Novel V
Novel V
[Voice: fiammetta]
[001] Andreuccio da Perugia comes to Naples to buy horses, meets with three serious adventures in one night, comes safe out of them all, and returns home with a ruby.
[002] Landolfo's find of stones, began Fiammetta, on whom the narration now fell, has brought to my mind a story in which there are scarce fewer perilous scapes than in Lauretta's story, but with this difference, that, instead of a course of perhaps several years, a single night, as you shall hear, sufficed for their occurrence.
[003] In Perugia, by what I once gathered, there lived a young man, Andreuccio di Pietro by name, a horse-dealer, who, having learnt that horses were to be had cheap at Naples, put five hundred florins of gold in his purse, and in company with some other merchants went thither, never having been away from home before. On his arrival at Naples, which was on a Sunday evening, about vespers, he learnt from his host that the fair would be held on the following morning. Thither accordingly he then repaired, and looked at many horses which pleased him much, and cheapening them more and more, and failing to strike a bargain with any one, he from time to time, being raw and unwary, drew out his purse of florins in view of all that came and went, to shew that he meant business.
[004]
While he was thus chaffering, and after he had shewn his purse,
there chanced to come by a Sicilian girl, fair as fair could be, but
ready to pleasure any man for a small consideration. He did not see
her, but she saw him and his purse, and forthwith said to herself:
Who would be in better luck than I if all those florins were
mine?
and so she passed on.
[005]
With the girl was an old woman,
also a Sicilian, who, when she saw Andreuccio, dropped behind the
girl, and ran towards him, making as if she would tenderly embrace
him. The girl observing this said nothing, but stopped and waited
a little way off for the old woman to rejoin her.
[006]
Andreuccio turned
as the old woman came up, recognised her, and greeted her very
cordially; but time and place not permitting much converse, she
left him, promising to visit him at his inn; and he resumed his
chaffering, but bought nothing that morning.
[007]
Her old woman's intimate acquaintance with Andreuccio had no
more escaped the girl's notice than the contents of Andreuccio's
purse; and with the view of devising, if possible, some way to make
the money, either in whole or in part, her own, she began cautiously
to ask the old woman, who and whence he was, what he did there,
and how she came to know him.
[008]
The old woman gave her almost
as much and as circumstantial information touching Andreuccio and his
affairs as he might have done himself, for she had lived a great while with
his father, first in Sicily, and afterwards at Perugia. She likewise told
the girl the name of his inn, and the purpose with which he had
come to Naples.
[009]
Thus fully armed with the names and all else that
it was needful for her to know touching Andreuccio's kith and kin,
the girl founded thereon her hopes of gratifying her cupidity, and
forthwith devised a cunning stratagem to effect her purpose. Home
she went, and gave the old woman work enough to occupy her all
day, that she might not be able to visit Andreuccio; then, summoning
to her aid a little girl whom she had well trained for such services,
she sent her about vespers to the inn where Andreuccio lodged.
[010]
Arrived there, the little girl asked for Andreuccio of Andreuccio
himself, who chanced to be just outside the gate. On his answering
that he was the man, she took him aside, and said:
Sir, a lady of
this country, so please you, would fain speak with you.
[011]
Whereto
he listened with all his ears, and having a great conceit of his person,
made up his mind that the lady was in love with him, as if there
were ne'er another handsome fellow in Naples but himself; so forthwith
he replied, that he would wait on the lady, and asked where
and when it would be her pleasure to speak with him.
[012]
Sir,
replied
the little girl,
she expects you in her own house, if you be pleased
to come.
[013]
Lead on then, I follow thee,
said Andreuccio promptly,
vouchsafing never a word to any in the inn.
[014]
So the little girl guided
him to her mistress's house, which was situated in a quarter the
character of which may be inferred from its name, Evil Hole.
Of this, however, he neither knew nor suspected aught, but, supposing
that the quarter was perfectly reputable and that he was going to see
a sweet lady, strode carelessly behind the little girl into the house of
her mistress, whom she summoned by calling out,
Andreuccio is
here;
and Andreuccio then saw her advance to the head of the
stairs to await his ascent.
