house a place, where, by chance, the wall
+had a little chink in it. Peering through which, she made out, though not
+without great difficulty, that on the other side was a room, and said to
+herself:--If this were Filippo's room--Filippo was the name of the
+gallant, her neighbour--I should be already halfway to my goal. So
+cautiously, through her maid, who was grieved to see her thus languish,
+she made quest, and discovered that it was indeed the gallant's room,
+where he slept quite alone. Wherefore she now betook her frequently to
+the aperture, and whenever she was ware that the gallant was in the room,
+she would let fall a pebble or the like trifle; whereby at length she
+brought the gallant to the other side of the aperture to see what the
+matter was. Whereupon she softly called him, and he knowing her voice,
+answered; and so, having now the opportunity she had sought, she in few
+words opened to him all her mind. The gallant, being overjoyed, wrought
+at the aperture on such wise that albeit none might be ware thereof, he
+enlarged it; and there many a time they held converse together, and
+touched hands, though further they might not go by reason of the
+assiduous watch that the jealous husband kept.
+
+Now towards Christmas the lady told her husband that, if he approved, she
+would fain go on Christmas morning to church, and confess and
+communicate, like other Christians. "And what sins," quoth he, "hast thou
+committed, that wouldst be shriven?" "How?" returned the lady; "dost thou
+take me for a saint? For all thou keepest me so close, thou must know
+very well that I am like all other mortals. However, I am not minded to
+confess to thee, for that thou art no priest." Her husband, whose
+suspicions were excited by what she had said, cast about how he might
+discover these sins of hers, and having bethought him of what seemed an
+apt expedient, made answer that she had his consent, but he would not
+have her go to any church but their own chapel, where she might hie her
+betimes in the morning, and confess either to their own chaplain or some
+other priest that the chaplain might assign her, but to none other, and
+presently return to the house. The lady thought she half understood him,
+but she answered only that she would do as he required. Christmas morning
+came, and with the dawn the lady rose, dressed herself, and hied her to
+the church appointed by her husband, who also rose, and hied him to the
+same church, where he arrived before her; and having already concerted
+matters with the priest that was in charge, he forthwith put on one of
+the priest's robes with a great hood, overshadowing the face, such as we
+see priests wear, and which he pulled somewhat forward; and so disguised
+he seated himself in the choir.
+
+On entering the church the lady asked for the priest, who came, and
+learning that she was minded to confess, said that he could not hear her
+himself, but would send her one of his brethren; so away he hied him and
+sent her, in an evil hour for him, her husband. For though he wore an air
+of great solemnity, and 'twas not yet broad day, and he had pulled the
+hood well over his eyes, yet all did not avail, but that his lady
+forthwith recognized him, and said to herself:--God be praised! why, the
+jealous rogue is turned priest: but leave it me to give him that whereof
+he is in quest. So she feigned not to know him, and seated herself at his
+feet. (I should tell you that he had put some pebbles in his mouth, that
+his speech, being impeded, might not betray him to his wife, and in all
+other respects he deemed himself so thoroughly disguised that there was
+nought whereby she might recognize him.) Now, to come to the confession,
+the lady, after informing him that she was married, told him among other
+matters that she was enamoured of a priest, who came every night to lie
+with her. Which to hear was to her husband as if he were stricken through
+the heart with a knife; and had it not been that he was bent on knowing
+more, he would have forthwith given over the confession, and taken
+himself off. However he kept his place, and:--"How?" said he to the lady,
+"does not your husband lie with you?" The lady replied in the
+affirmative. "How, then," quoth the husband, "can the priest also lie
+with you?" "Sir," replied she, "what art the priest employs I know not;
+but door there is none, however well locked, in the house, that comes not
+open at his touch; and he tells me that, being come to the door of my
+room, before he opens it, he says certain words, whereby my husband
+forthwith falls asleep; whereupon he opens the door, and enters the room,
+and lies with me; and so 'tis always, without fail." "Then 'tis very
+wrong, Madam, and you must give it up altogether," said the husband.
+"That, Sir," returned the lady, "I doubt I can never do; for I love him
+too much." "In that case," quoth the husband, "I cannot give you
+absolution." "The pity of it!" ejaculated the lady; "I came not hither to
+tell you falsehoods: if I could give it up, I would." "Madam," replied
+the husband, "indeed I am sorry for you; for I see that you are in a fair
+way to lose your soul. However, this I will do for you; I will make
+special supplication to God on your behalf; and perchance you may be
+profited thereby. And from time to time I will send you one of my young
+clerks; and you will tell him whether my prayers have been of any help to
+you, or no, and if they have been so, I shall know what to do next."
+"Nay, Sir," quoth the lady, "do not so; send no man to me at home; for,
+should my husband come to know it, he is so jealous that nothing in the
+world would ever disabuse him of the idea that he came but for an evil
+purpose, and so I should have no peace with him all the year long."
+Madam, returned the husband, "have no fear; rest assured that I will so
+order matters that you shall never hear a word about it from him." "If
+you can make sure of that," quoth the lady, "I have no more to say." And
+so, her confession ended, and her penance enjoined, she rose, and went to
+mass, while the luckless husband, fuming and fretting, hasted to divest
+himself of his priest's trappings, and then went home bent upon devising
+some means to bring the priest and his wife together, and take his
+revenge upon them both.
+
+When the lady came home from church she read in her husband's face that
+she had spoiled his Christmas for him, albeit he dissembled to the
+uttermost, lest she should discover what he had done, and supposed
+himself to have learned. His mind was made up to keep watch for the
+priest that very night by his own front door. So to the lady he said:--"I
+have to go out to-night to sup and sleep; so thou wilt take care that the
+front door, and the mid-stair door, and the bedroom door are well locked;
+and for the rest thou mayst go to bed, at thine own time." "Well and
+good," replied the lady: and as soon as she was able, off she hied her to
+the aperture, and gave the wonted signal, which Filippo no sooner heard,
+than he was at the spot. The lady then told him what she had done in the
+morning, and what her husband had said to her after breakfast,
+adding:--"Sure I am that he will not stir out of the house, but will keep
+watch beside the door; wherefore contrive to come in to-night by the
+roof, that we may be together." "Madam," replied the gallant, nothing
+loath, "trust me for that."
+
+Night came, the husband armed, and noiselessly hid himself in a room on
+the ground floor: the lady locked all the doors, being especially careful
+to secure the mid-stair door, to bar her husband's ascent; and in due
+time the gallant, having found his way cautiously enough over the roof,
+they got them to bed, and there had solace of one another and a good
+time; and at daybreak the gallant hied him back to his house. Meanwhile
+the husband, rueful and supperless, half dead with cold, kept his armed
+watch beside his door, momently expecting the priest, for the best part
+of the night; but towards daybreak, his powers failing him, he lay down
+and slept in the ground-floor room. 'Twas hard upon tierce when he awoke,
+and the front door was then open; so, making as if he had just come in,
+he went upstairs and breakfasted. Not long afterwards he sent to his wife
+a young fellow, disguised as the priest's underling, who asked her if he
+of whom she wist had been with her again. The lady, who quite understood
+what that meant, made answer that he had not come that night, and that,
+if he continued to neglect her so, 'twas possible he might be forgotten,
+though she had no mind to forget him.
+
+Now, to make a long story short, the husband passed many a night in the
+same way, hoping to catch the priest as he came in, the lady and her
+gallant meanwhile having a good time. But at last the husband, being able
+to stand it no longer, sternly demanded of his wife what she had said to
+the priest the morning when she was confessed. The lady answered that she
+was not minded to tell him, for that 'twas not seemly or proper so to do.
+Whereupon:--"Sinful woman," quoth the husband, "in thy despite I know
+what thou saidst to him, and know I must and will who this priest is, of
+whom thou art enamoured, and who by dint of his incantations lies with
+thee a nights, or I will sluice thy veins for thee." "'Tis not true,"
+replied the lady, "that I am enamoured of a priest." "How?" quoth the
+husband, "saidst thou not as much to the priest that confessed thee?"
+"Thou canst not have had it from him," rejoined the lady. "Wast thou then
+present thyself? For sure I never told him so." "Then tell me," quoth the
+husband, "who this priest is; and lose no time about it." Whereat the
+lady began to smile, and:--"I find it not a little diverting," quoth she,
+"that a wise man should suffer himself to be led by a simple woman as a
+ram is led by the horns to the shambles; albeit no wise man art thou: not
+since that fatal hour when thou gavest harbourage in thy breast, thou
+wist not why, to the evil spirit of jealousy; and the more foolish and
+insensate thou art, the less glory have I. Deemest thou, my husband, that
+I am as blind of the bodily eye as thou art of the mind's eye? Nay, but
+for sure I am not so. I knew at a glance the priest that confessed me,
+and that 'twas even thyself. But I was minded to give thee that of which
+thou wast in quest, and I gave it thee. Howbeit, if thou hadst been the
+wise man thou takest thyself to be, thou wouldst not have chosen such a
+way as that to worm out thy good lady's secrets, nor wouldst thou have
+fallen a prey to a baseless suspicion, but wouldst have understood that
+what she confessed was true, and she all the while guiltless. I told thee
+that I loved a priest; and wast not thou, whom I love, though ill enough
+dost thou deserve it, turned priest? I told thee that there was no door
+in my house but would open when he was minded to lie with me: and when
+thou wouldst fain have access to me, what door was ever closed against
+thee? I told thee that the priest lay nightly with me: and what night was
+there that thou didst not lie with me? Thou sentest thy young clerk to
+me: and thou knowest that, as often as thou hadst not been with me, I
+sent word that the priest had not been with me. Who but thou, that hast
+suffered jealousy to blind thee, would have been so witless as not to
+read such a riddle? But thou must needs mount guard at night beside the
+door, and think to make me believe that thou hadst gone out to sup and
+sleep. Consider thy ways, and court not the mockery of those that know
+them as I do, but turn a man again as thou wast wont to be: and let there
+be no more of this strict restraint in which thou keepest me; for I swear
+to thee by God that, if I were minded to set horns on thy brow, I should
+not fail so to take my pastime that thou wouldst never find it out,
+though thou hadst a hundred eyes, as thou hast but two."
+
+Thus admonished, the jealous caitiff, who had flattered himself that he
+had very cunningly discovered his wife's secret, was ashamed, and made no
+answer save to commend his wife's wit and honour; and thus, having cause
+for jealousy, he discarded it, as he had erstwhile been jealous without
+cause. And so the adroit lady had, as it were, a charter of indulgence,
+and needed no more to contrive for her lover to come to her over the roof
+like a cat, but admitted him by the door, and using due discretion, had
+many a good time with him, and sped her life gaily.
+
+
+NOVEL VI.
+
+--
+Madonna Isabella has with her Leonetto, her accepted lover, when she is
+surprised by one Messer Lambertuccio, by whom she is beloved: her husband
+coming home about the same time, she sends Messer Lambertuccio forth of
+the house drawn sword in hand, and the husband afterwards escorts
+Leonetto home.
+--
+
+Wondrous was the delight that all the company had of Fiammetta's story,
+nor was there any but affirmed that the lady had done excellent well, and
+dealt with her insensate husband as he deserved. However, it being ended,
+the king bade Pampinea follow suit; which she did on this wise:--Not a
+few there are that in their simplicity aver that Love deranges the mind,
+insomuch that whoso loves becomes as it were witless: the folly of which
+opinion, albeit I doubt it not, and deem it abundantly proven by what has
+been already said, I purpose once again to demonstrate.
+
+In our city, rich in all manner of good things, there dwelt a young
+gentlewoman, fair exceedingly, and wedded to a most worthy and excellent
+gentleman. And as it not seldom happens that one cannot keep ever to the
+same diet, but would fain at times vary it, so this lady, finding her
+husband not altogether to her mind, became enamoured of a gallant,
+Leonetto by name, who, though of no high rank, was not a little debonair
+and courteous, and he in like manner fell in love with her; and (as you
+know that 'tis seldom that what is mutually desired fails to come about)
+'twas not long before they had fruition of their love. Now the lady
+being, as I said, fair and winsome, it so befell that a gentleman, Messer
+Lambertuccio by name, grew mightily enamoured of her, but so tiresome and
+odious did she find him, that for the world she could not bring herself
+to love him. So, growing tired of fruitlessly soliciting her favour by
+ambassage, Messer Lambertuccio, who was a powerful signior, sent her at
+last another sort of message in which he threatened to defame her if she
+complied not with his wishes. Wherefore the lady, knowing her man, was
+terrified, and disposed herself to pleasure him.
+
+Now it so chanced that Madonna Isabella, for such was the lady's name,
+being gone, as is our Florentine custom in the summer, to spend some time
+on a very goodly estate that she had in the contado, one morning finding
+herself alone, for her husband had ridden off to tarry some days
+elsewhere, she sent for Leonetto to come and keep her company; and
+Leonetto came forthwith in high glee. But while they were together,
+Messer Lambertuccio, who, having got wind that the husband was away, had
+mounted his horse and ridden thither quite alone, knocked at the door.
+Whereupon the lady's maid hied her forthwith to her mistress, who was
+alone with Leonetto, and called her, saying:--"Madam, Messer Lambertuccio
+is here below, quite alone." Whereat the lady was vexed beyond measure;
+and being also not a little dismayed, she said to Leonetto:--"Prithee,
+let it not irk thee to withdraw behind the curtain, and there keep close
+until Messer Lambertuccio be gone." Leonetto, who stood in no less fear
+of Messer Lambertuccio than did the lady, got into his hiding-place; and
+the lady bade the maid go open to Messer Lambertuccio: she did so; and
+having dismounted and fastened his palfrey to a pin, he ascended the
+stairs; at the head of which the lady received him with a smile and as
+gladsome a greeting as she could find words for, and asked him on what
+errand he was come. The gentleman embraced and kissed her, saying:--"My
+soul, I am informed that your husband is not here, and therefore I am
+come to stay a while with you." Which said, they went into the room, and
+locked them in, and Messer Lambertuccio fell a toying with her.
+
+Now, while thus he sped the time with her, it befell that the lady's
+husband, albeit she nowise expected him, came home, and, as he drew nigh
+the palace, was observed by the maid, who forthwith ran to the lady's
+chamber, and said:--"Madam, the master will be here anon; I doubt he is
+already in the courtyard." Whereupon, for that she had two men in the
+house, and the knight's palfrey, that was in the courtyard, made it
+impossible to hide him, the lady gave herself up for dead. Nevertheless
+she made up her mind on the spur of the moment, and springing out of bed
+"Sir," quoth she to Messer Lambertuccio, "if you have any regard for me,
+and would save my life, you will do as I bid you: that is to say, you
+will draw your blade, and put on a fell and wrathful countenance, and hie
+you downstairs, saying:--'By God, he shall not escape me elsewhere.' And
+if my husband would stop you, or ask you aught, say nought but what I
+have told you, and get you on horseback and tarry with him on no
+account." "To hear is to obey," quoth Messer Lambertuccio, who, with the
+flush of his recent exertion and the rage that he felt at the husband's
+return still on his face, and drawn sword in hand, did as she bade him.
+The lady's husband, being now dismounted in the courtyard, and not a
+little surprised to see the palfrey there, was about to go up the stairs,
+when he saw Messer Lambertuccio coming down them, and marvelling both at
+his words and at his mien:--"What means this, Sir?" quoth he. But Messer
+Lambertuccio clapped foot in stirrup, and mounted, saying nought
+but:--"Zounds, but I will meet him elsewhere;" and so he rode off.
+
+The gentleman then ascended the stairs, at the head of which he found his
+lady distraught with terror, to whom he said:--"What manner of thing is
+this? After whom goes Messer Lambertuccio, so wrathful and menacing?"
+Whereto the lady, drawing nigher the room, that Leonetto might hear her,
+made answer:--"Never, Sir, had I such a fright as this. There came
+running in here a young man, who to me is quite a stranger, and at his
+heels Messer Lambertuccio with a drawn sword in his hand; and as it
+happened the young man found the door of this room open, and trembling in
+every limb, cried out:--'Madam, your succour, for God's sake, that I die
+not in your arms.' So up I got, and would have asked him who he was, and
+how bested, when up came Messer Lambertuccio, exclaiming:--'Where art
+thou, traitor?' I planted myself in the doorway, and kept him from
+entering, and seeing that I was not minded to give him admittance, he was
+courteous enough, after not a little parley, to take himself off, as you
+saw." Whereupon:--"Wife," quoth the husband, "thou didst very right.
+Great indeed had been the scandal, had some one been slain here, and
+'twas a gross affront on Messer Lambertuccio's part to pursue a fugitive
+within the house." He then asked where the young man was. Whereto the
+lady answered:--"Nay, where he may be hiding, Sir, I wot not."
+So:--"Where art thou?" quoth the knight. "Fear not to shew thyself." Then
+forth of his hiding-place, all of a tremble, for in truth he had been
+thoroughly terrified, crept Leonetto, who had heard all that had passed.
+To whom:--"What hast thou to do with Messer Lambertuccio?" quoth the
+knight. "Nothing in the world," replied the young man: "wherefore, I
+doubt he must either be out of his mind, or have mistaken me for another;
+for no sooner had he sight of me in the street hard by the palace, than
+he laid his hand on his sword, and exclaimed:--'Traitor, thou art a dead
+man.' Whereupon I sought not to know why, but fled with all speed, and
+got me here, and so, thanks to God and this gentlewoman, I escaped his
+hands." "Now away with thy fears," quoth the knight; "I will see thee
+home safe and sound; and then 'twill be for thee to determine how thou
+shalt deal with him." And so, when they had supped, he set him on
+horseback, and escorted him to Florence, and left him not until he was
+safe in his own house. And the very same evening, following the lady's
+instructions, Leonetto spoke privily with Messer Lambertuccio, and so
+composed the affair with him, that, though it occasioned not a little
+talk, the knight never wist how he had been tricked by his wife.
+
+
+NOVEL VII.
+
+--
+Lodovico discovers to Madonna Beatrice the love that he bears her: she
+sends Egano, her husband, into a garden disguised as herself, and lies
+with Lodovico; who thereafter, being risen, hies him to the garden and
+cudgels Egano.
+--
+
+This device of Madonna Isabella, thus recounted by Pampinea, was held
+nothing short of marvellous by all the company. But, being bidden by the
+king to tell the next story, thus spake Filomena:--Loving ladies, if I
+mistake not, the device, of which you shall presently hear from me, will
+prove to be no less excellent than the last.
+
+You are to know, then, that there dwelt aforetime at Paris a Florentine
+gentleman, who, being by reason of poverty turned merchant, had prospered
+so well in his affairs that he was become very wealthy; and having by his
+lady an only son, Lodovico by name, whose nobility disrelished trade, he
+would not put him in any shop; but that he might be with other gentlemen,
+he caused him to enter the service of the King of France, whereby he
+acquired very fine manners and other accomplishments. Being in this
+service, Lodovico was one day with some other young gallants that talked
+of the fair ladies of France, and England, and other parts of the world,
+when they were joined by certain knights that were returned from the Holy
+Sepulchre; and hearing their discourse, one of the knights fell a saying,
+that of a surety in the whole world, so far as he had explored it, there
+was not any lady, of all that he had ever seen, that might compare for
+beauty with Madonna Beatrice, the wife of Egano de' Galluzzi, of Bologna:
+wherein all his companions, who in common with him had seen the lady at
+Bologna, concurred. Which report Lodovico, who was as yet fancy-free, no
+sooner heard, than he burned with such a yearning to see the lady that he
+was able to think of nought else: insomuch that he made up his mind to
+betake him to Bologna to see her, and if she pleased him, to remain
+there; to which end he gave his father to understand that he would fain
+visit the Holy Sepulchre, whereto his father after no little demur
+consented.
+
+So to Bologna Anichino--for so he now called himself--came; and, as
+Fortune would have it, the very next day, he saw the lady at a festal
+gathering, and deemed her vastly more beautiful than he had expected:
+wherefore he waxed most ardently enamoured of her, and resolved never to
+quit Bologna, until he had gained her love. So, casting about how he
+should proceed, he could devise no other way but to enter her husband's
+service, which was the more easy that he kept not a few retainers: on
+this wise Lodovico surmised that, peradventure, he might compass his end.
+He therefore sold his horses and meetly bestowed his servants, bidding
+them make as if they knew him not; and being pretty familiar with his
+host, he told him that he was minded to take service with some worthy
+lord, it any such he might find. "Thou wouldst make," quoth the host,
+"the very sort of retainer to suit a gentleman of this city, Egano by
+name, who keeps not a few of them, and will have all of them presentable
+like thee: I will mention the matter to him." And so he accordingly did,
+and before he took leave of Egano had placed Anichino with him, to
+Egano's complete satisfaction.
+
+Being thus resident with Egano, and having abundant opportunities of
+seeing the fair lady, Anichino set himself to serve Egano with no little
+zeal; wherein he succeeded so well, that Egano was more than satisfied,
+insomuch that by and by there was nought he could do without his advice,
+and he entrusted to him the guidance not only of himself, but of all his
+affairs. Now it so befell that one day when Egano was gone a hawking,
+having left Anichino at home, Madonna Beatrice, who as yet wist not of
+his love, albeit she had from time to time taken note of him and his
+manners, and had not a little approved and commended them, sat herself
+down with him to a game of chess, which, to please her, Anichino most
+dexterously contrived to lose, to the lady's prodigious delight. After a
+while, the lady's women, one and all, gave over watching their play, and
+left them to it; whereupon Anichino heaved a mighty sigh. The lady,
+looking hard at him, said:--"What ails thee, Anichino? Is it, then, such
+a mortification to thee to be conquered by me?" "Nay, Madam," replied
+Anichino, "my sigh was prompted by a much graver matter." "Then, if thou
+hast any regard for me," quoth the lady, "tell me what it is." Hearing
+himself thus adjured by "any regard" he had for her whom he loved more
+than aught else, Anichino heaved a yet mightier sigh, which caused the
+lady to renew her request that he would be pleased to tell her the
+occasion of his sighs. Whereupon:--"Madam," said Anichino, "I greatly
+fear me, that, were I to tell it you, 'twould but vex you; and, moreover,
+I doubt you might repeat it to some one else." "Rest assured," returned
+the lady, "that I shall neither be annoyed, nor, without thy leave, ever
+repeat to any other soul aught that thou mayst say." "Then," said
+Anichino, "having this pledge from you, I will tell it you." And, while
+the tears all but stood in his eyes, he told her, who he was, the report
+he had heard of her, and where and how he had become enamoured of her,
+and with what intent he had taken service with her husband: after which,
+he humbly besought her, that, if it might be, she would have pity on him,
+and gratify this his secret and ardent desire; and that, if she were not
+minded so to do, she would suffer him to retain his place there, and love
+her. Ah! Bologna! how sweetly mixed are the elements in thy women! How
+commendable in such a case are they all! No delight have they in sighs
+and tears, but are ever inclinable to prayers, and ready to yield to the
+solicitations of Love. Had I but words apt to praise them as they
+deserve, my eloquence were inexhaustible.
+
+The gentlewoman's gaze was fixed on Anichino as he spoke; she made no
+doubt that all he said was true, and yielding to his appeal, she
+entertained his love within her heart in such measure that she too began
+to sigh, and after a sigh or two made answer:--"Sweet my Anichino, be of
+good cheer; neither presents nor promises, nor any courting by gentleman,
+or lord, or whoso else (for I have been and am still courted by not a
+few) was ever able to sway my soul to love any of them: but thou, by the
+few words that thou hast said, hast so wrought with me that, brief though
+the time has been, I am already in far greater measure thine than mine.
+My love I deem thee to have won right worthily; and so I give it thee,
+and vow to give thee joyance thereof before the coming night be past. To
+which end thou wilt come to my room about midnight; I will leave the door
+open; thou knowest the side of the bed on which I sleep; thou wilt come
+there; should I be asleep, thou hast but to touch me, and I shall awake,
+and give thee solace of thy long-pent desire. In earnest whereof I will
+even give thee a kiss." So saying, she threw her arms about his neck, and
+lovingly kissed him, as Anichino her.
+
+Their colloquy thus ended, Anichino betook him elsewhere about some
+matters which he had to attend to, looking forward to midnight with
+boundless exultation. Egano came in from his hawking; and after supper,
+being weary, went straight to bed, whither the lady soon followed him,
+leaving, as she had promised, the door of the chamber open. Thither
+accordingly, at the appointed hour, came Anichino, and having softly
+entered the chamber, and closed the door behind him, stole up to where
+the lady lay, and laying his hand upon her breast, found that she was
+awake. Now, as soon as she wist that Anichino was come, she took his hand
+in both her own; and keeping fast hold of him, she turned about in the
+bed, until she awoke Egano; whereupon:--"Husband," quoth she, "I would
+not say aught of this to thee, yestereve, because I judged thou wast
+weary; but tell me, upon thy hope of salvation, Egano, whom deemest thou
+thy best and most loyal retainer, and the most attached to thee, of all
+that thou hast in the house?" "What a question is this, wife?" returned
+Egano. "Dost not know him? Retainer I have none, nor ever had, so
+trusted, or loved, as Anichino. But wherefore put such a question?"
+
+Now, when Anichino wist that Egano was awake, and heard them talk of
+himself, he more than once tried to withdraw his hand, being mightily
+afraid lest the lady meant to play him false; but she held it so tightly
+that he might not get free, while thus she made answer to Egano:--"I will
+tell thee what he is. I thought that he was all thou sayst, and that none
+was so loyal to thee as he, but he has undeceived me, for that yesterday,
+when thou wast out a hawking, he, being here, chose his time, and had the
+shamelessness to crave of me compliance with his wanton desires: and I,
+that I might not need other evidence than that of thine own senses to
+prove his guilt to thee, I made answer, that I was well content, and that
+to-night, after midnight, I would get me into the garden, and await him
+there at the foot of the pine. Now go thither I shall certainly not; but,
+if thou wouldst prove the loyalty of thy retainer, thou canst readily do
+so, if thou but slip on one of my loose robes, and cover thy face with a
+veil, and go down and attend his coming, for come, I doubt not, he will."
+Whereto Egano:--"Meet indeed it is," quoth he, "that I should go see;"
+and straightway up he got, and, as best he might in the dark, he put on
+one of the lady's loose robes and veiled his face, and then hied him to
+the garden, and sate down at the foot of the pine to await Anichino. The
+lady no sooner wist that he was out of the room, than she rose, and
+locked the door. Anichino, who had never been so terrified in all his
+life, and had struggled with all his might to disengage his hand from the
+lady's clasp, and had inwardly cursed her and his love, and himself for
+trusting her, a hundred thousand times, was overjoyed beyond measure at
+this last turn that she had given the affair. And so, the lady having got
+her to bed again, and he, at her bidding, having stripped and laid him
+down beside her, they had solace and joyance of one another for a good
+while. Then, the lady, deeming it unmeet for Anichino to tarry longer
+with her, caused him to get up and resume his clothes, saying to
+him:--"Sweet my mouth, thou wilt take a stout cudgel, and get thee to the
+garden, and making as if I were there, and thy suit to me had been but to
+try me, thou wilt give Egano a sound rating with thy tongue and a sound
+belabouring with thy cudgel, the sequel whereof will be wondrously
+gladsome and delightful." Whereupon Anichino hied him off to the garden,
+armed with a staff of wild willow; and as he drew nigh the pine, Egano
+saw him, and rose and came forward to meet him as if he would receive him
+with the heartiest of cheer. But:--"Ah! wicked woman!" quoth Anichino;
+"so thou art come! Thou didst verily believe, then, that I was, that I
+am, minded thus to wrong my lord? Foul fall thee a thousand times!" And
+therewith he raised his cudgel, and began to lay about him. Egano,
+however, had heard and seen enough, and without a word took to flight,
+while Anichino pursued him, crying out:--"Away with thee! God send thee a
+bad year, lewd woman that thou art; nor doubt that Egano shall hear of
+this to-morrow." Egano, having received sundry round knocks, got him back
+to his chamber with what speed he might; and being asked by the lady,
+whether Anichino had come into the garden:--"Would to God he had not!"
+quoth he, "for that, taking me for thee, he has beaten me black and blue
+with his cudgel, and rated me like the vilest woman that ever was:
+passing strange, indeed, it had seemed to me that he should have said
+those words to thee with intent to dishonour me; and now 'tis plain that
+'twas but that, seeing thee so blithe and frolicsome, he was minded to
+prove thee." Whereto:--"God be praised," returned the lady, "that he
+proved me by words, as thee by acts: and I doubt not he may say that I
+bear his words with more patience than thou his acts. But since he is so
+loyal to thee, we must make much of him and do him honour." "Ay, indeed,"
+quoth Egano, "thou sayst sooth."
+
+Thus was Egano fortified in the belief that never had any gentleman wife
+so true, or retainer so loyal, as he; and many a hearty laugh had he with
+Anichino and his lady over this affair, which to them was the occasion
+that, with far less let than might else have been, they were able to have
+solace and joyance of one another, so long as it pleased Anichino to
+tarry at Bologna.
+
+
+NOVEL VIII.
+
+--
+A husband grows jealous of his wife, and discovers that she has warning
+of her lover's approach by a piece of pack-thread, which she ties to her
+great toe a nights. While he is pursuing her lover, she puts another
+woman in bed in her place. The husband, finding her there, beats her, and
+cuts off her hair. He then goes and calls his wife's brothers, who,
+holding his accusation to be false, give him a rating.
+--
+
+Rare indeed was deemed by common consent the subtlety shewn by Madonna
+Beatrice in the beguilement of her husband, and all affirmed that the
+terror of Anichino must have been prodigious, when, the lady still
+keeping fast hold of him, he had heard her say that he had made suit of
+love to her. However, Filomena being silent, the king turned to Neifile,
+saying:--"'Tis now for you to tell." Whereupon Neifile, while a slight
+smile died away upon her lips, thus began:--Fair ladies, to entertain you
+with a goodly story, such as those which my predecessors have delighted
+you withal, is indeed a heavy burden, but, God helping me, I trust fairly
+well to acquit myself thereof.
+
+You are to know, then, that there dwelt aforetime in our city a most
+wealthy merchant, Arriguccio Berlinghieri by name, who foolishly, as we
+wot by daily experience is the way of merchants, thinking to compass
+gentility by matrimony, took to wife a young gentlewoman, by no means
+suited to him, whose name was Monna Sismonda. Now Monna Sismonda, seeing
+that her husband was much abroad, and gave her little of his company,
+became enamoured of a young gallant, Ruberto by name, who had long
+courted her: and she being grown pretty familiar with him, and using,
+perchance, too little discretion, for she affected him extremely, it so
+befell that Arriguccio, whether it was that he detected somewhat, or
+howsoever, waxed of all men the most jealous, and gave up going abroad,
+and changed his way of life altogether, and made it his sole care to
+watch over his wife, insomuch that he never allowed himself a wink of
+sleep until he had seen her to bed: which occasioned the lady the most
+grievous dumps, because 'twas on no wise possible for her to be with her
+Ruberto. So, casting about in many ways how she might contrive to meet
+him, and being thereto not a little plied by Ruberto himself, she
+bethought her at last of the following expedient: to wit, her room
+fronting the street, and Arriguccio, as she had often observed, being
+very hard put to it to get him to sleep, but thereafter sleeping very
+soundly, she resolved to arrange with Ruberto that he should come to the
+front door about midnight, whereupon she would get her down, and open the
+door, and stay some time with him while her husband was in his deep
+sleep. And that she might have tidings of his arrival, yet so as that
+none else might wot aught thereof, she adopted the device of lowering a
+pack-thread from the bedroom window on such wise that, while with one end
+it should all but touch the ground, it should traverse the floor of the
+room, until it reached the bed, and then be brought under the clothes, so
+that, when she was abed, she might attach it to her great toe. Having so
+done, she sent word to Ruberto, that when he came, he must be sure to
+jerk the pack-thread, and, if her husband were asleep, she would loose
+it, and go open to him; but, if he were awake, she would hold it taut and
+draw it to herself, to let him know that he must not expect her. Ruberto
+fell in with the idea, came there many times, and now forgathered with
+her and again did not. But at last, they still using this cunning
+practice, it so befell that one night, while the lady slept, Arriguccio,
+letting his foot stray more than he was wont about the bed, came upon the
+pack-thread, and laying his hand upon it, found that it was attached to
+his lady's great toe, and said to himself:--This must be some trick: and
+afterwards discovering that the thread passed out of the window, was
+confirmed in his surmise. Wherefore, he softly severed it from the lady's
+toe, and affixed it to his own; and waited, all attention, to learn the
+result of his experiment. Nor had he long to wait before Ruberto came,
+and Arriguccio felt him jerk the thread according to his wont: and as
+Arriguccio had not known how to attach the thread securely, and Ruberto
+jerked it with some force, it gave way, whereby he understood that he was
+to wait, and did so. Arriguccio straightway arose, caught up his arms,
+and hasted to the door to see who might be there, intent to do him a
+mischief. Now Arriguccio, for all he was a merchant, was a man of spirit,
+and of thews and sinews; and being come to the door, he opened it by no
+means gingerly, as the lady was wont; whereby Ruberto, who was in
+waiting, surmised the truth, to wit, that 'twas Arriguccio by whom the
+door was opened. Wherefore he forthwith took to flight, followed by
+Arriguccio. But at length, when he had run a long way, as Arriguccio gave
+not up the pursuit, he being also armed, drew his sword, and faced about;
+and so they fell to, Arriguccio attacking, and Ruberto defending himself.
+
+Now when Arriguccio undid the bedroom door, the lady awoke, and finding
+the pack-thread cut loose from her toe, saw at a glance that her trick
+was discovered; and hearing Arriguccio running after Ruberto, she
+forthwith got up, foreboding what the result was like to be, and called
+her maid, who was entirely in her confidence: whom she so plied with her
+obsecrations that at last she got her into bed in her room, beseeching
+her not to say who she was, but to bear patiently all the blows that
+Arriguccio might give her; and she would so reward her that she should
+have no reason to complain. Then, extinguishing the light that was in the
+room, forth she hied her, and having found a convenient hiding-place in
+the house, awaited the turn of events. Now Arriguccio and Ruberto being
+hotly engaged in the street, the neighbours, roused by the din of the
+combat, got up and launched their curses upon them. Wherefore Arriguccio,
+fearing lest he should be recognized, drew off before he had so much as
+discovered who the young gallant was, or done him any scathe, and in a
+fell and wrathful mood betook him home. Stumbling into the bedroom, he
+cried out angrily:--"Where art thou, lewd woman? Thou hast put out the
+light, that I may not be able to find thee; but thou hast miscalculated."
+And going to the bedside, he laid hold of the maid, taking her to be his
+wife, and fell a pummelling and kicking her with all the strength he had
+in his hands and feet, insomuch that he pounded her face well-nigh to
+pulp, rating her the while like the vilest woman that ever was; and last
+of all he cut off her hair. The maid wept bitterly, as indeed she well
+might; and though from time to time she ejaculated an "Alas! Mercy, for
+God's sake!" or "Spare me, spare me;" yet her voice was so broken by her
+sobs, and Arriguccio's hearing so dulled by his wrath, that he was not
+able to discern that 'twas not his wife's voice but that of another
+woman. So, having soundly thrashed her, and cut off her hair, as we
+said:--"Wicked woman," quoth he, "I touch thee no more; but I go to find
+thy brothers, and shall do them to wit of thy good works; and then they
+may come here, and deal with thee as they may deem their honour demands,
+and take thee hence, for be sure thou shalt no more abide in this house."
+With this he was gone, locking the door of the room behind him, and
+quitted the house alone.
+
+Now no sooner did Monna Sismonda, who had heard all that passed, perceive
+that her husband was gone, than she opened the door of the bedroom,
+rekindled the light, and finding her maid all bruises and tears, did what
+she could to comfort her, and carried her back to her own room, where,
+causing her to be privily waited on and tended, she helped her so
+liberally from Arriguccio's own store, that she confessed herself
+content. The maid thus bestowed in her room, the lady presently hied her
+back to her own, which she set all in neat and trim order, remaking the
+bed, so that it might appear as if it had not been slept in, relighting
+the lamp, and dressing and tiring herself, until she looked as if she had
+not been abed that night; then, taking with her a lighted lamp and some
+work, she sat her down at the head of the stairs, and began sewing, while
+she waited to see how the affair would end.
+
+Arriguccio meanwhile had hied him with all speed straight from the house
+to that of his wife's brothers, where by dint of much knocking he made
+himself heard, and was admitted. The lady's three brothers, and her
+mother, being informed that 'twas Arriguccio, got up, and having set
+lights a burning, came to him and asked him on what errand he was come
+there at that hour, and alone. Whereupon Arriguccio, beginning with the
+discovery of the pack-thread attached to his lady's great toe, gave them
+the whole narrative of his discoveries and doings down to the very end;
+and to clinch the whole matter, he put in their hands the locks which he
+had cut, as he believed, from his wife's head, adding that 'twas now for
+them to come for her and deal with her on such wise as they might deem
+their honour required, seeing that he would nevermore have her in his
+house. Firmly believing what he told them, the lady's brothers were very
+wroth with her, and having provided themselves with lighted torches, set
+out with Arriguccio, and hied them to his house with intent to scorn her,
+while their mother followed, weeping and beseeching now one, now another,
+not to credit these matters so hastily, until they had seen or heard
+somewhat more thereof; for that the husband might have some other reason
+to be wroth with her, and having ill-treated her, might have trumped up
+this charge by way of exculpation, adding that, if true, 'twas passing
+strange, for well she knew her daughter, whom she had brought up from her
+tenderest years, and much more to the like effect.
+
+However, being come to Arriguccio's house, they entered, and were
+mounting the stairs, when Monna Sismonda, hearing them, called out:--"Who
+is there?" Whereto one of the brothers responded:--"Lewd woman, thou
+shalt soon have cause enough to know who it is." "Now Lord love us!"
+quoth Monna Sismonda, "what would he be at?" Then, rising, she greeted
+them with:--"Welcome, my brothers but what seek ye abroad at this hour,
+all three of you?" They had seen her sitting and sewing with never a sign
+of a blow on her face, whereas Arriguccio had averred that he had
+pummelled her all over: wherefore their first impression was one of
+wonder, and refraining the vehemence of their wrath, they asked her what
+might be the truth of the matter which Arriguccio laid to her charge, and
+threatened her with direful consequences, if she should conceal aught.
+Whereto the lady:--"What you would have me tell you," quoth she, "or what
+Arriguccio may have laid to my charge, that know not I." Arriguccio could
+but gaze upon her, as one that had taken leave of his wits, calling to
+mind how he had pummelled her about the face times without number, and
+scratched it for her, and mishandled her in all manner of ways, and there
+he now saw her with no trace of aught of it all upon her. However, to
+make a long story short, the lady's brothers told her what Arriguccio had
+told them touching the pack-thread and the beating and all the rest of
+it. Whereupon the lady turned to him with:--"Alas, my husband, what is
+this that I hear? Why givest thou me, to thy own great shame, the
+reputation of a lewd woman, when such I am not, and thyself the
+reputation of a wicked and cruel man, which thou art not? Wast thou ever
+to-night, I say not in my company, but so much as in the house until now?
+Or when didst thou beat me? For my part I mind me not of it." Arriguccio
+began:--"How sayst thou, lewd woman? Did we not go to bed together? Did I
+not come back, after chasing thy lover? Did I not give thee bruises not a
+few, and cut thy hair for thee?" But the lady interrupted him,
+saying:--"Nay, thou didst not lie here to-night. But leave we this, of
+which my true words are my sole witness, and pass we to this of the
+beating thou sayst thou gavest me, and how thou didst cut my hair. Never
+a beating had I from thee, and I bid all that are here, and thee among
+them, look at me, and say if I have any trace of a beating on my person;
+nor should I advise thee to dare lay hand upon me; for, by the Holy Rood,
+I would spoil thy beauty for thee. Nor didst thou cut my hair, for aught
+that I saw or felt: however, thou didst it, perchance, on such wise that
+I was not ware thereof: so let me see whether 'tis cut or no." Then,
+unveiling herself, she shewed that her hair was uncut and entire.
+Wherefore her brothers and mother now turned to Arriguccio with:--"What
+means this, Arriguccio? This accords not with what thou gavest us to
+understand thou hadst done; nor know we how thou wilt prove the residue."
+
+Arriguccio was lost, as it were, in a dream, and yet he would fain have
+spoken; but, seeing that what he had thought to prove was otherwise, he
+essayed no reply. So the lady turning to her brothers:--"I see," quoth
+she, "what he would have: he will not be satisfied unless I do what I
+never would otherwise have done, to wit, give you to know what a pitiful
+caitiff he is; as now I shall not fail to do. I make no manner of doubt
+that, as he has said, even so it befell, and so he did. How, you shall
+hear. This worthy man, to whom, worse luck! you gave me to wife, a
+merchant, as he calls himself, and as such would fain have credit, and
+who ought to be more temperate than a religious, and more continent than
+a girl, lets scarce an evening pass but he goes a boozing in the taverns,
+and consorting with this or the other woman of the town; and 'tis for me
+to await his return until midnight or sometimes until matins, even as you
+now find me. I doubt not that, being thoroughly well drunk, he got him to
+bed with one of these wantons, and, awaking, found the pack-thread on her
+foot, and afterwards did actually perform all these brave exploits of
+which he speaks, and in the end came back to her, and beat her, and cut
+her hair off, and being not yet quite recovered from his debauch,
+believed, and, I doubt not, still believes, that 'twas I that he thus
+treated; and if you will but scan his face closely, you will see that he
+is still half drunk. But, whatever he may have said about me, I would
+have you account it as nothing more than the disordered speech of a tipsy
+man; and forgive him as I do." Whereupon the lady's mother raised no
+small outcry, saying:--"By the Holy Rood, my daughter, this may not be! A
+daughter, such as thou, to be mated with one so unworthy of thee! The
+pestilent, insensate cur should be slain on the spot! A pretty state of
+things, indeed! Why, he might have picked thee up from the gutter! Now
+foul fall him! but thou shalt no more be vexed with the tedious drivel of
+a petty dealer in ass's dung, some blackguard, belike, that came hither
+from the country because he was dismissed the service of some petty
+squire, clad in romagnole, with belfry-breeches, and a pen in his arse,
+and for that he has a few pence, must needs have a gentleman's daughter
+and a fine lady to wife, and set up a coat of arms, and say:--'I am of
+the such and such,' and 'my ancestors did thus and thus.' Ah! had my sons
+but followed my advice! Thy honour were safe in the house of the Counts
+Guidi, where they might have bestowed thee, though thou hadst but a
+morsel of bread to thy dowry: but they must needs give thee to this rare
+treasure, who, though better daughter and more chaste there is none than
+thou in Florence, has not blushed this very midnight and in our presence
+to call thee a strumpet, as if we knew thee not. God's faith! so I were
+hearkened to, he should shrewdly smart for it." Then, turning to her
+sons, she said:--"My sons, I told you plainly enough that this ought not
+to be. Now, have you heard how your worthy brother-in-law treats your
+sister? Petty twopenny trader that he is: were it for me to act, as it is
+for you, after what he has said of her and done to her, nought would
+satisfy or appease me, till I had rid the earth of him. And were I a man,
+who am but a woman, none, other but myself should meddle with the affair.
+God's curse upon him, the woeful, shameless sot!" Whereupon the young
+men, incensed by what they had seen and heard, turned to Arriguccio, and
+after giving him the soundest rating that ever was bestowed upon caitiff,
+concluded as follows:--"This once we pardon thee, witting thee to be a
+drunken knave--but as thou holdest thy life dear, have a care that
+henceforth we hear no such tales of thee; for rest assured that if aught
+of the kind do reach our ears, we will requite thee for both turns."
+Which said, they departed. Arriguccio, standing there like one dazed, not
+witting whether his late doings were actual fact or but a dream, made no
+more words about the matter, but left his wife in peace. Thus did she by
+her address not only escape imminent peril, but open a way whereby in
+time to come she was able to gratify her passion to the full without any
+farther fear of her husband.
+
+
+NOVEL IX.
+
+--
+Lydia, wife of Nicostratus, loves Pyrrhus, who to assure himself thereof,
+asks three things of her, all of which she does, and therewithal enjoys
+him in presence of Nicostratus, and makes Nicostratus believe that what
+he saw was not real.
+--
+
+So diverting did the ladies find Neifile's story that it kept them still
+laughing and talking, though the king, having bidden Pamfilo tell his
+story, had several times enjoined silence upon them. However, as soon as
+they had done, Pamfilo thus began:--Methinks, worshipful ladies, there is
+no venture, though fraught with gravest peril, that whoso loves ardently
+will not make: of which truth, exemplified though it has been in stories
+not a few, I purpose to afford you yet more signal proof in one which I
+shall tell you; wherein you will hear of a lady who in her enterprises
+owed far more to the favour of Fortune than to the guidance of reason:
+wherefore I should not advise any of you rashly to follow in her
+footsteps, seeing that Fortune is not always in a kindly mood, nor are
+the eyes of all men equally holden.
+
+In Argos, that most ancient city of Achaia, the fame of whose kings of
+old time is out of all proportion to its size, there dwelt of yore
+Nicostratus, a nobleman, to whom, when he was already verging on old age,
+Fortune gave to wife a great lady, Lydia by name, whose courage matched
+her charms. Nicostratus, as suited with his rank and wealth, kept not a
+few retainers and hounds and hawks, and was mightily addicted to the
+chase. Among his dependants was a young man named Pyrrhus, a gallant of
+no mean accomplishment, and goodly of person and beloved and trusted by
+Nicostratus above all other. Of whom Lydia grew mighty enamoured,
+insomuch that neither by day nor by night might her thoughts stray from
+him: but, whether it was that Pyrrhus wist not her love, or would have
+none of it, he gave no sign of recognition; whereby the lady's suffering
+waxing more than she could bear, she made up her mind to declare her love
+to him; and having a chambermaid, Lusca by name, in whom she placed great
+trust, she called her, and said:--"Lusca, tokens thou hast had from me of
+my regard that should ensure thy obedience and loyalty; wherefore have a
+care that what I shall now tell thee reach the ears of none but him to
+whom I shall bid thee impart it. Thou seest, Lusca, that I am in the
+prime of my youth and lustihead, and have neither lack nor stint of all
+such things as folk desire, save only, to be brief, that I have one cause
+to repine, to wit, that my husband's years so far outnumber my own.
+Wherefore with that wherein young ladies take most pleasure I am but ill
+provided, and, as my desire is no less than theirs, 'tis now some while
+since I determined that, if Fortune has shewn herself so little friendly
+to me by giving me a husband so advanced in years, at least I will not be
+mine own enemy by sparing to devise the means whereby my happiness and
+health may be assured; and that herein, as in all other matters, my joy
+may be complete, I have chosen, thereto to minister by his embraces, our
+Pyrrhus, deeming him more worthy than any other man, and have so set my
+heart upon him that I am ever ill at ease save when he is present either
+to my sight or to my mind, insomuch that, unless I forgather with him
+without delay, I doubt not that 'twill be the death of me. And so, if
+thou holdest my life dear, thou wilt shew him my love on such wise as
+thou mayst deem best, and make my suit to him that he be pleased to come
+to me, when thou shalt go to fetch him." "That gladly will I," replied
+the chambermaid; and as soon as she found convenient time and place, she
+drew Pyrrhus apart, and, as best she knew how, conveyed her lady's
+message to him. Which Pyrrhus found passing strange to hear, for 'twas in
+truth a complete surprise to him, and he doubted the lady did but mean to
+try him. Wherefore he presently, and with some asperity, answered
+thus:--"Lusca, believe I cannot that this message comes from my lady:
+have a care, therefore, what thou sayst, and if, perchance, it does come
+from her, I doubt she does not mean it; and if perchance, she does mean
+it, why, then I am honoured by my lord above what I deserve, and I would
+not for my life do him such a wrong: so have a care never to speak of
+such matters to me again." Lusca, nowise disconcerted by his uncompliant
+tone, rejoined:--"I shall speak to thee, Pyrrhus, of these and all other
+matters, wherewith I may be commissioned by my lady, as often as she
+shall bid me, whether it pleases or irks thee; but thou art a blockhead."
+
+So, somewhat chafed, Lusca bore Pyrrhus' answer back to her lady, who
+would fain have died, when she heard it, and some days afterwards resumed
+the topic, saying:--"Thou knowest, Lusca, that 'tis not the first stroke
+that fells the oak; wherefore, methinks, thou wert best go back to this
+strange man, who is minded to evince his loyalty at my expense, and
+choosing a convenient time, declare to him all my passion, and do thy
+best endeavour that the affair be carried through; for if it should thus
+lapse, 'twould be the death of me; besides which, he would think we had
+but trifled with him, and, whereas 'tis his love we would have, we should
+earn his hatred." So, after comforting the lady, the maid hied her in
+quest of Pyrrhus, whom she found in a gladsome and propitious mood, and
+thus addressed:--"'Tis not many days, Pyrrhus, since I declared to thee
+how ardent is the flame with which thy lady and mine is consumed for love
+of thee, and now again I do thee to wit thereof, and that, if thou shalt
+not relent of the harshness that thou didst manifest the other day, thou
+mayst rest assured that her life will be short: wherefore I pray thee to
+be pleased to give her solace of her desire, and shouldst thou persist in
+thy obduracy, I, that gave thee credit for not a little sense, shall deem
+thee a great fool. How flattered thou shouldst be to know thyself beloved
+above all else by a lady so beauteous and high-born! And how indebted
+shouldst thou feel thyself to Fortune, seeing that she has in store for
+thee a boon so great and so suited to the cravings of thy youth, ay, and
+so like to be of service to thee upon occasion of need! Bethink thee, if
+there be any of thine equals whose life is ordered more agreeably than
+thine will be if thou but be wise. Which of them wilt thou find so well
+furnished with arms and horses, clothes and money as thou shalt be, if
+thou but give my lady thy love? Receive, then, my words with open mind;
+be thyself again; bethink thee that 'tis Fortune's way to confront a man
+but once with smiling mien and open lap, and, if he then accept not her
+bounty, he has but himself to blame, if afterward he find himself in
+want, in beggary. Besides which, no such loyalty is demanded between
+servants and their masters as between friends and kinsfolk; rather 'tis
+for servants, so far as they may, to behave towards their masters as
+their masters behave towards them. Thinkest thou, that, if thou hadst a
+fair wife or mother or daughter or sister that found favour in
+Nicostratus' eyes, he would be so scrupulous on the point of loyalty as
+thou art disposed to be in regard of his lady? Thou art a fool, if so
+thou dost believe. Hold it for certain, that, if blandishments and
+supplications did not suffice, he would, whatever thou mightest think of
+it, have recourse to force. Observe we, then, towards them and theirs the
+same rule which they observe towards us and ours. Take the boon that
+Fortune offers thee; repulse her not; rather go thou to meet her, and
+hail her advance; for be sure that, if thou do not so, to say nought of
+thy lady's death, which will certainly ensue, thou thyself wilt repent
+thee thereof so often that thou wilt be fain of death."
+
+Since he had last seen Lusca, Pyrrhus had repeatedly pondered what she
+had said to him, and had made his mind up that, should she come again, he
+would answer her in another sort, and comply in all respects with the
+lady's desires, provided he might be assured that she was not merely
+putting him to the proof; wherefore he now made answer:--"Lo, now, Lusca,
+I acknowledge the truth of all that thou sayst; but, on the other hand, I
+know that my lord is not a little wise and wary, and, as he has committed
+all his affairs to my charge, I sorely misdoubt me that 'tis with his
+approbation, and by his advice, and but to prove me, that Lydia does
+this: wherefore let her do three things which I shall demand of her for
+my assurance, and then there is nought that she shall crave of me, but I
+will certainly render her prompt obedience. Which three things are
+these:--first, let her in Nicostratus' presence kill his fine
+sparrow-hawk: then she must send me a lock of Nicostratus' beard, and
+lastly one of his best teeth." Hard seemed these terms to Lusca, and hard
+beyond measure to the lady, but Love, that great fautor of enterprise,
+and master of stratagem, gave her resolution to address herself to their
+performance: wherefore through the chambermaid she sent him word that
+what he required of her she would do, and that without either reservation
+or delay; and therewithal she told him, that, as he deemed Nicostratus so
+wise, she would contrive that they should enjoy one another in
+Nicostratus' presence, and that Nicostratus should believe that 'twas a
+mere show. Pyrrhus, therefore, anxiously expected what the lady would do.
+Some days thus passed, and then Nicostratus gave a great breakfast, as
+was his frequent wont, to certain gentlemen, and when the tables were
+removed, the lady, robed in green samite, and richly adorned, came forth
+of her chamber into the hall wherein they sate, and before the eyes of
+Pyrrhus and all the rest of the company hied her to the perch, on which
+stood the sparrow-hawk that Nicostratus so much prized, and loosed him,
+and, as if she were minded to carry him on her hand, took him by the
+jesses and dashed him against the wall so that he died.
+Whereupon:--"Alas! my lady, what hast thou done?" exclaimed Nicostratus:
+but she vouchsafed no answer, save that, turning to the gentlemen that
+had sate at meat with him, she said:--"My lords, ill fitted were I to
+take vengeance on a king that had done me despite, if I lacked the
+courage to be avenged on a sparrow-hawk. You are to know that by this
+bird I have long been cheated of all the time that ought to be devoted by
+gentlemen to pleasuring their ladies; for with the first streaks of dawn
+Nicostratus has been up and got him to horse, and hawk on hand hied him
+to the champaign to see him fly, leaving me, such as you see me, alone
+and ill content abed. For which cause I have oftentimes been minded to do
+that which I have now done, and have only refrained therefrom, that,
+biding my time, I might do it in the presence of men that should judge my
+cause justly, as I trust you will do." Which hearing, the gentlemen, who
+deemed her affections no less fixed on Nicostratus than her words
+imported, broke with one accord into a laugh, and turning to Nicostratus,
+who was sore displeased, fell a saying:--"Now well done of the lady to
+avenge her wrongs by the death of the sparrow-hawk!" and so, the lady
+being withdrawn to her chamber, they passed the affair off with divers
+pleasantries, turning the wrath of Nicostratus to laughter.
+
+Pyrrhus, who had witnessed what had passed, said to himself:--Nobly
+indeed has my lady begun, and on such wise as promises well for the
+felicity of my love. God grant that she so continue. And even so Lydia
+did: for not many days after she had killed the sparrow-hawk, she, being
+with Nicostratus in her chamber, from caressing passed to toying and
+trifling with him, and he, sportively pulling her by the hair, gave her
+occasion to fulfil the second of Pyrrhus' demands; which she did by
+nimbly laying hold of one of the lesser tufts of his beard, and, laughing
+the while, plucking it so hard that she tore it out of his chin. Which
+Nicostratus somewhat resenting:--"Now what cause hast thou," quoth she,
+"to make such a wry face? 'Tis but that I have plucked some half-dozen
+hairs from thy beard. Thou didst not feel it as much as did I but now thy
+tugging of my hair." And so they continued jesting and sporting with one
+another, the lady jealously guarding the tuft that she had torn from the
+beard, which the very same day she sent to her cherished lover. The third
+demand caused the lady more thought; but, being amply endowed with wit,
+and powerfully, seconded by Love, she failed not to hit upon an apt
+expedient.
+
+Nicostratus had in his service two lads, who, being of gentle birth, had
+been placed with him by their kinsfolk, that they might learn manners,
+one of whom, when Nicostratus sate at meat, carved before him, while the
+other gave him to drink. Both lads Lydia called to her, and gave them to
+understand that their breath smelt, and admonished them that, when they
+waited on Nicostratus, they should hold their heads as far back as
+possible, saying never a word of the matter to any. The lads believing
+her, did as she bade them. Whereupon she took occasion to say to
+Nicostratus:--"Hast thou marked what these lads do when they wait upon
+thee?" "Troth, that have I," replied Nicostratus; "indeed I have often
+had it in mind to ask them why they do so." "Nay," rejoined the lady,
+"spare thyself the pains; for I can tell thee the reason, which I have
+for some time kept close, lest it should vex thee; but as I now see that
+others begin to be ware of it, it need no longer be withheld from thee.
+'Tis for that thy breath stinks shrewdly that they thus avert their heads
+from thee: 'twas not wont to be so, nor know I why it should be so; and
+'tis most offensive when thou art in converse with gentlemen; and
+therefore 'twould be well to find some way of curing it." "I wonder what
+it could be," returned Nicostratus; "is it perchance that I have a
+decayed tooth in my jaw?" "That may well be," quoth Lydia: and taking him
+to a window, she caused him open his mouth, and after regarding it on
+this side and that:--"Oh! Nicostratus," quoth she, "how couldst thou have
+endured it so long? Thou hast a tooth here, which, by what I see, is not
+only decayed, but actually rotten throughout; and beyond all manner of
+doubt, if thou let it remain long in thy head, 'twill infect its
+neighbours; so 'tis my advice that thou out with it before the matter
+grows worse." "My judgment jumps with thine," quoth Nicostratus;
+"wherefore send without delay for a chirurgeon to draw it." "God forbid,"
+returned the lady, "that chirurgeon come hither for such a purpose;
+methinks, the case is such that I can very well dispense with him, and
+draw the tooth myself. Besides which, these chirurgeons do these things
+in such a cruel way, that I could never endure to see thee or know thee
+under the hands of any of them: wherefore my mind is quite made up to do
+it myself, that, at least, if thou shalt suffer too much, I may give it
+over at once, as a chirurgeon would not do." And so she caused the
+instruments that are used on such occasions to be brought her, and having
+dismissed all other attendants save Lusca from the chamber, and locked
+the door, made Nicostratus lie down on a table, set the pincers in his
+mouth, and clapped them on one of his teeth, which, while Lusca held him,
+so that, albeit he roared for pain, he might not move, she wrenched by
+main force from his jaw, and keeping it close, took from Lusca's hand
+another and horribly decayed tooth, which she shewed him, suffering and
+half dead as he was, saying:--"See what thou hadst in thy jaw; mark how
+far gone it is." Believing what she said, and deeming that, now the tooth
+was out, his breath would no more be offensive, and being somewhat eased
+of the pain, which had been extreme, and still remained, so that he
+murmured not little, by divers comforting applications, he quitted the
+chamber: whereupon the lady forthwith sent the tooth to her lover, who,
+having now full assurance of her love, placed himself entirely at her
+service. But the lady being minded to make his assurance yet more sure,
+and deeming each hour a thousand till she might be with him, now saw fit,
+for the more ready performance of the promise she had given him, to feign
+sickness; and Nicostratus, coming to see her one day after breakfast,
+attended only by Pyrrhus, she besought him for her better solacement, to
+help her down to the garden. Wherefore Nicostratus on one side, and
+Pyrrhus on the other, took her and bore her down to the garden, and set
+her on a lawn at the foot of a beautiful pear-tree: and after they had
+sate there a while, the lady, who had already given Pyrrhus to understand
+what he must do, said to him:--"Pyrrhus, I should greatly like to have
+some of those pears; get thee up the tree, and shake some of them down."
+Pyrrhus climbed the tree in a trice, and began to shake down the pears,
+and while he did so:--"Fie! Sir," quoth he, "what is this you do? And
+you, Madam, have you no shame, that you suffer him to do so in my
+presence? Think you that I am blind? 'Twas but now that you were gravely
+indisposed. Your cure has been speedy indeed to permit of your so
+behaving: and as for such a purpose you have so many goodly chambers, why
+betake you not yourselves to one of them, if you must needs so disport
+yourselves? 'Twould be much more decent than to do so in my presence."
+Whereupon the lady, turning to her husband:--"Now what can Pyrrhus mean?"
+said she. "Is he mad?" "Nay, Madam," quoth Pyrrhus; "mad am not I. Think
+you I see you not?" Whereat Nicostratus marvelled not a little;
+and:--"Pyrrhus," quoth he, "I verily believe thou dreamest." "Nay, my
+lord," replied Pyrrhus, "not a whit do I dream; neither do you; rather
+you wag it with such vigour, that, if this pear-tree did the like, there
+would be never a pear left on it." Then the lady:--"What can this mean?"
+quoth she: "can it be that it really seems to him to be as he says? Upon
+my hope of salvation, were I but in my former health, I would get me up
+there to judge for myself what these wonders are which he professes to
+see." Whereupon, as Pyrrhus in the pear-tree continued talking in the
+same strange strain:--"Come down," quoth Nicostratus; and when he was
+down:--"Now what," said Nicostratus, "is it thou sayst thou seest up
+there?" "I suppose," replied Pyrrhus, "that you take me to be deluded or
+dreaming: but as I must needs tell you the truth, I saw you lying upon
+your wife, and then, when I came down, I saw you get up and sit you down
+here where you now are." "Therein," said Nicostratus, "thou wast
+certainly deluded, for, since thou clombest the pear-tree, we have not
+budged a jot, save as thou seest." Then said Pyrrhus:--"Why make more
+words about the matter? See you I certainly did; and, seeing you, I saw
+you lying upon your own." Nicostratus' wonder now waxed momently,
+insomuch that he said:--"I am minded to see if this pear-tree be
+enchanted, so that whoso is in it sees marvels;" and so he got him up
+into it. Whereupon the lady and Pyrrhus fell to disporting them, and
+Nicostratus, seeing what they were about, exclaimed:--"Ah! lewd woman,
+what is this thou doest? And thou, Pyrrhus, in whom I so much trusted!"
+And so saying, he began to climb down. Meanwhile the lady and Pyrrhus had
+made answer:--"We are sitting here:" and seeing him descending, they
+placed themselves as they had been when he had left them, whom
+Nicostratus, being come down, no sooner saw, than he fell a rating them.
+Then quoth Pyrrhus:--"Verily, Nicostratus, I now acknowledge, that, as
+you said a while ago, what I saw when I was in the pear-tree was but a
+false show, albeit I had never understood that so it was but that I now
+see and know that thou hast also seen a false show. And that I speak
+truth, you may sufficiently assure yourself, if you but reflect whether
+'tis likely that your wife, who for virtue and discretion has not her
+peer among women, would, if she were minded so to dishonour you, see fit
+to do so before your very eyes. Of myself I say nought, albeit I had
+liefer be hewn in pieces than that I should so much as think of such a
+thing, much less do it in your presence. Wherefore 'tis evident that 'tis
+some illusion of sight that is propagated from the pear-tree; for nought
+in the world would have made me believe that I saw not you lying there in
+carnal intercourse with your wife, had I not heard you say that you saw
+me doing that which most assuredly, so far from doing, I never so much as
+thought of." The lady then started up with a most resentful mien, and
+burst out with:--"Foul fall thee, if thou knowest so little of me as to
+suppose that, if I were minded to do thee such foul dishonour as thou
+sayst thou didst see me do, I would come hither to do it before thine
+eyes! Rest assured that for such a purpose, were it ever mine, I should
+deem one of our chambers more meet, and it should go hard but I would so
+order the matter that thou shouldst never know aught of it." Nicostratus,
+having heard both, and deeming that what they both averred must be true,
+to wit, that they would never have ventured upon such an act in his
+presence, passed from chiding to talk of the singularity of the thing,
+and how marvellous it was that the vision should reshape itself for every
+one that clomb the tree. The lady, however, made a show of being
+distressed that Nicostratus should so have thought of her,
+and:--"Verily," quoth she, "no woman, neither I nor another, shall again
+suffer loss of honour by this pear-tree: run, Pyrrhus, and bring hither
+an axe, and at one and the same time vindicate thy honour and mine by
+felling it, albeit 'twere better far Nicostratus' skull should feel the
+weight of the axe, seeing that in utter heedlessness he so readily
+suffered the eyes of his mind to be blinded; for, albeit this vision was
+seen by the bodily eye, yet ought the understanding by no means to have
+entertained and affirmed it as real."
+
+So Pyrrhus presently hied him to fetch the axe, and returning therewith
+felled the pear; whereupon the lady, turning towards Nicostratus:--"Now
+that this foe of my honour is fallen," quoth she, "my wrath is gone from
+me." Nicostratus then craving her pardon, she graciously granted it him,
+bidding him never again to suffer himself to be betrayed into thinking
+such a thing of her, who loved him more dearly than herself. So the poor
+duped husband went back with her and her lover to the palace, where not
+seldom in time to come Pyrrhus and Lydia took their pastime together more
+at ease. God grant us the like.
+
+
+NOVEL X.
+
+--
+Two Sienese love a lady, one of them being her gossip: the gossip dies,
+having promised his comrade to return to him from the other world; which
+he does, and tells him what sort of life is led there.
