Boccaccio). Analysis of the book “The Decameron” (D. Boccaccio) D Boccaccio Decameron summary

Not everyone has read the Decameron. This obviously doesn’t happen at school, and in everyday adult life there is practically no place for books. And it’s not fashionable for today’s youth to read... This is slightly reminiscent of the Middle Ages, when people who knew a lot were condemned by society. But this, however, is poetry. To the work "Decameron" summary very difficult to bring. After all, the book itself is a collection of short stories dedicated to the theme of love in all its manifestations.

History within history

Italian writer Giovanni Boccaccio is the author of the work "The Decameron". In fact, the author himself could not give a summary, since the structure of the entire work is a set of small short stories that are united by the main plot line. This book was published during the Renaissance, around 1354. “The Decameron” has a very controversial content, since for those times such literature was, on the one hand, quite forgivable, but on the other, it was considered somewhat vulgar. The name itself is translated as “Ten Days” and is a kind of sarcastic ridicule of the author at the church “Six Days”. The work tells about the creation of the world, but not by God, but by the society of that time, and not in six days, but in ten.

The book in brief

And now the Decameron itself. Brief summary of the stories: the events take place during the rampant plague of 1348. Three noble youths and seven ladies leave the disease-stricken city for a villa two miles away. In order to pass the time with interest, they take turns telling each other entertaining stories. By the way, quite a lot of short stories were created on the basis of folklore, ancient anecdotes, religious and moral examples from the sermons of priests and much more.

"The Decameron" - a summary of the life of the storytellers

Each new day begins with a small screensaver that tells how young people spend their time. It is worth noting that the description is quite utopian, within the framework of morality and education. But the short stories themselves are directly opposed to this utopia. In them, figuratively speaking, a “feast during the plague” appears, running through every line with a red thread. The story begins on Wednesday morning and there are ten short stories for each day. In them you can see all manifestations of love - from a sexual context to a tragedy with cruelty.

Every day, except Friday and Saturday, a king (queen) is chosen who assigns themes for the story, and all participants must adhere to them, with the exception of Dioneo, who has the privilege of “free storytelling”. After listening to all the stories, the young people sit and discuss them, exchange impressions. At the end of each day, one of the ladies present sings a ballad. These songs are examples of Boccaccio's lyrics, and they tell of pure love or the suffering of those lovers who are unable to unite. Taking into account the weekends, the young people spend two weeks at the villa, after which they finally decide to return to the city.

"Decameron". Brief conclusion

All short stories are made in a special style. For the Renaissance, this was something of an innovation, since the book was written not in the standard literary language, but in rich colloquial Italian. Boccaccio himself spoke of his brainchild as a “human comedy.”

In 1348, Florence was “visited by a destructive plague,” killing one hundred thousand people. Family and friendly ties fell apart, servants refused to serve their masters, the dead were not buried, but dumped in holes dug in church cemeteries.

When the city was almost empty, in the temple of Santa Maria Novella after Divine Liturgy seven young women met, “connected by friendship, neighborhood, kinship,” “prudent, well-born, beautiful, well-behaved, captivating in their modesty.” Without revealing, in order to avoid misunderstandings, their true names, the author calls them Pampinea, Fiametta, Philomena, Emilia, Lauretta, Neifila and Elissa - in accordance with their spiritual qualities.

Pampinea suggests “retiring in a decent manner to country estates and filling your leisure time with all kinds of entertainment.” By leaving the city, where people, awaiting their death hour, indulged in lust and debauchery, they will protect themselves from unpleasant experiences, and they themselves will behave morally and with dignity. There is nothing keeping them in Florence: all their loved ones have died.

The ladies approve of Pampinea's idea, and Philomena suggests inviting men with her, because it is difficult for a woman to live with her own mind, and she desperately needs the advice of a man. During this conversation, three young men enter the church - Panfilo, Filostrato and Dioneo. Among the ladies who find themselves in the church are their lovers, the rest are related to them. Pampinea immediately offers to invite them.

Young people are glad to be invited. Having agreed on everything, the girls and boys, accompanied by maids and servants, leave the city the next morning. They arrive in a picturesque area where there is a beautiful palace and settle down there. Dioneo, the most cheerful and witty, offers to have fun as anyone wants. He is supported by Pampinea, who suggests that someone should be in charge and think about the structure of their life and entertainment. And so that everyone knows both the worries and joys associated with leadership, and so that no one is envious, this honorable burden should be placed on everyone in turn. They will all choose the first “master” together, and the subsequent ones will be appointed each time before Vespers by the one who was the ruler that day. Everyone unanimously elects Pampinea, and Philomena places a laurel wreath on her head, which over the next days serves as a sign of “supremacy and royal power.”

After an exquisitely served breakfast, everyone begins to sing, dance and play the musical instruments and then lie down to rest. Having woken up, everyone gathers in a shady corner of the garden, and Pampinea suggests devoting time to stories, “for one storyteller is able to occupy all the listeners,” allowing them to talk on the first day “about what everyone likes best.” Dioneo asks for the right to tell the story last each time, not subject to the topic of the day, in order to amuse a society tired of excessive reasoning, and he receives this right.

The first day

During the reign of Pampinea, where stories are told on any topic

Novella first

Sir Ceparello, nicknamed Chappeletto, a scoundrel in life, a deceiver, a false witness, a murderer, finds himself in another city on the verge of death. He deceives a pious monk with a false confession and dies. In order to save the two moneylenders, the owners of the house in which he was staying, from unnecessary trouble and bad rumors, Chappeletto, in his dying confession, talks about himself as a saint who has never sinned in his life. The elder who confessed him willingly believes him, and after Chappeletto’s death, the church fathers ranked him among the saints; Subsequently, Saint Chappeletto enjoys honor and respect, people pray to him and pilgrims go to his relics.

Novella second

The Jew Abraham, as a result of the admonitions of Giannotto di Civigni, goes to the Roman court and, seeing the depravity of the church ministers there, returns to Paris, where he becomes a Christian, believing that if even with such depravity of the heads of the church the Catholic faith spreads and grows stronger, it means that in it truly is the Holy Spirit.

Novella three

Saladin, the great Arab commander and ruler, needing money to wage a new war, comes to the moneylender, the Jew Melchizedek, and asks him whose faith is better, Christian, Jewish or Islam. The moneylender understands that no matter what the answer is, Saladdin will be unhappy, kill him and take the money. To avoid this, he tells the commander a story about his father, who made three identical rings and secretly gave a ring to each of his three sons, before declaring that there was only one such ring and it would go to the one he chose, and the owner of the ring will also receive an inheritance. After the death of their father, it turned out that there were three rings, and the brothers are still arguing about which of them is the rightful heir. Saladdin understands secret meaning history (the rings symbolize religion), begins to respect the moneylender and leaves without gold, but in friendship with Melchizedek.

Novella Four

One monk, “sinning” together with a certain girl, turns out to be discovered by the abbot, who, in turn, cannot stand it and after a while he himself enjoys the girl. The monk denounces the abbot for this, thereby avoiding punishment.

Novella fifth

The Marquise of Montferrat, a widow who is visited by a French king who is passionately in love with her, feeds him only chickens, after which she says that although in their country chickens do not have roosters, these chickens are no different from any others. The king understands the hint and moderates his ardor.

Novella sixth

One man, having paid for his sins to the Inquisition, received forgiveness and the title of crusader. He was sent to the church to listen and be imbued with faith, but when he returned, he told the inquisitor that he was amused by one thought: if those who give on earth will be rewarded tenfold in heaven, then the monks there after death will have to choke on the stew that they, as a surplus , during their lifetime they give it to the poor.

