Page 218 - THE DECAMERON: 100 Days on 100 Etchings by Petru Rusu

“Messer Carisendi“
Lauretta takes us back to Bologna, where one Messer Gentile
Carisendi is deeply in love with a woman called Catalina.
Alas (and there’s always an alas), she’s happily married to
Niccoluccio, a chief magistrate of Modena. Though Gentile’s
a good and kind gentleman, Catalina doesn’t return his love.
When Niccoluccio goes off to Modena to fill his position as
magistrate, Catalina who’s pregnant stays behind in one of
his residences outside the city. She becomes ill and, to the
eyes of all her kinsfolk, dies. They don’t bother to save the
baby, because they think it’s too premature. Catalina’s buried
in a tomb and her story’s over. That is, until Gentile finds out
about her death. He feels that it’s too bad that he never had
the chance to kiss her, so he rides out to her tomb, breaks
in and lies down beside her for a kiss. Here’s where it gets
a little creepy: while he’s at it, he decides to feel her breast,
too. He figures he’ll never get another opportunity like this.
Lauretta comments, you know men, when they want one
thing it leads to another…While caressing her breast, Gentile
feels a faint heartbeat there, so he gently removes her from
the tomb and brings her to his house where his mother tends
to her. Soon, Catalina revives; all it takes is a warm bath and
a cozy fireplace. On regaining consciousness, she realizes
she’s in a strange place. Gentile tells her what’s happened.
She begs him not to dishonor her or her husband, and he
gallantly agrees. She wants to return to her husband as soon
as possible, but Gentile has grander plans. He wants to do
something more ceremonial to mark the occasion, but he has
to go out of town first. He asks Catalina to stay in his home
until he returns. Catalina agrees. After all, he did rescue
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her from the tomb. Soon, she gives birth to a son (she was
farther along than her kinsfolk thought). Everyone’s overjoyed.
Gentile arranges for a lavish banquet and invites Niccoluccio
and family out to his house. He keeps Catalina and the
baby hidden and tells his company that he’d like to perform
a Persian custom. This custom requires the host to show
his guests his most precious possession. But first, he has a
question. He asks Niccoluccio, who’s a magistrate, about the
ownership rights over a servant that had been cast into the
streets by his original lords and picked up by another master.
Who legally gets to keep this servant? Niccoluccio says that
the second master has rights, since he picked up the servant
and nursed it back to health. At this point, Gentile reveals
Catalina and her baby. No one recognizes them at first. Even
Catalina’s husband asks her where’s she’s from. She doesn’t
reply. Gentile explains that this is the servant of whom he
spoke, and since he’s the second master, he has legal rights
to keep her. But he’s not going to do that. He tells everyone
what happened and who the lady really is. Everyone bursts
into tears and waits to see what Gentile will do next. Gentile
says that although this is no longer the wife his family cast
out, the child really does belong to Niccoluccio. Therefore,
he’ll give them back. He presents the baby to Niccoluccio.
More tears all around. Niccoluccio’s overjoyed, and he and
Gentile become the best of friends after this. Now Lauretta
poses a question: wasn’t Gentile the most noble of all the
generous figures they had discussed that day? After all, he
was a young lover and still managed to control his passions to
do the right thing.
“Messer Carisendi” retrieved from publicly source: shmoop
<https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literature/decameron/summary/tenth-day-fourth-story>