NOVEL VIII.
A woman who had a very jealous husband, tied a thread to her great toe, by which she informed her lover whether he should come or not. The husband found it out, and whilst he was pursuing the lover, she put her maid in her place. He takes her to be his wife, beats her, cuts off her hair, and then fetches his wife's relations, who find nothing of what he had told them, and load him with reproaches.
Beatrice seemed to them all to have been strangely spite, fui towards her husband; and every one agreed that Anichino's fright and confusion must have been very great, to be held in that manner, whilst she told her husband of his design upon her. The king seeing that Filomena had done, turned to Neifile, who smiled and said, - A great charge at present rests upon me, to relate something equal to what has been said already; but I shall endeavour to acquit myself as well as I can.
Know, then, that in our city lived a certain rich merchant, named Arriguccio Berlinghieri, who, like many other trades- people now-a-days, foolishly thought to ennoble himself by marriage; and he took a wife, not at all suitable to himself, whose name was Sismonda. She (her husband, like other persons of business, being often abroad) fell in love with a young gentleman called Ruberto, who had long paid his addresses to her, and being not so discreet in that affair as she ought to have been, it happened, whether her husband had any notion of it, or for what other reason I cannot tell, that he became the most jealous creature in the world, and, laying aside all his other concerns, he applied his mind wholly to watching her; nor would he ever go to sleep without seeing her first in bed. This was the greatest torment to her, as it deprived her of all opportunity of being with her gallant; therefore, after much thinking about it, and being greatly importuned by him all the time, it came into her head at last to take the following method; namely, to have her lover come to the door in the middle of the night, and go and let him in whilst the husband was asleep; for her chamber was towards the street, and she knew that, though her husband was sometimes slow to fall asleep, yet when he was once fast he was not easily roused. And, that she might know when he was there, and nobody else perceive it, she resolved to put a thread out of the window, one end of which should go near to the ground, and the other end was to be brought low along the floor, and so under the clothes into the bed, where she would tie it to her great toe. Having acquainted Ruberto with this, she told him, that, as often as he came, he should pull the thread, when, if her husband was asleep, she would let it go: but, if he was not asleep, she would hold it fast, and then he was not to expect her. Ruberto liked this scheme very well; and he was frequently coming thither, when sometimes he could have her company, and sometimes not.
At last it happened, whilst she was asleep, as the husband was stretching out his feet in the bed, that he met with this thread; when putting down his hand and finding it tied to her toe, he thought within himself there must be some trick here; perceiving afterwards that the other end went out of the window, he held the fact for certain: accordingly he took it off her toe and put it upon his own, waiting to see what the event would be. He had not been long waiting, before Ruberto came, and pulled the thread as usual: Arriguccio felt it, but not having tied the thread fast enough, and the other drawing pretty hard, it came off, which Ruberto took for a signal that he should stay, and so he did. Arriguccio upon this rose with all haste, and taking arms with him, went to the door, to see who it was, and to inflict vengeance upon him. Now, though he was a merchant, he was a stout, war-like man; and being come to the door, and not opening it in the manner the lady used to do, Ruberto began to have a suspicion how it was, and immediately took to his heels, and the other after him. At last Ruberto having run a great way, the other still pursuing him, he faced about (as he was armed likewise) and drew his sword, and to it they fell, the one continually thrusting, whilst the other stood upon his defence.
The lady awoke the moment her husband opened the chamber-door, and finding the thread gone from her toe, concluded she was discovered. Perceiving that her husband had run after her lover, she rose, resolving what to do; and calling her maid (who was in the secret) she prevailed upon her to go into her bed; begging of her to receive all the blows patiently which her master should give, without making any discovery; and she would make her such a recompense, that she should have no cause to repent. Putting out the light, then, which was in the chamber, she went and hid herself in a corner of the house, waiting for the event. The fray between Arriguccio and Ruberto had alarmed all the neighbours, who rose and began to reprove them very severely: on which Arriguccio, without knowing who his antagonist was, or being able to do him any harm, left him (for fear of being known himself), and returned full of wrath to his own house. And coming into the chamber, "Where is this vile woman?" he said, "What! she has out the candle that I should not find her: but she is mistaken.” So he went to the bed-side, and began to beat and kick the maid (thinking it was his wife), till he was quite weary, and what with his hands and feet together, had bruised her face to a mummy.