Novella seven

The wandering musician and poet Bergamino finds himself at a party with Messire Cane Dela Scala. Without waiting for a reward and a gift from Messire, he tells him the story of the poor but famous poet Primate, who found himself at dinner with the Abbot of Cluny, who was always famous for his generosity and invited crowds of poor people and generally everyone to his table. However, the abbot began to be tormented by greed, and he ordered that the Primate not be served food, while he was chewing the bread he had stored. When the Primus began to eat the last piece of bread he had stored, the abbot suddenly came to his senses, was surprised by the sudden greed, and happily treated the guest. Thus Bergamino reproached Cane Dela Scala, who, having understood the morality, generously rewarded the cunning musician.

Novella eight

The rich but stingy Sir Hermino de Grimaldi one day asks the artist to draw something unprecedented when painting the walls. He says that he will write something that Ermino has definitely never seen - “Nobility.” Ermino repents of his stinginess and begins to show generosity.

Novella Ninth

A Gascon lady, having been insulted in Cyprus, comes to the king, famous for his inactivity and weakness, and asks not to avenge her, but simply to teach her to endure all insults and insults just like him. He understands her reproach and changes.

Novella tenth

The elderly, but respected and wise maestro Alberto from Bologna is in love with a woman, but she tries to shame him in front of her friends. The maestro says that he has seen women eat onions, although they are absolutely tasteless and unpleasant, so why shouldn’t he hope that instead of young people, a woman will choose him, even though he is unable to give in to passion, but who loves with all his heart.

Second day

Under the guidance of Philomena, where they talk about those who, after various vicissitudes and beyond all expectations, achieved a successful goal

Novella first

Three actors come to Treviso from Florence: Stecchi, Martellino and Marchese, and they want to look at the relics of Saint Arrigo. To get through the crowd, Martellino pretends to be crippled and pretends that he was healed by the relics of Saint Arrigo. When his deception is discovered, he is captured and beaten. Then Marchese, in order to save his friend, announces to the guards that he allegedly cut off his wallet. They want to hang Martellino, but his friends tell the authorities about the joke with the wallet, they laugh and release Martellino.

Novella second

Rinaldo d'Asti, having been robbed by fellow travelers, appears in Castel Guglielmo, where he “finds shelter” with a widow. Having received a reward from her for this, he finds himself in the city, learns that the robbers have been captured, receives his property back and happily returns home.

Novella three

Three brothers, having recklessly squandered their fortune, inherited from their rich father, became poor. Their nephew Alessandro, returning home in despair, meets the abbot along the way and recognizes him as the daughter of the English king, who marries him, and he, having compensated his uncles for all their losses, returns them to their previous position.

Novella Four

Landolfo Ruffolo, impoverished due to unsuccessful trade, becomes a corsair. Attacked by the Genoese, he is wrecked at sea, escapes on a box full of jewels, finds shelter with a woman in Corfu and returns home a rich man.

Novella fifth

Andreuccio from Perugia, having arrived in Naples to buy horses, is lured into his house by a heterosexual, where she takes his wallet with money. Andreuccio tries to take the wallet, but falls into the latrine, after which he is driven away. He meets two criminals who offer to take him into the business, but first he must wash himself clean, and Andreuccio dives into the well. Rising from it, he scares the city guards. Together with the robbers, he ends up in the crypt of the recently buried high priest, but his treacherous accomplices lock him there. He dresses up as a dead man and puts on the ruby ​​ring that was on the corpse. The new marauders are scared when the "dead man" moves, and Andreuccio climbs out of the remaining open tomb and leaves with the ruby ​​ring.

Novella sixth

Madonna Beritola's husband falls from grace. She and her two sons end up on the same island after a shipwreck. Her sons are kidnapped by passing pirates, and she lives in a cave with two deer, like an animal. Beritola is saved by a ship with family friends, and she goes to Lunijiana, where one of her sons ends up in the service of the ruler of the country, and having fallen in love and sinned with the ruler’s daughter, he ends up in prison. Sicily rebels against King Charles, the family of Madonna Beritola begins to be respected again. The son, recognized by his mother, marries his master's daughter, his brother is found, and both return to their former high position.

Novella seven

The Sultan of Babylonia gives his daughter, Alatiel, in marriage to a powerful king. After various accidents and disasters, over the course of four years, she in turn falls in different parts into the “hands” of nine men, who kill each other and kidnap Alatiel from each other because of her wonderful beauty. Finally, returned to her father by his old friend the Greek Antigonus as a virgin, she goes, as she had previously intended, to King del Garbo, whom she marries.

Novella eight

Count Anversky, falsely accused of trampling on the honor of the wife of one ruler, goes into exile, leaving his two children in different places in England. Returning unrecognized, he finds them in a good position, goes as a groom to the army of the French king and, acquitted after the dying confession of the ruler’s wife, who admitted that she had lied to him, returns to his previous state.

Novella Ninth

Bernabo, a wealthy merchant, argues with Ambrogiolo that his wife will never cheat on him. Ambrogiolo, hiding in a box, finds himself in Bernabo's house, where he looks at his sleeping wife. He tells Bernabo about a certain mark on his wife’s body, the merchant loses a lot of money, and also loses his dignity and orders to kill his innocent wife. She, spared by the servant who was supposed to finish her off, is saved and serves in the guise of a man with the Sultan, achieving, thanks to her wisdom, a high position and respect. She calls Bernabo and Ambrogiolo, forcing the latter to admit to deception, which he does. Bernabo repents, and his wife opens up to him and, taking the reward for her service from the Sultan and saying goodbye to him, leaves with her husband.

Novella tenth

Paganino from Monaco kidnaps the wife of Messire Ricciardo da Kinzik, who, having learned where she is, goes after her and, having entered into friendship with Paganino, asks to give her to him. Paganino agrees if it is the will of Messire Ricciardo’s wife, but she does not want to return, and after the death of Messier Ricciardo becomes Paganino’s wife.

Day three

Presided over by Neiphila, where they talk about those who, thanks to their skill, obtained something they strongly desired or returned something they had lost

Novella first

Young Masetto from Lamporecchio, pretending to be a dumb and narrow-minded fellow, enters the monastery of nuns as a gardener, after which, first alone, and then all the other nuns, in turn, indulge in passion along with Masetto. After some time, he becomes exhausted, unable to constantly please so many women, reveals to everyone that he is not at all mute, and leaves the monastery.

Novella second

The groom, having desired the wife of his master, King Agilulf, dresses up as him and sleeps with the queen, which the king secretly finds out and, having found the groom among the others, cuts off his hair in order to identify the culprit the next day. The groom who has had his hair cut cuts his hair and in this way gets out of trouble, and the king marvels at the cunning of the criminal.

Novella three

One lady, having fallen in love with a young man whose friend was a priest, confesses to this priest, complaining over and over again that the young man allegedly constantly seeks her love. The priest immediately calls his friend to him and reproaches him, but the young man understands the lady’s cunning. When she describes at the next confession in what ways the young man allegedly tried to get into her house, he learns from the indignant priest about these ways and, using them, has a good time with the cunning lady.

Novella Four

Don Felice tells the pious but narrow-minded brother Puccio that you can achieve liberation from sins by tying yourself in the courtyard and praying all night, which Brother Puccio does. Don Felice, meanwhile, is having fun with the wife of Puccio’s brother.

Novella fifth

Ricciardo Zima gives his best horse to Messer Francesco Vergellesi and for this, with his consent, speaks to his wife, Messer Francesco orders his wife not to say a word to Ricciardo. While she is silent, Ricciardo answers his own questions for her, suggesting ways in which he and Messer Francesco’s wife can meet. This is how it all happens.

Novella sixth

Ricciardo Minutolo loves Filippello Figinolfi's wife. Having learned that she is jealous, he tells her that Filippello made a date in the bathhouse for his wife and ensures that the lady herself goes there and, thinking that she was with her husband, spends the night with Ricciardo, after which the latter admits who he is.