[015]
She was tall, still in the freshness of her
youth, very fair of face, and very richly and nobly clad. As Andreuccio
approached, she descended three steps to meet him with open
arms, and clasped him round the neck, but for a while stood silent as
if from excess of tenderness; then, bursting into a flood of tears, she
kissed his brow, and in slightly broken accents said:
O Andreuccio,
welcome, welcome, my Andreuccio.
[016]
Quite lost in wonder
to be the recipient of such caresses, Andreuccio could only answer:
Madam, well met.
[017]
Whereupon she took him by the hand, led
him up into her saloon, and thence without another word into her
chamber, which exhaled throughout the blended fragrance of roses,
orange-blossoms and other perfumes. He observed a handsome curtained
bed, dresses in plenty hanging, as is customary in that country,
on pegs, and other appointments very fair and sumptuous; which
sights, being strange to him, confirmed his belief that he was in the
house of no other than a great lady.
[018]
They sate down side by side
on a chest at the foot of the bed, and thus she began to speak:
Andreuccio, I cannot doubt that thou dost marvel both at the
caresses which I bestow upon thee, and at my tears, seeing that thou
knowest me not, and, maybe, hast never so much as heard my name;
wait but a moment and thou shalt learn what perhaps will cause thee
to marvel still more, to wit, that I am thy sister; and I tell thee,
that, since of God's especial grace it is granted me to see one, albeit
I would fain see all, of my brothers before I die, I shall not meet
death, when the hour comes, without consolation; but thou, perchance,
hast never heard aught of this; wherefore listen to what I
shall say to thee.
[019]
Pietro, my father and thine, as I suppose thou
mayst have heard, dwelt a long while at Palermo, where his good
heart and gracious bearing caused him to be (as he still is) much
beloved by all that knew him; but by none was he loved so much as
by a gentlewoman, afterwards my mother, then a widow, who, casting
aside all respect for her father and brothers, ay, and her honour,
grew so intimate with him that a child was born, which child am I,
thy sister, whom thou seest before thee.
[020]
Shortly after my birth it so
befell that Pietro must needs leave Palermo and return to Perugia, and
I, his little daughter, was left behind with my mother at Palermo; nor,
so far as I have been able to learn, did he ever again bestow a thought
upon either of us. Wherefore--to say nothing of the love which he
should have borne me, his daughter by no servant or woman of low
degree--I should, were he not my father, gravely censure the ingratitude
which he shewed towards my mother, who, prompted by a most
loyal love, committed her fortune and herself to his keeping, without so
much as knowing who he was.
[021]
But to what end? The wrongs of
long-ago are much more easily censured than redressed; enough that so
it was.
[022]
He left me a little girl at Palermo, where, when I was grown
to be almost as thou seest me, my mother, who was a rich lady, gave
me in marriage to an honest gentleman of the Girgenti family, who
for love of my mother and myself settled in Palermo, and there, being
a staunch Guelf, entered into correspondence with our King
Charles;
[024]
So saying
she embraced him again, and melting anew into tears kissed his
brow.
[025]
This story, so congruous, so consistent in every detail, came trippingly
and without the least hesitancy from her tongue. Andreuccio
remembered that his father had indeed lived at Palermo; he knew by
his own experience the ways of young folk, how prone they are to
love; he saw her melt into tears, he felt her embraces and sisterly
kisses; and he took all she said for gospel. So, when she had done,
he answered:
[026]
Madam, it should not surprise you that I marvel,
seeing that, in sooth, my father, for whatever cause, said never a word
of you and your mother, or, if he did so, it came not to my knowledge,
so that I knew no more of you than if you had not been;
wherefore, the lonelier I am here, and the less hope I had of such
good luck, the better pleased I am to have found here my sister.
[027]
And indeed, I know not any man, however exalted his station, who
ought not to be well pleased to have such a sister; much more, then,
I, who am but a petty merchant; but, I pray you, resolve me of one
thing: how came you to know that I was here?