When he had done that, he cut off her hair, saying all the reproachful things that could be spoken to a woman. The girl roared lustily (as indeed she had reason); and though she frequently cried "For God's sake have mercy! "and nothing more, yet her words were so broken with lamentation, and he so crazed too with fury, that he never discovered her not to be his wife. Having beat her then to some purpose, and cut off her hair (as we observed) he said, "Thou vile prostitute, I shall meddle with thee no farther, but will go for thy brothers, to let them know of thy exploits, when they may do as they shall think most for their own credit, and take thee away with them; for here thou shalt no longer abide:” So he locked her in, and went away by himself.
As soon as Sismonda (who had heard the whole transaction) perceived he was gone, she came into the chamber and struck a light, when she found the girl all bruised and in tears. Having comforted her in the best manner she was able, she removed her to her own apartment, where she was well taken care of: and rewarding her at Arriguccio's expense, to her own content, she went immediately and set her room to rights. She made the bed over again, as if nobody had lain in it that night, lighted up the lamp, dressed herself as if she had never been in bed, and then taking up her work, sat herself down at the top of the stairs, and began to sew. Arriguccio in the meantime went with all possible haste to her brother's house, and knocked there till he made them hear and open the door. The three brothers and the mother all rose, hearing who it was; and seeing him come alone, and at that time of night, they inquired the reason. Thereupon he related the whole affair, beginning with the thread, and going on to what he had done afterwards, and, at length, by way of conviction, showed them the hair, which he had cut off; adding, that in regard to their own honour they might take her away and dispose of her as they pleased, for that he would be no longer troubled with her. The brothers were greatly incensed at hearing this story, and in their fury ordered torches to be got ready, preparing to go back with him, that she might not want her due treatment, whilst the mother went heavily after, sometimes entreating one, and sometimes another of them, not to be too hasty in condemning their sister; alleging, that he might have quarrelled with her upon some other account, and now brought this charge by way of excuse; and declaring she could not imagine how it could be, seeing that she well knew her daughter, having brought her up herself, with more words to that effect. By this time they had reached the house, and were going up stairs, when Sismonda called out to them, "Who is there?" One of her brothers replied, "You shall soon know, you vile creature as you are! " - "Lord have mercy on me!”, said she, "what is all this for?" And rising up, she went to meet them, saying, "Brothers, you are welcome; but what is the meaning of your coming all three at this time of the night?"
They, observing that she had been sitting at work, and without any such bruises or blows as the husband had talked of, began to wonder; and, abating a little of their former wrath, they inquired the meaning of this difference with her husband, threatening her severely if she spoke anything but the truth. The lady replied, "I know not what you would have me say, nor of any quarrel that I have had with him." Arriguccio, on beholding her, was quite confounded; remembering that he had scratched and beat her in a most outrageous manner, of which no sign now appeared; and her brothers then told her what they had heard from him. She now turned to him, and said, "Alas! my dear, what is this I hear? Why would you have me thought to be a wicked person, to your great disgrace, when I am not so, and yourself an ill-tempered sorry man, when it is quite otherwise? When were you here to-night before now? Or when did you beat me? For my part, I know nothing of the matter." Arriguccio replied, "You abominable wretch! what, did we not go to bed together? Did I not return hither again after pursuing your gallant? Did I not give you a thousand blows at the same time that I cut off your hair?" - "You never went to bed in this house to-night," she made answer, "but, letting this alone, for which you can have only my word, and to come to what you now talk of, namely, your beating me, and cutting off my hair, let any one see if I have such bruises upon me; nor should I advise you to attempt ever to serve me so; for, as I hope to be saved, I would return the like, if you did. And, as to cutting off my hair, I never knew anything of it, if it was so; but let us see whether it be as you say, or not." She then pulled her veil off, and shewed her hair all entire, and in order.
