Page 185 - THE DECAMERON: A Visionary Journey in 100 Stories and 100 Etchings by Petru Russu

exclaimed the priest. "It's all Douai, not to say Trouai, make. Some say it's
Quadrouai. I bought it from Lotto, the secondhand dealer, for seven good The clerk returned with the cloak and delivered the message to Master
pounds, and had it five good soldi under value, according to Buglietto, an Priest, who laughed and replied, "Tell her, when you next see her, that
excellent judge of these things." "Oh! Say you so?" said Belcolore. "So if she doesn't lend us the mortar, I won't lend her the pestle: tit for tat."
help me God, I wouldn't have thought it. Let me look at it." The priest,
ready for action, doffed the cloak and handed it to her. She put it in a safe Bentivegna paid no attention to his wife's words, thinking that his scolding
place and said, "Now, Sir, let's go to the hut; no one goes there." And so had provoked them. But Belcolore was quite displeased with Master Priest
they did. There, the priest, giving her many a mighty kiss and holding her and didn't speak to him until the vintage. After that, with the fear of Lucifer
close, solaced himself with her for quite a while. the Great, to whom he threatened to consign her, and the must and roast
chestnuts he sent her, she made up with him, and they had many jolly
Afterwards, he hurried away in his cassock, as if he had just officiated at times together. Though she didn't get the five pounds from him, he put
a wedding. But when he returned to his quarters, he realized that all the a new skin on her tabret and fitted it with a little bell, which satisfied her.
candles he received as offerings throughout the year wouldn't amount to
half of five pounds. He saw that he had made a bad bargain and regretted
leaving the cloak as a pledge. He thought about how he could recover it
without paying anything. Being cunning, he came up with an excellent The Eighth Day | The Third Novell
plan to achieve his goal. Storyteller: Elissa

The next day, a saint's day, he sent a neighbor's lad to Monna Belcolore Calandrino, Bruno, and Buffalmaco, all painters, traveled to
with a request to borrow her stone mortar, saying that Binguccio dal Mugnone to find the Heliotrope stone. Calandrino believed he
Poggio and Nuto Buglietti were to have breakfast with him, and he found it and returned home with stones, only to be rebuked by
needed the mortar to make a sauce. Belcolore sent the mortar, and his wife, whom he angrily beat. His friends later revealed the
around breakfast time, the priest, thinking that Bentivegna del Mazzo and matter to be foolishness.
Belcolore would be eating, called his clerk and said, "Take the mortar back
to Belcolore and say, 'My master thanks you very kindly and asks you to
return the cloak that the lad left with you as a pledge.'"

The clerk took the mortar to Belcolore's house, where he found her at the
table with Bentivegna. He set the mortar down and delivered the priest's
message. Belcolore hesitated, but Bentivegna gave her a threatening look
and said, "So, you take a pledge from Master Priest? By Christ, I have
half a mind to give you a great clout on the chin. Go, give it back at once,
and make sure that whatever he wants, even if it's our very donkey, he
is never denied." With a very bad grace, Belcolore got up, went to the
wardrobe, took out the cloak, and gave it to the clerk, saying, "Tell your
master from me: 'Would to God he may never use my mortar again, such
honor has he done me for this turn!'" 1985 HAND COLORED AQUA TINTA / AQUA FORTE
29,5X19,5 CM. | 11¾X7½ IN. (IMAGE SIZE).
181
The Decameron