The Decameron, Volume II

discourse, whom not a few of you may have seen or heardof, whose name--for such high qualities merit not oblivion--was MadonnaOretta, her husband being Messer Geri Spina. Now this lady, happening tobe, as we are, in the country, moving from place to place for pleasurewith a company of ladies and gentlemen, whom she had entertained the daybefore at breakfast at her house, and the place of their next sojourn,whither they were to go afoot, being some considerable distance off, oneof the gentlemen of the company said to her:--"Madonna Oretta, so pleaseyou, I will carry you great part of the way a horseback with one of thefinest stories in the world." "Indeed, Sir," replied the lady, "I prayyou do so; and I shall deem it the greatest of favours." Whereupon thegentleman, who perhaps was no better master of his weapon than of hisstory, began a tale, which in itself was indeed excellent, but which, byrepeating the same word three, four or six times, and now and againharking back, and saying:--"I said not well"; and erring not seldom inthe names, setting one in place of another, he utterly spoiled; besideswhich, his mode of delivery accorded very ill with the character of thepersons and incidents: insomuch that Madonna Oretta, as she listened, didoft sweat, and was like to faint, as if she were ill and at the point ofdeath. And being at length able to bear no more of it, witting that thegentleman had got into a mess and was not like to get out of it, she saidpleasantly to him:--"Sir, this horse of yours trots too hard; I pray yoube pleased to set me down." The gentleman, being perchance more quick ofapprehension than he was skilful in narration, missed not the meaning ofher sally, and took it in all good and gay humour. So, leaving unfinishedthe tale which he had begun, and so mishandled, he addressed himself totell her other stories.

  (1) Cf. First Day, Novel X.

  NOVEL II.

  --Cisti, a baker, by an apt speech gives Messer Geri Spina to know that hehas by inadvertence asked that of him which he should not.--

  All the ladies and the men alike having greatly commended MadonnaOretta's apt saying, the queen bade Pampinea follow suit, and thus shebegan:--

  Fair ladies, I cannot myself determine whether Nature or Fortune be themore at fault, the one in furnishing a noble soul with a vile body, orthe other in allotting a base occupation to a body endowed with a noblesoul, whereof we may have seen an example, among others, in ourfellow-citizen, Cisti; whom, furnished though he was with a most loftysoul, Fortune made a baker. And verily I should curse Nature and Fortunealike, did I not know that Nature is most discreet, and that Fortune,albeit the foolish imagine her blind, has a thousand eyes. For 'tis, Isuppose, that, being wise above a little, they do as mortals ofttimes do,who, being uncertain as to their future, provide against contingencies byburying their most precious treasures in the basest places in theirhouses, as being the least likely to be suspected; whence, in the hour oftheir greatest need, they bring them forth, the base place having keptthem more safe than the dainty chamber would have done. And so these twoarbitresses of the world not seldom hide their most precious commoditiesin the obscurity of the crafts that are reputed most base, that thencebeing brought to light they may shine with a brighter splendour. Whereofhow in a trifling matter Cisti, the baker, gave proof, restoring the eyesof the mind to Messer Geri Spina, whom the story of his wife, MadonnaOretta, has brought to my recollection, I am minded to shew you in anarrative which shall be of the briefest.