+--
+
+None now was left to tell, save the king, who, as soon as the ladies had
+ceased mourning over the fall of the pear-tree, that had done no wrong,
+and were silent, began thus:--Most manifest it is that 'tis the prime
+duty of a just king to observe the laws that he has made; and, if he do
+not so, he is to be esteemed no king, but a slave that has merited
+punishment, into which fault, and under which condemnation, I, your king,
+must, as of necessity, fall. For, indeed, when yesterday I made the law
+which governs our discourse of to-day, I thought not to-day to avail
+myself of my privilege, but to submit to the law, no less than you, and
+to discourse of the same topic whereof you all have discoursed; but not
+only has the very story been told which I had intended to tell, but
+therewithal so many things else, and so very much goodlier have been
+said, that, search my memory as I may, I cannot mind me of aught, nor wot
+I that touching such a matter there is indeed aught, for me to say, that
+would be comparable with what has been said; wherefore, as infringe I
+must the law that I myself have made, I confess myself worthy of
+punishment, and instantly declaring my readiness to pay any forfeit that
+may be demanded of me, am minded to have recourse to my wonted privilege.
+And such, dearest ladies, is the potency of Elisa's story of the
+godfather and his gossip, and therewith of the simplicity of the Sienese,
+that I am prompted thereby to pass from this topic of the beguilement of
+foolish husbands by their cunning wives to a little story touching these
+same Sienese, which, albeit there is not a little therein which you were
+best not to believe, may yet be in some degree entertaining to hear.
+
+Know, then, that at Siena there dwelt in Porta Salaia two young men of
+the people, named, the one, Tingoccio Mini, the other Meuccio di Tura,
+who, by what appeared, loved one another not a little, for they were
+scarce ever out of one another's company; and being wont, like other
+folk, to go to church and listen to sermons, they heard from time to time
+of the glory and the woe, which in the other world are allotted,
+according to merit, to the souls of the dead. Of which matters craving,
+but being unable to come by, more certain assurance, they agreed together
+that, whichever of them should die first, should, if he might, return to
+the survivor, and certify him of that which he would fain know; and this
+agreement they confirmed with an oath. Now, after they had made this
+engagement, and while they were still constantly together, Tingoccio
+chanced to become sponsor to one Ambruogio Anselmini, that dwelt in Campo
+Reggi, who had had a son by his wife, Monna Mita. The lady was exceeding
+fair, and amorous withal, and Tingoccio being wont sometimes to visit her
+as his gossip, and to take Meuccio with him, he, notwithstanding his
+sponsorship, grew enamoured of her, as did also Meuccio, for she pleased
+him not a little, and he heard her much commended by Tingoccio. Which
+love each concealed from the other; but not for the same reason.
+Tingoccio was averse to discover it to Meuccio, for that he deemed it an
+ignominious thing to love his gossip, and was ashamed to let any one know
+it. Meuccio was on his guard for a very different reason, to wit, that he
+was already ware that the lady was in Tingoccio's good graces. Wherefore
+he said to himself:--If I avow my love to him, he will be jealous of me,
+and as, being her gossip, he can speak with her as often as he pleases,
+he will do all he can to make her hate me, and so I shall never have any
+favour of her.
+
+Now, the two young men being thus, as I have said, on terms of most
+familiar friendship, it befell that Tingoccio, being the better able to
+open his heart to the lady, did so order his demeanour and discourse that
+he had from her all that he desired. Nor was his friend's success hidden
+from Meuccio; though, much as it vexed him, yet still cherishing the hope
+of eventually attaining his end, and fearing to give Tingoccio occasion
+to baulk or hamper him in some way, he feigned to know nought of the
+matter. So Tingoccio, more fortunate than his comrade, and rival in love,
+did with such assiduity till his gossip's good land that he got thereby a
+malady, which in the course of some days waxed so grievous that he
+succumbed thereto, and departed this life. And on the night of the third
+day after his decease (perchance because earlier he might not) he made
+his appearance, according to his promise, in Meuccio's chamber, and
+called Meuccio, who was fast asleep, by his name. Whereupon:--"Who art
+thou?" quoth Meuccio, as he awoke. "'Tis I, Tingoccio," replied he, "come
+back, in fulfilment of the pledge I gave thee, to give thee tidings of
+the other world." For a while Meuccio saw him not without terror: then,
+his courage reviving:--"Welcome, my brother," quoth he: and proceeded to
+ask him if he were lost. "Nought is lost but what is irrecoverable,"
+replied Tingoccio: "how then should I be here, if I were lost?" "Nay,"
+quoth then Meuccio; "I mean it not so: I would know of thee, whether thou
+art of the number of the souls that are condemned to the penal fire of
+hell." "Why no," returned Tingoccio, "not just that; but still for the
+sins that I did I am in most sore and grievous torment." Meuccio then
+questioned Tingoccio in detail of the pains there meted out for each of
+the sins done here; and Tingoccio enumerated them all. Whereupon Meuccio
+asked if there were aught he might do for him here on earth. Tingoccio
+answered in the affirmative; to wit, that he might have masses and
+prayers said and alms-deeds done for him, for that such things were of
+great service to the souls there. "That gladly will I," replied Meuccio;
+and then, as Tingoccio was about to take his leave, he bethought him of
+the gossip, and raising his head a little, he said:--"I mind me,
+Tingoccio, of the gossip, with whom thou wast wont to lie when thou wast
+here. Now what is thy punishment for that?" "My brother," returned
+Tingoccio, "as soon as I got down there, I met one that seemed to know
+all my sins by heart, who bade me betake me to a place, where, while in
+direst torment I bewept my sins, I found comrades not a few condemned to
+the same pains; and so, standing there among them, and calling to mind
+what I had done with the gossip, and foreboding in requital thereof a
+much greater torment than had yet been allotted me, albeit I was in a
+great and most vehement flame, I quaked for fear in every part of me.
+Which one that was beside me observing:--'What,' quoth he, 'hast thou
+done more than the rest of us that are here, that thou quakest thus as
+thou standest in the fire?' 'My friend,' quoth I, 'I am in mortal fear of
+the doom that I expect for a great sin that I once committed.' He then
+asked what sin it might be. ''Twas on this wise,' replied I: 'I lay with
+my gossip, and that so much that I died thereof.' Whereat, he did but
+laugh, saying:--'Go to, fool, make thy mind easy; for here there is no
+account taken of gossips.' Which completely revived my drooping spirits."
+
+'Twas now near daybreak: wherefore:--"Adieu! Meuccio," quoth his friend:
+"for longer tarry with thee I may not;" and so he vanished. As for
+Meuccio, having learned that no account was taken of gossips in the other
+world, he began to laugh at his own folly in that he had already spared
+divers such; and so, being quit of his ignorance, he in that respect in
+course of time waxed wise. Which matters had Fra Rinaldo but known, he
+would not have needed to go about syllogizing in order to bring his fair
+gossip to pleasure him.
+
+The sun was westering, and a light breeze blew, when the king, his story
+ended, and none else being left to speak, arose, and taking off the
+crown, set it on Lauretta's head, saying:--"Madam, I crown you with
+yourself(1) queen of our company: 'tis now for you, as our sovereign
+lady, to make such ordinances as you shall deem meet for our common
+solace and delectation;" and having so said, he sat him down again. Queen
+Lauretta sent for the seneschal, and bade him have a care that the tables
+should be set in the pleasant vale somewhat earlier than had been their
+wont, that their return to the palace might be more leisurely; after
+which she gave him to know what else he had to do during her sovereignty.
+Then turning to the company:--"Yesterday," quoth she, "Dioneo would have
+it that to-day we should discourse of the tricks that wives play their
+husbands; and but that I am minded not to shew as of the breed of yelping
+curs, that are ever prompt to retaliate, I would ordain that to-morrow we
+discourse of the tricks that husbands play their wives. However, in lieu
+thereof, I will have every one take thought to tell of those tricks that,
+daily, woman plays man, or man woman, or one man another; wherein, I
+doubt not, there will be matter of discourse no less agreeable than has
+been that of to-day." So saying, she rose and dismissed the company until
+supper-time. So the ladies and the men being risen, some bared their feet
+and betook them to the clear water, there to disport them, while others
+took their pleasure upon the green lawn amid the trees that there grew
+goodly and straight. For no brief while Dioneo and Fiammetta sang in
+concert of Arcite and Palamon. And so, each and all taking their several
+pastimes, they sped the hours with exceeding great delight until
+supper-time. Which being come, they sat them down at table beside the
+little lake, and there, while a thousand songsters charmed their ears,
+and a gentle breeze, that blew from the environing hills, fanned them,
+and never a fly annoyed them, reposefully and joyously they supped. The
+tables removed, they roved a while about the pleasant vale, and then, the
+sun being still high, for 'twas but half vespers, the queen gave the
+word, and they wended their way back to their wonted abode, and going
+slowly, and beguiling the way with quips and quirks without number upon
+divers matters, nor those alone of which they had that day discoursed,
+they arrived, hard upon nightfall, at the goodly palace. There, the short
+walk's fatigue dispelled by wines most cool and comfits, they presently
+gathered for the dance about the fair fountain, and now they footed it to
+the strains of Tindaro's cornemuse, and now to other music. Which done,
+the queen bade Filomena give them a song; and thus Filomena sang:--
+
+Ah! woe is me, my soul!
+  Ah! shall I ever thither fare again
+  Whence I was parted to my grievous dole?
+
+Full sure I know not; but within my breast
+  Throbs ever the same fire
+  Of yearning there where erst I was to be.
+  O thou in whom is all my weal, my rest,
+  Lord of my heart's desire,
+  Ah! tell me thou! for none to ask save thee
+  Neither dare I, nor see.
+  Ah! dear my Lord, this wasted heart disdain
+  Thou wilt not, but with hope at length console.
+
+Kindled the flame I know not what delight,
+  Which me doth so devour,
+  That day and night alike I find no ease;
+  For whether it was by hearing, touch, or sight,
+  Unwonted was the power,
+  And fresh the fire that me each way did seize;
+  Wherein without release
+  I languish still, and of thee, Lord, am fain,
+  For thou alone canst comfort and make whole.
+
+Ah! tell me if it shall be, and how soon,
+  That I again thee meet
+  Where those death-dealing eyes I kissed. Thou, chief
+  Weal of my soul, my very soul, this boon
+  Deny not; say that fleet
+  Thou hiest hither: comfort thus my grief.
+  Ah! let the time be brief
+  Till thou art here, and then long time remain;
+  For I, Love-stricken, crave but Love's control.
+
+Let me but once again mine own thee call,
+  No more so indiscreet
+  As erst, I'll be, to let thee from me part:
+  Nay, I'll still hold thee, let what may befall,
+  And of thy mouth so sweet
+  Such solace take as may content my heart
+  So this be all my art,
+  Thee to entice, me with thine arms to enchain:
+  Whereon but musing inly chants my soul.
+
+This song set all the company conjecturing what new and delightsome love
+might now hold Filomena in its sway; and as its words imported that she
+had had more joyance thereof than sight alone might yield, some that were
+there grew envious of her excess of happiness. However, the song being
+ended, the queen, bethinking her that the morrow was Friday, thus
+graciously addressed them all:--"Ye wot, noble ladies, and ye also, my
+gallants, that to-morrow is the day that is sacred to the passion of our
+Lord, which, if ye remember, we kept devoutly when Neifile was queen,
+intermitting delectable discourse, as we did also on the ensuing
+Saturday. Wherefore, being minded to follow Neifile's excellent example,
+I deem that now, as then, 'twere a seemly thing to surcease from this our
+pastime of story-telling for those two days, and compose our minds to
+meditation on what was at that season accomplished for the weal of our
+souls." All the company having approved their queen's devout speech, she,
+as the night was now far spent, dismissed them; and so they all betook
+them to slumber.
+
+(1) A play upon laurea (laurel wreath) and Lauretta.
+
+
+--
+Endeth here the seventh day of the Decameron, beginneth the eighth, in
+which, under the rule of Lauretta, discourse is had of those tricks that,
+daily, woman plays man, or man woman, or one man another.
+--
+
+The summits of the loftiest mountains were already illumined by the rays
+of the rising sun, the shades of night were fled, and all things plainly
+visible, when the queen and her company arose, and hied them first to the
+dewy mead, where for a while they walked: then, about half tierce, they
+wended their way to a little church that was hard by, where they heard
+Divine service; after which, they returned to the palace, and having
+breakfasted with gay and gladsome cheer, and sung and danced a while,
+were dismissed by the queen, to rest them as to each might seem good. But
+when the sun was past the meridian, the queen mustered them again for
+their wonted pastime; and, all being seated by the fair fountain, thus,
+at her command, Neifile began.
+
+
+NOVEL I.
+
+--
+Gulfardo borrows moneys of Guasparruolo, which he has agreed to give
+Guasparruolo's wife, that he may lie with her. He gives them to her, and
+in her presence tells Guasparruolo that he has done so, and she
+acknowledges that 'tis true.
+--
+
+Sith God has ordained that 'tis for me to take the lead to-day with my
+story, well pleased am I. And for that, loving ladies, much has been said
+touching the tricks that women play men, I am minded to tell you of one
+that a man played a woman, not because I would censure what the man did,
+or say that 'twas not merited by the woman, but rather to commend the man
+and censure the woman, and to shew that men may beguile those that think
+to beguile them, as well as be beguiled by those they think to beguile;
+for peradventure what I am about to relate should in strictness of speech
+not be termed beguilement, but rather retaliation; for, as it behoves
+woman to be most strictly virtuous, and to guard her chastity as her very
+life, nor on any account to allow herself to sully it, which
+notwithstanding, 'tis not possible by reason of our frailty that there
+should be as perfect an observance of this law as were meet, I affirm,
+that she that allows herself to infringe it for money merits the fire;
+whereas she that so offends under the prepotent stress of Love will
+receive pardon from any judge that knows how to temper justice with
+mercy: witness what but the other day we heard from Filostrato touching
+Madonna Filippa at Prato.(1)
+
+Know, then, that there was once at Milan a German mercenary, Gulfardo by
+name, a doughty man, and very loyal to those with whom he took service; a
+quality most uncommon in Germans. And as he was wont to be most faithful
+in repaying whatever moneys he borrowed, he would have had no difficulty
+in finding a merchant to advance him any amount of money at a low rate of
+interest. Now, tarrying thus at Milan, Gulfardo fixed his affection on a
+very fine woman, named Madonna Ambruogia, the wife of a wealthy merchant,
+one Guasparruolo Cagastraccio, with whom he was well acquainted and on
+friendly terms: which amour he managed with such discretion that neither
+the husband nor any one else wist aught of it. So one day he sent her a
+message, beseeching her of her courtesy to gratify his passion, and
+assuring her that he on his part was ready to obey her every behest.
+
+The lady made a great many words about the affair, the upshot of which
+was that she would do as Gulfardo desired upon the following terms: to
+wit, that, in the first place, he should never discover the matter to a
+soul, and, secondly, that, as for some purpose or another she required
+two hundred florins of gold, he out of his abundance should supply her
+necessity; these conditions being satisfied she would be ever at his
+service. Offended by such base sordidness in one whom he had supposed to
+be an honourable woman, Gulfardo passed from ardent love to something
+very like hatred, and cast about how he might flout her. So he sent her
+word that he would right gladly pleasure her in this and in any other
+matter that might be in his power; let her but say when he was to come to
+see her, and he would bring the moneys with him, and none should know of
+the matter except a comrade of his, in whom he placed much trust, and who
+was privy to all that he did. The lady, if she should not rather be
+called the punk, gleefully made answer that in the course of a few days
+her husband, Guasparruolo, was to go to Genoa on business, and that, when
+he was gone, she would let Gulfardo know, and appoint a time for him to
+visit her. Gulfardo thereupon chose a convenient time, and hied him to
+Guasparruolo, to whom:--"I am come," quoth he, "about a little matter of
+business which I have on hand, for which I require two hundred florins of
+gold, and I should be glad if thou wouldst lend them me at the rate of
+interest which thou art wont to charge me." "That gladly will I," replied
+Guasparruolo, and told out the money at once. A few days later
+Guasparruolo being gone to Genoa, as the lady had said, she sent word to
+Gulfardo that he should bring her the two hundred florins of gold. So
+Gulfardo hied him with his comrade to the lady's house, where he found
+her expecting him, and lost no time in handing her the two hundred
+florins of gold in his comrade's presence, saying:--"You will keep the
+money, Madam, and give it to your husband when he returns." Witting not
+why Gulfardo so said, but thinking that 'twas but to conceal from his
+comrade that it was given by way of price, the lady made answer:--"That
+will I gladly; but I must first see whether the amount is right;"
+whereupon she told the florins out upon a table, and when she found that
+the two hundred were there, she put them away in high glee, and turning
+to Gulfardo, took him into her chamber, where, not on that night only but
+on many another night, while her husband was away, he had of her all that
+he craved. On Guasparruolo's return Gulfardo presently paid him a visit,
+having first made sure that the lady would be with him, and so in her
+presence:--"Guasparruolo," quoth he, "I had after all no occasion for the
+money, to wit, the two hundred florins of gold that thou didst lend me
+the other day, being unable to carry through the transaction for which I
+borrowed them, and so I took an early opportunity of bringing them to thy
+wife, and gave them to her: thou wilt therefore cancel the account."
+Whereupon Guasparruolo turned to the lady, and asked her if she had had
+them. She, not daring to deny the fact in presence of the witness,
+answered:--"Why, yes, I had them, and quite forgot to tell thee." "Good,"
+quoth then Guasparruolo, "we are quits, Gulfardo; make thy mind easy; I
+will see that thy account is set right." Gulfardo then withdrew, leaving
+the flouted lady to hand over her ill-gotten gains to her husband; and so
+the astute lover had his pleasure of his greedy mistress for nothing.
+
+(1) Cf. Sixth Day, Novel VII.
+
+
+NOVEL II.
+
+--
+The priest of Varlungo lies with Monna Belcolore: he leaves with her his
+cloak by way of pledge, and receives from her a mortar. He returns the
+mortar, and demands of her the cloak that he had left in pledge, which
+the good lady returns him with a gibe.
+--
+
+Ladies and men alike commended Gulfardo for the check that he gave to the
+greed of the Milanese lady; but before they had done, the queen turned to
+Pamfilo, and with a smile bade him follow suit: wherefore thus Pamfilo
+began:--Fair my ladies, it occurs to me to tell you a short story, which
+reflects no credit on those by whom we are continually wronged without
+being able to retaliate, to wit, the priests, who have instituted a
+crusade against our wives, and deem that, when they have made conquest of
+one of them, they have done a work every whit as worthy of recompense by
+remission of sin and punishment as if they had brought the Soldan in
+chains to Avignon: in which respect 'tis not possible for the hapless
+laity to be even with them: howbeit they are as hot to make reprisals on
+the priests' mothers, sisters, mistresses, and daughters as the priests
+to attack their wives. Wherefore I am minded to give you, as I may do in
+few words, the history of a rustic amour, the conclusion whereof was not
+a little laughable, nor barren of moral, for you may also gather
+therefrom, that 'tis not always well to believe everything that a priest
+says.
+
+I say then, that at Varlungo, a village hard by here, as all of you, my
+ladies, should wot either of your own knowledge or by report, there dwelt
+a worthy priest, and doughty of body in the service of the ladies: who,
+albeit he was none too quick at his book, had no lack of precious and
+blessed solecisms to edify his flock withal of a Sunday under the elm.
+And when the men were out of doors, he would visit their wives as never a
+priest had done before him, bringing them feast-day gowns and holy water,
+and now and again a bit of candle, and giving them his blessing. Now it
+so befell that among those of his fair parishioners whom he most affected
+the first place was at length taken by one Monna Belcolore, the wife of a
+husbandman that called himself Bentivegna del Mazzo. And in good sooth
+she was a winsome and lusty country lass, brown as a berry and buxom
+enough, and fitter than e'er another for his mill. Moreover she had not
+her match in playing the tabret and singing:--The borage is full
+sappy,(1) and in leading a brawl or a breakdown, no matter who might be
+next her, with a fair and dainty kerchief in her hand. Which spells so
+wrought upon Master Priest, that for love of her he grew distracted, and
+did nought all day long but loiter about the village on the chance of
+catching sight of her. And if of a Sunday morning he espied her in
+church, he strove might and main to acquit himself of his Kyrie and
+Sanctus in the style of a great singer, albeit his performance was liker
+to the braying of an ass: whereas, if he saw her not, he scarce exerted
+himself at all. However, he managed with such discretion that neither
+Bentivegna del Mazzo nor any of the neighbours wist aught of his love.
+And hoping thereby to ingratiate himself with Monna Belcolore, he from
+time to time would send her presents, now a clove of fresh garlic, the
+best in all the country-side, from his own garden, which he tilled with
+his own hands, and anon a basket of beans or a bunch of chives or
+shallots; and, when he thought it might serve his turn, he would give her
+a sly glance, and follow it up with a little amorous mocking and mowing,
+which she, with rustic awkwardness, feigned not to understand, and ever
+maintained her reserve, so that Master Priest made no headway.
+
+Now it so befell that one day, when the priest at high noon was aimlessly
+gadding about the village, he encountered Bentivegna del Mazzo at the
+tail of a well laden ass; and greeted him, asking him whither he was
+going. "I'faith, Sir," quoth Bentivegna, "for sure 'tis to town I go,
+having an affair or two to attend to there; and I am taking these things
+to Ser Buonaccorri da Ginestreto, to get him to stand by me in I wot not
+what matter, whereof the justice o' th' coram has by his provoker served
+me with a pertrumpery summons to appear before him." Whereupon:--"'Tis
+well, my son," quoth the priest, overjoyed, "my blessing go with thee:
+good luck to thee and a speedy return; and harkye, shouldst thou see
+Lapuccio or Naldino, do not forget to tell them to send me those thongs
+for my flails." "It shall be done," quoth Bentivegna, and jogged on
+towards Florence, while the priest, thinking that now was his time to hie
+him to Belcolore and try his fortune, put his best leg forward, and
+stayed not till he was at the house, which entering, he said:--"God be
+gracious to us! Who is within?" Belcolore, who was up in the loft, made
+answer:--"Welcome, Sir; but what dost thou, gadding about in the heat?"
+"Why, as I hope for God's blessing," quoth he, "I am just come to stay
+with thee a while, having met thy husband on his way to town." Whereupon
+down came Belcolore, took a seat, and began sifting cabbage-seed that her
+husband had lately threshed. By and by the priest began:--"So, Belcolore,
+wilt thou keep me ever a dying thus?" Whereat Belcolore tittered, and
+said:--"Why, what is't I do to you?" "Truly, nothing at all," replied the
+priest: "but thou sufferest me not to do to thee that which I had lief,
+and which God commands." "Now away with you!" returned Belcolore, "do
+priests do that sort of thing?" "Indeed we do," quoth the priest, "and to
+better purpose than others: why not? I tell you our grinding is far
+better; and wouldst thou know why? 'tis because 'tis intermittent. And in
+truth 'twill be well worth thy while to keep thine own counsel, and let
+me do it." "Worth my while!" ejaculated Belcolore. "How may that be?
+There is never a one of you but would overreach the very Devil." "'Tis
+not for me to say," returned the priest; "say but what thou wouldst have:
+shall it be a pair of dainty shoes? Or wouldst thou prefer a fillet? Or
+perchance a gay riband? What's thy will?" "Marry, no lack have I," quoth
+Belcolore, "of such things as these. But, if you wish me so well, why do
+me not a service? and I would then be at your command." "Name but the
+service," returned the priest, "and gladly will I do it." Quoth then
+Belcolore:--"On Saturday I have to go to Florence to deliver some wool
+that I have spun, and to get my spinning-wheel put in order: lend me but
+five pounds--I know you have them--and I will redeem my perse petticoat
+from the pawnshop, and also the girdle that I wear on saints' days, and
+that I had when I was married--you see that without them I cannot go to
+church or anywhere else, and then I will do just as you wish thenceforth
+and forever." Whereupon:--"So God give me a good year," quoth he, "as I
+have not the money with me: but never fear that I will see that thou hast
+it before Saturday with all the pleasure in life." "Ay, ay," rejoined
+Belcolore, "you all make great promises, but then you never keep them.
+Think you to serve me as you served Biliuzza, whom you left in the lurch
+at last? God's faith, you do not so. To think that she turned woman of
+the world just for that! If you have not the money with you, why, go and
+get it." "Prithee," returned the priest, "send me not home just now. For,
+seest thou, 'tis the very nick of time with me, and the coast is clear,
+and perchance it might not be so on my return, and in short I know not
+when it would be likely to go so well as now." Whereto she did but
+rejoin:--"Good; if you are minded to go, get you gone; if not, stay where
+you are." The priest, therefore, seeing that she was not disposed to give
+him what he wanted, as he was fain, to wit, on his own terms, but was
+bent upon having a quid pro quo, changed his tone; and:--"Lo, now," quoth
+he, "thou doubtest I will not bring thee the money; so to set thy mind at
+rest, I will leave thee this cloak--thou seest 'tis good sky-blue
+silk--in pledge." So raising her head and glancing at the cloak:--"And
+what may the cloak be worth?" quoth Belcolore. "Worth!" ejaculated the
+priest: "I would have thee know that 'tis all Douai, not to say Trouai,
+make: nay, there are some of our folk here that say 'tis Quadrouai; and
+'tis not a fortnight since I bought it of Lotto, the secondhand dealer,
+for seven good pounds, and then had it five good soldi under value, by
+what I hear from Buglietto, who, thou knowest, is an excellent judge of
+these articles." "Oh! say you so?" exclaimed Belcolore. "So help me God,
+I should not have thought it; however, let me look at it." So Master
+Priest, being ready for action, doffed the cloak and handed it to her.
+And she, having put it in a safe place, said to him:--"Now, Sir, we will
+away to the hut; there is never a soul goes there;" and so they did. And
+there Master Priest, giving her many a mighty buss and straining her to
+his sacred person, solaced himself with her no little while.
+
+Which done, he hied him away in his cassock, as if he were come from
+officiating at a wedding; but, when he was back in his holy quarters, he
+bethought him that not all the candles that he received by way of
+offering in the course of an entire year would amount to the half of five
+pounds, and saw that he had made a bad bargain, and repented him that he
+had left the cloak in pledge, and cast about how he might recover it
+without paying anything. And as he did not lack cunning, he hit upon an
+excellent expedient, by which he compassed his end. So on the morrow,
+being a saint's day, he sent a neighbour's lad to Monna Belcolore with a
+request that she would be so good as to lend him her stone mortar, for
+that Binguccio dal Poggio and Nuto Buglietti were to breakfast with him
+that morning, and he therefore wished to make a sauce. Belcolore having
+sent the mortar, the priest, about breakfast time, reckoning that
+Bentivegna del Mazzo and Belcolore would be at their meal, called his
+clerk, and said to him:--"Take the mortar back to Belcolore, and
+say:--'My master thanks you very kindly, and bids you return the cloak
+that the lad left with you in pledge.'" The clerk took the mortar to
+Belcolore's house, where, finding her at table with Bentivegna, he set
+the mortar down and delivered the priest's message. Whereto Belcolore
+would fain have demurred; but Bentivegna gave her a threatening glance,
+saying:--"So, then, thou takest a pledge from Master Priest? By Christ, I
+vow, I have half a mind to give thee a great clout o' the chin. Go, give
+it back at once, a murrain on thee! And look to it that whatever he may
+have a mind to, were it our very ass, he be never denied." So, with a
+very bad grace, Belcolore got up, and went to the wardrobe, and took out
+the cloak, and gave it to the clerk, saying:--"Tell thy master from
+me:--Would to God he may never ply pestle in my mortar again, such honour
+has he done me for this turn!" So the clerk returned with the cloak, and
+delivered the message to Master Priest; who, laughing, made
+answer:--"Tell her, when thou next seest her, that, so she lend us not
+the mortar, I will not lend her the pestle: be it tit for tat."
+
+Bentivegna made no account of his wife's words, deeming that 'twas but
+his chiding that had provoked them. But Belcolore was not a little
+displeased with Master Priest, and had never a word to say to him till
+the vintage; after which, what with the salutary fear in which she stood
+of the mouth of Lucifer the Great, to which he threatened to consign her,
+and the must and roast chestnuts that he sent her, she made it up with
+him, and many a jolly time they had together. And though she got not the
+five pounds from him, he put a new skin on her tabret, and fitted it with
+a little bell, wherewith she was satisfied.
+
+(1) For this folk-song see Cantilene e Ballate, Strambotti e Madrigali,
+ed. Carducci (1871), p. 60. The fragment there printed maybe freely
+rendered as follows:--
+
+The borage is full sappy,
+  And clusters red we see,
+And my love would make me happy;
+  So that maiden give to me.
+
+Ill set I find this dance,
+  And better might it be:
+So, comrade mine, advance,
+  And, changing place with me,
+Stand thou thy love beside.
+
+
+NOVEL III.
+
+--
+Calandrino, Bruno and Buffalmacco go in quest of the heliotrope beside
+the Mugnone. Thinking to have found it, Calandrino gets him home laden
+with stones. His wife chides him: whereat he waxes wroth, beats her, and
+tells his comrades what they know better than he.
+--
+
+Ended Pamfilo's story, which moved the ladies to inextinguishable
+laughter, the queen bade Elisa follow suit: whereupon, laughing, she thus
+began:--I know not, debonair my ladies, whether with my little story,
+which is no less true than entertaining, I shall give you occasion to
+laugh as much as Pamfilo has done with his, but I will do my best.
+
+In our city, where there has never been lack of odd humours and queer
+folk, there dwelt, no long time ago, a painter named Calandrino, a simple
+soul, of uncouth manners, that spent most of his time with two other
+painters, the one Bruno, the other Buffalmacco, by name, pleasant fellows
+enough, but not without their full share of sound and shrewd sense, and
+who kept with Calandrino for that they not seldom found his singular ways
+and his simplicity very diverting. There was also at the same time at
+Florence one Maso del Saggio, a fellow marvellously entertaining by his
+cleverness, dexterity and unfailing resource; who having heard somewhat
+touching Calandrino's simplicity, resolved to make fun of him by playing
+him a trick, and inducing him to believe some prodigy. And happening one
+day to come upon Calandrino in the church of San Giovanni, where he sate
+intently regarding the paintings and intaglios of the tabernacle above
+the altar, which had then but lately been set there, he deemed time and
+place convenient for the execution of his design; which he accordingly
+imparted to one of his comrades: whereupon the two men drew nigh the
+place where Calandrino sate alone, and feigning not to see him fell a
+talking of the virtues of divers stones, of which Maso spoke as aptly and
+pertinently as if he had been a great and learned lapidary. Calandrino
+heard what passed between them, and witting that 'twas no secret, after a
+while got up, and joined them, to Maso's no small delight. He therefore
+continued his discourse, and being asked by Calandrino, where these
+stones of such rare virtues were to be found, made answer:--"Chiefly in
+Berlinzone, in the land of the Basques. The district is called Bengodi,
+and there they bind the vines with sausages, and a denier will buy a
+goose and a gosling into the bargain; and on a mountain, all of grated
+Parmesan cheese, dwell folk that do nought else but make macaroni and
+raviuoli,(1) and boil them in capon's broth, and then throw them down to
+be scrambled for; and hard by flows a rivulet of Vernaccia, the best that
+ever was drunk, and never a drop of water therein." "Ah! 'tis a sweet
+country!" quoth Calandrino; "but tell me, what becomes of the capons that
+they boil?" "They are all eaten by the Basques," replied Maso.
+Then:--"Wast thou ever there?" quoth Calandrino. Whereupon:--"Was I ever
+there, sayst thou?" replied Maso. "Why, if I have been there once, I have
+been there a thousand times." "And how many miles is't from here?" quoth
+Calandrino. "Oh!" returned Maso, "more than thou couldst number in a
+night without slumber." "Farther off, then, than the Abruzzi?" said
+Calandrino. "Why, yes, 'tis a bit farther," replied Maso.
+
+Now Calandrino, like the simple soul that he was, marking the composed
+and grave countenance with which Maso spoke, could not have believed him
+more thoroughly, if he had uttered the most patent truth, and thus taking
+his words for gospel:--"'Tis a trifle too far for my purse," quoth he;
+"were it nigher, I warrant thee, I would go with thee thither one while,
+just to see the macaroni come tumbling down, and take my fill thereof.
+But tell me, so good luck befall thee, are none of these stones, that
+have these rare virtues, to be found in these regions?" "Ay," replied
+Maso, "two sorts of stone are found there, both of virtues extraordinary.
+The one sort are the sandstones of Settignano and Montisci, which being
+made into millstones, by virtue thereof flour is made; wherefore 'tis a
+common saying in those countries that blessings come from God and
+millstones from Montisci: but, for that these sandstones are in great
+plenty, they are held cheap by us, just as by them are emeralds, whereof
+they have mountains, bigger than Monte Morello, that shine at midnight, a
+God's name! And know this, that whoso should make a goodly pair of
+millstones, and connect them with a ring before ever a hole was drilled
+in them, and take them to the Soldan, should get all he would have
+thereby. The other sort of stone is the heliotrope, as we lapidaries call
+it, a stone of very great virtue, inasmuch as whoso carries it on his
+person is seen, so long as he keep it, by never another soul, where he is
+not." "These be virtues great indeed," quoth Calandrino; "but where is
+this second stone to be found?" Whereto Maso made answer that there were
+usually some to be found in the Mugnone. "And what are its size and
+colour?" quoth Calandrino. "The size varies," replied Maso, "for some are
+bigger and some smaller than others; but all are of the same colour,
+being nearly black." All these matters duly marked and fixed in his
+memory, Calandrino made as if he had other things to attend to, and took
+his leave of Maso with the intention of going in quest of the stone, but
+not until he had let his especial friends, Bruno and Buffalmacco, know of
+his project. So, that no time might be lost, but, postponing everything
+else, they might begin the quest at once, he set about looking for them,
+and spent the whole morning in the search. At length, when 'twas already
+past none, he called to mind that they would be at work in the Faentine
+women's convent, and though 'twas excessively hot, he let nothing stand
+in his way, but at a pace that was more like a run than a walk, hied him
+thither; and so soon as he had made them ware of his presence, thus he
+spoke:--"Comrades, so you are but minded to hearken to me, 'tis in our
+power to become the richest men in Florence; for I am informed by one
+that may be trusted that there is a kind of stone in the Mugnone which
+renders whoso carries it invisible to every other soul in the world.
+Wherefore, methinks, we were wise to let none have the start of us, but
+go search for this stone without any delay. We shall find it without a
+doubt, for I know what 'tis like, and when we have found it, we have but
+to put it in the purse, and get us to the moneychangers, whose counters,
+as you know, are always laden with groats and florins, and help ourselves
+to as many as we have a mind to. No one will see us, and so, hey presto!
+we shall be rich folk in the twinkling of an eye, and have no more need
+to go besmearing the walls all day long like so many snails." Whereat
+Bruno and Buffalmacco began only to laugh, and exchanging glances, made
+as if they marvelled exceedingly, and expressed approval of Calandrino's
+project. Then Buffalmacco asked, what might be the name of the stone.
+Calandrino, like the numskull that he was, had already forgotten the
+name: so he made answer:--"Why need we concern ourselves with the name,
+since we know the stone's virtue? methinks, we were best to go look for
+it, and waste no more time." "Well, well," said Bruno, "but what are the
+size and shape of the stone?" "They are of all sizes and shapes," said
+Calandrino, "but they are all pretty nearly black; wherefore, methinks,
+we were best to collect all the black stones that we see until we hit
+upon it: and so, let us be off, and lose no more time." "Nay, but," said
+Bruno, "wait a bit." And turning to Buffalmacco:--"Methinks," quoth he,
+"that Calandrino says well: but I doubt this is not the time for such
+work, seeing that the sun is high, and his rays so flood the Mugnone as
+to dry all the stones; insomuch that stones will now shew as white that
+in the morning, before the sun had dried them, would shew as black:
+besides which, to-day being a working-day, there will be for one cause or
+another folk not a few about the Mugnone, who, seeing us, might guess
+what we were come for, and peradventure do the like themselves; whereby
+it might well be that they found the stone, and we might miss the trot by
+trying after the amble. Wherefore, so you agree, methinks we were best to
+go about it in the morning, when we shall be better able to distinguish
+the black stones from the white, and on a holiday, when there will be
+none to see us."
+
+Buffalmacco's advice being approved by Bruno, Calandrino chimed in; and
+so 'twas arranged that they should all three go in quest of the stone on
+the following Sunday. So Calandrino, having besought his companions above
+all things to let never a soul in the world hear aught of the matter, for
+that it had been imparted to him in strict confidence, and having told
+them what he had heard touching the land of Bengodi, the truth of which
+he affirmed with oaths, took leave of them; and they concerted their
+plan, while Calandrino impatiently expected the Sunday morning. Whereon,
+about dawn, he arose, and called them; and forth they issued by the Porta
+a San Gallo, and hied them to the Mugnone, and following its course,
+began their quest of the stone, Calandrino, as was natural, leading the
+way, and jumping lightly from rock to rock, and wherever he espied a
+black stone, stooping down, picking it up and putting it in the fold of
+his tunic, while his comrades followed, picking up a stone here and a
+stone there. Thus it was that Calandrino had not gone far, before,
+finding that there was no more room in his tunic, he lifted the skirts of
+his gown, which was not cut after the fashion of Hainault, and gathering
+them under his leathern girdle and making them fast on every side, thus
+furnished himself with a fresh and capacious lap, which, however, taking
+no long time to fill, he made another lap out of his cloak, which in like
+manner he soon filled with stones. Wherefore, Bruno and Buffalmacco
+seeing that Calandrino was well laden, and that 'twas nigh upon
+breakfast-time, and the moment for action come:--"Where is Calandrino?"
+quoth Bruno to Buffalmacco. Whereto Buffalmacco, who had Calandrino full
+in view, having first turned about and looked here, there and everywhere,
+made answer:--"That wot not I; but not so long ago he was just in front
+of us." "Not so long ago, forsooth," returned Bruno; "'tis my firm belief
+that at this very moment he is at breakfast at home, having left to us
+this wild-goose chase of black stones in the Mugnone." "Marry," quoth
+Buffalmacco, "he did but serve us right so to trick us and leave, seeing
+that we were so silly as to believe him. Why, who could have thought that
+any but we would have been so foolish as to believe that a stone of such
+rare virtue was to be found in the Mugnone?" Calandrino, hearing their
+colloquy, forthwith imagined that he had the stone in his hand, and by
+its virtue, though present, was invisible to them; and overjoyed by such
+good fortune, would not say a word to undeceive them, but determined to
+hie him home, and accordingly faced about, and put himself in motion.
+Whereupon:--"Ay!" quoth Buffalmacco to Bruno, "what are we about that we
+go not back too?" "Go we then," said Bruno; "but by God I swear that
+Calandrino shall never play me another such trick; and as to this, were I
+nigh him, as I have been all the morning, I would teach him to remember
+it for a month or so, such a reminder would I give him in the heel with
+this stone." And even as he spoke he threw back his arm, and launched the
+stone against Calandrino's heel. Galled by the blow, Calandrino gave a
+great hop and a slight gasp, but said nothing, and halted not. Then,
+picking out one of the stones that he had collected:--"Bruno," quoth
+Buffalmacco, "see what a goodly stone I have here, would it might but
+catch Calandrino in the back;" and forthwith he discharged it with main
+force upon the said back. And in short, suiting action to word, now in
+this way, now in that, they stoned him all the way up the Mugnone as far
+as the Porta a San Gallo. There they threw away the stones they had
+picked up, and tarried a while with the customs' officers, who, being
+primed by them, had let Calandrino pass unchallenged, while their
+laughter knew no bounds.
+
+So Calandrino, halting nowhere, betook him to his house, which was hard
+by the corner of the Macina. And so well did Fortune prosper the trick,
+that all the way by the stream and across the city there was never a soul
+that said a word to Calandrino, and indeed he encountered but few, for
+most folk were at breakfast. But no sooner was Calandrino thus gotten
+home with his stones, than it so happened that his good lady, Monna
+Tessa, shewed her fair face at the stair's head, and catching sight of
+him, and being somewhat annoyed by his long delay, chid him,
+saying:--"What the Devil brings thee here so late? Must breakfast wait
+thee until all other folk have had it?" Calandrino caught the words, and
+angered and mortified to find that he was not invisible, broke out
+with:--"Alas! curst woman! so 'twas thou! Thou hast undone me: but, God's
+faith, I will pay thee out." Whereupon he was upstairs in a trice, and
+having discharged his great load of stones in a parlour, rushed with fell
+intent upon his wife, and laid hold of her by the hair, and threw her
+down at his feet, and beat and kicked her in every part of her person
+with all the force he had in his arms and legs, insomuch that he left
+never a hair of her head or bone of her body unscathed, and 'twas all in
+vain that she laid her palms together and crossed her fingers and cried
+for mercy.
+
+Now Buffalmacco and Bruno, after making merry a while with the warders of
+the gate, had set off again at a leisurely pace, keeping some distance
+behind Calandrino. Arrived at his door, they heard the noise of the sound
+thrashing that he was giving his wife; and making as if they were but
+that very instant come upon the scene, they called him. Calandrino,
+flushed, all of a sweat, and out of breath, shewed himself at the window,
+and bade them come up. They, putting on a somewhat angry air, did so; and
+espied Calandrino sitting in the parlour, amid the stones which lay all
+about, untrussed, and puffing with the air of a man spent with exertion,
+while his lady lay in one of the corners, weeping bitterly, her hair all
+dishevelled, her clothes torn to shreds, and her face livid, bruised and
+battered. So after surveying the room a while:--"What means this,
+Calandrino?" quoth they. "Art thou minded to build thee a wall, that we
+see so many stones about?" And then, as they received no answer, they
+continued:--"And how's this? How comes Monna Tessa in this plight?
+'Twould seem thou hast given her a beating! What unheard-of doings are
+these?" What with the weight of the stones that he had carried, and the
+fury with which he had beaten his wife, and the mortification that he
+felt at the miscarriage of his enterprise, Calandrino was too spent to
+utter a word by way of reply. Wherefore in a menacing tone Buffalmacco
+began again:--"However out of sorts thou mayst have been, Calandrino,
+thou shouldst not have played us so scurvy a trick as thou hast. To take
+us with thee to the Mugnone in quest of this stone of rare virtue, and
+then, without so much as saying either God-speed or Devil-speed, to be
+off, and leave us there like a couple of gowks! We take it not a little
+unkindly: and rest assured that thou shalt never so fool us again."
+Whereto with an effort Calandrino replied:--"Comrades, be not wroth with
+me: 'tis not as you think. I, luckless wight! found the stone: listen,
+and you will no longer doubt that I say sooth. When you began saying one
+to the other:--'Where is Calandrino?' I was within ten paces of you, and
+marking that you came by without seeing me, I went before, and so,
+keeping ever a little ahead of you, I came hither." And then he told them
+the whole story of what they had said and done from beginning to end, and
+shewed them his back and heel, how they had been mauled by the stones;
+after which:--"And I tell you," he went on, "that, laden though I was
+with all these stones, that you see here, never a word was said to me by
+the warders of the gate as I passed in, though you know how vexatious and
+grievous these warders are wont to make themselves in their determination
+to see everything: and moreover I met by the way several of my gossips
+and friends that are ever wont to greet me, and ask me to drink, and
+never a word said any of them to me, no, nor half a word either; but they
+passed me by as men that saw me not. But at last, being come home, I was
+met and seen by this devil of a woman, curses upon her, forasmuch as all
+things, as you know, lose their virtue in the presence of a woman;
+whereby I from being the most lucky am become the most luckless man in
+Florence: and therefore I thrashed her as long as I could stir a hand,
+nor know I wherefore I forbear to sluice her veins for her, cursed be the
+hour that first I saw her, cursed be the hour that I brought her into the
+house!" And so, kindling with fresh wrath, he was about to start up and
+give her another thrashing; when Buffalmacco and Bruno, who had listened
+to his story with an air of great surprise, and affirmed its truth again
+and again, while they all but burst with suppressed laughter, seeing him
+now frantic to renew his assault upon his wife, got up and withstood and
+held him back, averring that the lady was in no wise to blame for what
+had happened, but only he, who, witting that things lost their virtue in
+the presence of women, had not bidden her keep aloof from him that day;
+which precaution God had not suffered him to take, either because the
+luck was not to be his, or because he was minded to cheat his comrades,
+to whom he should have shewn the stone as soon as he found it. And so,
+with many words they hardly prevailed upon him to forgive his injured
+wife, and leaving him to rue the ill-luck that had filled his house with
+stones, went their way.
+
+(1) A sort of rissole.
+
+
+NOVEL IV.
+
+--
+The rector of Fiesole loves a widow lady, by whom he is not loved, and
+thinking to lie with her, lies with her maid, with whom the lady's
+brothers cause him to be found by his Bishop.
+--
+
+Elisa being come to the end of her story, which in the telling had
+yielded no small delight to all the company, the queen, turning to
+Emilia, signified her will, that her story should ensue at once upon that
+of Elisa. And thus with alacrity Emilia began:--Noble ladies, how we are
+teased and tormented by these priests and friars, and indeed by clergy of
+all sorts, I mind me to have been set forth in more than one of the
+stories that have been told; but as 'twere not possible to say so much
+thereof but that more would yet remain to say, I purpose to supplement
+them with the story of a rector, who, in defiance of all the world, was
+bent upon having the favour of a gentlewoman, whether she would or no.
+Which gentlewoman, being discreet above a little, treated him as he
+deserved.
+
+Fiesole, whose hill is here within sight, is, as each of you knows, a
+city of immense antiquity, and was aforetime great, though now 'tis
+fallen into complete decay; which notwithstanding, it always was, and
+still is the see of a bishop. Now there was once a gentlewoman, Monna
+Piccarda by name, a widow, that had an estate at Fiesole, hard by the
+cathedral, on which, for that she was not in the easiest circumstances,
+she lived most part of the year, and with her her two brothers, very
+worthy and courteous young men, both of them. And the lady being wont
+frequently to resort to the cathedral, and being still quite young and
+fair and debonair withal, it so befell that the rector grew in the last
+degree enamoured of her, and waxed at length so bold, that he himself
+avowed his passion to the lady, praying her to entertain his love, and
+requite it in like measure. The rector was advanced in years, but
+otherwise the veriest springald, being bold and of a high spirit, of a
+boundless conceit of himself, and of mien and manners most affected and
+in the worst taste, and withal so tiresome and insufferable that he was
+on bad terms with everybody, and, if with one person more than another,
+with this lady, who not only cared not a jot for him, but had liefer have
+had a headache than his company. Wherefore the lady discreetly made
+answer:--"I may well prize your love, Sir, and love you I should and will
+right gladly; but such love as yours and mine may never admit of aught
+that is not honourable. You are my spiritual father and a priest, and now
+verging towards old age, circumstances which should ensure your honour
+and chastity; and I, on my part, am no longer a girl, such as these love
+affairs might beseem, but a widow, and well you wot how it behoves widows
+to be chaste. Wherefore I pray you to have me excused; for, after the
+sort you crave, you shall never have my love, nor would I in such sort be
+loved by you." With this answer the rector was for the nonce fain to be
+content; but he was not the man to be dismayed and routed by a first
+repulse; and with his wonted temerity and effrontery he plied her again
+and again with letters and ambassages, and also by word of mouth, when he
+espied her entering the church. Wherefore the lady finding this
+persecution more grievous and harassing than she could well bear, cast
+about how she might be quit thereof in such fashion as he deserved,
+seeing that he left her no choice; howbeit she would do nought in the
+matter until she had conferred with her brothers. She therefore told them
+how the rector pursued her, and how she meant to foil him; and, with
+their full concurrence, some few days afterwards she went, as she was
+wont, to church. The rector no sooner saw her, than he approached and
+accosted her, as he was wont, in a tone of easy familiarity. The lady
+greeted him, as he came up, with a glance of gladsome recognition; and
+when he had treated her to not a little of his wonted eloquence, she drew
+him aside, and heaving a great sigh, said:--"I have oftentimes heard it
+said, Sir, that there is no castle so strong, but that, if the siege be
+continued day by day, it will sooner or later be taken; which I now
+plainly perceive is my own case. For so fairly have you hemmed me in with
+this, that, and the other pretty speech or the like blandishments, that
+you have constrained me to make nought of my former resolve, and, seeing
+that I find such favour with you, to surrender myself unto you." Whereto,
+overjoyed, the rector made answer:--"Madam, I am greatly honoured; and,
+sooth to say, I marvelled not a little how you should hold out so long,
+seeing that I have never had the like experience with any other woman,
+insomuch that I have at times said:--'Were women of silver, they would
+not be worth a denier, for there is none but would give under the
+hammer!' But no more of this: when and where may we come together?"
+"Sweet my lord," replied the lady, "for the when, 'tis just as we may
+think best, for I have no husband to whom to render account of my nights,
+but the where passes my wit to conjecture." "How so?" quoth the rector.
+"Why not in your own house?" "Sir," replied the lady, "you know that I
+have two brothers, both young men, who day and night bring their comrades
+into the house, which is none too large: for which reason it might not be
+done there, unless we were minded to make ourselves, as it were, dumb and
+blind, uttering never a word, not so much as a monosyllable, and abiding
+in the dark: in such sort indeed it might be, because they do not intrude
+upon my chamber; but theirs is so near to mine that the very least
+whisper could not but be heard." "Nay but, Madam," returned the rector,
+"let not this stand in our way for a night or two, until I may bethink me
+where else we might be more at our ease." "Be that as you will, Sir,"
+quoth the lady, "I do but entreat that the affair be kept close, so that
+never a word of it get wind." "Have no fear on that score, Madam,"
+replied the priest; "and if so it may be, let us forgather to-night."
+"With pleasure," returned the lady; and having appointed him how and when
+to come, she left him and went home.
+
+Now the lady had a maid, that was none too young, and had a countenance
+the ugliest and most misshapen that ever was seen; for indeed she was
+flat-nosed, wry-mouthed, and thick-lipped, with huge, ill-set teeth, eyes
+that squinted and were ever bleared, and a complexion betwixt green and
+yellow, that shewed as if she had spent the summer not at Fiesole but at
+Sinigaglia: besides which she was hip-shot and somewhat halting on the
+right side. Her name was Ciuta, but, for that she was such a scurvy bitch
+to look upon, she was called by all folk Ciutazza.(1) And being thus
+misshapen of body, she was also not without her share of guile. So the
+lady called her and said:--"Ciutazza, so thou wilt do me a service
+to-night, I will give thee a fine new shift." At the mention of the shift
+Ciutazza made answer:--"So you give me a shift, Madam, I will throw
+myself into the very fire." "Good," said the lady; "then I would have
+thee lie to-night in my bed with a man, whom thou wilt caress; but look
+thou say never a word, that my brothers, who, as thou knowest, sleep in
+the next room, hear thee not; and afterwards I will give thee the shift."
+"Sleep with a man!" quoth Ciutazza: "why, if need be, I will sleep with
+six." So in the evening Master Rector came, as he had been bidden; and
+the two young men, as the lady had arranged, being in their room, and
+making themselves very audible, he stole noiselessly, and in the dark,
+into the lady's room, and got him on to the bed, which Ciutazza, well
+advised by the lady how to behave, mounted from the other side. Whereupon
+Master Rector, thinking to have the lady by his side, took Ciutazza in
+his arms, and fell a kissing her, saying never a word the while, and
+Ciutazza did the like; and so he enjoyed her, plucking the boon which he
+had so long desired.
+
+The rector and Ciutazza thus closeted, the lady charged her brothers to
+execute the rest of her plan. They accordingly stole quietly out of their
+room, and hied them to the piazza, where Fortune proved propitious beyond
+what they had craved of her; for, it being a very hot night, the bishop
+had been seeking them, purposing to go home with them, and solace himself
+with their society, and quench his thirst. With which desire he
+acquainted them, as soon as he espied them coming into the piazza; and so
+they escorted him to their house, and there in the cool of their little
+courtyard, which was bright with many a lamp, he took, to his no small
+comfort, a draught of their good wine. Which done:--"Sir," said the young
+men, "since of your great courtesy you have deigned to visit our poor
+house, to which we were but now about to invite you, we should be
+gratified if you would be pleased to give a look at somewhat, a mere
+trifle though it be, which we have here to shew you." The bishop replied
+that he would do so with pleasure. Whereupon one of the young men took a
+lighted torch and led the way, the bishop and the rest following, to the
+chamber where Master Rector lay with Ciutazza.
+
+Now the rector, being in hot haste, had ridden hard, insomuch that he was
+already gotten above three miles on his way when they arrived; and so,
+being somewhat tired, he was resting, but, hot though the night was, he
+still held Ciutazza in his arms. In which posture he was shewn to the
+bishop, when, preceded by the young man bearing the light, and followed
+by the others, he entered the chamber. And being roused, and observing
+the light and the folk that stood about him, Master Rector was mighty
+ashamed and affrighted, and popped his head under the clothes. But the
+bishop, reprimanding him severely, constrained him to thrust his head out
+again, and take a view of his bed-fellow. Thus made aware of the trick
+which the lady had played him, the rector was now, both on that score and
+by reason of his signal disgrace, the saddest man that ever was; and his
+discomfiture was complete, when, having donned his clothes, he was
+committed by the bishop's command to close custody and sent to prison,
+there to expiate his offence by a rigorous penance.
+
+The bishop was then fain to know how it had come about that he had
+forgathered there with Ciutazza. Whereupon the young men related the
+whole story; which ended, the bishop commended both the lady and the
+young men not a little, for that they had taken condign vengeance upon
+him without imbruing their hands in the blood of a priest. The bishop
+caused him to bewail his transgression forty days; but what with his
+love, and the scornful requital which it had received, he bewailed it
+more than forty and nine days, not to mention that for a great while he
+could not shew himself in the street but the boys would point the finger
+at him and say:--"There goes he that lay with Ciutazza." Which was such
+an affliction to him that he was like to go mad. On this wise the worthy
+lady rid herself of the rector's vexatious importunity, and Ciutazza had
+a jolly night and earned her shift.
+
+(1) An augmentative form, with a suggestion of cagnazza, bitch-like.
+
+
+NOVEL V.
+
+--
+Three young men pull down the breeches of a judge from the Marches, while
+he is administering justice on the bench.
+--
+
+So ended Emilia her story; and when all had commended the widow
+lady:--"'Tis now thy turn to speak," quoth the queen, fixing her gaze
+upon Filostrato, who answered that he was ready, and forthwith thus
+began:--Sweet my ladies, by what I remember of that young man, to wit,
+Maso del Saggio, whom Elisa named a while ago, I am prompted to lay aside
+a story that I had meant to tell you, and to tell you another, touching
+him and some of his comrades, which, notwithstanding there are in it
+certain words (albeit 'tis not unseemly) which your modesty forbears to
+use, is yet so laughable that I shall relate it.
+
+As you all may well have heard, there come not seldom to our city
+magistrates from the Marches, who for the most part are men of a mean
+spirit, and in circumstances so reduced and beggarly, that their whole
+life seems to be but a petty-foggery; and by reason of this their inbred
+sordidness and avarice they bring with them judges and notaries that have
+rather the air of men taken from the plough or the last than trained in
+the schools of law.(1) Now one of these Marchers, being come hither as
+Podesta, brought with him judges not a few, and among them one that
+called himself Messer Niccola da San Lepidio, and looked liker to a
+locksmith than aught else. However, this fellow was assigned with the
+rest of the judges to hear criminal causes. And as folk will often go to
+the court, though they have no concern whatever there, it so befell that
+Maso del Saggio went thither one morning in quest of one of his friends,
+and there chancing to set eyes on this Messer Niccola, where he sate,
+deemed him a fowl of no common feather, and surveyed him from head to
+foot, observing that the vair which he wore on his head was all begrimed,
+that he carried an ink-horn at his girdle, that his gown was longer than
+his robe, and many another detail quite foreign to the appearance of a
+man of birth and breeding, of which that which he deemed most notable was
+a pair of breeches, which, as he saw (for the judge's outer garments
+being none too ample were open in front, as he sate), reached half-way
+down his legs. By which sight his mind was presently diverted from the
+friend whom he came there to seek; and forth he hied him in quest of
+other two of his comrades, the one Ribi, the other Matteuzzo by name,
+fellows both of them not a whit less jolly than Maso himself; and having
+found them, he said to them:--"An you love me, come with me to the court,
+and I will shew you the queerest scarecrow that ever you saw." So the two
+men hied them with him to the court; and there he pointed out to them the
+judge and his breeches. What they saw from a distance served to set them
+laughing: then drawing nearer to the dais on which Master Judge was
+seated, they observed that 'twas easy enough to get under the dais, and
+moreover that the plank, on which the judge's feet rested, was broken, so
+that there was plenty of room for the passage of a hand and arm.
+Whereupon quoth Maso to his comrades:--"'Twere a very easy matter to pull
+these breeches right down: wherefore I propose that we do so." Each of
+the men had marked how it might be done; and so, having concerted both
+what they should do and what they should say, they came to the court
+again next morning; and, the court being crowded, Matteuzzo, observed by
+never a soul, slipped beneath the dais, and posted himself right under
+the spot where the judge's feet rested, while the other two men took
+their stand on either side of the judge, each laying hold of the hem of
+his robe. Then:--"Sir, sir, I pray you for God's sake," began Maso,
+"that, before the pilfering rascal that is there beside you can make off,
+you constrain him to give me back a pair of jack boots that he has stolen
+from me, which theft he still denies, though 'tis not a month since I saw
+him getting them resoled." Meanwhile Ribi, at the top of his voice,
+shouted:--"Believe him not, Sir, the scurvy knave! 'Tis but that he knows
+that I am come to demand restitution of a valise that he has stolen from
+me that he now for the first time trumps up this story about a pair of
+jack boots that I have had in my house down to the last day or two; and
+if you doubt what I say, I can bring as witness Trecca, my neighbour, and
+Grassa, the tripe-woman, and one that goes about gathering the sweepings
+of Santa Maria a Verzaia, who saw him when he was on his way back from
+the farm." But shout as he might, Maso was still even with him, nor for
+all that did Ribi bate a jot of his clamour. And while the judge stood,
+bending now towards the one, now towards the other, the better to hear
+them, Matteuzzo seized his opportunity, and thrusting his hand through
+the hole in the plank caught hold of the judge's breeches, and tugged at
+them amain. Whereby down they came straightway, for the judge was a lean
+man, and shrunk in the buttocks. The judge, being aware of the accident,
+but knowing not how it had come about, would have gathered his outer
+garments together in front, so as to cover the defect, but Maso on the
+one side, and Ribi on the other, held him fast, shouting amain and in
+chorus:--"You do me a grievous wrong, Sir, thus to deny me justice, nay,
+even a hearing, and to think of quitting the court: there needs no writ
+in this city for such a trifling matter as this." And thus they held him
+by the clothes and in parley, until all that were in the court perceived
+that he had lost his breeches. However, after a while, Matteuzzo dropped
+the breeches, and slipped off, and out of the court, without being
+observed, and Ribi, deeming that the joke had gone far enough,
+exclaimed:--"By God, I vow, I will appeal to the Syndics;" while Maso, on
+the other side, let go the robe, saying:--"Nay, but for my part, I will
+come here again and again and again, until I find you less embarrassed
+than you seem to be to-day." And so the one this way, the other that way,
+they made off with all speed. Whereupon Master Judge, disbreeched before
+all the world, was as one that awakens from sleep, albeit he was ware of
+his forlorn condition, and asked whither the parties in the case touching
+the jack boots and the valise were gone. However, as they were not to be
+found, he fell a swearing by the bowels of God, that 'twas meet and
+proper that he should know and wit, whether 'twas the custom at Florence
+to disbreech judges sitting in the seat of justice.
+
+When the affair reached the ears of the Podesta, he made no little stir
+about it; but, being informed by some of his friends, that 'twould not
+have happened, but that the Florentines were minded to shew him, that, in
+place of the judges he should have brought with him, he had brought but
+gowks, to save expense, he deemed it best to say no more about it, and so
+for that while the matter went no further.
+
+(1) It was owing to their internal dissensions that the Florentines were
+from time to time fain to introduce these stranger Podestas.
+
+
+NOVEL VI.
+
+--
+Bruno and Buffalmacco steal a pig from Calandrino, and induce him to
+essay its recovery by means of pills of ginger and vernaccia. Of the said
+pills they give him two, one after the other, made of dog-ginger
+compounded with aloes; and it then appearing as if he had had the pig
+himself, they constrain him to buy them off, if he would not have them
+tell his wife.
+--
+
+Filostrato's story, which elicited not a little laughter, was no sooner
+ended, than the queen bade Filomena follow suit. Wherefore thus Filomena
+began:--As, gracious ladies, 'twas the name of Maso del Saggio that
+prompted Filostrato to tell the story that you have but now heard, even
+so 'tis with me in regard of Calandrino and his comrades, of whom I am
+minded to tell you another story, which you will, I think, find
+entertaining. Who Calandrino, Bruno and Buffalmacco were, I need not
+explain; you know them well enough from the former story; and therefore I
+will tarry no longer than to say that Calandrino had a little estate not
+far from Florence, which his wife had brought him by way of dowry, and
+which yielded them yearly, among other matters, a pig; and 'twas his
+custom every year in the month of December to resort to the farm with his
+wife, there to see to the killing and salting of the said pig. Now, one
+of these years it so happened that his wife being unwell, Calandrino went
+thither alone to kill the pig. And Bruno and Buffalmacco learning that he
+was gone to the farm, and that his wife was not with him, betook them to
+the house of a priest that was their especial friend and a neighbour of
+Calandrino, there to tarry a while. Upon their arrival Calandrino, who
+had that very morning killed the pig, met them with the priest, and
+accosted them, saying:--"A hearty welcome to you. I should like you to
+see what an excellent manager I am;" and so he took them into his house,
+and shewed them the pig. They observed that 'twas a very fine pig; and
+learned from Calandrino that he was minded to salt it for household
+consumption. "Then thou art but a fool," quoth Bruno. "Sell it, man, and
+let us have a jolly time with the money; and tell thy wife that 'twas
+stolen." "Not I," replied Calandrino: "she would never believe me, and
+would drive me out of the house. Urge me no further, for I will never do
+it." The others said a great deal more, but to no purpose; and Calandrino
+bade them to supper, but so coldly that they declined, and left him.
+
+Presently:--"Should we not steal this pig from him to-night?" quoth Bruno
+to Buffalmacco. "Could we so?" returned Buffalmacco. "How?" "Why, as to
+that," rejoined Bruno, "I have already marked how it may be done, if he
+bestow not the pig elsewhere." "So be it, then," said Buffalmacco: "we
+will steal it; and then, perchance, our good host, Master Priest, will
+join us in doing honour to such good cheer?" "That right gladly will I,"
+quoth the priest. Whereupon:--"Some address, though," quoth Bruno, "will
+be needful: thou knowest, Buffalmacco, what a niggardly fellow Calandrino
+is, and how greedily he drinks at other folk's expense. Go we, therefore,
+and take him to the tavern, and there let the priest make as if, to do us
+honour, he would pay the whole score, and suffer Calandrino to pay never
+a soldo, and he will grow tipsy, and then we shall speed excellent well,
+because he is alone in the house."
+
+As Bruno proposed, so they did: and Calandrino, finding that the priest
+would not suffer him to pay, drank amain, and took a great deal more
+aboard than he had need of; and the night being far spent when he left
+the tavern, he dispensed with supper, and went home, and thinking to have
+shut the door, got him to bed, leaving it open. Buffalmacco and Bruno
+went to sup with the priest; and after supper, taking with them certain
+implements with which to enter Calandrino's house, where Bruno thought it
+most feasible, they stealthily approached it; but finding the door open,
+they entered, and took down the pig, and carried it away to the priest's
+house, and having there bestowed it safely, went to bed. In the morning
+when Calandrino, his head at length quit of the fumes of the wine, got
+up, and came downstairs and found that his pig was nowhere to be seen,
+and that the door was open, he asked this, that, and the other man,
+whether they wist who had taken the pig away, and getting no answer, he
+began to make a great outcry:--"Alas, alas! luckless man that I am, that
+my pig should have been stolen from me!" Meanwhile Bruno and Buffalmacco,
+being also risen, made up to him, to hear what he would say touching the
+pig. Whom he no sooner saw, than well-nigh weeping he called them,
+saying:--"Alas! my friends! my pig is stolen from me." Bruno stepped up
+to him and said in a low tone:--"'Tis passing strange if thou art in the
+right for once." "Alas!" returned Calandrino, "what I say is but too
+true." "Why, then, out with it, man," quoth Bruno, "cry aloud, that all
+folk may know that 'tis so." Calandrino then raised his voice and
+said:--"By the body o' God I say of a truth that my pig has been stolen
+from me." "So!" quoth Bruno, "but publish it, man, publish it; lift up
+thy voice, make thyself well heard, that all may believe thy report."
