The Decameron

The next storyteller is Elissa. In Lombardy, a nun named Isabetta conducts an affair with a younger man “for some considerable time” (971). When he visits her in the convent, he manages to hide his presence. One night, however, he is spotted. The rumor about his presence spreads through the convent and the other nuns decide that the abbess should catch Isabetta in a compromising position, rather than listen to the scandalous rumors. The nuns wait for the young man to return to Isabetta. When he returns, one group of nuns guards Isabetta’s room while another fetches the abbess. However, the abbess is in her own quarters with her own lover when the group arrives to fetch her. She dresses in the dark but, in doing so, accidently takes pants (a pair of “breeches” (972)) belonging to her male lover. She mistakenly wears the pants as her habit. The other nuns do not notice, as they are too keen to take the abbess to Isabetta. When the abbess sees Isabetta and the young man, she is angry. However, Isabetta subtly points out that the abbess is wearing a man’s pants on her head. The abbess, “recognizing that she was equally culpable” (973), realizes the hypocrisy of her comments. From this moment on, men are permitted to secretly enter the convent.

The next storyteller is Filostrato, who returns to the character of Calandrino. Bruno and Buffalmacco, together with their friend Nello, decide to prank Calandrino, who has recently inherited a large amount of money. After a long, absurd discussion, they convince Calandrino that he has become “pregnant” (978) and that, if he wishes to terminate the pregnancy, it will cost him “a pretty penny” (979). They explain that he will need to pay Master Simeone (the doctor from an earlier story) to make him a medicine, while providing large quantities of food for the men using his recent inheritance. When Calandrino accepts their story, Bruno, Buffalmacco, and Nello feast on the food while giving Calandrino “a harmless medicinal draught” (980) which they say will end his non-existent pregnancy.

The next storyteller is Neifile. Cecco Angiulieri and Cecco Fortarrigo are two young men in Siena who share a “hatred of their respective fathers” (981). One day, Angiulieri requests a large sum of money from his father so that he can visit a high-ranking priest. Despite Angiulieri’s reservations, Fortarrigo suggests that he pose as his friend’s servant on the trip. However, his love of drinking and gambling means that Fortarrigo quickly loses all of his money and his clothes, then loses “Angiulieri’s money as well” (983). Furious at what has happened, Angiulieri tries to leave the town. Fortarrigo follows him. As they walk along the road, they meet “a number of farmworkers in a field” (985). Fortarrigo convinces the farm workers that Angiulieri stole his money and clothes. The men attack Angiulieri and give all his possessions to Fortarrigo. As a result, Angiulieri—“barefoot and naked except for his shirt” (986)—is forced to limp away to a nearby town and ask his hated father for more help.

The next storyteller is Fiammetta, who returns to the character of Calandrino. When Calandrino falls in love with Niccolosa, Bruno notices his friend’s sudden devotion to the local woman and he makes a plan with his friends Nello and Buffalmacco. As Calandrino sends letters and love songs to Niccolosa (convinced by his friends that his “whole series of curious antics” (991) will help), Bruno promises Calandrino that he can get him a magical scroll which will compel Niccolosa to do whatever he wants, providing that she touches it. Bruno recruits Niccolosa into his trick and she touches the “parchment with a series of meaningless hieroglyphics” (994), then pretends to slip into a trance. Just as Calandrino is about to kiss her, however, Calandrino’s wife Tessa is lured to the house by Calandrino’s friends. She is furious and attacks her “filthy, despicable” (996) husband as the other characters laugh.

