=Tebaldo, Prince of Salerno, wishes to have his only daughter Doralice
to wife, but she, through her father’s persecution, flees to
England, where she marries Genese the king, and has by him two
children. These, having been slain by Tebaldo, are avenged by
their father King Genese.=
I cannot think there is one amongst us who has not realized by his own
experience how great is the power of love, and how sharp are the arrows
he is wont to shoot into our corruptible flesh. He, like a mighty king,
directs and governs his empire without a sword, simply by his individual
will, as you will be able to understand from the tenour of the story
which I am about to tell to you.
You must know, dear ladies, that Tebaldo, Prince of Salerno, according
to the story I have heard repeated many times by my elders, had to wife
a modest and prudent lady of good lineage, and by her he had a daughter
who in beauty and grace outshone all the other ladies of Salerno; but it
would have been well for Tebaldo if she had never seen the light, for in
that case the grave misadventure which befell him would never have
happened. His wife, young in years but of mature wisdom, when she lay
a-dying besought her husband, whom she loved very dearly, never to take
for his wife any woman whose finger would not exactly fit the ring which
she herself wore; and the prince, who loved his wife no less than she
loved him, swore by his head that he would observe her wish.
After the good princess had breathed her last and had been honourably
buried, Tebaldo indulged in the thought of wedding again, but he bore
well in mind the promise he had made to his wife, and was firmly
resolved to keep her saying. However, the report that Tebaldo, Prince of
Salerno, was seeking another mate soon got noised abroad, and came to
the ears of many maidens who, in worth and in estate, were no whit his
inferiors; but Tebaldo, whose first care was to fulfil the wishes of his
wife who was dead, made it a condition that any damsel who might be
offered to him in marriage should first try on her finger his wife’s
ring, to see whether it fitted, and not having found one who fulfilled
this condition—the ring being always found too big for this and too
small for that—he was forced to dismiss them all without further parley.
Now it happened one day that the daughter of Tebaldo, whose name was
Doralice, sat at table with her father; and she, having espied her
mother’s ring lying on the board, slipped it on her finger and cried
out, ‘See, my father, how well my mother’s ring fits me!’ and the
prince, when he saw what she had done, assented.
But not long after this the soul of Tebaldo was assailed by a strange
and diabolical temptation to take to wife his daughter Doralice, and for
many days he lived tossed about between yea and nay. At last, overcome
by the strength of this devilish intent, and fired by the beauty of the
maiden, he one day called her to him and said, ‘Doralice, my daughter,
while your mother was yet alive, but fast nearing the end of her days,
she besought me never to take to wife any woman whose finger would not
fit the ring she herself always wore in her lifetime, and I swore by my
head that I would observe this last request of hers. Wherefore, when I
felt the time was come for me to wed anew, I made trial of many maidens,
but not one could I find who could wear your mother’s ring, except
yourself. Therefore I have decided to take you for my wife, for thus I
shall satisfy my own desire without violating the promise I made to your
mother.’ Doralice, who was as pure as she was beautiful, when she
listened to the evil designs of her wicked father, was deeply troubled
in her heart; but, taking heed of his vile and abominable lust, and
fearing the effects of his rage, she made no answer and went out of his
presence with an untroubled face. As there was no one whom she could
trust so well as her old nurse, she repaired to her at once as the
surest bulwark of her safety, to take counsel as to what she should do.
The nurse, when she had heard the story of the execrable lust of this
wicked father, spake words of comfort to Doralice, for she knew well the
constancy and steadfast nature of the girl, and that she would be ready
to endure any torment rather than accede to her father’s desire, and
promised to aid her in keeping her virginity unsullied by such terrible
disgrace.
After this the nurse thought of nothing else than how she might best
find a way for Doralice out of this strait, planning now this and now
that, but finding no method which gained her entire approval. She would
fain have had Doralice take to flight and put long distance betwixt her
and her father, but she feared the craft of Tebaldo, and lest the girl
should fall into his hands after her flight, feeling certain that in
such event he would put her to death.
So while the faithful nurse was thus taking counsel with herself, she
suddenly hit upon a fresh scheme, which was what I will now tell you. In
the chamber of the dead lady there was a fair cassone, or clothes-chest,
magnificently carved, in which Doralice kept her richest dresses and her
most precious jewels, and this wardrobe the nurse alone could open. So
she removed from it by stealth all the robes and the ornaments that were
therein, and bestowed them elsewhere, placing in it a good store of a
certain liquor which had such great virtue, that whosoever took a
spoonful of it, or even less, could live for a long time without further
nourishment. Then, having called Doralice, she shut her therein, and
bade her remain in hiding until such time as God should send her better
fortune, and her father be delivered from the bestial mood which had
come upon him. The maiden, obedient to the good old woman’s command, did
all that was told her; and the father, still set upon his accursed
design, and making no effort to restrain his unnatural lust, demanded
every day what had become of his daughter; and, neither finding any
trace of her, or knowing aught where she could be, his rage became so
terrible that he threatened to have her killed as soon as he should find
her.