+"Thou art enough to make me give my soul to the Enemy," replied
+Calandrino. "I say--dost not believe me?--that hang me by the neck if the
+pig is not stolen from me!" "Nay, but," quoth Bruno, "how can it be? I
+saw it here but yesterday. Dost think to make me believe that it has
+taken to itself wings and flown away?" "All the same 'tis as I tell
+thee," returned Calandrino. "Is it possible?" quoth Bruno. "Ay indeed,"
+replied Calandrino; "'tis even so: and I am undone, and know not how to
+go home. Never will my wife believe me; or if she do so, I shall know no
+peace this year." "Upon my hope of salvation," quoth Bruno, "'tis indeed
+a bad business, if so it really is. But thou knowest, Calandrino, that
+'twas but yesterday I counselled thee to make believe that 'twas so. I
+should be sorry to think thou didst befool thy wife and us at the same
+time." "Ah!" vociferated Calandrino, "wilt thou drive me to despair and
+provoke me to blaspheme God and the saints and all the company of heaven?
+I tell thee that the pig has been stolen from me in the night."
+Whereupon:--"If so it be," quoth Buffalmacco, "we must find a way, if we
+can, to recover it." "Find a way?" said Calandrino: "how can we compass
+that?" "Why," replied Buffalmacco, "'tis certain that no one has come
+from India to steal thy pig: it must have been one of thy neighbours, and
+if thou couldst bring them together, I warrant thee, I know how to make
+the assay with bread and cheese, and we will find out in a trice who has
+had the pig." "Ay," struck in Bruno, "make thy assay with bread and
+cheese in the presence of these gentry hereabout, one of whom I am sure
+has had the pig! why, the thing would be seen through: and they would not
+come." "What shall we do, then?" said Buffalmacco. Whereto Bruno made
+answer:--"It must be done with good pills of ginger and good vernaccia;
+and they must be bidden come drink with us. They will suspect nothing,
+and will come; and pills of ginger can be blessed just as well as bread
+and cheese." "Beyond a doubt, thou art right," quoth Buffalmacco; "and
+thou Calandrino, what sayst thou? Shall we do as Bruno says?" "Nay, I
+entreat you for the love of God," quoth Calandrino, "do even so: for if I
+knew but who had had the pig, I should feel myself half consoled for my
+loss." "Go to, now," quoth Bruno, "I am willing to do thy errand to
+Florence for these commodities, if thou givest me the money."
+
+Calandrino had some forty soldi upon him, which he gave to Bruno, who
+thereupon hied him to Florence to a friend of his that was an apothecary,
+and bought a pound of good pills of ginger, two of which, being of
+dog-ginger, he caused to be compounded with fresh hepatic aloes, and then
+to be coated with sugar like the others; and lest they should be lost, or
+any of the others mistaken for them, he had a slight mark set upon them
+by which he might readily recognize them. He also bought a flask of good
+vernaccia, and, thus laden, returned to the farm, and said to
+Calandrino:--"To-morrow morning thou wilt bid those whom thou suspectest
+come hither to drink with thee: as 'twill be a saint's day, they will all
+come readily enough; and to-night I and Buffalmacco will say the
+incantation over the pills, which in the morning I will bring to thee
+here, and for our friendship's sake will administer them myself, and do
+and say all that needs to be said and done." So Calandrino did as Bruno
+advised, and on the morrow a goodly company, as well of young men from
+Florence, that happened to be in the village, as of husbandmen, being
+assembled in front of the church around the elm, Bruno and Buffalmacco
+came, bearing a box containing the ginger, and the flask of wine, and
+ranged the folk in a circle. Whereupon: "Gentlemen," said Bruno, "'tis
+meet I tell you the reason why you are gathered here, that if aught
+unpleasant to you should befall, you may have no ground for complaint
+against me. Calandrino here was the night before last robbed of a fine
+pig, and cannot discover who has had it; and, for that it must have been
+stolen by some one of us here, he would have each of you take and eat one
+of these pills and drink of this vernaccia. Wherefore I forthwith do you
+to wit, that whoso has had the pig will not be able to swallow the pill,
+but will find it more bitter than poison, and will spit it out; and so,
+rather, than he should suffer this shame in presence of so many, 'twere
+perhaps best that he that has had the pig should confess the fact to the
+priest, and I will wash my hands of the affair."
+
+All professed themselves ready enough to eat the pills; and so, having
+set them in a row with Calandrino among them, Bruno, beginning at one
+end, proceeded to give each a pill, and when he came to Calandrino he
+chose one of the pills of dog-ginger and put it in his hand. Calandrino
+thrust it forthwith between his teeth and began to chew it; but no sooner
+was his tongue acquainted with the aloes, than, finding the bitterness
+intolerable, he spat it out. Now, the eyes of all the company being fixed
+on one another to see who should spit out his pill, Bruno, who, not
+having finished the distribution, feigned to be concerned with nought
+else, heard some one in his rear say:--"Ha! Calandrino, what means this?"
+and at once turning round, and marking that Calandrino had spit out his
+pill:--"Wait a while," quoth he, "perchance 'twas somewhat else that
+caused thee to spit: take another;" and thereupon whipping out the other
+pill of dog-ginger, he set it between Calandrino's teeth, and finished
+the distribution. Bitter as Calandrino had found the former pill, he
+found this tenfold more so; but being ashamed to spit it out, he kept it
+a while in his mouth and chewed it, and, as he did so, tears stood in his
+eyes that shewed as large as filberts, and at length, being unable to
+bear it any longer, he spat it out, as he had its predecessor. Which
+being observed by Buffalmacco and Bruno, who were then administering the
+wine, and by all the company, 'twas averred by common consent that
+Calandrino had committed the theft himself; for which cause certain of
+them took him severely to task.
+
+However, the company being dispersed, and Bruno and Buffalmacco left
+alone with Calandrino, Buffalmacco began on this wise:--"I never doubted
+but that thou hadst had it thyself, and wast minded to make us believe
+that it had been stolen from thee, that we might not have of thee so much
+as a single drink out of the price which thou gottest for it."
+Calandrino, with the bitterness of the aloes still on his tongue, fell a
+swearing that he had not had it. Whereupon:--"Nay, but, comrade," quoth
+Buffalmacco, "upon thy honour, what did it fetch? Six florins?" Whereto,
+Calandrino being now on the verge of desperation, Bruno added:--"Now be
+reasonable, Calandrino; among the company that ate and drank with us
+there was one that told me that thou hadst up there a girl that thou
+didst keep for thy pleasure, giving her what by hook or by crook thou
+couldst get together, and that he held it for certain that thou hadst
+sent her this pig. And thou art grown expert in this sort of cozenage.
+Thou tookest us one while adown the Mugnone a gathering black stones, and
+having thus started us on a wild-goose chase, thou madest off; and then
+wouldst fain have us believe that thou hadst found the stone: and now, in
+like manner, thou thinkest by thine oaths to persuade us that this pig
+which thou hast given away or sold, has been stolen from thee. But we
+know thy tricks of old; never another couldst thou play us; and, to be
+round with thee, this spell has cost us some trouble: wherefore we mean
+that thou shalt give us two pair of capons, or we will let Monna Tessa
+know all." Seeing that he was not believed, and deeming his mortification
+ample without the addition of his wife's resentment, Calandrino gave them
+the two pair of capons, with which, when the pig was salted, they
+returned to Florence, leaving Calandrino with the loss and the laugh
+against him.
+
+
+NOVEL VII.
+
+--
+A scholar loves a widow lady, who, being enamoured of another, causes him
+to spend a winter's night awaiting her in the snow. He afterwards by a
+stratagem causes her to stand for a whole day in July, naked upon a
+tower, exposed to the flies, the gadflies, and the sun.
+--
+
+Over the woes of poor Calandrino the ladies laughed not a little, and had
+laughed yet more, but that it irked them that those that had robbed him
+of the pig should also take from him the capons. However, the story being
+ended, the queen bade Pampinea give them hers: and thus forthwith
+Pampinea began:--Dearest ladies, it happens oftentimes that the artful
+scorner meets his match; wherefore 'tis only little wits that delight to
+scorn. In a series of stories we have heard tell of tricks played without
+aught in the way of reprisals following: by mine I purpose in some degree
+to excite your compassion for a gentlewoman of our city (albeit the
+retribution that came upon her was but just) whose flout was returned in
+the like sort, and to such effect that she well-nigh died thereof. The
+which to hear will not be unprofitable to you, for thereby you will learn
+to be more careful how you flout others, and therein you will do very
+wisely.
+
+'Tis not many years since there dwelt at Florence a lady young and fair,
+and of a high spirit, as also of right gentle lineage, and tolerably well
+endowed with temporal goods. Now Elena--such was the lady's name--being
+left a widow, was minded never to marry again, being enamoured of a
+handsome young gallant of her own choosing, with whom she, recking nought
+of any other lover, did, by the help of a maid in whom she placed much
+trust, not seldom speed the time gaily and with marvellous delight.
+Meanwhile it so befell that a young nobleman of our city, Rinieri by
+name, who had spent much time in study at Paris, not that he might
+thereafter sell his knowledge by retail, but that he might learn the
+reasons and causes of things, which accomplishment shews to most
+excellent advantage in a gentleman, returned to Florence, and there lived
+as a citizen in no small honour with his fellows, both by reason of his
+rank and of his learning. But as it is often the case that those who are
+most versed in deep matters are the soonest mastered by Love, so was it
+with Rinieri. For at a festal gathering, to which one day he went, there
+appeared before his eyes this Elena, of whom we spoke, clad in black, as
+is the wont of our Florentine widows, and shewing to his mind so much
+fairer and more debonair than any other woman that he had ever seen, that
+happy indeed he deemed the man might call himself, to whom God in His
+goodness should grant the right to hold her naked in his arms. So now and
+again he eyed her stealthily, and knowing that boons goodly and precious
+are not to be gotten without trouble, he made up his mind to study and
+labour with all assiduity how best to please her, that so he might win
+her love, and thereby the enjoyment of her.
+
+The young gentlewoman was not used to keep her eyes bent ever towards the
+infernal regions; but, rating herself at no less, if not more, than her
+deserts, she was dexterous to move them to and fro, and thus busily
+scanning her company, soon detected the men who regarded her with
+pleasure. By which means having discovered Rinieri's passion, she inly
+laughed, and said:--'Twill turn out that 'twas not for nothing that I
+came here to-day, for, if I mistake not, I have caught a gander by the
+bill. So she gave him an occasional sidelong glance, and sought as best
+she might to make him believe that she was not indifferent to him,
+deeming that the more men she might captivate by her charms, the higher
+those charms would be rated, and most especially by him whom she had made
+lord of them and her love. The erudite scholar bade adieu to
+philosophical meditation, for the lady entirely engrossed his mind; and,
+having discovered her house, he, thinking to please her, found divers
+pretexts for frequently passing by it. Whereon the lady, her vanity
+flattered for the reason aforesaid, plumed herself not a little, and
+shewed herself pleased to see him. Thus encouraged, the scholar found
+means to make friends with her maid, to whom he discovered his love,
+praying her to do her endeavour with her mistress, that he might have her
+favour. The maid was profuse of promises, and gave her mistress his
+message, which she no sooner heard, than she was convulsed with laughter,
+and replied:--"He brought sense enough hither from Paris: knowest thou
+where he has since been to lose it? Go to, now; let us give him that
+which he seeks. Tell him, when he next speaks to you of the matter, that
+I love him vastly more than he loves me, but that I must have regard to
+my reputation, so that I may be able to hold my head up among other
+ladies; which, if he is really the wise man they say, will cause him to
+affect me much more." Ah! poor woman! poor woman! she little knew, my
+ladies, how rash it is to try conclusions with scholars.
+
+The maid found the scholar, and did her mistress's errand. The scholar,
+overjoyed, proceeded to urge his suit with more ardour, to indite
+letters, and send presents. The lady received all that he sent her, but
+vouchsafed no answers save such as were couched in general terms: and on
+this wise she kept him dangling a long while. At last, having disclosed
+the whole affair to her lover, who evinced some resentment and jealousy,
+she, to convince him that his suspicions were groundless, and for that
+she was much importuned by the scholar, sent word to him by her maid,
+that never since he had assured her of his love, had occasion served her
+to do him pleasure, but that next Christmastide she hoped to be with him;
+wherefore, if he were minded to await her in the courtyard of her house
+on the night of the day next following the feast, she would meet him
+there as soon as she could. Elated as ne'er another, the scholar hied him
+at the appointed time to the lady's house, and being ushered into a
+courtyard by the maid, who forthwith turned the key upon him, addressed
+himself there to await the lady's coming.
+
+Now the lady's lover, by her appointment, was with her that evening; and,
+when they had gaily supped, she told him what she had in hand that night,
+adding:--"And so thou wilt be able to gauge the love which I have borne
+and bear this scholar, whom thou hast foolishly regarded as a rival." The
+lover heard the lady's words with no small delight, and waited in eager
+expectancy to see her make them good. The scholar, hanging about there in
+the courtyard, began to find it somewhat chillier than he would have
+liked, for it had snowed hard all day long, so that the snow lay
+everywhere thick on the ground; however, he bore it patiently, expecting
+to be recompensed by and by. After a while the lady said to her
+lover:--"Go we to the chamber and take a peep through a lattice at him of
+whom thou art turned jealous, and mark what he does, and how he will
+answer the maid, whom I have bidden go speak with him." So the pair hied
+them to a lattice, wherethrough they could see without being seen, and
+heard the maid call from another lattice to the scholar,
+saying:--"Rinieri, my lady is distressed as never woman was, for that one
+of her brothers is come here to-night, and after talking a long while
+with her, must needs sup with her, and is not yet gone, but, I think, he
+will soon be off; and that is the reason why she has not been able to
+come to thee, but she will come soon now. She trusts it does not irk thee
+to wait so long." Whereto the scholar, supposing that 'twas true, made
+answer:--"Tell my lady to give herself no anxiety on my account, until
+she can conveniently come to me, but to do so as soon as she may."
+Whereupon the maid withdrew from the window, and went to bed; while the
+lady said to her lover:--"Now, what sayst thou? Thinkst thou that, if I
+had that regard for him, which thou fearest, I would suffer him to tarry
+below there to get frozen?" Which said, the lady and her now partly
+reassured lover got them to bed, where for a great while they disported
+them right gamesomely, laughing together and making merry over the
+luckless scholar.
+
+The scholar, meanwhile, paced up and down the courtyard to keep himself
+warm, nor indeed had he where to sit, or take shelter: in this plight he
+bestowed many a curse upon the lady's brother for his long tarrying, and
+never a sound did he hear but he thought that 'twas the lady opening the
+door. But vain indeed were his hopes: the lady, having solaced herself
+with her lover until hard upon midnight, then said to him:--"How ratest
+thou our scholar, my soul? whether is the greater his wit, or the love I
+bear him, thinkst thou? Will the cold, that, of my ordaining, he now
+suffers, banish from thy breast the suspicion which my light words the
+other day implanted there?" "Ay, indeed, heart of my body!" replied the
+lover, "well wot I now that even as thou art to me, my weal, my
+consolation, my bliss, so am I to thee." "So:" quoth the lady, "then I
+must have full a thousand kisses from thee, to prove that thou sayst
+sooth." The lover's answer was to strain her to his heart, and give her
+not merely a thousand but a hundred thousand kisses. In such converse
+they dallied a while longer, and then:--"Get we up, now," quoth the lady,
+"that we may go see if 'tis quite spent, that fire, with which, as he
+wrote to me daily, this new lover of mine used to burn." So up they got
+and hied them to the lattice which they had used before, and peering out
+into the courtyard, saw the scholar dancing a hornpipe to the music that
+his own teeth made, a chattering for extremity of cold; nor had they ever
+seen it footed so nimbly and at such a pace. Whereupon:--"How sayst thou,
+sweet my hope?" quoth the lady. "Know I not how to make men dance without
+the aid of either trumpet or cornemuse?" "Indeed thou dost my heart's
+delight," replied the lover. Quoth then the lady:--"I have a mind that we
+go down to the door. Thou wilt keep quiet, and I will speak to him, and
+we shall hear what he says, which, peradventure, we shall find no less
+diverting than the sight of him."
+
+So they stole softly out of the chamber and down to the door, which
+leaving fast closed, the lady set her lips to a little hole that was
+there, and with a low voice called the scholar, who, hearing her call
+him, praised God, making too sure that he was to be admitted, and being
+come to the door, said:--"Here am I, Madam; open for God's sake; let me
+in, for I die of cold." "Oh! ay," replied the lady, "I know thou hast a
+chill, and of course, there being a little snow about, 'tis mighty cold;
+but well I wot the nights are colder far at Paris. I cannot let thee in
+as yet, because my accursed brother, that came to sup here this evening,
+is still with me; but he will soon take himself off, and then I will let
+thee in without a moment's delay. I have but now with no small difficulty
+given him the slip, to come and give thee heart that the waiting irk thee
+not." "Nay but, Madam," replied the scholar, "for the love of God, I
+entreat you, let me in, that I may have a roof over my head, because for
+some time past there has been never so thick a fall of snow, and 'tis yet
+snowing; and then I will wait as long as you please." "Alas! sweet my
+love," quoth the lady, "that I may not, for this door makes such a din,
+when one opens it, that my brother would be sure to hear, were I to let
+thee in; but I will go tell him to get him gone, and so come back and
+admit thee." "Go at once, then," returned the scholar, "and prithee, see
+that a good fire be kindled, that, when I get in, I may warm myself, for
+I am now so chilled through and through that I have scarce any feeling
+left." "That can scarce be," rejoined the lady, "if it be true, what thou
+hast so protested in thy letters, that thou art all afire for love of me:
+'tis plain to me now that thou didst but mock me. I now take my leave of
+thee: wait and be of good cheer."
+
+So the lady and her lover, who, to his immense delight, had heard all
+that passed, betook them to bed; however, little sleep had they that
+night, but spent the best part of it in disporting themselves and making
+merry over the unfortunate scholar, who, his teeth now chattering to such
+a tune that he seemed to have been metamorphosed into a stork, perceived
+that he had been befooled, and after making divers fruitless attempts to
+open the door and seeking means of egress to no better purpose, paced to
+and fro like a lion, cursing the villainous weather, the long night, his
+simplicity, and the perversity of the lady, against whom (the vehemence
+of his wrath suddenly converting the love he had so long borne her to
+bitter and remorseless enmity) he now plotted within himself divers and
+grand schemes of revenge, on which he was far more bent than ever he had
+been on forgathering with her.
+
+Slowly the night wore away, and with the first streaks of dawn the maid,
+by her mistress's direction, came down, opened the door of the courtyard,
+and putting on a compassionate air, greeted Rinieri with:--"Foul fall him
+that came here yestereve; he has afflicted us with his presence all night
+long, and has kept thee a freezing out here: but harkye, take it not
+amiss; that which might not be to-night shall be another time: well wot I
+that nought could have befallen that my lady could so ill brook." For all
+his wrath, the scholar, witting, like the wise man he was, that menaces
+serve but to put the menaced on his guard, kept pent within his breast
+that which unbridled resentment would have uttered, and said quietly, and
+without betraying the least trace of anger:--"In truth 'twas the worst
+night I ever spent, but I understood quite well that the lady was in no
+wise to blame, for that she herself, being moved to pity of me, came down
+here to make her excuses, and to comfort me; and, as thou sayst, what has
+not been to-night will be another time: wherefore commend me to her, and
+so, adieu!" Then, well-nigh paralysed for cold, he got him, as best he
+might, home, where, weary and fit to die for drowsiness, he threw himself
+on his bed, and fell into a deep sleep, from which he awoke to find that
+he had all but lost the use of his arms and legs. He therefore sent for
+some physicians, and having told them what a chill he had gotten, caused
+them have a care to his health. But, though they treated him with active
+and most drastic remedies, it cost them some time and no little trouble
+to restore to the cramped muscles their wonted pliancy, and, indeed, but
+for his youth and the milder weather that was at hand, 'twould have gone
+very hard with him.
+
+However, recover he did his health and lustihood, and nursing his enmity,
+feigned to be vastly more enamoured of his widow than ever before. And so
+it was that after a while Fortune furnished him with an opportunity of
+satisfying his resentment, for the gallant of whom the widow was
+enamoured, utterly regardless of the love she bore him, grew enamoured of
+another lady, and was minded no more to pleasure the widow in aught
+either by word or by deed; wherefore she now pined in tears and
+bitterness of spirit. However, her maid, who commiserated her not a
+little, and knew not how to dispel the dumps that the loss of her lover
+had caused her, espying the scholar pass along the street, as he had been
+wont, conceived the silly idea that the lady's lover might be induced to
+return to his old love by some practice of a necromantic order, wherein
+she doubted not that the scholar must be a thorough adept; which idea she
+imparted to her mistress. The lady, being none too well furnished with
+sense, never thinking that, if the scholar had been an adept in
+necromancy, he would have made use of it in his own behoof, gave heed to
+what her maid said, and forthwith bade her learn of the scholar whether
+he would place his skill at her service, and assure him that, if he so
+did, she, in guerdon thereof, would do his pleasure. The maid did her
+mistress's errand well and faithfully. The scholar no sooner heard the
+message, than he said to himself:--Praised be Thy name, O God, that the
+time is now come, when with Thy help I may be avenged upon this wicked
+woman of the wrong she did me in requital of the great love I bore her.
+Then, turning to the maid, he said:--"Tell my lady to set her mind at
+ease touching this matter; for that, were her lover in India, I would
+forthwith bring him hither to crave her pardon of that wherein he has
+offended her. As to the course she should take in the matter, I tarry but
+her pleasure to make it known to her, when and where she may think fit:
+tell her so, and bid her from me to be of good cheer." The maid carried
+his answer to her mistress, and arranged that they should meet in the
+church of Santa Lucia of Prato. Thither accordingly they came, the lady
+and the scholar, and conversed apart, and the lady, quite oblivious of
+the ill-usage by which she had well-nigh done him to death, opened all
+her mind to him, and besought him, if he had any regard to her welfare,
+to aid her to the attainment of her desire. "Madam," replied the scholar,
+"true it is that among other lore that I acquired at Paris was this of
+necromancy, whereof, indeed, I know all that may be known; but, as 'tis
+in the last degree displeasing to God, I had sworn never to practise it
+either for my own or for any other's behoof. 'Tis also true that the love
+I bear you is such that I know not how to refuse you aught that you would
+have me do for you; and so, were this single essay enough to consign me
+to hell, I would adventure it to pleasure you. But I mind me that 'tis a
+matter scarce so easy of performance as, perchance, you suppose, most
+especially when a woman would fain recover the love of a man, or a man
+that of a woman, for then it must be done by the postulant in proper
+person, and at night, and in lonely places, and unattended, so that it
+needs a stout heart; nor know I whether you are disposed to comply with
+these conditions." The lady, too enamoured to be discreet, made
+answer:--"So shrewdly does Love goad me, that there is nought I would not
+do to bring him back to me who wrongfully has deserted me; but tell me,
+prithee, wherein it is that I have need of this stout heart." "Madam,"
+returned the despiteful scholar, "'twill be my part to fashion in tin an
+image of him you would fain lure back to you: and when I have sent you
+the image, 'twill be for you, when the moon is well on the wane, to dip
+yourself, being stark naked, and the image, seven times in a flowing
+stream, and this you must do quite alone about the hour of first sleep,
+and afterwards, still naked, you must get you upon some tree or some
+deserted house, and facing the North, with the image in your hand, say
+certain words that I shall give you in writing seven times; which, when
+you have done, there will come to you two damsels, the fairest you ever
+saw, who will greet you graciously, and ask of you what you would fain
+have; to whom you will disclose frankly and fully all that you crave; and
+see to it that you make no mistake in the name; and when you have said
+all, they will depart, and you may then descend and return to the spot
+where you left your clothes, and resume them and go home. And rest
+assured, that before the ensuing midnight your lover will come to you in
+tears, and crave your pardon and mercy, and that thenceforth he will
+never again desert you for any other woman."
+
+The lady gave entire credence to the scholar's words, and deeming her
+lover as good as in her arms again, recovered half her wonted spirits:
+wherefore:--"Make no doubt," quoth she, "that I shall do as thou biddest;
+and indeed I am most favoured by circumstance; for in upper Val d'Arno I
+have an estate adjoining the river, and 'tis now July, so that to bathe
+will be delightful. Ay, and now I mind me that at no great distance from
+the river there is a little tower, which is deserted, save that now and
+again the shepherds will get them up by the chestnut-wood ladder to the
+roof, thence to look out for their strayed sheep; 'tis a place lonely
+indeed, and quite out of ken; and when I have clomb it, as climb it I
+will, I doubt not 'twill be the best place in all the world to give
+effect to your instructions."
+
+Well pleased to be certified of the lady's intention, the scholar, to
+whom her estate and the tower were very well known, made answer:--"I was
+never in those parts, Madam, and therefore know neither your estate nor
+the tower, but, if 'tis as you say, 'twill certainly be the best place in
+the world for your purpose. So, when time shall serve, I will send you
+the image and the orison. But I pray you, when you shall have your
+heart's desire, and know that I have done you good service, do not forget
+me, but keep your promise to me." "That will I without fail," quoth the
+lady; and so she bade him farewell, and went home. The scholar, gleefully
+anticipating the success of his enterprise, fashioned an image, and
+inscribed it with certain magical signs, and wrote some gibberish by way
+of orison, which in due time he sent to the lady, bidding her the very
+next night do as he had prescribed: and thereupon he hied him privily
+with one of his servants to the house of a friend hard by the tower,
+there to carry his purpose into effect. The lady, on her part, set out
+with her maid, and betook her to her estate, and, night being come, sent
+the maid to bed, as if she were minded to go to rest herself; and about
+the hour of first sleep stole out of the house and down to the tower,
+beside the Arno; and when, having carefully looked about her, she was
+satisfied that never a soul was to be seen or heard, she took off her
+clothes and hid them under a bush; then, with the image in her hand, she
+dipped herself seven times in the river; which done, she hied her with
+the image to the tower. The scholar, having at nightfall couched himself
+with his servant among the willows and other trees that fringed the bank,
+marked all that she did, and how, as she passed by him, the whiteness of
+her flesh dispelled the shades of night, and scanning attentively her
+bosom and every other part of her body, and finding them very fair, felt,
+as he bethought him what would shortly befall them, some pity of her;
+while, on the other hand, he was suddenly assailed by the solicitations
+of the flesh which caused that to stand which had been inert, and
+prompted him to sally forth of his ambush and take her by force, and have
+his pleasure of her. And, what with his compassion and passion, he was
+like to be worsted; but then as he bethought him who he was, and what a
+grievous wrong had been done him, and for what cause, and by whom, his
+wrath, thus rekindled, got the better of the other affections, so that he
+swerved not from his resolve, but suffered her to go her way.
+
+The lady ascended the tower, and standing with her face to the North,
+began to recite the scholar's orison, while he, having stolen into the
+tower but a little behind her, cautiously shifted the ladder that led up
+to the roof on which the lady stood, and waited to observe what she would
+say and do. Seven times the lady said the orison, and then awaited the
+appearance of the two damsels; and so long had she to wait--not to
+mention that the night was a good deal cooler than she would have
+liked--that she saw day break; whereupon, disconcerted that it had not
+fallen out as the scholar had promised, she said to herself:--I misdoubt
+me he was minded to give me such a night as I gave him; but if such was
+his intent, he is but maladroit in his revenge, for this night is not as
+long by a third as his was, besides which, the cold is of another
+quality. And that day might not overtake her there, she began to think of
+descending, but, finding that the ladder was removed, she felt as if the
+world had come to nought beneath her feet, her senses reeled, and she
+fell in a swoon upon the floor of the roof. When she came to herself, she
+burst into tears and piteous lamentations, and witting now very well that
+'twas the doing of the scholar, she began to repent her that she had
+first offended him, and then trusted him unduly, having such good cause
+to reckon upon his enmity; in which frame she abode long time. Then,
+searching if haply she might find some means of descent, and finding
+none, she fell a weeping again, and bitterly to herself she said:--Alas
+for thee, wretched woman! what will thy brothers, thy kinsmen, thy
+neighbours, nay, what will all Florence say of thee, when 'tis known that
+thou hast been found here naked? Thy honour, hitherto unsuspect, will be
+known to have been but a shew, and shouldst thou seek thy defence in
+lying excuses, if any such may be fashioned, the accursed scholar, who
+knows all thy doings, will not suffer it. Ah! poor wretch! that at one
+and the same time hast lost thy too dearly cherished gallant and thine
+own honour! And therewith she was taken with such a transport of grief,
+that she was like to cast herself from the tower to the ground. Then,
+bethinking her that if she might espy some lad making towards the tower
+with his sheep, she might send him for her maid, for the sun was now
+risen, she approached one of the parapets of the tower, and looked out,
+and so it befell that the scholar, awakening from a slumber, in which he
+had lain a while at the foot of a bush, espied her, and she him.
+Whereupon:--"Good-day, Madam," quoth he:--"are the damsels yet come?" The
+lady saw and heard him not without bursting afresh into a flood of tears,
+and besought him to come into the tower, that she might speak with him: a
+request which the scholar very courteously granted. The lady then threw
+herself prone on the floor of the roof; and, only her head being visible
+through the aperture, thus through her sobs she spoke:--"Verily, Rinieri,
+if I gave thee a bad night, thou art well avenged on me, for, though it
+be July, meseemed I was sore a cold last night, standing here with never
+a thread upon me, and, besides, I have so bitterly bewept both the trick
+I played thee and my own folly in trusting thee, that I marvel that I
+have still eyes in my head. Wherefore I implore thee, not for love of me,
+whom thou hast no cause to love, but for the respect thou hast for
+thyself as a gentleman, that thou let that which thou hast already done
+suffice thee to avenge the wrong I did thee, and bring me my clothes,
+that I may be able to get me down from here, and spare to take from me
+that which, however thou mightst hereafter wish, thou couldst not restore
+to me, to wit, my honour; whereas, if I deprived thee of that one night
+with me, 'tis in my power to give thee many another night in recompense
+thereof, and thou hast but to choose thine own times. Let this, then,
+suffice, and like a worthy gentleman be satisfied to have taken thy
+revenge, and to have let me know it: put not forth thy might against a
+woman: 'tis no glory to the eagle to have vanquished a dove; wherefore
+for God's and thine own honour's sake have mercy on me."
+
+The scholar, albeit his haughty spirit still brooded on her evil
+entreatment of him, yet saw her not weep and supplicate without a certain
+compunction mingling with his exultation; but vengeance he had desired
+above all things, to have wreaked it was indeed sweet, and albeit his
+humanity prompted him to have compassion on the hapless woman, yet it
+availed not to subdue the fierceness of his resentment; wherefore thus he
+made answer:--"Madam Elena, had my prayers (albeit art I had none to
+mingle with them tears and honeyed words as thou dost with thine)
+inclined thee that night, when I stood perishing with cold amid the snow
+that filled thy courtyard, to accord me the very least shelter, 'twere
+but a light matter for me to hearken now to thine; but, if thou art now
+so much more careful of thy honour than thou wast wont to be, and it irks
+thee to tarry there naked, address thy prayers to him in whose arms it
+irked thee not naked to pass that night thou mindest thee of, albeit thou
+wist that I with hasty foot was beating time upon the snow in thy
+courtyard to the accompaniment of chattering teeth: 'tis he that thou
+shouldst call to succour thee, to fetch thy clothes, to adjust the ladder
+for thy descent; 'tis he in whom thou shouldst labour to inspire this
+tenderness thou now shewest for thy honour, that honour which for his
+sake thou hast not scrupled to jeopardize both now and on a thousand
+other occasions. Why, then, call'st thou not him to come to thy succour?
+To whom pertains it rather than to him? Thou art his. And of whom will he
+have a care, whom will he succour, if not thee? Thou askedst him that
+night, when thou wast wantoning with him, whether seemed to him the
+greater, my folly or the love thou didst bear him: call him now, foolish
+woman, and see if the love thou bearest him, and thy wit and his, may
+avail to deliver thee from my folly. 'Tis now no longer in thy power to
+shew me courtesy of that which I no more desire, nor yet to refuse it,
+did I desire it. Reserve thy nights for thy lover, if so be thou go hence
+alive. Be they all thine and his. One of them was more than I cared for;
+'tis enough for me to have been flouted once. Ay, and by thy cunning of
+speech thou strivest might and main to conciliate my good-will, calling
+me worthy gentleman, by which insinuation thou wouldst fain induce me
+magnanimously to desist from further chastisement of thy baseness. But
+thy cajoleries shall not now cloud the eyes of my mind, as did once thy
+false promises. I know myself, and better now for thy one night's
+instruction than for all the time I spent at Paris. But, granted that I
+were disposed to be magnanimous, thou art not of those to whom 'tis meet
+to shew magnanimity. A wild beast such as thou, having merited vengeance,
+can claim no relief from suffering save death, though in the case of a
+human being 'twould suffice to temper vengeance with mercy, as thou
+saidst. Wherefore I, albeit no eagle, witting thee to be no dove, but a
+venomous serpent, mankind's most ancient enemy, am minded, bating no jot
+of malice or of might, to harry thee to the bitter end: natheless this
+which I do is not properly to be called vengeance but rather just
+retribution; seeing that vengeance should be in excess of the offence,
+and this my chastisement of thee will fall short of it; for, were I
+minded to be avenged on thee, considering what account thou madest of my
+heart and soul, 'twould not suffice me to take thy life, no, nor the
+lives of a hundred others such as thee; for I should but slay a vile and
+base and wicked woman. And what the Devil art thou more than any other
+pitiful baggage, that I should spare thy little store of beauty, which a
+few years will ruin, covering thy face with wrinkles? And yet 'twas not
+for want of will that thou didst fail to do to death a worthy gentleman,
+as thou but now didst call me, of whom in a single day of his life the
+world may well have more profit than of a hundred thousand like thee
+while the world shall last. Wherefore by this rude discipline I will
+teach thee what it is to flout men of spirit, and more especially what it
+is to flout scholars, that if thou escape with thy life thou mayst have
+good cause ever hereafter to shun such folly. But if thou art so fain to
+make the descent, why cast not thyself down, whereby, God helping, thou
+wouldst at once break thy neck, be quit of the torment thou endurest, and
+make me the happiest man alive? I have no more to say to thee. 'Twas my
+art and craft thus caused thee climb; be it thine to find the way down:
+thou hadst cunning enough, when thou wast minded to flout me."
+
+While the scholar thus spoke, the hapless lady wept incessantly, and
+before he had done, to aggravate her misery, the sun was high in the
+heaven. However, when he was silent, thus she made answer:--"Ah! ruthless
+man, if that accursed night has so rankled with thee, and thou deemest my
+fault so grave that neither my youth and beauty, nor my bitter tears, nor
+yet my humble supplications may move thee to pity, let this at least move
+thee, and abate somewhat of thy remorseless severity, that 'twas my act
+alone, in that of late I trusted thee, and discovered to thee all my
+secret, that did open the way to compass thy end, and make me cognizant
+of my guilt, seeing that, had I not confided in thee, on no wise mightst
+thou have been avenged on me; which thou wouldst seem so ardently to have
+desired. Turn thee, then, turn thee, I pray thee, from thy wrath, and
+pardon me. So thou wilt pardon me, and get me down hence, right gladly
+will I give up for ever my faithless gallant, and thou shalt be my sole
+lover and lord, albeit thou sayst hard things of my beauty, slight and
+shortlived as thou wouldst have it to be, which, however it may compare
+with others, is, I wot, to be prized, if for no other reason, yet for
+this, that 'tis the admiration and solace and delight of young men, and
+thou art not yet old. And albeit I have been harshly treated by thee, yet
+believe I cannot that thou wouldst have me do myself so shamefully to
+death as to cast me down, like some abandoned wretch, before thine eyes,
+in which, unless thou wast then, as thou hast since shewn thyself, a
+liar, I found such favour. Ah! have pity on me for God's and mercy's
+sake! The sun waxes exceeding hot, and having suffered not a little by
+the cold of last night, I now begin to be sorely afflicted by the heat."
+
+"Madam," rejoined the scholar, who held her in parley with no small
+delight, "'twas not for any love that thou didst bear me that thou
+trustedst me, but that thou mightst recover that which thou hadst lost,
+for which cause thou meritest but the greater punishment; and foolish
+indeed art thou if thou supposest that such was the sole means available
+for my revenge. I had a thousand others, and, while I feigned to love
+thee, I had laid a thousand gins for thy feet, into one or other of which
+in no long time, though this had not occurred, thou must needs have
+fallen, and that too to thy more grievous suffering and shame; nor was it
+to spare thee, but that I might be the sooner rejoiced by thy
+discomfiture that I took my present course. And though all other means
+had failed me, I had still the pen, with which I would have written of
+thee such matters and in such a sort, that when thou wist them, as thou
+shouldst have done, thou wouldst have regretted a thousand times that
+thou hadst ever been born. The might of the pen is greater far than they
+suppose, who have not proved it by experience. By God I swear, so may He,
+who has prospered me thus far in this my revenge, prosper me to the end!
+that I would have written of thee things that would have so shamed thee
+in thine own--not to speak of others'--sight that thou hadst put out
+thine eyes that thou mightst no more see thyself; wherefore chide not the
+sea, for that it has sent forth a tiny rivulet. For thy love, or whether
+thou be mine or no, nought care I. Be thou still his, whose thou hast
+been, if thou canst. Hate him as I once did, I now love him, by reason of
+his present entreatment of thee. Ye go getting you enamoured, ye women,
+and nought will satisfy you but young gallants, because ye mark that
+their flesh is ruddier, and their beards are blacker, than other folk's,
+and that they carry themselves well, and foot it featly in the dance, and
+joust; but those that are now more mature were even as they, and possess
+a knowledge which they have yet to acquire. And therewithal ye deem that
+they ride better, and cover more miles in a day, than men of riper age.
+Now that they dust the pelisse with more vigour I certainly allow, but
+their seniors, being more experienced, know better the places where the
+fleas lurk; and spare and dainty diet is preferable to abundance without
+savour: moreover hard trotting will gall and jade even the youngest,
+whereas an easy pace, though it bring one somewhat later to the inn, at
+any rate brings one thither fresh. Ye discern not, witless creatures that
+ye are, how much of evil this little shew of bravery serves to hide. Your
+young gallant is never content with one woman, but lusts after as many as
+he sets eyes on; nor is there any but he deems himself worthy of her:
+wherefore 'tis not possible that their love should be lasting, as thou
+hast but now proved and mayst only too truly witness. Moreover to be
+worshipped, to be caressed by their ladies they deem but their due; nor
+is there aught whereon they plume and boast them so proudly as their
+conquests: which impertinence has caused not a few women to surrender to
+the friars, who keep their own counsel. Peradventure thou wilt say that
+never a soul save thy maid, and I wist aught of thy loves; but, if so,
+thou hast been misinformed, and if thou so believest, thou dost
+misbelieve. Scarce aught else is talked of either in his quarter or in
+thine; but most often 'tis those most concerned whose ears such matters
+reach last. Moreover, they rob you, these young gallants, whereas the
+others make you presents. So, then, having made a bad choice, be thou
+still his to whom thou hast given thyself, and leave me, whom thou didst
+flout, to another, for I have found a lady of much greater charms than
+thine, and that has understood me better than thou didst. And that thou
+mayst get thee to the other world better certified of the desire of my
+eyes than thou wouldst seem to be here by my words, delay no more, but
+cast thyself down, whereby thy soul, taken forthwith, as I doubt not she
+will be, into the embrace of the Devil, may see whether thy headlong fall
+afflicts mine eyes, or no. But, for that I doubt thou meanest not thus to
+gladden me, I bid thee, if thou findest the sun begin to scorch thee,
+remember the cold thou didst cause me to endure, wherewith, by admixture,
+thou mayst readily temper the sun's heat."
+
+The hapless lady, seeing that the scholar's words were ever to the same
+ruthless effect, burst afresh into tears, and said:--"Lo, now, since
+nought that pertains to me may move thee, be thou at least moved by the
+love thou bearest this lady of whom thou speakest, who, thou sayst, is
+wiser than I, and loves thee, and for love of her pardon me, and fetch me
+my clothes, that I may resume them, and get me down hence." Whereat the
+scholar fell a laughing, and seeing that 'twas not a little past tierce,
+made answer:--"Lo, now, I know not how to deny thee, adjuring me as thou
+dost by such a lady: tell me, then, where thy clothes are, and I will go
+fetch them, and bring thee down." The lady, believing him, was somewhat
+comforted, and told him where she had laid her clothes. The scholar then
+quitted the tower, bidding his servant on no account to stir from his
+post, but to keep close by, and, as best he might, bar the tower against
+all comers until his return: which said, he betook him to the house of
+his friend, where he breakfasted much at his ease, and thereafter went to
+sleep. Left alone upon the tower, the lady, somewhat cheered by her fond
+hope, but still exceeding sorrowful, drew nigh to a part of the wall
+where there was a little shade, and there sate down to wait. And now lost
+in most melancholy brooding, now dissolved in tears, now plunged in
+despair of ever seeing the scholar return with her clothes, but never
+more than a brief while in any one mood, spent with grief and the night's
+vigil, she by and by fell asleep. The sun was now in the zenith, and
+smote with extreme fervour full and unmitigated upon her tender and
+delicate frame, and upon her bare head, insomuch that his rays did not
+only scorch but bit by bit excoriate every part of her flesh that was
+exposed to them, and so shrewdly burn her that, albeit she was in a deep
+sleep, the pain awoke her. And as by reason thereof she writhed a little,
+she felt the scorched skin part in sunder and shed itself, as will happen
+when one tugs at a parchment that has been singed by the fire, while her
+head ached so sore that it seemed like to split, and no wonder. Nor might
+she find place either to lie or to stand on the floor of the roof, but
+ever went to and fro, weeping. Besides which there stirred not the least
+breath of wind, and flies and gadflies did swarm in prodigious quantity,
+which, settling upon her excoriate flesh, stung her so shrewdly that
+'twas as if she received so many stabs with a javelin, and she was ever
+restlessly feeling her sores with her hands, and cursing herself, her
+life, her lover, and the scholar.
+
+Thus by the exorbitant heat of the sun, by the flies and gadflies,
+harassed, goaded, and lacerated, tormented also by hunger, and yet more
+by thirst, and, thereto by a thousand distressful thoughts, she panted
+herself erect on her feet, and looked about her, if haply she might see
+or hear any one, with intent, come what might, to call to him and crave
+his succour. But even this hostile Fortune had disallowed her. The
+husbandmen were all gone from the fields by reason of the heat, and
+indeed there had come none to work that day in the neighbourhood of the
+tower, for that all were employed in threshing their corn beside their
+cottages: wherefore she heard but the cicalas, while Arno, tantalizing
+her with the sight of his waters, increased rather than diminished her
+thirst. Ay, and in like manner, wherever she espied a copse, or a patch
+of shade, or a house, 'twas a torment to her, for the longing she had for
+it. What more is to be said of this hapless woman? Only this: that what
+with the heat of the sun above and the floor beneath her, and the
+scarification of her flesh in every part by the flies and gadflies, that
+flesh, which in the night had dispelled the gloom by its whiteness, was
+now become red as madder, and so besprent with clots of blood, that whoso
+had seen her would have deemed her the most hideous object in the world.
+
+Thus resourceless and hopeless, she passed the long hours, expecting
+death rather than aught else, until half none was come and gone; when,
+his siesta ended, the scholar bethought him of his lady, and being minded
+to see how she fared, hied him back to the tower, and sent his servant
+away to break his fast. As soon as the lady espied him, she came, spent
+and crushed by her sore affliction, to the aperture, and thus addressed
+him:--"Rinieri, the cup of thy vengeance is full to overflowing: for if I
+gave thee a night of freezing in my courtyard, thou hast given me upon
+this tower a day of scorching, nay, of burning, and therewithal of
+perishing of hunger and thirst: wherefore by God I entreat thee to come
+up hither, and as my heart fails me to take my life, take it thou, for
+'tis death I desire of all things, such and so grievous is my suffering.
+But if this grace thou wilt not grant, at least bring me a cup of water
+wherewith to lave my mouth, for which my tears do not suffice, so parched
+and torrid is it within." Well wist the scholar by her voice how spent
+she was; he also saw a part of her body burned through and through by the
+sun; whereby, and by reason of the lowliness of her entreaties, he felt
+some little pity for her; but all the same he made answer:--"Nay, wicked
+woman, 'tis not by my hands thou shalt die; thou canst die by thine own
+whenever thou art so minded; and to temper thy heat thou shalt have just
+as much water from me as I had fire from thee to mitigate my cold. I only
+regret that for the cure of my chill the physicians were fain to use
+foul-smelling muck, whereas thy burns can be treated with fragrant
+rose-water; and that, whereas I was like to lose my muscles and the use
+of my limbs, thou, for all thy excoriation by the heat, wilt yet be fair
+again, like a snake that has sloughed off the old skin." "Alas! woe's
+me!" replied the lady, "for charms acquired at such a cost, God grant
+them to those that hate me. But thou, most fell of all wild beasts, how
+hast thou borne thus to torture me? What more had I to expect of thee or
+any other, had I done all thy kith and kin to death with direst torments?
+Verily, I know not what more cruel suffering thou couldst have inflicted
+on a traitor that had put a whole city to the slaughter than this which
+thou hast allotted to me, to be thus roasted, and devoured of the flies,
+and therewithal to refuse me even a cup of water, though the very
+murderers condemned to death by the law, as they go to execution, not
+seldom are allowed wine to drink, so they but ask it. Lo now, I see that
+thou art inexorable in thy ruthlessness, and on no wise to be moved by my
+suffering: wherefore with resignation I will compose me to await death,
+that God may have mercy on my soul. And may this that thou doest escape
+not the searching glance of His just eyes." Which said, she dragged
+herself, sore suffering, toward the middle of the floor, despairing of
+ever escaping from her fiery torment, besides which, not once only, but a
+thousand times she thought to choke for thirst, and ever she wept
+bitterly and bewailed her evil fate. But at length the day wore to
+vespers, and the scholar, being sated with his revenge, caused his
+servant to take her clothes and wrap them in his cloak, and hied him with
+the servant to the hapless lady's house, where, finding her maid sitting
+disconsolate and woebegone and resourceless at the door:--"Good woman,"
+quoth he, "what has befallen thy mistress?" Whereto:--"Sir, I know not,"
+replied the maid. "I looked to find her this morning abed, for methought
+she went to bed last night, but neither there nor anywhere else could I
+find her, nor know I what is become of her; wherefore exceeding great is
+my distress; but have you, Sir, nought to say of the matter?" "Only
+this," returned the scholar, "that I would I had had thee with her there
+where I have had her, that I might have requited thee of thy offence,
+even as I have requited her of hers. But be assured that thou shalt not
+escape my hands, until thou hast from me such wage of thy labour that
+thou shalt never flout man more, but thou shalt mind thee of me." Then,
+turning to his servant, he said:--"Give her these clothes, and tell her
+that she may go bring her mistress away, if she will." The servant did
+his bidding; and the maid, what with the message and her recognition of
+the clothes, was mightily afraid, lest they had slain the lady, and
+scarce suppressing a shriek, took the clothes, and, bursting into tears,
+set off, as soon as the scholar was gone, at a run for the tower.
+
+Now one of the lady's husbandmen had had the misfortune to lose two of
+his hogs that day, and, seeking them, came to the tower not long after
+the scholar had gone thence, and peering about in all quarters, if haply
+he might have sight of his hogs, heard the woeful lamentation that the
+hapless lady made, and got him up into the tower, and called out as loud
+as he might:--"Who wails up there?" The lady recognized her husbandman's
+voice, and called him by name, saying:--"Prithee, go fetch my maid, and
+cause her come up hither to me." The husbandman, knowing her by her
+voice, replied:--"Alas! Madam, who set you there? Your maid has been
+seeking you all day long: but who would ever have supposed that you were
+there?" Whereupon he took the props of the ladder, and set them in
+position, and proceeded to secure the rounds to them with withies. Thus
+engaged he was found by the maid, who, as she entered the tower, beat her
+face and breast, and unable longer to keep silence, cried out:--"Alas,
+sweet my lady, where are you?" Whereto the lady made answer as loud as
+she might:--"O my sister, here above am I, weep not, but fetch me my
+clothes forthwith." Well-nigh restored to heart, to hear her mistress's
+voice, the maid, assisted by the husbandman, ascended the ladder, which
+he had now all but set in order, and gaining the roof, and seeing her
+lady lie there naked, spent and fordone, and liker to a half-burned stump
+than to a human being, she planted her nails in her face and fell a
+weeping over her, as if she were a corpse. However, the lady bade her for
+God's sake be silent, and help her to dress, and having learned from her
+that none knew where she had been, save those that had brought her her
+clothes and the husbandman that was there present, was somewhat consoled,
+and besought her for God's sake to say nought of the matter to any. Thus
+long time they conversed, and then the husbandman took the lady on his
+shoulders, for walk she could not, and bore her safely out of the tower.
+The unfortunate maid, following after with somewhat less caution,
+slipped, and falling from the ladder to the ground, broke her thigh, and
+roared for pain like any lion. So the husbandman set the lady down upon a
+grassy mead, while he went to see what had befallen the maid, whom,
+finding her thigh broken, he brought, and laid beside the lady: who,
+seeing her woes completed by this last misfortune, and that she of whom,
+most of all, she had expected succour, was lamed of a thigh, was
+distressed beyond measure, and wept again so piteously that not only was
+the husbandman powerless to comfort her, but was himself fain to weep.
+However, as the sun was now low, that they might not be there surprised
+by night, he, with the disconsolate lady's approval, hied him home, and
+called to his aid two of his brothers and his wife, who returned with
+him, bearing a plank, whereon they laid the maid, and so they carried her
+to the lady's house. There, by dint of cold water and words of cheer,
+they restored some heart to the lady, whom the husbandman then took upon
+his shoulders, and bore to her chamber. The husbandman's wife fed her
+with sops of bread, and then undressed her, and put her to bed. They also
+provided the means to carry her and the maid to Florence; and so 'twas
+done. There the lady, who was very fertile in artifices, invented an
+entirely fictitious story of what had happened as well in regard of her
+maid as of herself, whereby she persuaded both her brothers and her
+sisters and every one else, that 'twas all due to the enchantments of
+evil spirits. The physicians lost no time, and, albeit the lady's
+suffering and mortification were extreme, for she left more than one skin
+sticking to the sheets, they cured her of a high fever, and certain
+attendant maladies; as also the maid of her fractured thigh. The end of
+all which was that the lady forgot her lover, and having learned
+discretion, was thenceforth careful neither to love nor to flout; and the
+scholar, learning that the maid had broken her thigh, deemed his
+vengeance complete, and was satisfied to say never a word more of the
+affair. Such then were the consequences of her flouts to this foolish
+young woman, who deemed that she might trifle with a scholar with the
+like impunity as with others, not duly understanding that they--I say not
+all, but the more part--know where the Devil keeps his tail.(1)
+Wherefore, my ladies, have a care how you flout men, and more especially
+scholars.
+
+(1) I.e. are a match for the Devil himself in cunning.
+
+
+NOVEL VIII.
+
+--
+Two men keep with one another: the one lies with the other's wife: the
+other, being ware thereof, manages with the aid of his wife to have the
+one locked in a chest, upon which he then lies with the wife of him that
+is locked therein.
+--
+
+Grievous and distressful was it to the ladies to hear how it fared with
+Elena; but as they accounted the retribution in a measure righteous, they
+were satisfied to expend upon her but a moderate degree of compassion,
+albeit they censured the scholar as severe, intemperately relentless, and
+indeed ruthless, in his vengeance. However, Pampinea having brought the
+story to a close, the queen bade Fiammetta follow suit; and prompt to
+obey, Fiammetta thus spoke:--Debonair my ladies, as, methinks, your
+feelings must have been somewhat harrowed by the severity of the
+resentful scholar, I deem it meet to soothe your vexed spirits with
+something of a more cheerful order. Wherefore I am minded to tell you a
+little story of a young man who bore an affront in a milder temper, and
+avenged himself with more moderation. Whereby you may understand that one
+should be satisfied if the ass and the wall are quits, nor by indulging a
+vindictive spirit to excess turn the requital of a wrong into an occasion
+of wrong-doing. You are to know, then, that at Siena, as I have heard
+tell, there dwelt two young men of good substance, and, for plebeians, of
+good family, the one Spinelloccio Tanena, the other Zeppa di Mino, by
+name; who, their houses being contiguous in the Camollia,(1) kept ever
+together, and, by what appeared, loved each other as brothers, or even
+more so, and had each a very fine woman to wife. Now it so befell that
+Spinelloccio, being much in Zeppa's house, as well when Zeppa was not, as
+when he was there, grew so familiar with Zeppa's wife, that he sometimes
+lay with her; and on this wise they continued to forgather a great while
+before any one was ware of it. However, one of these days Zeppa being at
+home, though the lady wist it not, Spinelloccio came in quest of him;
+and, the lady sending word that he was not at home, he forthwith went
+upstairs and found the lady in the saloon, and seeing none else there,
+kissed her, as did she him.
+
+Zeppa saw all that passed, but said nothing and kept close, being minded
+to see how the game would end, and soon saw his wife and Spinelloccio,
+still in one another's arms, hie them to her chamber and lock themselves
+in: whereat he was mightily incensed. But, witting that to make a noise,
+or do aught else overt, would not lessen but rather increase his
+dishonour, he cast about how he might be avenged on such wise that,
+without the affair getting wind, he might content his soul; and having,
+after long pondering, hit, as he thought, upon the expedient, he budged
+not from his retreat, until Spinelloccio had parted from the lady.
+Whereupon he hied him into the chamber, and there finding the lady with
+her head-gear, which Spinelloccio in toying with her had disarranged,
+scarce yet readjusted:--"Madam, what dost thou?" quoth he.
+Whereto:--"Why, dost not see?" returned the lady. "Troth do I," rejoined
+he, "and somewhat else have I seen that I would I had not." And so he
+questioned her of what had passed, and she, being mightily afraid, did
+after long parley confess that which she might not plausibly deny, to
+wit, her intimacy with Spinelloccio, and fell a beseeching him with tears
+to pardon her. "Lo, now, wife," quoth Zeppa, "thou hast done wrong, and,
+so thou wouldst have me pardon thee, have a care to do exactly as I shall
+bid thee; to wit, on this wise: thou must tell Spinelloccio, to find some
+occasion to part from me to-morrow morning about tierce, and come hither
+to thee; and while he is here I will come back, and when thou hearest me
+coming, thou wilt get him into this chest, and lock him in there; which
+when thou hast done, I will tell thee what else thou hast to do, which
+thou mayst do without the least misgiving, for I promise thee I will do
+him no harm." The lady, to content him, promised to do as he bade, and
+she kept her word.
+
+The morrow came, and Zeppa and Spinelloccio being together about tierce,
+Spinelloccio, having promised the lady to come to see her at that hour,
+said to Zeppa:--"I must go breakfast with a friend, whom I had lief not
+keep in waiting; therefore, adieu!" "Nay, but," quoth Zeppa, "'tis not
+yet breakfast-time." "No matter," returned Spinelloccio, "I have business
+on which I must speak with him; so I must be in good time." Whereupon
+Spinelloccio took his leave of Zeppa, and having reached Zeppa's house by
+a slightly circuitous route, and finding his wife there, was taken by her
+into the chamber, where they had not been long together when Zeppa
+returned. Hearing him come, the lady, feigning no small alarm, bundled
+Spinelloccio into the chest, as her husband had bidden her, and having
+locked him in, left him there. As Zeppa came upstairs:--"Wife," quoth he,
+"is it breakfast time?" "Ay, husband, 'tis so," replied the lady.
+Whereupon:--"Spinelloccio is gone to breakfast with a friend to-day,"
+quoth Zeppa, "leaving his wife at home: get thee to the window, and call
+her, and bid her come and breakfast with us." The lady, whose fear for
+herself made her mighty obedient, did as her husband bade her; and after
+much pressing Spinelloccio's wife came to breakfast with them, though she
+was given to understand that her husband would not be of the company. So,
+she being come, Zeppa received her most affectionately, and taking her
+familiarly by the hand, bade his wife, in an undertone, get her to the
+kitchen; he then led Spinelloccio's wife into the chamber, and locked the
+door. Hearing the key turn in the lock:--"Alas!" quoth the lady, "what
+means this, Zeppa? Is't for this you have brought me here? Is this the
+love you bear Spinelloccio? Is this your loyalty to him as your friend
+and comrade?" By the time she had done speaking, Zeppa, still keeping
+fast hold of her, was beside the chest, in which her husband was locked.
+Wherefore:--"Madam," quoth he, "spare me thy reproaches, until thou hast
+heard what I have to say to thee. I have loved, I yet love, Spinelloccio
+as a brother; and yesterday, though he knew it not, I discovered that the
+trust I reposed in him has for its guerdon that he lies with my wife, as
+with thee. Now, for that I love him, I purpose not to be avenged upon him
+save in the sort in which he offended. He has had my wife, and I intend
+to have thee. So thou wilt not grant me what I crave of thee, be sure I
+shall not fail to take it; and having no mind to let this affront pass
+unavenged, will make such play with him that neither thou nor he shall
+ever be happy again." The lady hearkening, and by dint of his repeated
+asseverations coming at length to believe him:--"Zeppa mine," quoth she,
+"as this thy vengeance is to light upon me, well content am I; so only
+thou let not this which we are to do embroil me with thy wife, with whom,
+notwithstanding the evil turn she has done me, I am minded to remain at
+peace." "Have no fear on that score," replied Zeppa; "nay, I will give
+thee into the bargain a jewel so rare and fair that thou hast not the
+like." Which said, he took her in his arms and fell a kissing her, and
+having laid her on the chest, in which her husband was safe under lock
+and key, did there disport himself with her to his heart's content, as
+she with him.
+
+Spinelloccio in the chest heard all that Zeppa had said, and how he was
+answered by the lady, and the Trevisan dance that afterwards went on over
+his head; whereat his mortification was such that for a great while he
+scarce hoped to live through it; and, but for the fear he had of Zeppa,
+he would have given his wife a sound rating, close prisoner though he
+was. But, as he bethought him that 'twas he that had given the first
+affront, and that Zeppa had good cause for acting as he did, and that he
+had dealt with him considerately and as a good fellow should, he resolved
+that if it were agreeable to Zeppa, they should be faster friends than
+ever before. However, Zeppa, having had his pleasure with the lady, got
+down from the chest, and being reminded by the lady of his promise of the
+jewel, opened the door of the chamber and brought his wife in. Quoth she
+with a laugh:--"Madam, you have given me tit for tat," and never a word
+more. Whereupon:--"Open the chest," quoth Zeppa; and she obeying, he
+shewed the lady her Spinelloccio lying therein. 'Twould be hard to say
+whether of the twain was the more shame-stricken, Spinelloccio to be
+confronted with Zeppa, knowing that Zeppa wist what he had done, or the
+lady to meet her husband's eyes, knowing that he had heard what went on
+above his head. "Lo, here is the jewel I give thee," quoth Zeppa to her,
+pointing to Spinelloccio, who, as he came forth of the chest, blurted
+out:--"Zeppa, we are quits, and so 'twere best, as thou saidst a while
+ago to my wife, that we still be friends as we were wont, and as we had
+nought separate, save our wives, that henceforth we have them also in
+common." "Content," quoth Zeppa; and so in perfect peace and accord they
+all four breakfasted together. And thenceforth each of the ladies had two
+husbands, and each of the husbands two wives; nor was there ever the
+least dispute or contention between them on that score.
+
+(1) A suburb of Siena.
+
+
+NOVEL IX.
+
+--
+Bruno and Buffalmacco prevail upon Master Simone, a physician, to betake
+him by night to a certain place, there to be enrolled in a company that
+go the course. Buffalmacco throws him into a foul ditch, and there they
+leave him.
+--
+
+When the ladies had made merry a while over the partnership in wives
+established by the two Sienese, the queen, who now, unless she were
+minded to infringe Dioneo's privilege, alone remained to tell, began on
+this wise:--Fairly earned indeed, loving ladies, was the flout that
+Spinelloccio got from Zeppa. Wherefore my judgment jumps with that which
+Pampinea expressed a while ago, to wit, that he is not severely to be
+censured who bestows a flout on one that provokes it or deserves it; and
+as Spinelloccio deserved it, so 'tis my purpose to tell you of one that
+provoked it, for I deem that those from whom he received it, were rather
+to be commended than condemned. The man that got it was a physician, who,
+albeit he was but a blockhead, returned from Bologna to Florence in
+mantle and hood of vair.
+
+'Tis matter of daily experience that our citizens come back to us from
+Bologna, this man a judge, that a physician, and the other a notary,
+flaunting it in ample flowing robes, and adorned with the scarlet and the
+vair and other array most goodly to see; and how far their doings
+correspond with this fair seeming, is also matter of daily experience.
+Among whom 'tis not long since Master Simone da Villa, one whose
+patrimony was more ample than his knowledge, came back wearing the
+scarlet and a broad stripe(1) on the shoulder, and a doctor, as he called
+himself, and took a house in the street that we now call Via del
+Cocomero. Now this Master Simone, being thus, as we said, come back, had
+this among other singular habits, that he could never see a soul pass
+along the street, but he must needs ask any that was by, who that man
+was; and he was as observant of all the doings of men, and as sedulous to
+store his memory with such matters, as if they were to serve him to
+compound the drugs that he was to give his patients. Now, of all that he
+saw, those that he eyed most observantly were two painters, of whom here
+to-day mention has twice been made, Bruno, to wit, and Buffalmacco, who
+were ever together, and were his neighbours. And as it struck him that
+they daffed the world aside and lived more lightheartedly than any others
+that he knew, as indeed they did, he enquired of not a few folk as to
+their rank. And learning on all hands that they were poor men and
+painters, he could not conceive it possible that they should live thus
+contentedly in poverty, but made his mind up that, being, as he was
+informed, clever fellows, they must have some secret source from which
+they drew immense gains; for which reason he grew all agog to get on
+friendly terms with them, or any rate with one of them, and did succeed
+in making friends with Bruno.
+
+Bruno, who had not needed to be much with him in order to discover that
+this physician was but a dolt, had never such a jolly time in palming off
+his strange stories upon him, while the physician, on his part, was
+marvellously delighted with Bruno; to whom, having bidden him to
+breakfast, and thinking that for that reason he might talk familiarly
+with him, he expressed the amazement with which he regarded both him and
+Buffalmacco, for that, being but poor men, they lived so lightheartedly,
+and asked him to tell him how they managed. At which fresh proof of the
+doctor's simplicity and fatuity Bruno was inclined to laugh; but,
+bethinking him that 'twere best to answer him according to his folly, he
+said:--"Master, there are not many persons to whom I would disclose our
+manner of life, but, as you are my friend, and I know you will not let it
+go further, I do not mind telling you. The fact is that my comrade and I
+live not only as lightheartedly and jovially as you see, but much more
+so; and yet neither our art, nor any property that we possess, yields us
+enough to keep us in water: not that I would have you suppose that we go
+a thieving: no, 'tis that we go the course, and thereby without the least
+harm done to a soul we get all that we need, nay, all that we desire; and
+thus it is that we live so lightheartedly as you see." Which explanation
+the doctor believing none the less readily that he knew not what it
+meant, was lost in wonder, and forthwith burned with a most vehement
+desire to know what going the course might be, and was instant with Bruno
+to expound it, assuring him that he would never tell a soul. "Alas!
