A long time ago, in the family of the Marquis Saluzzo, the head of the
house was a young man called Walter, who, having neither wife nor
children, spent his time entirely in hunting and hawking, and never
troubled himself to marry or to have a family,--on account of which he
was considered very wise. This thing not being pleasing to his
retainers, they many times begged of him that he should take a wife, in
order that he should not be without an heir and they without a master,
offering to find him one descended from such a father and mother that he
might hope to have successors and they be satisfied. To which Walter
replied:--"My friends, you urge me to what I have never been disposed to
do, considering how grave a matter it is to find a woman who adapts
herself to one's ways, and on the contrary how great are the burdens and
how hard the lives of those who happen on wives who do not suit them.
And to say that you know daughters from the fathers and mothers, and
from that argue that you can give me what will satisfy me, is a
foolishness; since I do not know how you can learn the fathers or know
the secrets of the mothers of these girls, since even knowing them
oft-times we find the daughters very different from the fathers and
mothers: but since you desire to entangle me in these chains, I wish to
be satisfied; and in order that I should not have to suffer through
others than myself if any mistake should be made, I wish myself to be
the finder, assuring you that if I do not take this responsibility and
the woman should not be honorable, you would find out to your very great
loss how much opposed to my desire it was to have taken a wife at your
supplication."
The good men were satisfied, so long as he would take a wife. For a long
time the ways of a poor young woman who belonged to a little house near
his own had attracted Walter, and as she was sufficiently beautiful, he
considered that with her he might have a life peaceful enough; and on
that account, without going any further, he proposed to marry this one,
and calling upon her father, who was very poor, arranged with him to
marry her. This being arranged, he convoked his friends and said to
them: "My friends! it has pleased and pleases you that I should dispose
myself to marry, and I am so disposed more to please you than for the
desire that I should have a wife. You know what you promised me,--that
is, to be satisfied with and to honor as your lady whoever I should
select; and, for that the time has come that I should keep my promise to
you, and I wish you to keep yours to me, I have found very near here a
young woman according to my heart, whom I intend to take for my wife and
to bring her in a few days to my house; and for this you must think how
the entertainment of the day shall be attractive and how you will
honorably receive her, in order that I may show myself satisfied with
the fulfillment of your promise as you may consider yourselves
with mine."
The good men, joyful, all replied that that gave them pleasure, and
whoever it might be, they would accept her for lady and would honor her
in everything as their lady. This being arranged, all set themselves to
making a magnificent, joyful, and splendid festa, which also did Walter.
He prepared for the wedding festivities very abundantly and
magnificently, and invited many of his friends, great gentlemen, his
relatives and others from all around. And beyond this he had dresses cut
and made up by the figure of a young woman who, he thought, had the same
figure as the woman he proposed to marry. And besides this, he arranged
girdles and rings and a rich and beautiful coronet, and everything that
a newly married bride should demand.
On the day settled for the wedding, Walter, about the third hour,
mounted his horse, as did all those who had come to honor him, and
having arranged everything conveniently, said, "Gentlemen, it is time to
go to take the bride;" and starting with his company he arrived at the
little villa, and going to the house of the father of the girl, and
finding her returning in great haste with water from the spring, in
order to go with the other women to see the bride of Walter, he called
her by name,--that is, Griselda,--and asked her where her father was, to
which she modestly replied, "My lord, he is in the house." Then Walter,
dismounting and commanding his men that they should wait for them, went
along into the little house, where he found her father, whose name was
Giannucoli, and said to him, "I have come to marry Griselda, but I wish
to learn certain things in your presence." He then asked her if, should
he take her for his wife, she would do her best to please him, and at
nothing that he should do or say would she trouble herself, and if she
would be obedient, and many such-like questions, to all of which she
replied "yes." Then Walter took her by the hand, and in the
presence of all his company and all the other persons had her stripped
naked, and calling for the dresses which he had had made, immediately
had her dressed and shod, and on her hair, disheveled as it was, had the
crown put; and all this being done while everybody marveled, Walter
said:--"Gentlemen, this is she whom I intend shall be my wife if she
wishes me for husband" and then, turning to her, who stood by herself
abashed and confused, said to her, "Griselda, will you take me for your
husband?" To which Griselda replied, "Yes, my lord;" and he said, "I
desire her for my wife, and in the presence of the assembly to marry
her;" and mounting her on a palfrey he led her, honorably accompanied,
to his house. There the marriage ceremonies were fine and great, and the
festivities were not less than if he had married the daughter of the
king of France.
