Boccaccio- the Decameron
DAY 2—The theme of Day 2 is FORTUNE___how things turn out fortunately!
DAY 2: Stories about Fortune—how things turn out fortunately for the character
Story 1 of St. Heinrich: Told by Neifile
Once in town of Trevigi lived a rather common person who, when he died , the church bells rang of their own accord. To the townspeople that meant a miracle had taken place. They named him St. Heinrich.
Three men sauntered into town and wanted to see the deceased so Martinello pretended to be lame, and was able to get right up to the body. He laid down upon the body. All of a sudden, his fingers, arms and legs move. The other two men watch him.
A Florentine recognized the man as a trickster, so the townspeople tried to beat him up. Martinello’s friends didn’t dare defend him, but they went to the Provost and told him the man (who really was their friend, Martinello) took their money. He is saved from the crowd, but goes before a judge whom he convinces that if someone could prove what he took and when, then he would submit to his guilt. No one could so he is set free! A bit of luck!
Story 2 of Renaldo d’ Asti as told by Filostrato
Renaldo is a merchant traveling to Bologna when he meets robbers. He joins them but at the end of the day when it is dark, they rob him and leave him with no clothes and barefooted. He had told them he believed that St. Julian always brought him the best lodgings for the night. They laughed at him. He goes into town, all bedraggled—the town gates are closed but he finds a house outside the gates; a lady lives there who is the Marquis’ lover. When she finds him, she has her servant bathe, dress, and bring him to her dining area for dinner. The question becomes --should she take advantage of her good luck and lay with a nice gentleman since the Marquis could not make it that night? Answer is “Yes”. At dawn—he leaves. He thanks St. Julian for luck in finding accommodations once again.
Story 3 of Tedaldo as told by Pampinea
FORTUNE’ WAYS—everything we call our own is in her hands. Tedaldo ( a nobleman) leaves his wealth to his 3 sons who squander it—they have jail time as a result. They have their nephew Alessandro take over their moneylending affairs in London. He does so, but there is a war, there, so his property is confiscated. He decides to return to Italy.
Story 4 of Ruffolo the corsair as told by Lauretta
Ruffolo is poor so he becomes a corsair. He either plunders or dies—so he appropriates the goods of other ships. Fortune blesses him because he pillages Turkish ships and does well. He goes home, but does not invest his money.
He goes once again out to sea; this time two ships block him, and sink his ship. He clings to a chest. He comes upon a shoreline in Corfu where a woman finds him; nurses him until he is well, and then returns the chest. In opening it, he finds that it contains precious stones. He carefully wraps them up, and exchanges the chest for a sack and returns home. He finds that with his riches, he is twice as rich as before. In appreciation he sends money to the woman and others who helped him.
Story 5 of Andreuccio as told by Filommetta
Andreuccio was a horse dealer from Perugia—shows off his florins at the Naples Horse market. A clever young girl decides she’s going to take his money. She sees an older woman talking to him; and is able to get information about him from her.
She invites him to her house, and tells him she is his sister—Andreuccio is happy about that because, as he tells her, he is alone in Naples. He has supper with her and sleeps at her house. The food makes him sick—he feels the need to vomit; goes outside where there are planks that connect the next door house to the one he is in; somehow he falls through the plank onto not only garbage but worse filth below.
The girl looks through his things—finds the money and then locks the door. He says “I lost 500 florins and a sister in one day”! He tries to get in but a neighbor tells him that the woman is not his sister. He tries to go back to the inn. He sees men on the road—so he hides in a shed. They tell him he stinks and propose that they take him to a well to wash, and then he can join them to try to rob the Archbishop’s sarcophagus in the Abby.
They go into the Abbey—he is lowered down into the coffin to get the ring from the Archbishop’s finger; he does so, but then the lid closes tight and he is trapped inside until later 2 priests come in. One of them is loathe to enter the tomb (for the same reasons), and the other priest says to him, “ Don’t worry, the dead don’t eat the living!”.
Andreuccio seized the priest by the leg—the man yelled in great fright—they left in a hurry leaving the lid open. Andreuccio climbed out with the ring on his finger.
Story 6 of Lady Beritola as told by Emilia
Manifred is King of Sicily. His nobleman is Arrighetto Capice. Capice has a beautiful wife. Sicily has become the charge of King Charles, and Lady Arrighetto does not where her husband is. She is in danger, and so flees with her son, Giusfredi. She gives birth to a second son. One day a corsair appears , and kidnaps both children. She has lost everything.