The next storyteller is Panfilo. A woman named Niccolosa is the daughter of a man whose work involves providing lodging to familiar people who are passing by his home. He only agrees to accept travelers he knows well into his house. Pinuccio is “a lively and handsome young Florentine gentleman” (998) who loves Niccolosa, who returns his affection. Pinuccio enlists his friend Adriano to help him consummate his desires. The two men pass by the house on their way to Florence and ask to stay the night. They are accepted in but the small house has very few places for people to sleep, while all the beds are in a single room. After a series of complicated events in the dark, Adriano finds himself in bed with Niccolosa’s mother. She thinks that she is in bed with her husband, so acquiesces to Adriano’s sexual advances. Meanwhile, Pinuccio has sex with Niccolosa, before a change in the complicated sleeping arrangements means that he is in bed beside Niccolosa’s father. Thinking that Niccolosa’s father is Adriano, Pinuccio confesses that he has had sex with Niccolosa. Realizing what has happened, Niccolosa’s mother jumps out of bed and convinces her husband that Pinuccio is lying. Niccolosa’s father is eventually convinced by the elaborate “pretense” (1003) and, by the morning, the two guests are able to leave without being attacked.

The next storyteller is Pampinea. A man named Talano is married to Margarita, who is famous for being “the most argumentative, disagreeable and self-willed creature on God’s earth” (1005). One night, Talano dreams that his wife has been attacked and killed by a wolf. He wakes up and warns his wife about his dream. She rudely dismisses her husband, accusing him of trying to escape to the woods to have an affair. A short time later, however, she is attacked by a wolf while trying to uncover her husband’s indiscretion. Margarita survives as she is saved by a group of shepherds, but the wounds from the wolf attack forever rob her of her beauty and she is “ashamed to show herself in public” (1007).

The next storyteller is Lauretta. Biondello and Ciacco are two young men who live well beyond their means. Ciacco is considered “the greatest glutton that ever lived” (1008) and the two men are rivals in their efforts to entertain more wealthy people for a living. The two men play pranks on one another so as to undermine their attempts to secure money and benefactors. Biondello tells Ciacco to go to incorrect locations while Ciacco manipulates a wine merchant into attacking Biondello. After much violence and confusion, the two men agree to settle their differences and make a truce.

The next storyteller is Emilia. Solomon is a wise king who people consult “on matters of great privacy and complexity” (1014). Joseph goes to Solomon for an answer to his question about his wife, while Melissus goes to Solomon to ask why he “cannot find a single man who wishes [him] well” (1015), even though he throws large parties. Solomon gives the men cryptic answers. He tells Joseph that he must visit Goosebridge and he tells Melissus that the answer to his question is “love” (1015). The men are confused by the answers and they feel as though they have been tricked. They leave Solomon and return home.

On their way home, they cross a bridge where a man with a cart is furious that his stubborn mule will not move. The man eventually explains to them that they are standing on Goosebridge. Joseph returns home to his ungrateful and unloving wife. Remembering Solomon’s advice and the angry man with the cart, he decides that he should mimic the man and beat his wife, as the man beat the mule as he has “never known how to beat [his] wife properly” (1017). To his surprise, his wife responds the next day by making him breakfast. Melissus reaches his home and explains everything that has happened to his friend. The friend explains that the extravagant parties thrown by Melissus are not done to sincerely entertain his friends, but to show off his wealth. If Melissus starts to throw parties out of his love for others, he explains, he will learn how “to be loved through loving others” (1019).

The final storyteller is Dioneo. Father Gianni di Barolo and Pietro da Tresanti live in different cities but their friendship means that they meet often while visiting each other during business trips. When Gianni visits Pietro, Pietro’s wife Gemmata offers to stay elsewhere so that her guest can share the bed with her husband and not have to “bed down on a heap of straw in the stable” (1021). Gianni tells her that he knows how to use magic to turn his horse into a woman. Gemmata is intrigued by the spell. She wants Pietro to learn the spell and turn her into a horse, which would allow them to carry heavy items back from the market. Gianni manipulates her desire to use the spell. He convinces her “to remove all her clothes and to stand on all fours like a mare” (1022), while telling Pietro not to interfere so that the spell will be successful. Gianni rubs his hands over Gemmata’s naked body and, just as he is about to have sex with her, Pietro intervenes. The so-called spell fails. Gemmata, rather than being angry with Gianni, scolds her husband for his intervention.