In our city there was a very rich merchant named Arriguccio Berfinghieri, who foolishly, as merchants do nowadays, thought to ennoble himself for his wife and took a young noble lady (who was ill-suited to him) whose name was Lady Sismonda. Because, as merchants do, he traveled a lot and was rarely with her, she fell in love with a young man named Roberto who had long courted her. Having become intimate with him, and holding her less discreetly because she delighted him greatly, it happened (either because Arriguccio heard something or whatever it was) that he became the most jealous man in the world and stopped traveling and all his other business dealings. He put all his care into guarding her, and would never have gone to sleep if he had not first heard her go to bed. At this, the woman felt great grief, because there was no way she could be with her Roberto.
But having given much thought to finding some way of being with him, and being also much in his earnest, the thought came to her of doing it this way: since her bedroom faced the street, and she had often noticed that Arriguccio had great difficulty in falling asleep, but afterwards slept very soundly, she contrived to call Roberto to her house door at midnight, and to go and open it for him, and be with him while her husband was fast asleep. And in order to sense his arrival, so that no one would be aware of it, she contrived to throw a little cord outside the bedroom window, one end of which would reach close to the ground, and the other end down to the pavement, and bring it down to her bed, and put it under her clothes, and when she was in bed, tie it to her big toe. And then, sending word of this to Robert, she ordered him that when he came, he should pull the rope, and if her husband were asleep, she would let him go and open the door for him; and if he were not asleep, she would take him and pull him towards her, so that he would not have to wait. This pleased Robert; and having come many times, sometimes he happened to be with her, sometimes he did not.
Finally, continuing this artifice in this manner, it happened one night that, while the lady was asleep, Arriguccio was stretching his foot out on the bed and came across this cord; so, putting his hand to it and finding it tied to his wife's foot, he said to himself: "This must certainly be some trick."
And noticing that the cord was hanging out the window, he was certain it was true; so, quietly cutting it from the woman's finger, he tied it to his own, and listened to see what this meant. Not long after, Roberto came along, and pulling the cord as he was accustomed to, Arriguccio felt it; and since he didn't know how to tie it properly, and Roberto pulled too hard and was left holding the cord, he understood that he must wait; and so he did.
Arriguccio, rising quickly and seizing his weapons, rushed to the door to see who the man was and to strike him dead. Now, Arriguccio, though a merchant, was a fierce and strong man; and when he reached the door, and did not open it gently as the woman was accustomed to do, and Roberto, who was waiting, sensing it, realized who it was, that it was Arriguccio who opened the door; so he quickly began to flee, and Arriguccio to pursue him. Until at last, having fled a great distance, and not ceasing to pursue him, Roberto being also armed, drew his sword and turned toward him, and they began to seek to strike each other and defend themselves.
The woman, upon Arriguccio opening the bedroom, waking up and finding the cord on his finger cut, immediately realized that her deception was discovered; and feeling that Arriguccio had run after Roberto, she quickly rose, realizing what could happen, and called her maid, who knew everything, and begged her so much that he put her in her place on the bed, entreating her that, without revealing herself, she should receive any blows that Arriguccio gave her patiently, because she would return them with such a reward that she would have no reason to complain.
And when the light in the bedroom was extinguished, she left and, hiding in a corner of the house, waited for what was going to happen. Following the quarrel between Arriguccio and Roberto, the neighbors of the neighborhood, noticing it, rose up, and began to insult them. Arriguccio, fearing to be recognized, without being able to find out who the young man was or in any way injure him, angry and ill-tempered, leaving him alone, went home; and arriving at the bedroom, he angrily began to say:
"Where are you, wicked woman? You turned off the light so I wouldn't find you, but you're wrong!"
And going to the bed, thinking he had caught the woman, he seized the maid, and when he could move his hands and feet, he punched and kicked her so hard that her face was marked, and finally he cut off her hair, always hurling the worst insults that ever were uttered to a wicked woman. The maid wept a great deal, as if she had cause to weep, and though she occasionally said, "Oh! For the love of God!" or "Enough!" her voice was so broken with tears, and Arriguccio so blinded with fury that he could not distinguish that this was any other woman but his own.
So, beating her and cutting her hair, as we say, he said:
"Bad woman, I don't understand touching you in any other way, except that I will go to your brothers and tell them of your good deeds; and then let them come for you and do what they think is fitting for their honor and take you from here, for you can be sure that you will never be in this house again."
And having said this, he left the chamber, locked it from the outside, and went off alone. When Donna Sismonda, who had heard everything, realized that her husband was gone, she opened the chamber and, having lit the light, found her maid all crushed and weeping aloud. She consoled her as best she could and carried her to her own chamber, where afterward, secretly, having her cared for and treated, she so rewarded her with Arriguccio's own actions that she considered herself content. And when she had brought the maid to her chamber, she quickly made her own bed and made everything ready and tidy, as if no one had slept there that night. She relit the lamp and dressed and dressed herself, as if she had not yet gone to bed. After lighting a lamp and taking her linens, she went and sat down at the top of the stairs and began to sew and wait for what would happen.