Novella seven

Tedaldo, having quarreled with his mistress, leaves Florence. After some time, he returns there under the guise of a pilgrim and informs her that because of her coldness, her former lover, Tedaldo, committed suicide, thereby obtaining repentance from her. Then he saves the life of her husband, accused of murdering himself, reconciles his mistress’s husband with his brothers and reasonably prospers with his wife. Later it turns out that the murdered man was a foreigner who looked very much like Tedaldo.

Novella eight

Ferondo, having tasted a certain powder poured on him by the abbot, falls asleep and becomes like a dead man. He is buried. Discovered from his grave by the abbot, he is imprisoned and is told that he is in purgatory. At this time, the abbot is having fun with Ferondo’s wife. “Having been resurrected,” Ferondo raises a son born to the abbot by his wife.

Novella Ninth

Gillette from Narbonne, the daughter of a famous doctor, cures the French king of a fistula and asks Beltramo of Rossillon to be her husband, who, having married her against his will and indignant at this, goes to Florence. There he looks after a girl, but instead of her, Gillette sleeps with him and gives birth to two sons from him. Subsequently, having recognized his sons and appreciating Gillette’s intelligence and love, he treats her as a legitimate wife.

Novella tenth

Alibek, the daughter of a rich Muslim, on a whim becomes a hermit. The other monks are afraid that temptation will break them, and they entrust her to the care of Rustico, who is known for his purity and strength of faith. Rustico makes love to Alibek, saying that in this way he is “driving his devil into Alibek’s hell.” The latter begins to like it over time. She, seeing that Rustico, due to his hermit’s post, is no longer able to please her, returns to the city, where she becomes Neerbal’s wife. She tells the city ladies about her adventures, after which the obscene phrase “drive the devil into hell” is born.

Day four

Presided over by Filostrato, where they discuss those whose love had an unhappy outcome

Novella first

Tancred, Prince of Salerno, kills his daughter's lover and sends his heart to her in a golden goblet. After pouring poisoned water on him, she drinks it and dies.

Novella second

Monk Albert assures Lisette that an angel is in love with her, and, moving into Albert’s body, the angel desires intimacy with Madonna Lisette. So they manage to connect several times, until the vain Lisette blurts out her secret to her friends. Lisette's relatives want to catch the "angel", and he throws himself out of the window of her house and finds refuge in the house of a poor man, who the next day leads him, disguised as a savage, to the square, where he is recognized, and the brethren grab him and imprison him.

Novella three

Three young people love three sisters, with whom they run away to Crete, where they live happily for a short time. The older sister soon kills her lover out of jealousy. The second sister, having given herself to the Duke of Crete, saves the first from death, but her lover kills her and runs away with the first sister. A third lover and a third sister are accused of this murder. Being captured, they take the blame, but, fearing death, they bribe the guards with the rest of the money and flee, impoverished, to Rhodes, where they die in poverty.

Novella Four

The stately and handsome prince of Djerbino falls in love after hearing descriptions of the beauty of the daughter of the Tunisian king, and she is also in love with Djerbino in the same way. Having given his word of honor to his grandfather not to attack the ship on which the daughter of the Tunisian king is being taken to her rightful groom, he breaks his word and attacks. Those who were on the ship kill the girl, but Dzherbino kills them all out of revenge. After this, he is executed as having disobeyed his grandfather's orders.

Novella fifth

Isabel's brothers kill her lover. He appears to her in a dream and shows her where he is buried. Having secretly dug up his head, she puts it in a pot of basil and cries over it for a long time every day. The brothers take the pot with the plant from her, after which Isabetta dies of grief. After her death, the canzona remains: “What kind of evil infidel was that//That he stole my flower...”.

Novella sixth

Andreola loves Gabriotto. She tells him a nightmare dream she had, he is her own, and suddenly dies in her arms from a heart attack. When she and her maid carry Gabriotto to his house, the guards take them away, and Andreola tells how it happened. They want to inflict violence on the girl, she resists it. Andreola's father hears about this and frees her, still innocent. She, not wanting to live in the world anymore, becomes a nun.

Novella seven

Lovers Simone and Pasquino meet in the garden. Pasquino rubs his teeth with sage and dies. Arrested Simone, wanting to show the judge how Pasquino died, rubs her teeth with a leaf of the same sage and also dies. It turns out that it was not sage that grew in that garden, but some kind of poisonous plant.

Novella eight

Girolamo loves Salvestra. Prompted by his mother's requests, he goes to Paris. Returning, he finds her married, secretly enters her house and asks Salvestra to lie next to her for a while, after which he dies. Girolamo is buried, and his beloved comes and, sobbing, dies next to his body; they are buried together.

Novella Ninth

Sir Guglielmo Rossiglione gives his wife a taste of the heart of Sir Guglielmo Guardastagno, who was killed by him and loved by her. Having learned about this, she throws herself from a high window, dies, and is buried along with her lover.

Novella tenth

The lover of a doctor's wife accidentally drinks a sleeping potion prepared by the doctor for one of his patients. The doctor's wife thinks that her beloved has died, and her maid puts the sleeping man in a box, which is dragged along with the body by two moneylenders. Having woken up, the lover does not understand anything and is raging, but he is captured like a thief. The lady's maid tells the authorities that she was the one who put the sleeping man in a box stolen by moneylenders. Thanks to this, he avoids the gallows, and the moneylenders are sentenced to a fine for stealing the box.

Day five

Chaired by Fiammetta, where they talk about how, after various sad and unhappy incidents, happiness smiles on lovers

Novella first

Cimone, previously like a beast, uneducated and ugly, seeing the sleeping Efigenia, becomes wise and beautiful. He kidnaps his sweet Ephigenia and takes her to the sea, but after that he finds himself imprisoned in Rhodes. Lysimachus frees him, they kidnap Ephigenia and Cassandra, Lysimachus's beloved, from their wedding celebration, and flee with them to Crete, marry them, and all return home together.

Novella second

Costanza loves Martuccio Gomito. Hearing about his death, in despair she sits alone in a boat, which the wind carries to Susa. Finding him alive in Tunisia, she opens up to him, and he, having become close to the king for the advice given during the war, marries her and with her returns to Lipari as a rich man.

Novella three

Pietro Boccamazza flees with Agnolella from his home, but on the way he meets robbers. The girl runs away into the forest, where her old friend stumbles upon her and brings her to her castle. Pietro escapes from the hands of robbers and, after several adventures, ends up in the castle where Agnolella is located. He marries her and they return to Rome together.

Novella Four

Lizio da Valbona's daughter, citing the heat, sleeps on the balcony of her room to "listen to the birds singing." Her lover Ricciardo Manardi climbs up the wall towards her. Tired of the night's amusements, the young people fall asleep hugging each other. In this position, they are found in the morning by Lizio da Valbona, who, together with his wife, persuades Ricciardo to marry his daughter, and he does not refuse.

Novella fifth

Guidotto of Cremona entrusts his adopted daughter to the care of Giacomino of Pavia and dies. In Faenza, Giannole di Severino and Mingino di Mingole fall in love with her. They enter into a feud with each other and try to kidnap the girl in one night, by bribing the servants. However, the truth about the girl's parents is revealed. She turns out to be Giannole's sister, and the girl is given in marriage to Mingino.

Novella sixth

Gianni from Procida sneaks into the royal chambers, since his beloved is given to King Federigo. The king finds the couple and orders both lovers to be burned, but Ruggieri del Oria recognizes the lovers under whom the fire is to be lit as the offspring of noble families, and the king releases them, not daring to execute them.

Novella seven

Teodoro, the son of a nobleman who was kidnapped many years ago, lives as a servant in the house of Messire Amerigo and falls in love with his daughter, Violanta. She became pregnant by Teodoro, and Amerigo, who learned about the birth of his daughter, orders the servant to be hanged, but Teodoro’s father, who is nearby, recognizes his son and frees him.

