NOVEL IV.
Tofano shuts his wife one night out of doors, and she, not being able to persuade him to let her in, pretends to throw herself into a well, and drops a big stone in; he runs thither in a fright; she slips into the house, and locking him out, abuses him well.
Eliza had no sooner made an end, than the king turned to Lauretta, who immediately began to this effect: - O love, how great is thy prevailing influence! how various and subtle are thy devices! What artist, what philosopher, could ever think of or contrive such shifts and evasions, as thou teachest in an instant to those that follow thy ways?
All Other instructions whatever are slow compared to thine, as appears by what has already been said on the subject: to which I mean to add the stratagem of a certain lady, conducted in such a manner, as nothing but love could ever have dictated.
There lived at Arezzo a certain rich man named Tofano, who had a very handsome wife, named Monna Ghita, of whom, all at once, and without knowing why, he became extremely jealous. This greatly vexed the lady, who would frequently demand of him his reasons for such a suspicion; and he being able to assign none, but such as were general, or nothing to the purpose, she resolved to plague him with the real evil, which hitherto had only been imaginary. Having observed that a certain young gentleman had taken particular notice of her, she encouraged him so far, that they only waited for a favourable opportunity to put their design into execution. Amongst the rest of her husband's bad qualities, he had taken, she perceived, to drinking, which she not only seemed pleased with, but would persuade him to drink more, and make him drunk as often as she could. In this way she first found an opportunity of being with her lover, and from that time, they met continually, and by the same means. She depended indeed so much upon this drunken disposition of her husband's, that she would not only bring her lover into the house, but even go out and spend the greatest part of the night along with him, his residence not being very far off.
Matters continuing thus, the husband began to perceive that, whilst she encouraged him to drink in that manner, she scarcely tasted wine herself; and thence he was led to suspect, as was really the case, that she made him drunk with a view only to her own private purposes, during the time of his being asleep. Desiring to have some positive proof of this, he pretended once (without having drunk a drop all that day), both in his words and actions, to be the most disordered creature that could be; perceiving which, and thinking that he had then had a dose sufficient, and that he would sleep without any more liquor, she straightway put him to bed. Tofano finding his wife did not come to bed, got up, and bolted the door, and then went and sat at the window to wait for her coming home, that she might see that he was acquainted with her doings, and there he continued till her return. She, finding the door bolted, was exceedingly uneasy, and tried several times to force it open. After Tofano had suffered this for some time, he said, "Madam, you give yourself trouble to no purpose, for here you shall not come: go back, if you please, for you shall enter these doors no more, till I have showed you that respect, which these ways of yours require, before all your relations and neighbours."
She then begged, for Heaven's sake, that he would open the door, saying, that she had not been where he imagined; but that, as the evenings were long, and she could neither sleep all the time, nor sit up by herself, she had gone to see a gentlewoman in the neighbourhood. But all was to no purpose, he seemed resolved that the whole town should be witnesses of their shame, when otherwise they would have known nothing of the matter. The lady, finding her entreaties of no effect, had recourse to threats, and said, "Either open the door, or I will make you the most miserable man that ever was born." Tofano replied, "And which way will you do it?" She, whose wits were sharpened by love, continued, "Before I will suffer such a disgrace, as you mean wrongfully to fasten upon me, I will throw myself directly into this well, and when I am found there afterwards, everybody will conclude that you did it in one of your drunken fits; and then there will be no help for you but to fly your country, and lose all your property, or be put to death for murdering your wife." All this, however, having no effect upon him, she cried out: "I can no longer bear your scorn, God forgive you for being the cause of my death! "and the night being so dark that they could scarcely see one another, she ran towards the well, took up a great stone that lay by the well-side, and crying aloud, "God forgive this act of mine!" She let it fall into the well. The stone made a great noise when it came to the water, which Tofano hearing, firmly believed that she had thrown herself in, and taking the rope and bucket he ran to help her out. She meanwhile stood concealed by the side of the door, and seeing him go towards the well, she got into the house, and made all fast; then going to the window, she began to say to him, "Why, husband, you should use water whilst you are drinking, and not after you have made yourself drunk." Tofano, seeing her laugh at him, returned, and, finding the door bolted, begged of her to
open it. But she now changed her note, and began to cry out, "You drunken, worthless, troublesome wretch! you shall not come in here to-night; I can no longer bear with your evil practices; I will let all the world know what sort of a person you are, and what hours you keep." "Tofano, on the other hand, being grievously provoked, used all the bad language he could think of, and made a most terrible uproar. The neighbours were all roused out of their beds, and, coming to their windows, inquired what was the matter. Upon this she began to lament and say, "It is this wicked man, who is always coming home drunk at all hours of the night. I have endured this a long time, and said a great deal to no purpose, and now I wanted to try if I could not shame him out of it by locking him out." Tofano, on the contrary, told them how the matter was, and threatened her exceeding. "There!'said she to the neighbours, "Now you see what sort of a man he is: what would you say if I were in the street and he within doors, as I am? Then you might think he was in the right. Take notice, I beseech you, how artful he is: he says I have done that which he seems to have done himself, and talks something about the well; but I wish he was in it, that he might have some water as well as wine."
The neighbours all joined in blaming Tofano, deeming him the person in fault, and giving him many hard words for his usage of his wife; and the thing was noised about the city, till her relations heard of it, who came thither in a body, and inquiring of one neighbour and another how it was, they took Tofano, and beat him very severely. Afterwards they went into the house, and carried the lady away with them, with all that was hers, threatening Tofano with farther punishment. And now, finding the ill effects of his jealousy, and still having a regard for his wife, he got some friends to intercede with her to come home again, promising never more to be jealous, and giving her leave for the future to do as she would. Thus, like a simple knave, he was glad to purchase peace, after having been to the last degree injured.
[The "Calandra" of Cardinal Bibbiena, the best comedy that appeared in Italy previous to the time of Goldoni, is taken from this tale; so also is one of Duncourt's plays, and it probably suggested to Moliere the plot of his celebrated comedy, "George Dandin.” The story, however, had been frequently told before the time of Boccaccio, being one of the fabliaux of the "Trouveurs," published by Le Grand (vol. iii., p. 143). It appears in the still more ancient tales of Petrus Alphonsus, and in one of the French versions of "Dolopator, or the Seven Wise Masters." ]