+Master," said Bruno, "what is this you ask of me? 'Tis a mighty great
+secret you would have me impart to you: 'twould be enough to undo me, to
+send me packing out of the world, nay, into the very jaws of Lucifer of
+San Gallo,(2) if it came to be known. But such is the respect in which I
+hold your quiditative pumpionship of Legnaia, and the trust I repose in
+you, that I am not able to deny you aught you ask of me; and so I will
+tell it you, on condition that you swear by the cross at Montesone that
+you will keep your promise, and never repeat it to a soul."
+
+The Master gave the required assurance. Whereupon:--"You are then to
+know," quoth Bruno, "sweet my Master, that 'tis not long since there was
+in this city a great master in necromancy, hight Michael Scott, for that
+he was of Scotland, and great indeed was the honour in which he was held
+by not a few gentlemen, most of whom are now dead; and when the time came
+that he must needs depart from Florence, he at their instant entreaty
+left behind him two pupils, adepts both, whom he bade hold themselves
+ever ready to pleasure those gentlemen who had done him honour. And very
+handsomely they did serve the said gentlemen in certain of their love
+affairs and other little matters; and finding the city and the manners of
+the citizens agreeable to them, they made up their minds to stay here
+always, and grew friendly and very intimate with some of the citizens,
+making no distinction between gentle and simple, rich or poor, so only
+they were such as were conformable to their ways. And to gratify these
+their friends they formed a company of perhaps twenty-five men, to meet
+together at least twice a month in a place appointed by them; where, when
+they are met, each utters his desire, and forthwith that same night they
+accomplish it. Now Buffalmacco and I, being extraordinarily great and
+close friends with these two adepts, were by them enrolled in this
+company, and are still members of it. And I assure you that, as often as
+we are assembled together, the adornments of the saloon in which we eat
+are a marvel to see, ay, and the tables laid as for kings, and the
+multitudes of stately and handsome servants, as well women as men, at the
+beck and call of every member of the company, and the basins, and the
+ewers, the flasks and the cups, and all else that is there for our
+service in eating and drinking, of nought but gold and silver, and
+therewithal the abundance and variety of the viands, suited to the taste
+of each, that are set before us, each in due course, these too be
+marvels. 'Twere vain for me to seek to describe to you the sweet concord
+that is there of innumerable instruments of music, and the tuneful songs
+that salute our ears; nor might I hope to tell you how much wax is burned
+at these banquets, or compute the quantity of the comfits that are eaten,
+or the value of the wines that are drunk. Nor, my pumpkin o' wit, would I
+have you suppose that, when we are there, we wear our common clothes,
+such as you now see me wear; nay, there is none there so humble but he
+shews as an emperor, so sumptuous are our garments, so splendid our
+trappings. But among all the delights of the place none may compare with
+the fair ladies, who, so one do but wish, are brought thither from every
+part of the world. Why, you might see there My Lady of the Barbanichs,
+the Queen of the Basques, the Consort of the Soldan, the Empress of
+Osbech, the Ciancianfera of Nornieca, the Semistante of Berlinzone, and
+the Scalpedra of Narsia. But why seek to enumerate them all? They include
+all the queens in the world, ay, even to the Schinchimurra of Prester
+John, who has the horns sprouting out of her nether end: so there's for
+you. Now when these ladies have done with the wine and the comfits, they
+tread a measure or two, each with the man at whose behest she is come,
+and then all go with their gallants to their chambers. And know that each
+of these chambers shews as a very Paradise, so fair is it, ay, and no
+less fragrant than the cases of aromatics in your shop when you are
+pounding the cumin: and therein are beds that you would find more goodly
+than that of the Doge of Venice, and 'tis in them we take our rest; and
+how busily they ply the treadle, and how lustily they tug at the frame to
+make the stuff close and compact, I leave you to imagine. However, among
+the luckiest of all I reckon Buffalmacco and myself; for that Buffalmacco
+for the most part fetches him the Queen of France, and I do the like with
+the Queen of England, who are just the finest women in the world, and we
+have known how to carry it with them so that we are the very eyes of
+their heads. So I leave it to your own judgment to determine whether we
+have not good cause to live and bear ourselves with a lighter heart than
+others, seeing that we are beloved of two such great queens, to say
+nothing of the thousand or two thousand florins that we have of them
+whenever we are so minded. Now this in the vulgar we call going the
+course, because, as the corsairs prey upon all the world, so do we;
+albeit with this difference, that, whereas they never restore their
+spoil, we do so as soon as we have done with it. So now, my worthy
+Master, you understand what we mean by going the course; but how close it
+behoves you to keep such a secret, you may see for yourself; so I spare
+you any further exhortations."
+
+The Master, whose skill did not reach, perhaps, beyond the treatment of
+children for the scurf, took all that Bruno said for gospel, and burned
+with so vehement a desire to be admitted into this company, that he could
+not have longed for the summum bonum itself with more ardour. So, after
+telling Bruno that indeed 'twas no wonder they bore them lightheartedly,
+he could scarce refrain from asking him there and then to have him
+enrolled, albeit he deemed it more prudent to defer his suit, until by
+lavishing honour upon him he had gained a right to urge it with more
+confidence. He therefore made more and more of him, had him to breakfast
+and sup with him, and treated him with extraordinary respect. In short,
+such and so constant was their intercourse that it seemed as though the
+Master wist not how to live without Bruno. As it went so well with him,
+Bruno, to mark his sense of the honour done him by the doctor, painted in
+his saloon a picture symbolical of Lent, and an Agnus Dei at the entrance
+of his chamber, and an alembic over his front door, that those who would
+fain consult him might know him from other physicians, besides a battle
+of rats and mice in his little gallery, which the doctor thought an
+extremely fine piece. And from time to time, when he had not supped with
+the Master, he would say to him:--"Last night I was with the company, and
+being a little tired of the Queen of England, I fetched me the Gumedra of
+the great Can of Tarisi." "Gumedra," quoth the Master; "what is she? I
+know not the meaning of these words." "Thereat, Master," replied Bruno,
+"I marvel not; for I have heard tell that neither Porcograsso nor
+Vannacena say aught thereof." "Thou wouldst say Ippocrasso and Avicenna,"
+returned the Master. "I'faith I know not," quoth Bruno. "I as ill know
+the meaning of your words as you of mine. But Gumedra in the speech of
+the great Can signifies the same as Empress in ours. Ah! a fine woman you
+would find her, and plenty of her! I warrant she would make you forget
+your drugs and prescriptions and plasters." And so, Bruno from time to
+time whetting the Master's appetite, and the Master at length thinking
+that by his honourable entreatment of him he had fairly made a conquest
+of Bruno, it befell that one evening, while he held the light for Bruno,
+who was at work on the battle of rats and mice, he determined to discover
+to him his desire; and as they were alone, thus he spoke:--"God knows,
+Bruno, that there lives not the man, for whom I would do as much as for
+thee: why, if thou wast to bid me go all the way from here to
+Peretola,(3) I almost think I would do so; wherefore I trust thou wilt
+not deem it strange if I talk to thee as an intimate friend and in
+confidence. Thou knowest 'tis not long since thou didst enlarge with me
+on thy gay company and their doings, which has engendered in me such a
+desire as never was to know more thereof. Nor without reason, as thou
+wilt discover, should I ever become a member of the said company, for I
+straightway give thee leave to make game of me, should I not then fetch
+me the fairest maid thou hast seen this many a day, whom I saw last year
+at Cacavincigli, and to whom I am entirely devoted; and by the body of
+Christ I offered her ten Bolognese groats, that she should pleasure me,
+and she would not. Wherefore I do most earnestly entreat thee to instruct
+me what I must do to fit myself for membership in the company; and never
+doubt that in me you will have a true and loyal comrade, and one that
+will do you honour. And above all thou seest how goodly I am of my
+person, and how well furnished with legs, and of face as fresh as a rose;
+and therewithal I am a doctor of medicine, and I scarce think you have
+any such among you; and not a little excellent lore I have, and many a
+good song by heart, of which I will sing thee one;" and forthwith he fell
+a singing.
+
+Bruno had such a mind to laugh, that he could scarce contain himself; but
+still he kept a grave countenance; and, when the Master had ended his
+song, and said:--"How likes it thee?" he answered:--"Verily, no lyre of
+straw could vie with you, so artargutically(4) you refine your strain."
+"I warrant thee," returned the Master, "thou hadst never believed it,
+hadst thou not heard me." "Ay, indeed, sooth sayst thou," quoth Bruno.
+"And I have other songs to boot," said the Master; "but enough of this at
+present. Thou must know that I, such as thou seest me, am a gentleman's
+son, albeit my father lived in the contado; and on my mother's side I
+come of the Vallecchio family. And as thou mayst have observed I have
+quite the finest library and wardrobe of all the physicians in Florence.
+God's faith! I have a robe that cost, all told, close upon a hundred
+pounds in bagattines(5) more than ten years ago. Wherefore I make most
+instant suit to thee that thou get me enrolled, which if thou do, God's
+faith! be thou never so ill, thou shalt pay me not a stiver for my
+tendance of thee." Whereupon Bruno, repeating to himself, as he had done
+many a time before, that the doctor was a very numskull:--"Master," quoth
+he, "shew a little more light here, and have patience until I have put
+the finishing touches to the tails of these rats, and then I will answer
+you." So he finished the tails, and then, putting on an air as if he were
+not a little embarrassed by the request:--"Master mine," quoth he, "I
+should have great things to expect from you; that I know: but yet what
+you ask of me, albeit to your great mind it seems but a little thing, is
+a weighty matter indeed for me; nor know I a soul in the world, to whom,
+though well able, I would grant such a request, save to you alone: and
+this I say not for friendship's sake alone, albeit I love you as I ought,
+but for that your discourse is so fraught with wisdom, that 'tis enough
+to make a beguine start out of her boots, much more, then, to incline me
+to change my purpose; and the more I have of your company, the wiser I
+repute you. Whereto I may add, that, if for no other cause, I should
+still be well disposed towards you for the love I see you bear to that
+fair piece of flesh of which you spoke but now. But this I must tell you:
+'tis not in my power to do as you would have me in this matter; but,
+though I cannot myself do the needful in your behalf, if you will pledge
+your faith, whole and solid as may be, to keep my secret, I will shew you
+how to go about it for yourself, and I make no doubt that, having this
+fine library and the other matters you spoke of a while ago, you will
+compass your end." Quoth then the Master:--"Nay, but speak freely; I see
+thou dost yet scarce know me, and how well I can keep a secret. There
+were few things that Messer Guasparruolo da Saliceto did, when he was
+Podesta of Forlinpopoli, that he did not confide to me, so safe he knew
+they would be in my keeping: and wouldst thou be satisfied that I say
+sooth? I assure you I was the first man whom he told that he was about to
+marry Bergamina: so there's for thee." "Well and good," said Bruno, "if
+such as he confided in you, well indeed may I do the like. Know, then,
+that you will have to proceed on this wise:--Our company is governed by a
+captain and a council of two, who are changed every six months: and on
+the calends without fail Buffalmacco will be captain, and I councillor:
+'tis so fixed: and the captain has not a little power to promote the
+admission and enrolment of whomsoever he will: wherefore, methinks, you
+would do well to make friends with Buffalmacco and honourably entreat
+him: he is one that, marking your great wisdom, will take a mighty liking
+to you forthwith; and when you have just a little dazzled him with your
+wisdom and these fine things of yours, you may make your request to him;
+and he will not know how to say no--I have already talked with him of
+you, and he is as well disposed to you as may be--and having so done you
+will leave the rest to me." Whereupon:--"Thy words are to me for an
+exceeding great joy," quoth the Master: "and if he be one that loves to
+converse with sages, he has but to exchange a word or two with me, and I
+will answer for it that he will be ever coming to see me; for so fraught
+with wisdom am I, that I could furnish a whole city therewith, and still
+remain a great sage."
+
+Having thus set matters in train, Bruno related the whole affair, point
+by point, to Buffalmacco, to whom it seemed a thousand years till he
+should be able to give Master Noodle that of which he was in quest. The
+doctor, now all agog to go the course, lost no time, and found no
+difficulty, in making friends with Buffalmacco, and fell to entertaining
+him, and Bruno likewise, at breakfast and supper in most magnificent
+style; while they fooled him to the top of his bent; for, being gentlemen
+that appreciated excellent wines and fat capons, besides other good cheer
+in plenty, they were inclined to be very neighbourly, and needed no
+second bidding, but, always letting him understand that there was none
+other whose company they relished so much, kept ever with him.
+
+However, in due time the Master asked of Buffalmacco that which he had
+before asked of Bruno. Whereat Buffalmacco feigned to be not a little
+agitated, and turning angrily to Bruno, made a great pother about his
+ears, saying:--"By the Most High God of Pasignano I vow I can scarce
+forbear to give thee that over the head that should make thy nose fall
+about thy heels, traitor that thou art, for 'tis thou alone that canst
+have discovered these secrets to the Master." Whereupon the Master
+interposed with no little vigour, averring with oaths that 'twas from
+another source that he had gotten his knowledge; and Buffalmacco at
+length allowed himself to be pacified by the sage's words. So turning to
+him:--"Master," quoth he, "'tis evident indeed that you have been at
+Bologna, and have come back hither with a mouth that blabs not, and that
+'twas on no pippin, as many a dolt does, but on the good long pumpkin
+that you learned your A B C; and, if I mistake not, you were baptized on
+a Sunday;(6) and though Bruno has told me that 'twas medicine you studied
+there, 'tis my opinion that you there studied the art of catching men, of
+which, what with your wisdom and your startling revelations, you are the
+greatest master that ever I knew." He would have said more, but the
+doctor, turning to Bruno, broke in with:--"Ah! what it is to consort and
+converse with the wise! Who but this worthy man would thus have read my
+mind through and through? Less quick by far to rate me at my true worth
+wast thou. But what said I when thou toldst me that Buffalmacco delighted
+to converse with sages? Confess now; have I not kept my word?" "Verily,"
+quoth Bruno, "you have more than kept it." Then, addressing
+Buffalmacco:--"Ah!" cried the Master, "what hadst thou said, hadst thou
+seen me at Bologna, where there was none, great or small, doctor or
+scholar, but was devoted to me, so well wist I how to entertain them with
+my words of wisdom. Nay more; let me tell thee that there was never a
+word I spoke but set every one a laughing, so great was the pleasure it
+gave them. And at my departure they all deplored it most bitterly, and
+would have had me remain, and by way of inducement went so far as to
+propose that I should be sole lecturer to all the students in medicine
+that were there; which offer I declined, for that I was minded to return
+hither, having vast estates here, that have ever belonged to my family;
+which, accordingly, I did." Quoth then Bruno to Buffalmacco:--"How shews
+it, now, man? Thou didst not believe me when I told thee what he was. By
+the Gospels there is never a physician in this city that has the lore of
+ass's urine by heart as he has: verily, thou wouldst not find his like
+between here and the gates of Paris. Now see if thou canst help doing as
+he would have thee." "'Tis even as Bruno says," observed the doctor, "but
+I am not understood here. You Florentines are somewhat slow of wit. Would
+you could see me in my proper element, among a company of doctors!"
+Whereupon:--"Of a truth, Master," quoth Buffalmacco, "your lore far
+exceeds any I should ever have imputed to you; wherefore, addressing you
+as 'tis meet to address a man of your wisdom, I give you disjointedly to
+understand that without fail I will procure your enrolment in our
+company."
+
+After this promise the honours lavished by the doctor upon the two men
+grew and multiplied; in return for which they diverted themselves by
+setting him a prancing upon every wildest chimera in the world; and
+promised, among other matters, to give him by way of mistress, the
+Countess of Civillari,(7) whom they averred to be the goodliest creature
+to be found in all the Netherlands of the human race; and the doctor
+asking who this Countess might be:--"Mature my gherkin," quoth
+Buffalmacco, "she is indeed a very great lady, and few houses are there
+in the world in which she has not some jurisdiction; nay, the very Friars
+Minors, to say nought of other folk, pay her tribute to the sound of the
+kettle-drum. And I may tell you that, when she goes abroad, she makes her
+presence very sensibly felt, albeit for the most part she keeps herself
+close: however, 'tis no great while since she passed by your door one
+night on her way to the Arno to bathe her feet and get a breath of air;
+but most of her time she abides at Laterina.(8) Serjeants has she not a
+few that go their rounds at short intervals, bearing, one and all, the
+rod and the bucket in token of her sovereignty, and barons in plenty in
+all parts, as Tamagnino della Porta,(9) Don Meta,(10) Manico di
+Scopa,(11) Squacchera,(12) and others, with whom I doubt not you are
+intimately acquainted, though you may not just now bear them in mind.
+Such, then, is the great lady, in whose soft arms we, if we delude not
+ourselves, will certainly place you, in which case you may well dispense
+with her of Cacavincigli."
+
+The doctor, who had been born and bred at Bologna, and understood not
+their words, found the lady quite to his mind; and shortly afterwards the
+painters brought him tidings of his election into the company. Then came
+the day of the nocturnal gathering, and the doctor had the two men to
+breakfast; and when they had breakfasted, he asked them after what manner
+he was to join the company. Whereupon:--"Lo, now, Master," quoth
+Buffalmacco, "you have need of a stout heart; otherwise you may meet with
+some let, to our most grievous hurt; and for what cause you have need of
+this stout heart, you shall hear. You must contrive to be to-night about
+the hour of first sleep on one of the raised tombs that have been lately
+placed outside of Santa Maria Novella; and mind that you wear one of your
+best gowns, that your first appearance may impress the company with a
+proper sense of your dignity, and also because, as we are informed, for
+we were not present at the time, the Countess, by reason that you are a
+gentleman, is minded to make you a Knight of the Bath at her own charges.
+So you will wait there, until one, whom we shall send, come for you: who,
+that you may know exactly what you have to expect, will be a beast black
+and horned, of no great size; and he will go snorting and bounding amain
+about the piazza in front of you, with intent to terrify you; but, when
+he perceives that you are not afraid, he will draw nigh you quietly, and
+when he is close by you, then get you down from the tomb, fearing
+nothing; and, minding you neither of God nor of the saints, mount him,
+and when you are well set on his back, then fold your arms upon your
+breast, as in submission, and touch him no more. Then, going gently, he
+will bear you to us; but once mind you of God, or the saints, or give way
+to fear, and I warn you, he might give you a fall, or dash you against
+something that you would find scarce pleasant; wherefore, if your heart
+misgives you, you were best not to come, for you would assuredly do
+yourself a mischief, and us no good at all." Quoth then the doctor:--"You
+know me not as yet; 'tis perchance because I wear the gloves and the long
+robe that you misdoubt me. Ah! did you but know what feats I have done in
+times past at Bologna, when I used to go after the women with my
+comrades, you would be lost in amazement. God's faith! on one of those
+nights there was one of them, a poor sickly creature she was too, and
+stood not a cubit in height, who would not come with us; so first I
+treated her to many a good cuff, and then I took her up by main force,
+and carried her well-nigh as far as a cross-bow will send a bolt, and so
+caused her, willy-nilly, come with us. And on another occasion I mind me
+that, having none other with me but my servant, a little after the hour
+of Ave Maria, I passed beside the cemetery of the Friars Minors, and,
+though that very day a woman had been there interred, I had no fear at
+all. So on this score you may make your minds easy; for indeed I am a man
+of exceeding great courage and prowess. And to appear before you with due
+dignity, I will don my scarlet gown, in which I took my doctor's degree,
+and it remains to be seen if the company will not give me a hearty
+welcome, and make me captain out of hand. Let me once be there, and you
+will see how things will go; else how is it that this countess, that has
+not yet seen me, is already so enamoured of me that she is minded to make
+me a Knight of the Bath? And whether I shall find knighthood agreeable,
+or know how to support the dignity well or ill, leave that to me."
+Whereupon:--"Well said, excellent well said," quoth Buffalmacco: "but
+look to it you disappoint us not, either by not coming or by not being
+found, when we send for you; and this I say, because 'tis cold weather,
+and you medical gentlemen take great care of your health." "God forbid,"
+replied the doctor, "I am none of your chilly folk; I fear not the cold:
+'tis seldom indeed, when I leave my bed a nights, to answer the call of
+nature, as one must at times, that I do more than throw a pelisse over my
+doublet; so rest assured that I shall be there."
+
+So they parted; and towards nightfall the Master found a pretext for
+leaving his wife, and privily got out his fine gown, which in due time he
+donned, and so hied him to the tombs, and having perched himself on one
+of them, huddled himself together, for 'twas mighty cold, to await the
+coming of the beast. Meanwhile Buffalmacco, who was a tall man and
+strong, provided himself with one of those dominos that were wont to be
+worn in certain revels which are now gone out of fashion; and enveloped
+in a black pelisse turned inside out, shewed like a bear, save that the
+domino had the face of a devil, and was furnished with horns: in which
+guise, Bruno following close behind to see the sport, he hied him to the
+piazza of Santa Maria Novella. And no sooner wist he that the Master was
+on the tomb, than he fell a careering in a most wild and furious manner
+to and fro the piazza, and snorting and bellowing and gibbering like one
+demented, insomuch that, as soon as the Master was ware of him, each
+several hair on his head stood on end, and he fell a trembling in every
+limb, being in sooth more timid than a woman, and wished himself safe at
+home: but as there he was, he strove might and main to keep his spirits
+up, so overmastering was his desire to see the marvels of which Bruno and
+Buffalmacco had told him. However, after a while Buffalmacco allowed his
+fury to abate, and came quietly up to the tomb on which the Master was,
+and stood still. The Master, still all of a tremble with fear, could not
+at first make up his mind, whether to get on the beast's back, or no; but
+at length, doubting it might be the worse for him if he did not mount the
+beast, he overcame the one dread by the aid of the other, got down from
+the tomb, saying under his breath:--"God help me!" and seated himself
+very comfortably on the beast's back; and then, still quaking in every
+limb, he folded his arms as he had been bidden.
+
+Buffalmacco now started, going on all-fours, at a very slow pace, in the
+direction of Santa Maria della Scala, and so brought the Master within a
+short distance of the Convent of the Ladies of Ripoli. Now, in that
+quarter there were divers trenches, into which the husbandmen of those
+parts were wont to discharge the Countess of Civillari, that she might
+afterwards serve them to manure their land. Of one of which trenches, as
+he came by, Buffalmacco skirted the edge, and seizing his opportunity,
+raised a hand, and caught the doctor by one of his feet, and threw him
+off his back and headforemost right into the trench, and then, making a
+terrific noise and frantic gestures as before, went bounding off by Santa
+Maria della Scala towards the field of Ognissanti, where he found Bruno,
+who had betaken him thither that he might laugh at his ease; and there
+the two men in high glee took their stand to observe from a distance how
+the bemired doctor would behave. Finding himself in so loathsome a place,
+the Master struggled might and main to raise himself and get out; and
+though again and again he slipped back, and swallowed some drams of the
+ordure, yet, bemired from head to foot, woebegone and crestfallen, he did
+at last get out, leaving his hood behind him. Then, removing as much of
+the filth as he might with his hands, knowing not what else to do, he got
+him home, where, by dint of much knocking, he at last gained admittance;
+and scarce was the door closed behind the malodorous Master, when Bruno
+and Buffalmacco were at it, all agog to hear after what manner he would
+be received by his wife. They were rewarded by hearing her give him the
+soundest rating that ever bad husband got. "Ah!" quoth she, "fine doings,
+these! Thou hast been with some other woman, and wast minded to make a
+brave shew in thy scarlet gown. So I was not enough for thee! not enough
+for thee forsooth, I that might content a crowd! Would they had choked
+thee with the filth in which they have soused thee; 'twas thy fit
+resting-place. Now, to think that a physician of repute, and a married
+man, should go by night after strange women!" Thus, and with much more to
+the like effect, while the doctor was busy washing himself, she ceased
+not to torment him until midnight.
+
+On the morrow, Bruno and Buffalmacco, having painted their bodies all
+over with livid patches to give them the appearance of having been
+thrashed, came to the doctor's house, and finding that he was already
+risen, went in, being saluted on all hands by a foul smell, for time had
+not yet served thoroughly to cleanse the house. The doctor, being
+informed that they were come to see him, advanced to meet them, and bade
+them good morning. Whereto Bruno and Buffalmacco, having prepared their
+answer, replied:--"No good morning shall you have from us: rather we pray
+God to give you bad years enough to make an end of you, seeing that there
+lives no more arrant and faithless traitor. 'Tis no fault of yours, if
+we, that did our best to honour and pleasure you, have not come by a
+dog's death; your faithlessness has cost us to-night as many sound blows
+as would more than suffice to keep an ass a trotting all the way from
+here to Rome; besides which, we have been in peril of expulsion from the
+company in which we arranged for your enrolment. If you doubt our words,
+look but at our bodies, what a state they are in." And so, baring their
+breasts they gave him a glimpse of the patches they had painted there,
+and forthwith covered them up again. The doctor would have made them his
+excuses, and recounted his misfortunes, and how he had been thrown into
+the trench. But Buffalmacco broke in with:--"Would he had thrown you from
+the bridge into the Arno! Why must you needs mind you of God and the
+saints? Did we not forewarn you?" "God's faith," returned the doctor,
+"that did I not." "How?" quoth Buffalmacco, "you did not? You do so above
+a little; for he that we sent for you told us that you trembled like an
+aspen, and knew not where you were. You have played us a sorry trick; but
+never another shall do so; and as for you, we will give you such requital
+thereof as you deserve." The doctor now began to crave their pardon, and
+to implore them for God's sake not to expose him to shame, and used all
+the eloquence at his command to make his peace with them. And if he had
+honourably entreated them before, he thenceforth, for fear they should
+publish his disgrace, did so much more abundantly, and courted them both
+by entertaining them at his table and in other ways. And so you have
+heard how wisdom is imparted to those that get it not at Bologna.
+
+(1) The distinguishing mark of a doctor in those days. Fanfani, Vocab.
+della Lingua Italiana, 1891, "Batolo."
+
+(2) Perhaps an allusion to some frightful picture.
+
+(3) About four miles from Florence.
+
+(4) In the Italian "artagoticamente," a word of Boccaccio's own minting.
+
+(5) A Venetian coin of extremely low value, being reckoned as 1/4 of the
+Florentine quattrino.
+
+(6) I.e. without salt, that Florentine symbol of wit, not being so
+readily procurable on a holiday as on working-days.
+
+(7) A public sink at Florence.
+
+(8) In the contado of Arezzo: the equivoque is tolerably obvious.
+
+(9) Slang for an ill-kept jakes.
+
+(10) Also slang: signifying a pyramidal pile of ordure.
+
+(11) Broom-handle.
+
+(12) The meaning of this term may perhaps be divined from the sound.
+
+
+NOVEL X.
+
+--
+A Sicilian woman cunningly conveys from a merchant that which he has
+brought to Palermo; he, making a shew of being come back thither with far
+greater store of goods than before, borrows money of her, and leaves her
+in lieu thereof water and tow.
+--
+
+How much in divers passages the queen's story moved the ladies to
+laughter, it boots not to ask: none was there in whose eyes the tears
+stood not full a dozen times for excess of merriment. However, it being
+ended, and Dioneo witting that 'twas now his turn, thus spake
+he:--Gracious ladies, 'tis patent to all that wiles are diverting in the
+degree of the wiliness of him that is by them beguiled. Wherefore, albeit
+stories most goodly have been told by you all, I purpose to relate one
+which should afford you more pleasure than any that has been told, seeing
+that she that was beguiled was far more cunning in beguiling others than
+any of the beguiled of whom you have spoken.
+
+There was, and perhaps still is, a custom in all maritime countries that
+have ports, that all merchants arriving there with merchandise, should,
+on discharging, bring all their goods into a warehouse, called in many
+places "dogana," and maintained by the state, or the lord of the land;
+where those that are assigned to that office allot to each merchant, on
+receipt of an invoice of all his goods and the value thereof, a room in
+which he stores his goods under lock and key; whereupon the said officers
+of the dogana enter all the merchant's goods to his credit in the book of
+the dogana, and afterwards make him pay duty thereon, or on such part as
+he withdraws from the warehouse. By which book of the dogana the brokers
+not seldom find out the sorts and quantities of the merchandise that is
+there, and also who are the owners thereof, with whom, as occasion
+serves, they afterwards treat of exchanges, barters, sales and other
+modes of disposing of the goods. Which custom obtained, as in many other
+places, so also at Palermo in Sicily, where in like manner there were and
+are not a few women, fair as fair can be, but foes to virtue, who by
+whoso knows them not would be reputed great and most virtuous ladies. And
+being given not merely to fleece but utterly to flay men, they no sooner
+espy a foreign merchant in the city, than they find out from the book of
+the dogana how much he has there and what he is good for; and then by
+caressing and amorous looks and gestures, and words of honeyed sweetness,
+they strive to entice and allure the merchant to their love, and not
+seldom have they succeeded, and wrested from him great part or the whole
+of his merchandise; and of some they have gotten goods and ship and flesh
+and bones, so delightsomely have they known how to ply the shears.
+
+Now 'tis not long since one of our young Florentines, Niccolo da Cignano
+by name, albeit he was called Salabaetto, arrived there, being sent by
+his masters with all the woollen stuffs that he had not been able to
+dispose of at Salerno fair, which might perhaps be worth five hundred
+florins of gold; and having given the invoice to the officers of the
+dogana and stored the goods, Salabaetto was in no hurry to get them out
+of bond, but took a stroll or two about the city for his diversion. And
+as he was fresh-complexioned and fair and not a little debonair, it so
+befell that one of these ladies that plied the shears, and called herself
+Jancofiore, began to ogle him. Whereof he taking note, and deeming that
+she was a great lady, supposed that she was taken by his good looks, and
+cast about how he might manage this amour with all due discretion;
+wherefore, saying nought to a soul, he began to pass to and fro before
+her house. Which she observing, occupied herself for a few days in
+inflaming his passion, and then affecting to be dying of love for him,
+sent privily to him a woman that she had in her service, and who was an
+adept in the arts of the procuress. She, after not a little palaver, told
+him, while the tears all but stood in her eyes, that for his handsome
+person and winsome air her mistress was so enamoured of him, that she
+found no peace by day or by night; and therefore, if 'twere agreeable to
+him, there was nought she desired so much as to meet him privily at a
+bagnio: whereupon she drew a ring from her purse, and gave it him by way
+of token from her mistress. Overjoyed as ne'er another to hear such good
+news, Salabaetto took the ring, and, after drawing it across his eyes and
+kissing it, put it on his finger, and told the good woman that, if
+Madonna Jancofiore loved him, she was well requited, for that he loved
+her more dearly than himself, and that he was ready to meet her wherever
+and whenever she might see fit. With which answer the procuress hied her
+back to her mistress, and shortly afterwards Salabaetto was informed that
+he was to meet the lady at a certain bagnio at vespers of the ensuing
+day.
+
+So, saying nought to a soul of the matter, he hied him punctually at the
+appointed hour to the bagnio, and found that it had been taken by the
+lady; nor had he long to wait before two female slaves made their
+appearance, bearing on their heads, the one a great and goodly mattress
+of wadding, and the other a huge and well-filled basket; and having laid
+the mattress on a bedstead in one of the rooms of the bagnio, they
+covered it with a pair of sheets of the finest fabric, bordered with
+silk, and a quilt of the whitest Cyprus buckram, with two
+daintily-embroidered pillows. The slaves then undressed and got into the
+bath, which they thoroughly washed and scrubbed: whither soon afterwards
+the lady, attended by other two female slaves, came, and made haste to
+greet Salabaetto with the heartiest of cheer; and when, after heaving
+many a mighty sigh, she had embraced and kissed him:--"I know not," quoth
+she, "who but thou could have brought me to this, such a fire hast thou
+kindled in my soul, little dog of a Tuscan!" Whereupon she was pleased
+that they should undress, and get into the bath, and two of the slaves
+with them; which, accordingly, they did; and she herself, suffering none
+other to lay a hand upon him, did with wondrous care wash Salabaetto from
+head to foot with soap perfumed with musk and cloves; after which she let
+the slaves wash and shampoo herself. The slaves then brought two spotless
+sheets of finest texture, which emitted such a scent of roses, that 'twas
+as if there was nought there but roses, in one of which having wrapped
+Salabaetto, and in the other the lady, they bore them both to bed, where,
+the sheets in which they were enfolded being withdrawn by the slaves as
+soon as they had done sweating, they remained stark naked in the others.
+The slaves then took from the basket cruets of silver most goodly, and
+full, this of rose-water, that of water of orange-blossom, a third of
+water of jasmine-blossom, and a fourth of nanfa(1) water, wherewith they
+sprinkled them: after which, boxes of comfits and the finest wines being
+brought forth, they regaled them a while. To Salabaetto 'twas as if he
+were in Paradise; a thousand times he scanned the lady, who was indeed
+most beautiful; and he counted each hour as a hundred years until the
+slaves should get them gone, and he find himself in the lady's arms.
+
+At length, by the lady's command, the slaves departed, leaving a lighted
+torch in the room, and then the lady and Salabaetto embraced, and to
+Salabaetto's prodigious delight, for it seemed to him that she was all
+but dissolved for love of him, tarried there a good while. However, the
+time came when the lady must needs rise: so she called the slaves, with
+whose help they dressed, regaled them again for a while with wine and
+comfits, and washed their faces and hands with the odoriferous waters.
+Then as they were going, quoth the lady to Salabaetto:--"If it be
+agreeable to thee, I should deem it a very great favour if thou wouldst
+come to-night to sup and sleep with me." Salabaetto, who, captivated by
+her beauty and her studied graciousness, never doubted but he was dear to
+her as her very heart, made answer:--"Madam, there is nought you can
+desire but is in the last degree agreeable to me; wherefore to-night and
+ever 'tis my purpose to do whatsoever you may be pleased to command." So
+home the lady hied her, and having caused a brave shew to be made in her
+chamber with her dresses and other paraphernalia, and a grand supper to
+be prepared, awaited Salabaetto; who, being come there as soon as 'twas
+dark, had of her a gladsome welcome, and was regaled with an excellent
+and well-served supper. After which, they repaired to the chamber, where
+he was saluted by a wondrous sweet odour of aloe-wood, and observed that
+the bed was profusely furnished with birds,(2) after the fashion of
+Cyprus, and that not a few fine dresses were hanging upon the pegs. Which
+circumstances did, one and all, beget in him the belief that this must be
+a great and wealthy lady; and, though he had heard a hint or two to the
+contrary touching her life, he would by no means credit them; nor,
+supposing that she had perchance taken another with guile, would he
+believe that the same thing might befall him. So to his exceeding great
+solace, he lay with her that night, and ever grew more afire for her. On
+the morrow, as she was investing him with a fair and dainty girdle of
+silver, with a goodly purse attached:--"Sweet my Salabaetto," quoth she,
+"prithee forget me not; even as my person, so is all that I have at thy
+pleasure, and all that I can at thy command."
+
+Salabaetto then embraced and kissed her, and so bade her adieu, and
+betook him to the place where the merchants were wont to congregate. And
+so it befell that he, continuing to consort with her from time to time,
+and being never a denier the poorer thereby, disposed of his merchandise
+for ready money and at no small profit; whereof not by him but by another
+the lady was forthwith advised. And Salabaetto being come to see her one
+evening, she greeted him gaily and gamesomely, and fell a kissing and
+hugging him, and made as if she were so afire for love of him that she
+was like to die thereof in his arms; and offered to give him two most
+goodly silver cups that she had, which Salabaetto would not accept,
+having already had from her (taking one time with another) fully thirty
+florins of gold, while he had not been able to induce her to touch so
+much as a groat of his money. But when by this shew of passion and
+generosity she had thoroughly kindled his flame, in came, as she had
+arranged, one of her slaves, and spoke to her; whereupon out of the room
+she went, and after a while came back in tears, and threw herself prone
+on the bed, and set up the most dolorous lamentation that ever woman
+made. Whereat Salabaetto wondering, took her in his arms, and mingled his
+tears with hers, and said:--"Alas! heart of my body! what ails thee thus
+of a sudden? Wherefore art thou so distressed? Ah! tell me the reason, my
+soul." The lady allowed him to run on in this strain for a good while,
+and then:--"Alas! sweet my lord," quoth she, "I know not either what to
+do or what to say. I have but now received a letter from Messina, in
+which my brother bids me sell, if need be, all that I have here, and send
+him without fail within eight days a thousand florins of gold: otherwise
+he will forfeit his head. I know not how to come by them so soon: had I
+but fifteen days, I would make a shift to raise them in a quarter where I
+might raise a much larger sum, or I would sell one of our estates; but,
+as this may not be, would I had been dead or e'er this bad news had
+reached me!" Which said, affecting to be utterly broken-hearted, she
+ceased not to weep.
+
+Salabaetto, the ardour of whose passion had in great measure deprived him
+of the sagacity which the circumstances demanded, supposed that the tears
+were genuine enough, and the words even more so. Wherefore:--"Madam,"
+quoth he, "I could not furnish you with a thousand, but if five hundred
+florins of gold would suffice, they are at your service, if you think you
+could repay them within fifteen days; and you may deem yourself in luck's
+way, for 'twas only yesterday that I sold my woollens, which had I not
+done, I could not have lent you a groat." "Alas" returned the lady, "then
+thou hast been in straits for money? Oh! why didst thou not apply to me?
+Though I have not a thousand at my command, I could have given thee quite
+a hundred, nay indeed two hundred florins. By what thou hast said thou
+hast made me hesitate to accept the service that thou proposest to render
+me." Which words fairly delivered Salabaetto into the lady's hands,
+insomuch that:--"Madam," quoth he, "I would not have you decline my help
+for such a scruple; for had my need been as great as yours, I should
+certainly have applied to you." Quoth then the lady:--"Ah! Salabaetto
+mine, well I wot that the love thou bearest me is a true and perfect
+love, seeing that, without waiting to be asked, thou dost so handsomely
+come to my aid with so large a sum of money. And albeit I was thine
+without this token of thy love, yet, assuredly, it has made me thine in
+an even greater degree; nor shall I ever forget that 'tis to thee I owe
+my brother's life. But God knows I take thy money from thee reluctantly,
+seeing that thou art a merchant, and 'tis by means of money that
+merchants conduct all their affairs; but, as necessity constrains me, and
+I have good hope of speedily repaying thee, I will even take it, and by
+way of security, if I should find no readier method, I will pawn all that
+I have here." Which said, she burst into tears, and fell upon Salabaetto,
+pressing her cheek upon his.
+
+Salabaetto tried to comfort her; and having spent the night with her, on
+the morrow, being minded to shew himself her most devoted servant,
+brought her, without awaiting any reminder, five hundred fine florins of
+gold: which she, laughing at heart while the tears streamed from her
+eyes, took, Salabaetto trusting her mere promise of repayment. Now that
+the lady had gotten the money, the complexion of affairs began to alter;
+and whereas Salabaetto had been wont to have free access to her, whenever
+he was so minded, now for one reason or another he was denied admittance
+six times out of seven; nor did she greet him with the same smile, or
+shower on him the same caresses, or do him the same cheer as of yore. So
+a month, two months, passed beyond the time when he was to have been
+repaid his money; and when he demanded it, he was put off with words.
+Whereby Salabaetto, being now ware of the cheat which his slender wit had
+suffered the evil-disposed woman to put upon him, and also that, having
+neither writing nor witness against her, he was entirely at her mercy in
+regard of his claim, and being, moreover, ashamed to lodge any complaint
+with any one, as well because he had been forewarned of her character, as
+because he dreaded the ridicule to which his folly justly exposed him,
+was chagrined beyond measure, and inly bewailed his simplicity. And his
+masters having written to him, bidding him change the money and remit it
+to them, he, being apprehensive that, making default as he must, he
+should, if he remained there, be detected, resolved to depart; and having
+taken ship, he repaired, not, as he should have done, to Pisa, but to
+Naples; where at that time resided our gossip, Pietro dello Canigiano,
+treasurer of the Empress of Constantinople, a man of great sagacity and
+acuteness, and a very great friend of Salabaetto and his kinsfolk; to
+whom trusting in his great discretion, Salabaetto after a while
+discovered his distress, telling him what he had done, and the sorry
+plight in which by consequence he stood, and craving his aid and counsel,
+that he might the more readily find means of livelihood there, for that
+he was minded never to go back to Florence. Impatient to hear of such
+folly:--"'Twas ill done of thee," quoth Canigiano, "thou hast misbehaved
+thyself, wronged thy masters, and squandered an exorbitant sum in
+lewdness; however, 'tis done, and we must consider of the remedy." And
+indeed, like the shrewd man that he was, he had already bethought him
+what was best to be done; and forthwith he imparted it to Salabaetto.
+Which expedient Salabaetto approving, resolved to make the adventure; and
+having still a little money, and being furnished with a loan by
+Canigiano, he provided himself with not a few bales well and closely
+corded, and bought some twenty oil-casks, which he filled, and having put
+all on shipboard, returned to Palermo. There he gave the invoice of the
+bales, as also of the oil-casks, to the officers of the dogana, and
+having them all entered to his credit, laid them up in the store-rooms,
+saying that he purposed to leave them there until the arrival of other
+merchandise that he expected.
+
+Which Jancofiore learning, and being informed that the merchandise, that
+he had brought with him, was worth fully two thousand florins of gold, or
+even more, besides that which he expected, which was valued at more than
+three thousand florins of gold, bethought her that she had not aimed high
+enough, and that 'twere well to refund him the five hundred, if so she
+might make the greater part of the five thousand florins her own.
+Wherefore she sent for him, and Salabaetto, having learned his lesson of
+cunning, waited on her. Feigning to know nought of the cargo he had
+brought with him, she received him with marvellous cheer, and
+began:--"Lo, now, if thou wast angry with me because I did not repay thee
+thy money in due time:" but Salabaetto interrupted her, saying with a
+laugh:--"Madam 'tis true I was a little vexed, seeing that I would have
+plucked out my heart to pleasure you; but listen, and you shall learn the
+quality of my displeasure. Such and so great is the love I bear you, that
+I have sold the best part of all that I possess, whereby I have already
+in this port merchandise to the value of more than two thousand florins,
+and expect from the Levant other goods to the value of above three
+thousand florins, and mean to set up a warehouse in this city, and live
+here, to be ever near you, for that I deem myself more blessed in your
+love than any other lover that lives." Whereupon:--"Harkye, Salabaetto,"
+quoth the lady, "whatever advantages thee is mighty grateful to me,
+seeing that I love thee more than my very life, and right glad am I that
+thou art come back with intent to stay, for I hope to have many a good
+time with thee; but something I must say to thee by way of excuse, for
+that, whilst thou wast thinking of taking thy departure, there were times
+when thou wast disappointed of seeing me, and others when thou hadst not
+as gladsome a welcome as thou wast wont to have, and therewithal I kept
+not the time promised for the repayment of thy money. Thou must know that
+I was then in exceeding great trouble and tribulation, and whoso is thus
+bested, love he another never so much, cannot greet him with as gladsome
+a mien, or be as attentive to him, as he had lief; and thou must further
+know that 'tis by no means an easy matter for a lady to come by a
+thousand florins of gold: why, 'tis every day a fresh lie, and never a
+promise kept; and so we in our turn must needs lie to others; and 'twas
+for this cause, and not for any fault of mine, that I did not repay thee
+thy money; however, I had it but a little while after thy departure, and
+had I known whither to send it, be sure I would have remitted it to thee;
+but, as that I wist not, I have kept it safe for thee." She then produced
+a purse, in which were the very same coins that he had brought her, and
+placed it in his hand, saying:--"Count and see if there are five hundred
+there." 'Twas the happiest moment Salabaetto had yet known, as, having
+told them out, and found the sum exact, he made answer:--"Madam, I know
+that you say sooth, and what you have done abundantly proves it;
+wherefore, and for the love I bear you, I warrant you there is no sum you
+might ask of me on any occasion of need, with which, if 'twere in my
+power, I would not accommodate you; whereof, when I am settled here, you
+will be able to assure yourself."
+
+Having thus in words reinstated himself as her lover, he proceeded to
+treat her as his mistress, whereto she responded, doing all that was in
+her power to pleasure and honour him, and feigning to be in the last
+degree enamoured of him. But Salabaetto, being minded to requite her
+guile with his own, went to her one evening, being bidden to sup and
+sleep with her, with an aspect so melancholy and dolorous, that he shewed
+as he had lief give up the ghost. Jancofiore, as she embraced and kissed
+him, demanded of him the occasion of his melancholy. Whereto he, having
+let her be instant with him a good while, made answer:--"I am undone, for
+that the ship, having aboard her the goods that I expected, has been
+taken by the corsairs of Monaco, and held to ransom in ten thousand
+florins of gold, of which it falls to me to pay one thousand, and I have
+not a denier, for the five hundred thou repaidst me I sent forthwith to
+Naples to buy stuffs for this market, and were I to sell the merchandise
+I have here, as 'tis not now the right time to sell, I should scarce get
+half the value; nor am I as yet so well known here as to come by any to
+help me at this juncture, and so what to do or what to say I know not;
+but this I know that, if I send not the money without delay, my
+merchandise will be taken to Monaco, and I shall never touch aught of it
+again." Whereat the lady was mightily annoyed, being apprehensive of
+losing all, and bethought her how she might prevent the goods going to
+Monaco: wherefore:--"God knows," quoth she, "that for the love I bear
+thee I am not a little sorry for thee: but what boots it idly to distress
+oneself? Had I the money, God knows I would lend it thee forthwith, but I
+have it not. One, indeed, there is that accommodated me a day or two ago
+with five hundred florins that I stood in need of, but he requires a
+heavy usance, not less than thirty on the hundred, and if thou shouldst
+have recourse to him, good security must be forthcoming. Now for my part
+I am ready, so I may serve thee, to pledge all these dresses, and my
+person to boot, for as much as he will tend thee thereon; but how wilt
+thou secure the balance?"
+
+Salabaetto divined the motive that prompted her thus to accommodate him,
+and that she was to lend the money herself; which suiting his purpose
+well, he first of all thanked her, and then said that, being constrained
+by necessity, he would not stand out against exorbitant terms, adding
+that, as to the balance, he would secure it upon the merchandise that he
+had at the dogana by causing it to be entered in the name of the lender;
+but that he must keep the key of the storerooms, as well that he might be
+able to shew the goods, if requested, as to make sure that none of them
+should be tampered with or changed or exchanged. The lady said that this
+was reasonable, and that 'twas excellent security. So, betimes on the
+morrow, the lady sent for a broker, in whom she reposed much trust, and
+having talked the matter over with him, gave him a thousand florins of
+gold, which the broker took to Salabaetto, and thereupon had all that
+Salabaetto had at the dogana entered in his name; they then had the
+script and counterscript made out, and, the arrangement thus concluded,
+went about their respective affairs. Salabaetto lost no time in getting
+aboard a bark with his five hundred florins of gold, and being come to
+Naples, sent thence a remittance which fully discharged his obligation to
+his masters that had entrusted him with the stuffs: he also paid all that
+he owed to Pietro dello Canigiano and all his other creditors, and made
+not a little merry with Canigiano over the trick he had played the
+Sicilian lady. He then departed from Naples, and being minded to have
+done with mercantile affairs, betook him to Ferrara.
+
+Jancofiore, surprised at first by Salabaetto's disappearance from
+Palermo, waxed after a while suspicious; and, when she had waited fully
+two months, seeing that he did not return, she caused the broker to break
+open the store-rooms. And trying first of all the casks, she found them
+full of sea-water, save that in each there was perhaps a hog's-head of
+oil floating on the surface. Then undoing the bales, she found them all,
+save two that contained stuffs, full of tow, and in short their whole
+contents put together were not worth more than two hundred florins.
+Wherefore Jancofiore, knowing herself to have been outdone, regretted
+long and bitterly the five hundred florins of gold that she had refunded,
+and still more the thousand that she had lent, repeating many a time to
+herself:--Who with a Tuscan has to do, Had need of eyesight quick and
+true. Thus, left with the loss and the laugh against her, she discovered
+that there were others as knowing as she.
+
+(1) Neither the Vocab. degli Accad. della Crusca nor the Ricchezze
+attempts to define the precise nature of this scent, which Fanfani
+identifies with that of the orange-blossom.
+
+(2) I.e. with a sort of musical boxes in the shape of birds.
+
+No sooner was Dioneo's story ended, than Lauretta, witting that therewith
+the end of her sovereignty was come, bestowed her meed of praise on
+Pietro Canigiano for his good counsel, and also on Salabaetto for the
+equal sagacity which he displayed in carrying it out, and then, taking
+off the laurel wreath, set it on the head of Emilia, saying
+graciously:--"I know not, Madam, how debonair a queen you may prove, but
+at least we shall have in you a fair one. Be it your care, then, that you
+exercise your authority in a manner answerable to your charms." Which
+said, she resumed her seat.
+
+Not so much to receive the crown, as to be thus commended to her face and
+before the company for that which ladies are wont to covet the most,
+Emilia was a little shamefast; a tint like that of the newly-blown rose
+overspread her face, and a while she stood silent with downcast eyes:
+then, as the blush faded away, she raised them; and having given her
+seneschal her commands touching all matters pertaining to the company,
+thus she spake:--"Sweet my ladies, 'tis matter of common experience that,
+when the oxen have swunken a part of the day under the coercive yoke,
+they are relieved thereof and loosed, and suffered to go seek their
+pasture at their own sweet will in the woods; nor can we fail to observe
+that gardens luxuriant with diversity of leafage are not less, but far
+more fair to see, than woods wherein is nought but oaks. Wherefore I deem
+that, as for so many days our discourse has been confined within the
+bounds of certain laws, 'twill be not only meet but profitable for us,
+being in need of relaxation, to roam a while, and so recruit our strength
+to undergo the yoke once more. And therefore I am minded that to-morrow
+the sweet tenor of your discourse be not confined to any particular
+theme, but that you be at liberty to discourse on such wise as to each
+may seem best; for well assured am I that thus to speak of divers matters
+will be no less pleasurable than to limit ourselves to one topic; and by
+reason of this enlargement my successor in the sovereignty will find you
+more vigorous, and be therefore all the more forward to reimpose upon you
+the wonted restraint of our laws." Having so said, she dismissed all the
+company until supper-time.
+
+All approved the wisdom of what the queen had said; and being risen
+betook them to their several diversions, the ladies to weave garlands and
+otherwise disport them, the young men to play and sing; and so they
+whiled away the hours until supper-time; which being come, they gathered
+about the fair fountain, and took their meal with gay and festal cheer.
+Supper ended, they addressed them to their wonted pastime of song and
+dance. At the close of which the queen, notwithstanding the songs which
+divers of the company had already gladly accorded them, called for
+another from Pamfilo, who without the least demur thus sang:--
+
+So great, O Love, the bliss
+  Through thee I prove, so jocund my estate,
+  That in thy flame to burn I bless my fate!
+
+Such plenitude of joy my heart doth know
+  Of that high joy and rare,
+  Wherewith thou hast me blest,
+  As, bounds disdaining, still doth overflow,
+  And by my radiant air
+  My blitheness manifest;
+  For by thee thus possessed
+  With love, where meeter 'twere to venerate,
+  I still consume within thy flame elate.
+
+Well wot I, Love, no song may e'er reveal,
+  Nor any sign declare
+  What in my heart is pent
+  Nay, might they so, that were I best conceal,
+  Whereof were others ware,
+  'Twould serve but to torment
+  Me, whose is such content,
+  That weak were words and all inadequate
+  A tittle of my bliss to adumbrate.
+
+Who would have dreamed that e'er in mine embrace
+  Her I should clip and fold
+  Whom there I still do feel,
+  Or as 'gainst her face e'er to lay my face
+  Attain such grace untold,
+  And unimagined weal?
+  Wherefore my bliss I seal
+  Of mine own heart within the circuit strait,
+  And still in thy sweet flame luxuriate.
+
+So ended Pamfilo his song: whereto all the company responded in full
+chorus; nor was there any but gave to its words an inordinate degree of
+attention, endeavouring by conjecture to penetrate that which he
+intimated that 'twas meet he should keep secret. Divers were the
+interpretations hazarded, but all were wide of the mark. At length,
+however, the queen, seeing that ladies and men alike were fain of rest,
+bade all betake them to bed.
+
+
+--
+Endeth here the eighth day of the Decameron, beginneth the ninth, in
+which, under the rule of Emilia, discourse is had, at the discretion of
+each, of such matters as most commend themselves to each in turn.
+--
+
+The luminary, before whose splendour the night takes wing, had already
+changed the eighth heaven(1) from azure to the lighter blue,(2) and in
+the meads the flowerets were beginning to lift their heads, when Emilia,
+being risen, roused her fair gossips, and, likewise, the young men. And
+so the queen leading the way at an easy pace, and the rest of the company
+following, they hied them to a copse at no great distance from the
+palace. Where, being entered, they saw the goats and stags and other wild
+creatures, as if witting that in this time of pestilence they had nought
+to fear from the hunter, stand awaiting them with no more sign of fear
+than if they had been tamed: and so, making now towards this, now towards
+the other of them as if to touch them, they diverted themselves for a
+while by making them skip and run. But, as soon as the sun was in the
+ascendant, by common consent they turned back, and whoso met them,
+garlanded as they were with oak-leaves, and carrying store of fragrant
+herbs or flowers in their hands might well have said:--"Either shall
+death not vanquish these, or they will meet it with a light heart." So,
+slowly wended they their way, now singing, now bandying quips and merry
+jests, to the palace, where they found all things in order meet, and
+their servants in blithe and merry cheer. A while they rested, nor went
+they to table until six ditties, each gayer than that which went before,
+had been sung by the young men and the ladies; which done, they washed
+their hands, and all by the queen's command were ranged by the seneschal
+at the table; and, the viands being served, they cheerily took their
+meal: wherefrom being risen, they trod some measures to the accompaniment
+of music; and then, by the queen's command, whoso would betook him to
+rest. However, the accustomed hour being come, they all gathered at the
+wonted spot for their discoursing, and the queen, bending her regard upon
+Filomena, bade her make a beginning of the day's story-telling, which she
+with a smile did on this wise:--
+
+(1) I.e. in the Ptolemaic system, the region of the fixed stars.
+
+(2) Cilestro: a word for which we have no exact equivalent, the dominant
+note of the Italian sky, when the sun is well up, being its intense
+luminosity.
+
+
+NOVEL I.
+
+--
+Madonna Francesca, having two lovers, the one Rinuccio, the other
+Alessandro, by name, and loving neither of them, induces the one to
+simulate a corpse in a tomb, and the other to enter the tomb to fetch him
+out: whereby, neither satisfying her demands, she artfully rids herself
+of both.
+--
+
+Madam, since so it pleases you, well pleased am I that in this vast, this
+boundless field of discourse, which you, our Lady Bountiful, have
+furnished us withal, 'tis mine to run the first course; wherein if I do
+well, I doubt not that those, who shall follow me, will do not only well
+but better. Such, sweet my ladies, has been the tenor of our discourse,
+that times not a few the might of Love, how great and singular it is, has
+been set forth, but yet I doubt the topic is not exhausted, nor would it
+be so, though we should continue to speak of nought else for the space of
+a full year. And as Love not only leads lovers to debate with themselves
+whether they were not best to die, but also draws them into the houses of
+the dead in quest of the dead, I am minded in this regard to tell you a
+story, wherein you will not only discern the power of Love, but will also
+learn how the ready wit of a worthy lady enabled her to disembarrass
+herself of two lovers, whose love was displeasing to her.
+
+Know, then, that there dwelt aforetime in the city of Pistoia a most
+beauteous widow lady, of whom it so befell that two of our citizens, the
+one Rinuccio Palermini, the other Alessandro Chiarmontesi, by name,
+tarrying at Pistoia, for that they were banished from Florence, became,
+neither witting how it stood with the other, in the last degree
+enamoured. Wherefore each used all his arts to win the love of Madonna
+Francesca de' Lazzari--such was the lady's name--and she, being thus
+continually plied with ambassages and entreaties on the part of both, and
+having indiscreetly lent ear to them from time to time, found it no easy
+matter discreetly to extricate herself, when she was minded to be rid of
+their pestering, until it occurred to her to adopt the following
+expedient, to wit, to require of each a service, such as, though not
+impracticable, she deemed none would actually perform, to the end that,
+they making default, she might have a decent and colourable pretext for
+refusing any longer to receive their ambassages. Which expedient was on
+this wise. One day there died in Pistoia, and was buried in a tomb
+outside the church of the Friars Minors, a man, who, though his forbears
+had been gentlefolk, was reputed the very worst man, not in Pistoia only,
+but in all the world, and therewithal he was of form and feature so
+preternaturally hideous that whoso knew him not could scarce see him for
+the first time without a shudder. Now, the lady pondering her design on
+the day of this man's death, it occurred to her that he might in a
+measure subserve its accomplishment: wherefore she said to her
+maid:--"Thou knowest to what worry and annoyance I am daily put by the
+ambassages of these two Florentines, Rinuccio, and Alessandro. Now I am
+not disposed to gratify either of them with my love, and therefore, to
+shake them off, I am minded, as they make such great protestations, to
+put them to the proof by requiring of each something which I am sure he
+will not perform, and thus to rid myself of their pestering: so list what
+I mean to do. Thou knowest that this morning there was interred in the
+ground of the Friars Minors this Scannadio (such was the name of the bad
+man of whom we spoke but now) whose aspect, while he yet lived, appalled
+even the bravest among us. Thou wilt therefore go privily, to Alessandro,
+and say to him:--'Madonna Francesca sends thee word by me that the time
+is now come when thou mayst win that which thou hast so much desired, to
+wit, her love and joyance thereof, if thou be so minded, on the following
+terms. For a reason, which thou shalt learn hereafter, one of her kinsmen
+is to bring home to her to-night the corpse of Scannadio, who was buried
+this morning; and she, standing in mortal dread of this dead man, would
+fain not see him; wherefore she prays thee to do her a great service, and
+be so good as to get thee this evening at the hour of first sleep to the
+tomb wherein Scannadio is buried, and go in, and having wrapped thyself
+in his grave-clothes, lie there, as thou wert Scannadio, himself, until
+one come for thee, when thou must say never a word, but let him carry
+thee forth, and bear thee to Madonna Francesca's house, where she will
+give thee welcome, and let thee stay with her, until thou art minded to
+depart, and, for the rest, thou wilt leave it to her.' And if he says
+that he will gladly do so, well and good; if not, then thou wilt tell him
+from me, never more to shew himself where I am, and, as he values his
+life, to have a care to send me no more ambassages. Which done, thou wilt
+go to Rinuccio Palermini, and wilt say to him:--'Madonna Francesca lets
+thee know that she is ready in all respects to comply with thy wishes, so
+thou wilt do her a great service, which is on this wise: to-night, about
+midnight, thou must go to the tomb wherein was this morning interred
+Scannadio, and saying never a word, whatever thou mayst hear or otherwise
+be ware of, bear him gently forth to Madonna Francesca's house, where
+thou shalt learn wherefore she requires this of thee, and shalt have thy
+solace of her; and if thou art not minded to obey her in this, see that
+thou never more send her ambassage.'"
+
+The maid did her mistress's errand, omitting nothing, to both the men,
+and received from each the same answer, to wit, that to pleasure the
+lady, he would adventure a journey to hell, to say nothing of entering a
+tomb. With which answer the maid returned to the lady, who waited to see
+if they would be such fools as to make it good. Night came, and at the
+hour of first sleep Alessandro Chiarmontesi, stripped to his doublet,
+quitted his house, and bent his steps towards Scannadio's tomb, with
+intent there to take the dead man's place. As he walked, there came upon
+him a great fear, and he fell a saying to himself:--Ah! what a fool am I!
+Whither go I? How know I that her kinsmen, having detected my love, and
+surmising that which is not, have not put her upon requiring this of me,
+in order that they may slay me in the tomb? In which event I alone should
+be the loser, for nought would ever be heard of it, so that they would
+escape scot-free. Or how know I but that 'tis some machination of one of
+my ill-wishers, whom perchance she loves, and is therefore minded to
+abet? And again quoth he to himself:--But allowing that 'tis neither the
+one nor the other, and that her kinsmen are really to carry me to her
+house, I scarce believe that 'tis either that they would fain embrace
+Scannadio's corpse themselves, or let her do so: rather it must be that
+they have a mind to perpetrate some outrage upon it, for that, perchance,
+he once did them an evil turn. She bids me say never a word, no matter
+what I may hear or be otherwise ware of. Suppose they were to pluck out
+my eyes, or my teeth, or cut off my hands, or treat me to some other
+horse-play of the like sort, how then? how could I keep quiet? And if I
+open my mouth, they will either recognize me, and perchance do me a
+mischief, or, if they spare me, I shall have been at pains for nought,
+for they will not leave me with the lady, and she will say that I
+disobeyed her command, and I shall never have aught of her favours.
+
+As thus he communed with himself, he was on the point of turning back;
+but his overmastering love plied him with opposing arguments of such
+force that he kept on his way, and reached the tomb; which having opened,
+he entered, and after stripping Scannadio, and wrapping himself in the
+grave-clothes, closed it, and laid himself down in Scannadio's place. He
+then fell a thinking of the dead man, and his manner of life, and the
+things which he had heard tell of as happening by night, and in other
+less appalling places than the houses of the dead; whereby all the hairs
+of his head stood on end, and he momently expected Scannadio to rise and
+cut his throat. However, the ardour of his love so fortified him that he
+overcame these and all other timorous apprehensions, and lay as if he
+were dead, awaiting what should betide him.
+
+Towards midnight Rinuccio, bent likewise upon fulfilling his lady's
+behest, sallied forth of his house, revolving as he went divers
+forebodings of possible contingencies, as that, having Scannadio's corpse
+upon his shoulders, he might fall into the hands of the Signory, and be
+condemned to the fire as a wizard, or that, should the affair get wind,
+it might embroil him with his kinsfolk, or the like, which gave him
+pause. But then with a revulsion of feeling:-- Shall I, quoth he to
+himself, deny this lady, whom I so much have loved and love, the very
+first thing that she asks of me? And that too when I am thereby to win
+her favour? No, though 'twere as much as my life is worth, far be it from
+me to fail of keeping my word. So on he fared, and arrived at the tomb,
+which he had no difficulty in opening, and being entered, laid hold of
+Alessandro, who, though in mortal fear, had given no sign of life, by the
+feet, and dragged him forth, and having hoisted him on to his shoulders,
+bent his steps towards the lady's house. And as he went, being none too
+careful of Alessandro, he swung him from time to time against one or
+other of the angles of certain benches that were by the wayside; and
+indeed the night was so dark and murky that he could not see where he was
+going. And when he was all but on the threshold of the lady's house (she
+standing within at a window with her maid, to mark if Rinuccio would
+bring Alessandro, and being already provided with an excuse for sending
+them both away), it so befell that the patrol of the Signory, who were
+posted in the street in dead silence, being on the look-out for a certain
+bandit, hearing the tramp of Rinuccio's feet, suddenly shewed a light,
+the better to know what was toward, and whither to go, and advancing
+targes and lances, cried out:--"Who goes there?" Whereupon Rinuccio,
+having little leisure for deliberation, let Alessandro fall, and took to
+flight as fast as his legs might carry him. Alessandro, albeit encumbered
+by the graveclothes, which were very long, also jumped up and made off.
+By the light shewn by the patrol the lady had very plainly perceived
+Rinuccio, with Alessandro on his back, as also that Alessandro had the
+grave-clothes upon him; and much did she marvel at the daring of both,
+but, for all that, she laughed heartily to see Rinuccio drop Alessandro,
+and Alessandro run away. Overjoyed at the turn the affair had taken, and
+praising God that He had rid her of their harass, she withdrew from the
+window, and betook her to her chamber, averring to her maid that for
+certain they must both be mightily in love with her, seeing that 'twas
+plain they had both done her bidding.
+
+Crestfallen and cursing his evil fortune, Rinuccio nevertheless went not
+home, but, as soon as the street was clear of the patrol, came back to
+the spot where he had dropped Alessandro, and stooped down and began
+feeling about, if haply he might find him, and so do his devoir to the
+lady; but, as he found him not, he supposed the patrol must have borne
+him thence, and so at last home he went; as did also Alessandro, knowing
+not what else to do, and deploring his mishap. On the morrow, Scannadio's
+tomb being found open and empty, for Alessandro had thrown the corpse
+into the vault below, all Pistoia debated of the matter with no small
+diversity of opinion, the fools believing that Scannadio had been carried
+off by devils. Neither of the lovers, however, forbore to make suit to
+the lady for her favour and love, telling her what he had done, and what
+had happened, and praying her to have him excused that he had not
+perfectly carried out her instructions. But she, feigning to believe
+neither of them, disposed of each with the same curt answer, to wit,
+that, as he had not done her bidding, she would never do aught for him.