Eventually a ship arrives with a man named Currado and his wife. She tells them her story, and they return with her to his castle town where she becomes the wife’s companion. Meanwhile the nurse who had been kidnapped along with Lady Beritola’s 2 children, were the property of Guasparrino d’ Oria. He sent them all as slaves to one of his estates. The nurse changes Giusfredi’s name to Giannotto to protect his identity. He is now 16, and runs away on a gally bound for Alexandria. He hears that his father is in prison. Eventually he settles in Lunigana, and coincidentally is employed by Mr. Currado. Mr Currado has a daughter whose husband has died.
Gianotto and the daughter , whose name is Spina, meet and fall in love. The father imprisoned both of them for an illicit affair they had.
Giannotto talks politics to the prison guard who is aghast that he would know anything about politics. He relays that information to Mr Currado who guesses that Giannotto is not just a simple man.
So Mr. Currado asks Lady Beritola if she ever had a son—with the knowledge of that, he is able to “save face”—marry his daughter to a noble boy—who just happens to be Lady Beritola’s son, Once bound in marriage, he tells both mothers; then sends an envoy to Sicily to recover the other brother and nurse. All turns out well.
Story 7 as told by Pamfilo
The Sultan of Babylon sends a daughter to marry the King of Algarve. The daughter’s name was Alatiel. The ship ran into strong winds—everyone leaves the ship except Alatiel and her attendants. They are thrown upon the isle of Majorca where there is a man by the name of Pericon—he takes the ladies to his castle. He thought her beautiful, and watches her dance—but no wine drinking because she is a Saracan.
Because of her beauty, many men want to be with her. One is Pericon’s brother who murders him and takes her and the women aboard his ship. Even the shipmates waged battle to have her by throwing Pericon’s brother overboard! One of the shipmates dies. The other one takes her to his country.
The Prince, there, wants her, too and has her for a while until his cousin (the Duke of Athens) hatches a treacherous plan to stab the Prince which he does. Then he takes Alatiel to Athens. Meanwhile the brother of the murdered Prince takes revenge by waging war.
Constantine (son of Emperor Constantinople) likes her and wants to take her away from the Duke. She is again captured, and put on Constantine’s ship. Now she is visibly upset by all these problems.
Osbeck (King of the Turks), comes to Smyrna-sees Alatiel and takes her. The Emperor has a treaty with the King of Cappadocia. Osbeck needs to leave, and is slain in battle. Osbeck’s servant. Antiochus, falls in love with her, They go to Rhodes together. While there, he comes across a Cyprian merchant who bequeaths his goods to Aratiel
2nd day—8th story as told by Elisa
The Count of Antwerp goes into exile—the Holy Roman Empire has gone from French to German hands—bitterness reigns. Gautier is the name of the Count. He rules France. He is 40 yrs old, handsome and gallant. The King’s son’s bride likes him. He rejects her and knows he has to leave and with his children he goes to Calais. He tells the kids they must bear poverty in England.
Daughter is put with a woman and her husband. Gautier and his son go to Wales. There he stays in the home of another of the King’s officers. Gautier’s son outperforms the officer’s son. Gautier gives up his son and goes to Ireland as a knight.
In the meantime, Gautier’s daughter, Jeanette, is loved by woman’s son who thinks she is of lowly birth. The woman tries to have Jeanette become his lover, but both kids reject that idea. So the woman and her husband agree to marriage. The husband dies of the plague, and both inherit the estate.
Meanwhile, Gautier has been gone for 18 years. He looks for his kids—Jeanette has children. The Queen (who was the King’s son’s wife) confesses the wrong she did to the Count of Antwerp and before she dies she asks that the Count be restored to his former eminence.
2nd Day—story 9 as told by Filomena
Bernabo of Genoa is tricked by Ambrogiulo to believe his wife , like other wives . are not faithful when their husbands go out of town. Bernabo believes he has a good wife who wouldn’t do that so he accepts the bet from Ambrogiulo. Amrogiulo goes to Genoa—hides in a trunk and gets taken to the wife’s bedroom. While there, he takes a purse, a ring and dressing gown, but when he shows them to Bernabo, Bernabo says it doesn’t prove that he slept with her. Ambrogiulo then tells him his wife has a mole under her left breast. That does it. Bernabo orders his wife to be slain.
Someone tips off his wife—she dresses as a man; goes aboard a ship and eventually ends up in Alexandria where Ambrogiulo has a shop. Shas innocence e recognizes her things; and gets him to tell her how he got them. He does; and now she can prove her to her husband. Ambrogiulo is impaled and honey is put on him so bees and ants will eat him.
Day 2 story 10 as told by Dineo
A judge named Ricciardo da Chinzica has a lovely wife who he thinks he can satisfy by treating her in a way that employed the same qualities he did in his studies. They would observe holy days, abstain from sex, etc.
During the summer both husband and wife were on a lake—along comes Paganino, a pirate, who sees her and abducts her. Ricciardo tries to get her back, but she doesn’t want to go. She’s happier with the pirate—he satisfies her needs.