--
King Charles the Old, being conqueror, falls in love with a young maiden,
and afterward growing ashamed of his folly bestows her and her sister
honourably in marriage.
--
Who might fully recount with what diversity of argument the ladies
debated which of the three, Giliberto, or Messer Ansaldo, or the
necromancer, behaved with the most liberality in the affair of Madonna
Dianora? Too long were it to tell. However, when the king had allowed
them to dispute a while, he, with a glance at Fiammetta, bade her rescue
them from their wrangling by telling her story. Fiammetta made no demur,
but thus began:--Illustrious my ladies, I have ever been of opinion that
in companies like ours one should speak so explicitly that the import of
what is said should never by excessive circumscription afford matter for
disputation; which is much more in place among students in the schools,
than among us, whose powers are scarce adequate to the management of the
distaff and the spindle. Wherefore I, that had in mind a matter of,
perchance, some nicety, now that I see you all at variance touching the
matters last mooted, am minded to lay it aside, and tell you somewhat
else, which concerns a man by no means of slight account, but a valiant
king, being a chivalrous action that he did, albeit in no wise thereto
actuated by his honour.
There is none of you but may not seldom have heard tell of King Charles
the Old, or the First, by whose magnificent emprise, and the ensuing
victory gained over King Manfred, the Ghibellines were driven forth of
Florence, and the Guelfs returned thither. For which cause a knight,
Messer Neri degli Uberti by name, departing Florence with his household
and not a little money, resolved to fix his abode under no other sway
than that of King Charles. And being fain of a lonely place in which to
end his days in peace, he betook him to Castello da Mare di Stabia; and
there, perchance a cross-bow-shot from the other houses of the place,
amid the olives and hazels and chestnuts that abound in those parts, he
bought an estate, on which he built a goodly house and commodious, with a
pleasant garden beside it, in the midst of which, having no lack of
running water, he set, after our Florentine fashion, a pond fair and
clear, and speedily filled it with fish. And while thus he lived, daily
occupying himself with nought else but how to make his garden more fair,
it befell that King Charles in the hot season betook him to Castello da
Mare to refresh himself a while, and hearing of the beauty of Messer
Neri's garden, was desirous to view it. And having learned to whom it
belonged, he bethought him that, as the knight was an adherent of the
party opposed to him, he would use more familiarity towards him than he
would otherwise have done; and so he sent him word that he and four
comrades would sup privily with him in his garden on the ensuing evening.
Messer Neri felt himself much honoured; and having made his preparations
with magnificence, and arranged the order of the ceremonies with his
household, did all he could and knew to make the King cordially welcome
to his fair garden.
When the King had viewed the garden throughout, as also Messer Neri's
house, and commended them, he washed, and seated himself at one of the
tables, which were set beside the pond, and bade Count Guy de Montfort,
who was one of his companions, sit on one side of him, and Messer Neri on
the other, and the other three to serve, as they should be directed by
Messer Neri. The dishes that were set before them were dainty, the wines
excellent and rare, the order of the repast very fair and commendable,
without the least noise or aught else that might distress; whereon the
King bestowed no stinted praise. As thus he gaily supped, well-pleased
with the lovely spot, there came into the garden two young maidens, each
perhaps fifteen years old, blonde both, their golden tresses falling all
in ringlets about them, and crowned with a dainty garland of
periwinkle-flowers; and so delicate and fair of face were they that they
shewed liker to angels than aught else, each clad in a robe of finest
linen, white as snow upon their flesh, close-fitting as might be from the
waist up, but below the waist ample, like a pavilion to the feet. She
that was foremost bore on her shoulders a pair of nets, which she held
with her left hand, carrying in her right a long pole. Her companion
followed, bearing on her left shoulder a frying-pan, under her left arm a
bundle of faggots, and in her left hand a tripod, while in the other hand
she carried a cruse of oil and a lighted taper. At sight of whom the King
marvelled, and gazed intent to learn what it might import. The two young
maidens came forward with becoming modesty, and did obeisance to the
King; which done they hied them to the place of ingress to the pond, and
she that had the frying-pan having set it down, and afterward the other
things, took the pole that the other carried, and so they both went down
into the pond, being covered by its waters to their breasts. Whereupon
one of Messer Neri's servants, having forthwith lit a fire, and set the
tripod on the faggots and oil therein, addressed himself to wait, until
some fish should be thrown to him by the girls. Who, the one searching
with the pole in those parts where she knew the fish lay hid, while the
other made ready the nets, did in a brief space of time, to the exceeding
great delight of the King, who watched them attentively, catch fish not a
few, which they tossed to the servant, who set them, before the life was
well out of them, in the frying-pan. After which, the maidens, as
pre-arranged, addressed them to catch some of the finest fish, and cast
them on to the table before the King, and Count Guy, and their father.
The fish wriggled about the table to the prodigious delight of the King,
who in like manner took some of them, and courteously returned them to
the girls; with which sport they diverted them, until the servant had
cooked the fish that had been given him: which, by Messer Neri's command,
were set before the King rather as a side-dish than as aught very rare or
delicious.
When the girls saw that all the fish were cooked, and that there was no
occasion for them to catch any more, they came forth of the pond, their
fine white garments cleaving everywhere close to their flesh so as to
hide scarce any part of their delicate persons, took up again the things
that they had brought, and passing modestly before the King, returned to
the house. The King, and the Count, and the other gentlemen that waited,
had regarded the maidens with no little attention, and had, one and all,
inly bestowed on them no little praise, as being fair and shapely, and
therewithal sweet and debonair; but 'twas in the King's eyes that they
especially found favour. Indeed, as they came forth of the water, the
King had scanned each part of their bodies so intently that, had one then
pricked him, he would not have felt it, and his thoughts afterwards
dwelling upon them, though he knew not who they were, nor how they came
to be there, he felt stir within his heart a most ardent desire to
pleasure them, whereby he knew very well that, if he took not care, he
would grow enamoured; howbeit he knew not whether of the twain pleased
him the more, so like was each to the other. Having thus brooded a while,
he turned to Messer Neri, and asked who the two damsels were.
