THE FOURTH STORY
[Day the Fifth]
RICCIARDO MANARDI, BEING FOUND BY MESSER LIZIO DA VALBONA WITH HIS DAUGHTER, ESPOUSETH HER AND ABIDETH IN PEACE WITH HER FATHER
Elisa holding her peace and hearkening to the praises bestowed by theladies her companions upon her story, the Queen charged Filostratotell one of his own, whereupon he began, laughing, "I have been sooften rated by so many of you ladies for having imposed on you matterfor woeful discourse and such as tended to make you weep, thatmethinketh I am beholden, an I would in some measure requite you thatannoy, to relate somewhat whereby I may make you laugh a little; and Imean therefore to tell you, in a very short story, of a love that,after no worse hindrance than sundry sighs and a brief fright, mingledwith shame, came to a happy issue.
It is, then, noble ladies, no great while ago since there lived inRomagna a gentleman of great worth and good breeding, called MesserLizio da Valbona, to whom, well nigh in his old age, it chanced therewas born of his wife, Madam Giacomina by name, a daughter, who grew upfair and agreeable beyond any other of the country; and for that shewas the only child that remained to her father and mother, they lovedand tendered her exceeding dear and guarded her with marvellousdiligence, looking to make some great alliance by her. Now there wasa young man of the Manardi of Brettinoro, comely and lusty of hisperson, by name Ricciardo, who much frequented Messer Lizio's houseand conversed amain with him and of whom the latter and his lady tookno more account than they would have taken of a son of theirs. Now,this Ricciardo, looking once and again upon the young lady and seeingher very fair and sprightly and commendable of manners and fashions,fell desperately in love with her, but was very careful to keep hislove secret. The damsel presently became aware thereof and withoutanywise seeking to shun the stroke, began on like wise to love him;whereat Ricciardo was mightily rejoiced. He had many a time a mind tospeak to her, but kept silence of misdoubtance; however, one day,taking courage and opportunity, he said to her, 'I prithee, Caterina,cause me not die of love.' To which she straightway made answer,'Would God thou wouldst not cause _me_ die!'
This answer added much courage and pleasure to Ricciardo and he saidto her, 'Never shall aught that may be agreeable to thee miscarry[276]for me; but it resteth with thee to find a means of saving thy lifeand mine.' 'Ricciardo,' answered she, 'thou seest how straitly I amguarded; wherefore, for my part, I cannot see how thou mayst avail tocome at me; but, if thou canst see aught that I may do without shameto myself, tell it me and I will do it.' Ricciardo, having bethoughthimself of sundry things, answered promptly, 'My sweet Caterina, I cansee no way, except that thou lie or make shift to come upon thegallery that adjoineth thy father's garden, where an I knew that thouwouldst be anights, I would without fail contrive to come to thee, howhigh soever it may be.' 'If thou have the heart to come thither,'rejoined Caterina, 'methinketh I can well enough win to be there.'Ricciardo assented and they kissed each other once only in haste andwent their ways.
[Footnote 276: Lit. stand (_stare_), _i.e._ abide undone.]
Next day, it being then near the end of May, the girl began tocomplain before her mother that she had not been able to sleep thatnight for the excessive heat. Quoth the lady, 'Of what heat dost thouspeak, daughter? Nay, it was nowise hot.' 'Mother mine,' answeredCaterina, 'you should say "To my seeming," and belike you would saysooth; but you should consider how much hotter are young girls thanladies in years.' 'Daughter mine,' rejoined the lady, 'that is true;but I cannot make it cold and hot at my pleasure, as belike thouwouldst have me do. We must put up with the weather, such as theseasons make it; maybe this next night will be cooler and thou wiltsleep better.' 'God grant it may be so!' cried Caterina. 'But it isnot usual for the nights to go cooling, as it groweth towards summer.''Then what wouldst thou have done?' asked the mother; and sheanswered, 'An it please my father and you, I would fain have a littlebed made in the gallery, that is beside his chamber and over hisgarden, and there sleep. There I should hear the nightingale sing andhaving a cooler place to lie in, I should fare much better than inyour chamber.' Quoth the mother, 'Daughter, comfort thyself; I willtell thy father, and as he will, so will we do.'
Messer Lizio hearing all this from his wife, said, for that he was anold man and maybe therefore somewhat cross-grained, 'What nightingaleis this to whose song she would sleep? I will yet make her sleep tothe chirp of the crickets.' Caterina, coming to know this, more ofdespite than for the heat, not only slept not that night, but sufferednot her mother to sleep, still complaining of the great heat.Accordingly, next morning, the latter repaired to her husband and saidto him, 'Sir, you have little tenderness for yonder girl; whatmattereth it to you if she lie in the gallery? She could get no restall night for the heat. Besides, can you wonder at her having a mindto hear the nightingale sing, seeing she is but a child? Young folkare curious of things like themselves. Messer Lizio, hearing this,said, 'Go to, make her a bed there, such as you think fit, and bind itabout with some curtain or other, and there let her lie and hear thenightingale sing to her heart's content.'