Early one morning it chanced that Tebaldo went into the room where the
chest was, and as soon as his eye fell upon it, he felt, from the
associations connected with it, that he could not any longer endure the
sight of it, so he gave orders that it should straightway be taken out
and placed elsewhere and sold, so that its presence might not be an
offence to him. The servants were prompt to obey their master’s command,
and, having taken the thing on their shoulders, they bore it away to the
market-place. It chanced that there was at that time in the city a rich
dealer from Genoa, who, as soon as he caught sight of the sumptuously
carved cassone, admired it greatly, and settled with himself that he
would not let it go from him, however much he might have to pay for it.
So, having accosted the servant who was charged with the sale of it, and
learnt the price demanded, he bought it forthwith, and gave orders to a
porter to carry it away and place it on board his ship. The nurse, who
was watching the trafficking from a distance, was well pleased with the
issue thereof, though she grieved sore at losing the maiden. Wherefore
she consoled herself by reflecting that when it comes to the choice of
evils it is ever wiser to avoid the greater.
The merchant, having set sail from Salerno with his carven chest and
other valuable wares, voyaged to the island of Britain, known to us
to-day as England, and landed at a port near which the country was
spread out in a vast plain. Before he had been there long, Genese, who
had lately been crowned king of the island, happened to be riding along
the seashore, chasing a fine stag, which, in the end, ran down to the
beach and took to the water. The king, feeling weary and worn with the
long pursuit, was fain to rest awhile, and, having caught sight of the
ship, he sent to ask the master of it to give him something to drink;
and the latter, feigning to be ignorant he was talking to the king,
greeted Genese familiarly, and gave him a hearty welcome, finally
prevailing upon him to go on board his vessel. The king, when he saw the
beautiful clothes-chest so finely carved, was taken with a great longing
to possess it, and grew so impatient to call it his own that every hour
seemed like a thousand till he should be able to claim it. He then asked
the merchant the price he asked for it, and was answered that the price
was a very heavy one. The king, being now more taken than ever with the
beautiful handicraft, would not leave the ship till he had arranged a
price with the merchant, and, having sent for money enough to pay the
price demanded, he took his leave, and straightway ordered the cassone
to be borne to the palace and placed in his chamber.
Genese, being yet over-young to wive, found his chief pleasure in going
every day to the chase. Now that the cassone was transported into his
bedroom, with the maiden Doralice hidden inside, she heard, as was only
natural, all that went on in the king’s chamber, and, in pondering over
her past misfortunes, hoped that a happier future was in store for her.
And as soon as the king had departed for the chase in the morning, and
had left the room clear, Doralice would issue from the clothes-chest,
and would deftly put the chamber in order, and sweep it, and make the
bed. Then she would adjust the bed-curtains, and put on the coverlet
cunningly embroidered with fine pearls, and two beautifully ornamented
pillows thereto. After this, the fair maiden strewed the bed with roses,
violets, and other sweet-smelling flowers, mingled with Cyprian spices
which exhaled a subtle odour and soothed the brain to slumber. Day after
day Doralice continued to compose the king’s chamber in this pleasant
fashion, without being seen of anyone, and thereby gave Genese much
gratification; for every day when he came back from the chase it seemed
to him as if he was greeted by all the perfumes of the East. One day he
questioned the queen his mother, and the ladies who were about her, as
to which of them had so kindly and graciously adorned his room, and
decked the bed with roses and violets and sweet scents. They answered,
one and all, that they had no part in all this, for every morning, when
they went to put the chamber in order, they found the bed strewn with
flowers and perfumes.
[Illustration: Doralice in the King’s Chamber]
Genese, when he heard this, determined to clear up the mystery, and the
next morning gave out that he was going to hunt at a village ten leagues
distant; but, in lieu of going forth, he quietly hid himself in the
room, keeping his eyes steadily fixed on the door, and waiting to see
what might occur. He had not been long on the watch before Doralice,
looking more beautiful than the sun, came out of the cassone and began
to sweep the room, and to straighten the carpets, and to deck the bed,
and diligently to set everything in order, as was her wont. The
beautiful maiden had no sooner done her kindly and considerate office,
than she made as if she would go back to her hiding-place; but the king,
who had keenly taken note of everything, suddenly caught her by the
hand, and, seeing that she was very fair, and fresh as a lily, asked her
who she was; whereupon the trembling girl confessed that she was the
daughter of a prince. She declared, however, that she had forgotten what
was his name, on account of her long imprisonment in the cassone, and
she would say nothing as to the reason why she had been shut therein.