The brothers and the mother seeing this, turned fiercely upon Arriguccio. "How now, sir!" they said. “Surely this can never be the thing that you came to acquaint us with; which way will you prove the rest?" Arriguccio was like one out of his wits. Gladly would he have said something, but seeing the thing appear differently from what he had undertaken to show them, he could not get out one word. She now said to her brothers, "I see he has a mind I should relate to you his vile proceedings, and my own unhappiness, and I will do it. I believe firmly that what he says may be true, and I'll tell you which way. This sorry fellow, to whom you gave me in an ill hour, who calls himself a merchant truly, and would be thought such, and who therefore should be as temperate as a hermit, and as modest as a maid: this man, I say, is drunk most nights in one tavern or other; one while with one prostitute, and then again with another, whilst I am forced to sit up for him, in the manner you have found me, till midnight for the most part, and very often till morning. And being very drunk, he might find a thread tied to the toe of one of those strumpets, and run after some person or other, and fight him, as he says; and returning back, he might beat her in that manner, and cut off her hair: and not being thoroughly sober again, he imagines it was done to me; if you observe, he appears now to be half fuddled; therefore I would have you consider him as a person in liquor, and forgive him even as I mean to do."
The mother, at these words, made a great clamour, and said, "My dear child, it shall never be; he deserves hanging, for an ill-conditioned brute as he is. He is unworthy of such a woman as you are. What could he have done more, had he catched you in the open street? Things are come to a fine pass truly, if you must be set down by the words of a little paltry merchant. This sort of fellows, you must know, if they have but little money in their pockets, are all for a gentleman's daughter; when they pretend to some coat-of-arms, and say, " I am of such a family, and my ancestors did so and so." Would to heaven my sons had followed my advice! Count Guido would gladly have taken you without a penny of fortune; yet they chose to marry you to this jewel here; and though there is not a better gentlewoman, nor one more virtuous in all Florence, yet he was not ashamed to call you strumpet, as if we were strangers to your character. But, as I hope to live, were they ruled by me, they would beat him to a mummy." Turning now to her sons, she said, "I told you, as we came along, that it could never be true. You hear how this fine brother of yours uses your sister: a poor sorry fellow as he is! were I in your place, hearing what he has both said and done towards her, I would never leave him with life. Confound him! for a drunken, quarrelsome villain, to have no shame in him!" The brothers followed up this harangue with all the severe things they could think of; concluding, at last, with saying, "We forgive you this once, as you were drunk, but take care we hear no more such stories: if we do, we will pay off all your old scores," and so they left hira. Arriguccio stood like one who had lost his senses; scarcely knowing whether all this was real, or only a dream, and from that time quarrelled no more with his wife; whilst she not only escaped from the most imminent danger, but opened a way to obtain her desires, without the least fear of her husband for the time to come.
[The Fabliau of "Les Cheveux Coupés" (Le Grand, ii, 280), is perhaps the immediate original of Boccaccio's story; but the incidents may be traced back to the tales of Bidpai, the oldest collection in the world. In one part of the fable of the "Dervise and Robbers,” at least as it appears in the version of Gallaud, a shoemaker's wife being detected in an intrigue, and tied to a pillar, persuades another woman to take her place. The husband rises during the night, and cuts off the nose of the substitute. After this catastrophe, the wife instantly resumes her position, and addresses a prayer to God to manifest her innocence by curing her of the wound. The fortieth story of the second part of Malespini is a similar tale to that of Bidpai; it also recurs in the "Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles;" and one or other of these imitations probably suggested the incident in Massinger's "Guardian," of Severino cutting off Calipso's nose, mistaking her in the dark for his wife Iolante.]
