The Decameron

The next storyteller is Pampinea. King Agilulf is married to Theodolinda, the widow of a previous King. Theodolinda has a lower-class admirer who works in the stables. The groom receives small favors from Theodolinda but his attraction is unrequited. Eventually, consumed by desire, he tricks Theodolinda into having sex with him by “impersonating the King” (414). Though Theodolinda does not realize what has happened, Agilulf learns the truth. He inspects the sleeping servants and correctly identifies the groom as the man who slept with Theodolinda, as “his heart was still pounding” (416). To mark the man out among the servants, the King cuts the groom's hair. But the groom is only pretending to be asleep. He realizes what has happened and he cuts the other servants's hair “in precisely the same way as his own” (417) so that Agilulf will not know which servant to blame. Agilulf, concerned about his reputation and recognizing that the adulterous servant is an intelligent man, issues a vague proclamation and takes no further action.

The next storyteller is Filomena. A married woman uses a “rotund, uncouth” (420) friar to unwittingly arrange illicit meetings with a young man. When she wants to sleep with the young man without her husband's knowledge, she goes to the friar and accuses the young man of increasingly inappropriate behavior, so much so that she is able to subtly pass along a description of how to climb through her bedroom window. The friar castigates the young man, who understands the friar's criticism as a signal to visit the married woman. Eventually, the couple figures out a way to meet “on many later occasions” (430) without enraging the friar any further.

The next storyteller is Panfilo. Puccio is a pious man, so much so that he gives himself the title of friar. He is married to Monna Isabetta, a beautiful woman who cheats on her husband. Isabetta has an affair with a monk named Dom Felice; they work together to manipulate Puccio's piety, telling him to pray all night so that he may “achieve saintliness” (433) if he follows their instructions and leads a very devout life. As Puccio prays as instructed, Isabetta and Dom Felice conduct their affair “to their hearts’ content” (437). They struggle to hide their affair from the praying Puccio and eventually meet one another away from the house.

The next storyteller is Elissa. Francesco is an intelligent but mean-spirited gentleman who becomes the governor of Milan. He decides that he needs a worthy horse to attend the ceremony at which he will be given his title. He finds an excellent horse but it belongs to a man named Zima, who happens to be in love with Francesco's wife. Zima promises Francesco the horse on the condition that he is permitted to “address a few words” (439) to Francesco's wife. Francesco accepts the offer, telling his wife to listen but to not respond to Zima. When they meet, Zima confesses his love to her. She sticks to her husband's rules but Zima cleverly interprets her silence, speaks on her behalf, and invents a signal that they can use to arrange an affair. They agree to meet while Francesco is away without ever breaking Francesco's rules. Their affair continues for months while Francesco is in Milan and for a long time after.

The next storyteller is Fiammetta. A married man named Ricciardo falls in love with another woman. The object of his affection is Catella, who is married to a man named Filippello. Catella is a “paragon of virtue” (446) who loves her husband but cannot control her jealousy. Ricciardo manipulates Catella, convincing her that his own wife is having an affair with Filippello. He tells her that the adulterous couple plan to meet at a bathhouse. Ricciardo goes to the “exceedingly dark” (452) bathhouse and pretends to be Filippello so that he can have sex with Catella. When Catella discovers the truth, Ricciardo convinces her that they should continue their relationship because it is “impossible now to undo what has happened” (454).

The next storyteller is Emilia. Tedaldo degli Elisei loves a married woman named Ermellina. They have an affair for some time but she remains with her husband, Aldobrandino Palermini. When she refuses to see Tedaldo, however, he decides to leave Italy to seek his fortune in Cyprus. He makes a great deal of money and then returns to Florence after seven years away, still feeling “sharp pangs of love” (458). When he returns, he discovers that his brothers are mourning and Ermellina's house is sealed shut. He speaks to his brothers and realizes that they think that Ermellina's husband murdered him, as he is in jail after being accused of murdering Tedaldo.

