The Decameron, Volume II
Page 11
blithely thus began:--
Fairest ladies, what time good King Guglielmo ruled Sicily there dwelt onthe island a gentleman, Messer Amerigo Abate da Trapani by name, who waswell provided, as with other temporal goods, so also with children. Forwhich cause being in need of servants, he took occasion of the appearancein Trapani waters of certain Genoese corsairs from the Levant, who,scouring the coast of Armenia, had captured not a few boys, to purchaseof them some of these youngsters, supposing them to be Turks; among whom,albeit most shewed as mere shepherd boys, there was one, Teodoro, byname, whose less rustic mien seemed to betoken gentle blood. Who, thoughstill treated as a slave, was suffered to grow up in the house withMesser Amerigo's children, and, nature getting the better ofcircumstance, bore himself with such grace and dignity that MesserAmerigo 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 placedmuch trust in him. Now among the other children that grew up in MesserAmerigo's house was his fair and dainty daughter, Violante; and, as herfather was in no hurry to give her in marriage, it so befell that shebecame enamoured of Pietro, but, for all her love and the great conceitshe had of his qualities and conduct, she nevertheless was too shamefastto discover her passion to him. However, Love spared her the pains, forPietro had cast many a furtive glance in her direction, and had grown soenamoured of her that 'twas never well with him except he saw her; butgreat 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 thesight of him, understood his case; and to encourage him dissembled nother exceeding great satisfaction. On which footing they remained a greatwhile, neither venturing to say aught to the other, much as both longedto do so. But, while they both burned with a mutual flame, Fortune, as iftheir entanglement were of her preordaining, found means to banish thefear and hesitation that kept them tongue-tied.
Messer Amerigo possessed, a mile or so from Trapani, a goodly estate, towhich he was wont not seldom to resort with his daughter and other ladiesby way of recreation; and on one of these days, while there they tarriedwith Pietro, whom they had brought with them, suddenly, as will sometimeshappen in summer, the sky became overcast with black clouds, insomuchthat the lady and her companions, lest the storm should surprise themthere, set out on their return to Trapani, making all the haste theymight. But Pietro and the girl being young, and sped perchance by Love noless than by fear of the storm, completely outstripped her mother and theother ladies; and when they were gotten so far ahead as to be well-nighout of sight of the lady and all the rest, the thunder burst upon thempeal 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. Pietroand the damsel, finding no more convenient refuge, betook them to an old,and all but ruinous, and now deserted, cottage, which, however, still hada bit of roof left, whereunder they both took their stand in such closequarters, owing to the exiguity of the shelter, that they perforcetouched one another. Which contact was the occasion that they gatheredsomewhat more courage to disclose their love; and so it was that Pietrobegan 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," returnedthe 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 thehail continued. And not to dwell on every detail, the sky was not clearbefore they had known the last degree of love's felicity, and had takenthought how they might secretly enjoy one another in the future. Thecottage being close to the city gate, they hied them thither, as soon asthe storm was overpast, and having there awaited the lady, returned homewith her. Nor, using all discretion, did they fail thereafter to meetfrom time to time in secret, to their no small solace; and the affairwent so far that the damsel conceived, whereby they were both not alittle disconcerted; insomuch that the damsel employed many artifices toarrest the course of nature, but to no effect. Wherefore Pietro, being infear of his life, saw nothing for it but flight, and told her so.Whereupon:--"If thou leave me," quoth she, "I shall certainly killmyself." Much as he loved her, Pietro answered:--"Nay but, my lady,wherefore wouldst thou have me tarry here? Thy pregnancy will discoverour offence: thou wilt be readily forgiven; but 'twill be my woeful lotto 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 confessnot, none will ever wot of thine." Then quoth he:--"Since thou givest methis promise, I will stay; but mind thou keep it."
The damsel, who had done her best to keep her condition secret, saw atlength by the increase of her bulk that 'twas impossible: wherefore oneday most piteously bewailing herself, she made her avowal to her mother,and besought her to shield her from the consequences. Distressed beyondmeasure, the lady chid her severely, and then asked her how it had cometo pass. The damsel, to screen Pietro, invented a story by which she putanother complexion on the affair. The lady believed her, and, that herfall 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 sucha case, crying out for pain, it so befell that Messer Amerigo, whom thelady expected not, as indeed he was scarce ever wont, to come there, didso, having been out a hawking, and passing by the chamber where thedamsel lay, marvelled to hear her cries, and forthwith entered, and askedwhat it meant. On sight of whom the lady rose and sorrowfully gave himher daughter's version of what had befallen her. But he, less credulousthan his wife, averred that it could not be true that she knew not bywhom she was pregnant, and was minded to know the whole truth: let thedamsel confess and she might regain his favour; otherwise she must expectno mercy and prepare for death.
The lady did all she could to induce her husband to rest satisfied withwhat 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 infantis, or forthwith thou diest." Overcome by fear of death, the damsel brokeher promise to Pietro, and made a clean breast of all that had passedbetween him and her. Whereat the knight, grown fell with rage, couldscarce refrain from slaying her. However, having given vent to his wrathin such words as it dictated, he remounted his horse and rode to Trapani,and there before one Messer Currado, the King's lieutenant, laidinformation of the wrong done him by Pietro, in consequence whereofPietro, who suspected nothing, was forthwith taken, and being put to thetorture, confessed all. Some days later the lieutenant sentenced him tobe scourged through the city, and then hanged by the neck; and MesserAmerigo, being minded that one and the same hour should rid the earth ofthe two lovers and their son (for to have compassed Pietro's death wasnot 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 theewith this gear to Violante, and tell her from me to make instant choiceof one of these two deaths, either the poison or the steel; else, I willhave her burned, as she deserves, in view of all the citizens; whichdone, thou wilt take the boy that she bore a few days ago, and beat hisbrains 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 bothhis daughter and his grandson, the servant, prompt to do evil rather thangood, hied him thence.
Now, as Pietro in execution of his sentence was being scourged to thegallows by the serjeants, 'twas so ordered by the leaders of the bandthat he passed by an inn, where were three noblemen of Armenia, sent bythe king of that country as ambassadors to Rome, to treat with the Popeof matters of the highest importance, touching a crusade that was to be;who, having there alighted to rest and recreate them for some days, hadreceived not a few tokens of honour from the nobles of Trapani, and mostof all from Messer Amerigo. Hearing the tramp of Pietro's escort, theycame 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 wasstripped 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, butwrought in the skin by operation of Nature, being such as the ladies herecall a rose. Which he no sooner saw, than he was reminded of a son thathad been stolen from him by corsairs on the coast of Lazistan somefifteen 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 setit down as about what his son's would be, were he living, and, what withthe mark and the age, he began to suspect that 'twas even his son, andbethought him that, if so, he would scarce as yet have forgotten his nameor the speech of Armenia. Wherefore, as he was within earshot he calledto him:--"Teodoro!" At the word Pietro raised his head: whereupon Fineo,speaking in Armenian, asked