+
+
+NOVEL II.
+
+--
+An abbess rises in haste and in the dark, with intent to surprise an
+accused nun abed with her lover: thinking to put on her veil, she puts on
+instead the breeches of a priest that she has with her: the nun, espying
+her headgear, and doing her to wit thereof, is acquitted, and thenceforth
+finds it easier to forgather with her lover.
+--
+
+So ended Filomena; and when all had commended the address shewn by the
+lady in ridding herself of the two lovers that she affected not, and
+contrariwise had censured the hardihood of the two lovers as not love but
+madness, the queen turned to Elisa, and with a charming air:--"Now,
+Elisa, follow," quoth she: whereupon Elisa began on this wise:--Dearest
+ladies, 'twas cleverly done of Madonna Francesca, to disembarrass herself
+in the way we have heard: but I have to tell of a young nun, who by a
+happy retort, and the favour of Fortune, delivered herself from imminent
+peril. And as you know that there are not a few most foolish folk, who,
+notwithstanding their folly, take upon themselves the governance and
+correction of others; so you may learn from my story that Fortune at
+times justly puts them to shame; which befell the abbess, who was the
+superior of the nun of whom I am about to speak.
+
+You are to know, then, that in a convent in Lombardy of very great repute
+for strict and holy living there was, among other ladies that there wore
+the veil, a young woman of noble family, and extraordinary beauty. Now
+Isabetta--for such was her name--having speech one day of one of her
+kinsmen at the grate, became enamoured of a fine young gallant that was
+with him; who, seeing her to be very fair, and reading her passion in her
+eyes, was kindled with a like flame for her: which mutual and unsolaced
+love they bore a great while not without great suffering to both. But at
+length, both being intent thereon, the gallant discovered a way by which
+he might with all secrecy visit his nun; and she approving, he paid her
+not one visit only, but many, to their no small mutual solace. But, while
+thus they continued their intercourse, it so befell that one night one of
+the sisters observed him take his leave of Isabetta and depart, albeit
+neither he nor she was ware that they had thus been discovered. The
+sister imparted what she had seen to several others. At first they were
+minded to denounce her to the abbess, one Madonna Usimbalda, who was
+reputed by the nuns, and indeed by all that knew her, to be a good and
+holy woman; but on second thoughts they deemed it expedient, that there
+might be no room for denial, to cause the abbess to take her and the
+gallant in the act. So they held their peace, and arranged between them
+to keep her in watch and close espial, that they might catch her
+unawares. Of which practice Isabetta recking, witting nought, it so
+befell that one night, when she had her lover to see her, the sisters
+that were on the watch were soon ware of it, and at what they deemed the
+nick of time parted into two companies of which one mounted guard at the
+threshold of Isabetta's cell, while the other hasted to the abbess's
+chamber, and knocking at the door, roused her, and as soon as they heard
+her voice, said:--"Up, Madam, without delay: we have discovered that
+Isabetta has a young man with her in her cell."
+
+Now that night the abbess had with her a priest whom she used not seldom
+to have conveyed to her in a chest; and the report of the sisters making
+her apprehensive lest for excess of zeal and hurry they should force the
+door open, she rose in a trice; and huddling on her clothes as best she
+might in the dark, instead of the veil that they wear, which they call
+the psalter, she caught up the priest's breeches, and having clapped them
+on her head, hied her forth, and locked the door behind her,
+saying:--"Where is this woman accursed of God?" And so, guided by the
+sisters, all so agog to catch Isabetta a sinning that they perceived not
+what manner of headgear the abbess wore, she made her way to the cell,
+and with their aid broke open the door; and entering they found the two
+lovers abed in one another's arms; who, as it were, thunderstruck to be
+thus surprised, lay there, witting not what to do. The sisters took the
+young nun forthwith, and by command of the abbess brought her to the
+chapter-house. The gallant, left behind in the cell, put on his clothes
+and waited to see how the affair would end, being minded to make as many
+nuns as he might come at pay dearly for any despite that might be done
+his mistress, and to bring her off with him. The abbess, seated in the
+chapter-house with all her nuns about her, and all eyes bent upon the
+culprit, began giving her the severest reprimand that ever woman got, for
+that by her disgraceful and abominable conduct, should it get wind, she
+had sullied the fair fame of the convent; whereto she added menaces most
+dire. Shamefast and timorous, the culprit essayed no defence, and her
+silence begat pity of her in the rest; but, while the abbess waxed more
+and more voluble, it chanced that the girl raised her head and espied the
+abbess's headgear, and the points that hung down on this side and that.
+The significance whereof being by no means lost upon her, she quite
+plucked up heart, and:--"Madam," quoth she, "so help you God, tie up your
+coif, and then you may say what you will to me." Whereto the abbess, not
+understanding her, replied:--"What coif, lewd woman? So thou hast the
+effrontery to jest! Think'st thou that what thou hast done is a matter
+meet for jests?" Whereupon:--"Madam," quoth the girl again, "I pray you,
+tie up your coif, and then you may say to me whatever you please." Which
+occasioned not a few of the nuns to look up at the abbess's head, and the
+abbess herself to raise her hands thereto, and so she and they at one and
+the same time apprehended Isabetta's meaning. Wherefore the abbess,
+finding herself detected by all in the same sin, and that no disguise was
+possible, changed her tone, and held quite another sort of language than
+before, the upshot of which was that 'twas impossible to withstand the
+assaults of the flesh, and that, accordingly, observing due secrecy as
+theretofore, all might give themselves a good time, as they had
+opportunity. So, having dismissed Isabetta to rejoin her lover in her
+cell, she herself returned to lie with her priest. And many a time
+thereafter, in spite of the envious, Isabetta had her gallant to see her,
+the others, that lacked lovers, doing in secret the best they might to
+push their fortunes.
+
+
+NOVEL III.
+
+--
+Master Simone, at the instance of Bruno and Buffalmacco and Nello, makes
+Calandrino believe that he is with child. Calandrino, accordingly, gives
+them capons and money for medicines, and is cured without being
+delivered.
+--
+
+When Elisa had ended her story, and all had given thanks to God that He
+had vouchsafed the young nun a happy escape from the fangs of her envious
+companions, the queen bade Filostrato follow suit; and without expecting
+a second command, thus Filostrato began:--Fairest my ladies, the uncouth
+judge from the Marches, of whom I told you yesterday, took from the tip
+of my tongue a story of Calandrino, which I was on the point of
+narrating: and as nought can be said of him without mightily enhancing
+our jollity, albeit not a little has already been said touching him and
+his comrades, I will now give you the story which I had meant yesterday
+to give you. Who they were, this Calandrino and the others that I am to
+tell of in this story, has already been sufficiently explained;
+wherefore, without more ado, I say that one of Calandrino's aunts having
+died, leaving him two hundred pounds in petty cash, Calandrino gave out
+that he was minded to purchase an estate, and, as if he had had ten
+thousand florins of gold to invest, engaged every broker in Florence to
+treat for him, the negotiation always falling through, as soon as the
+price was named. Bruno and Buffalmacco, knowing what was afoot, told him
+again and again that he had better give himself a jolly time with them
+than go about buying earth as if he must needs make pellets;(1) but so
+far were they from effecting their purpose, that they could not even
+prevail upon him to give them a single meal. Whereat as one day they
+grumbled, being joined by a comrade of theirs, one Nello, also a painter,
+they all three took counsel how they might wet their whistle at
+Calandrino's expense; and, their plan being soon concerted, the next
+morning Calandrino was scarce gone out, when Nello met him,
+saying:--"Good day, Calandrino:" whereto Calandrino replied:--"God give
+thee a good day and a good year." Nello then drew back a little, and
+looked him steadily in the face, until:--"What seest thou to stare at?"
+quoth Calandrino. "Hadst thou no pain in the night?" returned Nello;
+"thou seemest not thyself to me." Which Calandrino no sooner heard, than
+he began to be disquieted, and:--"Alas! How sayst thou?" quoth he. "What
+tak'st thou to be the matter with me?" "Why, as to that I have nothing to
+say," returned Nello; "but thou seemest to be quite changed: perchance
+'tis not what I suppose;" and with that he left him.
+
+Calandrino, anxious, though he could not in the least have said why, went
+on; and soon Buffalmacco, who was not far off, and had observed him part
+from Nello, made up to him, and greeted him, asking him if he was not in
+pain. "I cannot say," replied Calandrino; "'twas but now that Nello told
+me that I looked quite changed: can it be that there is aught the matter
+with me?" "Aught?" quoth Buffalmacco, "ay, indeed, there might be a
+trifle the matter with thee. Thou look'st to be half dead, man."
+Calandrino now began to think he must have a fever. And then up came
+Bruno; and the first thing he said was:--"Why, Calandrino, how ill thou
+look'st! thy appearance is that of a corpse. How dost thou feel?" To be
+thus accosted by all three left no doubt in Calandrino's mind that he was
+ill, and so:--"What shall I do?" quoth he, in a great fright. "My
+advice," replied Bruno, "is that thou go home and get thee to bed and
+cover thee well up, and send thy water to Master Simone, who, as thou
+knowest, is such a friend of ours. He will tell thee at once what thou
+must do; and we will come to see thee, and will do aught that may be
+needful." And Nello then joining them, they all three went home with
+Calandrino, who, now quite spent, went straight to his room, and said to
+his wife:--"Come now, wrap me well up; I feel very ill." And so he laid
+himself on the bed, and sent a maid with his water to Master Simone, who
+had then his shop in the Mercato Vecchio, at the sign of the pumpkin.
+Whereupon quoth Bruno to his comrades:--"You will stay here with him, and
+I will go hear what the doctor has to say, and if need be, will bring him
+hither." "Prithee, do so, my friend," quoth Calandrino, "and bring me
+word how it is with me, for I feel as how I cannot say in my inside." So
+Bruno hied him to Master Simone, and before the maid arrived with the
+water, told him what was afoot. The Master, thus primed, inspected the
+water, and then said to the maid:--"Go tell Calandrino to keep himself
+very warm, and I will come at once, and let him know what is the matter
+with him, and what he must do." With which message the maid was scarce
+returned, when the Master and Bruno arrived, and the Master, having
+seated himself beside Calandrino, felt his pulse, and by and by, in the
+presence of his wife, said:--"Harkye, Calandrino, I speak to thee as a
+friend, and I tell thee that what is amiss with thee is just that thou
+art with child." Whereupon Calandrino cried out querulously:--"Woe's me!
+'Tis thy doing, Tessa, for that thou must needs be uppermost: I told thee
+plainly what would come of it," Whereat the lady, being not a little
+modest, coloured from brow to neck, and with downcast eyes, withdrew from
+the room, saying never a word by way of answer. Calandrino ran on in the
+same plaintive strain:--"Alas! woe's me! What shall I do? How shall I be
+delivered of this child? What passage can it find? Ah! I see only too
+plainly that the lasciviousness of this wife of mine has been the death
+of me: God make her as wretched as I would fain be happy! Were I as well
+as I am not, I would get me up and thrash her, till I left not a whole
+bone in her body, albeit it does but serve me right for letting her get
+the upper place; but if I do win through this, she shall never have it
+again; verily she might pine to death for it, but she should not have
+it."
+
+Which to hear, Bruno and Buffalmacco and Nello were like to burst with
+suppressed laughter, and Master Scimmione(2) laughed so frantically, that
+all his teeth were ready to start from his jaws. However, at length, in
+answer to Calandrino's appeals and entreaties for counsel and
+succour:--"Calandrino," quoth the Master, "thou mayst dismiss thy fears,
+for, God be praised, we were apprised of thy state in such good time that
+with but little trouble, in the course of a few days, I shall set thee
+right; but 'twill cost a little." "Woe's me," returned Calandrino, "be it
+so, Master, for the love of God: I have here two hundred pounds, with
+which I had thoughts of buying an estate: take them all, all, if you must
+have all, so only I may escape being delivered, for I know not how I
+should manage it, seeing that women, albeit 'tis much easier for them, do
+make such a noise in the hour of their labour, that I misdoubt me, if I
+suffered so, I should die before I was delivered." "Disquiet not
+thyself," said the doctor: "I will have a potion distilled for thee; of
+rare virtue it is, and not a little palatable, and in the course of three
+days 'twill purge thee of all, and leave thee in better fettle than a
+fish; but thou wilt do well to be careful thereafter, and commit no such
+indiscretions again. Now to make this potion we must have three pair of
+good fat capons, and, for divers other ingredients, thou wilt give one of
+thy friends here five pounds in small change to purchase them, and thou
+wilt have everything sent to my shop, and so, please God, I will send
+thee this distilled potion to-morrow morning, and thou wilt take a good
+beakerful each time." Whereupon:--"Be it as you bid, Master mine," quoth
+Calandrino, and handing Bruno five pounds, and money enough to purchase
+three pair of capons, he begged him, if it were not too much trouble, to
+do him the service to buy these things for him. So away went the doctor,
+and made a little decoction by way of draught, and sent it him. Bruno
+bought the capons and all else that was needed to furnish forth the
+feast, with which he and his comrades and the doctor regaled them.
+Calandrino drank of the decoction for three mornings, after which he had
+a visit from his friends and the doctor, who felt his pulse, and
+then:--"Beyond a doubt, Calandrino," quoth he, "thou art cured, and so
+thou hast no more occasion to keep indoors, but needst have no fear to do
+whatever thou hast a mind to." Much relieved, Calandrino got up, and
+resumed his accustomed way of life, and, wherever he found any one to
+talk to, was loud in praise of Master Simone for the excellent manner in
+which he had cured him, causing him in three days without the least
+suffering to be quit of his pregnancy. And Bruno and Buffalmacco and
+Nello were not a little pleased with themselves that they had so cleverly
+got the better of Calandrino's niggardliness, albeit Monna Tessa, who was
+not deceived, murmured not a little against her husband.
+
+(1) I.e. bolts of clay for the cross-bow.
+
+(2) I.e. great ape: with a play on Simone.
+
+
+NOVEL IV.
+
+--
+Cecco, son of Messer Fortarrigo, loses his all at play at Buonconvento,
+besides the money of Cecco, son of Messer Angiulieri; whom, running after
+him in his shirt and crying out that he has robbed him, he causes to be
+taken by peasants: he then puts on his clothes, mounts his palfrey, and
+leaves him to follow in his shirt.
+--
+
+All the company laughed beyond measure to hear what Calandrino said
+touching his wife: but, when Filostrato had done, Neifile, being bidden
+by the queen, thus began:--Noble ladies, were it not more difficult for
+men to evince their good sense and virtue than their folly and their
+vice, many would labour in vain to set bounds to their flow of words:
+whereof you have had a most conspicuous example in poor blundering
+Calandrino, who, for the better cure of that with which in his simplicity
+he supposed himself to be afflicted, had no sort of need to discover in
+public his wife's secret pleasures. Which affair has brought to my mind
+one that fell out contrariwise, inasmuch as the guile of one discomfited
+the good sense of another to the grievous loss and shame of the
+discomfited: the manner whereof I am minded to relate to you.
+
+'Tis not many years since there were in Siena two young men, both of age,
+and both alike named Cecco, the one being son of Messer Angiulieri, the
+other of Messer Fortarrigo. Who, albeit in many other respects their
+dispositions accorded ill, agreed so well in one, to wit, that they both
+hated their fathers, that they became friends, and kept much together.
+Now Angiulieri, being a pretty fellow, and well-mannered, could not brook
+to live at Siena on the allowance made him by his father, and learning
+that there was come into the March of Ancona, as legate of the Pope, a
+cardinal, to whom he was much bounden, resolved to resort to him there,
+thinking thereby to improve his circumstances. So, having acquainted his
+father with his purpose, he prevailed upon him to give him there and then
+all that he would have given him during the next six months, that he
+might have the wherewith to furnish himself with apparel and a good
+mount, so as to travel in a becoming manner. And as he was looking out
+for some one to attend him as his servant, Fortarrigo, hearing of it,
+came presently to him and besought him with all earnestness to take him
+with him as his groom, or servant, or what he would, and he would be
+satisfied with his keep, without any salary whatsoever. Whereto
+Angiulieri made answer that he was not disposed to take him, not but that
+he well knew that he was competent for any service that might be required
+of him, but because he was given to play, and therewithal would at times
+get drunk. Fortarrigo assured him with many an oath that he would be on
+his guard to commit neither fault, and added thereto such instant
+entreaties, that Angiulieri was, as it were, vanquished, and consented.
+So one morning they took the road for Buonconvento, being minded there to
+breakfast. Now when Angiulieri had breakfasted, as 'twas a very hot day,
+he had a bed made in the inn, and having undressed with Fortarrigo's
+help, he composed himself to sleep, telling Fortarrigo to call him on the
+stroke of none. Angiulieri thus sleeping, Fortarrigo repaired to the
+tavern, where, having slaked his thirst, he sate down to a game with some
+that were there, who speedily won from him all his money, and thereafter
+in like manner all the clothes he had on his back: wherefore he, being
+anxious to retrieve his losses, went, stripped as he was to his shirt, to
+the room where lay Angiulieri; and seeing that he was sound asleep, he
+took from his purse all the money that he had, and so went back to the
+gaming-table, and staked it, and lost it all, as he had his own.
+
+By and by Angiulieri awoke, and got up, and dressed, and called for
+Fortarrigo; and as Fortarrigo answered not, he supposed that he must have
+had too much to drink, and be sleeping it off somewhere, as was his wont.
+He accordingly determined to leave him alone; and doubting not to find a
+better servant at Corsignano, he let saddle his palfrey and attach the
+valise; but when, being about to depart, he would have paid the host,
+never a coin could he come by. Whereat there was no small stir, so that
+all the inn was in an uproar, Angiulieri averring that he had been robbed
+in the house, and threatening to have them all arrested and taken to
+Siena; when, lo, who should make his appearance but Fortarrigo in his
+shirt, intent now to steal the clothes, as he had stolen the moneys, of
+Angiulieri? And marking that Angiulieri was accoutred for the road:--"How
+is this, Angiulieri?" quoth he. "Are we to start so soon? Nay, but wait a
+little. One will be here presently that has my doublet in pawn for
+thirty-eight soldi; I doubt not he will return it me for thirty-five
+soldi, if I pay money down." And while they were yet talking, in came one
+that made it plain to Angiulieri that 'twas Fortarrigo that had robbed
+him of his money, for he told him the amount that Fortarrigo had lost.
+Whereat Angiulieri, in a towering passion, rated Fortarrigo right
+soundly, and, but that he stood more in fear of man than of God, would
+have suited action to word; and so, threatening to have him hanged by the
+neck and proclaimed an outlaw at the gallows-tree of Siena, he mounted
+his horse.
+
+Fortarrigo, making as if 'twas not to him, but to another, that
+Angiulieri thus spoke, made answer:--"Come now, Angiulieri, we were best
+have done with all this idle talk, and consider the matter of substance:
+we can redeem for thirty-five soldi, if we pay forthwith, but if we wait
+till to-morrow, we shall not get off with less than thirty-eight, the
+full amount of the loan; and 'tis because I staked by his advice that he
+will make me this allowance. Now why should not we save these three
+soldi?" Whereat Angiulieri waxed well-nigh desperate, more particularly
+that he marked that the bystanders were scanning him suspiciously, as if,
+so far from understanding that Fortarrigo had staked and lost his,
+Angiulieri's money, they gave him credit for still being in funds: so he
+cried out:--"What have I to do with thy doublet? 'Tis high time thou wast
+hanged by the neck, that, not content with robbing me and gambling away
+my money, thou must needs also keep me in parley here and make mock of
+me, when I would fain be gone." Fortarrigo, however, still persisted in
+making believe that Angiulieri did not mean this for him, and only
+said:--"Nay, but why wilt not thou save me these three soldi? Think'st
+thou I can be of no more use to thee? Prithee, an thou lov'st me, do me
+this turn. Wherefore in such a hurry? We have time enough to get to
+Torrenieri this evening. Come now, out with thy purse. Thou knowest I
+might search Siena through, and not find a doublet that would suit me so
+well as this: and for all I let him have it for thirty-eight soldi, 'tis
+worth forty or more; so thou wilt wrong me twice over." Vexed beyond
+measure that, after robbing him, Fortarrigo should now keep him clavering
+about the matter, Angiulieri made no answer, but turned his horse's head,
+and took the road for Torrenieri. But Fortarrigo with cunning malice
+trotted after him in his shirt, and 'twas still his doublet, his doublet,
+that he would have of him: and when they had thus ridden two good miles,
+and Angiulieri was forcing the pace to get out of earshot of his
+pestering, Fortarrigo espied some husbandmen in a field beside the road a
+little ahead of Angiulieri, and fell a shouting to them amain:--"Take
+thief! take thief!" Whereupon they came up with their spades and their
+mattocks, and barred Angiulieri's way, supposing that he must have robbed
+the man that came shouting after him in his shirt, and stopped him and
+apprehended him; and little indeed did it avail him to tell them who he
+was, and how the matter stood. For up came Fortarrigo with a wrathful
+air, and:--"I know not," quoth he, "why I spare to kill thee on the spot,
+traitor, thief that thou art, thus to despoil me and give me the slip!"
+And then, turning to the peasants:--"You see, gentlemen," quoth he, "in
+what a trim he left me in the inn, after gambling away all that he had
+with him and on him. Well indeed may I say that under God 'tis to you I
+owe it that I have thus come by my own again: for which cause I shall
+ever be beholden to you." Angiulieri also had his say; but his words
+passed unheeded. Fortarrigo with the help of the peasants compelled him
+to dismount; and having stripped him, donned his clothes, mounted his
+horse, and leaving him barefoot and in his shirt, rode back to Siena,
+giving out on all hands that he had won the palfrey and the clothes from
+Angiulieri. So Angiulieri, having thought to present himself to the
+cardinal in the March a wealthy man, returned to Buonconvento poor and in
+his shirt; and being ashamed for the time to shew himself in Siena,
+pledged the nag that Fortarrigo had ridden for a suit of clothes, and
+betook him to his kinsfolk at Corsignano, where he tarried, until he
+received a fresh supply of money from his father. Thus, then,
+Fortarrigo's guile disconcerted Angiulieri's judicious purpose, albeit
+when time and occasion served, it was not left unrequited.
+
+
+NOVEL V.
+
+--
+Calandrino being enamoured of a damsel, Bruno gives him a scroll,
+averring that, if he but touch her therewith, she will go with him: he is
+found with her by his wife who subjects him to a most severe and
+vexatious examination.
+--
+
+So, at no great length, ended Neifile her story, which the company
+allowed to pass with none too much laughter or remark: whereupon the
+queen, turning to Fiammetta, bade her follow suit. Fiammetta, with mien
+most gladsome, made answer that she willingly obeyed, and thus began:--As
+I doubt not, ye know, ladies most debonair, be the topic of discourse
+never so well worn, it will still continue to please, if the speaker
+knows how to make due choice of time and occasion meet. Wherefore,
+considering the reason for which we are here (how that 'tis to make merry
+and speed the time gaily, and that merely), I deem that there is nought
+that may afford us mirth and solace but here may find time and occasion
+meet, and, after serving a thousand turns of discourse, should still
+prove not unpleasing for another thousand. Wherefore, notwithstanding
+that of Calandrino and his doings not a little has from time to time been
+said among us, yet, considering that, as a while ago Filostrato observed,
+there is nought that concerns him that is not entertaining, I will make
+bold to add to the preceding stories another, which I might well, had I
+been minded to deviate from the truth, have disguised, and so recounted
+it to you, under other names; but as whoso in telling a story diverges
+from the truth does thereby in no small measure diminish the delight of
+his hearers, I purpose for the reason aforesaid to give you the narrative
+in proper form.
+
+Niccolo Cornacchini, one of our citizens, and a man of wealth, had among
+other estates a fine one at Camerata, on which he had a grand house
+built, and engaged Bruno and Buffalmacco to paint it throughout; in which
+task, for that 'twas by no means light, they associated with them Nello
+and Calandrino, and so set to work. There were a few rooms in the house
+provided with beds and other furniture, and an old female servant lived
+there as caretaker, but otherwise the house was unoccupied, for which
+cause Niccolo's son, Filippo, being a young man and a bachelor, was wont
+sometimes to bring thither a woman for his pleasure, and after keeping
+her there for a few days to escort her thence again. Now on one of these
+occasions it befell that he brought thither one Niccolosa, whom a vile
+fellow, named Mangione, kept in a house at Camaldoli as a common
+prostitute. And a fine piece of flesh she was, and wore fine clothes, and
+for one of her sort, knew how to comport herself becomingly and talk
+agreeably.
+
+Now one day at high noon forth tripped the damsel from her chamber in a
+white gown, her locks braided about her head, to wash her hands and face
+at a well that was in the courtyard of the house, and, while she was so
+engaged, it befell that Calandrino came there for water, and greeted her
+familiarly. Having returned his salutation, she, rather because
+Calandrino struck her as something out of the common, than for any other
+interest she felt in him, regarded him attentively. Calandrino did the
+like by her, and being smitten by her beauty, found reasons enough why he
+should not go back to his comrades with the water; but, as he knew not
+who she was, he made not bold to address her. She, upon whom his gaze was
+not lost, being minded to amuse herself at his expense, let her glance
+from time to time rest upon him, while she heaved a slight sigh or two.
+Whereby Calandrino was forthwith captivated, and tarried in the
+courtyard, until Filippo called her back into the chamber. Returned to
+his work, Calandrino sighed like a furnace: which Bruno, who was ever
+regardful of his doings for the diversion they afforded him, failed not
+to mark, and by and by:--"What the Devil is amiss with thee, comrade
+Calandrino?" quoth he. "Thou dost nought but puff and blow." "Comrade,"
+replied Calandrino, "I should be in luck, had I but one to help me." "How
+so?" quoth Bruno. "Why," returned Calandrino, "'tis not to go farther,
+but there is a damsel below, fairer than a lamia, and so mightily in love
+with me that 'twould astonish thee. I observed it but now, when I went to
+fetch the water." "Nay, but, Calandrino, make sure she be not Filippo's
+wife," quoth Bruno. "I doubt 'tis even so," replied Calandrino, "for he
+called her and she joined him in the chamber; but what signifies it? I
+would circumvent Christ Himself in such case, not to say Filippo. Of a
+truth, comrade, I tell thee she pleases me I could not say how."
+"Comrade," returned Bruno, "I will find out for thee who she is, and if
+she be Filippo's wife, two words from me will make it all straight for
+thee, for she is much my friend. But how shall we prevent Buffalmacco
+knowing it? I can never have a word with her but he is with me." "As to
+Buffalmacco," replied Calandrino: "I care not if he do know it; but let
+us make sure that it come not to Nello's ears, for he is of kin to Monna
+Tessa, and would spoil it all." Whereto:--"Thou art in the right,"
+returned Bruno.
+
+Now Bruno knew what the damsel was, for he had seen her arrive, and
+moreover Filippo had told him. So, Calandrino having given over working
+for a while, and betaken him to her, Bruno acquainted Nello and
+Buffalmacco with the whole story; and thereupon they privily concerted
+how to entreat him in regard of this love affair. Wherefore, upon his
+return, quoth Bruno softly:--"Didst see her?" "Ay, woe's me!" replied
+Calandrino: "she has stricken me to the death." Quoth Bruno:--"I will go
+see if she be the lady I take her to be, and if I find that 'tis so,
+leave the rest to me." Whereupon down went Bruno, and found Filippo and
+the damsel, and fully apprised them what sort of fellow Calandrino was,
+and what he had told them, and concerted with them what each should do
+and say, that they might have a merry time together over Calandrino's
+love affair. He then rejoined Calandrino, saying:--"'Tis the very same;
+and therefore the affair needs very delicate handling, for, if Filippo
+were but ware thereof, not all Arno's waters would suffice to cleanse us.
+However, what should I say to her from thee, if by chance I should get
+speech of her?" "I'faith," replied Calandrino, "why, first, first of all,
+thou wilt tell her that I wish her a thousand bushels of the good seed of
+generation, and then that I am her servant, and if she is fain
+of--aught--thou tak'st me?" "Ay," quoth Bruno, "leave it to me."
+
+Supper-time came; and, the day's work done, they went down into the
+courtyard, Filippo and Niccolosa being there, and there they tarried a
+while to advance Calandrino's suit. Calandrino's gaze was soon riveted on
+Niccolosa, and such and so strange and startling were the gestures that
+he made that they would have given sight to the blind. She on her part
+used all her arts to inflame his passion, primed as she had been by
+Bruno, and diverted beyond measure as she was by Calandrino's antics,
+while Filippo, Buffalmacco and the rest feigned to be occupied in
+converse, and to see nought of what passed. However, after a while, to
+Calandrino's extreme disgust, they took their leave; and as they bent
+their steps towards Florence:--"I warrant thee," quoth Bruno to
+Calandrino, "she wastes away for thee like ice in the sunlight; by the
+body o' God, if thou wert to bring thy rebeck, and sing her one or two of
+thy love-songs, she'd throw herself out of window to be with thee." Quoth
+Calandrino:--"Think'st thou, comrade, think'st thou, 'twere well I
+brought it?" "Ay, indeed," returned Bruno. Whereupon:--"Ah! comrade,"
+quoth Calandrino, "so thou wouldst not believe me when I told thee
+to-day? Of a truth I perceive there's ne'er another knows so well what he
+would be at as I. Who but I would have known how so soon to win the love
+of a lady like that? Lucky indeed might they deem themselves, if they did
+it, those young gallants that go about, day and night, up and down, a
+strumming on the one-stringed viol, and would not know how to gather a
+handful of nuts once in a millennium. Mayst thou be by to see when I
+bring her the rebeck! thou wilt see fine sport. List well what I say: I
+am not so old as I look; and she knows it right well: ay, and anyhow I
+will soon let her know it, when I come to grapple her. By the very body
+of Christ I will have such sport with her, that she will follow me as any
+love-sick maid follows her swain." "Oh!" quoth Bruno, "I doubt not thou
+wilt make her thy prey: and I seem to see thee bite her dainty vermeil
+mouth and her cheeks, that shew as twin roses, with thy teeth, that are
+as so many lute-pegs, and afterwards devour her bodily." So encouraged,
+Calandrino fancied himself already in action, and went about singing and
+capering in such high glee that 'twas as if he would burst his skin. And
+so next day he brought the rebeck, and to the no small amusement of all
+the company sang several songs to her. And, in short, by frequently
+seeing her, he waxed so mad with passion that he gave over working; and a
+thousand times a day he would run now to the window, now to the door, and
+anon to the courtyard on the chance of catching sight of her; nor did
+she, astutely following Bruno's instructions, fail to afford him
+abundance of opportunity. Bruno played the go-between, bearing him her
+answers to all his messages, and sometimes bringing him messages from
+her. When she was not at home, which was most frequently the case, he
+would send him letters from her, in which she gave great encouragement to
+his hopes, at the same time giving him to understand that she was at the
+house of her kinsfolk, where as yet he might not visit her.
+
+On this wise Bruno and Buffalmacco so managed the affair as to divert
+themselves inordinately, causing him to send her, as at her request, now
+an ivory comb, now a purse, now a little knife, and other such dainty
+trifles; in return for which they brought him, now and again, a
+counterfeit ring of no value, with which Calandrino was marvellously
+pleased. And Calandrino, to stimulate their zeal in his interest, would
+entertain them hospitably at table, and otherwise flatter them. Now, when
+they had thus kept him in play for two good months, and the affair was
+just where it had been, Calandrino, seeing that the work was coming to an
+end, and bethinking him that, if it did so before he had brought his love
+affair to a successful issue, he must give up all hopes of ever so doing,
+began to be very instant and importunate with Bruno. So, in the presence
+of the damsel, and by preconcert with her and Filippo, quoth Bruno to
+Calandrino:--"Harkye, comrade, this lady has vowed to me a thousand times
+that she will do as thou wouldst have her, and as, for all that, she does
+nought to pleasure thee, I am of opinion that she leads thee by the nose:
+wherefore, as she keeps not her promises, we will make her do so,
+willy-nilly, if thou art so minded." "Nay, but, for the love of God, so
+be it," replied Calandrino, "and that speedily." "Darest thou touch her,
+then, with a scroll that I shall give thee?" quoth Bruno. "I dare,"
+replied Calandrino. "Fetch me, then," quoth Bruno, "a bit of the skin of
+an unborn lamb, a live bat, three grains of incense, and a blessed
+candle; and leave the rest to me." To catch the bat taxed all
+Calandrino's art and craft for the whole of the evening; but having at
+length taken him, he brought him with the other matters to Bruno: who,
+having withdrawn into a room by himself, wrote on the skin some
+cabalistic jargon, and handed it to him, saying:--"Know, Calandrino,
+that, if thou touch her with this scroll, she will follow thee forthwith,
+and do whatever thou shalt wish. Wherefore, should Filippo go abroad
+to-day, get thee somehow up to her, and touch her; and then go into the
+barn that is hereby--'tis the best place we have, for never a soul goes
+there--and thou wilt see that she will come there too. When she is there,
+thou wottest well what to do." Calandrino, overjoyed as ne'er another,
+took the scroll, saying only:--"Comrade, leave that to me."
+
+Now Nello, whom Calandrino mistrusted, entered with no less zest than the
+others into the affair, and was their confederate for Calandrino's
+discomfiture; accordingly by Bruno's direction he hied to Florence, and
+finding Monna Tessa:--"Thou hast scarce forgotten, Tessa," quoth he,
+"what a beating Calandrino gave thee, without the least cause, that day
+when he came home with the stones from Mugnone; for which I would have
+thee be avenged, and, so thou wilt not, call me no more kinsman or
+friend. He is fallen in love with a lady up there, who is abandoned
+enough to go closeting herself not seldom with him, and 'tis but a short
+while since they made assignation to forgather forthwith: so I would have
+thee go there, and surprise him in the act, and give him a sound
+trouncing." Which when the lady heard, she deemed it no laughing matter;
+but started up and broke out with:--"Alas, the arrant knave! is't thus he
+treats me? By the Holy Rood, never fear but I will pay him out!" And
+wrapping herself in her cloak, and taking a young woman with her for
+companion, she sped more at a run than at a walk, escorted by Nello, up
+to Camerata. Bruno, espying her from afar, said to Filippo:--"Lo, here
+comes our friend." Whereupon Filippo went to the place where Calandrino
+and the others were at work, and said:--"My masters, I must needs go at
+once to Florence; slacken not on that account." And so off he went, and
+hid himself where, unobserved, he might see what Calandrino would do.
+Calandrino waited only until he saw that Filippo was at some distance,
+and then he went down into the courtyard, where he found Niccolosa alone,
+and fell a talking with her. She, knowing well what she had to do, drew
+close to him, and shewed him a little more familiarity than she was wont:
+whereupon Calandrino touched her with the scroll, and having so done,
+saying never a word, bent his steps towards the barn, whither Niccolosa
+followed him, and being entered, shut the door, and forthwith embraced
+him, threw him down on the straw that lay there, and got astride of him,
+and holding him fast by the arms about the shoulders, suffered him not to
+approach his face to hers, but gazing upon him, as if he were the delight
+of her heart:--"O Calandrino, sweet my Calandrino," quoth she, "heart of
+my body, my very soul, my bliss, my consolation, ah! how long have I
+yearned to hold thee in my arms and have thee all my own! Thy endearing
+ways have utterly disarmed me; thou hast made prize of my heart with thy
+rebeck. Do I indeed hold thee in mine embrace?" Calandrino, scarce able
+to move, murmured:--"Ah! sweet my soul, suffer me to kiss thee."
+Whereto:--"Nay, but thou art too hasty," replied Niccolosa. "Let me first
+feast mine eyes on thee; let me but sate them with this sweet face of
+thine."
+
+Meanwhile Bruno and Buffalmacco had joined Filippo, so that what passed
+was seen and heard by all three. And while Calandrino was thus intent to
+kiss Niccolosa, lo, up came Nello with Monna Tessa. "By God, I swear they
+are both there," ejaculated Nello, as they entered the doorway; but the
+lady, now fairly furious, laid hold of him and thrust him aside, and
+rushing in, espied Niccolosa astride of Calandrino. Niccolosa no sooner
+caught sight of the lady, than up she jumped, and in a trice was beside
+Filippo. Monna Tessa fell upon Calandrino, who was still on the floor,
+planted her nails in his face, and scratched it all over: she then seized
+him by the hair, and hauling him to and fro about the barn:--"Foul,
+pestilent cur," quoth she, "is this the way thou treatest me? Thou old
+fool! A murrain on the love I have borne thee! Hast thou not enough to do
+at home, that thou must needs go falling in love with strange women? And
+a fine lover thou wouldst make! Dost not know thyself, knave? Dost not
+know thyself, wretch? Thou, from whose whole body 'twere not possible to
+wring enough sap for a sauce! God's faith, 'twas not Tessa that got thee
+with child: God's curse on her, whoever she was: verily she must be a
+poor creature to be enamoured of a jewel of thy rare quality." At sight
+of his wife, Calandrino, suspended, as it were, between life and death,
+ventured no defence; but, his face torn to shreds, his hair and clothes
+all disordered, fumbled about for his capuche, which having found, up he
+got, and humbly besought his wife not to publish the matter, unless she
+were minded that he should be cut to pieces, for that she that was with
+him was the wife of the master of the house. "Then God give her a bad
+year," replied the lady. Whereupon Bruno and Buffalmacco, who by this
+time had laughed their fill with Filippo and Niccolosa, came up as if
+attracted by the noise; and after not a little ado pacified the lady, and
+counselled Calandrino to go back to Florence, and stay there, lest
+Filippo should get wind of the affair, and do him a mischief. So
+Calandrino, crestfallen and woebegone, got him back to Florence with his
+face torn to shreds; where, daring not to shew himself at Camerata again,
+he endured day and night the grievous torment of his wife's vituperation.
+Such was the issue, to which, after ministering not a little mirth to his
+comrades, as also to Niccolosa and Filippo, this ardent lover brought his
+amour.
+
+
+NOVEL VI.
+
+--
+Two young men lodge at an inn, of whom the one lies with the host's
+daughter, his wife by inadvertence lying with the other. He that lay with
+the daughter afterwards gets into her father's bed and tells him all,
+taking him to be his comrade. They bandy words: whereupon the good woman,
+apprehending the circumstances, gets her to bed with her daughter, and by
+divers apt words re-establishes perfect accord.
+--
+
+Calandrino as on former occasions, so also on this, moved the company to
+laughter. However, when the ladies had done talking of his doings, the
+queen called for a story from Pamfilo, who thus spoke:--Worshipful
+ladies, this Niccolosa, that Calandrino loved, has brought to my mind a
+story of another Niccolosa; which I am minded to tell you, because 'twill
+shew you how a good woman by her quick apprehension avoided a great
+scandal.
+
+In the plain of Mugnone there was not long ago a good man that furnished
+travellers with meat and drink for money, and, for that he was in poor
+circumstances, and had but a little house, gave not lodging to every
+comer, but only to a few that he knew, and if they were hard bested. Now
+the good man had to wife a very fine woman, and by her had two children,
+to wit, a pretty and winsome girl of some fifteen or sixteen summers, as
+yet unmarried, and a little boy, not yet one year old, whom the mother
+suckled at her own breast. The girl had found favour in the eyes of a
+goodly and mannerly young gentleman of our city, who was not seldom in
+those parts, and loved her to the point of passion. And she, being
+mightily flattered to be loved by such a gallant, studied how to comport
+herself so debonairly as to retain his regard, and while she did so, grew
+likewise enamoured of him; and divers times, by consent of both their
+love had had its fruition, but that Pinuccio--such was the gallant's
+name--shrank from the disgrace that 'twould bring upon the girl and
+himself alike. But, as his passion daily waxed apace, Pinuccio, yearning
+to find himself abed with her, bethought him that he were best contrive
+to lodge with her father, deeming, from what he knew of her father's
+economy, that, if he did so, he might effect his purpose, and never a
+soul be the wiser: which idea no sooner struck him, than he set about
+carrying it into effect.
+
+So, late one evening Pinuccio and a trusty comrade, Adriano by name, to
+whom he had confided his love, hired two nags, and having set upon them
+two valises, filled with straw or such-like stuff, sallied forth of
+Florence, and rode by a circuitous route to the plain of Mugnone, which
+they reached after nightfall; and having fetched a compass, so that it
+might seem as if they were coming from Romagna, they rode up to the good
+man's house, and knocked at the door. The good man, knowing them both
+very well, opened to them forthwith: whereupon:--"Thou must even put us
+up to-night," quoth Pinuccio; "we thought to get into Florence, but, for
+all the speed we could make, we are but arrived here, as thou seest, at
+this hour." "Pinuccio," replied the host, "thou well knowest that I can
+but make a sorry shift to lodge gentlemen like you; but yet, as night has
+overtaken you here, and time serves not to betake you elsewhere, I will
+gladly give you such accommodation as I may." The two gallants then
+dismounted and entered the inn, and having first looked to their horses,
+brought out some supper that they had carried with them, and supped with
+the host.
+
+Now the host had but one little bedroom, in which were three beds, set,
+as conveniently as he could contrive, two on one side of the room, and
+the third on the opposite side, but, for all that, there was scarce room
+enough to pass through. The host had the least discomfortable of the
+three beds made up for the two friends; and having quartered them there,
+some little while afterwards, both being awake, but feigning to be
+asleep, he caused his daughter to get into one of the other two beds,
+while he and his wife took their places in the third, the good woman
+setting the cradle, in which was her little boy, beside the bed. Such,
+then, being the partition made of the beds, Pinuccio, who had taken exact
+note thereof, waited only until he deemed all but himself to be asleep,
+and then got softly up and stole to the bed in which lay his beloved, and
+laid himself beside her; and she according him albeit a timorous yet a
+gladsome welcome, he stayed there, taking with her that solace of which
+both were most fain.
+
+Pinuccio being thus with the girl, it chanced that certain things, being
+overset by a cat, fell with a noise that aroused the good woman, who,
+fearing that it might be a matter of more consequence, got up as best she
+might in the dark, and betook her to the place whence the noise seemed to
+proceed. At the same time Adriano, not by reason of the noise, which he
+heeded not, but perchance to answer the call of nature, also got up, and
+questing about for a convenient place, came upon the cradle beside the
+good woman's bed; and not being able otherwise to go by, took it up, and
+set it beside his own bed, and when he had accomplished his purpose, went
+back, and giving never a thought to the cradle got him to bed. The good
+woman searched until she found that the accident was no such matter as
+she had supposed; so without troubling to strike a light to investigate
+it further, she reproved the cat, and returned to the room, and groped
+her way straight to the bed in which her husband lay asleep; but not
+finding the cradle there, quoth she to herself:--Alas! blunderer that I
+am, what was I about? God's faith! I was going straight to the guests'
+bed; and proceeding a little further, she found the cradle, and laid
+herself down by Adriano in the bed that was beside it, taking Adriano for
+her husband; and Adriano, who was still awake, received her with all due
+benignity, and tackled her more than once to her no small delight.
+
+Meanwhile Pinuccio fearing lest sleep should overtake him while he was
+yet with his mistress, and having satisfied his desire, got up and left
+her, to return to his bed; but when he got there, coming upon the cradle,
+he supposed that 'twas the host's bed; and so going a little further, he
+laid him down beside the host, who thereupon awoke. Supposing that he had
+Adriano beside him:--"I warrant thee," quoth Pinuccio to the host, "there
+was never so sweet a piece of flesh as Niccolosa: by the body of God,
+such delight have I had of her as never had man of woman; and, mark me,
+since I left thee, I have gotten me up to the farm some six times." Which
+tidings the host being none too well pleased to learn, said first of all
+to himself:--What the Devil does this fellow here? Then, his resentment
+getting the better of his prudence:--"'Tis a gross affront thou hast put
+upon me, Pinuccio," quoth he; "nor know I what occasion thou hast to do
+me such a wrong; but by the body of God I will pay thee out." Pinuccio,
+who was not the most discreet of gallants, albeit he was now apprised of
+his error, instead of doing his best to repair it, retorted:--"And how
+wilt thou pay me out? What canst thou do?" "Hark what high words our
+guests are at together!" quoth meanwhile the host's wife to Adriano,
+deeming that she spoke to her husband. "Let them be," replied Adriano
+with a laugh:--"God give them a bad year: they drank too much yestereve."
+The good woman had already half recognized her husband's angry tones, and
+now that she heard Adriano's voice, she at once knew where she was and
+with whom. Accordingly, being a discreet woman, she started up, and
+saying never a word, took her child's cradle, and, though there was not a
+ray of light in the room, bore it, divining rather than feeling her way,
+to the side of the bed in which her daughter slept; and then, as if
+aroused by the noise made by her husband, she called him, and asked what
+he and Pinuccio were bandying words about. "Hearest thou not," replied
+the husband, "what he says he has this very night done to Niccolosa?"
+"Tush! he lies in the throat," returned the good woman: "he has not lain
+with Niccolosa; for what time he might have done so, I laid me beside her
+myself, and I have been wide awake ever since; and thou art a fool to
+believe him. You men take so many cups before going to bed that then you
+dream, and walk in your sleep, and imagine wonders. 'Tis a great pity you
+do not break your necks. What does Pinuccio there? Why keeps he not in
+his own bed?"
+
+Whereupon Adriano, in his turn, seeing how adroitly the good woman
+cloaked her own and her daughter's shame:--"Pinuccio," quoth he, "I have
+told thee a hundred times, that thou shouldst not walk about at night;
+for this thy bad habit of getting up in thy dreams and relating thy
+dreams for truth will get thee into a scrape some time or another: come
+back, and God send thee a bad night." Hearing Adriano thus confirm what
+his wife had said, the host began to think that Pinuccio must be really
+dreaming; so he took him by the shoulder, and fell a shaking him, and
+calling him by his name, saying:--"Pinuccio, wake up, and go back to thy
+bed." Pinuccio, taking his cue from what he had heard, began as a dreamer
+would be like to do, to talk wanderingly; whereat the host laughed amain.
+Then, feigning to be aroused by the shaking, Pinuccio uttered Adriano's
+name, saying:--"Is't already day, that thou callest me?" "Ay, 'tis so,"
+quoth Adriano: "come hither." Whereupon Pinuccio, making as if he were
+mighty drowsy, got him up from beside the host, and back to bed with
+Adriano. On the morrow, when they were risen, the host fell a laughing
+and making merry touching Pinuccio and his dreams. And so the jest passed
+from mouth to mouth, while the gallants' horses were groomed and saddled,
+and their valises adjusted: which done, they drank with the host, mounted
+and rode to Florence, no less pleased with the manner than with the
+matter of the night's adventure. Nor, afterwards, did Pinuccio fail to
+find other means of meeting Niccolosa, who assured her mother that he had
+unquestionably dreamed. For which cause the good woman, calling to mind
+Adriano's embrace, accounted herself the only one that had watched.
+
+
+NOVEL VII.
+
+--
+Talano di Molese dreams that a wolf tears and rends all the neck and face
+of his wife: he gives her warning thereof, which she heeds not, and the
+dream comes true.
+--
+
+When Pamfilo had brought his story to a close, and all had commended the
+good woman's quick perception, the queen bade Pampinea tell hers; and
+thus Pampinea began:--A while ago, debonair my ladies, we held discourse
+of the truths that dreams shew forth, which not a few of us deride; for
+which cause, albeit the topic has been handled before, I shall not spare
+to tell you that which not long ago befell a neighbour of mine, for that
+she disbelieved a dream that her husband had.
+
+I wot not if you knew Talano di Molese, a man right worthy to be had in
+honour; who, having married a young wife--Margarita by name--fair as e'er
+another, but without her match for whimsical, fractious, and perverse
+humours, insomuch that there was nought she would do at the instance of
+another, either for his or her own good, found her behaviour most
+grievous to bear, but was fain to endure what he might not cure. Now it
+so befell that Talano and Margarita being together at an estate that
+Talano had in the contado, he, sleeping, saw in a dream a very beautiful
+wood that was on the estate at no great distance from the house, and his
+lady there walking. And as she went, there leapt forth upon her a huge
+and fierce wolf that griped her by the throat, and bore her down to the
+ground, and (she shrieking the while for succour) would have carried her
+off by main force; but she got quit of his jaws, albeit her neck and face
+shewed as quite disfigured. On the morrow, as soon as he was risen,
+Talano said to his wife:--"Albeit for thy perversity I have not yet known
+a single good day with thee, yet I should be sorry, wife, that harm
+should befall thee; and therefore, if thou take my advice, thou wilt not
+stir out of doors to-day." "Wherefore?" quoth the lady; and thereupon he
+recounted to her all his dream.
+
+The lady shook her head, saying:--"Who means ill, dreams ill. Thou makest
+as if thou wast mighty tender of me, but thou bodest of me in thy dream
+that which thou wouldst fain see betide me. I warrant thee that to-day
+and all days I will have a care to avoid this or any other calamity that
+might gladden thy heart." Whereupon:--"Well wist I," replied Talano,
+"that thou wouldst so say, for such is ever the requital of those that
+comb scurfy heads; but whatever thou mayst be pleased to believe, I for
+my part speak to thee for thy good, and again I advise thee to keep
+indoors to-day, or at least not to walk in the wood." "Good," returned
+the lady, "I will look to it," and then she began communing with herself
+on this wise:--Didst mark how artfully he thinks to have scared me from
+going into the wood to-day? Doubtless 'tis that he has an assignation
+there with some light o' love, with whom he had rather I did not find
+him. Ah! he would sup well with the blind, and what a fool were I to
+believe him! But I warrant he will be disappointed, and needs must I,
+though I stay there all day long, see what commerce it is that he will
+adventure in to-day.
+
+Having so said, she quitted the house on one side, while her husband did
+so on the other; and forthwith, shunning observation as best she might,
+she hied her to the wood, and hid her where 'twas most dense, and there
+waited on the alert, and glancing, now this way and now that, to see if
+any were coming. And while thus she stood, nor ever a thought of a wolf
+crossed her mind, lo, forth of a close covert hard by came a wolf of
+monstrous size and appalling aspect, and scarce had she time to say, God
+help me! before he sprang upon her and griped her by the throat so
+tightly that she might not utter a cry, but, passive as any lambkin, was
+borne off by him, and had certainly been strangled, had he not
+encountered some shepherds, who with shouts compelled him to let her go.
+The shepherds recognized the poor hapless woman, and bore her home, where
+the physicians by dint of long and careful treatment cured her; howbeit
+the whole of her throat and part of her face remained so disfigured that,
+fair as she had been before, she was ever thereafter most foul and
+hideous to look upon. Wherefore, being ashamed to shew her face, she did
+many a time bitterly deplore her perversity, in that, when it would have
+cost her nothing, she would nevertheless pay no heed to the true dream of
+her husband.
+
+
+NOVEL VIII.
+
+--
+Biondello gulls Ciacco in the matter of a breakfast: for which prank
+Ciacco is cunningly avenged on Biondello, causing him to be shamefully
+beaten.
+--
+
+All the company by common consent pronounced it no dream but a vision
+that Talano had had in his sleep, so exactly, no circumstance lacking,
+had it fallen out according as he had seen it. However, as soon as all
+had done speaking, the queen bade Lauretta follow suit; which Lauretta
+did on this wise:--As, most discreet my ladies, those that have preceded
+me to-day have almost all taken their cue from somewhat that has been
+said before, so, prompted by the stern vengeance taken by the scholar in
+Pampinea's narrative of yesterday, I am minded to tell you of a vengeance
+that was indeed less savage, but for all that grievous enough to him on
+whom it was wreaked.
+
+Wherefore I say that there was once at Florence one that all folk called
+Ciacco, a man second to none that ever lived for inordinate gluttony,
+who, lacking the means to support the expenditure which his gluttony
+demanded, and being, for the rest, well-mannered and well furnished with
+excellent and merry jests, did, without turning exactly court jester,
+cultivate a somewhat biting wit, and loved to frequent the houses of the
+rich, and such as kept good tables; whither, bidden or unbidden, he not
+seldom resorted for breakfast or supper. There was also in those days at
+Florence one that was called Biondello, a man very short of stature, and
+not a little debonair, more trim than any fly, with his blond locks
+surmounted by a coif, and never a hair out of place; and he and Ciacco
+were two of a trade.
+
+Now one morning in Lent Biondello, being in the fish-market purchasing
+two mighty fat lampreys for Messer Vieri de' Cerchi, was observed thus
+engaged by Ciacco, who came up to him, and:--"What means this?" quoth he.
+"Why," replied Biondello, "'tis that yestereve Messer Corso Donati had
+three lampreys much finer than these and a sturgeon sent to his house,
+but as they did not suffice for a breakfast that he is to give certain
+gentlemen, he has commissioned me to buy him these two beside. Wilt thou
+not be there?" "Ay, marry, that will I," returned Ciacco. And in what he
+deemed due time he hied him to Messer Corso Donati's house, where he
+found him with some of his neighbours not yet gone to breakfast. And
+being asked by Messer Corso with what intent he was come, he
+answered:--"I am come, Sir, to breakfast with you and your company." "And
+welcome art thou," returned Messer Corso, "go we then to breakfast, for
+'tis now the time." So to table they went, where nought was set before
+them but pease and the inward part of the tunny salted, and afterwards
+the common fish of the Arno fried. Wherefore Ciacco, not a little wroth
+at the trick that he perceived Biondello had played him, resolved to pay
+him out. And not many days after Biondello, who had meanwhile had many a
+laugh with his friends over Ciacco's discomfiture, met him, and after
+greeting him, asked him with a laugh what Messer Corso's lampreys had
+been like. "That question," replied Ciacco, "thou wilt be able to answer
+much better than I before eight days are gone by." And parting from
+Biondello upon the word, he went forthwith and hired a cozening rogue,
+and having thrust a glass bottle into his hand, brought him within sight
+of the Loggia de' Cavicciuli; and there, pointing to a knight, one Messer
+Filippo Argenti, a tall man and stout, and of a high courage, and
+haughty, choleric and cross-grained as ne'er another, he said to
+him:--"Thou wilt go, flask in hand, to Messer Filippo, and wilt say to
+him:--'I am sent to you, Sir, by Biondello, who entreats you to be
+pleased to colour this flask for him with some of your good red wine, for
+that he is minded to have a good time with his catamites.' And of all
+things have a care that he lay not hands upon thee, for he would make
+thee rue the day, and would spoil my sport." "Have I aught else to say?"
+enquired the rogue. "Nothing more," returned Ciacco: "and now get thee
+gone, and when thou hast delivered the message, bring me back the flask,
+and I will pay thee."
+
+So away went the rogue, and did the errand to Messer Filippo, who
+forthwith, being a hasty man, jumped to the conclusion that Biondello,
+whom he knew, was making mock of him, and while an angry flush overspread
+his face:--"Colour the flask, forsooth!" quoth he, "and 'Catamites!' God
+send thee and him a bad year!" and therewith up he started, and reached
+forward to lay hold of the rogue, who, being on the alert, gave him the
+slip and was off, and reported Messer Filippo's answer to Ciacco, who had
+observed what had passed. Having paid the rogue, Ciacco rested not until
+he had found Biondello, to whom:--"Wast thou but now," quoth he, "at the
+Loggia de' Cavicciuli?" "Indeed no," replied Biondello: "wherefore such a
+question?" "Because," returned Ciacco, "I may tell thee that thou art
+sought for by Messer Filippo, for what cause I know not." "Good," quoth
+Biondello, "I will go thither and speak with him." So away went
+Biondello, and Ciacco followed him to see what course the affair would
+take.
+
+Now having failed to catch the rogue, Messer Filippo was still very
+wroth, and inly fumed and fretted, being unable to make out aught from
+what the rogue had said save that Biondello was set on by some one or
+another to flout him. And while thus he vexed his spirit, up came
+Biondello; whom he no sooner espied than he made for him, and dealt him a
+mighty blow in the face, and tore his hair and coif, and cast his capuche
+on the ground, and to his "Alas, Sir, what means this?" still beating him
+amain:--"Traitor," cried he; "I will give thee to know what it means to
+send me such a message. 'Colour the flask,' forsooth, and 'Catamites!'
+Dost take me for a stripling, to be befooled by thee?" And therewith he
+pummelled Biondello's face all over with a pair of fists that were liker
+to iron than aught else, until it was but a mass of bruises; he also tore
+and dishevelled all his hair, tumbled him in the mud, rent all his
+clothes upon his back, and that without allowing him breathing-space to
+ask why he thus used him, or so much as utter a word. "Colour me the
+flask!" and "Catamites!" rang in his ears; but what the words signified
+he knew not. In the end very badly beaten, and in very sorry and ragged
+trim, many folk having gathered around them, they, albeit not without the
+utmost difficulty, rescued him from Messer Filippo's hands, and told him
+why Messer Filippo had thus used him, censuring him for sending him such
+a message, and adding that thenceforth he would know Messer Filippo
+better, and that he was not a man to be trifled with. Biondello told them
+in tearful exculpation that he had never sent for wine to Messer Filippo:
+then, when they had put him in a little better trim, crestfallen and
+woebegone, he went home imputing his misadventure to Ciacco. And when,
+many days afterwards, the marks of his ill-usage being gone from his
+face, he began to go abroad again, it chanced that Ciacco met him, and
+with a laugh:--"Biondello," quoth he, "how didst thou relish Messer
+Filippo's wine?" "Why, as to that," replied Biondello, "would thou hadst
+relished the lampreys of Messer Corso as much!" "So!" returned Ciacco,
+"such meat as thou then gavest me, thou mayst henceforth give me, as
+often as thou art so minded; and I will give thee even such drink as I
+have given thee." So Biondello, witting that against Ciacco his might was
+not equal to his spite, prayed God for his peace, and was careful never
+to flout him again.
+
+
+NOVEL IX.
+
+--
+Two young men ask counsel of Solomon; the one, how he is to make himself
+beloved, the other, how he is to reduce an unruly wife to order. The King
+bids the one to love, and the other to go to the Bridge of Geese.
+--
+
+None now remained to tell save the queen, unless she were minded to
+infringe Dioneo's privilege. Wherefore, when the ladies had laughed their
+fill over the misfortunes of Biondello, thus gaily the queen
+began:--Observe we, lovesome ladies, the order of things with a sound
+mind, and we shall readily perceive that we women are one and all
+subjected by Nature and custom and law unto man, by him to be ruled and
+governed at his discretion; wherefore she, that would fain enjoy quietude
+and solace and comfort with the man to whom she belongs, ought not only
+to be chaste but lowly, patient and obedient: the which is the discreet
+wife's chief and most precious possession. And if the laws, which in all
+matters have regard unto the common weal, and use and wont or custom
+(call it what you will), a power very great and to be had in awe, should
+not suffice to school us thereto; yet abundantly clear is the witness of
+Nature, which has fashioned our frames delicate and sensitive, and our
+spirits timorous and fearful, and has decreed that our bodily strength
+shall be slight, our voices tunable, and our movements graceful; which
+qualities do all avouch that we have need of others' governance. And
+whoso has need of succour and governance ought in all reason to be
+obedient and submissive and reverent towards his governor. And whom have
+we to govern and succour us save men? 'Tis then our bounden duty to give
+men all honour and submit ourselves unto them: from which rule if any
+deviate, I deem her most deserving not only of grave censure but of
+severe chastisement. Which reflections, albeit they are not new to me, I
+am now led to make by what but a little while ago Pampinea told us
+touching the perverse wife of Talano, on whom God bestowed that
+chastisement which the husband had omitted; and accordingly it jumps with
+my judgment that all such women as deviate from the graciousness,
+kindliness and compliancy, which Nature and custom and law prescribe,
+merit, as I said, stern and severe chastisement. Wherefore, as a salutary
+medicine for the healing of those of us who may be afflicted with this
+disease, I am minded to relate to you that which was once delivered by
+Solomon by way of counsel in such a case. Which let none that stands not
+in need of such physic deem to be meant for her, albeit a proverb is
+current among men; to wit:--
+
+  Good steed, bad steed, alike need the rowel's prick,
+  Good wife, bad wife, alike demand the stick.
+
+Which whoso should construe as a merry conceit would find you all ready
+enough to acknowledge its truth. But even in its moral significance I say
+that it ought to command assent. For women are all by nature apt to be
+swayed and to fall; and therefore, for the correction of the wrong-doing
+of such as transgress the bounds assigned to them, there is need of the
+stick punitive; and also for the maintenance of virtue in others, that
+they transgress not these appointed bounds, there is need of the stick
+auxiliary and deterrent. However, to cut short this preachment, and to
+come to that which I purpose to tell you, I say:
+
+That the bruit of the incomparable renown of the prodigious wisdom of
+Solomon, as also of the exceeding great liberality with which he accorded
+proof thereof to all that craved such assurance, being gone forth over
+well-nigh all the earth, many from divers parts were wont to resort to
+him for counsel in matters of most pressing and arduous importance; among
+whom was a young man, Melisso by name, a very wealthy nobleman, who was,
+as had been his fathers before him, of Lazistan, and there dwelt. And as
+Melisso fared toward Jerusalem, on his departure from Antioch he fell in
+with another young man, Giosefo by name, who was going the same way, and
+with whom, after the manner of travellers, he entered into converse.
+Melisso, having learned from Giosefo, who and whence he was, asked him
+whither he went, and on what errand: whereupon Giosefo made an answer
+that he was going to seek counsel of Solomon, how he should deal with his
+wife, who had not her match among women for unruliness and perversity,
+insomuch that neither entreaties nor blandishments nor aught else availed
+him to bring her to a better frame. And thereupon he in like manner asked
+Melisso whence he was, and whither he was bound, and on what errand:
+whereto:--"Of Lazistan, I," replied Melisso, "and like thyself in evil
+plight; for albeit I am wealthy and spend my substance freely in
+hospitably entertaining and honourably entreating my fellow-citizens, yet
+for all that, passing strange though it be to think upon, I find never a
+soul to love me; and therefore I am bound to the self-same place as thou,
+to be advised how it may come to pass that I be beloved."
+
+So the two men fared on together, and being arrived at Jerusalem, were,
+by the good offices of one of Solomon's barons, ushered into his
+presence, and Melisso having briefly laid his case before the King, was
+answered in one word:--"Love." Which said, Melisso was forthwith
+dismissed, and Giosefo discovered the reason of his coming. To whom
+Solomon made no answer but:--"Get thee to the Bridge of Geese." Whereupon
+Giosefo was likewise promptly ushered out of the King's presence, and
+finding Melisso awaiting him, told him what manner of answer he had
+gotten. Which utterances of the King the two men pondered, but finding
+therein nought that was helpful or relevant to their need, they doubted
+the King had but mocked them, and set forth upon their homeward journey.
+
+Now when they had been some days on the road, they came to a river, which
+was spanned by a fine bridge, and a great caravan of sumpter mules and
+horses being about to cross, they must needs tarry, until the caravan had
+passed by. The more part of which had done so, when it chanced that a
+mule turned sulky, as we know they will not seldom do, and stood stock
+still; wherefore a muleteer took a stick and fell a beating the mule
+therewith, albeit at first with no great vigour, to urge the mule
+forward. The mule, however, swerving, now to this, now to the other side
+of the bridge, and sometimes facing about, utterly refused to go forward.
+Whereat the muleteer, wroth beyond measure, fell a belabouring him with
+the stick now on the head, now on the flanks, and anon on the croup,
+never so lustily, but all to no purpose. Which caused Melisso and Giosefo
+ofttimes to say to him:--"How now, caitiff? What is this thou doest?
+Wouldst kill the beast? Why not try if thou canst not manage him kindly
+and gently? He would start sooner so than for this cudgelling of thine."
+To whom:--"You know your horses," replied the muleteer, "and I know my
+mule: leave me to deal with him." Which said, he resumed his cudgelling
+of the mule, and laid about him on this side and on that to such purpose
+that he started him; and so the honours of the day rested with the
+muleteer. Now, as the two young men were leaving the bridge behind them,
+Giosefo asked a good man that sate at its head what the bridge was
+called, and was answered:--"Sir, 'tis called the Bridge of Geese." Which
+Giosefo no sooner heard than he called to mind Solomon's words, and
+turning to Melisso:--"Now, comrade, I warrant thee I may yet find
+Solomon's counsel sound and good, for that I knew not how to beat my wife
+is abundantly clear to me; and this muleteer has shewn me what I have to
+do."
