The Decameron, Volume II

by Giovanni Boccaccio

protect her."Whereupon:--"Nastagio," replied the knight, "of the same city as thou wasI, and thou wast yet a little lad when I, Messer Guido degli Anastagi byname, being far more enamoured of this damsel than thou art now of her ofthe Traversari, was by her haughtiness and cruelty brought to so woeful apass that one day in a fit of despair I slew myself with this rapierwhich thou seest in my hand; for which cause I am condemned to theeternal pains. Nor was it long after my death that she, who exultedtherein over measure, also died, and for that she repented her not of hercruelty and the joy she had of my sufferings, for which she took notblame 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 'twasordained, 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, andso, as often as I come up with her, I slay her with this same rapier withwhich I slew myself, and having ripped her up by the back, I take outthat hard and cold heart, to which neither love nor pity had ever access,and therewith her other inward parts, as thou shalt forthwith see, andcast them to these dogs to eat. And in no long time, as the just andmighty God decrees, she rises even as if she had not died, andrecommences her dolorous flight, I and the dogs pursuing her. And it sofalls out that every Friday about this hour I here come up with her, andslaughter 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 sheused, or devised how she might use, me cruelly; on which wise, changed asthou seest from her lover into her foe, I am to pursue her for years asmany as the months during which she shewed herself harsh to me. Whereforeleave me to execute the decree of the Divine justice, and presume not tooppose that which thou mayst not avail to withstand."

  Affrighted by the knight's words, insomuch that there was scarce a hairon his head but stood on end, Nastagio shrank back, still gazing on thehapless 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 theknight, thrusting with all his force, struck her between the breasts, andran her clean through the body. Thus stricken, the damsel fell forthwithprone on the ground sobbing and shrieking: whereupon the knight drewforth a knife, and having therewith opened her in the back, took out theheart and all the circumjacent parts, and threw them to the two mastiffs,who, being famished, forthwith devoured them. And in no long time thedamsel, as if nought thereof had happened, started to her feet, and tookto flight towards the sea, pursued, and ever and anon bitten, by thedogs, while the knight, having gotten him to horse again, followed themas before, rapier in hand; and so fast sped they that they were quicklylost to Nastagio's sight.

  Long time he stood musing on what he had seen, divided between pity andterror, and then it occurred to him that, as this passed every Friday, itmight avail him not a little. So, having marked the place, he rejoinedhis servants, and in due time thereafter sent for some of his kinsfolkand friends, and said to them:--"'Tis now a long while that you urge meto give up loving this lady that is no friend to me, and therewith makean 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 PaoloTraversaro, and his wife and daughter, and all the ladies, theirkinswomen, and as many other ladies as you may be pleased to bid, comehither to breakfast with me: when you will see for yourselves the reasonwhy I so desire." A small matter this seemed to them; and so, on theirreturn to Ravenna, they lost no time in conveying Nastagio's message tohis intended guests: and, albeit she was hardly persuaded, yet in the endthe damsel that Nastagio loved came with the rest.

  Nastagio caused a lordly breakfast to be prepared, and had the tables setunder the pines about the place where he had witnessed the slaughter ofthe cruel lady; and in ranging the ladies and gentlemen at table he soordered it, that the damsel whom he loved was placed opposite the spotwhere it should be enacted. The last course was just served, when thedespairing cries of the hunted damsel became audible to all, to their nosmall amazement; and each asking, and none knowing, what it might import,up they all started intent to see what was toward; and perceived thesuffering damsel, and the knight and the dogs, who in a trice were intheir midst. They hollaed amain to dogs and knight, and not a fewadvanced to succour the damsel: but the words of the knight, which weresuch as he had used to Nastagio, caused them to fall back,terror-stricken and lost in amazement. And when the knight proceeded todo as he had done before, all the ladies that were there, many of whomwere of kin to the suffering damsel and to the knight, and called to mindhis love and death, wept as bitterly as if 'twere their own case.

  When 'twas all over, and the lady and the knight had disappeared, thestrange scene set those that witnessed it pondering many and diversmatters: but among them all none was so appalled as the cruel damsel thatNastagio loved, who, having clearly seen and heard all that had passed,and being ware that it touched her more nearly than any other by reasonof the harshness that she had ever shewn to Nastagio, seemed already tobe fleeing from her angered lover, and to have the mastiffs on herflanks. And so great was her terror that, lest a like fate should befallher, she converted her aversion into affection, and as soon as occasionserved, which was that very night, sent a trusty chambermaid privily toNastagio with a request that he would be pleased to come to her, for thatshe was ready in all respects to pleasure him to the full. Nastagio madeanswer that he was greatly flattered, but that he was minded with herconsent to have his pleasure of her in an honourable way, to wit, bymarrying her. The damsel, who knew that none but herself was to blamethat she was not already Nastagio's wife, made answer that she consented.Wherefore by her own mouth she acquainted her father and mother that sheagreed to marry Nastagio; and, they heartily approving her choice,Nastagio wedded her on the ensuing Sunday, and lived happily with hermany a year. Nor was it in her instance alone that this terror wasproductive of good: on the contrary, it so wrought among the ladies ofRavenna that they all became, and have ever since been, much morecompliant 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 hissubstance 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 himrich.--

  So ended Filomena; and the queen, being ware that besides herself onlyDioneo (by virtue of his privilege) was left to speak, said with gladsomemien:--'Tis now for me to take up my parable; which, dearest ladies, Iwill do with a story like in some degree to the foregoing, and that, notonly that you may know how potent are your charms to sway the gentleheart, but that you may also learn how upon fitting occasions to makebestowal of your guerdons of your own accord, instead of always waitingfor the guidance of Fortune, which most times, not wisely, but withoutrule or measure, scatters her gifts.

  You are then to know, that Coppo di Borghese Domenichi, a man that in ourday was, and perchance still is, had in respect and great reverence inour city, being not only by reason of his noble lineage, but, and yetmore, for manners and merit most illustrious and worthy of eternalrenown, was in his old age not seldom wont to amuse himself bydiscoursing of things past with his neighbours and other folk; wherein hehad not his match for accuracy and compass of memory and concinnity ofspeech. Among other good stories, he would tell, how that there was ofyore in Florence a gallant named Federigo di Messer Filippo Alberighi,who for feats of arms and courtesy had not his peer in Tuscany; who, asis the common lot of gentlemen, became enamoured of a lady named MonnaGiovanna, who in her day held rank among the fairest and most elegantladies of Florence; to gain whose love he jousted, tilted, gaveentertainments, scattered largess, and in short set no bounds to hisexpenditure. However the lady, no less virtuous than fair, cared not ajot for what he did for her sake,
nor yet for him.

  Spending thus greatly beyond his means, and making nothing, Federigocould hardly fail to come to lack, and was at length reduced to suchpoverty that he had nothing left but a little estate, on the rents ofwhich 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 forhim to live in the city as he desired, he repaired, more in love thanever before; and there, in complete seclusion, diverting himself withhawking, he bore his poverty as patiently as he might.

  Now, Federigo being thus reduced to extreme poverty, it so happened thatone 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 hisestate to his son, who was now growing up, and in the event of his deathwithout lawful heir named Monna Giovanna, whom he dearly loved, heir inhis stead; and having