The king, after he had heard her story, fell violently in love with her,
and, with the full consent of his mother, made her his queen, and had by
her two fair children.
In the meantime Tebaldo was still mastered by his wicked and treacherous
passion, and, as he could find no trace of Doralice, search as he would,
he began to believe that she must have been hidden in the coffer which
he had caused to be sold, and that, having escaped his power, she might
be wandering about from place to place. Therefore, with his rage still
burning against her, he set himself to try whether perchance he might
not discover her whereabouts. He attired himself as a merchant, and,
having gathered together a great store of precious stones and jewels,
marvellously wrought in gold, quitted Salerno unknown to anyone, and
scoured all the nations and countries round about, finally meeting by
hazard the trader who had originally purchased the clothes-chest. Of him
he demanded whether he had been satisfied with his bargain, and into
whose hands the chest had fallen, and the trader replied that he had
sold the cassone to the King of England for double the price he had
given for it. Tebaldo, rejoicing at this news, made his way to England,
and when he had landed there and journeyed to the capital, he made a
show of his jewels and golden ornaments, amongst which were some
spindles and distaffs cunningly wrought, crying out the while, ‘Spindles
and distaffs for sale, ladies.’ It chanced that one of the dames of the
court, who was looking out of a window, heard this, and saw the merchant
and his goods; whereupon she ran to the queen and told her there was
below a merchant who had for sale the most beautiful golden spindles and
distaffs that ever were seen. The queen commanded him to be brought into
the palace, and he came up the stairs into her presence, but she did not
recognize him in his merchant’s guise; moreover, she was not thinking
ever to behold her father again; but Tebaldo recognized his daughter at
once.
The queen, when she saw how fair was the work of the spindles and
distaffs, asked of the merchant what price he put upon them. ‘The price
is great,’ he answered, ‘but to you I will give one of them for nothing,
provided you suffer me to gratify a caprice of mine. This is that I may
be permitted to sleep one night in the same room as your children.’ The
good Doralice, in her pure and simple nature, never suspected the
accursed design of the feigned merchant, and, yielding to the persuasion
of her attendants, granted his request.
But before the merchant was led to the sleeping chamber, certain ladies
of the court deemed it wise to offer him a cup of wine well drugged to
make him sleep sound, and when night had come and the merchant seemed
overcome with fatigue, one of the ladies conducted him into the chamber
of the king’s children, where there was prepared for him a sumptuous
couch. Before she left him the lady said, ‘Good man, are you not
thirsty?’ ‘Indeed I am,’ he replied; whereupon she handed him the
drugged wine in a silver cup; but the crafty Tebaldo, while feigning to
drink the wine, spilled it over his garments, and then lay down to rest.
Now there was in the children’s room a side door through which it was
possible to pass into the queen’s apartment. At midnight, when all was
still, Tebaldo stole through this, and, going up to the bed beside which
the queen had left her clothes, he took away a small dagger, which he
had marked the day before hanging from her girdle. Then he returned to
the children’s room and killed them both with the dagger, which he
immediately put back into its scabbard, all bloody as it was, and having
opened a window he let himself down by a cord. As soon as the shopmen of
the city were astir, he went to a barber’s and had his long beard taken
off, for fear he might be recognized, and having put on different
clothes he walked about the city without apprehension.
In the palace the nurses went, as soon as they awakened, to suckle the
children; but when they came to the cradles, they found them both lying
dead. Whereupon they began to scream and to weep bitterly, and to rend
their hair and their garments, thus laying bare their breasts. The
dreadful tidings came quickly to the ears of the king and queen, and
they ran barefooted and in their night-clothes to the spot, and when
they saw the dead bodies of the babes they wept bitterly. Soon the
report of the murder of the two children was spread throughout the city,
and, almost at the same time, it was rumoured that there had just
arrived a famous astrologer, who, by studying the courses of the various
stars, could lay bare the hidden mysteries of the past. When this came
to the ears of the king, he caused the astrologer to be summoned
forthwith, and, when he was come into the royal presence, demanded
whether or not he could tell the name of the murderer of the children.
The astrologer replied that he could, and whispering secretly in the
king’s ear he said, ‘Sire, let all the men and women of your court who
are wont to wear a dagger at their side be summoned before you, and if
amongst these you shall find one whose dagger is befouled with blood in
its scabbard, that same will be the murderer of your children.’