  I say then that Pope Boniface, with whom Messer Geri Spina stood veryhigh in favour and honour, having sent divers of his courtiers toFlorence as ambassadors to treat of certain matters of great moment, andthey being lodged in Messer Geri's house, where he treated with them ofthe said affairs of the Pope, 'twas, for some reason or another, the wontof Messer Geri and the ambassadors of the Pope to pass almost everymorning by Santa Maria Ughi, where Cisti, the baker, had his bakehouse,and plied his craft in person. Now, albeit Fortune had allotted him avery humble occupation, she had nevertheless prospered him therein tosuch a degree that he was grown most wealthy, and without ever aspiringto change it for another, lived in most magnificent style, having amonghis other good things a cellar of the best wines, white and red, thatwere to be found in Florence, or the country parts; and marking MesserGeri and the ambassadors of the Pope pass every morning by his door, hebethought him that, as 'twas very hot, 'twould be a very courteous thingto give them to drink of his good wine; but comparing his rank with thatof Messer Geri, he deemed it unseemly to presume to invite him, and castabout how he might lead Messer Geri to invite himself. So, wearing alwaysthe whitest of doublets and a spotless apron, that denoted rather themiller, than the baker, he let bring, every morning about the hour thathe expected Messer Geri and the ambassadors to pass by his door, aspick-and-span bucket of fresh and cool spring water, and a smallBolognese flagon of his good white wine, and two beakers that shone likesilver, so bright were they: and there down he sat him, as they came by,and after hawking once or twice, fell a drinking his wine with such gustothat 'twould have raised a thirst in a corpse. Which Messer Geri havingobserved on two successive mornings, said on the third:--"What is't,Cisti? Is't good?" Whereupon Cisti jumped up, and answered:--"Ay, Sir,good it is; but in what degree I might by no means make you understand,unless you tasted it." Messer Geri, in whom either the heat of theweather, or unwonted fatigue, or, perchance, the gusto with which he hadseen Cisti drink, had bred a thirst, turned to the ambassadors and saidwith a smile:--"Gentlemen, 'twere well to test the quality of this worthyman's wine: it may be such that we shall not repent us." And so in a bodythey came up to where Cisti stood; who, having caused a goodly bench tobe brought out of the bakehouse, bade them be seated, and to theirservants, who were now coming forward to wash the beakers, said:--"Standback, comrades, and leave this office to me, for I know as well how toserve wine as to bake bread; and expect not to taste a drop yourselves."Which said, he washed four fine new beakers with his own hands, andhaving sent for a small flagon of his good wine, he heedfully filled thebeakers, and presented them to Messer Geri and his companions; who deemedthe wine the best that they had drunk for a great while. So Messer Geri,having praised the wine not a little, came there to drink every morningwith the ambassadors as long as they tarried with him.

  Now when the ambassadors had received their conge, and were about todepart, Messer Geri gave a grand banquet, to which he bade some of themost honourable of the citizens, and also Cisti, who could by no means beinduced to come. However, Messer Geri bade one of his servants go fetch aflask of Cisti's wine, and serve half a beaker thereof to each guest atthe first course. The servant, somewhat offended, perhaps, that he hadnot been suffered to taste any of the wine, took with him a large flask,which Cisti no sooner saw, than:--"Son," quoth he, "Messer Geri does notsend thee to me": and often as the servant affirmed that he did, he couldget no other answer: wherewith he was fain at last to return to MesserGeri. "Go, get thee back, said Messer Geri, and tell him that I do sendthee to him, and if he answers thee so again, ask him, to whom then Isend thee." So the servant came back, and said:--"Cisti, Messer Geridoes, for sure, send me to thee." "Son," answered Cisti, "Messer Geridoes, for sure, not send thee to me." "To whom then," said the servant,"does he send me?" "To Arno," returned Cisti. Which being reported by theservant to Messer Geri, the eyes of his mind were straightway opened,and:--"Let me see," quoth he to the servant, "what flask it is thoutakest there." And when he had seen it:--"Cisti says sooth," he added;and having sharply chidden him, he caused him take with him a suitableflask, which when Cisti saw:--"Now know I," quoth he, "that 'tis indeedMesser Geri that sends thee to me," and blithely filled it. And havingreplenished the rundlet that same day with wine of the same quality, hehad it carried with due care to Messer Geri's house, and followed afterhimself; where finding Messer Geri he said:--"I would not have you think,Sir, that I was appalled by the great flask your servant brought me thismorning; 'twas but that I thought you had forgotten that which by mylittle beakers I gave you to understand, when you were with me of late;to wit, that this is no table wine; and so wished this morning to refreshyour memory. Now, however, being minded to
keep the wine no longer, Ihave sent you all I have of it, to be henceforth entirely at yourdisposal." Messer Geri set great store by Cisti's gift, and thanked himaccordingly, and ever made much of him and entreated him as his friend.

  NOVEL III.

  --Monna Nonna de' Pulci by a ready retort silences the scarce seemlyjesting of the Bishop of Florence.--

  Pampinea's story ended, and praise not a little bestowed on Cisti alikefor his apt speech and for his handsome present, the queen was pleased tocall forthwith for a story from Lauretta, who blithely thus began:--

  Debonair my ladies, the excellency of wit, and our lack thereof, havebeen noted with no small