Novella eight

Nastagio degli Onesti, in love with a girl from the Traversari family, squanders his wealth without receiving reciprocation. He goes to Chiassi, where he sees one horseman chasing a girl, killing her and two dogs devouring her, then the girl is resurrected and runs again. The horseman says that at one time he was tormented by this girl, without reciprocating, he died of grief, and now his former beloved is forced to suffer in a similar way for as many years as the months she tormented the horseman who loved her. Nastagio invites his family and his sweetheart to dinner. She sees how that girl is tormented, and, fearing a similar fate, marries Nastagio. After this story, all the girls in that city became more accommodating.

Novella Ninth

Federigo degli Alberighi loves Monna Giovanna, but is not loved by her. He squanders all his fortune on courtship, and he has only one falcon left, which the sick son of Monna Giovanna asks for. Federigo, in the absence of anything else, serves this falcon for dinner to his beloved, who came to him with her request. Having learned about this, she changes her feelings for Federigo, and after her son dies, the rich inheritance goes to her and her lover.

Novella tenth

Pietro di Vinciolo, guilty of sodomy, goes out to dinner. His wife, dissatisfied that her husband does not fulfill marital duties, invites a young man to her place. When Pietro returns, his wife hides her lover under a chicken basket. Pietro says that in the house of Ercolano, with whom he had dinner, they found a young man hidden there by his wife. Pietro's wife reproaches Ercolano's wife. Unfortunately, the donkey steps on the young man's fingers, and he gives himself away by screaming. Pietro runs there, sees him and learns about his wife’s deception, with whom in the end, out of his baseness, he reconciles, and the three of them spend the night. A young man, returning home in the morning, thinks about who he was last night, a woman or a man.

Day six

Under the chairmanship of Eliza, which talks about those who, having been hurt by some sharp word, repaid it, or with a quick response and resourcefulness avoided damage, danger or offense

Novella first

A certain nobleman promises Madonna Oreta to tell such a story that it will seem to her as if she is riding a horse, but he tells it ineptly, stuttering and faltering, and she aptly compares his story to a stumbling mare, asking him to let her down from the saddle. The narrator accepts the reproach.

Novella second

The baker Chisti constantly treats the noble sir Jerry to expensive wine. Soon he sends a servant to Chisti for wine to treat his guests, but Chisti, seeing a huge bottle, says that the servant was apparently not sent to him. Messieur Jerry understands the immodesty of his request and comes himself and the guests straight to Chisti, where the baker gladly treats them.

Novella three

The Florentine bishop, noticing among the people Madonna Pona, a young and lively girl who had recently gotten married, asks whether her husband can cope with her. She, remembering a story in which one of the bishop’s subordinates slept with the wife of a townsman, paying him for it with counterfeit coins, replies that it doesn’t matter whether the husband copes or not, but the main thing is that the coins will be real. The bishop is ashamed.

Novella Four

Kikibio, Currado's cook, having given one of the legs of a fried crane to his beloved, makes an excuse to Currado by saying that cranes always stand on one leg. The next day, Currado drives up to the cranes and screams, they fly up and their two legs are visible. The cook says that the fried crane should have shouted too, then the second leg would have become visible.

Novella fifth

The great artist sir Forese da Pabata and the wise sir Giotto, the painter, both of whom have an ugly appearance, are joking with each other on their way back from Mugello. Giotto says that none of the passers-by would have guessed from the appearance of Messire Forese what beautiful pictures he paints. Sir Forese says that no one would have guessed that Giotto knew even the very basics of grammar. Both understand that it’s not for them to joke with each other.

Novella sixth

Michele Scalda wins the argument about whose family is the most noble. He says that the oldest clan is the Baronchi clan, famous for its hereditary physical defects, since the Lord apparently created this clan when he was just training to sculpt people, hence so many mistakes.

Novella seven

Madonna Philippa, having been caught in treason, for which she was subject to severe punishment by law, explains that her husband did not satisfy her desire, and therefore she gave the resulting “surplus” to a person in need. The Madonna's speech delighted the judge, and the cruel law was softened.

Novella eight

Cheska, considering herself the most beautiful of all the people in the world, blames other people and says that it is unpleasant for her to look at the abomination. Then Fresco, her uncle, advises Ceska not to look in the mirror.

Novella Ninth

The townspeople are trying to make fun of the wise Guido Cavalcanti. Finding him in the cemetery, they hear that in their house he, Guido, is ready to calmly listen to their words. Then Guido leaves, but the townspeople understand that Guido compared them in their ignorance and stupidity to the dead, whose home is a cemetery.

Novella tenth

Brother Cipolla (or Luca), who has come once again to collect donations from peasants for his order, promises to show the parishioners a sacred relic - the feather of the Archangel Gabriel. Two jokers, taking advantage of the fact that Luca’s servant, Guccio, a slob and a slacker, was pestering an ugly maid, stole the “relic,” which turned out to be a parrot feather, and replaced the feather with coals. Having discovered coals instead of a feather during his sermon, Luke, telling the long story of his wanderings in search of relics, says that he mixed up the relics, capturing instead of Gabriel's feather the coals on which one of the great martyrs was burned. The parishioners believe Luke and give generous donations; The jokers begin to respect Luka and return the pen to him.

Day seven

Presided over by Dioneo, where they talk about the jokes that, out of love or to save themselves, wives played on their husbands, whether they knew it or not

Novella first

Gianni Logteringhi hears a knock on the door at night and wakes up his wife. She assures him that it is a ghost, although in fact it is her lover who is giving the signal, since he came on a date because of an incorrectly turned goat's head at the gate of Gianni's house - symbol. Gianni and his wife say a conspiratorial prayer over the “ghost”, in which the wife veiledly explains to her lover that her husband is at home, but the lover can enjoy the food left in the garden. The knocking stops.

Novella second

When her husband returns home, Peronella hides her lover in a wine barrel. The husband sold it, but the wife says that she has already sold it to a man who climbed into the barrel to inspect whether it was strong. He crawls out of the barrel and, ordering his husband to scrape it out some more, disappears.

Novella three

Brother Rinaldo sleeps with his godmother. The godfather's husband finds him in the same room with her, and she assures her husband that the monk was talking worms into his godson. Before this, Rinaldo’s brother manages to be warned by his comrade, who is having fun with the maid at the time.

Novella Four

One night, Tofano is locked out of the house by his wife, who has left for her lover. When, despite her requests, she is not allowed in, she pretends to throw a large stone into a well. The frightened Tofano runs out of the house and hurries to the well, and meanwhile his wife enters the house, locks herself and does not let Tofano back in, presenting him to the neighbors as a drunkard who came home in the middle of the night and broke in.

Novella fifth

The jealous man, disguised as a priest, confesses to his wife. She assures him that she loves the priest who comes to her every night. While the jealous man secretly watches at the door, the wife tells her lover to walk across the roof to her and spends time with him, then reproaching her husband for jealousy and deceit.

Novella sixth

Sir Lambertuccio, who loved her but was not loved by her, comes to Madonna Isabella when she had Leonetto. Having learned that her husband is nearby, Madonna Isabella tells Leonetto to run away and Messire Lambertuccio to chase him with a knife. She explains to her husband that she tried to shelter a young man who was fleeing from Messer Lambertuccio, with whom the former, for some unknown reason, became angry.

Novella seven

Lodovico confesses his love to Madonna Beatrice and hides in her bedroom. Madonna Beatrice, having dressed her husband Egano in a dress, sends him into the garden to try to catch Lodovico, who is harassing her. The same one, meanwhile, sleeps with Madonna Beatrice, and then goes out and beats Messire Egano, dressed in a woman’s dress, saying that he, Lodovico, will not stand the impudent harassment of his wife towards him.

