The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio
his desires to see her so fair, there came the resurrection of the
flesh, which Alibech observing and marvelling, 'Rustico,' quoth she,
'what is that I see on thee which thrusteth forth thus and which I
have not?' 'Faith, daughter mine,' answered he, 'this is the devil
whereof I bespoke thee; and see now, he giveth me such sore annoy
that I can scarce put up with it.' Then said the girl, 'Now praised
be God! I see I fare better than thou, in that I have none of yonder
devil.' 'True,' rejoined Rustico; 'but thou hast otherwhat that I
have not, and thou hast it instead of this.' 'What is that?' asked
Alibech; and he, 'Thou hast hell, and I tell thee methinketh God
hath sent thee hither for my soul's health, for that, whenas this
devil doth me this annoy, an it please thee have so much compassion
on me as to suffer me put him back into hell, thou wilt give me the
utmost solacement and wilt do God a very great pleasure and service,
so indeed thou be come into these parts to do as thou sayst.'
The girl answered in good faith, 'Marry, father mine, since I have
hell, be it whensoever it pleaseth thee;' whereupon quoth Rustico,
'Daughter, blessed be thou; let us go then and put him back there,
so he may after leave me in peace.' So saying, he laid her on one of
their little beds and taught her how she should do to imprison that
accursed one of God. The girl, who had never yet put any devil in
hell, for the first time felt some little pain; wherefore she said
to Rustico, 'Certes, father mine, this same devil must be an ill
thing and an enemy in very deed of God, for that it irketh hell
itself, let be otherwhat, when he is put back therein.' 'Daughter,'
answered Rustico, 'it will not always happen thus;' and to the end
that this should not happen, six times, or ever they stirred from
the bed, they put him in hell again, insomuch that for the nonce
they so took the conceit out of his head that he willingly abode at
peace. But, it returning to him again and again the ensuing days and
the obedient girl still lending herself to take it out of him, it
befell that the sport began to please her and she said to Rustico,
'I see now that those good people in Capsa spoke sooth, when they
avouched that it was so sweet a thing to serve God; for, certes, I
remember me not to have ever done aught that afforded me such
pleasance and delight as putting the devil in hell; wherefore
methinketh that whoso applieth himself unto aught other than God His
service is a fool.'
Accordingly, she came ofttimes to Rustico and said to him, 'Father
mine, I came here to serve God and not to abide idle; let us go put
the devil in hell.' Which doing, she said whiles, 'Rustico, I know
not why the devil fleeth away from hell; for, an he abode there as
willingly as hell receiveth him and holdeth him, he would never come
forth therefrom.' The girl, then, on this wise often inviting
Rustico and exhorting him to the service of God, so took the bombast
out of his doublet that he felt cold what time another had sweated;
wherefore he fell to telling her that the devil was not to be
chastised nor put into hell, save whenas he should lift up his head
for pride; 'and we,' added he, 'by God's grace, have so baffled him
that he prayeth our Lord to suffer him abide in peace;' and on this
wise he for awhile imposed silence on her. However, when she saw
that he required her not of putting the devil in hell, she said to
him one day, 'Rustico, an thy devil be chastened and give thee no
more annoy, my hell letteth me not be; wherefore thou wilt do well
to aid me with thy devil in abating the raging of my hell, even as
with my hell I have helped thee take the conceit out of thy devil.'
Rustico, who lived on roots and water, could ill avail to answer her
calls and told her that it would need overmany devils to appease hell,
but he would do what he might thereof. Accordingly he satisfied her
bytimes, but so seldom it was but casting a bean into the lion's
mouth; whereas the girl, herseeming she served not God as diligently
as she would fain have done, murmured somewhat. But, whilst this
debate was toward between Rustico his devil and Alibech her hell, for
overmuch desire on the one part and lack of power on the other, it
befell that a fire broke out in Capsa and burnt Alibech's father in
his own house, with as many children and other family as he had; by
reason whereof she abode heir to all his good. Thereupon, a young man
called Neerbale, who had spent all his substance in gallantry, hearing
that she was alive, set out in search of her and finding her, before
the court[204] had laid hands upon her father's estate, as that of a
man dying without heir, to Rustico's great satisfaction, but against
her own will, brought her back to Capsa, where he took her to wife and
succeeded, in her right, to the ample inheritance of her father.
[Footnote 204: _i.e._ the government (_corte_).]
There, being asked by the women at what she served God in the desert,
she answered (Neerbale having not yet lain with her) that she served
Him at putting the devil in hell and that Neerbale had done a grievous
sin in that he had taken her from such service. The ladies asked, 'How
putteth one the devil in hell?' And the girl, what with words and
what with gestures, expounded it to them; whereat they set up so great
a laughing that they laugh yet and said, 'Give yourself no concern, my
child; nay, for that is done here also and Neerbale will serve our
Lord full well with thee at this.' Thereafter, telling it from one to
another throughout the city, they brought it to a common saying there
that the most acceptable service one could render to God was to put
the devil in hell, which byword, having passed the sea hither, is yet
current here. Wherefore do all you young ladies, who have need of
God's grace, learn to put the devil in hell, for that this is highly
acceptable to Him and pleasing to both parties and much good may grow
and ensue thereof."