[028]
Then answered
she:
'Twas told me this morning by a poor woman who is much
about the house, because, as she tells me, she was long in the service
of our father both at Palermo and at Perugia; and, but that it seemed
more fitting that thou shouldst come to see me at home than that I
should visit thee at an inn, I had long ago sought thee out.
[029]
She
then began to inquire particularly after all his kinsfolk by name, and
Andreuccio, becoming ever more firmly persuaded of that which it
was least for his good to believe, answered all her questions.
[030]
Their
conversation being thus prolonged and the heat great, she had Greek
wine and sweetmeats brought in, and gave Andreuccio to drink;
and when towards supper-time he made as if he would leave, she
would in no wise suffer it; but, feigning to be very much vexed, she
embraced him, saying:
[031]
Alas! now 'tis plain how little thou carest
for me: to think that thou art with thy sister, whom thou seest for
the first time, and in her own house, where thou shouldst have
alighted on thine arrival, and thou wouldst fain depart hence to go
sup at an inn! Nay but, for certain, thou shalt sup with me; and
albeit, to my great regret, my husband is not here, thou shalt see that
I can do a lady's part in shewing thee honour.
[032]
Andreuccio, not
knowing what else to say, replied:
Sister, I care for you with all
a brother's affection; but if I go not, supper will await me all the
evening at the inn, and I shall justly be taxed with discourtesy.
[033]
Then said she:
Blessed be God, there is even now in the house
one by whom I can send word that they are not to expect thee at the
inn, albeit thou wouldst far better discharge the debt of courtesy by
sending word to thy friends, that they come here to sup; and then,
if go thou must, you might all go in a body.
[034]
Andreuccio replied,
that he would have none of his friends that evening, but since she
would have him stay, he would even do her the pleasure. She then
made a shew of sending word to the inn that they should not expect
him at dinner. Much more talk followed; and then they sate down
to a supper of many courses splendidly served, which she cunningly
protracted until nightfall; nor, when they were risen from table, and
Andreuccio was about to take his departure, would she by any means
suffer it, saying, that Naples was no place to walk about in after
dark, least of all for a stranger, and that, as she had sent word to the
inn that they were not to expect him at supper, so she had done the
like in regard of his bed.
[035]
Believing what she said, and being (in his
false confidence) overjoyed to be with her, he stayed.
[036]
After supper
there was matter enough for talk both various and prolonged; and,
when the night was in a measure spent, she gave up her own chamber
to Andreuccio, leaving him with a small boy to shew him aught that
he might have need of, while she retired with her women to another
chamber.
[037]
It was a very hot night; so, no sooner was Andreuccio alone than
he stripped himself to his doublet, and drew off his stockings and laid
them on the bed's head; and nature demanding a discharge of the
surplus weight which he carried within him, he asked the lad
where this might be done, and was shewn a door in a corner of
the room, and told to go in there.
[038]
Andreuccio, nothing doubting,
did so, but, by ill luck, set his foot on a plank which was detached
from the joist at the further end, whereby down it went, and he
with it. By God's grace he took no hurt by the fall, though it
was from some height, beyond sousing himself from head to foot
in the ordure which filled the whole place, which,
[039]
that you may
the better understand what has been said, and that which is to
follow, I will describe to you. A narrow and blind alley, such as
we commonly see between two houses, was spanned by planks
supported by joists on either side, and on the planks was the stool;
of which planks that which fell with Andreuccio was one.
[040]
Now
Andreuccio, finding himself down there in the alley, fell to calling on
the lad, who, as soon as he heard him fall, had run off, and promptly
let the lady know what had happened. She hied forthwith to her
chamber, and after a hasty search found Andreuccio's clothes and the
money
in them, for he foolishly thought to secure himself against
risk by carrying it always on his person, and thus being possessed of
the prize for which she had played her ruse, passing herself off as the
sister of a man of Perugia, whereas she was really of Palermo, she
concerned herself no further with Andreuccio except to close with
all speed the door by which he had gone out when he fell.