Wherefore the king at once gave command that all his courtiers should
present themselves, and, when they were assembled, he diligently
searched with his own hands to see if any one of them might have a
bloody dagger at his side, but he could find none. Then he returned to
the astrologer—who was no other than Tebaldo himself—and told him how
his quest had been vain, and that all in the palace, save his mother and
the queen, had been searched. To which the astrologer replied, ‘Sire,
search everywhere and respect no one, and then you will surely find the
murderer.’ So the king searched first his mother, and then the queen,
and when he took the dagger which Doralice wore and drew it from the
scabbard, he found it covered with blood. Then the king, convinced by
this proof, turned to the queen and said to her, ‘O, wicked and inhuman
woman, enemy of your own flesh and blood, traitress to your own
children! what desperate madness has led you to dye your hands in the
blood of these babes? I swear that you shall suffer the full penalty
fixed for such a crime.’ But though the king in his rage would fain have
sent her straightway to a shameful death, his desire for vengeance
prompted him to dispose of her so that she might suffer longer and more
cruel torment. Wherefore he commanded that she should be stripped and
thus naked buried up to her chin in the earth, and that she should be
well fed in order that she might linger long and the worms devour her
flesh while she still lived. The queen, seasoned to misfortune in the
past, and conscious of her innocence, contemplated her terrible doom
with calmness and dignity.
Tebaldo, when he learned that the queen had been adjudged guilty and
condemned to a cruel death, rejoiced greatly, and, as soon as he had
taken leave of the king, left England, quite satisfied with his work,
and returned secretly to Salerno. Arrived there he told to the old nurse
the whole story of his adventures, and how Doralice had been sentenced
to death by her husband. As she listened the nurse feigned to be as
pleased as Tebaldo himself, but in her heart she grieved sorely,
overcome by the love which she had always borne towards the princess,
and the next morning she took horse early and rode on day and night
until she came to England. Immediately she repaired to the palace and
went before the king, who was giving public audience in the great hall,
and, having thrown herself at his feet, she demanded an interview on a
matter which concerned the honour of his crown. The king granted her
request, and took her by the hand and bade her rise; then, when the rest
of the company had gone and left them alone, the nurse thus addressed
the king: ‘Sire, know that Doralice, your wife, is my child. She is not,
indeed, the fruit of my womb, but I nourished her at these breasts. She
is innocent of the deed which is laid to her charge, and for which she
is sentenced to a lingering and cruel death. And you, when you shall
have learnt everything, and laid your hands upon the impious murderer,
and understood the reason which moved him to slay your children, you
will assuredly show her mercy and deliver her from these bitter and
cruel torments. And if you find that I speak falsely in this, I offer
myself to suffer the same punishment which the wretched Doralice is now
enduring.’
Then the nurse set forth fully from beginning to end the whole history
of Doralice’s past life; and the king when he heard it doubted not the
truth of it, but forthwith gave orders that the queen, who was now more
dead than alive, should be taken out of the earth; which was done at
once, and Doralice, after careful nursing and ministration by
physicians, was restored to health.
Next King Genese stirred up through all his kingdom mighty preparations
for war, and gathered together a great army, which he despatched to
Salerno. After a short campaign the city was captured, and Tebaldo,
bound hand and foot, taken back to England, where King Genese, wishing
to know the whole sum of his guilt, had him put upon the rack, whereupon
the wretched man made full confession. The next day he was conducted
through the city in a cart drawn by four horses, and then tortured with
red-hot pincers like Gano di Magazza, and after his body had been
quartered his flesh was thrown to be eaten of ravenous dogs.
And this was the end of the impious wretch Tebaldo; and King Genese and
Doralice his queen lived many years happily together, leaving at their
death divers children in their place.
All the listeners were both amazed and moved to pity by this pathetic
story, and when it was finished Eritrea, without waiting for the
Signora’s word, gave her enigma:
I tell you of a heart so vile,
So cruel, and so full of guile,
That with its helpless progeny
It deals as with an enemy.
And when it sees them plump and sleek,
It stabs them with its cruel beak.
For, lean itself, with malice fell,
It fain would make them lean as well.
So they grow thin with wasting pain,
Till nought but plumes and bones remain.
The ladies and gentlemen gave various solutions to this enigma, one
guessing this and another that, but they found it hard to believe there
could be an animal so vile and cruel as thus barbarously to maltreat its
own progeny, but at last the fair Eritrea said with a smile, “What cause
is there for your wonder? Assuredly there are parents who hate their
children as virulently as the rapacious kite hates its young. This bird,
being by nature thin and meagre, when it sees its progeny fat and
seemly—as young birds mostly are—stabs their tender flesh with its hard
beak, until they too become lean like itself.”
This solution of Eritrea’s pointed enigma pleased everybody, and it won
the applause of all. Eritrea, having made due salutation to the Signora,
resumed her seat. Then the latter made a sign to Arianna to follow in
her turn, and she rising from her chair began her fable as follows.