While staying at an inn, Tedaldo overhears the real murderers confessing to the crime of murdering a man they believed to be Tedaldo. Determined to “save Aldobrandino” (460), Tedaldo adopts a disguise and visits Ermellina and learns that she ended their affair after being warned about adultery by a priest. Tedaldo explains to her that priests are wicked and corrupt. Without revealing his real identity, he makes Ermellina promise that she will restart her relationship with Tedaldo, who is “alive and well” (468). After he reveals his identity, she is shocked. She kisses him. Tedaldo then goes to free Aldobrandino from jail, but makes Aldobrandino promise not to hold any grudges against his brothers. The real murderers are arrested and, at a celebratory banquet, Tedaldo reveals his true identity to the world.

The next storyteller is Lauretta. An abbot falls in love with a woman who is married to “an exceedingly coarse and unimaginative fellow” (479) named Ferondo. Together with Ferondo's unsuspecting wife, the abbot makes a plan so that they can carry out an affair. The abbot decides to spike wine with “a wondrous powder” (483) and give it to Ferondo to convince the world that Ferondo is dead, including his wife. When Ferondo is placed inside a tomb, the abbot has him taken from the tomb into a small room in the abbey. When Ferondo wakes up, the abbot convinces Ferondo that he is now “in Purgatory” (485), the place between heaven and hell where souls are temporarily held until they are ready to enter heaven. The abbot tells Ferondo that he will be held until he learns not to be so jealous. During the following ten months, the abbot begins an affair with Ferondo's wife. He visits her so often that she becomes pregnant with his child. The abbot drugs Ferondo again and makes Ferondo believe that he has been “rescued from the torments of Purgatory and restored to life” (488). Ferondo reunites with his wife, believing that the baby is his. He learns to let go of his feelings of jealousy while the abbot is now considered a saint, as he seems to have revived Ferondo from death.

The next storyteller is Neifile. Gilette is the daughter of a doctor. She falls “head over heels in love” (491) with a nobleman named Bertrand and, when Bertrand goes to Paris, she follows him. Thanks to the knowledge she learned while watching her father, she helps the King of France with a medical problem. In return, the King promises to find her a husband. Gilette asks to marry Bertrand, even though Bertrand does not want to marry her as her family’s lineage is in “no way suited to his own noble ancestry” (494). Their marriage is loveless and unconsummated. Soon after the ceremony, Bertrand goes to Italy to take part in a war between Florence and Siena rather than be with his new wife.

Gilette stays in their new home, managing their estate and “thus winning the profound respect and devotion of her subjects” (495). When she asks Bertrand to return to her, he gives her a set of conditions: He will only be with her when she bares him a child and when she wears his special ring. Gilette disguises herself and follows her husband to Italy. There, Bertrand is courting a young woman who is “nobly bred but poor” (497). Gilette pretends to be the woman and tricks Bertrand into having sex with her. She obtains his ring and she becomes pregnant with twins. Bertrand returns to France and, after giving birth, Gilette joins him. Gilette publicly shames Bertrand and tells him that he is now the father of two twins and that she has his ring. On learning what Gilette has done, Bertrand agrees to return to her and they live together as husband and wife, as he now loves her and holds her “in the greatest esteem” (503).

The final storyteller is Dioneo. Alibech is a 14-year-old daughter of a rich merchant who lives in Barbary. She is convinced to convert to Christianity and people tell her that “the best and easiest way for a person to ‘serve God’” (504) is to copy people who live on the far side of the Sahara Desert. Alibech travels across the desert. On the way, she meets a holy man who sends her to an even holier man. Through a series of escalating holy men, she eventually meets a hermit named Rustico. Alibech is a beautiful young girl, so Rustico hopes that her presence will allow him to demonstrate his ability to refuse temptation. However, eventually he can no longer resist and he tricks Alibech into having sex with him. He takes advantage of her innocence and tells her that sex is an elaborate euphemism for putting the devil back in hell. They repeat the ritual often and Alibech derives so much “pleasure and satisfaction” (508) that Rustico can no longer satisfy her needs. He tries to think of ways to escape her sexual demands. At the same time, a tragic fire kills Alibech's father and brothers. She is made the heiress to the estate and a man named Neerbal is sent to find her. When he arrives at Rustico's home, Rustico is happy for her to leave. Alibech returns to her hometown, where the local women are amused by her explanation of putting the devil back in hell. She marries Neerbal.