Page 46 - THE DECAMERON: A Visionary Journey in 100 Stories and 100 Etchings by Petru Russu

The Decameron will await me at the inn, and I shall be taxed with discourtesy." rubbing his eyes as if just roused from deep sleep. Fearfully,
Andreuccio replied, "I am a brother of the lady who is within."

The bully, not waiting for him to finish, called out sternly, "I
She said, "I can send word that they are not to expect you at the
inn. You would better discharge the debt of courtesy by inviting
know not why I come not down and give thee play with my
your friends here to sup, and then you might all go together."
cudgel, whilst thou givest me sign of life, ass, tedious driveller

that thou must needs be, and drunken sot, thus to disturb our
Andreuccio agreed to stay, and she pretended to send word
to the inn. They had a splendid supper, which she prolonged

until nightfall. When Andreuccio was about to leave, she night's rest." With that, he withdrew and closed the window.
Some neighbors, knowing the bully's nature, advised Andreuccio
insisted he stay, saying Naples was no place to walk about to leave, fearing for his safety. Despairing of recovering his money,
after dark, especially for a stranger. Believing her, he stayed. Andreuccio set off towards the inn, but the stench he emitted led
After supper, they talked for a long time, and when the night him to seek a bath in the sea. He turned left up a street called
was well advanced, she gave him her chamber and retired to Ruga Catalana and hid in a dismantled house when he saw two
another with her women. men with a lantern approaching, fearing they might be patrols.

It was a hot night, so Andreuccio stripped to his doublet and laid The two men entered the house, carrying iron tools, and
his stockings on the bed's head. Needing to relieve himself, he began examining them. One remarked on the stench, raising
asked the lad where to go and was shown a door in the corner of the lantern to reveal Andreuccio. They asked who he was
the room. Andreuccio, suspecting nothing, went in but stepped on and, upon hearing his story, deduced that he had been in
a loose plank, falling into a narrow alley filled with filth. He called the house of Scarabone Buttafuoco. They told Andreuccio he
for the lad, who had run off to inform the lady. She quickly found was lucky to have fallen, as he would have been killed for his
Andreuccio's clothes and money, closed the door, and left him. money otherwise. They then offered him a chance to join them
in a venture that would more than compensate for his loss.
Realizing he had been tricked, Andreuccio climbed over a low
wall into the street and went to the house, shouting and battering Desperate, Andreuccio agreed. The two men planned to rob
the door. The lady's servant-girl appeared at the window, the tomb of Archbishop Filippo Minutolo, who had been buried
pretending not to know him, and told him to leave. Andreuccio, with valuable ornaments. On their way to the cathedral, they
now certain of his misfortune, bewailed his loss and renewed his decided to wash Andreuccio at a well. They lowered him into the
attack on the door with a large stone. The neighbors, annoyed well, but as he signaled to be pulled up, a company of patrols
by the noise, came to their windows and told him to leave, arrived to drink. The two men fled, and the patrols, seeing
thinking his story was a mere fiction to annoy the good woman. Andreuccio, were terrified and fled, leaving their arms behind.

Emboldened by the neighbors' words, a man who had been Andreuccio, bewildered, climbed out of the well and found
lurking within the house, the good woman's bully, showed his comrades, who explained why they had fled. They
himself at the window. With a gruff voice and menacing tone, proceeded to the cathedral, raised the tomb's lid, and forced
he demanded, "Who is below there?" Andreuccio looked up and Andreuccio to enter. Fearing a trick, Andreuccio took the
saw a fearsome fellow with a black, matted beard, yawning and Archbishop's ring for himself before handing up the other

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The Decameron