+
+Now some days afterwards they arrived at Antioch, where Giosefo prevailed
+upon Melisso to tarry with him and rest a day or two; and meeting with
+but a sorry welcome on the part of his wife, he told her to take her
+orders as to supper from Melisso, who, seeing that such was Giosefo's
+will, briefly gave her his instructions; which the lady, as had been her
+wont, not only did not obey, but contravened in almost every particular.
+Which Giosefo marking:--"Wast thou not told," quoth he angrily, "after
+what fashion thou wast to order the supper?" Whereto:--"So!" replied the
+lady haughtily: "what means this? If thou hast a mind to sup, why take
+not thy supper? No matter what I was told, 'tis thus I saw fit to order
+it. If it like thee, so be it: if not, 'tis thine affair." Melisso heard
+the lady with surprise and inward disapprobation: Giosefo retorted:--"Ay
+wife, thou art still as thou wast used to be; but I will make thee mend
+thy manners." Then, turning to Melisso:--"Friend," quoth he, "thou wilt
+soon prove the worth of Solomon's counsel: but, prithee, let it not irk
+thee to look on, and deem that what I shall do is but done in sport; and
+if thou shouldst be disposed to stand in my way, bear in mind how we were
+answered by the muleteer, when we pitied his mule." "I am in thy house,"
+replied Melisso, "and thy pleasure is to me law."
+
+Thereupon Giosefo took a stout cudgel cut from an oak sapling, and hied
+him into the room whither the lady had withdrawn from the table in high
+dudgeon, seized her by the hair, threw her on to the floor at his feet,
+and fell a beating her amain with the cudgel. The lady at first uttered a
+shriek or two, from which she passed to threats; but seeing that, for all
+that, Giosefo slackened not, by the time she was thoroughly well
+thrashed, she began to cry him mercy, imploring him not to kill her, and
+adding that henceforth his will should be to her for law. But still
+Giosefo gave not over, but with ever fresh fury dealt her mighty
+swingeing blows, now about the ribs, now on the haunches, now over the
+shoulders; nor had he done with the fair lady, until, in short, he had
+left never a bone or other part of her person whole, and he was fairly
+spent. Then, returning to Melisso:--"To-morrow," quoth he, "we shall see
+whether 'Get thee to the Bridge of Geese' will prove to have been sound
+advice or no." And so, having rested a while, and then washed his hands,
+he supped with Melisso. With great pain the poor lady got upon her feet
+and laid herself on her bed, and having there taken such rest as she
+might, rose betimes on the morrow, and craved to know of Giosefo what he
+was minded to have to breakfast. Giosefo, laughing with Melisso over the
+message, gave her his directions, and when in due time they came to
+breakfast, they found everything excellently ordered according as it had
+been commanded: for which cause the counsel, which they had at first
+failed to understand, now received their highest commendation.
+
+Some few days later Melisso, having taken leave of Giosefo, went home,
+and told a wise man the counsel he had gotten from Solomon.
+Whereupon:--"And no truer or sounder advice could he have given thee,"
+quoth the sage: "thou knowest that thou lovest never a soul, and that the
+honours thou payest and the services thou renderest to others are not
+prompted by love of them, but by love of display. Love, then, as Solomon
+bade thee, and thou shalt be loved." On such wise was the unruly
+chastised; and the young man, learning to love, was beloved.
+
+
+NOVEL X.
+
+--
+Dom Gianni at the instance of his gossip Pietro uses an enchantment to
+transform Pietro's wife into a mare; but, when he comes to attach the
+tail, Gossip Pietro, by saying that he will have none of the tail, makes
+the enchantment of no effect.
+--
+
+The queen's story evoked some murmurs from the ladies and some laughter
+from the young men; however, when they were silent, Dioneo thus
+began:--Dainty my ladies, a black crow among a flock of white doves
+enhances their beauty more than would a white swan; and so, when many
+sages are met together, their ripe wisdom not only shews the brighter and
+goodlier for the presence of one that is not so wise, but may even derive
+pleasure and diversion therefrom. Wherefore as you, my ladies, are one
+and all most discreet and judicious, I, who know myself to be somewhat
+scant of sense, should, for that by my demerit I make your merit shew the
+more glorious, be more dear to you, than if by my greater merit I
+eclipsed yours, and by consequence should have more ample license to
+reveal myself to you as I am; and therefore have more patient sufferance
+on your part than would be due to me, were I more discreet, in the
+relation of the tale which I am about to tell you. 'Twill be, then, a
+story none too long, wherefrom you may gather with what exactitude it
+behoves folk to observe the injunctions of those that for any purpose use
+an enchantment, and how slight an error committed therein make bring to
+nought all the work of the enchanter.
+
+A year or so ago there was at Barletta a priest named Dom Gianni di
+Barolo, who, to eke out the scanty pittance his church afforded him, set
+a pack-saddle upon his mare, and took to going the round of the fairs of
+Apulia, buying and selling merchandise. And so it befell that he clapped
+up a close acquaintance with one Pietro da Tresanti, who plied the same
+trade as he, albeit instead of a mare he had but an ass; whom in token of
+friendship and good-fellowship Dom Gianni after the Apulian fashion
+called ever Gossip Pietro, and had him to his house and there lodged and
+honourably entreated him as often as he came to Barletta. Gossip Pietro
+on his part, albeit he was very poor and had but a little cot at
+Tresanti, that scarce sufficed for himself, his fair, young wife, and
+their ass, nevertheless, whenever Dom Gianni arrived at Tresanti, made
+him welcome, and did him the honours of his house as best he might, in
+requital of the hospitality which he received at Barletta. However, as
+Gossip Pietro had but one little bed, in which he slept with his fair
+wife, 'twas not in his power to lodge Dom Gianni as comfortably as he
+would have liked; but the priest's mare being quartered beside the ass in
+a little stable, the priest himself must needs lie beside her on the
+straw. Many a time when the priest came, the wife, knowing how honourably
+he entreated her husband at Barletta, would fain have gone to sleep with
+a neighbour, one Zita Carapresa di Giudice Leo, that the priest might
+share the bed with her husband, and many a time had she told the priest
+so howbeit he would never agree to it, and on one occasion:--"Gossip
+Gemmata," quoth he, "trouble not thyself about me; I am well lodged; for,
+when I am so minded, I turn the mare into a fine lass and dally with her,
+and then, when I would, I turn her back into a mare; wherefore I could
+ill brook to part from her." The young woman, wondering but believing,
+told her husband what the priest had said, adding:--"If he is even such a
+friend as thou sayst, why dost thou not get him to teach thee the
+enchantment, so that thou mayst turn me into a mare, and have both ass
+and mare for thine occasions? We should then make twice as much gain as
+we do, and thou couldst turn me back into a woman when we came home at
+night."
+
+Gossip Pietro, whose wit was somewhat blunt, believed that 'twas as she
+said, approved her counsel, and began adjuring Dom Gianni, as
+persuasively as he might, to teach him the incantation. Dom Gianni did
+his best to wean him of his folly; but as all was in vain:--"Lo, now,"
+quoth he, "as you are both bent on it, we will be up, as is our wont,
+before the sun to-morrow morning, and I will shew you how 'tis done. The
+truth is that 'tis in the attachment of the tail that the great
+difficulty lies, as thou wilt see." Scarce a wink of sleep had either
+Gossip Pietro or Gossip Gemmata that night, so great was their anxiety;
+and towards daybreak up they got, and called Dom Gianni; who, being
+risen, came in his shirt into Gossip Pietro's little bedroom, and:--"I
+know not," quoth he, "that there is another soul in the world for whom I
+would do this, save you, my gossips; however, as you will have it so, I
+will do it, but it behoves you to do exactly as I bid you, if you would
+have the enchantment work." They promised obedience, and Dom Gianni
+thereupon took a light, which he handed to Gossip Pietro, saying:--"Let
+nought that I shall do or say escape thee; and have a care, so thou
+wouldst not ruin all, to say never a word, whatever thou mayst see or
+hear; and pray God that the tail may be securely attached." So Gossip
+Pietro took the light, and again promised obedience; Dom Gianni caused
+Gossip Gemmata to strip herself stark naked, and stand on all fours like
+a mare, at the same time strictly charging her that, whatever might
+happen, she must utter no word. Then, touching her head and face:--"Be
+this a fine head of a mare," quoth he; in like manner touching her hair,
+he said:--"Be this a fine mane of a mare;" touching her arms:--"Be these
+fine legs and fine hooves of a mare;" then, as he touched her breast and
+felt its firm roundness, and there awoke and arose one that was not
+called:--"And be this a fine breast of a mare," quoth he; and in like
+manner he dealt with her back, belly, croup, thighs, and legs. Last of
+all, the work being complete save for the tail, he lifted his shirt and
+took in his hand the tool with which he was used to plant men, and
+forthwith thrust it into the furrow made for it, saying:--"And be this a
+fine tail of a mare." Whereat Gossip Pietro, who had followed everything
+very heedfully to that point, disapproving that last particular,
+exclaimed:--"No! Dom Gianni, I'll have no tail, I'll have no tail." The
+essential juice, by which all plants are propagated, was already
+discharged, when Dom Gianni withdrew the tool, saying:--"Alas! Gossip
+Pietro, what hast thou done? Did I not tell thee to say never a word, no
+matter what thou mightst see? The mare was all but made; but by speaking
+thou hast spoiled all; and 'tis not possible to repeat the enchantment."
+"Well and good," replied Gossip Pietro, "I would have none of that tail.
+Why saidst thou not to me:--'Make it thou'? And besides, thou wast
+attaching it too low." "'Twas because," returned Dom Gianni, "thou
+wouldst not have known, on the first essay, how to attach it so well as
+I." Whereupon the young woman stood up, and in all good faith said to her
+husband:--"Fool that thou art, wherefore hast thou brought to nought what
+had been for the good of us both? When didst thou ever see mare without a
+tail? So help me God, poor as thou art, thou deservest to be poorer
+still." So, after Gossip Pietro's ill-timed speech, there being no way
+left of turning the young woman into a mare, downcast and melancholy she
+resumed her clothes; and Gossip Pietro plied his old trade with his ass,
+and went with Dom Gianni to the fair of Bitonto, and never asked him so
+to serve him again.
+
+What laughter this story drew from the ladies, who understood it better
+than Dioneo had wished, may be left to the imagination of the fair one
+that now laughs thereat. However, as the stories were ended, and the sun
+now shone with a tempered radiance, the queen, witting that the end of
+her sovereignty was come, stood up and took off the crown, and set it on
+the head of Pamfilo, whom alone it now remained thus to honour; and said
+with a smile:--"My lord, 'tis a great burden that falls upon thee, seeing
+that thou, coming last, art bound to make good my shortcomings and those
+of my predecessors; which God give thee grace to accomplish, even as He
+has given me grace to make thee king." With gladsome acknowledgment of
+the honour:--"I doubt not," replied Pamfilo, "that, thanks to your noble
+qualities and those of my other subjects, I shall win even such praise as
+those that have borne sway before me." Then, following the example of his
+predecessors, he made all meet arrangements in concert with the
+seneschal: after which, he turned to the expectant ladies, and thus
+spoke:--"Enamoured my ladies, Emilia, our queen of to-day, deeming it
+proper to allow you an interval of rest to recruit your powers, gave you
+license to discourse of such matters as should most commend themselves to
+each in turn; and as thereby you are now rested, I judge that 'tis meet
+to revert to our accustomed rule. Wherefore I ordain that for to-morrow
+you do each of you take thought how you may discourse of the ensuing
+theme: to wit, of such as in matters of love, or otherwise, have done
+something with liberality or magnificence. By the telling, and (still
+more) by the doing of such things, your spirits will assuredly be duly
+attuned and animated to emprise high and noble; whereby our life, which
+cannot but be brief, seeing that 'tis enshrined in a mortal body, fame
+shall perpetuate in glory; which whoso serves not the belly, as do the
+beasts, must not only covet, but with all zeal seek after and labour to
+attain."
+
+The gay company having, one and all, approved the theme, rose at a word
+from their new king, and betook them to their wonted pastimes, and so,
+according as they severally had most lief, diverted them, until they
+blithely reunited for supper, which being served with all due care and
+despatched, they rose up to dance, as they were wont, and when they had
+sung, perhaps, a thousand ditties, fitter to please by their words than
+by any excellence of musical art, the king bade Neifile sing one on her
+own account. And promptly and graciously, with voice clear and blithe,
+thus Neifile sang:--
+
+In prime of maidenhood, and fair and feat
+  'Mid spring's fresh foison chant I merrily:
+  Thanks be to Love and to my fancies sweet.
+
+As o'er the grassy mead I, glancing, fare,
+  I mark it white and yellow and vermeil dight
+  With flowers, the thorny rose, the lily white:
+  And all alike to his face I compare,
+  Who, loving, hath me ta'en, and me shall e'er
+  Hold bounden to his will, sith I am she
+  That in his will findeth her joy complete.
+
+Whereof if so it be that I do find
+  Any that I most like to him approve,
+  That pluck I straight and kiss with words of love,
+  Discovering all, as, best I may, my mind;
+  Yea, all my heart's desire; and then entwined
+  I set it in the chaplet daintily,
+  And with my yellow tresses bind and pleat.
+
+And as mine eyes do drink in the delight
+  Which the flower yields them, even so my mind,
+  Fired with his sweet love, doth such solace find,
+  As he himself were present to the sight:
+  But never word of mine discover might
+  That which the flower's sweet smell awakes in me:
+  Witness the true tale that my sighs repeat.
+
+For from my bosom gentle and hot they fly,
+  Not like the gusty sighs that others heave,
+  Whenas they languish and do sorely grieve;
+  And to my love incontinent they hie:
+  Whereof when he is ware, he, by and by,
+  To meward hasting, cometh suddenly,
+  When:--"Lest I faint," I cry, "come, I entreat."
+
+The king and all the ladies did not a little commend Neifile's song;
+after which, as the night was far spent, the king bade all go to rest
+until the morrow.
+
+
+--
+Endeth here the ninth day of the Decameron, and beginneth the tenth, in
+which, under the rule of Pamfilo, discourse is had of such as in matters
+of love, or otherwise, have done something with liberality or
+magnificence.
+--
+
+Some cloudlets in the West still shewed a vermeil flush, albeit those of
+the eastern sky, as the sun's rays smote them anear, were already fringed
+as with most lucent gold, when uprose Pamfilo, and roused the ladies and
+his comrades. And all the company being assembled, and choice made of the
+place whither they should betake them for their diversion, he,
+accompanied by Filomena and Fiammetta, led the way at a slow pace,
+followed by all the rest. So fared they no little space, beguiling the
+time with talk of their future way of life, whereof there was much to
+tell and much to answer, until, as the sun gained strength, they
+returned, having made quite a long round, to the palace; and being
+gathered about the fountain, such as were so minded drank somewhat from
+beakers rinsed in its pure waters; and then in the delicious shade of the
+garden they hied them hither and thither, taking their pleasure until
+breakfast-time. Their meal taken, they slept as they were wont; and then,
+at a spot chosen by the king, they reassembled, where Neifile, having
+received his command to lead the way, blithely thus began.
+
+
+NOVEL I.
+
+--
+A knight in the service of the King of Spain deems himself ill requited.
+Wherefore the King, by most cogent proof, shews him that the blame rests
+not with him, but with the knight's own evil fortune; after which, he
+bestows upon him a noble gift.
+--
+
+Highly graced, indeed, do I deem myself, honourable my ladies, that our
+king should have given to me the precedence in a matter so arduous to
+tell of as magnificence: for, as the sun irradiates all the heaven with
+his glory and beauty, even so does magnificence enhance the purity and
+the splendour of every other virtue. I shall therefore tell you a story,
+which, to my thinking, is not a little pretty; and which, assuredly, it
+must be profitable to call to mind.
+
+You are to know, then, that, among other honourable knights that from
+days of old even until now have dwelt in our city, one, and perchance the
+worthiest of all, was Messer Ruggieri de' Figiovanni. Who, being wealthy
+and magnanimous, reflecting on the customs and manner of life of Tuscany,
+perceived that by tarrying there he was like to find little or no
+occasion of shewing his mettle, and accordingly resolved to pass some
+time at the court of Alfonso, King of Spain, who for the fame of his high
+qualities was without a peer among the potentates of his age. So, being
+well provided with arms and horses and retinue suitable to his rank, he
+hied him to Spain, where he was graciously received by the King. There
+tarrying accordingly, Messer Ruggieri very soon, as well by the splendid
+style in which he lived as by the prodigious feats of arms that he did,
+gave folk to know his high desert.
+
+Now, having tarried there some while, and observed the King's ways with
+much care, and how he would grant castles, cities, or baronies, to this,
+that, or the other of his subjects, he deemed that the King shewed
+therein but little judgment, seeing that he would give them to men that
+merited them not. And for that nought was given to him, he, knowing his
+merit, deemed himself gravely injured in reputation; wherefore he made up
+his mind to depart the realm, and to that end craved license of the King;
+which the King granted him, and therewith gave him one of the best and
+finest mules that was ever ridden, a gift which Messer Ruggieri, as he
+had a long journey to make, did not a little appreciate. The King then
+bade one of his discreet domestics contrive, as best he might, to ride
+with Messer Ruggieri on such wise that it might not appear that he did so
+by the King's command, and charge his memory with whatever Messer
+Ruggieri might say of him, so that he might be able to repeat it; which
+done, he was on the very next morning to bid Ruggieri return to the King
+forthwith. The King's agent was on the alert, and no sooner was Ruggieri
+out of the city, than without any manner of difficulty he joined his
+company, giving out that he was going towards Italy. As thus they rode,
+talking of divers matters, Messer Ruggieri being mounted on the mule
+given him by the King:--"Methinks," quoth the other, it being then hard
+upon tierce, "that 'twere well to give the beasts a voidance;" and by and
+by, being come to a convenient place, they voided all the beasts save the
+mule. Then, as they continued their journey, the squire hearkening
+attentively to the knight's words, they came to a river, and while there
+they watered the beasts, the mule made a voidance in the stream.
+Whereat:--"Ah, foul fall thee, beast," quoth Messer Ruggieri, "that art
+even as thy master, that gave thee to me!" Which remark, as also many
+another that fell from Ruggieri as they rode together throughout the day,
+the squire stored in his memory; but never another word did he hear
+Ruggieri say touching the King, that was not laudatory to the last
+degree.
+
+On the morrow, when they were gotten to horse, and had set their faces
+towards Tuscany, the squire apprised Ruggieri of the King's command, and
+thereupon Ruggieri turned back. On his arrival the King, having already
+heard what he had said touching the mule, gave him gladsome greeting, and
+asked him wherefore he had likened him to the mule, or rather the mule to
+him. Whereto Messer Ruggieri answered frankly:--"My lord, I likened you
+to the mule, for that, as you bestow your gifts where 'tis not meet, and
+where meet it were, bestow them not, so the mule where 'twas meet, voided
+not, and where 'twas not meet, voided." "Messer Ruggieri," replied the
+King, "'tis not because I have not discerned in you a knight most good
+and true, for whose desert no gift were too great, that I have not
+bestowed on you such gifts as I have bestowed upon many others, who in
+comparison of you are nothing worth: the fault is none of mine but solely
+of your fortune, which would not suffer me; and that this which I say is
+true, I will make abundantly plain to you." "My lord," returned Messer
+Ruggieri, "mortified am I, not that you gave me no gift, for thereof I
+had no desire, being too rich, but that you made no sign of recognition
+of my desert; however, I deem your explanation sound and honourable, and
+whatever you shall be pleased that I should see, that gladly will I,
+albeit I believe you without attestation."
+
+The King then led him into one of the great halls, in which, by his
+preordinance, were two chests closed under lock and key, and, not a few
+others being present, said to him:--"Messer Ruggieri, one these chests
+contains my crown, sceptre and orb, with many a fine girdle, buckle,
+ring, and whatever else of jewellery I possess; the other is full of
+earth: choose then, and whichever you shall choose, be it yours; thereby
+you will discover whether 'tis due to me or to your fortune that your
+deserts have lacked requital." Such being the King's pleasure, Messer
+Ruggieri chose one of the chests, which at the King's command being
+opened and found to be that which contained the earth:--"Now, Messer
+Ruggieri," quoth the King with a laugh, "your own eyes may warrant you of
+the truth of what I say touching Fortune; but verily your merit demands
+that I take arms against her in your cause. I know that you are not
+minded to become a Spaniard, and therefore I shall give you neither
+castle nor city; but that chest, which Fortune denied you, I bestow on
+you in her despite, that you may take it with you to your own country,
+and there with your neighbours justly vaunt yourself of your deserts,
+attested by my gifts." Messer Ruggieri took the chest, and having thanked
+the King in a manner befitting such a gift, returned therewith, well
+pleased, to Tuscany.
+
+
+NOVEL II.
+
+--
+Ghino di Tacco captures the Abbot of Cluny, cures him of a disorder of
+the stomach, and releases him. The abbot, on his return to the court of
+Rome, reconciles Ghino with Pope Boniface, and makes him prior of the
+Hospital.
+--
+
+When an end was made of extolling the magnificence shewn by King Alfonso
+towards the Florentine knight, the king, who had listened to the story
+with no small pleasure, bade Elisa follow suit; and forthwith Elisa
+began:--Dainty my ladies, undeniable it is that for a king to be
+magnificent, and to entreat magnificently one that has done him service,
+is a great matter, and meet for commendation. What then shall we say when
+the tale is of a dignitary of the Church that shewed wondrous
+magnificence towards one whom he might well have entreated as an enemy,
+and not have been blamed by a soul? Assuredly nought else than that what
+in the king was virtue was in the prelate nothing less than a miracle,
+seeing that for superlative greed the clergy, one and all, outdo us
+women, and wage war to the knife upon every form of liberality. And
+albeit all men are by nature prone to avenge their wrongs, 'tis notorious
+that the clergy, however they may preach longsuffering, and commend of
+all things the forgiving of trespasses, are more quick and hot to be
+avenged than the rest of mankind. Now this, to wit, after what manner a
+prelate shewed magnificence, will be made manifest to you in my story.
+
+Ghino di Tacco, a man redoubtable by reason of his truculence and his
+high-handed deeds, being banished from Siena, and at enmity with the
+Counts of Santa Fiore, raised Radicofani in revolt against the Church of
+Rome, and there abiding, harried all the surrounding country with his
+soldiers, plundering all wayfarers. Now Pope Boniface VIII. being at
+Rome, there came to court the Abbot of Cluny, who is reputed one of the
+wealthiest prelates in the world; and having there gotten a disorder of
+the stomach, he was advised by the physicians to go to the baths of
+Siena, where (they averred) he would certainly be cured. So, having
+obtained the Pope's leave, reckless of the bruit of Ghino's exploits, he
+took the road, being attended by a great and well-equipped train of
+sumpter-horses and servants. Ghino di Tacco, getting wind of his
+approach, spread his nets to such purpose as without the loss of so much
+as a boy to surround the abbot, with all his servants and effects, in a
+strait pass, from which there was no exit. Which done, he sent one of his
+men, the cunningest of them all, with a sufficient retinue to the abbot,
+who most lovingly on Ghino's part besought the abbot to come and visit
+Ghino at the castle. Whereto the abbot, very wroth, made answer that he
+would none of it, for that nought had he to do with Ghino; but that he
+purposed to continue his journey, and would fain see who would hinder
+him. "Sir," returned the envoy, assuming a humble tone, "you are come to
+a part of the country where we have no fear of aught save the might of
+God, and where excommunications and interdicts are one and all under the
+ban; wherefore you were best be pleased to shew yourself agreeable to
+Ghino in this particular." As they thus spoke, Ghino's soldiers shewed
+themselves on every side, and it being thus manifest to the abbot that he
+and his company were taken prisoners, he, albeit mightily incensed,
+suffered himself with all his train and effects to be conducted by the
+envoy to the castle; where the abbot, being alighted, was lodged in a
+small and very dark and discomfortable room, while his retinue, according
+to their several conditions, were provided with comfortable quarters in
+divers parts of the castle, the horses well stabled and all the effects
+secured, none being in any wise tampered with. Which done, Ghino hied him
+to the abbot, and:--"Sir," quoth he, "Ghino, whose guest you are, sends
+me to entreat you to be pleased to inform him of your destination, and
+the purpose of your journey." The abbot, vailing his pride like a wise
+man, told whither he was bound and for what purpose. Whereupon Ghino left
+him, casting about how he might cure him without a bath. To which end he
+kept a great fire ever burning in the little chamber, and had it closely
+guarded, and returned not to the abbot until the ensuing morning, when he
+brought him in a spotless napkin two slices of toast and a great beaker
+of vernaccia of Corniglia, being of the abbot's own vintage; and:--"Sir,"
+quoth he to the abbot, "Ghino, as a young man, made his studies in
+medicine, and avers that he then learned that there is no better
+treatment for disorder of the stomach than that which he will afford you,
+whereof the matters that I bring you are the beginning; wherefore take
+them and be of good cheer."
+
+The abbot, being far too hungry to make many words about the matter, ate
+(albeit in high dudgeon) the toast, and drank the vernaccia; which done,
+he enlarged on his wrongs in a high tone, with much questioning and
+perpending; and above all he demanded to see Ghino. Part of what the
+abbot said Ghino disregarded as of no substance, to other part he replied
+courteously enough; and having assured him that Ghino would visit him as
+soon as might be, he took his leave of him; nor did he return until the
+morrow, when he brought him toast and vernaccia in the same quantity as
+before; and so he kept him several days: then, having marked that the
+abbot had eaten some dried beans that he had secretly brought and left
+there of set purpose, he asked him in Ghino's name how he felt in the
+stomach. "Were I but out of Ghino's hands," replied the abbot, "I should
+feel myself well, indeed: next to which, I desire most of all a good
+breakfast, so excellent a cure have his medicines wrought on me."
+Whereupon Ghino caused the abbot's servants to furnish a goodly chamber
+with the abbot's own effects, and there on the morrow make ready a grand
+banquet, at which all the abbot's suite and not a few of the garrison
+being assembled, he hied him to the abbot, and:--"Sir," quoth he, "'tis
+time you left the infirmary, seeing that you now feel yourself well;" and
+so saying, he took him by the hand, and led him into the chamber made
+ready for him, and having left him there with his own people, made it his
+chief concern that the banquet should be magnificent. The abbot's spirits
+revived as he found himself again among his men, with whom he talked a
+while, telling them how he had been entreated, wherewith they contrasted
+the signal honour which they, on the other hand, had, one and all,
+received from Ghino.
+
+Breakfast-time came, and with order meet the abbot and the rest were
+regaled with good viands and good wines, Ghino still suffering not the
+abbot to know who he was. But when the abbot had thus passed several
+days, Ghino, having first had all his effects collected in a saloon, and
+all his horses, to the poorest jade, in the courtyard below, hied him to
+the abbot and asked him how he felt, and if he deemed himself strong
+enough to ride. The abbot replied that he was quite strong enough, and
+that 'twould be well indeed with him, were he once out of Ghino's hands.
+Ghino then led him into the saloon in which were his effects and all his
+retinue, and having brought him to a window, whence he might see all his
+horses:--"Sir Abbot," quoth he, "you must know that 'tis not for that he
+has an evil heart, but because, being a gentleman, he is banished from
+his home, and reduced to poverty, and has not a few powerful enemies,
+that in defence of his life and honour, Ghino di Tacco, whom you see
+before you, has become a robber of highways and an enemy to the court of
+Rome. But such as I am, I have cured you of your malady of the stomach,
+and taking you to be a worthy lord, I purpose not to treat you as I would
+another, from whom, were he in my hands, as you are, I should take such
+part of his goods as I should think fit; but I shall leave it to you,
+upon consideration of my need, to assign to me such portion of your goods
+as you yourself shall determine. Here are they before you undiminished
+and unimpaired, and from this window you may see your horses below in the
+courtyard; wherefore take the part or take the whole, as you may see fit,
+and be it at your option to tarry here, or go hence, from this hour
+forth."
+
+The abbot marvelled to hear a highway robber speak thus liberally, and
+such was his gratification that his wrath and fierce resentment departed
+from him, nay, were transformed into kindness, insomuch that in all
+cordial amity he hasted to embrace Ghino, saying:--"By God I swear, that
+to gain the friendship of a man such I now deem thee to be, I would be
+content to suffer much greater wrong than that which until now, meseemed,
+thou hadst done me. Cursed be Fortune that constrains thee to ply so
+censurable a trade." Which said, he selected a very few things, and none
+superfluous, from his ample store, and having done likewise with the
+horses, ceded all else to Ghino, and hied him back to Rome; where, seeing
+him, the Pope, who to his great grief had heard of his capture, asked him
+what benefit he had gotten from the baths. Whereto the abbot made answer
+with a smile:--"Holy Father, I found nearer here than the baths a worthy
+physician who has wrought a most excellent cure on me:" he then recounted
+all the circumstances, whereat the Pope laughed. Afterwards, still
+pursuing the topic, the abbot, yielding to the promptings of
+magnificence, asked a favour of the Pope; who, expecting that he would
+ask somewhat else than he did, liberally promised to give him whatever he
+should demand. Whereupon:--"Holy Father," quoth the abbot, "that which I
+would crave of you is that you restore Ghino di Tacco, my physician, to
+your favour; seeing that among the good men and true and meritorious that
+I have known, he is by no means of the least account. And for the evil
+life that he leads, I impute it to Fortune rather than to him: change
+then his fortune, by giving him the means whereby he may live in manner
+befitting his rank, and I doubt not that in a little while your judgment
+of him will jump with mine." Whereto the Pope, being magnanimous, and an
+admirer of good men and true, made answer that so he would gladly do, if
+Ghino should prove to be such as the abbot said; and that he would have
+him brought under safe conduct to Rome. Thither accordingly under safe
+conduct came Ghino, to the abbot's great delight; nor had he been long at
+court before the Pope approved his worth, and restored him to his favour,
+granting him a great office, to wit, that of prior of the Hospital,
+whereof he made him knight. Which office he held for the rest of his
+life, being ever a friend and vassal of Holy Church and the Abbot of
+Cluny.
+
+
+NOVEL III.
+
+--
+Mitridanes, holding Nathan in despite by reason of his courtesy, journeys
+with intent to kill him, and falling in with him unawares, is advised by
+him how to compass his end. Following his advice, he finds him in a
+copse, and recognizing him, is shame-stricken, and becomes his friend.
+--
+
+Verily like to a miracle seemed it to all to hear that a prelate had done
+aught with magnificence; but when the ladies had made an end of their
+remarks, the king bade Filostrato follow suit; and forthwith Filostrato
+began:--Noble ladies, great was the magnificence of the King of Spain,
+and perchance a thing unheard-of the magnificence of the Abbot of Cluny;
+but peradventure 'twill seem not a whit less marvellous to you to hear of
+one who, to shew liberality towards another, did resolve artfully to
+yield to him his blood, nay, his very life, for which the other thirsted,
+and had so done, had the other chosen to take them, as I shall shew you
+in a little story.
+
+Beyond all question, if we may believe the report of certain Genoese, and
+other folk that have been in those regions, there dwelt of yore in the
+parts of Cathay one Nathan, a man of noble lineage and incomparable
+wealth. Who, having a seat hard by a road, by which whoso would travel
+from the West eastward, or from the East westward, must needs pass, and
+being magnanimous and liberal, and zealous to approve himself such in
+act, did set on work cunning artificers not a few, and cause one of the
+finest and largest and most luxurious palaces that ever were seen, to be
+there builded and furnished in the goodliest manner with all things meet
+for the reception and honourable entertainment of gentlemen. And so,
+keeping a great array of excellent servants, he courteously and
+hospitably did the honours of his house to whoso came and went: in which
+laudable way of life he persevered, until not only the East, but
+well-nigh all the West had heard his fame; which thus, what time he was
+well-stricken in years, albeit not for that cause grown weary of shewing
+courtesy, reached the ears of one Mitridanes, a young man of a country
+not far distant. Who, knowing himself to be no less wealthy than Nathan,
+grew envious of the renown that he had of his good deeds, and resolved to
+obliterate, or at least to obscure it, by a yet greater liberality. So he
+had built for himself a palace like that of Nathan, of which he did the
+honours with a lavish courtesy that none had ever equalled, to whoso came
+or went that way; and verily in a short while he became famous enough.
+
+Now it so befell that on a day when the young man was all alone in the
+courtyard of the palace, there came in by one of the gates a poor woman,
+who asked of him an alms, and had it; but, not content therewith, came
+again to him by the second gate, and asked another alms, and had it, and
+after the like sort did even unto the twelfth time; but, she returning
+for the thirteenth time:--"My good woman," quoth Mitridanes, "thou art
+not a little pertinacious in thy begging:" howbeit he gave her an alms.
+Whereupon:--"Ah! the wondrous liberality of Nathan!" quoth the
+beldam:--"thirty-two gates are there to his palace, by every one of which
+I have entered, and asking alms of him, was never--for aught he
+shewed--recognized, or refused, and here, though I have entered as yet by
+but thirteen gates, I am recognized and reprimanded." And therewith she
+departed, and returned no more. Mitridanes, who accounted the mention of
+Nathan's fame an abatement of his own, was kindled by her words with a
+frenzy of wrath, and began thus to commune with himself:--Alas! when
+shall I attain to the grandeur of Nathan's liberality, to say nought of
+transcending it, as I would fain, seeing that in the veriest trifles I
+cannot approach him? Of a surety my labour is in vain, if I rid not the
+earth of him: which, since old age relieves me not of him, I must
+forthwith do with mine own hands. And in the flush of his despite up he
+started, and giving none to know of his purpose, got to horse with a
+small company, and after three days arrived at the place where Nathan
+abode; and having enjoined his comrades to make as if they were none of
+his, and knew him not, and to go quarter themselves as best they might
+until they had his further orders, he, being thus alone, towards evening
+came upon Nathan, also alone, at no great distance from his splendid
+palace. Nathan was recreating himself by a walk, and was very simply
+clad; so that Mitridanes, knowing him not, asked him if he could shew him
+where Nathan dwelt. "My son," replied Nathan gladsomely, "that can none
+in these parts better than I; wherefore, so it please thee, I will bring
+thee thither." The young man replied that 'twould be mighty agreeable to
+him, but that, if so it might be, he had a mind to be neither known nor
+seen by Nathan. "And herein also," returned Nathan, "since 'tis thy
+pleasure, I will gratify thee." Whereupon Mitridanes dismounted, and with
+Nathan, who soon engaged him in delightsome discourse, walked to the
+goodly palace. Arrived there Nathan caused one of his servants take the
+young man's horse, and drawing close to him, bade him in a whisper to see
+to it without delay that none in the house should tell the young man that
+he was Nathan: and so 'twas done.
+
+Being come into the palace, Nathan quartered Mitridanes in a most goodly
+chamber, where none saw him but those whom he had appointed to wait upon
+him; and he himself kept him company, doing him all possible honour. Of
+whom Mitridanes, albeit he reverenced him as a father, yet, being thus
+with him, forbore not to ask who he was. Whereto Nathan made answer:--"I
+am a petty servant of Nathan: old as I am, I have been with him since my
+childhood, and never has he advanced me to higher office than this
+wherein thou seest me: wherefore, howsoever other folk may praise him,
+little cause have I to do so." Which words afforded Mitridanes some hope
+of carrying his wicked purpose into effect with more of plan and less of
+risk than had otherwise been possible. By and by Nathan very courteously
+asked him who he was, and what business brought him thither; offering him
+such counsel and aid as he might be able to afford him. Mitridanes
+hesitated a while to reply: but at last he resolved to trust him, and
+when with no little circumlocution he had demanded of him fidelity,
+counsel and aid, he fully discovered to him who he was, and the purpose
+and motive of his coming thither. Now, albeit to hear Mitridanes thus
+unfold his horrid design caused Nathan no small inward commotion, yet
+'twas not long before courageously and composedly he thus made
+answer:--"Noble was thy father, Mitridanes, and thou art minded to shew
+thyself not unworthy of him by this lofty emprise of thine, to wit, of
+being liberal to all comers: and for that thou art envious of Nathan's
+merit I greatly commend thee; for were many envious for a like cause, the
+world, from being a most wretched, would soon become a happy place. Doubt
+not that I shall keep secret the design which thou hast confided to me,
+for the furtherance whereof 'tis good advice rather than substantial aid
+that I have to offer thee. Which advice is this. Hence, perhaps half a
+mile off, thou mayst see a copse, in which almost every morning Nathan is
+wont to walk, taking his pleasure, for quite a long while: 'twill be an
+easy matter for thee to find him there, and deal with him as thou mayst
+be minded. Now, shouldst thou slay him, thou wilt get thee home with less
+risk of let, if thou take not the path by which thou camest hither, but
+that which thou seest issue from the copse on the left, for, though 'tis
+somewhat more rough, it leads more directly to thy house, and will be
+safer for thee."
+
+Possessed of this information, Mitridanes, when Nathan had left him,
+privily apprised his comrades, who were likewise lodged in the palace, of
+the place where they were to await him on the ensuing day; which being
+come, Nathan, inflexibly determined to act in all respects according to
+the advice which he had given Mitridanes, hied him forth to the copse
+unattended, to meet his death. Mitridanes, being risen, took his bow and
+sword, for other arms he had none with him, mounted his horse, and rode
+to the copse, through which, while he was yet some way off, he saw Nathan
+passing, quite alone. And being minded, before he fell upon him, to see
+his face and hear the sound of his voice, as, riding at a smart pace, he
+came up with him, he laid hold of him by his head-gear,
+exclaiming:--"Greybeard, thou art a dead man." Whereto Nathan answered
+nought but:--"Then 'tis but my desert." But Mitridanes, hearing the
+voice, and scanning the face, forthwith knew him for the same man that
+had welcomed him heartily, consorted with him familiarly, and counselled
+him faithfully; whereby his wrath presently subsided, and gave place to
+shame. Wherefore, casting away the sword that he held drawn in act to
+strike, he sprang from his horse, and weeping, threw himself at Nathan's
+feet, saying:--"Your liberality, dearest father, I acknowledge to be
+beyond all question, seeing with what craft you did plot your coming
+hither to yield me your life, for which, by mine own avowal, you knew
+that I, albeit cause I had none, did thirst. But God, more regardful of
+my duty than I myself, has now, in this moment of supreme stress, opened
+the eyes of my mind, that wretched envy had fast sealed. The prompter was
+your compliance, the greater is the debt of penitence that I owe you for
+my fault; wherefore wreak even such vengeance upon me as you may deem
+answerable to my transgression." But Nathan raised Mitridanes to his
+feet, and tenderly embraced him, saying:--"My son, thy enterprise,
+howsoever thou mayst denote it, whether evil or otherwise, was not such
+that thou shouldst crave, or I give, pardon thereof; for 'twas not in
+malice but in that thou wouldst fain have been reputed better than I that
+thou ensuedst it. Doubt then no more of me; nay, rest assured that none
+that lives bears thee such love as I, who know the loftiness of thy
+spirit, bent not to heap up wealth, as do the caitiffs, but to dispense
+in bounty thine accumulated store. Think it no shame that to enhance thy
+reputation thou wouldst have slain me; nor deem that I marvel thereat. To
+slay not one man, as thou wast minded, but countless multitudes, to waste
+whole countries with fire, and to raze cities to the ground has been
+well-nigh the sole art, by which the mightiest emperors and the greatest
+kings have extended their dominions, and by consequence their fame.
+Wherefore, if thou, to increase thy fame, wouldst fain have slain me,
+'twas nothing marvellous or strange, but wonted."
+
+Whereto Mitridanes made answer, not to excuse his wicked design, but to
+commend the seemly excuse found for it by Nathan, whom at length he told
+how beyond measure he marvelled that Nathan had not only been consenting
+to the enterprise, but had aided him therein by his counsel. But Nathan
+answered:--"Liefer had I, Mitridanes, that thou didst not marvel either
+at my consent or at my counsel, for that, since I was my own master and
+of a mind to that emprise whereon thou art also bent, never a soul came
+to my house, but, so far as in me lay, I gave him all that he asked of
+me. Thou camest, lusting for my life; and so, when I heard thee crave it
+of me, I forthwith, that thou mightst not be the only guest to depart
+hence ill content, resolved to give it thee; and to that end I gave thee
+such counsel as I deemed would serve thee both to the taking of my life
+and the preservation of thine own. Wherefore yet again I bid thee, nay, I
+entreat thee, if so thou art minded, to take it for thy satisfaction: I
+know not how I could better bestow it. I have had the use of it now for
+some eighty years, and pleasure and solace thereof; and I know that, by
+the course of Nature and the common lot of man and all things mundane, it
+can continue to be mine for but a little while; and so I deem that 'twere
+much better to bestow it, as I have ever bestowed and dispensed my
+wealth, than to keep it, until, against my will, it be reft from me by
+Nature. 'Twere but a trifle, though 'twere a hundred years: how
+insignificant, then, the six or eight years that are all I have to give!
+Take it, then, if thou hadst lief, take it, I pray thee; for, long as I
+have lived here, none have I found but thee to desire it; nor know I when
+I may find another, if thou take it not, to demand it of me. And if,
+peradventure, I should find one such, yet I know that the longer I keep
+it, the less its worth will be; wherefore, ere it be thus cheapened, take
+it, I implore thee."
+
+Sore shame-stricken, Mitridanes made answer:--"Now God forefend that I
+should so much as harbour, as but now I did, such a thought, not to say
+do such a deed, as to wrest from you a thing so precious as your life,
+the years whereof, so far from abridging, I would gladly supplement with
+mine own." "So then," rejoined Nathan promptly, "thou wouldst, if thou
+couldst, add thy years to mine, and cause me to serve thee as I never yet
+served any man, to wit, to take from thee that which is thine, I that
+never took aught from a soul!" "Ay, that would I," returned Mitridanes.
+"Then," quoth Nathan, "do as I shall bid thee. Thou art young: tarry here
+in my house, and call thyself Nathan; and I will get me to thy house, and
+ever call myself Mitridanes." Whereto Mitridanes made answer:--"Were I
+but able to discharge this trust, as you have been and are, scarce would
+I hesitate to accept your offer; but, as too sure am I that aught that I
+might do would but serve to lower Nathan's fame, and I am not minded to
+mar that in another which I cannot mend in myself, accept it I will not."
+
+After which and the like interchange of delectable discourse, Nathan and
+Mitridanes, by Nathan's desire, returned to the palace; where Nathan for
+some days honourably entreated Mitridanes, and by his sage counsel
+confirmed and encouraged him in his high and noble resolve; after which,
+Mitridanes, being minded to return home with his company, took his leave
+of Nathan, fully persuaded that 'twas not possible to surpass him in
+liberality.
+
+
+NOVEL IV.
+
+--
+Messer Gentile de' Carisendi, being come from Modena, disinters a lady
+that he loves, who has been buried for dead. She, being reanimated, gives
+birth to a male child; and Messer Gentile restores her, with her son, to
+Niccoluccio Caccianimico, her husband.
+--
+
+A thing marvellous seemed it to all that for liberality a man should be
+ready to sacrifice his own life; and herein they averred that Nathan had
+without doubt left the King of Spain and the Abbot of Cluny behind.
+However, when they had discussed the matter diversely and at large, the
+king, bending his regard on Lauretta, signified to her his will that she
+should tell; and forthwith, accordingly, Lauretta began:--Goodly matters
+are they and magnificent that have been recounted to you, young ladies;
+nay, so much of our field of discourse is already filled by their
+grandeur, that for us that are yet to tell, there is, methinks, no room
+left, unless we seek our topic there where matter of discourse germane to
+every theme does most richly abound, to wit, in the affairs of love. For
+which cause, as also for that our time of life cannot but make us
+especially inclinable thereto, I am minded that my story shall be of a
+feat of magnificence done by a lover: which, all things considered, will,
+peradventure, seem to you inferior to none that have been shewn you; so
+it be true that to possess the beloved one, men will part with their
+treasures, forget their enmities, and jeopardize their own lives, their
+honour and their reputation, in a thousand ways.
+
+Know, then, that at Bologna, that most famous city of Lombardy, there
+dwelt a knight, Messer Gentile Carisendi by name, worshipful alike for
+his noble lineage and his native worth: who in his youth, being enamoured
+of a young gentlewoman named Madonna Catalina, wife of one Niccoluccio
+Caccianimico, and well-nigh despairing, for that the lady gave him but a
+sorry requital of his love, betook him to Modena, being called thither as
+Podesta. Now what time he was there, Niccoluccio being also away from
+Bologna, and his lady gone, for that she was with child, to lie in at a
+house she had some three miles or so from the city, it befell that she
+was suddenly smitten with a sore malady of such and so virulent a quality
+that it left no sign of life in her, so that the very physicians
+pronounced her dead. And for that the women that were nearest of kin to
+her professed to have been told by her, that she was not so far gone in
+pregnancy that the child could be perfectly formed, they, without more
+ado, laid her in a tomb in a neighbouring church, and after long
+lamentation closed it upon her.
+
+Whereof Messer Gentile being forthwith apprised by one of his friends,
+did, for all she had been most niggardly to him of her favour, grieve not
+a little, and at length fell a communing with himself on this wise:--So,
+Madonna Catalina, thou art dead! While thou livedst, never a glance of
+thine might I have; wherefore, now that thou art dead, 'tis but right
+that I go take a kiss from thee. 'Twas night while he thus mused; and
+forthwith, observing strict secrecy in his departure, he got him to horse
+with a single servant, and halted not until he was come to the place
+where the lady was interred; and having opened the tomb he cautiously
+entered it. Then, having lain down beside her, he set his face against
+hers; and again and again, weeping profusely the while, he kissed it. But
+as 'tis matter of common knowledge that the desires of men, and more
+especially of lovers, know no bounds, but crave ever an ampler
+satisfaction; even so Messer Gentile, albeit he had been minded to tarry
+there no longer, now said to himself:--Wherefore touch I not her bosom a
+while? I have never yet touched it, nor shall I ever touch it again.
+Obeying which impulse, he laid his hand on her bosom, and keeping it
+there some time, felt, as he thought, her heart faintly beating.
+Whereupon, banishing all fear, and examining the body with closer
+attention, he discovered that life was not extinct, though he judged it
+but scant and flickering: and so, aided by his servant, he bore her, as
+gently as he might, out of the tomb; and set her before him upon his
+horse, and brought her privily to his house at Bologna, where dwelt his
+wise and worthy mother, who, being fully apprised by him of the
+circumstances, took pity on the lady, and had a huge fire kindled, and a
+bath made ready, whereby she restored her to life. Whereof the first sign
+she gave was to heave a great sigh, and murmur:--"Alas! where am I?" To
+which the worthy lady made answer:--"Be of good cheer; thou art well
+lodged." By and by the lady, coming to herself, looked about her; and
+finding herself she knew not where, and seeing Messer Gentile before her,
+was filled with wonder, and besought his mother to tell her how she came
+to be there.
+
+Messer Gentile thereupon told her all. Sore distressed thereat, the lady,
+after a while, thanked him as best she might; after which she besought
+him by the love that he had borne her, and of his courtesy, that she
+might, while she tarried in his house, be spared aught that could impair
+her honour and her husband's; and that at daybreak he would suffer her to
+return home. "Madam," replied Messer Gentile, "however I did affect you
+in time past, since God in His goodness has, by means of the love I bore
+you, restored you to me alive, I mean not now, or at any time hereafter,
+to entreat you either here or elsewhere, save as a dear sister; but yet
+the service I have to-night rendered you merits some guerdon, and
+therefore lief had I that you deny me not a favour which I shall ask of
+you." Whereto the lady graciously made answer that she would be prompt to
+grant it, so only it were in her power, and consonant with her honour.
+Said then Messer Gentile:--"Your kinsfolk, Madam, one and all, nay, all
+the folk in Bologna are fully persuaded that you are dead: there is
+therefore none to expect you at home: wherefore the favour I crave of you
+is this, that you will be pleased to tarry privily here with my mother,
+until such time--which will be speedily--as I return from Modena. And
+'tis for that I purpose to make solemn and joyous donation of you to your
+husband in presence of the most honourable folk of this city that I ask
+of you this grace." Mindful of what she owed the knight, and witting that
+what he craved was seemly, the lady, albeit she yearned not a little to
+gladden her kinsfolk with the sight of her in the flesh, consented to do
+as Messer Gentile besought her, and thereto pledged him her faith. And
+scarce had she done so, when she felt that the hour of her travail was
+come; and so, tenderly succoured by Messer Gentile's mother, she not long
+after gave birth to a fine boy. Which event did mightily enhance her own
+and Messer Gentile's happiness. Then, having made all meet provision for
+her, and left word that she was to be tended as if she were his own wife,
+Messer Gentile, observing strict secrecy, returned to Modena.
+
+His time of office there ended, in anticipation of his return to Bologna,
+he appointed for the morning of his arrival in the city a great and
+goodly banquet at his house, whereto were bidden not a few of the
+gentlemen of Bologna, and among them Niccoluccio Caccianimico. Whom, when
+he was returned and dismounted, he found awaiting him, as also the lady,
+fairer and more healthful than ever, and her little son doing well; and
+so with a gladness beyond compare he ranged his guests at table, and
+regaled them with many a course magnificently served. And towards the
+close of the feast, having premonished the lady of his intention, and
+concerted with her how she should behave, thus he spoke:--"Gentlemen, I
+mind me to have once heard tell of (as I deem it) a delightsome custom
+which they have in Persia; to wit, that, when one would do his friend
+especial honour, he bids him to his house, and there shews him that
+treasure, be it wife, or mistress, or daughter, or what not, that he
+holds most dear; assuring him that yet more gladly, were it possible, he
+would shew him his heart. Which custom I am minded to observe here in
+Bologna. You, of your courtesy, have honoured my feast with your
+presence, and I propose to do you honour in the Persian fashion, by
+shewing you that which in all the world I do, and must ever, hold most
+dear. But before I do so, tell me, I pray you, how you conceive of a nice
+question that I shall lay before you. Suppose that one has in his house a
+good and most faithful servant, who falls sick of a grievous disorder;
+and that the master tarries not for the death of the servant, but has him
+borne out into the open street, and concerns himself no more with him:
+that then a stranger comes by, is moved to pity of the sick man, and
+takes him to his house, and by careful tendance and at no small cost
+restores him to his wonted health. Now I would fain know whether the
+first master has in equity any just cause to complain of or be aggrieved
+with the second master, if he retain the servant in his employ, and
+refuse to restore him, when so required."
+
+The gentlemen discussed the matter after divers fashions, and all agreed
+in one sentence, which they committed to Niccoluccio Caccianimico, for
+that he was an eloquent and accomplished speaker, to deliver on the part
+of them all. Niccoluccio began by commending the Persian custom: after
+which he said that he and the others were all of the same opinion, to
+wit, that the first master had no longer any right in his servant, since
+he had not only abandoned but cast him forth; and that by virtue of the
+second master's kind usage of him he must be deemed to have become his
+servant; wherefore, by keeping him, he did the first master no mischief,
+no violence, no wrong. Whereupon the rest that were at the table said,
+one and all, being worthy men, that their judgment jumped with
+Niccoluccio's answer. The knight, well pleased with the answer, and that
+'twas Niccoluccio that gave it, affirmed that he was of the same opinion;
+adding:--"'Tis now time that I shew you that honour which I promised
+you." He then called two of his servants, and sent them to the lady, whom
+he had caused to be apparelled and adorned with splendour, charging them
+to pray her to be pleased to come and gladden the gentlemen with her
+presence. So she, bearing in her arms her most lovely little son, came,
+attended by the two servants, into the saloon, and by the knight's
+direction, took a seat beside a worthy gentleman:
+whereupon:--"Gentlemen," quoth the knight, "this is the treasure that I
+hold, and mean ever to hold, more dear than aught else. Behold, and judge
+whether I have good cause."
+
+The gentlemen said not a little in her honour and praise, averring that
+the knight ought indeed to hold her dear: then, as they regarded her more
+attentively, there were not a few that would have pronounced her to be
+the very woman that she was, had they not believed that woman to be dead.
+But none scanned her so closely as Niccoluccio, who, the knight being
+withdrawn a little space, could no longer refrain his eager desire to
+know who she might be, but asked her whether she were of Bologna, or from
+other parts. The lady, hearing her husband's voice, could scarce forbear
+to answer; but yet, not to disconcert the knight's plan, she kept
+silence. Another asked her if that was her little boy; and yet another,
+if she were Messer Gentile's wife, or in any other wise his connection.
+To none of whom she vouchsafed an answer. Then, Messer Gentile coming
+up:--"Sir," quoth one of the guests, "this treasure of yours is goodly
+indeed; but she seems to be dumb: is she so?" "Gentlemen," quoth Messer
+Gentile, "that she has not as yet spoken is no small evidence of her
+virtue." "Then tell us, you, who she is," returned the other. "That,"
+quoth the knight, "will I right gladly, so you but promise me, that, no
+matter what I may say, none of you will stir from his place, until I have
+ended my story." All gave the required promise, and when the tables had
+been cleared, Messer Gentile, being seated beside the lady, thus
+spoke:--"Gentlemen, this lady is that loyal and faithful servant,
+touching whom a brief while ago I propounded to you my question, whom her
+own folk held none too dear, but cast out into the open street as a thing
+vile and no longer good for aught, but I took thence, and by my careful
+tendance wrested from the clutch of death; whom God, regardful of my good
+will, has changed from the appalling aspect of a corpse to the thing of
+beauty that you see before you. But for your fuller understanding of this
+occurrence, I will briefly explain it to you." He then recounted to them
+in detail all that had happened from his first becoming enamoured of the
+lady to that very hour whereto they hearkened with no small wonder; after
+which:--"And so," he added, "unless you, and more especially Niccoluccio,
+are now of another opinion than you were a brief while ago, the lady
+rightly belongs to me, nor can any man lawfully reclaim her of me."
+
+None answered, for all were intent to hear what more he would say. But,
+while Niccoluccio, and some others that were there, wept for sympathy,
+Messer Gentile stood up, and took the little boy in his arms and the lady
+by the hand, and approached Niccoluccio, saying:--"Rise, my gossip: I do
+not, indeed, restore thee thy wife, whom thy kinsfolk and hers cast
+forth; but I am minded to give thee this lady, my gossip, with this her
+little boy, whom I know well to be thy son, and whom I held at the font,
+and named Gentile: and I pray thee that she be not the less dear to thee
+for that she has tarried three months in my house; for I swear to thee by
+that God, who, peradventure, ordained that I should be enamoured of her,
+to the end that my love might be, as it has been, the occasion of her
+restoration to life, that never with her father, or her mother, or with
+thee, did she live more virtuously than with my mother in my house."
+Which said, he turned to the lady, saying:--"Madam, I now release you
+from all promises made to me, and so deliver you to Niccoluccio." Then,
+leaving the lady and the child in Niccoluccio's embrace, he returned to
+his seat.
+
+Thus to receive his wife and son was to Niccoluccio a delight great in
+the measure of its remoteness from his hope. Wherefore in the most
+honourable terms at his command he thanked the knight, whom all the rest,
+weeping for sympathy, greatly commended for what he had done, as did also
+all that heard thereof. The lady, welcomed home with wondrous cheer, was
+long a portent to the Bolognese, who gazed on her as on one raised from
+the dead. Messer Gentile lived ever after as the friend of Niccoluccio,
+and his and the lady's kinsfolk.
+
+Now what shall be your verdict, gracious ladies? A king's largess, though
+it was of his sceptre and crown, an abbot's reconciliation, at no cost to
+himself, of a malefactor with the Pope, or an old man's submission of his
+throat to the knife of his enemy--will you adjudge that such acts as
+these are comparable to the deed of Messer Gentile? Who, though young,
+and burning with passion, and deeming himself justly entitled to that
+which the heedlessness of another had discarded, and he by good fortune
+had recovered, not only tempered his ardour with honour, but having that
+which with his whole soul he had long been bent on wresting from another,
+did with liberality restore it. Assuredly none of the feats aforesaid
+seem to me like unto this.
+
+
+NOVEL V.
+
+--
+Madonna Dianora craves of Messer Ansaldo a garden that shall be as fair
+in January as in May. Messer Ansaldo binds himself to a necromancer, and
+thereby gives her the garden. Her husband gives her leave to do Messer
+Ansaldo's pleasure: he, being apprised of her husband's liberality,
+releases her from her promise; and the necromancer releases Messer
+Ansaldo from his bond, and will take nought of his.
+--
+
+Each of the gay company had with superlative commendation extolled Messer
+Gentile to the skies, when the king bade Emilia follow suit; and with a
+good courage, as burning to speak, thus Emilia began:--Delicate my
+ladies, none can justly say that 'twas not magnificently done of Messer
+Gentile; but if it be alleged that 'twas the last degree of magnificence,
+'twill perchance not be difficult to shew that more was possible, as is
+my purpose in the little story that I shall tell you.
+
+In Friuli, a country which, though its air is shrewd, is pleasantly
+diversified by fine mountains and not a few rivers and clear fountains,
+is a city called Udine, where dwelt of yore a fair and noble lady,
+Madonna Dianora by name, wife of a wealthy grandee named Giliberto, a
+very pleasant gentleman, and debonair. Now this lady, for her high
+qualities, was in the last degree beloved by a great and noble baron,
+Messer Ansaldo Gradense by name, a man of no little consequence, and
+whose fame for feats of arms and courtesy was spread far and wide. But,
+though with all a lover's ardour he left nought undone that he might do
+to win her love, and to that end frequently plied her with his
+ambassages, 'twas all in vain. And the lady being distressed by his
+importunity, and that, refuse as she might all that he asked of her, he
+none the less continued to love her and press his suit upon her,
+bethought her how she might rid herself of him by requiring of him an
+extraordinary and, as she deemed, impossible feat. So one day, a woman
+that came oftentimes from him to her being with her:--"Good woman," quoth
+she, "thou hast many a time affirmed that Messer Ansaldo loves me above
+all else; and thou hast made proffer to me on his part of wondrous rich
+gifts which I am minded he keep to himself, for that I could never bring
+myself to love him or pleasure him for their sake; but, if I might be
+certified that he loves me as much as thou sayst, then without a doubt I
+should not fail to love him, and do his pleasure; wherefore, so he give
+me the assurance that I shall require, I shall be at his command." "What
+is it, Madam," returned the good woman, "that you would have him do?"
+"This," replied the lady; "I would have this next ensuing January, hard
+by this city, a garden full of green grass and flowers and flowering
+trees, just as if it were May; and if he cannot provide me with this
+garden, bid him never again send either thee or any other to me, for
+that, should he harass me any further, I shall no longer keep silence, as
+I have hitherto done, but shall make my complaint to my husband and all
+my kinsmen, and it shall go hard but I will be quit of him."
+
+The gentleman being apprised of his lady's stipulation and promise,
+notwithstanding that he deemed it no easy matter, nay, a thing almost
+impossible, to satisfy her, and knew besides that 'twas but to deprive
+him of all hope that she made the demand, did nevertheless resolve to do
+his endeavour to comply with it, and causing search to be made in divers
+parts of the world, if any he might find to afford him counsel or aid, he
+lit upon one, who for a substantial reward offered to do the thing by
+necromancy. So Messer Ansaldo, having struck the bargain with him for an
+exceeding great sum of money, gleefully expected the appointed time.
+Which being come with extreme cold, insomuch that there was nought but
+snow and ice, the adept on the night before the calends of January
+wrought with his spells to such purpose that on the morrow, as was
+averred by eye-witnesses, there appeared in a meadow hard by the city one
+of the most beautiful gardens that was ever seen, with no lack of grass
+and trees and fruits of all sorts. At sight whereof Messer Ansaldo was
+overjoyed, and caused some of the finest fruits and flowers that it
+contained to be gathered, and privily presented to his lady, whom he bade
+come and see the garden that she had craved, that thereby she might have
+assurance of his love, and mind her of the promise that she had given him
+and confirmed with an oath, and, as a loyal lady, take thought for its
+performance. When she saw the flowers and fruits, the lady, who had
+already heard not a few folk speak of the wondrous garden, began to
+repent her of her promise. But for all that, being fond of strange
+sights, she hied her with many other ladies of the city to see the
+garden, and having gazed on it with wonderment, and commended it not a
+little, she went home the saddest woman alive, bethinking her to what it
+bound her: and so great was her distress that she might not well conceal
+it; but, being written on her face, 'twas marked by her husband, who was
+minded by all means to know the cause thereof.
+
+The lady long time kept silence: but at last she yielded to his urgency,
+and discovered to him the whole matter from first to last. Whereat
+Giliberto was at first very wroth; but on second thoughts, considering
+the purity of the lady's purpose, he was better advised, and dismissing
+his anger:--"Dianora," quoth he, "'tis not the act of a discreet or
+virtuous lady to give ear to messages of such a sort, nor to enter into
+any compact touching her chastity with any man on any terms. Words that
+the ears convey to the heart have a potency greater than is commonly
+supposed, and there is scarce aught that lovers will not find possible.
+'Twas then ill done of thee in the first instance to hearken, as
+afterwards to make the compact; but, for that I know the purity of thy
+soul, that thou mayst be quit of thy promise, I will grant thee that
+which, perchance, no other man would grant, being also swayed thereto by
+fear of the necromancer, whom Messer Ansaldo, shouldst thou play him
+false, might, peradventure, cause to do us a mischief. I am minded, then,
+that thou go to him, and contrive, if on any wise thou canst, to get thee
+quit of this promise without loss of virtue; but if otherwise it may not
+be, then for the nonce thou mayst yield him thy body, but not thy soul."
+Whereat the lady, weeping, would none of such a favour at her husband's
+hands. But Giliberto, for all the lady's protestations, was minded that
+so it should be.
+
+Accordingly, on the morrow about dawn, apparelled none too ornately,
+preceded by two servants and followed by a chambermaid, the lady hied her
+to Messer Ansaldo's house. Apprised that his lady was come to see him,
+Messer Ansaldo, marvelling not a little, rose, and having called the
+necromancer:--"I am minded," quoth he, "that thou see what goodly gain I
+have gotten by thine art." And the twain having met the lady, Ansaldo
+gave way to no unruly appetite, but received her with a seemly obeisance;
+and then the three repaired to a goodly chamber, where there was a great
+fire, and having caused the lady to be seated, thus spoke
+Ansaldo:--"Madam, if the love that I have so long borne you merit any
+guerdon, I pray you that it be not grievous to you to discover to me the
+true occasion of your coming to me at this hour, and thus accompanied."
+Shamefast, and the tears all but standing in her eyes, the lady made
+answer:--"Sir 'tis neither love that I bear you, nor pledged you, that
+brings me hither, but the command of my husband, who, regarding rather
+the pains you have had of your unbridled passion than his own or my
+honour, has sent me hither; and for that he commands it, I, for the
+nonce, am entirely at your pleasure."
+
+If Messer Ansaldo had marvelled to hear of the lady's coming, he now
+marvelled much more, and touched by Giliberto's liberality, and passing
+from passion to compassion:--"Now, God forbid, Madam," quoth he, "that,
+it being as you say, I should wound the honour of him that has compassion
+on my love; wherefore, no otherwise than as if you were my sister shall
+you abide here, while you are so minded, and be free to depart at your
+pleasure; nor crave I aught of you but that you shall convey from me to
+your husband such thanks as you shall deem meet for courtesy such as his
+has been, and entreat me ever henceforth as your brother and servant."
+Whereat overjoyed in the last degree:--"Nought," quoth the lady, "by what
+I noted of your behaviour, could ever have caused me to anticipate other
+sequel of my coming hither than this which I see is your will, and for
+which I shall ever be your debtor." She then took her leave, and,
+attended by a guard of honour, returned to Giliberto, and told him what
+had passed; between whom and Messer Ansaldo there was thenceforth a most
+close and loyal friendship.
+
+Now the liberality shewn by Giliberto towards Messer Ansaldo, and by
+Messer Ansaldo towards the lady, having been marked by the necromancer,
+when Messer Ansaldo made ready to give him the promised reward:--"Now God
+forbid," quoth he, "that, as I have seen Giliberto liberal in regard of
+his honour, and you liberal in regard of your love, I be not in like
+manner liberal in regard of my reward, which accordingly, witting that
+'tis in good hands, I am minded that you keep." The knight was abashed,
+and strove hard to induce him to take, if not the whole, at least a part
+of the money; but finding that his labour was in vain, and that the
+necromancer, having caused his garden to vanish after the third day, was
+minded to depart, he bade him adieu. And the carnal love he had borne the
+lady being spent, he burned for her thereafter with a flame of honourable
+affection. Now what shall be our verdict in this case, lovesome ladies? A
+lady, as it were dead, and a love grown lukewarm for utter hopelessness!