[041]
As the
lad did not answer, Andreuccio began to shout more loudly; but all
to no purpose. Whereby his suspicions were aroused, and he began
at last to perceive the trick that had been played upon him; so he
climbed over a low wall that divided the alley from the street, and
hied him to the door of the house, which he knew very well. There
for a long while he stood shouting and battering the door till it shook
on its hinges; but all again to no purpose.
[042]
No doubt of his misadventure
now lurking in his mind, he fell to bewailing himself,
saying:
Alas! in how brief a time have I lost five hundred florins
and a sister!
[043]
with much more of the like sort. Then he recommenced
battering the door and shouting, to such a tune that not a
few of the neighbours were roused, and finding the nuisance intolerable,
got up; and one of the lady's servant-girls presented herself at
the window with a very sleepy air, and said angrily:
Who knocks
below there?
[044]
Oh!
said Andreuccio,
dost not know me? I
am Andreuccio, Madam Fiordaliso's brother.
[045]
Good man,
she
rejoined,
if thou hast had too much to drink, go, sleep it off, and
come back to-morrow. I know not Andreuccio, nor aught of the
fantastic stuff thou pratest; prithee begone and be so good as to let
us sleep in peace.
[046]
How?
said Andreuccio,
dost not understand
what I say? For sure thou dost understand; but if Sicilian kinships
are of such a sort that folk forget them so soon, at least return me
my clothes, which I left within, and right glad shall I be to be off.
[047]
Half laughing she rejoined:
Good man, methinks thou dost
dream:
and so saying, she withdrew and closed the window.
[048]
Andreuccio by this time needed no further evidence of his wrongs;
his wrath knew no bounds, and mortification well-nigh converted
it into frenzy; he was minded to exact by force what he had
failed to obtain by entreaties; and so, arming himself with a
large stone, he renewed his attack upon the door with fury, dealing
much heavier blows than at first.
[049]
Wherefore, not a few of the
neighbours, whom he had already roused from their beds, set him
down as an ill-conditioned rogue, and his story as a mere fiction
intended to annoy the good woman,
'Tis a gross affront to come at this
time of night to the house of the good woman with this silly story.
Prithee, good man, let us sleep in peace; begone in God's name; and
if thou hast a score to settle with her, come to-morrow, but a truce
to thy pestering to-night.
[051]
Emboldened, perhaps, by these words, a man who lurked within
the house, the good woman's bully, whom Andreuccio had as yet
neither seen nor heard, shewed himself at the window, and said in a
gruff voice and savage, menacing tone:
Who is below there?
[052]
Andreuccio looked up in the direction of the voice, and saw standing
at the window, yawning and rubbing his eyes as if he had just been
roused from his bed, or at any rate from deep sleep, a fellow with a
black and matted beard, who, as far as Andreuccio's means of judging
went, bade fair to prove a most redoubtable champion. It was not
without fear, therefore, that he replied:
I am a brother of the
lady who is within.
[053]
The bully did not wait for him to finish his
sentence, but, addressing him in a much sterner tone than before,
called out:
I know not why I come not down and give thee play
with my cudgel, whilst thou givest me sign of life, ass, tedious driveller
that thou must needs be, and drunken sot, thus to disturb our
night's rest.
Which said, he withdrew, and closed the window.
[054]
Some of the neighbours who best knew the bully's quality gave
Andreuccio fair words.
For God's sake,
said they,
good man,
take thyself off, stay not here to be murdered. 'Twere best for thee
to go.
[055]
These counsels, which seemed to be dictated by charity,
reinforced the fear which the voice and aspect of the bully had
inspired in Andreuccio, who, thus despairing of recovering his money
and in the deepest of dumps, set his face towards the quarter whence
in the daytime he had blindly followed the little girl, and began to
make his way back to the inn.
