Conclusion
Conclusion
[Voice: author]
[001]
Immense was the delight and
diversion which this story afforded
to all the company alike, and great
and general was the laughter over
Fra Cipolla, and more especially at his
pilgrimage, and the relics, as
well those 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 her sovereignty was come, stood up, took
off the
crown, and set it on Dioneo's head, saying with a laugh:
[002]
'Tis
time, Dioneo, that thou prove the weight of the burden of having
ladies to
govern and guide. Be thou king then; and let thy rule
be such that, when
'tis ended, we may have cause to commend it.
[003]
Dioneo took the crown,
and laughingly answered:
Kings worthier
far than I you may well have
seen many a time ere now--I speak
of the kings in chess; but let me have
of you that obedience which
is due to a true king, and of a surety I will
give you to taste of that
solace, without which perfection of joy there
may not be in any
festivity. But enough of this: I will govern as best I
may.
[004]
Then,
as was the wont, he sent for the seneschal, and gave him
particular
instruction how to order matters during the term of his
sovereignty,
which done, he said:
Noble ladies, such and so diverse has
been
our discourse of the ways of men and their various fortunes, that
but for the visit that we had a while ago from Madam Licisca, who
by what
she said has furnished me with matter of discourse for
to-morrow, I doubt
I had been not a little put to it to find a theme.
[005]
You heard how she said
that there was not a woman in her neighbourhood
whose husband had her
virginity; adding that well she knew
how many and what manner
of tricks they, after marriage, played
their husbands.
[006]
The first count we
may well leave to the girls
whom it concerns; the second, methinks, should
prove a diverting
topic: wherefore I ordain that, taking our cue from
Madam Licisca,
we discourse to-morrow of the tricks that, either for love
or for their
deliverance from peril, ladies have heretofore played their
husbands,
and whether they were by the said husbands detected or no.
[007]
To
discourse of such a topic some of the ladies deemed unmeet for them,
and besought the king to find another theme. But the king made
answer:
[008]
Ladies, what manner of theme I have prescribed I know
as well as you,
nor was I to be diverted from prescribing it by that
which you now think
to declare unto me, for I wot the times are
such that, so only men and
women have a care to do nought that is
unseemly, 'tis allowable to them to
discourse of what they please.
[009]
For in sooth, as you must know, so out of
joint are the times that
the judges have deserted the judgment-seat, the
laws are silent, and
ample licence to preserve his life as best he may is
accorded to each
and all.
[010]
Wherefore, if you are somewhat less strict of
speech than is
your wont, not that aught unseemly in act may follow, but
that you
may afford solace to yourselves and others, I see not how you can
be
open to reasonable censure on the part of any.
[011]
Furthermore, nought
that has been said from the first day to the present moment has,
methinks,
in any degree sullied the immaculate honour of your
company, nor, God
helping us, shall aught ever sully it.
[012]
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 diverting discourse, but even the
terror of death.
[013]
And,
to tell you the truth, whoso wist that you refused
to discourse of
these light matters for a while, would be apt to suspect
that 'twas
but for that you had yourselves erred in like sort.
[014]
And truly
a
goodly honour would you confer upon me, obedient as I have ever
been to
you, if after making me your king and your lawgiver, you
were to refuse to
discourse of the theme which I prescribe.
[015]
Away,
then, with this scruple
fitter for low minds than yours, and let each
study how she may give us a
goodly story, and Fortune prosper her
therein.
[016]
So spake the
king, and the ladies, hearkening, said that, even as
he would, so it
should be: whereupon he gave all leave to do as they
might be
severally minded until the supper-hour.
[017]
The sun was still
quite high in
the heaven, for they had not enlarged in their discourse:
wherefore,
Dioneo with the other gallants being set to play
at dice, Elisa called the
other ladies apart, and said:
[018]
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, but time 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.
[019]
The ladies answered that they
were ready,
and so, saying nought to the young men, they summoned one of
their maids, and set forth; nor had they gone much more than a
mile, when
they arrived at the Vale of Ladies. They entered it by
a very strait
gorge, through which there issued a rivulet, clear as
crystal, and a
sight, than which nought more fair and pleasant,
especially at that time
when the heat was great, could be imagined,
met their eyes.
[020]
Within the
valley, as one of them afterwards told
me, was a plain about half-a-mile
in circumference, and so exactly
circular that it might have been
fashioned according to the compass,
though it seemed a work of Nature's
art, not man's: 'twas girdled
about by six hills of no great height, each
crowned with a palace
that shewed as a goodly little castle.
[021]
The slopes of
the hills were
graduated from summit to base after the manner of the
successive
tiers, ever abridging their circle, that we see in our
theatres;
[022]
and as
many as fronted the southern rays were all planted so
close with
vines, olives, almond-trees, cherry-trees, fig-trees and other
fruit-bearing
trees not a few, that there was not a hand's-breadth of
vacant space.