_THE DECAMERON_.
This is a collection of 100 tales written by Boccaccio, and published in
1353. Seven ladies and three gentlemen of Florence, during the plague of
1348, are supposed to be enjoying themselves in a garden telling
stories--ten each day for ten days.
Photogravure from a Painting by Jacques Wagrez.
[Illustration]
It seemed as if the young bride, in changing her vestments, changed her
mind and her manners. She was, as we have said, in figure and face
beautiful; and as she was beautiful she became so attractive, so
delightful, and so accomplished, that she did not seem to be the
daughter of Giannucoli the keeper of sheep, but of some noble lord,
which made every man who had known her astonished; and besides this, she
was so obedient to her husband and so ready in service that he was most
contented and delighted; and similarly, toward the subjects of her
husband she was so gracious and so kind that there was no one who did
not love her more than himself; and gentlemen honored her with the best
good-will, and all prayed for her welfare and her health and
advancement. Whereupon they who had been accustomed to say that Walter
had done a foolish thing in marrying her, now said that he was the
wisest and the most far-seeing man in the world, because no other than
he would have been able to see her great virtue hidden under the poor
rags of a peasant's costume. In a short time, not only in his own
dominions but everywhere, she knew so well how to comport herself that
she made the people talk of his worth and of his good conduct, and to
turn to the contrary anything that was said against her husband on
account of his having married her.
She had not long dwelt with Walter when she bore a daughter, for which
Walter made great festivities; but a little afterwards, a new idea
coming into his mind, he wished with long experience and with
intolerable proofs to try her patience. First he began to annoy her
with words, pretending to be disturbed, and saying that his men were
very discontented with her low condition, and especially when they saw
that she had children; and of the daughter, that she was born most
unfortunately; and he did nothing but grumble. But the lady, hearing
these words, without changing countenance or her demeanor in any way,
said, "My lord, do with me what you think your honor and your comfort
demand, and I shall be satisfied with everything, as I know that I am
less than they, and that I was not worthy of this honor to which you in
your courtesy called me." This reply pleased Walter much, knowing that
she was not in any arrogance raised on account of the honor which he or
others had done her.
A little while afterwards, having often repeated to his wife that his
subjects could not endure this daughter born of her, he instructed one
of his servants and sent him to her, to whom with sorrowful face he
said, "My lady, if I do not wish to die, I am obliged to do what my lord
commands me; he has commanded that I should take your daughter and that
I--" and here he stopped. The lady, seeing the face of the servant and
hearing the words that he said, and the words said by her husband,
bethinking herself, understood that this man had been ordered to kill
the child; upon which, immediately taking her from the cradle, kissing
her, and placing her as if in great sorrow to her heart, without
changing countenance she placed her in the arms of the servant and said,
"Take her and do exactly what your and my lord has imposed on you to do,
but do not leave her so that the beasts and the birds shall devour her,
unless he should have commanded you that." The servant having taken the
child and having repeated to Walter what his wife had said, he,
marveling at her constancy, sent him with her to Bologna to one of his
relatives, beseeching him that without ever saying whose daughter she
might be, he should carefully rear her and teach her good manners. It
happened that the lady again in due time bore a son, who was very dear
to Walter. But not being satisfied with what he had done, with greater
wounds he pierced his wife, and with a countenance of feigned vexation
one day he said to her, "My lady, since you have borne this male child I
have in no way been able to live with my people, so bitterly do they
regret that a grandchild of Giannucoli should after me remain their
lord; and I make no question that if I do not wish to be deposed, it
will be necessary to do what I did before, and in the end leave you and
take another wife." The lady with patience heard him, and only replied,
"My lord! think of your own content, and do your own pleasure, and have
no thought of me; because nothing is so agreeable to me as to see you
satisfied." A little after, Walter, in the same manner as he had sent
for the daughter, sent for the son, and in the same way feigned to have
ordered it to be killed, and sent him to nurse in Bologna as he had sent
the daughter. On account of which thing the lady behaved no otherwise
and said no other word than she had done for the daughter. At this
Walter marveled greatly, and declared to himself that no other woman
could have done what she did; and had it not been that he found her most
affectionate to her children, as he saw her to be, he would have
believed that she could only do so because she did not care for them,
although he knew her to be very prudent. His subjects, believing that he
had had the child killed, blamed him greatly and considered him a most
cruel man, and had great compassion for the lady, who, with the women
who came to condole with her on the death of her children, never said
other thing than that that pleased her which pleased her lord who had
begotten them.
