Novel V
Novel V
[Voice: filomena]
[001] Lisabetta's brothers slay her lover: he appears to her in a dream, and shews her where he is buried: she privily disinters the head, and sets it in a pot of basil, whereon she daily weeps a great while. The pot being taken from her by her brothers, she dies not long after.
[002] Elisa's story ended, the king bestowed a few words of praise upon it, and then laid the burden of discourse upon Filomena, who, full of compassion for the woes of Gerbino and his lady, heaved a piteous sigh, and thus began:
[003] My story, gracious ladies, will not be of folk of so high a rank as those of whom Elisa has told us, but perchance 'twill not be less touching. 'Tis brought to my mind by the recent mention of Messina, where the matter befell.
[004]
Know then that there were at Messina three young men, that
were brothers and merchants, who were left very rich on the death
of their father, who was of San Gimignano; and they had a sister,
Lisabetta by name, a girl fair enough, and no less debonair, but
whom, for some reason or another, they had not as yet bestowed in
marriage.
[005]
The three brothers had also in their shop a young Pisan,
Lorenzo by name, who managed all their affairs, and who was so
goodly of person and gallant, that Lisabetta bestowed many a glance
upon him, and began to regard him with extraordinary favour;
which Lorenzo marking from time to time, gave up all his other
amours, and in like manner began to affect her, and so, their loves
being equal, 'twas not long before they took heart of grace, and did
that which each most desired.
[006]
Wherein continuing to their no
small mutual solace and delight, they neglected to order it with due
secrecy, whereby one night as Lisabetta was going to Lorenzo's
room, she, all unwitting, was observed by the eldest of the brothers,
who, albeit much distressed by what he had learnt, yet, being a
young man of discretion, was swayed by considerations more seemly,
and, allowing no word to escape him, spent the night in turning the
affair over in his mind in divers ways.
[007]
On the morrow he told his
brothers that which, touching Lisabetta and Lorenzo, he had observed
in the night, which, that no shame might thence ensue either to
them or to their sister, they after long consultation determined to pass
over in silence, making as if they had seen or heard nought thereof,
until such time as they in a safe and convenient manner might
banish this disgrace from their sight before it could go further.
[008]
Adhering to which purpose, they jested and laughed with Lorenzo
as they had been wont; and after a while pretending that they were
all three going forth of the city on pleasure, they took Lorenzo with
them; and being come to a remote and very lonely spot, seeing that
'twas apt for their design, they took Lorenzo, who was completely
off his guard, and slew him, and buried him on such wise that none
was ware of it.
[009]
On their return to Messina they gave out that they
had sent him away on business; which was readily believed, because
'twas what they had been frequently used to do.
[010]
But as Lorenzo
did not return, and Lisabetta questioned the brothers about him with
great frequency and urgency, being sorely grieved by his long
absence, it so befell that one day, when she was very pressing in her
enquiries, one of the brothers said:
What means this? What
hast thou to do with Lorenzo, that thou shouldst ask about him so
often? Ask us no more, or we will give thee such answer as thou
deservest.
[011]
So the girl, sick at heart and sorrowful, fearing she
knew not what, asked no questions; but many a time at night she
called piteously to him, and besought him to come to her, and
bewailed his long tarrying with many a tear, and ever yearning for
his return, languished in total dejection.
[012]
But so it was that one night, when, after long weeping that her
Lorenzo came not back, she had at last fallen asleep, Lorenzo
appeared to her in a dream, wan and in utter disarray, his clothes
torn to shreds and sodden; and thus, as she thought, he spoke:
[013]
Lisabetta, thou dost nought but call me, and vex thyself for my
long tarrying, and bitterly upbraid me with thy tears; wherefore be
it known to thee that return to thee I may not, because the last day
that thou didst see me thy brothers slew me.
After which, he
described the place where they had buried him, told her to call and
expect him no more, and vanished.
[014]
The girl then awoke, and
doubting not that the vision was true, wept bitterly. And when
morning came, and she was risen, not daring to say aught to her
brothers, she resolved to go to the place indicated in the vision, and
see if what she had dreamed were even as it had appeared to her.
[015]
So, having leave to go a little way out of the city for recreation in
company with a maid that had at one time lived with them and
knew all that she did, she hied her thither with all speed; and having
removed the dry leaves that were strewn about the place, she began
to dig where the earth seemed least hard. Nor had she dug long,
before she found the body of her hapless lover, whereon as yet
there was no trace of corruption or decay; and thus she saw without
any manner of doubt that her vision was true.
[016]
And so, saddest of
women, knowing that she might not bewail him there, she would
gladly, if she could, have carried away the body and given it more
honourable sepulture elsewhere; but as she might not so do, she
took a knife, and, as best she could, severed the head from the trunk,
and wrapped it in a napkin and laid it in the lap of her maid; and
having covered the rest of the corpse with earth, she left the spot,
having been seen by none, and went home.
[017]
There she shut herself
up in her room with the head, and kissed it a thousand times in every
part, and wept long and bitterly over it, till she had bathed it in her
tears. She then wrapped it in a piece of fine cloth, and set it in a
large and beautiful pot of the sort in which marjoram or basil is
planted, and covered it with earth, and therein planted some roots
of the goodliest basil of Salerno, and drenched them only with her
tears, or water perfumed with roses or orange-blossoms.
[018]
And 'twas
her wont ever to sit beside this pot, and, all her soul one yearning, to
pore upon it, as that which enshrined her Lorenzo,
[019]
and when long
time she had so done, she would bend over it, and weep a great
while, until the basil was quite bathed in her tears.
[020]
Fostered with such constant, unremitting care, and nourished by
the richness given to the soil by the decaying head that lay therein,
the basil burgeoned out in exceeding great beauty and fragrance.
And, the girl persevering ever in this way of life, the neighbours from
time to time took note of it, and when her brothers marvelled to see
her beauty ruined, and her eyes as it were evanished from her head,
they told them of it, saying:
We have observed that such is her
daily wont.
Whereupon the brothers, marking her behaviour, chid
her therefore once or twice, and as she heeded them not, caused the
pot to be taken privily from her. Which, so soon as she missed it,
she demanded with the utmost instance and insistence, and, as they
gave it not back to her, ceased not to wail and weep, insomuch that
she fell sick; nor in her sickness craved she aught but the pot of
basil.
[021]
Whereat the young men, marvelling mightily, resolved to
see what the pot might contain; and having removed the earth they
espied the cloth, and therein the head, which was not yet so decayed,
but that by the curled locks they knew it for Lorenzo's head.
[022]
Passing
strange they found it, and fearing lest it should be bruited abroad,
they buried the head, and, with as little said as might be, took order
for their privy departure from Messina, and hied them thence to
Naples.
[023]
The girl ceased not to weep and crave her pot, and, so
weeping, died. Such was the end of her disastrous love; but not a
few in course of time coming to know the truth of the affair, there
was one that made the song that is still sung: to wit:
onciawas a Sicilian gold coin worth rather more than a zecchino.