Page 90 - THE DECAMERON: 100 Days on 100 Etchings by Petru Rusu
P. 90

“Andreuola and Gabriotto“



             This story takes place in Brescia and involves another                       And here’s where it gets creepy. All of a sudden, Gabriotto
              beautiful young couple. Andreuola falls in love with her                    heaves a huge sigh and says that he’s dying. Andreuola holds

              neighbor Gabriotto. This is all well and good, except that                  him in her arms as he dies and then realizes her predicament.
              Gabriotto comes from a lower social class than Andreuola.                   What’s she going to do about his body? Remember, this was a
              But Andreuola and Gabriotto work it out, at least in secrecy.               secret affair. She wants to kill herself so that she can be with
              With the help of her maidservant, the two meet in secret in                 Gabriotto, but her maidservant reminds her that suicides go

              her garden. They become married in the most basic sense.                    to Hell. So they decide to wrap Gabriotto in silk and deposit
              In other words, they have sex and Gabriotto gives her a ring.               him on the doorstep of his house. Which sounds like a good
              One night, Andreuola has a bad dream. She sees herself in the               idea, until they’re caught by the night watchman. Andreuola’s
              garden with Gabriotto when something “dark” and “terrible”                  brought before the chief magistrate, who turns out to be a

              comes from his body. She can’t stop the thing from dragging                 sleaze. He tries to convince her that he’ll drop all charges if
              him underground. Andreuola’s terrified by this dream and tries              she sleeps with him. When she refuses, he tries to force her.
              to keep Gabriotto out of the garden. But of course she can’t                Andreuola fights him off and curses him out. As it turns out,
              resist him, so they meet there again. She tells him about her               Gabriotto died because of a cyst that burst near his heart.

              dream. And he laughs at her. If he really believed in dreams,               Andreuola’s off the hook. Soon, Andreuola’s father finds out
              he says, he’d be in trouble. Just the other night, he’d dreamed             what’s going on and goes to the magistrate. He’s steamed that
              that he was out hunting and captured a beautiful white doe.                 she’s been taken away. The magistrate pretends like he was
              It followed him around and he put a golden chain around                     testing Andreuola by coming on to her and found that she was

              it. Does this sound familiar to anyone? But while the doe is                a modest woman. So can he marry her, please? Andreuola
              resting its cheek on his chest, a black greyhound appears and               asks for her father’s forgiveness and as he’s a good dad, he
              sinks its teeth into his left side. The devil dog then carries              gives it to her. He also honors Gabriotto as his son-in-law
              Gabriotto’s heart off between his teeth. Gabriotto laughs at                and gives him a big funeral. The pervy magistrate still tries to

              his own terror on waking from the dream. So stupid! What                    marry Andreuola, but her dad allows her and her maidservant
              could it mean, anyway? Andreuola is completely freaked out.                 to enter a convent and become nuns.















                                                                                                                              “Andreuola and Gabriotto” retrieved from publicly source: shmoop
     DECAMERON      90                                                                                      <https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literature/decameron/summary/fourth-day-sixth-story>
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