+Shall we set a liberality shewn in such a case above this liberality of
+Messer Ansaldo, loving yet as ardently, and hoping, perchance, yet more
+ardently than ever, and holding in his hands the prize that he had so
+long pursued? Folly indeed should I deem it to compare that liberality
+with this.
+
+
+NOVEL VI.
+
+--
+King Charles the Old, being conqueror, falls in love with a young maiden,
+and afterward growing ashamed of his folly bestows her and her sister
+honourably in marriage.
+--
+
+Who might fully recount with what diversity of argument the ladies
+debated which of the three, Giliberto, or Messer Ansaldo, or the
+necromancer, behaved with the most liberality in the affair of Madonna
+Dianora? Too long were it to tell. However, when the king had allowed
+them to dispute a while, he, with a glance at Fiammetta, bade her rescue
+them from their wrangling by telling her story. Fiammetta made no demur,
+but thus began:--Illustrious my ladies, I have ever been of opinion that
+in companies like ours one should speak so explicitly that the import of
+what is said should never by excessive circumscription afford matter for
+disputation; which is much more in place among students in the schools,
+than among us, whose powers are scarce adequate to the management of the
+distaff and the spindle. Wherefore I, that had in mind a matter of,
+perchance, some nicety, now that I see you all at variance touching the
+matters last mooted, am minded to lay it aside, and tell you somewhat
+else, which concerns a man by no means of slight account, but a valiant
+king, being a chivalrous action that he did, albeit in no wise thereto
+actuated by his honour.
+
+There is none of you but may not seldom have heard tell of King Charles
+the Old, or the First, by whose magnificent emprise, and the ensuing
+victory gained over King Manfred, the Ghibellines were driven forth of
+Florence, and the Guelfs returned thither. For which cause a knight,
+Messer Neri degli Uberti by name, departing Florence with his household
+and not a little money, resolved to fix his abode under no other sway
+than that of King Charles. And being fain of a lonely place in which to
+end his days in peace, he betook him to Castello da Mare di Stabia; and
+there, perchance a cross-bow-shot from the other houses of the place,
+amid the olives and hazels and chestnuts that abound in those parts, he
+bought an estate, on which he built a goodly house and commodious, with a
+pleasant garden beside it, in the midst of which, having no lack of
+running water, he set, after our Florentine fashion, a pond fair and
+clear, and speedily filled it with fish. And while thus he lived, daily
+occupying himself with nought else but how to make his garden more fair,
+it befell that King Charles in the hot season betook him to Castello da
+Mare to refresh himself a while, and hearing of the beauty of Messer
+Neri's garden, was desirous to view it. And having learned to whom it
+belonged, he bethought him that, as the knight was an adherent of the
+party opposed to him, he would use more familiarity towards him than he
+would otherwise have done; and so he sent him word that he and four
+comrades would sup privily with him in his garden on the ensuing evening.
+Messer Neri felt himself much honoured; and having made his preparations
+with magnificence, and arranged the order of the ceremonies with his
+household, did all he could and knew to make the King cordially welcome
+to his fair garden.
+
+When the King had viewed the garden throughout, as also Messer Neri's
+house, and commended them, he washed, and seated himself at one of the
+tables, which were set beside the pond, and bade Count Guy de Montfort,
+who was one of his companions, sit on one side of him, and Messer Neri on
+the other, and the other three to serve, as they should be directed by
+Messer Neri. The dishes that were set before them were dainty, the wines
+excellent and rare, the order of the repast very fair and commendable,
+without the least noise or aught else that might distress; whereon the
+King bestowed no stinted praise. As thus he gaily supped, well-pleased
+with the lovely spot, there came into the garden two young maidens, each
+perhaps fifteen years old, blonde both, their golden tresses falling all
+in ringlets about them, and crowned with a dainty garland of
+periwinkle-flowers; and so delicate and fair of face were they that they
+shewed liker to angels than aught else, each clad in a robe of finest
+linen, white as snow upon their flesh, close-fitting as might be from the
+waist up, but below the waist ample, like a pavilion to the feet. She
+that was foremost bore on her shoulders a pair of nets, which she held
+with her left hand, carrying in her right a long pole. Her companion
+followed, bearing on her left shoulder a frying-pan, under her left arm a
+bundle of faggots, and in her left hand a tripod, while in the other hand
+she carried a cruse of oil and a lighted taper. At sight of whom the King
+marvelled, and gazed intent to learn what it might import. The two young
+maidens came forward with becoming modesty, and did obeisance to the
+King; which done they hied them to the place of ingress to the pond, and
+she that had the frying-pan having set it down, and afterward the other
+things, took the pole that the other carried, and so they both went down
+into the pond, being covered by its waters to their breasts. Whereupon
+one of Messer Neri's servants, having forthwith lit a fire, and set the
+tripod on the faggots and oil therein, addressed himself to wait, until
+some fish should be thrown to him by the girls. Who, the one searching
+with the pole in those parts where she knew the fish lay hid, while the
+other made ready the nets, did in a brief space of time, to the exceeding
+great delight of the King, who watched them attentively, catch fish not a
+few, which they tossed to the servant, who set them, before the life was
+well out of them, in the frying-pan. After which, the maidens, as
+pre-arranged, addressed them to catch some of the finest fish, and cast
+them on to the table before the King, and Count Guy, and their father.
+The fish wriggled about the table to the prodigious delight of the King,
+who in like manner took some of them, and courteously returned them to
+the girls; with which sport they diverted them, until the servant had
+cooked the fish that had been given him: which, by Messer Neri's command,
+were set before the King rather as a side-dish than as aught very rare or
+delicious.
+
+When the girls saw that all the fish were cooked, and that there was no
+occasion for them to catch any more, they came forth of the pond, their
+fine white garments cleaving everywhere close to their flesh so as to
+hide scarce any part of their delicate persons, took up again the things
+that they had brought, and passing modestly before the King, returned to
+the house. The King, and the Count, and the other gentlemen that waited,
+had regarded the maidens with no little attention, and had, one and all,
+inly bestowed on them no little praise, as being fair and shapely, and
+therewithal sweet and debonair; but 'twas in the King's eyes that they
+especially found favour. Indeed, as they came forth of the water, the
+King had scanned each part of their bodies so intently that, had one then
+pricked him, he would not have felt it, and his thoughts afterwards
+dwelling upon them, though he knew not who they were, nor how they came
+to be there, he felt stir within his heart a most ardent desire to
+pleasure them, whereby he knew very well that, if he took not care, he
+would grow enamoured; howbeit he knew not whether of the twain pleased
+him the more, so like was each to the other. Having thus brooded a while,
+he turned to Messer Neri, and asked who the two damsels were.
+Whereto:--"Sire," replied Messer Neri, "they are my twin daughters, and
+they are called, the one, Ginevra the Fair, and the other, Isotta the
+Blonde." Whereupon the King was loud in praise of them, and exhorted
+Messer Neri to bestow them in marriage. To which Messer Neri demurred,
+for that he no longer had the means. And nought of the supper now
+remaining to serve, save the fruit, in came the two young damsels in
+gowns of taffeta very fine, bearing in their hands two vast silver
+salvers full of divers fruits, such as the season yielded, and set them
+on the table before the King. Which done, they withdrew a little space
+and fell a singing to music a ditty, of which the opening words were as
+follows:--
+
+  Love, many words would not suffice
+  There where I am come to tell.
+
+And so dulcet and delightsome was the strain that to the King, his eyes
+and ears alike charmed, it seemed as if all the nine orders of angels
+were descended there to sing. The song ended, they knelt and respectfully
+craved the King's leave to depart; which, though sorely against his will,
+he gave them with a forced gaiety.
+
+Supper ended, the King and his companions, having remounted their horses,
+took leave of Messer Neri, and conversing of divers matters, returned to
+the royal quarters; where the King, still harbouring his secret passion,
+nor, despite affairs of state that supervened, being able to forget the
+beauty and sweetness of Ginevra the Fair, for whose sake he likewise
+loved her twin sister, was so limed by Love that he could scarce think of
+aught else. So, feigning other reasons, he consorted familiarly with
+Messer Neri, and did much frequent his garden, that he might see Ginevra.
+And at length, being unable to endure his suffering any longer, and being
+minded, for that he could devise no other expedient, to despoil their
+father not only of the one but of the other damsel also, he discovered
+both his love and his project to Count Guy; who, being a good man and
+true, thus made answer:--"Sire, your tale causes me not a little
+astonishment, and that more especially because of your conversation from
+your childhood to this very day, I have, methinks, known more than any
+other man. And as no such passion did I ever mark in you, even in your
+youth, when Love should more readily have fixed you with his fangs, as
+now I discern, when you are already on the verge of old age, 'tis to me
+so strange, so surprising that you should veritably love, that I deem it
+little short of a miracle. And were it meet for me to reprove you, well
+wot I the language I should hold to you, considering that you are yet in
+arms in a realm but lately won, among a people as yet unknown to you, and
+wily and treacherous in the extreme, and that the gravest anxieties and
+matters of high policy engross your mind, so that you are not as yet able
+to sit you down, and nevertheless amid all these weighty concerns you
+have given harbourage to false, flattering Love. This is not the wisdom
+of a great king, but the folly of a feather-pated boy. And moreover, what
+is far worse, you say that you are resolved to despoil this poor knight
+of his two daughters, whom, entertaining you in his house, and honouring
+you to the best of his power, he brought into your presence all but
+naked, testifying thereby, how great is his faith in you, and how assured
+he is that you are a king, and not a devouring wolf. Have you so soon
+forgotten that 'twas Manfred's outrageous usage of his subjects that
+opened you the way into this realm? What treachery was he ever guilty of
+that better merited eternal torment, than 'twould be in you to wrest from
+one that honourably entreats you at once his hope and his consolation?
+What would be said of you if so you should do? Perchance you deem that
+'twould suffice to say:--'I did it because he is a Ghibelline.' Is it
+then consistent with the justice of a king that those, be they who they
+may, who seek his protection, as this man has sought yours, should be
+entreated after this sort? King, I bid you remember that exceeding great
+as is your glory to have vanquished Manfred, yet to conquer oneself is a
+still greater glory: wherefore you, to whom belongs the correction of
+others, see to it that you conquer yourself, and refrain this unruly
+passion; and let not such a blot mar the splendour of your achievements."
+
+Sore stricken at heart by the Count's words, and the more mortified that
+he acknowledged their truth, the King heaved a fervent sigh or two, and
+then:--"Count," quoth he, "that enemy there is none, however mighty, but
+to the practised warrior is weak enough and easy to conquer in comparison
+of his own appetite, I make no doubt, but, great though the struggle will
+be and immeasurable the force that it demands, so shrewdly galled am I by
+your words, that not many days will have gone by before I shall without
+fail have done enough to shew you that I, that am the conqueror of
+others, am no less able to gain the victory over myself." And indeed but
+a few days thereafter, the King, on his return to Naples, being minded at
+once to leave himself no excuse for dishonourable conduct, and to
+recompense the knight for his honourable entreatment of him, did, albeit
+'twas hard for him to endow another with that which he had most ardently
+desired for himself, none the less resolve to bestow the two damsels in
+marriage, and that not as Messer Neri's daughters, but as his own.
+Wherefore, Messer Neri consenting, he provided both with magnificent
+dowries, and gave Ginevra the Fair to Messer Maffeo da Palizzi, and
+Isotta the Blonde to Messer Guglielmo della Magna, noble knights and
+great barons both; which done, sad at heart beyond measure, he betook him
+to Apulia, and by incessant travail did so mortify his vehement appetite
+that he snapped and broke in pieces the fetters of Love, and for the rest
+of his days was no more vexed by such passion.
+
+Perchance there will be those who say that 'tis but a trifle for a king
+to bestow two girls in marriage; nor shall I dispute it: but say we that
+a king in love bestowed in marriage her whom he loved, neither having
+taken nor taking, of his love, leaf or flower or fruit; then this I say
+was a feat great indeed, nay, as great as might be.
+
+After such a sort then did this magnificent King, at once generously
+rewarding the noble knight, commendably honouring the damsels that he
+loved, and stoutly subduing himself.
+
+
+NOVEL VII.
+
+--
+King Pedro, being apprised of the fervent love borne him by Lisa, who
+thereof is sick, comforts her, and forthwith gives her in marriage to a
+young gentleman, and having kissed her on the brow, ever after professes
+himself her knight.
+--
+
+When Fiammetta was come to the end of her story, and not a little praise
+had been accorded to the virile magnificence of King Charles, albeit one
+there was of the ladies, who, being a Ghibelline, joined not therein,
+Pampinea, having received the king's command, thus began:--None is there
+of discernment, worshipful my ladies, that would say otherwise than you
+have said touching good King Charles, unless for some other cause she
+bear him a grudge; however, for that there comes to my mind the,
+perchance no less honourable, entreatment of one of our Florentine girls
+by one of his adversaries, I am minded to recount the same to you.
+
+What time the French were driven forth of Sicily there dwelt at Palermo
+one of our Florentines, that was an apothecary, Bernardo Puccini by name,
+a man of great wealth, that by his lady had an only and exceeding fair
+daughter, then of marriageable age. Now King Pedro of Arragon, being
+instated in the sovereignty of the island, did at Palermo make with his
+barons marvellous celebration thereof; during which, as he tilted after
+the Catalan fashion, it befell that Bernardo's daughter, Lisa by name,
+being with other ladies at a window, did thence espy him in the course,
+whereat being prodigiously delighted, she regarded him again and again,
+and grew fervently enamoured of him; nor yet, when the festivities were
+ended, and she was at home with her father, was there aught she could
+think of but this her exalted and aspiring love. In regard whereof that
+which most irked her was her sense of her low rank, which scarce
+permitted her any hope of a happy issue; but, for all that, give over her
+love for the King she would not; nor yet, for fear of worse to come,
+dared she discover it. The King, meanwhile, recking, witting nothing of
+the matter, her suffering waxed immeasurable, intolerable; and her love
+ever growing with ever fresh accessions of melancholy, the fair maiden,
+overborne at last, fell sick, and visibly day by day wasted like snow in
+sunlight. Distraught with grief thereat, her father and mother afforded
+her such succour as they might with words of good cheer, and counsel of
+physicians, and physic; but all to no purpose; for that she in despair of
+her love was resolved no more to live.
+
+Now her father assuring her that there was no whim of hers but should be
+gratified, the fancy took her that, if she might find apt means, she
+would, before she died, make her love and her resolve known to the King:
+wherefore one day she besought her father to cause Minuccio d'Arezzo, to
+come to her; which Minuccio, was a singer and musician of those days,
+reputed most skilful, and well seen of King Pedro. Bernardo, deeming that
+Lisa desired but to hear him play and sing a while, conveyed her message
+to him; and he, being an agreeable fellow, came to her forthwith, and
+after giving her some words of loving cheer, sweetly discoursed some airs
+upon his viol, and then sang her some songs; whereby, while he thought to
+comfort her, he did but add fire and flame to her love. Presently the
+girl said that she would fain say a few words to him in private, and when
+all else were withdrawn from the chamber:--"Minuccio," quoth she, "thee
+have I chosen, deeming thee most trusty, to be the keeper of my secret,
+relying upon thee in the first place never to betray it to a soul, and
+next to lend me in regard thereof such aid as thou mayst be able; and so
+I pray thee to do. Thou must know, then, Minuccio mine, that on the day
+when our lord King Pedro held the great festival in celebration of his
+triumph, I, seeing him tilt, was so smitten with love of him that thereof
+was kindled within my soul the fire which has brought me, as thou seest,
+to this pass; and knowing how ill it beseems me to love a king, and being
+unable, I say not to banish it from my heart, but so much as to bring it
+within bounds, and finding it exceeding grievous to bear, I have made
+choice of death as the lesser pain; and die I shall. But should he wot
+not of my love before I die, sore disconsolate should I depart; and
+knowing not by whom more aptly than by thee I might give him to know this
+my frame, I am minded to entrust the communication thereof to thee; which
+office I entreat thee not to refuse, and having discharged it, to let me
+know, that dying thus consoled, I may depart this pain." Which said, she
+silently wept.
+
+Marvelling at the loftiness of the girl's spirit and her desperate
+determination, Minuccio commiserated her not a little; and presently it
+occurred to him that there was a way in which he might honourably serve
+her: wherefore:--"Lisa," quoth he, "my faith I plight thee, wherein thou
+mayst place sure confidence that I shall never play thee false, and
+lauding thy high emprise, to wit, the setting thine affections upon so
+great a king, I proffer thee mine aid, whereby, so thou wilt be of good
+cheer, I hope, and believe, that, before thou shalt see the third day
+from now go by, I shall have brought thee tidings which will be to thee
+for an exceeding great joy; and, not to lose time, I will set to work at
+once." And so Lisa, assuring him that she would be of good cheer, and
+plying him afresh with instant obsecrations, bade him Godspeed; and
+Minuccio, having taken leave of her, hied him to one Mico da Siena, a
+very expert rhymester of those days, who at his instant request made the
+ensuing song:--
+
+Hence hie thee, Love; and hasting to my King,
+  Give him to know what torment dire I bear,
+  How that to death I fare,
+  Still close, for fear, my passion harbouring.
+
+Lo, Love, to thee with clasped hands I turn,
+  And pray thee seek him where he tarrieth,
+  And tell him how I oft for him do yearn,
+  So sweetly he my heart enamoureth;
+  And of the fire, wherewith I throughly burn,
+  I think to die, but may the hour uneath
+  Say, when my grievous pain shall with my breath
+  Surcease; till when, neither may fear nor shame
+  The least abate the flame.
+  Ah! to his ears my woeful story bring.
+
+Since of him I was first enamoured,
+  Never hast thou, O Love, my fearful heart
+  With any such fond hope encouraged,
+  As e'er its message to him to impart,
+  To him, my lord, that me so sore bested
+  Holds: dying thus, 'twere grievous to depart:
+  Perchance, were he to know my cruel smart,
+  'Twould not displease him; might I but make bold
+  My soul to him to unfold,
+  And shew him all my woeful languishing.
+
+Love, since 'twas not thy will me to accord
+  Such boldness as that e'er unto my King
+  I may discover my sad heart's full hoard,
+  Or any word or sign thereof him bring:
+  This all my prayer to thee, O sweet my Lord:
+  Hie thee to him, and so him whispering
+  Mind of the day I saw him tourneying
+  With all his paladins environed,
+  And grew enamoured
+  Ev'n to my very heart's disrupturing.
+
+Which words Minuccio forthwith set to music after a soft and plaintive
+fashion befitting their sense; and on the third day thereafter hied him
+to court, while King Pedro was yet at breakfast. And being bidden by the
+King to sing something to the accompaniment of his viol, he gave them
+this song with such sweet concord of words and music that all the folk
+that were in the King's hall seemed, as it were, entranced, so intent and
+absorbed stood they to listen, and the King rather more than the rest.
+And when Minuccio had done singing, the King asked whence the song came,
+that, as far as he knew, he had never heard it before. "Sire," replied
+Minuccio, "'tis not yet three days since 'twas made, words and music
+alike." And being asked by the King in regard of whom 'twas made:--"I
+dare not," quoth he, "discover such a secret save to you alone." Bent on
+hearing the story, the King, when the tables were cleared, took Minuccio
+into his privy chamber; and there Minuccio told him everything exactly as
+he had heard it from Lisa's lips. Whereby the King was much gratified,
+and lauded the maiden not a little, and said that a girl of such high
+spirit merited considerate treatment, and bade Minuccio be his envoy to
+her, and comfort her, and tell her that without fail that very day at
+vespers he would come to visit her. Overjoyed to bear the girl such
+gladsome tidings, Minuccio tarried not, but hied him back to the girl
+with his viol, and being closeted with her, told her all that had passed,
+and then sang the song to the accompaniment of his viol. Whereby the girl
+was so cheered and delighted that forthwith there appeared most marked
+and manifest signs of the amendment of her health, while with passionate
+longing (albeit none in the house knew or divined it) she awaited the
+vesper hour, when she was to see her lord.
+
+Knowing the girl very well, and how fair she was, and pondering divers
+times on what Minuccio had told him, the King, being a prince of a
+liberal and kindly disposition, grew ever more compassionate. So, about
+vespers, he mounted his horse, and rode forth, as if for mere pleasure,
+and being come to the apothecary's house, demanded access to a very
+goodly garden that the apothecary had, and having dismounted, after a
+while enquired of Bernardo touching his daughter, and whether he had yet
+bestowed her in marriage. "Sire," replied Bernardo, "she is not yet
+married; and indeed she has been and still is very ill howbeit since none
+she is wonderfully amended." The significance of which amendment being
+forthwith apprehended by the King:--"In good faith," quoth he, "'twere a
+pity so fair a creature were reft from the world so early; we would go in
+and visit her." And presently, attended only by two of his lords and
+Bernardo, he betook him to her chamber, where being entered, he drew nigh
+the bed, whereon the girl half reclined, half sate in eager expectation
+of his coming; and taking her by the hand:--"Madonna," quoth he, "what
+means this? A maiden like you should be the comfort of others, and you
+suffer yourself to languish. We would entreat you that for love of us you
+be of good cheer, so as speedily to recover your health." To feel the
+touch of his hand whom she loved above all else, the girl, albeit
+somewhat shamefast, was so enraptured that 'twas as if she was in
+Paradise; and as soon as she was able:--"My lord," she said, "'twas the
+endeavour, weak as I am, to sustain a most grievous burden that brought
+this sickness upon me; but 'twill not be long ere you will see me quit
+thereof, thanks to your courtesy." The hidden meaning of which words was
+apprehended only by the King, who momently made more account of the girl,
+and again and again inly cursed Fortune, that had decreed that she should
+be the daughter of such a man. And yet a while he tarried with her, and
+comforted her, and so took his leave. Which gracious behaviour of the
+King was not a little commended, and accounted a signal honour to the
+apothecary and his daughter.
+
+The girl, glad at heart as was ever lady of her lover, mended with
+reviving hope, and in a few days recovered her health, and therewith more
+than all her wonted beauty. Whereupon the King, having taken counsel with
+the Queen how to reward so great a love, got him one day to horse with a
+great company of his barons, and hied him to the apothecary's house; and
+being come into the garden, he sent for the apothecary and his daughter;
+and there, being joined by the Queen with not a few ladies, who received
+the girl into their company, they made such cheer as 'twas a wonder to
+see. And after a while the King and Queen having called Lisa to them,
+quoth the King:--"Honourable damsel, by the great love that you have
+borne us we are moved greatly to honour you; and we trust that, for love
+of us, the honour that we design for you will be acceptable to you. Now
+'tis thus we would honour you: to wit, that, seeing that you are of
+marriageable age, we would have you take for husband him that we shall
+give you; albeit 'tis none the less our purpose ever to call ourself your
+knight, demanding no other tribute of all your love but one sole kiss."
+Scarlet from brow to neck, the girl, making the King's pleasure her own,
+thus with a low voice replied:--"My lord, very sure am I that, should it
+come to be known that I was grown enamoured of you, most folk would hold
+me for a fool, deeming, perchance, that I was out of my mind, and witless
+alike of my own rank and yours; but God, who alone reads the hearts of us
+mortals, knows that even then, when first I did affect you, I wist that
+you were the King, and I but the daughter of Bernardo the apothecary, and
+that to suffer my passion to soar so high did ill become me; but, as you
+know far better than I, none loves of set and discreet purpose, but only
+according to the dictates of impulse and fancy; which law my forces,
+albeit not seldom opposed, being powerless to withstand, I loved and
+still love and shall ever love you. But as no sooner knew I myself
+subjugated to your love, than I vowed to have ever no will but yours;
+therefore not only am I compliant to take right gladly him whom you shall
+be pleased to give me for husband, thereby conferring upon me great
+honour and dignity; but if you should bid me tarry in the fire, delighted
+were I to obey, so thereby I might pleasure you. How far it beseems me to
+have you, my King, for my knight, you best know; and therefore I say
+nought thereof; nor will the kiss which you crave as your sole tribute of
+my love be granted you save by leave of my Lady the Queen. Natheless, may
+you have of this great graciousness that you and my Lady the Queen have
+shewn me, and which I may not requite, abundant recompense in the
+blessing and favour of God;" and so she was silent.
+
+The Queen was mightily delighted with the girl's answer, and deemed her
+as discreet as the King had said. The King then sent for the girl's
+father and mother, and being assured that his intention had their
+approval, summoned to his presence a young man, Perdicone by name, that
+was of gentle birth, but in poor circumstances, and put certain rings
+into his hand, and (he nowise gainsaying) wedded him to Lisa. Which done,
+besides jewels many and precious that he and the Queen gave the girl, he
+forthwith bestowed upon Perdicone two domains, right goodly and of ample
+revenues, to wit, Ceffalu and Calatabellotta, saying:--"We give them to
+thee for thy wife's dowry; what we have in store for thee thou wilt learn
+hereafter." Which said, he turned to the girl, and:--"Now," quoth he, "we
+are minded to cull that fruit which is due to us of thy love;" and so,
+taking her head between both his hands, he kissed her brow. Wherefore,
+great was the joy of Perdicone, and the father and mother of Lisa, and
+Lisa herself, and mighty the cheer they made, and gaily did they
+celebrate the nuptials. And, as many affirm, right well did the King keep
+his promise to the girl; for that ever, while he lived, he called himself
+her knight, nor went to any passage of arms bearing other device than
+that which he had from her.
+
+Now 'tis by doing after this sort that sovereigns win the hearts of their
+subjects, give others occasion of well-doing, and gain for themselves an
+imperishable renown. At which mark few or none in our times have bent the
+bow of their understanding, the more part of the princes having become
+but cruel tyrants.
+
+
+NOVEL VIII.
+
+--
+Sophronia, albeit she deems herself wife to Gisippus, is wife to Titus
+Quintius Fulvus, and goes with him to Rome, where Gisippus arrives in
+indigence, and deeming himself scorned by Titus, to compass his own
+death, avers that he has slain a man. Titus recognizes him, and to save
+his life, alleges that 'twas he that slew the man: whereof he that did
+the deed being witness, he discovers himself as the murderer. Whereby it
+comes to pass that they are all three liberated by Octavianus; and Titus
+gives Gisippus his sister to wife, and shares with him all his substance.
+--
+
+So ceased Pampinea; and when all the ladies, and most of all the
+Ghibelline, had commended King Pedro, Filomena by command of the king
+thus began:--Magnificent my ladies, who wots not that there is nought so
+great but kings, when they have a mind, may accomplish it? As also that
+'tis of them that magnificence is most especially demanded? Now whoso,
+being powerful, does that which it appertains to him to do, does well;
+but therein is no such matter of marvel, or occasion of extolling him to
+the skies, as in his deed, of whom, for that his power is slight, less is
+demanded. Wherefore, as you are so profuse of your words in exaltation of
+the fine deeds, as you deem them, of monarchs, I make no manner of doubt,
+but that the doings of our peers must seem to you yet more delectable and
+commendable, when they equal or surpass those of kings. Accordingly 'tis
+a transaction, laudable and magnificent, that passed between two
+citizens, who were friends, that I purpose to recount to you in my story.
+
+I say, then, that what time Octavianus Caesar, not as yet hight Augustus,
+but being in the office called Triumvirate, swayed the empire of Rome,
+there dwelt at Rome a gentleman, Publius Quintius Fulvus by name, who,
+having a son, Titus Quintius Fulvus, that was a very prodigy of wit, sent
+him to Athens to study philosophy, and to the best of his power commended
+him to a nobleman of that city, Chremes by name, who was his very old
+friend. Chremes lodged Titus in his own house with his son Gisippus, and
+placed both Titus and Gisippus under a philosopher named Aristippus, to
+learn of him his doctrine. And the two youths, thus keeping together,
+found each the other's conversation so congruous with his own, that there
+grew up between them a friendship so close and brotherly that 'twas never
+broken by aught but death; nor knew either rest or solace save when he
+was with the other. So, gifted alike with pre-eminent subtlety of wit,
+they entered on their studies, and with even pace and prodigious applause
+scaled together the glorious heights of philosophy. In which way of life,
+to the exceeding great delight of Chremes, who entreated Titus as no less
+his son than Gisippus, they continued for full three years. At the end
+whereof, it befell (after the common course of things mundane) that
+Chremes (being now aged) departed this life. Whom with equal grief they
+mourned as a common father; and the friends and kinsfolk of Chremes were
+alike at a loss to determine whether of the twain stood in need of the
+more consolation upon the bereavement.
+
+Some months afterward the friends and kinsfolk of Gisippus came to him
+and exhorted him, as did also Titus, to take a wife, and found him a
+maiden, wondrous fair, of one of the most noble houses of Athens, her
+name Sophronia, and her age about fifteen years. So a time was appointed
+for their nuptials, and one day, when 'twas near at hand, Gisippus bade
+Titus come see the maiden, whom as yet he had not seen; and they being
+come into her house, and she sitting betwixt them, Titus, as he were fain
+to observe with care the several charms of his friend's wife that was to
+be, surveyed her with the closest attention, and being delighted beyond
+measure with all that he saw, grew, as inly he extolled her charms to the
+skies, enamoured of her with a love as ardent, albeit he gave no sign of
+it, as ever lover bore to lady. However, after they had tarried a while
+with her, they took their leave, and went home, where Titus repaired to
+his chamber, and there gave himself over to solitary musing on the
+damsel's charms, and the longer he brooded, the more he burned for her.
+Whereon as he reflected, having heaved many a fervent sigh, thus he began
+to commune with himself:--Ah! woe worth thy life, Titus! Whom makest thou
+the mistress of thy soul, thy love, thy hope? Knowest thou not that by
+reason as well of thy honourable entreatment by Chremes and his kin as of
+the wholehearted friendship that is between thee and Gisippus, it behoves
+thee to have his betrothed in even such pious regard as if she were thy
+sister? Whither art thou suffering beguiling love, delusive hope, to
+hurry thee? Open the eyes of thine understanding, and see thyself,
+wretched man, as thou art; obey the dictates of thy reason, refrain thy
+carnal appetite, control thine inordinate desires, and give thy thoughts
+another bent; join battle with thy lust at the outset, and conquer
+thyself while there is yet time. This which thou wouldst have is not
+meet, is not seemly: this which thou art minded to ensue, thou wouldst
+rather, though thou wert, as thou art not, sure of its attainment,
+eschew, hadst thou but the respect thou shouldst have, for the claims of
+true friendship. So, then, Titus, what wilt thou do? What but abandon
+this unseemly love, if thou wouldst do as it behoves thee?
+
+But then, as he remembered Sophronia, his thoughts took the contrary
+direction, and he recanted all he had said, musing on this wise:--The
+laws of Love are of force above all others; they abrogate not only the
+law of human friendship, but the law Divine itself. How many times ere
+now has father loved daughter, brother sister, step-mother step-son?
+aberrations far more notable than that a friend should love his friend's
+wife, which has happened a thousand times. Besides which, I am young, and
+youth is altogether subject to the laws of Love. Love's pleasure, then,
+should be mine. The seemly is for folk of riper years. 'Tis not in my
+power to will aught save that which Love wills. So beauteous is this
+damsel that there is none but should love her; and if I love her, who am
+young, who can justly censure me? I love her not because she is the
+affianced of Gisippus; no matter whose she was, I should love her all the
+same. Herein is Fortune to blame, that gave her to my friend, Gisippus,
+rather than to another. And if she is worthy of love, as for beauty she
+is, Gisippus, if he should come to know that I love her, ought to be less
+jealous than another.
+
+Then, scorning himself that he should indulge such thoughts, he relapsed
+into the opposing mood, albeit not to abide there, but ever veering to
+and fro, he spent not only the whole of that day and the ensuing night,
+but many others; insomuch that, being able neither to eat nor to sleep,
+he grew so weak that he was fain to take to his bed. Gisippus, who had
+marked his moodiness for some days, and now saw that he was fairly sick,
+was much distressed; and with sedulous care, never quitting his side, he
+tended, and strove as best he might to comfort, him, not seldom and most
+earnestly demanding to know of him the cause of his melancholy and his
+sickness. Many were the subterfuges to which Titus resorted; but, as
+Gisippus was not to be put off with his fables, finding himself hard
+pressed by him, with sighs and sobs he made answer on this
+wise:--"Gisippus, had such been the will of the Gods, I were fain rather
+to die than to live, seeing that Fortune has brought me to a strait in
+which needs must my virtue be put to the ordeal, and, to my most grievous
+shame, 'tis found wanting: whereof I confidently expect my due reward, to
+wit, death, which will be more welcome to me than to live, haunted ever
+by the memory of my baseness, which, as there is nought that from thee I
+either should or can conceal, I, not without burning shame, will discover
+to thee." And so he recounted the whole story from first to last, the
+occasion of his melancholy, its several moods, their conflict, and with
+which of them the victory rested, averring that he was dying of love for
+Sophronia, and that, knowing how ill such love beseemed him, he had, for
+penance, elected to die, and deemed the end was now not far off.
+Gisippus, hearing his words and seeing his tears, for a while knew not
+what to say, being himself smitten with the damsel's charms, albeit in a
+less degree than Titus; but ere long he made up his mind that Sophronia
+must be less dear to him than his friend's life.
+
+And so, moved to tears by his friend's tears:--"Titus," quoth he between
+his sobs, "but that thou art in need of comfort, I should reproach thee,
+that thou hast offended against our friendship in that thou hast so long
+kept close from me this most distressful passion; and albeit thou didst
+deem it unseemly, yet unseemly things should no more than things seemly
+be withheld from a friend, for that, as a friend rejoices with his friend
+in things seemly, so he does his endeavour to wean his friend from things
+unseemly: but enough of this for the nonce: I pass to that which, I wot,
+is of greater moment. If thou ardently lovest Sophronia, my affianced, so
+far from marvelling thereat, I should greatly marvel were it not so,
+knowing how fair she is, and how noble is thy soul, and thus the apter to
+be swayed by passion, the more excelling is she by whom thou art charmed.
+And the juster the cause thou hast to love Sophronia, the greater is the
+injustice with which thou complainest of Fortune (albeit thou dost it not
+in so many words) for giving her to me, as if thy love of her had been
+seemly, had she belonged to any other but me; whereas, if thou art still
+the wise man thou wast wont to be, thou must know that to none could
+Fortune have assigned her, with such good cause for thee to thank her, as
+to me. Had any other had her, albeit thy love had been seemly, he had
+loved her as his own, rather than as thine; which, if thou deem me even
+such a friend to thee as I am, thou wilt not apprehend from me, seeing
+that I mind me not that, since we were friends, I had ever aught that was
+not as much thine as mine. And so should I entreat thee herein as in all
+other matters, were the affair gone so far that nought else were
+possible; but as it is, I can make thee sole possessor of her; and so I
+mean to do; for I know not what cause thou shouldst have to prize my
+friendship, if, where in seemly sort it might be done, I knew not how to
+surrender my will to thine. 'Tis true that Sophronia is my betrothed, and
+that I loved her much, and had great cheer in expectation of the
+nuptials: but as thou, being much more discerning than I, dost more
+fervently affect this rare prize, rest assured that she will enter my
+chamber not mine but thine. Wherefore, away with thy moodiness, banish
+thy melancholy, recover thy lost health, thy heartiness and jollity, and
+gladsomely, even from this very hour, anticipate the guerdon of thy love,
+a love worthier far than mine."
+
+Delightful as was the prospect with which hope flattered Titus, as he
+heard Gisippus thus speak, no less was the shame with which right reason
+affected him, admonishing him that the greater was the liberality of
+Gisippus, the less it would become him to profit thereby. Wherefore,
+still weeping, he thus constrained himself to make answer:--"Gisippus,
+thy generous and true friendship leaves me in no doubt as to the manner
+in which it becomes me to act. God forefend that her, whom, as to the
+more worthy, He has given to thee, I should ever accept of thee for mine.
+Had He seen fit that she should be mine, far be it from thee or any other
+to suppose that He would ever have awarded her to thee. Renounce not,
+then, that which thy choice and wise counsel and His gift have made
+thine, and leave me, to whom, as unworthy, He has appointed no such
+happiness, to waste my life in tears; for either I shall conquer my
+grief, which will be grateful to thee, or it will conquer me, and so I
+shall be quit of my pain." Quoth then Gisippus:--"If our friendship,
+Titus, is of such a sort as may entitle me to enforce thee to ensue
+behests of mine, or as may induce thee of thine own free will to ensue
+the same, such is the use to which, most of all, I am minded to put it;
+and if thou lend not considerate ear unto my prayers, I shall by force,
+that force which is lawful in the interest of a friend, make Sophronia
+thine. I know the might of Love, how redoubtable it is, and how, not once
+only, but oftentimes, it has brought ill-starred lovers to a miserable
+death; and thee I see so hard bested that turn back thou mightst not, nor
+get the better of thy grief, but holding on thy course, must succumb, and
+perish, and without doubt I should speedily follow thee. And so, had I no
+other cause to love thee, thy life is precious to me in that my own is
+bound up with it. Sophronia, then, shall be thine; for thou wouldst not
+lightly find another so much to thy mind, and I shall readily find
+another to love, and so shall content both thee and me. In which matter,
+peradventure, I might not be so liberal, were wives so scarce or hard to
+find as are friends; wherefore, as 'tis so easy a matter for me to find
+another wife, I had liefer--I say not lose her, for in giving her to thee
+lose her I shall not, but only transfer her to one that is my alter ego,
+and that to her advantage--I had liefer, I say, transfer her to thee than
+lose thee. And so, if aught my prayers avail with thee, I entreat thee
+extricate thyself from this thy woeful plight, and comfort at once
+thyself and me, and in good hope, address thyself to pluck that boon
+which thy fervent love craves of her for whom thou yearnest."
+
+Still scrupling, for shame, to consent that Sophronia should become his
+wife, Titus remained yet a while inexorable; but, yielding at last to the
+solicitations of Love, reinforced by the exhortations of Gisippus, thus
+he made answer:--"Lo now, Gisippus, I know not how to call it, whether
+'tis more thy pleasure than mine, this which I do, seeing that 'tis as
+thy pleasure that thou so earnestly entreatest me to do it; but, as thy
+liberality is such that my shame, though becoming, may not withstand it,
+I will even do it. But of this rest assured, that I do so, witting well
+that I receive from thee, not only the lady I love, but with her my very
+life. And, Fate permitting, may the Gods grant me to make thee such
+honourable and goodly requital as may shew thee how sensible I am of the
+boon, which thou, more compassionate of me than I am of myself,
+conferrest on me." Quoth then Gisippus:--"Now, for the giving effect to
+our purpose, methinks, Titus, we should proceed on this wise. Thou
+knowest that Sophronia, by treaty at length concluded between my family
+and hers, is become my betrothed: were I now to say that she should not
+be my wife, great indeed were the scandal that would come thereof, and I
+should affront both her family and mine own; whereof, indeed, I should
+make no account, so it gave me to see her become thine; but I fear that,
+were I to give her up at this juncture, her family would forthwith bestow
+her upon another, perchance, than thee, and so we should both be losers.
+Wherefore methinks that, so thou approve, I were best to complete what I
+have begun, bring her home as my wife, and celebrate the nuptials, and
+thereafter we can arrange that thou lie with her, privily, as thy wife.
+Then, time and occasion serving, we will disclose the whole affair, and
+if they are satisfied, well and good; if not, 'twill be done all the
+same, and as it cannot be undone, they must perforce make the best of
+it."
+
+Which counsel being approved by Titus, Gisippus brought the lady home as
+his wife, Titus being now recovered, and quite himself again; and when
+they had made great cheer, and night was come, the ladies, having bedded
+the bride, took their departure. Now the chambers of Titus and Gisippus
+were contiguous, and one might pass from one into the other: Gisippus,
+therefore, being come into his room, extinguished every ray of light, and
+stole into that of Titus, and bade him go get him to bed with his lady.
+Whereat Titus gave way to shame, and would have changed his mind, and
+refused to go in; but Gisippus, no less zealous at heart than in words to
+serve his friend, after no small contention prevailed on him to go
+thither. Now no sooner was Titus abed with the lady, than, taking her in
+his arms, he, as if jestingly, asked in a low tone whether she were
+minded to be his wife. She, taking him to be Gisippus, answered, yes;
+whereupon he set a fair and costly ring on her finger, saying:--"And I am
+minded to be thy husband." And having presently consummated the marriage,
+he long and amorously disported him with her, neither she, nor any other,
+being ever aware that another than Gisippus lay with her.
+
+Now Titus and Sophronia being after this sort wedded, Publius, the father
+of Titus, departed this life. For which cause Titus was bidden by letter
+to return forthwith to Rome to see to his affairs; wherefore he took
+counsel with Gisippus how he might take Sophronia thither with him; which
+might not well be done without giving her to know how matters stood.
+Whereof, accordingly, one day, having called her into the chamber, they
+fully apprised her, Titus for her better assurance bringing to her
+recollection not a little of what had passed between them. Whereat she,
+after glancing from one to the other somewhat disdainfully, burst into a
+flood of tears, and reproached Gisippus that he had so deluded her; and
+forthwith, saying nought of the matter to any there, she hied her forth
+of Gisippus' house and home to her father, to whom and her mother she
+recounted the deceit which Gisippus had practised upon them as upon her,
+averring that she was the wife not of Gisippus, as they supposed, but of
+Titus. Whereby her father was aggrieved exceedingly, and prolonged and
+grave complaint was made thereof by him and his own and Gisippus'
+families, and there was not a little parleying, and a world of pother.
+Gisippus earned the hatred of both his own and Sophronia's kin, and all
+agreed that he merited not only censure but severe punishment. He,
+however, averred that he had done a thing seemly, and that Sophronia's
+kinsfolk owed him thanks for giving her in marriage to one better than
+himself.
+
+All which Titus witnessed with great suffering, and witting that 'twas
+the way of the Greeks to launch forth in high words and menaces, and
+refrain not until they should meet with one that answered them, whereupon
+they were wont to grow not only humble but even abject, was at length
+minded that their clavers should no longer pass unanswered; and, as with
+his Roman temper he united Athenian subtlety, he cleverly contrived to
+bring the kinsfolk, as well of Gisippus as of Sophronia, together in a
+temple, where, being entered, attended only by Gisippus, thus (they being
+intent to hear) he harangued them:--"'Tis the opinion of not a few
+philosophers that whatsoever mortals do is ordained by the providence of
+the immortal Gods; for which cause some would have it that nought either
+is, or ever shall be, done, save of necessity, albeit others there are
+that restrict this necessity to that which is already done. Regard we but
+these opinions with some little attention, and we shall very plainly
+perceive that to censure that which cannot be undone is nought else but
+to be minded to shew oneself wiser than the Gods; by whom we must suppose
+that we and our affairs are swayed and governed with uniform and unerring
+wisdom. Whereby you may very readily understand how vain and foolish a
+presumption it is to pass judgment on their doings, and what manner and
+might of chains they need who suffer themselves to be transported to such
+excess of daring. Among whom, in my judgment, you must one and all be
+numbered, if 'tis true, what I hear, to wit, that you have complained and
+do continue to complain that Sophronia, albeit you gave her to Gisippus,
+is, nevertheless, become my wife; not considering that 'twas ordained
+from all eternity that she should become, not the wife of Gisippus, but
+mine, as the fact does now declare.
+
+"But, for that discourse of the secret providence and purposes of the
+Gods seems to many a matter hard and scarce to be understood, I am
+willing to assume that they meddle in no wise with our concerns, and to
+descend to the region of human counsels; in speaking whereof I must needs
+do two things quite at variance with my wont, to wit, in some degree
+praise myself and censure or vilify another. But, as in either case I
+mean not to deviate from the truth, and 'tis what the occasion demands, I
+shall not fail so to do. With bitter upbraidings, animated rather by rage
+than by reason, you cease not to murmur, nay, to cry out, against
+Gisippus, and to harass him with your abuse, and hold him condemned, for
+that her, whom you saw fit to give him, he has seen fit to give me, to
+wife; wherein I deem him worthy of the highest commendation, and that for
+two reasons, first, because he has done the office of a friend, and
+secondly, because he has done more wisely than you did. After what sort
+the sacred laws of friendship prescribe that friend shall entreat friend,
+'tis not to my present purpose to declare; 'twill suffice to remind you
+that the tie of friendship should be more binding than that of blood, or
+kinship; seeing that our friends are of our own choosing, whereas our
+kinsfolk are appointed us by Fortune; wherefore, if my life was more to
+Gisippus than your goodwill, since I am, as I hold myself, his friend,
+can any wonder thereat?
+
+"But pass we to my second reason; in the exposition whereof I must needs
+with yet more cogency prove to you that he has been wiser than you,
+seeing that, methinks, you wot nought of the providence of the Gods, and
+still less of the consequences of friendship. I say then, that, as 'twas
+your premeditated and deliberate choice that gave Sophronia to this young
+philosopher Gisippus, so 'twas his that gave her to another young
+philosopher. 'Twas your counsel that gave her to an Athenian; 'twas his
+that gave her to a Roman: 'twas your counsel that gave her to a man of
+gentle birth; 'twas his that gave her to one of birth yet gentler:
+wealthy was he to whom your counsel gave her, most wealthy he to whom his
+counsel gave her. Not only did he to whom your counsel gave her, love her
+not, but he scarce knew her, whereas 'twas to one that loved her beyond
+all other blessings, nay, more dearly than his own life, that his counsel
+gave her. And to the end that it may appear more plainly that 'tis even
+as I say, and Gisippus' counsel more to be commended than yours, let us
+examine it point by point. That I, like Gisippus, am young and a
+philosopher, my countenance and my pursuits may, without making more
+words about the matter, sufficiently attest. We are also of the same age,
+and have ever kept pace together in our studies. Now true it is that he
+is an Athenian, and I am a Roman. But, as touching the comparative glory
+of the cities, should the matter be mooted, I say that I am of a free
+city, and he of a city tributary; that I am of a city that is mistress of
+all the world, and he of one that is subject to mine; that I am of a city
+that flourishes mightily in arms, in empire, and in arts; whereas he
+cannot boast his city as famous save in arts.
+
+"Moreover, albeit you see me here in the guise of a most humble scholar,
+I am not born of the dregs of the populace of Rome. My halls and the
+public places of Rome are full of the antique effigies of my forefathers,
+and the annals of Rome abound with the records of triumphs led by the
+Quintii to the Roman Capitol; and so far from age having withered it,
+to-day, yet more abundantly than ever of yore, flourishes the glory of
+our name. Of my wealth I forbear, for shame, to speak, being mindful that
+honest poverty is the time-honoured and richest inheritance of the noble
+citizens of Rome; but, allowing for the nonce the opinion of the vulgar,
+which holds poverty in disrepute, and highly appraises wealth, I, albeit
+I never sought it, yet, as the favoured of Fortune, have abundant store
+thereof. Now well I wot that, Gisippus being of your own city, you justly
+prized and prize an alliance with him; but not a whit less should you
+prize an alliance with me at Rome, considering that there you will have
+in me an excellent host, and a patron apt, zealous and potent to serve
+you as well in matters of public interest as in your private concerns.
+Who, then, dismissing all bias from his mind, and judging with impartial
+reason, would deem your counsel more commendable than that of Gisippus?
+Assuredly none. Sophronia, then, being married to Titus Quintius Fulvus,
+a citizen of Rome, of an ancient and illustrious house, and wealthy, and
+a friend of Gisippus, whoso takes umbrage or offence thereat, does that
+which it behoves him not to do, and knows not what he does.
+
+"Perchance some will say that their complaint is not that Sophronia is
+the wife of Titus, but that she became his wife after such a sort, to
+wit, privily, by theft, neither friend nor any of her kin witting aught
+thereof; but herein is no matter of marvel, no prodigy as yet unheard-of.
+I need not instance those who before now have taken to them husbands in
+defiance of their fathers' will, or have eloped with their lovers and
+been their mistresses before they were their wives, or of whose marriages
+no word has been spoken, until their pregnancy or parturition published
+them to the world, and necessity sanctioned the fact: nought of this has
+happened in the case of Sophronia; on the contrary, 'twas in proper form,
+and in meet and seemly sort, that Gisippus gave her to Titus. And others,
+peradventure, will say that 'twas by one to whom such office belonged not
+that she was bestowed in marriage. Nay, but this is but vain and womanish
+querulousness, and comes of scant consideration. Know we not, then, that
+Fortune varies according to circumstances her methods and her means of
+disposing events to their predetermined ends? What matters it to me, if
+it be a cobbler, rather than a philosopher, that Fortune has ordained to
+compass something for me, whether privily or overtly, so only the result
+is as it should be? I ought, indeed, to take order, if the cobbler be
+indiscreet, that he meddle no more in affairs of mine, but, at the same
+time, I ought to thank him for what he has done. If Gisippus has duly
+bestowed Sophronia in marriage, it is gratuitous folly to find fault with
+the manner and the person. If you mistrust his judgment, have a care that
+it be not in his power to do the like again, but thank him for this turn.
+
+"Natheless, you are to know that I used no cunning practice or deceit to
+sully in any degree the fair fame of your house in the person of
+Sophronia; and, albeit I took her privily to wife, I came not as a
+ravisher to despoil her of her virginity, nor in any hostile sort was I
+minded to make her mine on dishonourable terms, and spurn your alliance;
+but, being fervently enamoured of her bewitching beauty and her noble
+qualities, I wist well that, should I make suit for her with those
+formalities which you, perchance, will say were due, then, for the great
+love you bear her, and for fear lest I should take her away with me to
+Rome, I might not hope to have her. Accordingly I made use of the secret
+practice which is now manifest to you, and brought Gisippus to consent in
+my interest to that whereto he was averse; and thereafter, ardently
+though I loved her, I sought not to commingle with her as a lover, but as
+a husband, nor closed with her, until, as she herself by her true witness
+may assure you, I had with apt words and with the ring made her my lawful
+wife, asking her if she would have me to husband, whereto she answered,
+yes. Wherein if she seem to have been tricked, 'tis not I that am to
+blame, but she, for that she asked me not who I was.
+
+"This, then, is the great wrong, sin, crime, whereof for love and
+friendship's sake Gisippus and I are guilty, that Sophronia is privily
+become the wife of Titus Quintius: 'tis for this that you harass him with
+your menaces and hostile machinations. What more would you do, had he
+given her to a villein, to a caitiff, to a slave? Where would you find
+fetters, dungeons, crosses adequate to your vengeance? But enough of this
+at present: an event, which I did not expect, has now happened; my father
+is dead; and I must needs return to Rome; wherefore, being fain to take
+Sophronia with me, I have discovered to you that which otherwise I had,
+perchance, still kept close. Whereto, if you are wise, you will gladly
+reconcile yourselves; for that, if I had been minded to play you false,
+or put an affront upon you, I might have scornfully abandoned her to you;
+but God forefend that such baseness be ever harboured in a Roman breast.
+Sophronia, then, by the will of the Gods, by force of law, and by my own
+love-taught astuteness, is mine. The which it would seem that you,
+deeming yourselves, peradventure, wiser than the Gods, or the rest of
+mankind, do foolishly set at nought, and that in two ways alike most
+offensive to me; inasmuch as you both withhold from me Sophronia, in whom
+right, as against me, you have none, and also entreat as your enemy
+Gisippus, to whom you are rightfully bounden. The folly whereof I purpose
+not at present fully to expound to you, but in friendly sort to counsel
+you to abate your wrath and abandon all your schemes of vengeance, and
+restore Sophronia to me, that I may part from you on terms of amity and
+alliance, and so abide: but of this rest assured, that whether this,
+which is done, like you or not, if you are minded to contravene it, I
+shall take Gisippus hence with me, and once arrived in Rome, shall in
+your despite find means to recover her who is lawfully mine, and pursuing
+you with unremitting enmity, will apprise you by experience of the full
+measure and effect of a Roman's wrath."
+
+Having so said, Titus started to his feet, his countenance distorted by
+anger, and took Gisippus by the hand, and with manifest contempt for all
+the rest, shaking his head at them and threatening them, led him out of
+the temple. They that remained in the temple, being partly persuaded by
+his arguments to accept his alliance and friendship, partly terrified by
+his last words, resolved by common consent that 'twas better to have the
+alliance of Titus, as they had lost that of Gisippus, than to add to that
+loss the enmity of Titus. Wherefore they followed Titus, and having come
+up with him, told him that they were well pleased that Sophronia should
+be his, and that they should prize his alliance and the friendship of
+dear Gisippus; and having ratified this treaty of amity and alliance with
+mutual cheer, they departed and sent Sophronia to Titus. Sophronia,
+discreetly making a virtue of necessity, transferred forthwith to Titus
+the love she had borne Gisippus, and being come with Titus to Rome, was
+there received with no small honour. Gisippus tarried in Athens, held in
+little account by well-nigh all the citizens, and being involved in
+certain of their broils, was, not long afterwards, with all his
+household, banished the city, poor, nay, destitute, and condemned to
+perpetual exile. Thus hard bested, and at length reduced to mendicancy,
+he made his way, so as least discomfortably he might, to Rome, being
+minded to see whether Titus would remember him: and there, learning that
+Titus lived, and was much affected by all the Romans, and having found
+out his house, he took his stand in front of it, and watched until Titus
+came by; to whom, for shame of the sorry trim that he was in, he ventured
+no word, but did his endeavour that he might be seen of him, hoping that
+Titus might recognize him, and call him by his name: but Titus passing
+on, Gisippus deeming that he had seen and avoided him, and calling to
+mind that which aforetime he had done for him, went away wroth and
+desperate. And fasting and penniless, and--for 'twas now night--knowing
+not whither he went, and yearning above all for death, he wandered by
+chance to a spot, which, albeit 'twas within the city, had much of the
+aspect of a wilderness, and espying a spacious grotto, he took shelter
+there for the night; and worn out at last with grief, on the bare ground,
+wretchedly clad as he was, he fell asleep.
+
+Now two men that had that night gone out a thieving, having committed the
+theft, came towards morning to the grotto, and there quarrelled, and the
+stronger slew the other, and took himself off. Aroused by the noise,
+Gisippus witnessed the murder, and deeming that he had now the means of
+compassing, without suicide, the death for which he so much longed,
+budged not a jot, but stayed there, until the serjeants of the court,
+which had already got wind of the affair, came on the scene, and laid
+violent hands upon him, and led him away. Being examined, he confessed
+that he had slain the man, and had then been unable to make his escape
+from the grotto. Wherefore the praetor, Marcus Varro by name, sentenced
+him to death by crucifixion, as was then the custom. But Titus, who
+happened at that moment to come into the praetorium, being told the crime
+for which he was condemned, and scanning the poor wretch's face,
+presently recognized him for Gisippus, and marvelled how he should come
+to be there, and in such a woeful plight. And most ardently desiring to
+succour him, nor seeing other way to save his life except to exonerate
+him by accusing himself, he straightway stepped forward, and said with a
+loud voice:--"Marcus Varro, call back the poor man on whom thou hast
+passed sentence, for he is innocent. 'Tis enough that I have incurred the
+wrath of the Gods by one deed of violence, to wit, the murder of him whom
+your serjeants found dead this morning, without aggravating my offence by
+the death of another innocent man." Perplexed, and vexed that he should
+have been heard by all in the praetorium, but unable honourably to avoid
+compliance with that which the laws enjoined, Varro had Gisippus brought
+back, and in presence of Titus said to him:--"How camest thou to be so
+mad as, though no constraint was put upon thee, to confess a deed thou
+never didst, thy life being at stake? Thou saidst that 'twas thou by whom
+the man was slain last night, and now comes this other, and says that
+'twas not thou but he that slew him." Gisippus looked, and seeing Titus,
+wist well that, being grateful for the service rendered by him in the
+past, Titus was now minded to save his life at the cost of his own:
+wherefore, affected to tears, he said:--"Nay but, Varro, in very sooth I
+slew him, and 'tis now too late, this tender solicitude of Titus for my
+deliverance." But on his part:--"Praetor," quoth Titus, "thou seest this
+man is a stranger, and was found unarmed beside the murdered man; thou
+canst not doubt that he was fain of death for very wretchedness:
+wherefore discharge him, and let punishment light on me who have merited
+it."
+
+Marvelling at the importunity of both, Varro readily surmised that
+neither was guilty. And while he was casting about how he might acquit
+them, lo, in came a young man, one Publius Ambustus, a desperate
+character, and known to all the Romans for an arrant thief. He it was
+that had verily committed the murder, and witting both the men to be
+innocent of that of which each accused himself, so sore at heart was he
+by reason of their innocence, that, overborne by an exceeding great
+compassion, he presented himself before Varro, and:--"Praetor," quoth he,
+"'tis destiny draws me hither to loose the knot of these men's
+contention; and some God within me leaves me no peace of his whips and
+stings, until I discover my offence: wherefore know that neither of these
+men is guilty of that of which each accuses himself. 'Tis verily I that
+slew the man this morning about daybreak; and before I slew him, while I
+was sharing our plunder with him, I espied this poor fellow asleep there.
+Nought need I say to clear Titus: the general bruit of his illustrious
+renown attests that he is not a man of such a sort. Discharge him,
+therefore, and exact from me the penalty prescribed by the laws."
+
+The affair had by this time come to the ears of Octavianus, who caused
+all three to be brought before him, and demanded to know the causes by
+which they had been severally moved to accuse themselves; and, each
+having told his story, Octavianus released the two by reason of their
+innocence, and the third for love of them. Titus took Gisippus home,
+having first chidden him not a little for his faint-heartedness and
+diffidence, and there, Sophronia receiving him as a brother, did him
+marvellous cheer; and having comforted him a while, and arrayed him in
+apparel befitting his worth and birth, he first shared with him all his
+substance, and then gave him his sister, a young damsel named Fulvia, to
+wife, and said to him:--"Choose now, Gisippus, whether thou wilt tarry
+here with me, or go back to Achaia with all that I have given thee."
+
+Partly perforce of his banishment from his city, partly for that the
+sweet friendship of Titus was justly dear to him, Gisippus consented to
+become a Roman. And so, long and happily they lived together at Rome,
+Gisippus with his Fulvia, and Titus with his Sophronia, in the same
+house, growing, if possible, greater friends day by day.
+
+Exceeding sacred then, is friendship, and worthy not only to be had in
+veneration, but to be extolled with never-ending praise, as the most
+dutiful mother of magnificence and seemliness, sister of gratitude and
+charity, and foe to enmity and avarice; ever, without waiting to be
+asked, ready to do as generously by another as she would be done by
+herself. Rarely indeed is it to-day that twain are found, in whom her
+most holy fruits are manifest; for which is most shamefully answerable
+the covetousness of mankind, which, regarding only private interest, has
+banished friendship beyond earth's farthest bourne, there to abide in
+perpetual exile. How should love, or wealth, or kinship, how should aught
+but friendship have so quickened the soul of Gisippus that the tears and
+sighs of Titus should incline his heart to cede to him the fair and
+gracious lady that was his betrothed and his beloved? Laws, menaces,
+terror! How should these, how should aught but friendship, have withheld
+Gisippus, in lonely places, in hidden retreats, in his own bed, from
+enfolding (not perchance unsolicited by her) the fair damsel within his
+youthful embrace? Honours, rewards, gains! Would Gisippus for these,
+would he for aught but friendship, have made nothing of the loss of
+kindred--his own and Sophronia's--have made nothing of the injurious
+murmurs of the populace, have made nothing of mocks and scorns, so only
+he might content his friend? And on the other hand, for what other cause
+than friendship had Titus, when he might decently have feigned not to
+see, have striven with the utmost zeal to compass his own death, and set
+himself upon the cross in Gisippus' stead? And what but friendship had
+left no place for suspicion in the soul of Titus, and filled it with a
+most fervent desire to give his sister to Gisippus, albeit he saw him to
+be reduced to extreme penury and destitution? But so it is that men covet
+hosts of acquaintance, troops of kinsfolk, offspring in plenty; and the
+number of their dependants increases with their wealth; and they reflect
+not that there is none of these, be he who he may, but will be more
+apprehensive of the least peril threatening himself than cumbered to
+avert a great peril from his lord or kinsman, whereas between friends we
+know 'tis quite contrariwise.
+
+
+NOVEL IX.
+
+--
+Saladin, in guise of a merchant, is honourably entreated by Messer
+Torello. The Crusade ensuing, Messer Torello appoints a date, after which
+his wife may marry again: he is taken prisoner, and by training hawks
+comes under the Soldan's notice. The Soldan recognizes him, makes himself
+known to him, and entreats him with all honour. Messer Torello falls
+sick, and by magic arts is transported in a single night to Pavia, where
+his wife's second marriage is then to be solemnized, and being present
+thereat, is recognized by her, and returns with her to his house.
+--
+
+So ended Filomena her story, and when all alike had commended the
+magnificence shewn by Titus in his gratitude, the king, reserving the
+last place for Dioneo, thus began:--Lovesome my ladies, true beyond all
+question is what Filomena reports of friendship, and with justice did she
+deplore in her closing words the little account in which 'tis held to-day
+among mortals. And were we here for the purpose of correcting, or even of
+censuring, the vices of the age, I should add a copious sequel to her
+discourse; but as we have another end in view, it has occurred to me to
+set before you in a narrative, which will be of considerable length, but
+entertaining throughout, an instance of Saladin's magnificence, to the
+end that, albeit, by reason of our vices, it may not be possible for us
+to gain to the full the friendship of any, yet by the matters whereof you
+shall hear in my story we may at least be incited to take delight in
+doing good offices, in the hope that sooner or later we may come by our
+reward thereof.
+
+I say, then, that in the time of the Emperor Frederic I., as certain
+writers affirm, the Christians made common emprise for the recovery of
+the Holy Land. Whereof that most valiant prince, Saladin, then Soldan of
+Babylonia, being in good time apprised, resolved to see for himself the
+preparations made by the Christian potentates for the said emprise, that
+he might put himself in better trim to meet them. So, having ordered all
+things to his mind in Egypt, he made as if he were bound on a pilgrimage,
+and attended only by two of his chiefest and sagest lords, and three
+servants, took the road in the guise of a merchant. And having surveyed
+many provinces of Christendom, as they rode through Lombardy with intent
+to cross the Alps, they chanced, between Milan and Pavia, to fall in with
+a gentleman, one Messer Torello d'Istria da Pavia, who with his servants
+and his dogs and falcons was betaking him to a fine estate that he had on
+the Ticino, there to tarry a while. Now Messer Torello no sooner espied
+Saladin and his lords than he guessed them to be gentlemen and
+foreigners; and, being zealous to do them honour, when Saladin asked one
+of his servants how far off Pavia might still be, and if he might win
+there in time to enter the town, he suffered not the servant to make
+answer, but:--"No, gentlemen," quoth he, "by the time you reach Pavia
+'twill be too late for you to enter." "So!" replied Saladin, "then might
+you be pleased to direct us, as we are strangers, where we may best be
+lodged?" "That gladly will I," returned Messer Torello. "I was but now
+thinking to send one of these my men on an errand to Pavia; I will send
+him with you, and he will guide you to a place where you will find very
+comfortable quarters." Then, turning to one of his most trusty servants,
+he gave him his instructions, and despatched him with them: after which,
+he repaired to his estate, and forthwith, as best he might, caused a
+goodly supper to be made ready, and the tables set in his garden; which
+done, he stationed himself at the gate on the look-out for his guests.
+
+The servant, conversing with the gentlemen of divers matters, brought
+them by devious roads to his lord's estate without their being ware of
+it. Whom as soon as Messer Torello espied, he came forth afoot to meet
+them, and said with a smile:--"A hearty welcome to you, gentlemen." Now
+Saladin, being very quick of apprehension, perceived that the knight had
+doubted, when he met them, that, were he to bid them to his house, they
+might not accept his hospitality; and accordingly, that it might not be
+in their power to decline it, had brought them to his house by a ruse.
