Page 167 - THE DECAMERON: A Visionary Journey in 100 Stories and 100 Etchings by Petru Russu

lady replied, "Yes." "Then," asked the husband, "how can the priest also The lady told him what she had done that morning and what her husband
lie with you?" She explained, "I do not know what art the priest uses, had said to her after breakfast, adding, "I'm sure he won't leave the
but there is no door, however well locked, in the house that does not house but will keep watch by the door. So come in by the roof tonight,
open at his touch. He tells me that when he comes to my room's door, so we can be together." "Trust me for that," replied Filippo, eagerly.
before he opens it, he says certain words that cause my husband to fall
asleep. Then he opens the door, comes in, and lies with me. And so it is Night came, and the husband armed himself, noiselessly hiding in a ground-
always, without fail." "Then it is very wrong, Madam, and you must give floor room. The lady locked all the doors, especially making sure the mid-stair
it up altogether," said the husband. "I doubt I can ever do that, for I love door was secured to bar her husband's ascent. Filippo, having cautiously
him too much," she replied. "In that case," said the husband, "I cannot found his way over the roof, joined the lady, and they spent the night together.
give you absolution." "The pity of it!" she exclaimed. "I did not come here
to lie to you: if I could give it up, I would." "Madam," said the husband, Meanwhile, the husband, rueful and supperless, half-dead with cold, kept
"indeed I am sorry for you. I see that you are in danger of losing your watch by the door, expecting the priest. Towards daybreak, exhausted,
soul. However, I will make special supplication to God on your behalf; he lay down and fell asleep in the ground-floor room. At dawn, he woke
and perchance you may benefit from it. From time to time, I will send to find the front door open. Pretending to have just come in, he went
one of my young clerks, and you will tell him whether my prayers have upstairs and had breakfast. Shortly after, he sent a young man, disguised
helped you, and if they have, I will know what to do next." "Do not send as the priest's underling, to ask his wife if the priest had visited her again.
anyone to me at home," she replied. "If my husband finds out, he is so
jealous that he will never believe they came for an innocent purpose, Understanding what was meant, the lady replied that he had not
and I will have no peace with him all year long." "Have no fear," said the come that night. She added that if he continued to neglect her,
husband, "rest assured that I will manage it so that you will never hear a he might be forgotten, though she had no desire to forget him.
word about it from him." "If you are sure of that," she said, "then I have The husband spent many more nights in the same way, hoping to
no more to say." And so, her confession ended, and penance ordered, catch the priest, while the lady and Filippo enjoyed themselves.
she rose and went to mass, while the unlucky husband, fuming and
fretting, hurried to change out of his priest's disguise and went home, Eventually, the husband, unable to stand it any longer, demanded to
determined to devise a way to catch the priest and his wife together and know what she had said to the priest during her confession. The lady
take his revenge on them both. refused to tell him, saying it wasn't proper. The husband shouted,
"Sinful woman, I know what you told the priest! Tell me who this priest
When the lady came home from church, she could see in her is, or I'll bleed you." The lady smiled and said, "I find it amusing that a
husband's face that she had spoiled his Christmas, although he tried to wise man should be led by a simple woman like a ram to the slaughter.
hide it, hoping she wouldn't discover what he had done. He had already You've let jealousy blind you. Do you think I'm as blind as you are? I
decided to keep watch for the priest by his own front door that night. recognized you that morning when you pretended to be the priest. If
So he said to the lady: "I have to go out tonight to supper and then sleep you had been wise, you wouldn't have tried to trick me with that plan."
elsewhere. Make sure the front door, mid-stair door, and bedroom door
are well locked, and you can go to bed whenever you like." "Very well," She continued, "Everything I confessed to the priest was true! I said I
replied the lady. As soon as she could, she went to the aperture and loved a priest, and you turned into a priest. I said there was no door in the
gave the usual signal, which Filippo soon heard, and he was at the spot. house that wouldn't open for this priest to lie with me, and the doors were
never closed to you. I said the priest lay with me every night, and didn't
you always lie with me? I sent word that the priest hadn't been with me
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