But many years having passed since the birth of the daughter, it seemed
time to Walter to make the last proof of her patience; and so he said to
many of his people that in no way could he endure any longer to have
Griselda for his wife, and that he recognized that he had done badly and
like a boy when he took her for wife, and that on that account he
intended to apply to the Pope for a dispensation that he might take
another wife and leave Griselda. On which account he was much reproved
by very good men, to which he replied in no other wise than that it was
convenient that he should do so. The lady, hearing these things, and
seeing that it was necessary for her to look forward to returning to her
father's house, and perhaps to watch the sheep as she had in other times
done, and to see that another should have him to whom she wished nothing
but good, suffered greatly in her own mind; but also, as with the other
injuries which she had endured from fortune, so with a firm countenance
she disposed herself to support even this. Not long afterwards, Walter
had caused to be sent to him counterfeit letters from Rome, which he
showed to all his subjects to inform them that the Pope had given him
the dispensation to take another wife and leave Griselda. After which,
having called her to him, in the presence of many people he
said:--"Lady, by the dispensation made to me by the Pope I may take
another wife and leave you; and because my ancestors were great
gentlemen and lords in this country, whereas yours have always been
workmen, I mean that you shall not longer be my wife, but that you shall
return to the house of your father with the dowry which you brought me,
and that I shall take another wife whom I have found more fitting for
me." The lady, hearing these words, not without great difficulty and
contrary to the nature of women kept back her tears, and replied:--"I
knew always my low condition not to suit in any way your nobility, and
what I have done, by you and by God will be recognized: nor have I ever
acted or held it as given to me, but simply always had it as a loan; it
pleases you to take it back, and to me it ought to give pleasure to
return it to you. Here is your ring with which you married me; take it.
You command me to take back the dowry which I brought you; to do which
neither of you to pay it nor of me to receive it will demand either a
purse or a beast of burden, because it has escaped your mind that you
took me naked: and if you consider it honest that this body by which I
have borne the children begotten by you shall be seen by everybody, I
will go away naked; but I pray you in consideration of my virginity,
which I brought to you and which I cannot take away, that at least a
single shirt more than my dowry it will please you that I shall take."
Walter, who had more desire to weep than anything else, remained with a
hard face and said, "You may take with you a shirt." He was prayed by
all who were about him that one garment more he should give, that it
should not be seen that she who had been his wife for thirteen years or
more should leave his house so poorly and shamefully as to go away in
her shirt; but in vain were the prayers made. On which account the lady
in her shirt, and barefoot, and without anything on her head, went out
of the house and returned to the house of her father with the tears and
lamentations of all who saw her.
Giannucoli, who had never been able to consider it a reality that Walter
should have taken his daughter for a wife, and expected every day this
end, had kept the clothes which had been taken from her that morning
that Walter married her; so that bringing them to her, she dressed
herself in them and returned to the little service of her father's house
as she had been accustomed, supporting with a strong mind these savage
attacks of fortune. When Walter had done this, he gave his people to
understand that he had taken the daughter of one of the Counts of Panago
for a wife, and having great preparations made for the marriage, sent
for Griselda that she should come; to whom, having come, he said:--"I
bring this lady whom I have now taken, and intend on her arrival to
honor her, and you know that I have not in the house women who know how
to arrange the chambers and to do many things that pertain to such
festivities; on which account you, who better than anybody else know the
things in this house, shall put in order whatever there is to be done,
and cause to be invited the ladies whom you see fit, as if you were
mistress here; then, after the marriage ceremony, you can go back to
your house." Although these words were like so many knives in the heart
of Griselda, as she had not been able to divest herself of the love
which she bore him as she had of her good fortune,--she replied, "My
lord, I am ready and prepared;" and so entered with her coarse peasant's
clothing in the house from which she had shortly before gone in her
shirt, and began to sweep and put in order the rooms, the hangings and
carpets for the halls, and to put the kitchen in order, and in every
respect as if she had been a little servant in the house, did she put
her hand. Nor did she pause until she had put everything in order and
arranged it as it was most convenient. And having done this, and Walter
at her indications having invited all the ladies of the country, she
began to arrange the festivities; and when the day of the marriage came,
with the apparel which she had on her back, but with the mind and manner
of a lady, received with a cheerful countenance all the ladies who came.