Novella eight

Someone begins to be jealous of his wife. She ties a thread to her finger to know when her lover will come. The husband one day stumbles upon a thread and unravels his wife’s cunning, but while he is pursuing her lover, the wife puts her maid in bed instead, whom the husband beats, cuts off her braids, and then goes to the wife’s brothers. Seeing their sister alive and unharmed, they are indignant and threaten the jealous man.

Novella Ninth

Lydia, the wife of Nicostratus, loves his servant, Pyrrhus. In order to make sure of this, Pyrrhus demands that she fulfill three conditions, which she fulfills: she kills her beloved dove Nicostratus, saying that he takes too long from her husband, leaving no time for his wife; pulls out a tuft of beard and a tooth from her husband, saying that it is completely rotten. Pyrrhus is assured of Lydia's love. After this, they begin to play Nicostratus together: as soon as he finds himself under one of the apple trees in his garden with Lydia, Pyrrhus, who has climbed onto it, insists that the husband and wife are supposedly making love. As soon as Nicostratus himself climbs onto the apple tree, he sees how Pyrrhus and Lydia, who remained below, are also making love, but if the first was pure deception, then the second is happening in reality. However, Nicostratus believes in the miraculous properties of the apple tree, which Lydia soon orders to be cut down, just in case.

Novella tenth

Two Sienese love the same woman, the godmother of one of them. The godfather dies and, returning to his comrade, in accordance with the promise given to him earlier, says that in purgatory they explained to him that cheating with his godfather is not considered a sin. The surviving Sienese celebrates with his beloved and achieves his goal.

Day eight

Chaired by Lauretta, where they talk about the jokes that are played every day by a woman on a man, a man on a woman, or a man on a man

Novella first

Gulfardo borrows money from Gasparruolo and, having agreed with his wife that he will sleep with her, gives it to her. After this, he tells Gasparruolo in the presence of his wife that he returned the money to her, and she confirms that this is true.

Novella second

The parish priest from Varlungo sleeps with the Madonna Belcolore. Taking the mortar from her as a souvenir, he leaves her his cloak as a pledge of love. Soon he sends the mortar to Madonna Belcolore with a request to return the cloak. Coerced by her husband, she gives up the bet, saying that the priest “will no longer rub the pestle in her mortar.”

Novella three

Calandrino, Bruno and Buffalmacco go down the Mugnone to look for heliotrope, magic stone, curing poisons and making its owner invisible. Calandrino imagines that he has found him because his friends get tired of searching and pretend that they do not see Calandrino. He returns home loaded with stones, because he does not know which stone from the pile he has collected is magical. His wife scolds him. Angry, he beats her, and tells his comrades that the woman has broken all the spells of heliotropy.

Novella Four

The abbot of Fiesole loves a widow who does not love him. The widow agrees for the sake of appearance and invites the abbot home. He doesn’t see in the dark that he’s actually sleeping with the widow’s ugly maid. Meanwhile, the widow's brothers invite the bishop to visit and bring him to the room where Fiesole sleeps in the arms of a maid.

Novella fifth

Three young Florentines, pretending that they are demanding an urgent trial, quietly pull down the trousers of one stupid and blind judge from Marcha, while he is sitting on the judge's bench trying to sort out the cases.

Novella sixth

Bruno and Buffalmacco, not waiting for Calandrino to sell his pig himself and treat his friends to the rescue, steal Calandrino’s pig and encourage him to try to find the thieves with the help of ginger pills and Vernaccia wine. Everyone present is given a pill, the one who finds it bitter is a thief. Calandrino himself is given one after another bitter pills of sabur mixed with aloe. Everyone accuses Calandrino of stealing his own pig. He also has to pay off Bruno and Buffalmacco so that they do not tell their wife about this.

Novella seven

The student loves the widow. Proving her fidelity to her lover, she forces the student to spend half a winter night in the snow waiting for her, after which he returns home half-dead and thinks about revenge. Soon, wanting to bewitch the lover who had left her, on the advice of a schoolboy, in mid-July she stood the whole day on the tower, naked, bitten by flies and horseflies and burned by the sun. After this, she is found and saved by a maid, on her last legs.

Novella eight

The two live in friendship. One of them gets along with the other's wife. He, having learned about this, comes to an agreement with his wife and locks his friend in the chest, and plays with his wife on it while he sits inside. In the end, both are friendly again, and often then have fun with each other’s wives.

Novella Ninth

Maestro Simone Bruno and Buffalmacco tell the stupid doctor about a secret society in which they both allegedly belong and every evening enjoy luxury and overseas beauties. The doctor wants to join the society and, on the instructions of Bruno and Buffalmacco, waits at the old temple for a wonderful beast, which should take him to the collection secret society. Buffalmacco, disguised as an animal, carries the doctor on his back, after which he throws him into a garbage pit, where he leaves him.

Novella tenth

A certain Sicilian woman, pretending to be rich and in love with a merchant, asks him to borrow a large sum, after which she forgets about him. Pretending that he returned with even more goods than before, and having borrowed even more money from her, the merchant actually leaves her barrels of water and hairbrushes.

Day nine

Presided over by Emilia, where everyone talks about what they like best

Novella first

Madonna Francesca is loved by a certain Rinuccio and a certain Alessandro, both of whom are unloved by her. To make sure of their love, she orders one to lie in the tomb as if dead, the other to remove an imaginary dead person from there. When neither one nor the other achieves the goal, she cleverly gets rid of them.

Novella second

One abbess hurriedly gets up in the darkness to catch a nun in bed with her lover, whom she had been denounced. Since the priest was with her at the time, she, believing that she had thrown a veil over her head, threw on the priest's trousers. When the accused saw them and pointed them out to the abbess, she was released, and she calmly remained with her lover.

Novella three

The aunt leaves 200 lire as an inheritance to the painter Calandrino. Bruno, Buffalmacco and Nello want to spend this money. At their request, Maestro Simone assures Calandrino that he has become pregnant. He gives them all the money in return for the medicine and is cured without giving birth to anyone.

Novella Four

Cecco, the son of sir Fortarrigo, loses everything he had in Buonconvento, as well as the money of the son of sir Angiolieri. Wearing only a shirt, Cecco runs after Angiolieri's son, saying that he robbed him, orders the peasants to seize him and, dressed in his dress and mounted his horse, rides off, leaving him in only his shirt.

Novella fifth

Calandrino falls in love with the mistress of the owner of the house that Calandrino and his artist friends are painting. Bruno, having agreed with the girl and the owner of the house, gives the “magic” amulet to Calandrino, and as soon as he touches the amulet to the girl, she follows him. Taken by surprise by his wife, brought by Bruno and Buffalmacco, Calandrino listens to reproaches from her.

Novella sixth

Two young people spent the night in a hotel. One of them goes to bed with the owner’s daughter, whose wife, wanting to preserve her daughter’s honor, mistakenly goes to bed with the second guest. The one who was with his daughter, wanting to return to his room, mistakenly lies down next to the owner and, mistaking him for his comrade, tells him everything. Meanwhile, the owner’s wife, seeing who she is lying with, in order to avoid shame, says that the guest only imagined everything.

Novella seven

Talano di Molese, having seen in a dream that a wolf tore his wife's face and throat, tells her to beware. She does not do this, and she is actually grabbed by the wolf, from whom she miraculously escapes and regrets that she did not listen to her husband.

Novella eight

Biondello tells Ciacco, a famous glutton throughout the city, that there will be a delicious dinner in one of the houses. Chacko comes to that house and realizes that he has been deceived. In retaliation, he slanderes Biondello to one big guy, who gives the joker a good beating.

Novella Ninth

Two young men ask Solomon for advice: one - how to make himself fall in love, the other - how to teach his obstinate wife a lesson. Solomon advises the second to go to the Goose Bridge, where both young men see how the driver beats the stubborn donkey with a stick, and she moves on. At home, one of them beats his wife when she refuses his request, and realizes the value of Solomon's advice. The first one understands that he must first love himself, and then they will love him.

