Page 48 - THE DECAMERON: 100 Days on 100 Etchings by Petru Rusu

“Alatiel“
Beminidab is the name of the Sultan of Babylon even though
it sounds like a new treatment for rheumatoid arthritis. He has
a smoking hot daughter called Alatiel. She’s been promised in
marriage to the King of Algarve (modern day Morocco). So the
Sultan fits out a ship and sends Alatiel off to her bridegroom.
But here comes Fortune, the grumpy harlot. A storm blows
up and destroys ship and crew. Alatiel survives with a few
of her women, but now they’re alone on a foreign shore. A
nobleman named Pericone da Visalgo finds her. He can’t
speak her language, but beauty speaks for itself. Pericone falls
hard for Alatiel. He decides to keep her as his mistress, if he
can’t actually marry her. Alatiel instructs her maidens to keep
their identity a secret. Meanwhile, Pericone’s getting hot and
bothered - he doesn’t know how to get Alatiel into his bed. So
he tries what many another young man has done: he plies her
with alcohol. It works. Alatiel doesn’t know what she’s been
so worried about. The whole sex thing is pretty enjoyable. But
Fortune is fickle. Have we said that? Pericone has a brother
called Marato. He’s into Alatiel, too. So Marato and his friends
break into Pericone’s house, murder him, and steal his stuff.
Including Alatiel. They get on a ship for Corinth. Alatiel’s freaked
out, but apparently Marato has, um, his ways of consoling her.
But, you know, Fortune. The ship’s captained by two Genoese
men, both of whom fall in love with Alatiel. They conspire
together to get her, but they don’t work out the fine details (like
who gets her first). So they wind up pushing Marato overboard
and then fighting each other for the girl. One dies and the other
is injured. But the remaining guy “inherits” Alatiel and takes her
to his house in Corinth. Beauty of this caliber can’t be hidden for
long. The Prince of Morea (The Peloponnese) hears of Alatiel’s
beauty. And a Prince trumps a sea captain, so he “wins” her.
Because Alatiel’s very high-class, the Prince treats her more like
a wife. Alatiel feels fortunate and that makes her more beautiful.
And that causes more trouble. Now, the Duke of Athens hears
about her beauty. He murders the Prince (that’s 4) and shoves
him out his bedroom window. The Duke discovers Alatiel
sleeping naked and is so aroused that he makes love to her
with the Prince’s blood still on his hands. Ew. Alatiel’s spirited
away by the Duke. But the Duke has a wife, so he keeps Alatiel
DECAMERON 48
secretly. Back at the Prince’s house, they’ve figured out what
happened and prepare to go to war with the Duke of Athens.
The Duke prepares to defend himself and gathers his allies. And
this is where the family tree comes into play. The Emperor of
Constantinople sends his son, Constant. Constant is the brother
of the Duke’s wife. Did we mention that the Duchess is not
happy about Alatiel? Constant’s eager to meet Alatiel. Guess
why? So instead of making war, Constant fakes illness and goes
back to his sister. He promises to help her out by removing
Alatiel. Because, you know, that’s the kind of good bro he is.
So he fits out a boat and abducts Alatiel, who has to take her
pleasure where she can get it. But it’s not over yet. Meet Uzbek,
King of the Turks. He sees that Constant puts all his attention on
his mistress and knows it’s a good opportunity to attack. Uzbek
conquers Constant and takes prisoners. Guess who’s among
them? Constant’s father is not pleased about all this, so he
works with the King of Cappadoccia to attack Uzbek. Together,
they kill him and conquer the land. We’ve lost count of all the
men who died for Alatiel. Alatiel’s been left in the hands of
Antico, Uzbek’s faithful servant. Who’s you guessed it smitten
with Alatiel’s beauty. But he also speaks her language, so Alatiel
is won over. They flee together to Rhodes after Uzbek’s death.
Antico becomes ill and dies. He bequeaths his property to a
Cypriot merchant. This property includes Alatiel. Now Fortune’s
wheel turns again. An old servant of her father’s spots her. His
name is Antigono. He urges her to tell of her misfortunes so
that he can help her. She does. Antigono comes up with a plan
to restore Alatiel to her former life. He instructs her in what to
say. Then he negotiates with her father to bring Alatiel home.
Alatiel tells an, um, “allegorical” version of her adventures to
her dad, including a stay in a nunnery and adventures that are
all chaperoned at every step. The Sultan falls for it, and makes
arrangements for Alatiel to marry the King of Algarve. Again. But
this time it sticks, and Alatiel is somehow able to convince her
husband the King that she’s a virgin. Which means, in this world,
that they live happily ever after. Fun fact: the translator points
out that Alatiel is an anagram for “la lieta,” which means “happy
woman.” Boccaccio is maybe slyly suggesting that he knows
what it is that makes women happy.
“Alatiel” Retrieved from publicly source: shmoop
<https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literature/decameron/summary/second-day-seventh-story>