Walter, who had had his children educated carefully by a relative in
Bologna who had married into the house of the Counts of Panago,--the
girl being already of the age of twelve years and the most beautiful
creature that ever was seen, and the boy being of six,--had written to
his relative at Bologna, praying him that he would be kind enough to
come with this his daughter to Saluzzo, and to arrange to bring with him
a fine and honorable company, and to say to all that these things were
brought for his wife, without telling anything to anybody that it was
otherwise. Having done what the Marquis asked of him, the Count started
on his way after several days with the girl and her brother and with a
noble company, and arrived at Saluzzo at the hour of dinner, when all
the peasants and many neighbors were present waiting for the new bride
of Walter; who being received by the ladies and going into the hall
where the tables were set, Griselda came forward joyfully to meet her,
saying, "Welcome, my lady." The ladies (who had much, but in vain,
prayed Walter that he would arrange that Griselda should remain in the
chamber, or that he would give her some one of the dresses which had
been hers, in order that she should not appear in this way before his
strangers) were set at the table and had begun to be served. The girl
was looked at by every man, and everybody said that Walter had made a
good exchange: but amongst the others Griselda praised her most; both
her and her little brother.
Walter, who seemed to have finally learned as much as he desired of the
patience of his lady, and seeing that the enduring of these things
produced no change in her, and being certain that this did not happen
from hypocrisy, because he knew that she was very wise, considered it
time to lighten her of the bitterness which he felt that she held hidden
in her heart under her strong self-control. Therefore, calling her in
presence of all the company, and smiling, he said, "What do you think of
our bride?" "My lord," replied Griselda, "she seems to me very good, and
if she is as wise as she is beautiful, as I believe, I do not doubt in
the least that you will live with her the most comfortable gentleman in
the world. But I pray you as much as I can that these cruelties which
you bestowed on the other which was yours you will not give to this one,
because I believe that she could not support them; partly because she is
young, and again because she has been brought up delicately, while the
other has been always accustomed to hardships from a child." Walter,
seeing that she firmly believed that this one was his wife, nor on that
account spoke otherwise than well, made her sit down at his side and
said:--"Griselda, it is time now that you should feel the rewards of
your long patience, and that those who have considered me a cruel,
wicked, and brutal man should know that that which I have done was done
for a purpose, wishing to teach you to be a wife, and them to know how
to take and to keep one, and for myself for the establishment of
unbroken quiet while I live with you. Because when I came to take a wife
I had great fear that this could not be the case, and on that account,
and to assure myself in all the ways which you know, I have tried to
pain you. And yet I have never perceived that either in thought or deed
have you ever contradicted my pleasure: convinced that I shall have from
you that comfort which I desire, I now intend to return to you all at
once what I took from you on several occasions; and with the greatest
tenderness to heal the wounds which I have given you; and so with a
happy soul know this one whom you believed to be my bride, and this one
her brother, as your and my children; they are those whom you and many
others have long believed that I had cruelly caused to be killed; and I
am your husband who above all things loves you, believing that I may
boast that there is no other man who may be as well satisfied with his
wife as I am." And so saying he embraced her and kissed her, and with
her, who wept for joy, rising, went where the daughter sat stupefied,
hearing these things; and, embracing her tenderly and her brother as
well, undeceived her and as many as were there. The ladies, joyfully
rising, went with Griselda to her chamber, and with the most joyful
wishes dressed her as a lady,--which even in her rags she had
seemed,--and then brought her back to the hall; and there, making with
the children a wonderful festivity, every person being most joyful over
these things, the rejoicings and the festivities were kept up for many
days, and they all considered Walter the wisest of men, as they had
considered bitter and intolerable the proofs which he had imposed on his
wife; and especially they considered Griselda most discreet.
The Count of Panago returned after a few days to Bologna, and Walter,
having taken Giannucoli from his work, settled him in the condition of
his father-in-law, so that he lived with great honor and with great
comfort and so finished his old age. And Walter afterwards, having
married his daughter excellently, long and happily lived with Griselda,
honoring her always as much as he could. And here we may say that as in
royal houses come those who are much more worthy to keep the hogs than
to have government over men, so even into poor houses there sometimes
come from Heaven divine spirits besides Griselda, who could have been
able to suffer with a countenance not merely tearless but cheerful the
severe, unheard-of proofs imposed on her by Walter; to whom it would
perhaps not have been unjust that he should have happened on one who,
when he turned her out of his house in her shirt, should have become
unfaithful with another, as his actions would have made fitting.