Novella tenth

Don Gianni, at the request of godfather Pietra, performs a spell to turn his wife into a mare, and when it comes to the tail, he inserts his “tail” into the godfather’s wife. Godfather Pietro says that he doesn’t need such a tail and such a mare.

Day ten and last

Presided over by Pamphilo, where they talk about those who have done something generous or magnanimous in matters of love or in other matters

Novella first

A certain valiant knight serves the Spanish king. It seems to him that he is little rewarded. The king sets up an experiment: he invites the knight to choose one of two chests, one of which contains treasures, and the other contains land. When the knight gets the land, the king decides that, although fate itself does not want wealth for this man, he, the king, will give him both chests.

Novella second

Ataman Gino di Tacco takes captive the abbot of Cluny, who went to be treated with waters, heals the abbot’s stomach with a harsh diet, and then releases him. He, returning to the Roman court, reconciles the robber Gino with Pope Boniface and introduces him to a high position.

Novella three

Mithridanes, who wants to become famous for his generosity, becomes jealous of Nathan's generosity and goes to kill him. He meets Nathan, unrecognized, along the way, and, having found out from him how to do this, he discovers that he had been talking with Nathan all this time. Mithridan realizes that Nathan was ready to give his life and that he is more generous, and therefore begins to respect him and befriend him.

Novella Four

Messire Gentile dei Carisendi, arriving from Modena, removes from the tomb the woman he loved, mistaken and buried for the dead. Having recovered, she gives birth to a son, and Sir Gentile returns her and the child to her husband, Niccoluccio Caccianimico, which shows fantastic generosity.

Novella fifth

Madonna Dianora asks Messire Ansaldo, who is in love with her, to arrange for her a garden in January as beautiful as in May. Messire Ansaldo, having agreed with a necromancer wizard, arranges a garden for Madonna Dianora. Her husband, having learned about this, allows her to give herself to Ansaldo. Having learned about her husband’s generosity, he relieves her of fulfilling her promise, and the necromancer, for his part, without taking anything, releases the debt to Messire Ansaldo.

Novella sixth

The victorious King Charles the Elder falls in love with a young girl, the daughter of a noble Italian. Ashamed of his foolishness and not wanting discord, he honorably marries the girl and her sister.

Novella seven

King Pietro, having learned about Lisa’s passionate love for him from the minstrel she sent, consoles her. Subsequently, he marries Lisa to a well-born young man and, kissing her on the forehead, calls himself her knight.

Novella eight

Gisippo and Titus Quintius Fulvus are very friendly, but they are in love with the same girl. When she is married to Gisippo, he allows Titus Quintius to sleep with her. When this becomes known, a scandal breaks out, and Titus and his beloved leave for Rome, where Gisippo arrives, impoverished and despised. Titus does not recognize Gisippo when they meet. He, thinking that Titus despises him, and in order to die, slanders himself, claiming that he killed a man. Recognizing Gisippo and wanting to save him, Titus says that he is the murderer. Hearing this, the person who committed the crime reveals himself, after which the ruler frees everyone. Titus marries his sister to Gisippo and shares all his property with him.

Novella Ninth

Saladin, disguised as a merchant, is wonderfully received by Sir Torello. Leaving in crusade, Sir Torello gives his wife time to get married, and he himself, taken prisoner, becomes known to Sultan Saladin for his ability to care for birds of prey. He, recognizing Torello and telling him who the merchant was, gives him great honors. When the time he gave to his wife expires, Saladin’s sorcerer transports Messire Torello to his homeland in one night, presenting him with treasures and jewelry. During the celebration that took place on the occasion of the marriage of his wife, she recognizes Messire Torello, and he returns with her to his home.

Novella tenth

The Marquis of Saluzza takes in love the daughter of a peasant, Griselda, and, having raised two children with her, wants to test her. He assures her that he killed the children, and he himself sends them to his relatives to be raised. Then, pretending that he is tired of his wife and is marrying another, he returns his grown-up daughter and declares her his bride, and orders Griselda to be sent away wearing only her shirt. Seeing that she patiently endures everything, he returns her to his home, beloved more than ever, introduces her to her already grown-up children, gives her daughter in marriage, elevates Griselda’s father, a simple farmer, and loves and honors his wife all his life.

With the exception of weekends, when one should dedicate oneself to God, each day ends with a change in the owner of the crown and a new song. The new king announces the theme of the stories for the next day and gives orders about arranging the life of the company. By order of their kings and queens, the company leaves Florence and ends up in a castle abandoned by the owners with a beautiful garden, where they settle down for several days. Then the company goes to a valley located between wonderful mountain slopes, where friends enjoy nature. At the end of the 10th day, it is decided to return to Florence, and the seven ladies go home, and the three young men go in search of new adventures.

Retold Vsevolod Bylevsky.

Another day

Opovіdka Shosta

After the death of Emperor Frederick the Other, Manfred was crowned King of Sicily. Serving under him was a Neapolitan nobleman named Arrighetto Capece, who was friends with the ugly lady, Beritola Caracciola. Vlada was on the island. Having sensed that King Carlo had killed Manfred, he realized that he needed to prepare until the end. That island “I found Arrigetta and many more of Manfred’s followers and saw them before Queen Charles, who had fallen over all of Sicily.

Encouraged by such ideas, the vagrant Madonna Beritola, taking with her her eight-fold son Giusfred, fled to the island of Lipari. There she gave birth to a child and named her Skachchato, then Vignanets. Having hired a nanny to look after her, she decided to sail on a small ship to Naples, to her homeland. The storm carried them to a small island. Madonna Beritola went ashore, found a public place there, and began to mourn her Arrigette in person. So she did this every day, and one day, when she went there, her ship was attacked by a pirate galley, filled with her blue and nanny, and drowned far away by the sea.

When Madonna Beritola turned around, she looked at the galley in the distance and realized that “following her husband and children, she lost her children.” The man and son called, the dock did not fall, did not fall on the birch.

Night set in, and the woman, turning around sadly, walked to the oven, where all day she expressed her pity.

Feeling hungry, she began to eat all sorts of things. The roe deer ran to the nearest oven, and then ran off to the forest again. The woman looked after the little goats there. The stench was so sweet that it began to hurt their chests.

The kittens did not row, but the poor woman found her own company on the deserted island.

After a few months, the ship reached the island of Pisa, searching for protection from the storm. Pliv on the new nobleman Currado from the family of the Marquises of Malespina. When that squad was walking around the island, their dogs attacked two roe deer. The captive goats rushed to the stove. And Madonna Beritola drove the dogs away with her blow. Currado was terribly surprised that there was a woman alive on the island, and received information about who she was and what to do here.

When Currado sensed the truth, he cried out of grief, because he knew Arrigetta Capece well. The woman did not want to marry these people, so Currado deprived his squad of them for an hour, so that they would indignate Madonna Beritola, and that was fine. She also took with her a roe and her kids. On the ship they began to call the wonderful woman Sarna.

The pirates, who buried the blues and the nanny, took them to Genoa. While the rulers of the galleries were selling their treasures there, Messer’s Guasparrins d’Oria fell in full, who mistook them for slaves.

The mother was a sensible woman and an ordinary one. She decided not to reveal to anyone until later what kind of child she was. The eldest son began to be called Giannotto di Procida. So the stinks lived for a long time, and they died like a black robot. When Giannotto turned 16, he went to the galleries that sailed to Alexandria, having visited rich lands and saw that his father would not die, but sit in prison. Having wandered around the world for a long time, until he arrived at service to Kurrada Malespini. “Although I have repeatedly learned the mother who helped Kurrad’s woman, I have not yet recognized either, even though they both changed, as soon as they rebelled.”

The widow, Donka Kurrada, Spiyu., collapsed into a young man, and Vin. One day they were rolling around on the galya and couldn’t hear Spina’s mother coming up, followed by Currado himself.

