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>