* * * * *
A thousand times or more had Dioneo's story moved the modest ladies to
laughter, so quaint and comical did his words appear to them; then,
whenas he had made an end thereof, the queen, knowing the term of her
sovranty to be come, lifted the laurel from her head and set it
merrily on that of Filostrato, saying: "We shall presently see if the
wolf will know how to govern the ewes better than the ewes have
governed the wolves." Filostrato, hearing this, said, laughing, "An I
were hearkened to, the wolves had taught the ewes to put the devil in
hell, no worse than Rustico taught Alibech; wherefore do ye not style
us wolven, since you yourselves have not been ewen. Algates, I will
govern the kingdom committed to me to the best of my power." "Harkye,
Filostrato," rejoined Neifile, "in seeking to teach us, you might have
chanced to learn sense, even as did Masetto of Lamporecchio of the
nuns, and find your tongue what time your bones should have learnt to
whistle without a master."
Filostrato, finding that he still got a Roland for his Oliver,[205]
gave over pleasantry and addressed himself to the governance of the
kingdom committed to him. Wherefore, letting call the seneschal, he
was fain to know at what point things stood all and after discreetly
ordained that which he judged would be well and would content the
company for such time as his seignory should endure. Then, turning to
the ladies, "Lovesome ladies," quoth he, "since I knew good from evil,
I have, for my ill fortune, been still subject unto Love for the
charms of one or other of you; nor hath humility neither obedience,
no, nor the assiduous ensuing him in all his usances, in so far as it
hath been known of me, availed me but that first I have been abandoned
for another and after have still gone from bad to worse; and so I
believe I shall fare unto my death; wherefore it pleaseth me that it
be discoursed to-morrow of none other matter than that which is most
conformable to mine own case, to wit, OF THOSE WHOSE LOVES HAVE HAD
UNHAPPY ENDING, for that I in the long run look for a most unhappy
[issue to mine own]; nor was the name by which you call me conferred
on me for otherwhat by such an one who knew well what it meant."[206]
So saying, he rose to his feet and dismissed every one until
supper-time.
[Footnote 205: Lit. that scythes were no less plenty that he had
arrows (_che falci si trovavano non meno che egli avesse strali_), a
proverbial expression the exact bearing of which I do not know, but
whose evident sense I have rendered in the equivalent English idiom.]
[Footnote 206: Syn. what he said (_che si dire_). See ante, p. 11,
note.]
The garden was so goodly and so delightsome that there was none who
elected to go forth thereof, in the hope of finding more pleasance
elsewhere. Nay, the sun, now grown mild, making it nowise irksome to
give chase to the fawns and kids and rabbits and other beasts which
were thereabout and which, as they sat, had come maybe an hundred
times to disturb them by skipping through their midst, some addressed
themselves to pursue them. Dioneo and Fiammetta fell to singing of
Messer Guglielmo and the Lady of Vergiu,[207] whilst Filomena and
Pamfilo sat down to chess; and so, some doing one thing and some
another, the time passed on such wise that the hour of supper came
well nigh unlooked for; whereupon, the tables being set round about
the fair fountain, they supped there in the evening with the utmost
delight.
[Footnote 207: Apparently the well-known fabliau of the Dame de Vergy,
upon which Marguerite d'Angoulême founded the seventieth story of the
Heptameron.]
As soon as the tables were taken away, Filostrato, not to depart from
the course holden of those who had been queens before him, commanded
Lauretta to lead up a dance and sing a song. "My lord," answered she,
"I know none of other folk's songs, nor have I in mind any of mine own
which should best beseem so joyous a company; but, an you choose one
of those which I have, I will willingly sing it." Quote the king,
"Nothing of thine can be other than goodly and pleasing; wherefore
sing us such as thou hast." Lauretta, then, with a sweet voice enough,
but in a somewhat plaintive style, began thus, the other ladies
answering:
No maid disconsolate
Hath cause as I, alack!
Who sigh for love in vain, to mourn her fate.
He who moves heaven and all the stars in air
Made me for His delight
Lovesome and sprightly, kind and debonair,
E'en here below to give each lofty spright
Some inkling of that fair
That still in heaven abideth in His sight;
But erring men's unright,
Ill knowing me, my worth
Accepted not, nay, with dispraise did bate.
Erst was there one who held me dear and fain
Took me, a youngling maid,
Into his arms and thought and heart and brain,
Caught fire at my sweet eyes; yea time, unstayed
Of aught, that flits amain
And lightly, all to wooing me he laid.
I, courteous, nought gainsaid
And held[208] him worthy me;
But now, woe's me, of him I'm desolate.
Then unto me there did himself present
A youngling proud and haught,
Renowning him for valorous and gent;
He took and holds me and with erring thought[209]
To jealousy is bent;
Whence I, alack! nigh to despair am wrought,
As knowing myself,--brought
Into this world for good
Of many an one,--engrossed of one sole mate.
The luckless hour I curse, in very deed,
When I, alas! said yea,