Page 148 - SUMMARIES OF GIOVANNI BOCCACCIO’S DECAMEON : A Visionary Journey In 100 Stories And 100 Etchings By Petru Russu

Brother Cipolla : A Tale of Tongue and Trickery

Boccaccio’s The Decameron often dances between the sacred and profane,
and The Sixth Day’s Tenth Novell offers one of its finest comic waltzes. In
it, Fra Cipolla, whose name fittingly means “onion”, is a brilliant emblem of

audacity cloaked in religiosity. He’s no solemn monk poring over scripture, but
a master of theatrics who knows his audience like a street performer knows
the rhythm of the crowd.

Every year, Cipolla visits the village of Certaldo, famous for its onions, to
gather alms on behalf of his order. Though he’s a friar with little education, he
holds a remarkable power: the gift of speech. His sermonizing isn’t filled with
doctrine but deliciously embellished tales. So when he tells the townspeople

he has brought back one of the feathers of the Angel Gabriel from the Holy
Land, they not only believe him, they’re enchanted.

Enter Giovanni del Bragoniera and Biagio Pizzini, two spirited tricksters who

know Cipolla all too well. Seeing an opportunity to expose his bluff, they
sneak into his room during breakfast and replace his prized relic with common
kitchen coals. The stage is set for humiliation.

Yet what follows is not Cipolla’s unraveling, but his apotheosis as the
consummate connoisseur of crisis. Before the gathered crowd, upon
discovering the theft, he doesn’t falter. He spins a new tale on the spot,
claiming the coals are in fact the very ones upon which Saint Lawrence was

martyred, scorching in his faith. His delivery is so convincing, so fervent, that
THIS IMAGE BURSTS WITH
THEATRICAL CHARM, TURNING even the pranksters can’t help but admire his quick thinking.
FRA CIPOLLA’S SLEIGHT OF
SPEECH INTO KALEIDOSCOPIC
The villagers are none the wiser, awed by his words, moved by the story, and
SATIRE, HIS TALE BLAZES
eager to offer alms. Cipolla’s triumph isn’t just in salvaging his scheme; it’s in
NOT WITH TRUTH, BUT WITH
MESMERIZING INVENTION. wielding the raw power of narrative to reshape truth.
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