which is chastity and all besidethat belongs to the regimen of a humble friar. They flatter themselves,too, that others wot not that over and above the meagre diet, long vigilsand orisons and strict discipline ought to mortify men and make thempale, and that neither St. Dominic nor St. Francis went clad in stuffdyed in grain or any other goodly garb, but in coarse woollen habitsinnocent of the dyer's art, made to keep out the cold, and not for shew.To which matters 'twere well God had a care, no less than to the souls ofthe simple folk by whom our friars are nourished.
Fra Rinaldo, then, being come back to his first affections, took tovisiting his gossip very frequently; and gaining confidence, began withmore insistence than before to solicit her to that which he craved ofher. So, being much urged, the good lady, to whom Fra Rinaldo, perhaps,seemed now more handsome than of yore, had recourse one day, when shefelt herself unusually hard pressed by him, to the common expedient ofall that would fain concede what is asked of them, and said:--"Oh! butFra Rinaldo, do friars then do this sort of thing?" "Madam," replied FraRinaldo, "when I divest myself of this habit, which I shall do easilyenough, you will see that I am a man furnished as other men, and nofriar." Whereto with a truly comical air the lady made answer:--"Alas!woe's me! you are my child's godfather: how might it be? nay, but 'twerea very great mischief; and many a time I have heard that 'tis a mostheinous sin; and without a doubt, were it not so, I would do as youwish." "If," said Fra Rinaldo, "you forego it for such a scruple as this,you are a fool for your pains. I say not that 'tis no sin; but there isno sin so great but God pardons it, if one repent. Now tell me: whetheris more truly father to your son, I that held him at the font, or yourhusband that begot him?" "My husband," replied the lady. "Sooth say you,"returned the friar, "and does not your husband lie with you?" "Why, yes,"said the lady. "Then," rejoined the friar, "I that am less truly yourson's father than your husband, ought also to lie with you, as does yourhusband." The lady was no logician, and needed little to sway her: shetherefore believed or feigned to believe that what the friar said wastrue. So:-- "Who might avail to answer your words of wisdom?" quoth she;and presently forgot the godfather in the lover, and complied with hisdesires. Nor had they begun their course to end it forthwith: but undercover of the friar's sponsorship, which set them more at ease, as itrendered them less open to suspicion, they forgathered again and again.
But on one of these occasions it so befell that Fra Rinaldo, being cometo the lady's house, where he espied none else save a very pretty anddainty little maid that waited on the lady, sent his companion away withher into the pigeon-house, there to teach her the paternoster, while heand the lady, holding her little boy by the hand, went into the bedroom,locked themselves in, got them on to a divan that was there, and began todisport them. And while thus they sped the time, it chanced that thefather returned, and, before any was ware of him, was at the bedroomdoor, and knocked, and called the lady by her name. Whereupon:--"'Tis asmuch as my life is worth," quoth Madonna Agnesa; "lo, here is my husband;and the occasion of our intimacy cannot but be now apparent to him.""Sooth say you," returned Fra Rinaldo, who was undressed, that is to say,had thrown off his habit and hood, and was in his tunic; "if I had but myhabit and hood on me in any sort, 'twould be another matter; but if youlet him in, and he find me thus, 'twill not be possible to put any faceon it." But with an inspiration as happy as sudden:--"Now get them onyou," quoth the lady; "and when you have them on, take your godson inyour arms, and give good heed to what I shall say to him, that your wordsmay accord with mine; and leave the rest to me."
The good man was still knocking, when his wife made answer:-- "Coming,coming." And so up she got, and put on a cheerful countenance and hiedher to the door, and opened it and said:--"Husband mine: well indeed wasit for us that in came Fra Rinaldo, our sponsor; 'twas God that sent himto us; for in sooth, but for that, we had to-day lost our boy." Which thepoor simpleton almost swooned to hear; and:--"How so?" quoth he. "Ohusband mine," replied the lady, "he was taken but now, all of a sudden,with a fainting fit, so that I thought he was dead: and what to do or sayI knew not, had not Fra Rinaldo, our sponsor, come just in the nick oftime, and set him on his shoulder, and said:--'Gossip, 'tis that he hasworms in his body, and getting, as they do, about the heart, they mightonly too readily be the death of him; but fear not; I will say a charmthat will kill them all; and before I take my leave, you will see yourboy as whole as you ever saw him.' And because to say certain of theprayers thou shouldst have been with us, and the maid knew not where tofind thee, he caused his companion to say them at the top of the house,and he and I came in here. And for that 'tis not meet for any but theboy's mother to assist at such a service, that we might not be troubledwith any one else, we locked the door; and he yet has him in his arms;and I doubt not that he only waits till his companion have said hisprayers, and then the charm will be complete; for the boy is alreadyquite himself again."