The girl, learning this, straightway let make a bed in the gallery andmeaning to lie there that same night, watched till she saw Ricciardoand made him a signal appointed between them, by which he understoodwhat was to be done. Messer Lizio, hearing the girl gone to bed,locked a door that led from his chamber into the gallery and betookhimself likewise to sleep. As for Ricciardo, as soon as he heard allquiet on every hand, he mounted a wall, with the aid of a ladder, andthence, laying hold of certain toothings of another wall, he made hisway, with great toil and danger, if he had fallen, up to the gallery,where he was quietly received by the girl with the utmost joy. Then,after many kisses, they went to bed together and took delight andpleasure one of another well nigh all that night, making thenightingale sing many a time. The nights being short and the delightgreat and it being now, though they thought it not, near day, theyfell asleep without any covering, so overheated were they what withthe weather and what with their sport, Caterina having her right armentwined about Ricciardo's neck and holding him with the left hand bythat thing which you ladies think most shame to name among men.
As they slept on this wise, without awaking, the day came on andMesser Lizio arose and remembering him that his daughter lay in thegallery, opened the door softly, saying in himself, 'Let us see howthe nightingale hath made Caterina sleep this night.' Then, going in,he softly lifted up the serge, wherewith the bed was curtained about,and saw his daughter and Ricciardo lying asleep, naked and uncovered,embraced as it hath before been set out; whereupon, having recognizedRicciardo, he went out again and repairing to his wife's chamber,called to her, saying, 'Quick, wife, get thee up and come see, forthat thy daughter hath been so curious of the nightingale that shehath e'en taken it and hath it in hand.' 'How can that be?' quoth she;and he answered, 'Thou shalt see it, an thou come quickly.'Accordingly, she made haste to dress herself and quietly followed herhusband to the bed, where, the curtain being drawn, Madam Giacominamight plainly see how her daughter had taken and held thenightingale, which she had so longed to hear sing; whereat the lady,holding herself sore deceived of Ricciardo, would have cried out andrailed at him; but Messer Lizio said to her, 'Wife, as thou holdest mylove dear, look thou say not a word, for, verily, since she hathgotten it, it shall be hers. Ricciardo is young and rich and gentlyborn; he cannot make us other than a good son-in-law. An he would partfrom me on good terms, needs must he first marry her, so it will befound that he hath put the nightingale in his own cage and not in thatof another.'
The lady was comforted to see that her husband was not angered at thematter and considering that her daughter had passed a good night andrested well and had caught the nightingale, to boot, she held hertongue. Nor had they abidden long after these words when Ricciardoawoke and seeing that it was broad day, gave himself over for lost andcalled Caterina, saying, 'Alack, my soul, how shall we do, for the dayis come and hath caught me here?' Whereupon Messer Lizio came forwardand lifting the
curtain, answered, 'We shall do well.' When Ricciardosaw him, himseemed the heart was torn out of his body and sitting upin bed, he said, 'My lord, I crave your pardon for God's sake. Iacknowledged to have deserved death, as a disloyal and wicked man;wherefore do you with me as best pleaseth you; but, I prithee, an itmay be, have mercy on my life and let me not die.' 'Ricciardo,'answered Messer Lizio, 'the love that I bore thee and the faith I hadin thee merited not this return; yet, since thus it is and youth hathcarried thee away into such a fault, do thou, to save thyself fromdeath and me from shame, take Caterina to thy lawful wife, so that,like as this night she hath been thine, she may e'en be thine so longas she shall live. On this wise thou mayst gain my pardon and thineown safety; but, an thou choose not to do this, commend thy soul toGod.'
Whilst these words were saying, Caterina let go the nightingale andcovering herself, fell to weeping sore and beseeching her father topardon Ricciardo, whilst on the other hand she entreated her lover todo as Messer Lizio wished, so they might long pass such nightstogether in security. But there needed not overmany prayers, for that,on the one hand, shame of the fault committed and desire to makeamends for it, and on the other, the fear of death and the wish toescape,--to say nothing of his ardent love and longing to possess thething beloved,--made Ricciardo freely and without hesitation avouchhimself ready to do that which pleased Messer Lizio; whereupon thelatter borrowed of Madam Giacomina one of her rings and there, withoutbudging, Ricciardo in their presence took Caterina to his wife. Thisdone, Messer Lizio and his lady departed, saying, 'Now restyourselves, for belike you have more need thereof than of rising.'They being gone, the young folk clipped each other anew and not havingrun more than half a dozen courses overnight, they ran other twain erethey arose and so made an end of the first day's tilting. Then theyarose and Ricciardo having had more orderly conference with MesserLizio, a few days after, as it beseemed, he married the damsel overagain, in the presence of their friends and kinsfolk, and brought herwith great pomp to his own house. There he held goodly and honourablenuptials and after went long nightingale-fowling with her to hisheart's content, in peace and solace, both by night and by day."
The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio Page 51
