Page 208 - THE DECAMERON: A Visionary Journey in 100 Stories and 100 Etchings by Petru Russu

The Decameron you, forsooth, I who might content a crowd! Would they had choked you The Eighth Day | The Tenth Novell
with the filth in which they have soused you; it was your fit resting place.
Storyteller: Dioneo
Now, to think that a reputable physician and a married man should go by
night after strange women!" Thus, and with much more to the same effect,
A Sicilian courtesan named Madame Biancafiore used her cunning
she tormented him until midnight while he was busy washing himself.
to deceive a young merchant named Salabetto, taking all the
money he had earned from selling his goods in Palermo. Later, he
The next day, Bruno and Buffalmacco, having painted their bodies with livid
patches to look as if they had been thrashed, went to the doctor's house.
sum of money from her, leaving her with a worthless pawn.
Finding that he was already up, they went in, greeted by a foul smell, as pretended to return with richer merchandise and borrowed a large
the house had not yet been thoroughly cleaned. The doctor, informed of
their arrival, came to meet them and wished them good morning. Bruno
and Buffalmacco, having prepared their response, replied, "No good
morning for you. Rather, we pray God to give you enough bad years to
end you, as there lives no more arrant and faithless traitor. It's no fault
of yours if we, who did our best to honor and please you, have not met
a dog's death. Your faithlessness has cost us as many blows last night
as would more than suffice to keep an ass trotting all the way from here
to Rome. Besides, we have been in peril of expulsion from the company
in which we arranged for your enrollment. If you doubt our words, look
at our bodies and see the state they are in." They bared their breasts,
showing the painted patches, and then covered them up again.

The doctor tried to make excuses, recounting his misfortunes and how
he had been thrown into the trench. But Buffalmacco interrupted, "Would
he had thrown you from the bridge into the Arno! Why did you have to
think of God and the saints? Did we not warn you?" "God's faith," replied
the doctor, "I did not." "How?" said Buffalmacco, "You did not? You did
so more than a little; the one we sent for you told us you trembled like
an aspen and didn't know where you were. You have played us a sorry
trick, but never again shall anyone do so. As for you, we will give you the
requital you deserve."

The doctor began to beg their pardon and implore them not to expose
him to shame, using all his eloquence to make peace with them. If he
had treated them honorably before, he did so even more abundantly
now, for fear they would publish his disgrace. He courted them both by
entertaining them at his table and in other ways. And so you have heard
1985 HAND COLORED AQUA TINTA / AQUA FORTE
how wisdom is imparted to those who seek it. 29,5X19,5 CM. | 11¾X7½ IN. (IMAGE SIZE).
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The Decameron