+And so, returning his greeting:--"Sir," quoth he, "were it meet to find
+fault with those that shew courtesy, we should have a grievance against
+you, for that, to say nought of somewhat delaying our journey, you have
+in guerdon of a single greeting constrained us to accept so noble a
+courtesy as yours." Whereto the knight, who was of good understanding and
+well-spoken, made answer:--"Gentlemen, such courtesy as we shew you will,
+in comparison of that which, by what I gather from your aspect, were meet
+for you, prove but a sorry thing; but in sooth this side of Pavia you
+might not anywhere have been well lodged; wherefore take it not amiss
+that you have come somewhat out of your way to find less discomfortable
+quarters." And as he spoke, about them flocked the servants, who, having
+helped them to dismount, saw to their horses; whereupon Messer Torello
+conducted them to the chambers that were made ready for them, where,
+having caused them to be relieved of their boots, and refreshed with the
+coolest of wines, he held pleasant converse with them until supper-time.
+Saladin and his lords and servants all knew Latin, so that they both
+understood and made themselves understood very well, and there was none
+of them but adjudged this knight to be the most agreeable and debonair
+man, and therewithal the best talker, that he had ever seen; while to
+Messer Torello, on the other hand, they shewed as far greater magnificoes
+than he had at first supposed, whereby he was inly vexed that he had not
+been able that evening to do them the honours of company, and a more
+ceremonious banquet. For which default he resolved to make amends on the
+ensuing morning: wherefore, having imparted to one of his servants that
+which he would have done, he sent him to his most judicious and
+highminded lady at Pavia, which was close by, and where never a gate was
+locked. Which done, he brought the gentlemen into the garden, and
+courteously asked them who they were. "We are Cypriote merchants,"
+replied Saladin, "and 'tis from Cyprus we come, and we are on our way to
+Paris on business." Quoth then Messer Torello:--"Would to God that our
+country bred gentlemen of such a quality as are the merchants that I see
+Cyprus breeds!" From which they passed to discourse of other matters,
+until, supper-time being come, he besought them to seat them at table;
+whereat, considering that the supper was but improvised, their
+entertainment was excellent and well-ordered.
+
+The tables being cleared, Messer Torello, surmising that they must be
+weary, kept them no long time from their rest, but bestowed them in most
+comfortable beds, and soon after went to rest himself. Meanwhile the
+servant that he had sent to Pavia did his lord's errand to the lady, who,
+in the style rather of a queen than of a housewife, forthwith assembled
+not a few of Messer Torello's friends and vassals, and caused all meet
+preparation to be made for a magnificent banquet, and by messengers
+bearing torches bade not a few of the noblest of the citizens thereto;
+and had store of silken and other fabrics and vair brought in, and all
+set in order in every point as her husband had directed. Day came, and
+the gentlemen being risen, Messer Torello got him to horse with them, and
+having sent for his hawks, brought them to a ford, and shewed them how
+the hawks flew. By and by, Saladin requesting of him a guide to the best
+inn at Pavia:--"I myself will be your guide," returned Messer Torello,
+"for I have occasion to go thither." Which offer they, nothing doubting,
+did gladly accept, and so with him they set forth; and about tierce,
+being come to the city, and expecting to be directed to the best inn,
+they were brought by Messer Torello, to his own house, where they were
+forthwith surrounded by full fifty of the greatest folk of the city,
+gathered there to give the gentlemen a welcome; and 'twas who should hold
+a bridle or a stirrup, while they dismounted. Whereby Saladin and his
+lords more than guessing the truth:--"Messer Torello," quoth they, "'twas
+not this that we craved of you. Honour enough had we from you last night,
+and far in excess of our desires; wherefore thou mightst very well have
+left us to go our own road." Whereto:--"Gentlemen," replied Messer
+Torello, "for that which was done yestereve I have to thank Fortune
+rather than you: seeing that Fortune surprised you on the road at an hour
+when you must needs repair to my little house: for that which shall be
+done this morning I shall be beholden to you, as will also these
+gentlemen that surround you, with whom, if you deem it courteous so to
+do, you may refuse to breakfast, if you like."
+
+Fairly conquered, Saladin and his lords dismounted, and heartily welcomed
+by the gentlemen, were conducted to the chambers which had been most
+sumptuously adorned for their use; and having laid aside their riding
+dress, and taken some refreshment, repaired to the saloon, where all had
+been made ready with splendour. There, having washed their hands, they
+sat them down to table, and were regaled with a magnificent repast of
+many courses, served with all stately and fair ceremony, insomuch that,
+had the Emperor himself been there, 'twould not have been possible to do
+him more honour. And albeit Saladin and his lords were grandees and used
+to exceeding great displays of pomp and state, nevertheless this shewed
+to them as not a little marvellous, and one of the greatest they had ever
+seen, having regard to the quality of their host, whom they knew to be
+but a citizen, and no lord. Breakfast done, and the tables cleared, they
+conversed a while of high matters, and then, as 'twas very hot, all the
+gentlemen of Pavia--so it pleased Messer Torello--retired for their
+siesta, while he remained with his three guests; with whom he presently
+withdrew into a chamber, whither, that there might be nought that he held
+dear which they had not seen, he called his noble lady. And so the dame,
+exceeding fair and stately of person, and arrayed in rich apparel, with
+her two little boys, that shewed as two angels, on either hand, presented
+herself before them, and graciously greeted them. Whereupon they rose,
+and returned her salutation with reverence, and caused her to sit down
+among them, and made much of her two little boys. But after some
+interchange of gracious discourse, Messer Torello being withdrawn
+somewhat apart, she asked them courteously, whence they came and whither
+they were bound, and had of them the same answer that Messer Torello had
+received. "So!" quoth the lady with a joyful air, "then I see that my
+woman's wit will be of service to you; wherefore I pray you as a special
+favour neither to reject nor to despise the little gift that I am about
+to present to you; but reflecting that, as women have but small minds, so
+they make but small gifts, accept it, having regard rather to the good
+will of the giver than the magnitude of the gift." She then caused bring
+forth for each of them two pair of robes, lined the one with silk, the
+other with vair, no such robes as citizens or merchants, but such as
+lords, use to wear, and three vests of taffeta, besides linen clothes,
+and:--"Take them," quoth she. "The robes I give you are even such as I
+have arrayed my lord withal: the other things, considering that you are
+far from your wives, and have come a long way, and have yet a long way to
+go, and that merchants love to be neat and trim, may, albeit they are of
+no great value, be yet acceptable to you."
+
+Wondering, the gentlemen acknowledged without reserve that there was no
+point of courtesy wherein Messer Torello was not minded to acquit himself
+towards them. And noting the lordly fashion of the robes, unsuited to the
+quality of merchants, they misdoubted that Messer Torello had recognized
+them. However, quoth one of them to the lady:--"Gifts great indeed are
+these, Madam, nor such as lightly to accept, were it not that thereto we
+are constrained by your prayers, to which we may on no account say, no."
+Whereupon, Messer Torello being now come back, the lady bade them adieu,
+and took her leave of them; and in like manner did she cause their
+servants to be supplied with equipment suitable to them. The gentlemen,
+being much importuned thereto by Messer Torello, consented to tarry the
+rest of the day with him; and so, having slept, they donned their robes,
+and rode a while with him about the city; and supper-time being come,
+they feasted magnificently, and with a numerous and honourable company.
+And so in due time they betook them to rest; and at daybreak, being
+risen, they found, in lieu of their jaded nags, three stout and excellent
+palfreys, and in like manner fresh and goodly mounts for their servants.
+Which Saladin marking turned to his lords, and:--"By God," quoth he,
+"never was gentleman more complete and courteous and considerate than
+this Messer Torello, and if the Christian kings are as kingly as he is
+knightly, there is none of them whose onset the Soldan of Babylon might
+well abide, to say nought of so many as we see making ready to fall upon
+him." However, knowing that 'twas not permissible to refuse, he very
+courteously thanked Messer Torello: and so they got them to horse. Messer
+Torello with a numerous company escorted them far beyond the gate of the
+city, until, loath though Saladin was to part from him, so greatly did he
+now affect him, yet as he must needs speed on, he besought him to turn
+back. Whereupon, albeit it irked him to take leave of them:--"Gentlemen,"
+quoth Messer Torello, "since such is your pleasure, I obey; but this I
+must say to you. Who you are I know not, nor would I know more than you
+are pleased to impart; but whoever you may be, you will not make me
+believe that you are merchants this while; and so adieu!" To whom
+Saladin, having already taken leave of all his company, thus made
+answer:--"Peradventure, Sir, we shall one day give you to see somewhat of
+our merchandise, and thereby confirm your belief: and so adieu!"
+
+Thus parted Saladin and his company from Messer Torello, Saladin burning
+with an exceeding great desire, if life should be continued to him, and
+the war, which he anticipated, should not undo him, to shew Messer
+Torello no less honour than he had received at his hands, and conversing
+not a little with his lords both of Messer Torello himself and of his
+lady, and all that he did and that in any wise concerned him, ever more
+highly commending them. However, having with much diligence spied out all
+the West, he put to sea, and returned with his company to Alexandria; and
+having now all needful information, he put himself in a posture of
+defence. Messer Torello, his mind full of his late guests, returned to
+Pavia; but, though he long pondered who they might be, he came never at
+or anywhere near the truth.
+
+Then with great and general mustering of forces came the time for
+embarking on the emprise, and Messer Torello, heeding not the tearful
+entreaties of his wife, resolved to join therein. So, being fully
+equipped and about to take horse, he said to his lady, whom he most
+dearly loved:--"Wife, for honour's sake and for the weal of my soul, I
+go, as thou seest, on this emprise: our substance and our honour I
+commend to thy care. Certain I am of my departure, but, for the thousand
+accidents that may ensue, certitude have I none of my return: wherefore I
+would have thee do me this grace, that, whatever be my fate, shouldst
+thou lack certain intelligence that I live, thou wilt expect me a year
+and a month and a day from this my departure, before thou marry again."
+Whereto the lady, weeping bitterly, made answer:--"Messer Torello, I know
+not how I shall support the distress in which, thus departing, you leave
+me; but should my life not fail beneath it, and aught befall thee, live
+and die secure that I shall live and die the wife of Messer Torello, and
+of his memory." Whereupon:--"Wife," returned Messer Torello, "well
+assured I am that, so far as in thee shall lie, this promise of thine
+will be kept; but thou art young, and fair, and of a great family, and
+thy virtue is rare and generally known: wherefore I make no doubt that,
+should there be any suspicion of my death, thou wilt be asked of thy
+brothers and kinsmen by many a great gentleman: against whose attacks,
+though thou desire it never so, thou wilt not be able to hold out, but
+wilt perforce be fain to gratify one or other of them; for which cause it
+is that I ask thee to wait just so long and no longer." "As I have said,"
+replied the lady, "so, in so far as I may, I shall do; and if I must
+needs do otherwise, rest assured that of this your behest I shall render
+you obedience. But I pray God that He bring neither you nor me to such a
+strait yet a while." Which said, the lady wept, and having embraced
+Messer Torello, drew from her finger a ring, and gave it to him,
+saying:--"Should it betide that I die before I see you again, mind you of
+me, when you look upon it."
+
+Messer Torello took the ring, and got him to horse, and having bidden all
+adieu, fared forth on his journey; and being arrived with his company at
+Genoa, he embarked on a galley, and having departed thence, in no long
+time arrived at Acre, and joined the main Christian host; wherein there
+by and by broke out an exceeding great and mortal sickness; during which,
+whether owing to Saladin's strategy, or his good fortune, he made an easy
+capture of well-nigh all the remnant of the Christians that were escaped,
+and quartered them in divers prisons in many cities; of which captives
+Messer Torello being one, was brought to Alexandria and there confined.
+Where, not being known, and fearing to make himself known, he, under
+constraint of necessity, applied him to the training of hawks, whereof he
+was a very great master; and thereby he fell under the notice of Saladin,
+who took him out of the prison, and made him his falconer. The Soldan
+called him by no other name than "Christian," and neither recognized, nor
+was recognized by, him, who, his whole soul ever in Pavia, essayed many a
+time to escape, that he might return thither, but still without success:
+wherefore, certain Genoese, that were come to Alexandria as ambassadors
+to the Soldan for the redemption of some of their townsfolk, being about
+to return, he resolved to write to his lady, how that he lived, and would
+come back to her, as soon as he might, and that she should expect his
+return; and having so done, he earnestly besought one of the ambassadors,
+whom he knew, to see that the letter reached the hands of the Abbot of
+San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro, who was his uncle.
+
+Now, such being the posture of Messer Torello's affairs, it befell one
+day that, while he talked with Saladin of his hawks, he smiled; whereby
+his mouth shaped itself in a fashion, of which Saladin had taken
+particular note, while he was at Pavia. And so, recalling Messer Torello
+to mind, he fixed his gaze upon him, and it seemed to him that 'twas
+indeed Messer Torello; wherefore, leaving the matter of which they were
+conversing:--"Tell me, Christian," quoth he, "of what country art thou in
+the West?" "My lord," replied Messer Torello, "I am a Lombard, of a city
+called Pavia, a poor man, and of humble condition." Which when he heard,
+Saladin, well-nigh resolved of his doubt, said joyfully to himself:--"God
+has provided me with occasion meet to prove to this man what store I set
+by his courtesy;" and without another word he brought him into a room
+where he kept all his wearing apparel, and said:--"Look, Christian, if
+among these robes there be any that thou hast ever seen before." So
+Messer Torello examined the robes, and espied those which his lady had
+given to Saladin; but, deeming they could not be the same, he
+replied:--"My lord, there is no robe here that I recognize, albeit 'tis
+true that those two robes are such as I once wore myself, in company with
+three merchants that came to my house." Whereupon Saladin could refrain
+himself no longer; but, tenderly embracing him:--"You," quoth he, "are
+Messer Torello d'Istria, and I am one of those three merchants to whom
+your lady gave these robes; and now is the time to warrant you of the
+quality of my merchandise, as, when I parted from you, I told you might
+come to pass." Which to hear, Messer Torello was at once overjoyed and
+abashed, overjoyed to have entertained so illustrious a guest, and
+abashed, for that it seemed to him that he had given him but a sorry
+entertainment. To whom:--"Messer Torello," quoth Saladin, "since hither
+has God sent you to me, deem that 'tis no more I that am lord here, but
+you." And so they made great cheer together; and then Saladin caused
+Messer Torello to be royally arrayed; and presented him to all his
+greatest lords, and having extolled his merit in no stinted measure, bade
+all, as they hoped for grace from him, honour Messer Torello even as
+himself. And so from that hour did they all; but most especially the two
+lords that had been with Saladin at Messer Torello's house.
+
+The glory, to which Messer Torello thus suddenly found himself raised,
+somewhat diverted his mind from the affairs of Lombardy, and the more so,
+for that he entertained no doubt that his letter had reached his uncle's
+hands. But for that in the camp, or rather army, of the Christians, on
+the day when they were taken by Saladin, there died and was buried one
+Messer Torello de Dignes, an obscure knight of Provence, whereas Messer
+Torello d'Istria was known to all the host for a right noble gentleman,
+whoso heard tell that Messer Torello was dead, supposed that 'twas Messer
+Torello d'Istria, and not Messer Torello de Dignes; nor did what happened
+after, to wit, the capture, avail to undeceive them; for not a few
+Italians had carried the report home with them; among whom there were
+some who made bold to say that they had seen Messer Torello d'Istria's
+dead body, and had been present at its interment. Which rumour coming to
+the ears of his lady and his kinsfolk, great indeed, nay, immeasurable
+was the distress that it occasioned not only to them, but to all that had
+known him. The mode and measure of his lady's grief, her mourning, her
+lamentation, 'twere tedious to describe. Enough that, after some months
+spent in almost unmitigated tribulation, her sorrow shewed signs of
+abatement; whereupon, suit being made for her hand by some of the
+greatest men of Lombardy, her brothers and other kinsfolk began to
+importune her to marry again. Times not a few, and with floods of tears,
+she refused; but, overborne at last, she consented to do as they would
+have her, upon the understanding that she was to remain unmarried until
+the term for which she had bound herself to Messer Torello was fulfilled.
+
+Now the lady's affairs being in this posture at Pavia, it befell that
+some eight days or so before the time appointed for her marriage, Messer
+Torello one day espied in Alexandria one that he had observed go with the
+Genoese ambassadors aboard the galley that took them to Genoa; wherefore
+he called him, and asked him what sort of a voyage they had had, and when
+they had reached Genoa. "My lord," replied the other, "the galley made
+but a sorry voyage of it, as I learned in Crete, where I remained; for
+that, while she was nearing Sicily, there arose a terrible gale from the
+North that drove her on to the shoals of Barbary, and never a soul
+escaped, and among the rest my two brothers were lost." Which report
+believing--and 'twas indeed most true--and calling to mind that in a few
+days the term that he had asked of his wife would be fulfilled, and
+surmising that there could be no tidings of him at Pavia, Messer Torello
+made no question but that the lady was provided with another husband;
+whereby he sank into such a depth of woe that he lost all power to eat,
+and betook him to his bed and resigned himself to die. Which when
+Saladin, by whom he was most dearly beloved, learned, he came to him, and
+having plied him with many and most instant entreaties, learned at length
+the cause of his distress and sickness; and, having chidden him not a
+little that he had not sooner apprised him thereof, he besought him to
+put on a cheerful courage, assuring him, that, if so he did, he would
+bring it to pass that he should be in Pavia at the time appointed, and
+told him how. Believing Saladin's words the more readily that he had many
+times heard that 'twas possible, and had not seldom been done, Messer
+Torello recovered heart, and was instant with Saladin that he should make
+all haste.
+
+Accordingly Saladin bade one of his necromancers, of whose skill he had
+already had proof, to devise a method whereby Messer Torello should be
+transported abed in a single night to Pavia: the necromancer made answer
+that it should be done, but that 'twere best he put Messer Torello to
+sleep. The matter being thus arranged, Saladin hied him back to Messer
+Torello, and finding him most earnestly desirous to be in Pavia at the
+time appointed, if so it might be, and if not, to die:--"Messer Torello,"
+quoth he, "if you dearly love your lady, and misdoubt that she may become
+the bride of another, no wise, God wot, do I censure you, for that, of
+all the ladies that ever I saw, she, for bearing, manners, and
+address--to say nought of beauty, which is but the flower that
+perishes--seems to me the most worthy to be lauded and cherished. Much
+had I been gratified, since Fortune has sent you hither to me, that,
+while you and I yet live, we had exercised equal lordship in the
+governance of this my realm, and, if such was not God's will, and this
+must needs come upon you, that you are fain either to be at Pavia at the
+time appointed or to die, I had desired of all things to have been
+apprised thereof at such a time that I might have sent you home with such
+honourable circumstance and state and escort as befit your high desert;
+which not being vouchsafed me, and as nought will content you but to be
+there forthwith, I do what I can, and speed you thither on such wise as I
+have told you." "My lord," replied Messer Torello, "had you said nought,
+you have already done enough to prove your goodwill towards me, and that
+in so high a degree as is quite beyond my deserts, and most assured of
+the truth of what you say shall I live and die, and so had done, had you
+not said it; but, seeing that my resolve is taken, I pray you that that,
+which you promise to do, be done speedily, for that after to-morrow I may
+no longer count on being expected."
+
+Saladin assured him that 'twas so ordered that he should not be
+disappointed. And on the morrow, it being his purpose to speed him on his
+journey that same night, he caused to be set up in one of his great halls
+a most goodly and sumptuous bed composed of mattresses, all, as was their
+wont, of velvet and cloth of gold, and had it covered with a quilt,
+adorned at certain intervals with enormous pearls, and most rare precious
+stones, insomuch that 'twas in after time accounted a priceless treasure,
+and furnished with two pillows to match it. Which done, he bade array
+Messer Torello, who was now quite recovered, in a robe after the
+Saracenic fashion, the richest and goodliest thing of the kind that was
+ever seen, and wrap about his head, according to their wont, one of their
+huge turbans. Then, at a late hour, Saladin, attended by certain of his
+lords, entered the chamber where Messer Torello was, and seating himself
+beside him, all but wept as thus he began:--"Messer Torello, the time is
+nigh at hand when you and I must part; wherefore, since I may neither
+give you my own, nor others' company (the journey that you are about to
+make not permitting it), I am come here, as 'tis fitting, in this chamber
+to take my leave of you. Wherefore, before I bid you adieu, I entreat
+you, by that friendship, that love, which is between us, that you forget
+me not, and that, if it be possible, when you have settled your affairs
+in Lombardy, you come at least once, before our days are ended, to visit
+me, that thereby I may both have the delight of seeing you again, and
+make good that omission which, by reason of your haste, I must needs now
+make; and that in the meanwhile it irk thee not to visit me by letter,
+and to ask of me whatever you shall have a mind to, and be sure that
+there lives not the man whom I shall content more gladly than you."
+Messer Torello could not refrain his tears, and so, with words few, and
+broken by his sobs, he answered that 'twas impossible that the Soldan's
+generous deeds and chivalrous character should ever be forgotten by him,
+and that without fail he would do as he bade him, so soon as occasion
+should serve him. Whereupon Saladin tenderly embraced and kissed him, and
+with many a tear bade him adieu, and quitted the chamber. His lords then
+took leave of Messer Torello, and followed Saladin into the hall, where
+he had had the bed made ready.
+
+'Twas now late, and the necromancer being intent to hasten Messer
+Torello's transit, a physician brought him a potion, and having first
+shewn him what he was to give him by way of viaticum, caused him to drink
+it; and not long after he fell asleep. In which state he was carried by
+Saladin's command, and laid on the goodly bed, whereon he set a large and
+fair and most sumptuous crown, marking it in such sort that there could
+be no mistake that it was sent by Saladin to Messer Torello's wife. He
+next placed on Messer Torello's finger a ring, in which was set a
+carbuncle of such brilliance that it shewed as a lighted torch, and of
+well-nigh inestimable value. After which he girded on him a sword, the
+appointments of which might not readily be appraised. And therewithal he
+adorned him in front with a pendant, wherein were pearls, the like of
+which had never been seen, and not a few other rare jewels. And,
+moreover, on either side of him he set two vast basins of gold full of
+pistoles; and strings of pearls not a few, and rings and girdles, and
+other things, which 'twere tedious to enumerate, he disposed around him.
+Which done, he kissed Messer Torello again, and bade the necromancer
+speed him on his journey. Whereupon, forthwith, the bed, with Messer
+Torello thereon, was borne away from before Saladin's eyes, and he and
+his barons remained conversing thereof.
+
+The bed, as Messer Torello had requested, had already been deposited in
+the church of San Piero in Ciel d'Oro at Pavia, and Messer Torello, with
+all the aforesaid jewels and ornaments upon and about him, was lying
+thereon, and still slept, when, upon the stroke of matins, the sacristan
+came into the church, light in hand, and presently setting eyes on the
+sumptuous bed, was not only amazed, but mightily terrified, insomuch that
+he turned back, and took to flight. Which the abbot and monks observing
+with no small surprise, asked wherefore he fled and he told them.
+Whereupon:--"Oh," quoth the abbot, "thou art no longer a child, nor yet
+so new to this church, that thou shouldst so lightly be appalled: go we
+now, and see who it is that has given thee this childish fright." So,
+with a blaze of torches, the abbot, attended by his monks, entered the
+church, and espied this wondrous costly bed whereon the knight slept, and
+while, hesitant and fearful, daring not to approach the bed, they scanned
+the rare and splendid jewels, it befell that, the efficacy of the potion
+being exhausted, Messer Torello awoke and heaved a great sigh. Whereat
+the monks and the abbot quaking and crying out:--"Lord, help us!" one and
+all took to flight. Messer Torello, opening his eyes and looking about
+him, saw, to his no small satisfaction, that without a doubt he was in
+the very place where he had craved of Saladin to be; so up he sate, and
+taking particular note of the matters with which he was surrounded,
+accounted the magnificence of Saladin to exceed even the measure, great
+though it was, that he already knew. However, he still kept quiet, save
+that, perceiving the monks in flight, and surmising the reason, he began
+to call the abbot by name, bidding him be of good courage, for that he
+was his nephew, Torello. Whereat the abbot did but wax more terrified,
+for that he deemed Torello had been many a month dead; but, after a
+while, as he heard himself still called, sound judgment got the better of
+his fears, and making the sign of the cross, he drew nigh Torello; who
+said to him:--"Father, what is't you fear? By God's grace I live, and
+hither am come back from overseas." Whom, for all he had grown a long
+beard and was dressed in the Saracenic fashion, the abbot after a while
+recognized, and now, quite reassured, took by the hand, saying:--"Son,
+welcome home:" then:--"No cause hast thou to marvel at our fears," he
+went on, "seeing that there is never a soul in these parts but firmly
+believes thee to be dead, insomuch that I may tell thee that Madonna
+Adalieta, thy wife, overborne by the entreaties and menaces of her
+kinsfolk, and against her will, is provided with another husband, to whom
+she is this morning to go, and all is made ready for the nuptials and the
+attendant festivities."
+
+Whereupon Messer Torello, being risen from the sumptuous bed, did the
+abbot and the monks wondrous cheer, and besought them, one and all, to
+tell never a soul of his return, until he had completed something that he
+had on hand. After which, having put the costly jewels in safe keeping,
+he recounted to the abbot all the story of his adventures to that very
+hour. The abbot, rejoicing in his good fortune, joined with him in
+offering thanks to God. Messer Torello then asked him who might be his
+wife's new husband, and the abbot told him. Quoth then Messer
+Torello:--"Before my return be known, I purpose to see how my wife will
+comport herself at the nuptials: wherefore, though 'tis not the wont of
+men of religion to go to such gatherings, I had lief that for love of me
+you arranged for us to go thither together." The abbot answered that, he
+would gladly do so, and as soon as 'twas day, he sent word to the
+bridegroom that he had thoughts of being present at his nuptials,
+accompanied by a friend; whereto the gentleman made answer that he was
+much gratified. So, at the breakfast hour Messer Torello, dressed as he
+was, hied him with the abbot to the bridegroom's house, as many as saw
+them gazing on him with wonder, but none recognizing him, and the abbot
+giving all to understand that he was a Saracen sent by the Soldan as
+ambassador to the King of France. Messer Torello was accordingly seated
+at a table directly opposite that of his lady, whom he eyed with
+exceeding great delight, the more so that he saw that in her face which
+shewed him that she was chagrined by the nuptials. She in like manner
+from time to time bent her regard on him; howbeit, what with his long
+beard, and his foreign garb, and her firm persuasion that he was dead,
+she had still no sort of recollection of him. However, Messer Torello at
+length deemed it time to make trial of her, whether she would remember
+him; wherefore he took the ring that the lady had given, him on his
+departure, and keeping it close in the palm of his hand, he called to him
+a page that waited upon her, and said to him:--"Tell the bride from me
+that 'tis the custom in my country, that, when a stranger, such as I,
+eats with a bride, like herself, at her wedding-feast, she, in token that
+he is welcome to her board, sends him the cup from which she herself
+drinks, full of wine; and when the stranger has drunk his fill, he closes
+the cup, and the bride drinks what is left therein."
+
+The page carried the message to the lady, who, being of good
+understanding and manners, and supposing him to be some very great man,
+by way of shewing that she was gratified by his presence, commanded that
+a gilt cup, that was on the table before her, should be rinsed, and
+filled with wine, and borne to the gentleman. Which being done, Messer
+Torello, having privily conveyed her ring into his mouth, let it fall
+(while he drank) into the cup on such wise that none wist thereof; and
+leaving but a little wine at the bottom, closed the cup and returned it
+to the lady; who, having taken it, that she might do full honour to the
+custom of her guest's country, lifted the lid, and set the cup to her
+mouth; whereby espying the ring, she thereon mutely gazed a while, and
+recognizing it for that which she had given Messer Torello on his
+departure, she steadfastly regarded the supposed stranger, whom now she
+also recognized. Whereupon well-nigh distracted, oversetting the table in
+front of her, she exclaimed:--"'Tis my lord, 'tis verily Messer Torello;"
+and rushing to the table at which he sate, giving never a thought to her
+apparel, or aught that was on the table, she flung herself upon it; and
+reaching forward as far as she could, she threw her arms about him, and
+hugged him; nor, for aught that any said or did, could she be induced to
+release his neck, until Messer Torello himself bade her forbear a while,
+for that she would have time enough to kiss him thereafter. The lady then
+stood up, and for a while all was disorder, albeit the feast was yet more
+gladsome than before by reason of the recovery of so honourable a knight:
+then, at Messer Torello's entreaty, all were silent, while he recounted
+to them the story of his adventures from the day of his departure to that
+hour, concluding by saying that the gentleman who, deeming him to be
+dead, had taken his lady to wife, ought not to be affronted, if he, being
+alive, reclaimed her. The bridegroom, albeit he was somewhat crestfallen,
+made answer in frank and friendly sort, that 'twas for Messer Torello to
+do what he liked with his own. The lady resigned the ring and the crown
+that her new spouse had given her, and put on the ring she had taken from
+the cup, and likewise the crown sent her by the Soldan; and so, forth
+they hied them, and with full nuptial pomp wended their way to Messer
+Torello's house; and there for a great while they made merry with his
+late disconsolate friends and kinsfolk and all the citizens, who
+accounted his restoration as little short of a miracle.
+
+Messer Torello, having bestowed part of his rare jewels upon him who had
+borne the cost of the wedding-feast, and part on the abbot, and many
+other folk; and having by more than one messenger sent word of his safe
+home-coming and prosperous estate to Saladin, acknowledging himself ever
+his friend and vassal, lived many years thereafter with his worthy lady,
+acquitting himself yet more courteously than of yore. Such, then, was the
+end of the troubles of Messer Torello and his dear lady, and such the
+reward of their cheerful and ready courtesies.
+
+Now some there are that strive to do offices of courtesy, and have the
+means, but do them with so ill a grace, that, ere they are done, they
+have in effect sold them at a price above their worth: wherefore, if no
+reward ensue to them thereof, neither they nor other folk have cause to
+marvel.
+
+
+NOVEL X.
+
+--
+The Marquis of Saluzzo, overborne by the entreaties of his vassals,
+consents to take a wife, but, being minded to please himself in the
+choice of her, takes a husbandman's daughter. He has two children by her,
+both of whom he makes her believe that he has put to death. Afterward,
+feigning to be tired of her, and to have taken another wife, he turns her
+out of doors in her shift, and brings his daughter into the house in
+guise of his bride; but, finding her patient under it all, he brings her
+home again, and shews her her children, now grown up, and honours her,
+and causes her to be honoured, as Marchioness.
+--
+
+Ended the king's long story, with which all seemed to be very well
+pleased, quoth Dioneo with a laugh:--"The good man that looked that night
+to cause the bogey's tail to droop, would scarce have contributed two
+pennyworth of all the praise you bestow on Messer Torello:" then, witting
+that it now only remained for him to tell, thus he began:--Gentle my
+ladies, this day, meseems, is dedicate to Kings and Soldans and folk of
+the like quality; wherefore, that I stray not too far from you, I am
+minded to tell you somewhat of a Marquis; certes, nought magnificent, but
+a piece of mad folly, albeit there came good thereof to him in the end.
+The which I counsel none to copy, for that great pity 'twas that it
+turned out well with him.
+
+There was in olden days a certain Marquis of Saluzzo, Gualtieri by name,
+a young man, but head of the house, who, having neither wife nor child,
+passed his time in nought else but in hawking and hunting, and of taking
+a wife and begetting children had no thought; wherein he should have been
+accounted very wise: but his vassals, brooking it ill, did oftentimes
+entreat him to take a wife, that he might not die without an heir, and
+they be left without a lord; offering to find him one of such a pattern,
+and of such parentage, that he might marry with good hope, and be well
+content with the sequel. To whom:--"My friends," replied Gualtieri, "you
+enforce me to that which I had resolved never to do, seeing how hard it
+is to find a wife, whose ways accord well with one's own, and how
+plentiful is the supply of such as run counter thereto, and how grievous
+a life he leads who chances upon a lady that matches ill with him. And to
+say that you think to know the daughters by the qualities of their
+fathers and mothers, and thereby--so you would argue--to provide me with
+a wife to my liking, is but folly; for I wot not how you may penetrate
+the secrets of their mothers so as to know their fathers; and granted
+that you do know them, daughters oftentimes resemble neither of their
+parents. However, as you are minded to rivet these fetters upon me, I am
+content that so it be; and that I may have no cause to reproach any but
+myself, should it turn out ill, I am resolved that my wife shall be of my
+own choosing; but of this rest assured, that, no matter whom I choose, if
+she receive not from you the honour due to a lady, you shall prove to
+your great cost, how sorely I resent being thus constrained by your
+importunity to take a wife against my will."
+
+The worthy men replied that they were well content, so only he would
+marry without more ado. And Gualtieri, who had long noted with approval
+the mien of a poor girl that dwelt on a farm hard by his house, and found
+her fair enough, deemed that with her he might pass a tolerably happy
+life. Wherefore he sought no further, but forthwith resolved to marry
+her; and having sent for her father, who was a very poor man, he
+contracted with him to take her to wife. Which done, Gualtieri assembled
+all the friends he had in those parts, and:--"My friends," quoth he, "you
+were and are minded that I should take a wife, and rather to comply with
+your wishes, than for any desire that I had to marry, I have made up my
+mind to do so. You remember the promise you gave me, to wit, that,
+whomsoever I should take, you would pay her the honour due to a lady.
+Which promise I now require you to keep, the time being come when I am to
+keep mine. I have found hard by here a maiden after mine own heart, whom
+I purpose to take to wife, and to bring hither to my house in the course
+of a few days. Wherefore bethink you, how you may make the nuptial feast
+splendid, and welcome her with all honour; that I may confess myself
+satisfied with your observance of your promise, as you will be with my
+observance of mine." The worthy men, one and all, answered with alacrity
+that they were well content, and that, whoever she might be, they would
+entreat her as a lady, and pay her all due honour as such. After which,
+they all addressed them to make goodly and grand and gladsome celebration
+of the event, as did also Gualtieri. He arranged for a wedding most
+stately and fair, and bade thereto a goodly number of his friends and
+kinsfolk, and great gentlemen, and others, of the neighbourhood; and
+therewithal he caused many a fine and costly robe to be cut and fashioned
+to the figure of a girl who seemed to him of the like proportions as the
+girl that he purposed to wed; and laid in store, besides, of girdles and
+rings, with a costly and beautiful crown, and all the other paraphernalia
+of a bride.
+
+The day that he had appointed for the wedding being come, about half
+tierce he got him to horse with as many as had come to do him honour, and
+having made all needful dispositions:--"Gentlemen," quoth he, "'tis time
+to go bring home the bride." And so away he rode with his company to the
+village; where, being come to the house of the girl's father, they found
+her returning from the spring with a bucket of water, making all the
+haste she could, that she might afterwards go with the other women to see
+Gualtieri's bride come by. Whom Gualtieri no sooner saw, than he called
+her by her name, to wit, Griselda, and asked her where her father was. To
+whom she modestly made answer:--"My lord, he is in the house." Whereupon
+Gualtieri dismounted, and having bidden the rest await him without,
+entered the cottage alone; and meeting her father, whose name was
+Giannucolo:--"I am come," quoth he, "to wed Griselda, but first of all
+there are some matters I would learn from her own lips in thy presence."
+He then asked her, whether, if he took her to wife, she would study to
+comply with his wishes, and be not wroth, no matter what he might say or
+do, and be obedient, with not a few other questions of a like sort: to
+all which she answered, ay. Whereupon Gualtieri took her by the hand, led
+her forth, and before the eyes of all his company, and as many other folk
+as were there, caused her to strip naked, and let bring the garments that
+he had had fashioned for her, and had her forthwith arrayed therein, and
+upon her unkempt head let set a crown; and then, while all
+wondered:--"Gentlemen," quoth he, "this is she whom I purpose to make my
+wife, so she be minded to have me for husband." Then, she standing
+abashed and astonied, he turned to her, saying:--"Griselda, wilt thou
+have me for thy husband?" To whom:--"Ay, my lord," answered she. "And I
+will have thee to wife," said he, and married her before them all. And
+having set her upon a palfrey, he brought her home with pomp.
+
+The wedding was fair and stately, and had he married a daughter of the
+King of France, the feast could not have been more splendid. It seemed as
+if, with the change of her garb, the bride had acquired a new dignity of
+mind and mien. She was, as we have said, fair of form and feature; and
+therewithal she was now grown so engaging and gracious and debonair, that
+she shewed no longer as the shepherdess, and the daughter of Giannucolo,
+but as the daughter of some noble lord, insomuch that she caused as many
+as had known her before to marvel. Moreover, she was so obedient and
+devoted to her husband, that he deemed himself the happiest and luckiest
+man in the world. And likewise so gracious and kindly was she to her
+husband's vassals, that there was none of them but loved her more dearly
+than himself, and was zealous to do her honour, and prayed for her
+welfare and prosperity and aggrandisement, and instead of, as erstwhile,
+saying that Gualtieri had done foolishly to take her to wife, now averred
+that he had not his like in the world for wisdom and discernment, for
+that, save to him, her noble qualities would ever have remained hidden
+under her sorry apparel and the garb of the peasant girl. And in short
+she so comported herself as in no long time to bring it to pass that, not
+only in the marquisate, but far and wide besides, her virtues and her
+admirable conversation were matter of common talk, and, if aught had been
+said to the disadvantage of her husband, when he married her, the
+judgment was now altogether to the contrary effect.
+
+She had not been long with Gualtieri before she conceived; and in due
+time she was delivered of a girl; whereat Gualtieri made great cheer.
+But, soon after, a strange humour took possession of him, to wit, to put
+her patience to the proof by prolonged and intolerable hard usage;
+wherefore he began by afflicting her with his gibes, putting on a vexed
+air, and telling her that his vassals were most sorely dissatisfied with
+her by reason of her base condition, and all the more so since they saw
+that she was a mother, and that they did nought but most ruefully murmur
+at the birth of a daughter. Whereto Griselda, without the least change of
+countenance or sign of discomposure, made answer:--"My lord, do with me
+as thou mayst deem best for thine own honour and comfort, for well I wot
+that I am of less account than they, and unworthy of this honourable
+estate to which of thy courtesy thou hast advanced me." By which answer
+Gualtieri was well pleased, witting that she was in no degree puffed up
+with pride by his, or any other's, honourable entreatment of her. A while
+afterwards, having in general terms given his wife to understand that the
+vassals could not endure her daughter, he sent her a message by a
+servant. So the servant came, and:--"Madam," quoth he with a most
+dolorous mien, "so I value my life, I must needs do my lord's bidding. He
+has bidden me take your daughter and..." He said no more, but the lady by
+what she heard, and read in his face, and remembered of her husband's
+words, understood that he was bidden to put the child to death. Whereupon
+she presently took the child from the cradle, and having kissed and
+blessed her, albeit she was very sore at heart, she changed not
+countenance, but placed it in the servant's arms, saying:--"See that thou
+leave nought undone that my lord and thine has charged thee to do, but
+leave her not so that the beasts and the birds devour her, unless he have
+so bidden thee." So the servant took the child, and told Gualtieri what
+the lady had said; and Gualtieri, marvelling at her constancy, sent him
+with the child to Bologna, to one of his kinswomen, whom he besought to
+rear and educate the child with all care, but never to let it be known
+whose child she was.
+
+Soon after it befell that the lady again conceived, and in due time was
+delivered of a son, whereat Gualtieri was overjoyed. But, not content
+with what he had done, he now even more poignantly afflicted the lady;
+and one day with a ruffled mien:--"Wife," quoth he, "since thou gavest
+birth to this boy, I may on no wise live in peace with my vassals, so
+bitterly do they reproach me that a grandson of Giannucolo is to succeed
+me as their lord; and therefore I fear that, so I be not minded to be
+sent a packing hence, I must even do herein as I did before, and in the
+end put thee away, and take another wife." The lady heard him patiently,
+and answered only:--"My lord, study how thou mayst content thee and best
+please thyself, and waste no thought upon me, for there is nought I
+desire save in so far as I know that 'tis thy pleasure." Not many days
+after, Gualtieri, in like manner as he had sent for the daughter, sent
+for the son, and having made a shew of putting him to death, provided for
+his, as for the girl's, nurture at Bologna. Whereat the lady shewed no
+more discomposure of countenance or speech than at the loss of her
+daughter: which Gualtieri found passing strange, and inly affirmed that
+there was never another woman in the world that would have so done. And
+but that he had marked that she was most tenderly affectionate towards
+her children, while 'twas well pleasing to him, he had supposed that she
+was tired of them, whereas he knew that 'twas of her discretion that she
+so did. His vassals, who believed that he had put the children to death,
+held him mightily to blame for his cruelty, and felt the utmost
+compassion for the lady. She, however, said never aught to the ladies
+that condoled with her on the death of her children, but that the
+pleasure of him that had begotten them was her pleasure likewise.
+
+Years not a few had passed since the girl's birth, when Gualtieri at
+length deemed the time come to put his wife's patience to the final
+proof. Accordingly, in the presence of a great company of his vassals he
+declared that on no wise might he longer brook to have Griselda to wife,
+that he confessed that in taking her he had done a sorry thing and the
+act of a stripling, and that he therefore meant to do what he could to
+procure the Pope's dispensation to put Griselda away, and take another
+wife: for which cause being much upbraided by many worthy men, he made no
+other answer but only that needs must it so be. Whereof the lady being
+apprised, and now deeming that she must look to go back to her father's
+house, and perchance tend the sheep, as she had aforetime, and see him,
+to whom she was utterly devoted, engrossed by another woman, did inly
+bewail herself right sorely: but still with the same composed mien with
+which she had borne Fortune's former buffets, she set herself to endure
+this last outrage. Nor was it long before Gualtieri by counterfeit
+letters, which he caused to be sent to him from Rome, made his vassals
+believe that the Pope had thereby given him a dispensation to put
+Griselda away, and take another wife. Wherefore, having caused her to be
+brought before him, he said to her in the presence of not a few:--"Wife,
+by license granted me by the Pope, I am now free to put thee away, and
+take another wife; and, for that my forbears have always been great
+gentlemen and lords of these parts, whereas thine have ever been
+husbandmen, I purpose that thou go back to Giannucolo's house with the
+dowry that thou broughtest me; whereupon I shall bring home a lady that I
+have found, and who is meet to be my wife."
+
+'Twas not without travail most grievous that the lady, as she heard this
+announcement, got the better of her woman's nature, and suppressing her
+tears, made answer:--"My lord, I ever knew that my low degree was on no
+wise congruous with your nobility, and acknowledged that the rank I had
+with you was of your and God's bestowal, nor did I ever make as if it
+were mine by gift, or so esteem it, but still accounted it as a loan.
+'Tis your pleasure to recall it, and therefore it should be, and is, my
+pleasure to render it up to you. So, here is your ring, with which you
+espoused me; take it back. You bid me take with me the dowry that I
+brought you; which to do will require neither paymaster on your part nor
+purse nor packhorse on mine; for I am not unmindful that naked was I when
+you first had me. And if you deem it seemly that that body in which I
+have borne children, by you begotten, be beheld of all, naked will I
+depart; but yet, I pray you, be pleased, in guerdon of the virginity that
+I brought you and take not away, to suffer me to bear hence upon my back
+a single shift--I crave no more--besides my dowry." There was nought of
+which Gualtieri was so fain as to weep; but yet, setting his face as a
+flint, he made answer:--"I allow thee a shift to thy back; so get thee
+hence." All that stood by besought him to give her a robe, that she, who
+had been his wife for thirteen years and more, might not be seen to quit
+his house in so sorry and shameful a plight, having nought on her but a
+shift. But their entreaties went for nothing: the lady in her shift, and
+barefoot and bareheaded, having bade them adieu, departed the house, and
+went back to her father amid the tears and lamentations of all that saw
+her. Giannucolo, who had ever deemed it a thing incredible that Gualtieri
+should keep his daughter to wife, and had looked for this to happen every
+day, and had kept the clothes that she had put off on the morning that
+Gualtieri had wedded her, now brought them to her; and she, having
+resumed them, applied herself to the petty drudgery of her father's
+house, as she had been wont, enduring with fortitude this cruel
+visitation of adverse Fortune.
+
+Now no sooner had Gualtieri dismissed Griselda, than he gave his vassals
+to understand that he had taken to wife a daughter of one of the Counts
+of Panago. He accordingly made great preparations as for the nuptials,
+during which he sent for Griselda. To whom, being come, quoth he:--"I am
+bringing hither my new bride, and in this her first home-coming I purpose
+to shew her honour; and thou knowest that women I have none in the house
+that know how to set chambers in due order, or attend to the many other
+matters that so joyful an event requires; wherefore do thou, that
+understandest these things better than another, see to all that needs be
+done, and bid hither such ladies as thou mayst see fit, and receive them,
+as if thou wert the lady of the house, and then, when the nuptials are
+ended, thou mayst go back to thy cottage." Albeit each of these words
+pierced Griselda's heart like a knife, for that, in resigning her good
+fortune, she had not been able to renounce the love she bore Gualtieri,
+nevertheless:--"My lord," she made answer, "I am ready and prompt to do
+your pleasure." And so, clad in her sorry garments of coarse romagnole,
+she entered the house, which, but a little before, she had quitted in her
+shift, and addressed her to sweep the chambers, and arrange arras and
+cushions in the halls, and make ready the kitchen, and set her hand to
+everything, as if she had been a paltry serving-wench: nor did she rest
+until she had brought all into such meet and seemly trim as the occasion
+demanded. This done, she invited in Gualtieri's name all the ladies of
+those parts to be present at his nuptials, and awaited the event. The day
+being come, still wearing her sorry weeds, but in heart and soul and mien
+the lady, she received the ladies as they came, and gave each a gladsome
+greeting.
+
+Now Gualtieri, as we said, had caused his children to be carefully
+nurtured and brought up by a kinswoman of his at Bologna, which kinswoman
+was married into the family of the Counts of Panago; and, the girl being
+now twelve years old, and the loveliest creature that ever was seen, and
+the boy being about six years old, he had sent word to his kinswoman's
+husband at Bologna, praying him to be pleased to come with this girl and
+boy of his to Saluzzo, and to see that he brought a goodly and honourable
+company with him, and to give all to understand that he brought the girl
+to him to wife, and on no wise to disclose to any, who she really was.
+The gentleman did as the Marquis bade him, and within a few days of his
+setting forth arrived at Saluzzo about breakfast-time with the girl, and
+her brother, and a noble company, and found all the folk of those parts,
+and much people besides, gathered there in expectation of Gualtieri's new
+bride. Who, being received by the ladies, was no sooner come into the
+hall, where the tables were set, than Griselda advanced to meet her,
+saying with hearty cheer:--"Welcome, my lady." So the ladies, who had
+with much instance, but in vain, besought Gualtieri, either to let
+Griselda keep in another room, or at any rate to furnish her with one of
+the robes that had been hers, that she might not present herself in such
+a sorry guise before the strangers, sate down to table; and the service
+being begun, the eyes of all were set on the girl, and every one said
+that Gualtieri had made a good exchange, and Griselda joined with the
+rest in greatly commending her, and also her little brother. And now
+Gualtieri, sated at last with all that he had seen of his wife's
+patience, marking that this new and strange turn made not the least
+alteration in her demeanour, and being well assured that 'twas not due to
+apathy, for he knew her to be of excellent understanding, deemed it time
+to relieve her of the suffering which he judged her to dissemble under a
+resolute front; and so, having called her to him in presence of them all,
+he said with a smile:--"And what thinkst thou of our bride?" "My lord,"
+replied Griselda, "I think mighty well of her; and if she be but as
+discreet as she is fair--and so I deem her--I make no doubt but you may
+reckon to lead with her a life of incomparable felicity; but with all
+earnestness I entreat you, that you spare her those tribulations which
+you did once inflict upon another that was yours, for I scarce think she
+would be able to bear them, as well because she is younger, as for that
+she has been delicately nurtured, whereas that other had known no respite
+of hardship since she was but a little child." Marking that she made no
+doubt but that the girl was to be his wife, and yet spoke never a whit
+the less sweetly, Gualtieri caused her to sit down beside him,
+and:--"Griselda," said he, "'tis now time that thou see the reward of thy
+long patience, and that those, who have deemed me cruel and unjust and
+insensate, should know that what I did was done of purpose aforethought,
+for that I was minded to give both thee and them a lesson, that thou
+mightst learn to be a wife, and they in like manner might learn how to
+take and keep a wife, and that I might beget me perpetual peace with thee
+for the rest of my life; whereof being in great fear, when I came to take
+a wife, lest I should be disappointed, I therefore, to put the matter to
+the proof, did, and how sorely thou knowest, harass and afflict thee. And
+since I never knew thee either by deed or by word to deviate from my
+will, I now, deeming myself to have of thee that assurance of happiness
+which I desired, am minded to restore to thee at once all that, step by
+step, I took from thee, and by extremity of joy to compensate the
+tribulations that I inflicted on thee. Receive, then, this girl, whom
+thou supposest to be my bride, and her brother, with glad heart, as thy
+children and mine. These are they, whom by thee and many another it has
+long been supposed that I did ruthlessly to death, and I am thy husband,
+that loves thee more dearly than aught else, deeming that other there is
+none that has the like good cause to be well content with his wife."
+
+Which said, he embraced and kissed her; and then, while she wept for joy,
+they rose and hied them there where sate the daughter, all astonied to
+hear the news, whom, as also her brother, they tenderly embraced, and
+explained to them, and many others that stood by, the whole mystery.
+Whereat the ladies, transported with delight, rose from table and betook
+them with Griselda to a chamber, and, with better omen, divested her of
+her sorry garb, and arrayed her in one of her own robes of state; and so,
+in guise of a lady (howbeit in her rags she had shewed as no less) they
+led her back into the hall. Wondrous was the cheer which there they made
+with the children; and, all overjoyed at the event, they revelled and
+made merry amain, and prolonged the festivities for several days; and
+very discreet they pronounced Gualtieri, albeit they censured as
+intolerably harsh the probation to which he had subjected Griselda, and
+most discreet beyond all compare they accounted Griselda.
+
+Some days after, the Count of Panago returned to Bologna, and Gualtieri
+took Giannucolo from his husbandry, and established him in honour as his
+father-in-law, wherein to his great solace he lived for the rest of his
+days. Gualtieri himself, having mated his daughter with a husband of high
+degree, lived long and happily thereafter with Griselda, to whom he ever
+paid all honour.
+
+Now what shall we say in this case but that even into the cots of the
+poor the heavens let fall at times spirits divine, as into the palaces of
+kings souls that are fitter to tend hogs than to exercise lordship over
+men? Who but Griselda had been able, with a countenance not only
+tearless, but cheerful, to endure the hard and unheard-of trials to which
+Gualtieri subjected her? Who perhaps might have deemed himself to have
+made no bad investment, had he chanced upon one, who, having been turned
+out of his house in her shift, had found means so to dust the pelisse of
+another as to get herself thereby a fine robe.
+
+So ended Dioneo's story, whereof the ladies, diversely inclining, one to
+censure where another found matter for commendation, had discoursed not a
+little, when the king, having glanced at the sky, and marked that the sun
+was now low, insomuch that 'twas nigh the vesper hour, still keeping his
+seat, thus began:--"Exquisite my ladies, as, methinks, you wot, 'tis not
+only in minding them of the past and apprehending the present that the
+wit of mortals consists; but by one means or the other to be able to
+foresee the future is by the sages accounted the height of wisdom. Now,
+to-morrow, as you know, 'twill be fifteen days since, in quest of
+recreation and for the conservation of our health and life, we, shunning
+the dismal and dolorous and afflicting spectacles that have ceased not in
+our city since this season of pestilence began, took our departure from
+Florence. Wherein, to my thinking, we have done nought that was not
+seemly; for, if I have duly used my powers of observation, albeit some
+gay stories, and of a kind to stimulate concupiscence, have here been
+told, and we have daily known no lack of dainty dishes and good wine, nor
+yet of music and song, things, one and all, apt to incite weak minds to
+that which is not seemly, neither on your part, nor on ours, have I
+marked deed or word, or aught of any kind, that called for reprehension;
+but, by what I have seen and heard, seemliness and the sweet intimacy of
+brothers and sisters have ever reigned among us. Which, assuredly, for
+the honour and advantage which you and I have had thereof, is most
+grateful to me. Wherefore, lest too long continuance in this way of life
+might beget some occasion of weariness, and that no man may be able to
+misconstrue our too long abidance here, and as we have all of us had our
+day's share of the honour which still remains in me, I should deem it
+meet, so you be of like mind, that we now go back whence we came: and
+that the rather that our company, the bruit whereof has already reached
+divers others that are in our neighbourhood, might be so increased that
+all our pleasure would be destroyed. And so, if my counsel meet with your
+approval, I will keep the crown I have received of you until our
+departure, which, I purpose, shall be tomorrow morning. Should you decide
+otherwise, I have already determined whom to crown for the ensuing day."
+
+Much debate ensued among the ladies and young men; but in the end they
+approved the king's proposal as expedient and seemly; and resolved to do
+even as he had said. The king therefore summoned the seneschal; and
+having conferred with him of the order he was to observe on the morrow,
+he dismissed the company until supper-time. So, the king being risen, the
+ladies and the rest likewise rose, and betook them, as they were wont, to
+their several diversions. Supper-time being come, they supped with
+exceeding great delight. Which done, they addressed them to song and
+music and dancing; and, while Lauretta was leading a dance, the king bade
+Fiammetta give them a song; whereupon Fiammetta right debonairly sang on
+this wise:--
+
+So came but Love, and brought no jealousy,
+  So blithe, I wot, as I,
+  Dame were there none, be she whoe'er she be.
+
+If youth's fresh, lusty pride
+  May lady of her lover well content,
+  Or valour's just renown,
+  Hardihood, prowess tried,
+  Wit, noble mien, discourse most excellent,
+  And of all grace the crown;
+  That she am I, who, fain for love to swoun,
+  There where my hope doth lie
+  These several virtues all conjoined do see.
+
+But, for that I less wise
+  Than me no whit do other dames discern,
+  Trembling with sore dismay,
+  I still the worst surmise,
+  Deeming their hearts with the same flame to burn
+  That of mine maketh prey:
+  Wherefore of him that is my hope's one stay
+  Disconsolate I sigh,
+  Yea mightily, and daily do me dree.
+
+If but my lord as true
+  As worthy to be loved I might approve,
+  I were not jealous then:
+  But, for that charmer new
+  Doth all too often gallant lure to love,
+  Forsworn I hold all men,
+  And sick at heart I am, of death full fain;
+  Nor lady doth him eye,
+  But I do quake, lest she him wrest from me.
+
+'Fore God, then, let each she
+  List to my prayer, nor e'er in my despite
+  Such grievous wrong essay;
+  For should there any be
+  That by or speech or mien's allurements light
+  Of him to rob me may
+  Study or plot, I, witting, shall find way,
+  My beauty it aby!
+  To cause her sore lament such frenesie.
+
+As soon as Fiammetta had ended her song, Dioneo, who was beside her, said
+with a laugh:--"Madam, 'twould be a great courtesy on your part to do all
+ladies to wit, who he is, that he be not stolen from you in ignorance,
+seeing that you threaten such dire resentment." Several other songs
+followed; and it being then nigh upon midnight, all, as the king was
+pleased to order, betook them to rest. With the first light of the new
+day they rose, and, the seneschal having already conveyed thence all
+their chattels, they, following the lead of their discreet king, hied
+them back to Florence; and in Santa Maria Novella, whence they had set
+forth, the three young men took leave of the seven ladies, and departed
+to find other diversions elsewhere, while the ladies in due time repaired
+to their homes.
+
+
+THE AUTHOR'S EPILOGUE.
+
+Most noble damsels, for whose solace I addressed me to this long and
+toilsome task, meseems that, aided by the Divine grace, the bestowal
+whereof I impute to the efficacy of your pious prayers, and in no wise to
+merits of mine, I have now brought this work to the full and perfect
+consummation which in the outset thereof I promised you. Wherefore, it
+but remains for me to render, first to God, and then to you, my thanks,
+and so to give a rest to my pen and weary hand. But this I purpose not to
+allow them, until, briefly, as to questions tacitly mooted--for well
+assured I am that these stories have no especial privilege above any
+others, nay, I forget not that at the beginning of the Fourth Day I have
+made the same plain--I shall have answered certain trifling objections
+that one of you, maybe, or some other, might advance. Peradventure, then,
+some of you will be found to say that I have used excessive license in
+the writing of these stories, in that I have caused ladies at times to
+tell, and oftentimes to list, matters that, whether to tell or to list,
+do not well beseem virtuous women. The which I deny, for that there is
+none of these stories so unseemly, but that it may without offence be
+told by any one, if but seemly words be used; which rule, methinks, has
+here been very well observed. But assume we that 'tis even so (for with
+you I am not minded to engage in argument, witting that you would
+vanquish me), then, I say that for answer why I have so done, reasons
+many come very readily to hand. In the first place, if aught of the kind
+in any of these stories there be, 'twas but such as was demanded by the
+character of the stories, which let but any person of sound judgment scan
+with the eye of reason, and 'twill be abundantly manifest that, unless I
+had been minded to deform them, they could not have been otherwise
+recounted. And if, perchance, they do, after all, contain here and there
+a trifling indiscretion of speech, such as might ill sort with one of
+your precious prudes, who weigh words rather than deeds, and are more
+concerned to appear, than to be, good, I say that so to write was as
+permissible to me, as 'tis to men and women at large in their converse to
+make use of such terms as hole, and pin, and mortar, and pestle, and
+sausage, and polony, and plenty more besides of a like sort. And
+therewithal privilege no less should be allowed to my pen than to the
+pencil of the painter, who without incurring any, or at least any just,
+censure, not only will depict St. Michael smiting the serpent, or St.
+George the dragon, with sword or lance at his discretion; but male he
+paints us Christ, and female Eve, and His feet that for the salvation of
+our race willed to die upon the cross he fastens thereto, now with one,
+now with two nails.
+
+Moreover, 'tis patent to all that 'twas not in the Church, of matters
+whereto pertaining 'tis meet we speak with all purity of heart and
+seemliness of phrase, albeit among her histories there are to be found
+not a few that will ill compare with my writings; nor yet in the schools
+of the philosophers, where, as much as anywhere, seemliness is demanded,
+nor in any place where clergy or philosophers congregate, but in gardens,
+in pleasaunces, and among folk, young indeed, but not so young as to be
+seducible by stories, and at a time when, if so one might save one's
+life, the most sedate might without disgrace walk abroad with his
+breeches for headgear, that these stories were told. Which stories, such
+as they are, may, like all things else, be baneful or profitable
+according to the quality of the hearer. Who knows not that wine is, as
+Cinciglione and Scolaio(1) and many another aver, an excellent thing for
+the living creature, and yet noxious to the fevered patient? Are we, for
+the mischief it does to the fever-stricken, to say that 'tis a bad thing?
+Who knows not that fire is most serviceable, nay, necessary, to mortals?
+Are we to say that, because it burns houses and villages and cities, it
+is a bad thing? Arms, in like manner, are the safeguard of those that
+desire to live in peace, and also by them are men not seldom maliciously
+slain, albeit the malice is not in them, but in those that use them for a
+malicious purpose. Corrupt mind did never yet understand any word in a
+wholesome sense; and as such a mind has no profit of seemly words, so
+such as are scarce seemly may as little avail to contaminate a healthy
+mind as mud the radiance of the sun, or the deformities of earth the
+splendours of the heavens. What books, what words, what letters, are more
+sacred, more excellent, more venerable, than those of Holy Writ? And yet
+there have been not a few that, perversely construing them, have brought
+themselves and others to perdition. Everything is in itself good for
+somewhat, and being put to a bad purpose, may work manifold mischief. And
+so, I say, it is with my stories. If any man shall be minded to draw from
+them matters of evil tendency or consequence, they will not gainsay him,
+if, perchance, such matters there be in them, nor will such matters fail
+to be found in them, if they be wrested and distorted. Nor, if any shall
+seek profit and reward in them, will they deny him the same; and censured
+or accounted as less than profitable and seemly they can never be, if the
+times or the persons when and by whom they are read be such as when they
+were recounted. If any lady must needs say paternosters or make cakes or
+tarts for her holy father, let her leave them alone; there is none after
+whom they will run a begging to be read: howbeit, there are little
+matters that even the beguines tell, ay, and do, now and again.
+
+In like manner there will be some who will say that there are stories
+here which 'twere better far had been omitted. Granted; but 'twas neither
+in my power, nor did it behove me, to write any but such stories as were
+narrated; wherefore, 'twas for those by whom they were told to have a
+care that they were proper; in which case they would have been no less so
+as I wrote them. But, assuming that I not only wrote but invented the
+stories, as I did not, I say that I should take no shame to myself that
+they were not all proper; seeing that artist there is none to be found,
+save God, that does all things well and perfectly. And Charlemagne,
+albeit he created the Paladins, wist not how to make them in such numbers
+as to form an army of them alone. It must needs be that in the multitude
+of things there be found diversities of quality. No field was ever so
+well tilled but that here and there nettle, or thistle, or brier would be
+found in it amid the goodlier growths. Whereto I may add that, having to
+address me to young and unlearned ladies, as you for the most part are, I
+should have done foolishly, had I gone about searching and swinking to
+find matters very exquisite, and been sedulous to speak with great
+precision. However, whoso goes a reading among these stories, let him
+pass over those that vex him, and read those that please him. That none
+may be misled, each bears on its brow the epitome of that which it hides
+within its bosom.
+
+Again, I doubt not there will be such as will say that some of the
+stories are too long. To whom, once more, I answer, that whoso has aught
+else to do would be foolish to read them, albeit they were short. And
+though, now that I approach the end of my labours, 'tis long since I
+began to write, I am not, therefore, oblivious that 'twas to none but
+leisured ladies that I made proffer of my pains; nor can aught be long to
+him that reads but to pass the time, so only he thereby accomplish his
+purpose. Succinctness were rather to be desired by students, who are at
+pains not merely to pass, but usefully to employ, their time, than by
+you, who have as much time at your disposal as you spend not in amorous
+delights. Besides which, as none of you goes either to Athens, or to
+Bologna, or to Paris to study, 'tis meet that what is meant for you
+should be more diffuse than what is to be read by those whose minds have
+been refined by scholarly pursuits.
+
+Nor make I any doubt but there are yet others who will say that the said
+stories are too full of jests and merry conceits, and that it ill beseems
+a man of weight and gravity to have written on such wise. To these I am
+bound to render, and do render, my thanks, for that, prompted by
+well-meant zeal, they have so tender a regard to my reputation. But to
+that, which they urge against me, I reply after this sort:--That I am of
+weight I acknowledge, having been often weighed in my time; wherefore, in
+answer to the fair that have not weighed me, I affirm that I am not of
+gravity; on the contrary I am so light that I float on the surface of the
+water; and considering that the sermons which the friars make, when they
+would chide folk for their sins, are to-day, for the most part, full of
+jests and merry conceits, and drolleries, I deemed that the like stuff
+would not ill beseem my stories, written, as they were, to banish women's
+dumps. However, if thereby they should laugh too much, they may be
+readily cured thereof by the Lament of Jeremiah, the Passion of the
+Saviour, or the Complaint of the Magdalen.
+
+And who shall question but that yet others there are who will say that I
+have an evil tongue and venomous, because here and there I tell the truth
+about the friars? Now for them that so say there is forgiveness, for that
+'tis not to be believed but that they have just cause; seeing that the
+friars are good folk, and eschew hardship for the love of God, and grind
+intermittently, and never blab; and, were they not all a trifle
+malodorous, intercourse with them would be much more agreeable.
+Nevertheless, I acknowledge that the things of this world have no
+stability, but are ever undergoing change; and this may have befallen my
+tongue, albeit, no great while ago, one of my fair neighbours--for in
+what pertains to myself I trust not my own judgment, but forgo it to the
+best of my power--told me 'twas the goodliest and sweetest tongue in the
+world; and in sooth, when this occurred, few of the said stories were yet
+to write; nor, for that those who so tax me do it despitefully, am I
+minded to vouchsafe them any further answer.
+
+So, then, be every lady at liberty to say and believe whatever she may
+think fit: but 'tis now time for me to bring these remarks to a close,
+with humble thanks to Him, by whose help and guidance I, after so long
+travail, have been brought to the desired goal. And may you, sweet my
+ladies, rest ever in His grace and peace; and be not unmindful of me, if,
+peradventure, any of you may, in any measure, have been profited by
+reading these stories.
+
+(1) Noted topers of the day.
+
+
+--
+Endeth here the tenth and last day of the book called Decameron,
+otherwise Prince Galeotto.
+--
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Decameron, Vol. II., by Giovanni Boccaccio
+
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