Page 120 - THE DECAMERON: 100 Days on 100 Etchings by Petru Rusu
P. 120
“Pietro di Vinciolo“
A man called Pietro di Vinciolo decides to distract peers to find a knife. Pietro’s wife tries to cover her own tracks
from his homosexuality by taking a wife. But he makes by loudly denouncing Ercolano’s wife. How could she do
a mistake: he chooses a young redhead. You know such a thing? And she’s so old, too! Pietro goes off to bed
those redheads Boccaccio says they can take on two without any supper and his wife thinks she’s off the hook.
husbands. Pietro’s really not up to the challenge, so his But Fortune has other plans. Fate, in the form of a donkey,
wife decides to find pleasure elsewhere. She enlists the wanders over and tramps on the lover’s fingers, which
help of a local older woman who puts on a good show of are sticking out from under the chicken coop. He lets out
religious devotion but really is a bit of a…madame. She a blood-curdling scream and Pietro rushes over to check
encourages Pietro’s wife to have a bit of fun while she’s things out. And really, Pietro couldn’t be more pleased.
still young. She’ll look out for a suitable man. Pietro’s wife He’d been after this young man for his own purposes. So
gives her a piece of meat by way of payment. The old he chews his wife out for blaming Ercolano’s wife, saying
woman arranges a variety of men for Pietro’s wife and the that women are all alike. She notices that he doesn’t
young woman’s quite satisfied. But one evening, Pietro seem to be all that angry. And he does seem to be
returns home early from a dinner at his friend Ercolano’s holding her lover’s hand an awful lot. She tells Pietro that
house and catches his wife on the hop. She hides her she really just wants what every wife wants. At least she
lover under the chicken coop and pretends that all is well. takes her pleasure in men of high social standing. Pietro
Pietro explains why he’s home so early. Ercolano’s wife tells her that he’ll work things out to everyone’s mutual
had hidden her lover in the cupboard under the stairs satisfaction. So she brings out some supper and they
where she’d been bleaching her veils. The young man make a merry evening of it. Dioneo says that he doesn’t
gave himself away by sneezing because of the chemicals. recall exactly how Pietro worked it all out, but the young
You can imagine the scene, and Pietro had to carry the man spent the next day trying to figure out if he’d spent
young lover out of the house before Ercolano had time more of the night with the husband or the wife.
“Pietro di Vinciolo” retrieved from publicly source: shmoop
DECAMERON 120 <https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literature/decameron/summary/fifth-day-tenth-story>