Whereto:--"Sire," replied Messer Neri, "they are my twin daughters, and
they are called, the one, Ginevra the Fair, and the other, Isotta the
Blonde." Whereupon the King was loud in praise of them, and exhorted
Messer Neri to bestow them in marriage. To which Messer Neri demurred,
for that he no longer had the means. And nought of the supper now
remaining to serve, save the fruit, in came the two young damsels in
gowns of taffeta very fine, bearing in their hands two vast silver
salvers full of divers fruits, such as the season yielded, and set them
on the table before the King. Which done, they withdrew a little space
and fell a singing to music a ditty, of which the opening words were as
follows:--
Love, many words would not suffice
There where I am come to tell.
And so dulcet and delightsome was the strain that to the King, his eyes
and ears alike charmed, it seemed as if all the nine orders of angels
were descended there to sing. The song ended, they knelt and respectfully
craved the King's leave to depart; which, though sorely against his will,
he gave them with a forced gaiety.
Supper ended, the King and his companions, having remounted their horses,
took leave of Messer Neri, and conversing of divers matters, returned to
the royal quarters; where the King, still harbouring his secret passion,
nor, despite affairs of state that supervened, being able to forget the
beauty and sweetness of Ginevra the Fair, for whose sake he likewise
loved her twin sister, was so limed by Love that he could scarce think of
aught else. So, feigning other reasons, he consorted familiarly with
Messer Neri, and did much frequent his garden, that he might see Ginevra.
And at length, being unable to endure his suffering any longer, and being
minded, for that he could devise no other expedient, to despoil their
father not only of the one but of the other damsel also, he discovered
both his love and his project to Count Guy; who, being a good man and
true, thus made answer:--"Sire, your tale causes me not a little
astonishment, and that more especially because of your conversation from
your childhood to this very day, I have, methinks, known more than any
other man. And as no such passion did I ever mark in you, even in your
youth, when Love should more readily have fixed you with his fangs, as
now I discern, when you are already on the verge of old age, 'tis to me
so strange, so surprising that you should veritably love, that I deem it
little short of a miracle. And were it meet for me to reprove you, well
wot I the language I should hold to you, considering that you are yet in
arms in a realm but lately won, among a people as yet unknown to you, and
wily and treacherous in the extreme, and that the gravest anxieties and
matters of high policy engross your mind, so that you are not as yet able
to sit you down, and nevertheless amid all these weighty concerns you
have given harbourage to false, flattering Love. This is not the wisdom
of a great king, but the folly of a feather-pated boy. And moreover, what
is far worse, you say that you are resolved to despoil this poor knight
of his two daughters, whom, entertaining you in his house, and honouring
you to the best of his power, he brought into your presence all but
naked, testifying thereby, how great is his faith in you, and how assured
he is that you are a king, and not a devouring wolf. Have you so soon
forgotten that 'twas Manfred's outrageous usage of his subjects that
opened you the way into this realm? What treachery was he ever guilty of
that better merited eternal torment, than 'twould be in you to wrest from
one that honourably entreats you at once his hope and his consolation?
What would be said of you if so you should do? Perchance you deem that
'twould suffice to say:--'I did it because he is a Ghibelline.' Is it
then consistent with the justice of a king that those, be they who they
may, who seek his protection, as this man has sought yours, should be
entreated after this sort? King, I bid you remember that exceeding great
as is your glory to have vanquished Manfred, yet to conquer oneself is a
still greater glory: wherefore you, to whom belongs the correction of
others, see to it that you conquer yourself, and refrain this unruly
passion; and let not such a blot mar the splendour of your achievements."
Sore stricken at heart by the Count's words, and the more mortified that
he acknowledged their truth, the King heaved a fervent sigh or two, and
then:--"Count," quoth he, "that enemy there is none, however mighty, but
to the practised warrior is weak enough and easy to conquer in comparison
of his own appetite, I make no doubt, but, great though the struggle will
be and immeasurable the force that it demands, so shrewdly galled am I by
your words, that not many days will have gone by before I shall without
fail have done enough to shew you that I, that am the conqueror of
others, am no less able to gain the victory over myself." And indeed but
a few days thereafter, the King, on his return to Naples, being minded at
once to leave himself no excuse for dishonourable conduct, and to
recompense the knight for his honourable entreatment of him, did, albeit
'twas hard for him to endow another with that which he had most ardently
desired for himself, none the less resolve to bestow the two damsels in
marriage, and that not as Messer Neri's daughters, but as his own.
Wherefore, Messer Neri consenting, he provided both with magnificent
dowries, and gave Ginevra the Fair to Messer Maffeo da Palizzi, and
Isotta the Blonde to Messer Guglielmo della Magna, noble knights and
great barons both; which done, sad at heart beyond measure, he betook him
to Apulia, and by incessant travail did so mortify his vehement appetite
that he snapped and broke in pieces the fetters of Love, and for the rest
of his days was no more vexed by such passion.
Perchance there will be those who say that 'tis but a trifle for a king
to bestow two girls in marriage; nor shall I dispute it: but say we that
a king in love bestowed in marriage her whom he loved, neither having
taken nor taking, of his love, leaf or flower or fruit; then this I say
was a feat great indeed, nay, as great as might be.
After such a sort then did this magnificent King, at once generously
rewarding the noble knight, commendably honouring the damsels that he
loved, and stoutly subduing himself.