The good simple soul, taking all this for sooth, and overwrought by thelove he bore his son, was entirely without suspicion of the trick hiswife was playing him, and heaving a great sigh, said:--"I will go lookfor him." "Nay," replied the wife, "go not: thou wouldst spoil theefficacy of the charm: wait here; I will go see if thou mayst safely go;and will call thee."
Whereupon Fra Rinaldo, who had heard all that passed, and was in hiscanonicals, and quite at his ease, and had the boy in his arms, havingmade sure that all was as it should be, cried out:--"Gossip, do I nothear the father's voice out there?" "Ay indeed, Sir," replied thesimpleton. "Come in then," said Fra Rinaldo. So in came the simpleton.Whereupon quoth Fra Rinaldo:--"I restore to you your boy made whole bythe grace of God, whom but now I scarce thought you would see alive atvespers. You will do well to have his image fashioned in wax, not lessthan life-size, and set it for a thanksgiving to God, before the statueof Master St. Ambrose, by whose merits you have this favour of God."
The boy, catching sight of his father, ran to him with joyous greetings,as little children are wont; and the father, taking him in his arms, andweeping as if he were restored to him from the grave, fell by turns akissing him and thanking his godfather, that he had cured him. FraRinaldo's companion, who had taught the maid not one paternoster only,but peradventure four or more, and by giving her a little purse of whitethread that a nun had given him, had made her his devotee, no soonerheard Fra Rinaldo call the simpleton into his wife's room, than hestealthily got him to a place whence he might see and hear what was goingon. Observing that the affair was now excellently arranged, he came down,and entered the chamber, saying:--"Fra Rinaldo, those four prayers thatyou bade me say, I have said them all." "Then well done, my brother,"quoth Fra Rinaldo, "well-breathed must thou be. For my part, I had butsaid two, when my gossip came in; but what with thy travail and mine, Godof His grace has vouchsafed-us the healing or the boy." The simpletonthen had good wine and comfits brought in, and did the honours to thegodfather and his companion in such sort as their occasions did mostdemand. He then ushered them forth of the house, commending them to God;and without delay had the waxen image made, and directed it to be set upwith the others in front of the statue of St. Ambrose, not, be itunderstood, St. Ambrose of Milan.(1)
(1) The statue would doubtless be that of St. Ambrose of Siena, of theDominican Order.
NOVEL IV.
--Tofano one night locks his wife out of the house: she, finding that by noentreaties may she prevail upon him to let her in, feigns to throwherself into a well, throwing therein a great stone. Tofano hies himforth of the house, and runs to the spot: she goes into the house, andlocks him out, and hurls abuse at him from within.--
The king no sooner wist that Elisa's story was ended, than, turning toLauretta, he signified his will that she should tell somewhat: whereforewithout delay she began:--O Love, how great and signal is thy potency!how notable thy stratagems, thy devices! Was there ever, shall there everbe, philosopher or adept competent to inspire, counsel and teach in suchsort as thou by thine unpremeditated art dost tutor those that follow thylead? Verily laggar
d teachers are they all in comparison of thee, as bythe matters heretofore set forth may very well be understood. To whichstore I will add, loving ladies, a stratagem used by a woman of quiteordinary understanding, and of such a sort that I know not by whom shecould have been taught it save by Love.
Know, then, that there dwelt aforetime at Arezzo a rich man, Tofano byname, who took to wife Monna Ghita, a lady exceeding fair, of whom, forwhat cause he knew not, he presently grew jealous. Whereof the lady beingware, waxed resentful, and having on divers occasions demanded of him