Page 96 - THE DECAMERON: 100 Days on 100 Etchings by Petru Rusu
P. 96
“The Eaten Heart“
This one takes place in Provençe, where two knights named lady, who eats up every delicious morsel. Roussillon asks if
Guillaume were friends. Guillaume de Roussillon has a she enjoyed the dish. Why, yes, she replies, very much so.
beautiful and charming wife. Guillaume de Cabestanh is Then comes the big reveal. Roussillon tells her that he tore the
hopelessly in love with her. The lady returns her lover’s heart out of her lover with his own hands. Instead of gagging
affection, and pretty soon they’re sneaking about the castle and vomiting, the lady takes him to task for punishing the
to fulfill their desires. But Guillaume the Husband finds out. wrong person (she doesn’t understand the whole friendship-
He’s miffed because Guillaume de Cabestanh had been his bond thing). She declares that she’ll never taste another piece
best friend. So Guillaume de Roussillon invites his good friend of food since she has eaten the most perfect thing in the
over to discuss a road trip to a major tournament in France. world. So she steps out the window casement and jumps to
On the way, he ambushes Cabestanh and cuts his heart from her death. Roussillon panics when he sees her mangled body
his body. Roussillon has the heart sent on to his cook and on the ground below. He saddles up and heads out of town
instructs him to prepare this “boar’s heart” in the most tasty before his wicked deeds become known. The lady’s family has
way possible. When the cooked heart arrives at the table, her body and the body of Guillaume de Cabestanh buried in
Roussillon has no appetite. He gives the special dish to his the same tomb at her castle.
“The Eaten Heart” retrieved from publicly source: shmoop
DECAMERON 96 <https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literature/decameron/summary/fourth-day-ninth-story>