[056]
But so noisome was the stench
which he emitted that he resolved to turn aside and take a bath in the
sea. So he bore leftward up a street called Ruga Catalana, and was
on his way towards the steep of the city, when by chance he saw two
men coming towards him, bearing a lantern, and fearing that they
might be patrols or other men who might do him a mischief, he stole
away and hid himself in a dismantled house to avoid them.
[057]
The
house, however, was presently entered by the two men, just as if they
had been guided thither; and one of them having disburdened himself
of some iron tools which he carried on his shoulder, they both
began to examine them, passing meanwhile divers comments upon
them.
[058]
While they were thus occupied,
What,
said one,
means
this? Such a stench as never before did I smell the like!
So
saying, he raised the lantern a little; whereby they had a view of
hapless Andreuccio, and asked in amazement:
Who is there?
[059]
Whereupon Andreuccio was at first silent, but when they flashed
the light close upon him, and asked him what he did there in such
a filthy state, he told them all that had befallen him. Casting
about to fix the place where it occurred, they said one to another:
Of a surety 'twas in the house of Scarabone Buttafuoco.
[060]
Then
said one, turning to Andreuccio:
Good man, albeit thou hast
lost thy money, thou hast cause enough to praise God that thou
hadst the luck to fall; for hadst thou not fallen, be sure that, no
sooner wert thou asleep, than thou hadst been knocked on the head,
and lost not only thy money but thy life. But what boots it now
to bewail thee? Thou mightest as soon pluck a star from the
firmament as recover a single denier; nay, 'tis as much as thy life
is worth if he do but hear that thou breathest a word of the affair.
[061]
The two men then held a short consultation, at the close of
which they said:
Lo now; we are sorry for thee, and so we
make thee a fair offer. If thou wilt join with us in a little matter
which we have in hand, we doubt not but thy share of the gain
will greatly exceed what thou hast lost.
[062]
Andreuccio, being now
desperate, answered that he was ready to join them.
[063]
Now Messer
Filippo Minutolo, Archbishop of Naples, had that day been buried
with a ruby on his finger, worth over five hundred florins of gold,
besides other ornaments of extreme value. The two men were
minded to despoil the Archbishop of his fine trappings, and imparted
their design to Andreuccio,
[064]
who, cupidity getting the better of
caution, approved it; and so they all three set forth. But as they
were on their way to the cathedral, Andreuccio gave out so rank an
odour that one said to the other:
Can we not contrive that he
somehow wash himself a little, that he stink not so shrewdly?
[065]
Why yes,
said the other,
we are now close to a well, which
is never without the pulley and a large bucket; 'tis but a step
thither, and we will wash him out of hand.
[066]
Arrived at the well,
they found that the rope was still there, but the bucket had been
removed; so they determined to attach him to the rope, and
lower him into the well, there to wash himself, which done, he
was to jerk the rope, and they would draw him up. Lowered
accordingly he was; but just as, now washen, he jerked the rope,
[067]
it
so happened that a company of patrols, being thirsty because 'twas a
hot night and some rogue had led them a pretty dance, came to the
well to drink. The two men fled, unobserved, as soon as they caught
sight of the newcomers, who, parched with thirst,
[068]
laid aside their
bucklers, arms and surcoats, and fell to hauling on the rope, supposing
that it bore the bucket, full of water.
[069]
When, therefore, they saw
Andreuccio, as he neared the brink of the well, loose the rope and
clutch the brink with his hands, they were stricken with a sudden
terror, and without uttering a word let go the rope, and took to flight
with all the speed they could make. Whereat Andreuccio marvelled
mightily, and had he not kept a tight grip on the brink of the well,
he would certainly have gone back to the bottom and hardly have
escaped grievous hurt, or death. Still greater was his astonishment,
when, fairly landed on
terra firma
, he found the patrols' arms lying
there, which he knew had not been carried by his comrades.
[070]
He
felt a vague dread, he knew not why; he bewailed once more his
evil fortune; and without venturing to touch the arms, he left the
well and wandered he knew not whither. As he went, however, he
fell in with his two comrades, now returning to draw him out of the
well; who no sooner saw him than in utter amazement they
demanded who had hauled him up. Andreuccio answered that he
knew not, and then told them in detail how it had come about, and
what he had found beside the well.
