The Decameron, Volume II
Page 24
merrilytold him what they had done, and returned him his feather; which nextyear 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 thetradition of the commentators that the friar's itinerary is whollyFlorentine is not to be lightly set aside.
(10) Il Garbo, a quarter or street in Florence, doubtless so calledbecause 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., edTorriano, 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 senzaconio. Parad. xxix. 126.
(18) A reference to sausage-making.
(19) I.e. cakes fashioned in a hollow ring, and wines in leathernbottles.
(20) Grubs.
(21) In allusion to the shapeless fish, so called, which was proverbiallytaken 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 schooldivinity is meant.
Immense was the delight and diversion which this story afforded to allthe company alike, and great and general was the laughter over FraCipolla, and more especially at his pilgrimage, and the relics, as wellthose 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 hersovereignty was come, stood up, took off the crown, and set it onDioneo's head, saying with a laugh:--"'Tis time, Dioneo, that thou provethe weight of the burden of having ladies to govern and guide. Be thouking then; and let thy rule be such that, when 'tis ended, we may havecause to commend it." Dioneo took the crown, and laughinglyanswered:--"Kings worthier far than I you may well have seen many a timeere now--I speak of the kings in chess; but let me have of you thatobedience which is due to a true king, and of a surety I will give you totaste of that solace, without which perfection of joy there may not be inany festivity. But enough of this: I will govern as best I may." Then, aswas the wont, he sent for the seneschal, and gave him particularinstruction how to order matters during the term of his sovereignty;which done, he said:--"Noble ladies, such and so diverse has been ourdiscourse of the ways of men and their various fortunes, that but for thevisit that we had a while ago from Madam Licisca, who by what she saidhas furnished me with matter of discourse for to-morrow, I doubt I hadbeen not a little put to it to find a theme. You heard how she said thatthere was not a woman in her neighbourhood whose husband had hervirginity; adding that well she knew how many and what manner of tricksthey, after marriage, played their husbands. The first count we may wellleave to the girls whom it concerns; the second, methinks, should prove adiverting topic: wherefore I ordain that, taking our cue from MadamLicisca, we discourse to-morrow of the tricks that, either for love orfor their deliverance from peril, ladies have heretofore played theirhusbands, and whether they were by the said husbands detected or no." Todiscourse of such a topic some of the ladies deemed unmeet for them, andbesought the king to find another theme. But the king madeanswer:--"Ladies, what manner of theme I have prescribed I know as wellas you, nor was I to be diverted from prescribing it by that which younow think to declare unto me, for I wot the times are such that, so onlymen and women have a care to do nought that is unseemly, 'tis allowableto 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 thejudgment-seat, the laws are silent, and ample licence to preserve hislife as best he may is accorded to each and all. Wherefore, if you aresomewhat less strict of speech than is your wont, not that aught unseemlyin act may follow, but that you may afford solace to yourselves andothers, I see not how you can be open to reasonable censure on the partof any. Furthermore, nought that has been said from the first day to thepresent moment has, methinks, in any degree sullied the immaculate honourof 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 divertingdiscourse, but even the terror of death. And, to tell you the truth,whoso wist that you refused to discourse of these light matters for awhile, would be apt to suspect that 'twas but for that you had yourselveserred 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 andyour lawgiver, you were to refuse to discourse of the theme which Iprescribe. Away, then, with this scruple fitter for low minds than yours,and let each study how she may give us a goodly story, and Fortuneprosper her therein."
So spake the king, and the ladies, hearkening, said that, even as hewould, so it should be: whereupon he gave all leave to do as they mightbe severally minded until the supper-hour. The sun was still quite highin the heaven, for they had not enlarged in their discourse: wherefore,Dioneo with the other gallants being set to play at dice, Elisa calledthe 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, buttime 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 answeredthat they were ready, and so, saying nought to the young men, theysummoned one of their maids, and set forth; nor had they gone much morethan a mile, when they arrived at the Vale of Ladies. They entered it bya very strait gorge, through which there issued a rivulet, clear ascrystal, and a sight, than which nought more fair and pleasant,especially at that time when the heat was great, could be imagined, mettheir eyes. Within the valley, as one of them afterwards told me, was aplain about half-a-mile in circumference, and so exactly circular that itmight have been fashioned according to the compass, though it seemed awork of Nature's art, not man's: 'twas girdled about by six hills of nogreat height, each crowned with a palace that shewed as a goodly littlecastle. The slopes of the hills were graduated from summit to base afterthe manner of the successive tiers, ever abridging their circle, that wesee in our theatres; and as many as fronted the southern rays were allplanted so close with vines, olives, almond-trees, cherry-trees,fig-trees and other fruitbearing trees not a few, that there was not ahand's-breadth of vacant space. Those that fronted the north were in likemanner covered with copses of oak saplings, ashes and other trees, asgreen and straight as might be. Besides which, the plain, which was shutin on all sides save that on which the ladies had entered, was full offirs, cypresses, and bay-trees, with here and there a pine, in order andsymmetry so meet and excellent as had they been planted by an artist, thebest that might be found in that kind; wherethrough, even when the sunwas in the zenith, scarce a ray of light might reach the ground, whichwas all one lawn of the finest turf, pranked with the hyacinth and diversother flowers. Add to which--nor was there aught there moredelightsome--a rivulet that, issuing from one of the gorges between twoof the hills, descended over ledges of living rock, making, as it fell, amurmur most gratifying to the ear, and, seen from a distance, shewed as aspray of finest, powdered quick-silver, and no sooner reached the littleplain,
than 'twas gathered into a tiny channel, by which it sped withgreat velocity to the middle of the plain, where it formed a diminutivelake, 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 manmight stand therein with his breast above the water; and so clear, sopellucid 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 beseen, but such a multitude of fishes, glancing to and fro, as was at oncea delight and a marvel to behold. Bank it had none, but its margin wasthe lawn, to which it imparted a goodlier freshness. So much of the wateras it might not contain was received by another tiny channel, throughwhich, issuing from the vale, it glided swiftly to the plain below.
To which pleasaunce the damsels being come surveyed it with rovingglance,