[023]
Those that fronted the north were in like manner
covered
with copses of oak saplings, ashes and other trees, as green
and straight
as might be.
[024]
Besides which, the plain, which was shut
in on all sides save
that on which the ladies had entered, was full of
firs, cypresses, and
bay-trees, with here and there a pine, in order
and symmetry so meet and
excellent as had they been planted by an
artist, the best that might be
found in that kind; wherethrough,
even when the sun was in the zenith,
scarce a ray of light might
reach the ground, which was all one lawn of
the finest turf, pranked
with the hyacinth and divers other flowers.
[025]
Add
to which--nor was
there aught there more delightsome--a rivulet that,
issuing from one
of the gorges between two of the hills,
descended over ledges of
living rock, making, as it fell, a murmur most
gratifying to the ear,
and, seen from a distance, shewed as a spray of
finest, powdered
quick-silver,
[026]
and no sooner reached the little plain,
than 'twas
gathered into a tiny channel, by which it sped with great
velocity
to the middle of the plain, where it formed a diminutive lake,
like
the fishponds that townsfolk sometimes make in their gardens, when
they have occasion for them.
[027]
The lake was not so deep but that a
man might
stand therein with his breast above the water; and so
clear, so pellucid
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 be seen, but
such a multitude of fishes,
glancing to and fro, as was at once a delight
and a marvel to behold.
[028]
Bank it had none, but its margin was the lawn, to
which it imparted
a goodlier freshness. So much of the water as it might
not contain
was received by another tiny channel, through which, issuing
from
the vale, it glided swiftly to the plain below.
[029]
To which
pleasaunce the damsels being come surveyed it with
roving glance, and
finding it commendable, and marking the lake
in front of them, did, as
'twas very hot, and they deemed themselves
secure from observation,
resolve to take a bath.
[030]
So, having bidden
their maid wait and keep watch
over the access to the vale, and give
them warning, if haply any should
approach it, they all seven undressed
and got into the water, which to the
whiteness of their flesh
was even such a veil as fine glass is to the
vermeil of the rose.
[031]
They,
being thus in the water, the clearness of which
was thereby in no
wise affected, did presently begin to go hither and
thither after the
fish, which had much ado where to bestow themselves so
as to
escape out of their hands.
[032]
In which diversion they spent some time,
and caught a few, and then they hied them out of the water and
dressed
them again, and bethinking them that 'twas time to return
to the palace,
they began slowly sauntering thither, dilating much as
they went upon the
beauty of the place, albeit they could not extol
it more than they had
already done.
[033]
'Twas still quite early when
they reached the palace, so
that they found the gallants yet at play
where they had left them. To whom
quoth Pampinea with a
smile:
We have stolen a march upon you
to-day.
[034]
So,
replied Dioneo,
'tis with you do
first and say after?
[035]
Ay, my
lord,
returned Pampinea, and told
him at large whence they came,
and what the place was like, and how far
'twas off, and what they
had done.
[036]
What she said of the beauty of the spot
begat in the king
a desire to see it: wherefore he straightway ordered
supper, whereof
when all had gaily partaken, the three gallants parted
from the ladies
and hied them with their servants to the vale, where none
of them
had ever been before, and, having marked all its beauties,
extolled it
as scarce to be matched in all the world.
[037]
Then, as the hour
was
very late, they did but bathe, and as soon as they had resumed their
clothes, returned to the ladies, whom they found dancing a carol to
an air
that Fiammetta sang, which done, they conversed of the
Ladies' Vale,
waxing eloquent in praise thereof:
[038]
insomuch that the
king called the
seneschal, and bade him have some beds made ready
and carried thither on
the morrow, that any that were so minded
might there take their siesta.
[039]
He
then had lights and wine and
comfits brought; and when they had taken a
slight refection, he
bade all address them to the dance. So at his behest
Pamfilo led a
dance, and then the king, turning with gracious mien to
Elisa:
[040]
Fair damsel,
quoth he,
'twas thou to-day didst me this
honour
of the crown; and 'tis my will that thine to-night be the honour
or
the song; wherefore sing us whatsoever thou hast most lief.
[041]
That gladly will I,
replied Elisa smiling; and thus with dulcet
voice began:
[047] So with a most piteous sigh ended Elisa her song, whereat all wondered exceedingly, nor might any conjecture wherefore she so sang. [048] But the king, who was in a jolly humour, sent for Tindaro, and bade him out with his cornemuse, and caused them tread many a measure thereto, until, no small part of the night being thus spent, he gave leave to all to betake them to rest.