[071]
They laughed as they apprehended
the circumstances, and told him why they had fled, and who
they were that had hauled him up. Then without further parley,
for it was now midnight, they hied them to the cathedral. They had
no difficulty in entering and finding the tomb, which was a magnificent
structure of marble, and with their iron implements they raised
the lid, albeit it was very heavy, to a height sufficient to allow a man
to enter, and propped it up.
[072]
This done, a dialogue ensued.
Who
shall go in?
said one.
[073]
Not I,
said the other.
[074]
Nor I,
rejoined his companion;
let Andreuccio go in.
[075]
That will not I,
said Andreuccio.
[076]
Whereupon both turned upon him and said:
How? thou wilt not go in? By God, if thou goest not in, we
will give thee that over the pate with one of these iron crowbars
that thou shalt drop down dead.
[077]
Terror-stricken, into the tomb
Andreuccio went, saying to himself as he did so:
These men will
have me go in, that they may play a trick upon me: when I have
handed everything up to them, and am sweating myself to get out
of the tomb, they will be off about their business, and I shall be left
with nothing for my pains.
So he determined to make sure of his
own part first; and bethinking him of the precious ring of which he
had heard them speak, as soon as he had completed the descent, he
drew the ring off the Archbishop's finger, and put it on his own: he
then handed up one by one the crosier, mitre and gloves, and other of
the Archbishop's trappings, stripping him to his shirt; which done, he
told his comrades that there was nothing more.
[078]
They insisted that
the ring must be there, and bade him search everywhere. This he
feigned to do, ejaculating from time to time that he found it not;
and thus he kept them a little while in suspense. But they, who
were in their way as cunning as he, kept on exhorting him to make
a careful search, and, seizing their opportunity, withdrew the prop
that supported the lid of the tomb, and took to their heels, leaving
him there a close prisoner. You will readily conceive how Andreuccio
behaved when he understood his situation.
[079]
More than once he
applied his head and shoulders to the lid and sought with might and
main to heave it up; but all his efforts were fruitless; so that at
last, overwhelmed with anguish he fell in a swoon on the corpse of
the Archbishop, and whether of the twain were the more lifeless,
Andreuccio or the Archbishop, 'twould have puzzled an observer to
determine.
[080]
When he came to himself he burst into a torrent of tears, seeing
now nothing in store for him but either to perish there of hunger
and fetid odours beside the corpse and among the worms, or, should
the tomb be earlier opened, to be taken and hanged as a thief.
[081]
These
most lugubrious meditations were interrupted by a sound of persons
walking and talking in the church. They were evidently a numerous
company, and their purpose, as Andreuccio surmised, was the very
same with which he and his comrades had come thither: whereby
his terror was mightily increased.
[082]
Presently the folk opened the
tomb, and propped up the lid, and then fell to disputing as to who
should go in. None was willing, and the contention was protracted;
but at length one--'twas a priest--said:
Of what are ye afeared?
Think ye to be eaten by him? Nay, the dead eat not the living. I
will go in myself.
So saying he propped his breast upon the edge
of the lid, threw his head back, and thrust his legs within, that he
might go down feet foremost.
[083]
On sight whereof Andreuccio started
to his feet, and seizing hold of one of the priest's legs, made as if he
would drag him down; which caused the priest to utter a prodigious
yell, and bundle himself out of the tomb with no small celerity.
The rest took to flight in a panic, as if a hundred thousand devils
were at their heels.
[084]
The tomb being thus left open, Andreuccio, the
ring still on his finger, sprang out. The way by which he had
entered the church served him for egress, and roaming at random, he
arrived towards daybreak at the coast. Diverging thence he came
by chance upon his inn, where he found that his host and his
comrades had been anxious about him all night.
[085]
When he told
them all that had befallen him, they joined with the host in advising
him to leave Naples at once. He accordingly did so, and returned
to Perugia, having invested in a ring the money with which he had
intended to buy horses.