Bureny's father believed that they would be damned to death. Mati managed to look at the prisoners. Currado, having thrown them into the prison, let them suffer there.

Giannotto and Spina had already reigned, and at that moment King Pedro of Aragon crowned Sicily as King Charles. If Giannotto finds out about his brewer's identity, then he will reveal who he really is and what his name is. Currado, having sensed the revelation, having slept with the Madonna Berito, who is quite a son on him and Jusfred, who at this hour would have turned 22. Having sensed the confirmation, he is determined to earn great blessings: to make friends with those who have fallen asleep. More happy and mothers who told them the truth.

When the two of them told each other about their benefits, Currado told his friends what he saw of her and ordered to take charge of the written records. Jusfred asked him to find out about his brother in Sicily, and also to find out about his father, who he was and how he was, so that the stinks would turn to him.

Currado all recognized Messerova Guasparrino, and he released his slaves, and also saw his eleven-year-old daughter, not yet herself, but s. great wine, for Vignanz, because he knew who Arrighetto was.

We had a lot of fun.

Arrighetto, having learned that I was alive, sent the frigate and joyfully received his squad in Palermo and rejuvenated.

Day ten

Dev's report

For the crowning of Frederick the First, Christians fought a hale campaign to free the Holy Land from the infidels. Having sensed this from afar, Saladin, the glorious Volodar and the Sultan of Babylon, decided to marvel at how the Christians were preparing for the campaign. He destroyed the merchant who had been overworked by the road, taking with him only two wise companions and three servants. Having wandered through Lombardy, and in the evening between Milan and Pavia, the stench of the local nobleman, named Messer Torello d'Istria, was heard, who turned home from hunting. so I went ahead of my squad about their arrival, and sent the servant with the foreigners. Torello immediately realized that these people are important and glorious, but it was clear to him from the very beginning. Therefore, we hope to continue their anticipation of the coming day. By cunning, he got them to stay with him for one more day.

Although Saladin and his companions called until the writing, they marveled at this politeness and hospitality, because they knew that the ruler was a simple nobleman. After lunch, the guests treated Torell’s squad, tall and tall, elegantly dressed, and two children. The guests were already praising the blues and showing off to the master. Vaughn ordered each person to be brought a pair of cloaks, lined with two sides and a khutra, three zhupans and thin white ones.

“The noble guests were amazed, saying that Messer Torello would not skimp on anything for them...” Messer Torello gave them three healthy horses along the way and for the servants three fresh, strong horses and saw them off far away.

Saladin and his companions rode away, firmly believing that if only he would live, if he would not perish in the war, if he would be considered dead, then Messer Torella, with no less writing, would wear him out, and he would wear him down.

When the crusader march was announced, Messer Torello decided to go to the army. And having asked the squad: if you want to become with him, if there is no news that he is alive, count on someone else, do not marry another for one river, one month and one day, dying from that day, if you live. She kissed it and, having taken it from her finger, gave it to the man so that he could tell that he was going to die.

Among the Christians, as if by sin, a great fur began to grow fierce, and the Sultans began to capture all those who were lost alive. I Messer Torello also. The Sultan did not recognize him from the beginning, calling him nothing less than Javur (himself, in his own way, a Christian). Several times Torello tried to get in, but he was not lucky.

One day the Genoese arrived at Alexandria, and decided to write to their friends that he was alive and expected to arrive home as soon as possible.

As if Saladin started talking to him about birds, and Torello grinned in his own way, with only his lips. Saladin's smell was full of that dust, and he, in great surprise, guessed Torello. Showing him the clothes that the nobleman's squad had given him, asking him to know someone he knew. Nina, those stinks were coming out of him before The resentment was unspeakably pleasing to the zustricha.

It was then that the crowd died and the lamentations of Torello from Dina began, and everyone thought that Messer Torello from Istria was no longer in the world. This message reached his squad, so they (as it happened) did not receive a single message. Her relatives began to persuade her to get married again. How many times have you seen it, but have struggled to get ready for sex, when it’s time that the man acknowledges it.

When there was still a day left for this fun, Torello realized that the squad had not won a single leaf, and frowned, since the end of the month had already passed, since he was no longer at home.

Once you have heard about Saladin, you will come to a new place and calm down: the sorcerer can transfer Messer Thorell to Pavia with spells in one night. So it was cut down: sleepy, he was transferred to the bed, and the Sultan himself put a precious crown on his head, putting a heel with a carbuncle on his finger, “which glowed like the tar of the mountains,” and cut off his template, embellished with a cat. stemy, Having poured ours with pearls and gems and placed two gold plates on both sides, again chervintsov, you can’t say everything.

If the rector of the St. Peter's Cathedral in Pavia, Thorell's uncle, having visited a sleepy person at the church, did not immediately recognize him. She greeted him and explained that he was in trouble.

They needed to hurry, so that Torella’s wife would be happy today. The two of them came to the merry banquet, and everyone there was singing that Torello was dead. The stranger was seated opposite the woman who was with the cheerful husband, but she looked even embarrassed. To verify what his squad remembers, having taken from the hands of the ring that they gave to you, when he left, he beckoned the servant to come to him, saying that in your region there is such a call: if any stranger is walking in joy whether in the young woman, then, to show that she accepts his presence, she gives him some wine in the kelis, which she herself adds to the bottom after the guest.

The woman did so, and when she saw the ring in her mouth, she threw him into the cell. And when the squad drank from him in order to stay in the foreign land, then, shaking their ring, they shouted that the stranger was Messer Torello, and rushed at him. Everyone heard a great uproar. The squad put on the finger the ring that had been worn from the kelikh, and on the head - the crown that the Sultan had sent to them. Messer Torello gave part of the gifts given to him to the man who spent freely on fun, and also told Saladin about his happy return.

other meanings

"Decameron"(Il Decamerone, from δέκα "ten", ἡμέρα "day" - lit. " Ten days") - a collection of one hundred short stories by the Italian writer Giovanni Boccaccio, one of the most famous books of the early Italian Renaissance, written approximately 1352-1354. Most of the short stories in this book are devoted to the theme of love, from its erotic to tragic aspects.

Name

Book title "Decameron" comes from the Greek words δέκα - “ten” and ἡμέρα - “day”, literally translated as “ Ten days" It was created by the author according to the Greek model - in the manner of the title of one of the treatises of St. Ambrose of Milan - Hexaemeron(“Six days”) The Six Days, created by other medieval authors, usually told about the creation of the world by God in 6 days. The Decameron is also a book about the creation of the world. But the world in the Decameron is created not by God, but by human society - however, not in six, but in ten days.

Also had a vulgar common nickname (subtitle) "Prince Galeotto"(Principe Galeotto, lit. “Pimp”), which hinted at Boccaccio’s ideological opponents, who tried to prove that the Decameron undermines the foundations of religion and morality. Galeoto is King Arthur's knight Galechote, who facilitated the relationship between Guinevere and Lancelot, and is mentioned in Dante's Divine Comedy. Her characters Francesca di Rimini and Paolo kiss for the first time under the influence of reading this fragment of the legend ( “We were alone, everyone was careless, Over the book their gazes met immediately... and the book became our Heleot...”, Hell, V.). From Dante, the name "Galeotto" entered the Italian language as a synonym for pimp.

Plot

The scheme of this work is found in Boccaccio earlier, in “Ameto” (love stories of seven nymphs) and “Filocolo” (13 love questions). The structure of the essay is twofold - a “frame composition” with inserted short stories is used. The book's framing events take place in the 14th century, during the plague epidemic of 1348. A group of 3 noble young men and 7 ladies, who met in the church of Santa Maria Novella, leave infected Florence for a country villa 2 miles from the city to escape the disease. (Traditionally it is believed that this is Villa Palmieri in Fiesole).

Outside the city, they spend their time telling each other various entertaining stories. Many of them are not original compositions by Boccaccio, but folklore, legendary and classical motifs he reworked - for example, from "Metamorphosis" Apuleius, anecdotes that made up a significant part of urban folklore, and religious and moral “examples” with which famous church ministers supplied sermons, French fabliau and oriental tales, oral stories of contemporary Florentines. Boccaccio also drew from a 13th-century Italian collection "Cento novelle antiche". The Indian collection of fairy tales "Panchatantra" influenced the structure and a number of short stories, and "Historia gentis Langobardorum" Paul the Deacon - on the way of describing the plague. (For a summary table of the sources he used, see List of Decameron short stories).

During the Renaissance, poetry continued to develop in European literature, in which the sonnet predominated. In prose, the most popular genre is the short story, the typological foundations of which were laid in “The Decameron” by Giovanni Boccaccio.

Work on the short stories was carried out in the period from 1348 to 1351, partly in Naples, partly in Florence. It is likely that some of the stories were conceived by Boccaccio long before the outbreak of the plague that swept through Florence in 1348. The terrible events of the epidemic of 1348 (then the writer’s father and daughter died from the plague) served as some impetus for the creation of the book’s framing plot.

There is an opinion that the work was created by “order” of the Queen of Naples herself. Confirmation of this is allegedly found in one of the author’s letters. With the help of life-affirming literature, the ruling elite hoped to calm the townspeople and strengthen their faith in a happy future after the epidemic.

It can also be assumed that some of the short stories were presented to readers separately from the book. In one of the parts of “The Decameron” there is an author’s introduction with a response to reader criticism, from which it follows that some of the short stories were distributed even before the publication of the entire work.

Genre, direction

As mentioned earlier, the Decameron was a kind of primary source for all Renaissance short stories. It was in it that Boccaccio improved the short story genre existing in the literature of contemporary Italy.

To create a new direction in literature, the writer used already existing elements, adding to them some of his own innovations. Another very important element in the Decameron is the use of folk Italian language, not common Latin. The interpretation of the well-known Medieval plots, as well as the unified ideological orientation, were also innovative at that time. The author also risked ridiculing the clergy and the very idea of ​​asceticism.

Thus, “The Decameron” became a reflection of new facets of emerging humanism.

Meaning of the name

“Decameron” - from the ancient Greek “ten” and “day”, literally means “ten days”. A similar name Hexaemeron (“Six Days”) was generally accepted among medieval authors. The Six Days, as a rule, talked about how God created the world over six days. The Decameron tells the story of the creation of his small world, an ideal society, by a group of boys and girls for ten days. They secluded themselves in a peculiar Noah's Ark and saved themselves from the plague by recreating bit by bit the previous order of things.

Another name, more common, was “Prince Galeotto”, which literally means “pimp” in Italian. In general, Prince Geleoto (Galehoto) was the name of one of the knights of the famous King Arthur, who contributed to the forbidden connection between Ginevra and Lancelot. And after being mentioned in the famous “ Divine Comedy"Dante, the name of the prince has become firmly established in popular speech as a synonym for pimp.

The essence

The framing plot is a description of the Florentine plague of 1348. Seven young girls in the company of three young men decide to flee the city away from illness and death to their country estates. There they while away the time, having fun in every possible way in the lap of nature and talking in the company of interesting stories, made up or heard somewhere. They represent a kind of ideal society, where culture and equality become an uplifting principle, representing a Renaissance utopia.

All the events that take place take exactly two weeks, but only ten days are devoted to telling the stories. Every day, boys and girls choose a “ruler” for themselves, who chooses a theme that in one way or another unites all the stories of that day. Friday and Saturday are days off when a ruler is not elected and funny incidents are not told. Every evening, after the story, one of the girls performed for the others a poetic ballad, which is considered one of the best examples of Boccaccio’s lyrics.

Many of the short stories, however, were not original works by the author. Boccaccio reworked folklore motifs, anecdotes, moralizing parables that abounded in the sermons of clergy, and simply oral stories of his contemporaries.

The main characters and their characteristics

Boccaccio's narrators are Florentines of noble birth. Seven ladies, the youngest of whom is 18, and the eldest is 28 years old, and three young men, the youngest of whom is 25, are described as very real people with “speaking” names that reflect the main qualities of their characters.

Thus, Pampinea is translated from Italian as “blooming” - she is related to one of the young men accompanying the ladies. Neifile (from Greek “new to love”) belongs to the heart of one of the three young people. The author’s beloved appears in the image of Fiametta (“light”): presumably, under this name is hidden the illegitimate daughter of Robert of Anjou, Maria d’Aquino. Another lady who previously owned Boccaccio’s heart appears in the form of Philomena (also from Greek “lover of singing”). Emilia (Latin for “affectionate”) appeared in several other works by the author. Lauretta is better than other girls in the art of dancing and singing; it is a kind of reference to the image of Laura, the lover of the famous Italian poet, Francesco Petrarch. The name Elissa refers to Virgil, since this was precisely the second name of his Dido.

Researchers of Boccaccio’s work note that the images of almost all the ladies were found in the author’s earlier works. In the young men, aspects of the character of Boccaccio himself are expressed.

For example, Panfilo (from Greek “totally in love”) has a serious and reasonable character. Philostrato (also from Greek “crushed by love”) is typically sensitive and melancholic. And Dioneo (in Italian “voluptuous”, “devoted to Venus”) is always cheerful and has an extremely sensual character.

There is an opinion that the number of main characters in The Decameron is not accidental. The seven ladies are symbols of the four natural and three theological virtues, while the number of young men symbolizes the ancient Greek division of the soul into Reason, Anger and Passion. Also, the number seven refers to the number of liberal arts. And having united, they become the perfect number ten, according to the ideas of medieval philosophers (a similar numerological theory is also found in Dante’s “Divine Comedy”).

Topics and issues

The frame composition, as mentioned earlier, expresses the idea of ​​an ideal society of the era of early humanism. It promotes the ideas of equality, love and freedom, regulated by a set of rules and a democratically elected ruler.

The short stories themselves are dedicated to the lives of ordinary Italians, the everyday stories of people from various social strata. Almost all the short stories are united by the idea of ​​uplifting and highly moral love, characteristic of prose works, as well as ridicule of the bad traits of the clergy and monasticism, which is extremely popular among the people.

However, Boccaccio’s focus remains on the problem of personal self-awareness, which was further developed in the philosophy of humanism and in general.

the main idea

So what did the author of the Decameron want to tell us? The framing plot gives a clear idea of ​​culture as a fundamental link in human life. Art here acts as another irreplaceable factor in the formation of personality. The main idea is that the ideal democratic civilized society itself is capable of existing only in conditions of isolation in the lap of nature, without facing harsh reality, running away from disease and death. Freedom, equality and brotherhood between people are possible, but only on the condition that people themselves meet each other halfway. To do this, it is necessary to develop not blind faith in abstract ideals, which is so easy to direct into evil, but the education and cult of healthy, natural relationships in society (without slaves and masters, oppression and humility).

And the short stories themselves, one way or another, are instructive in nature, praising love and human virtues, and ridiculing the worst of human vices. The author especially does not like hypocrisy that develops into hypocrisy. Often, under the guise of moral principles, a person commits abominations that are unworthy of what he supposedly sacredly believes in. Alas, the medieval people were unable to understand the sublime philosophy of religion due to their ignorance, therefore, by the way, they became victims of the plague. A banal lack of medical knowledge drove people into churches, where they only spread the epidemic, infecting each other through various rituals. It was precisely this absurdity of obeying what is incomprehensible and not understood that the educated author condemned. He saw true access to the religious sacraments only in comprehending the surrounding world with all its laws, otherwise even the most ideal teaching would be just a convenient system of phrases for self-deception and vegetating in ignorance. This is the meaning of the book, which dogmatists, of course, did not understand and hastened to condemn, burning and banning the Decameron for several centuries.