Arriguccio, leaving his house, went as quickly as he could to the house of the woman's brothers, and there he knocked so loudly that they felt him and opened the door. The woman's brothers, who were three in number, and her mother, sensing that it was Arriguccio, all rose, and having lit the lamps came to meet him and asked him what he was looking for at that hour and so alone. To whom Arriguccio, beginning with the cord he had found tied to the toe of Lady Sismonda and going down to the last thing he had found and done, he related; and to give them a complete testimony of what he had done, he placed in their hands the hairs he thought he had cut from his wife's head, adding that they should come for her and do to her whatever they thought was fitting for her honor, for he did not intend to have her in the house any longer.
The woman's brothers, greatly angered by what they had heard and believing it to be true, were enraged against her, had torches lit, intending to play a trick on her, and set out with Arriguccio to her house. Seeing this, their mother began to follow them weeping, now one and then the other, begging them not to believe such things so suddenly without seeing or knowing anything more, because the husband might for some reason be angry with her and have harmed her, and now tell them this as an excuse for himself, saying also that she marveled greatly at how this could have happened, because she knew her daughter well, as one who had brought her up from a young age, and many other such things.
Having arrived at Arriguccio's house and entered, they began to ascend the stairs; and when Lady Sismonda heard them coming, she said:
-Who's there?
To whom one of the brothers replied:
-You know very well, bad woman, who it is.
Then Doña Sismonda said:
-But what does this mean? Lord, help me!
And standing up, he said:
-My brothers, welcome; what are you three looking for in here at this hour?
They, having seen her sitting and sewing and without any mark on her face from having been beaten, when Arriguccio had said that he had left her beaten, were somewhat amazed at the first attack and restrained the impetus of their anger, and asked her how it had been that Arriguccio complained about her, threatening her greatly if she did not tell them everything.
The woman said:
-I don't know what I should tell you, or what Arriguccio has to complain about me.
Arriguccio, seeing her, stared at her as if stupefied, remembering that he had punched her perhaps a thousand times in the face, scratched her, and done all the evil things in the world to her, and now he looked at her as if none of it had happened. In short, the brothers told her what Arriguccio had told them about the rope and the blows and everything.
The woman, turning to Arriguccio, said:
"Oh, my husband! What am I hearing? Why do you make me look like a bad woman, to your great shame, when I am not, and you like a bad and cruel man, which you are not? And when were you in the house tonight, not with me? Or when did you hit me? As for me, I don't remember."
Arriguccio began to say:
"What, you wicked woman, didn't we go to bed together last night? Didn't I come back after you after running after your lover? Didn't I hit you many times and cut your hair?"
The woman replied:
"You didn't go to bed in this house last night, but let's leave that, since I can't bear any testimony other than my own true words, and come to what you say: that you hit me and cut my hair. You've never hit me, and everyone here, and you too, look at me and see if I have any marks of beating anywhere on my body. Nor would I advise you to be so bold as to lay your hand on me that, by the cross of Christ, I would slap you. Nor did you cut my hair, as far as I could have felt or seen, but perhaps you did it without my realizing it; let me see if they were cut or not."
And taking off the veils from her head, she showed that they were not cut, but whole; which things the brothers and the mother seeing and hearing, began to say to Arriguccio:
"What are you saying, Arriguccio? This isn't what you came to tell us you'd done; and we don't know how you can prove what's left."
Arriguccio was as if in a dream, and wanted to speak; but seeing that what he thought he could prove was not so, he dared not say anything.
The woman, turning to her brothers, said:
"My brothers, I see that he has been seeking to make me do what I would never have done, that is, to tell you of his miseries and his wickedness; and I will do it. I firmly believe that what he has told you has happened to him, and hear how. This man of integrity, whom I was given as a wife for my sake, who calls himself a merchant and who wants to be respected and who ought to have more temperance than a priest and more honesty than a maiden, there are few nights when he does not go around the taverns getting drunk, now with this wicked woman, now with that one, getting involved. Now it seems to me until midnight and sometimes until dawn, waiting for him the way you have found me. I am sure that, when he was quite drunk, he went to bed with some whore, and when she awoke, she found the cord around his foot and then did all those gallant things he describes, and finally he returned to her and beat her and cut her hair." And not having yet come to his senses, he believed, and I am sure he still believes, that he had done these things to me; and if you look closely at his face, he is still half drunk. But whatever he has said about me, I do not want it to be held against him except as a drunk; and as I forgive him, you may forgive him also.
His mother, hearing these words, began to get upset and say:
"By the cross of Christ, my child, that shouldn't have been done; that annoying and inconsiderate dog should have been killed, for he's not worthy of having a girl like you. He's fine! Not even if he had picked you up from the mud! Damn lightning strike him if you have to endure the rotten words of a little merchant in donkey dung, who comes from the country and comes out of the pigpens dressed like a scamp, with bell-bottom breeches and a feather up his arse, and as soon as they have three sous-pardons, they want the daughters of gentlemen and good ladies for wives, and they take up arms and say: 'I am one of those people,' and 'Those of my house did this.' I wish my sons had followed my advice, for they could have placed you so honorably in the house of the Counts Guido for a piece of bread. and in exchange they wanted to give you this valuable jewel, which, although you are the best and most honest girl in Florence, has not been ashamed to say at midnight that you are a whore, as if we did not know you; but by faith, if they listened to me, they would give him a damnable punishment.
And turning to his sons, he said:
"Children, I told you right now that this couldn't be. Have you heard how this brother-in-law treats your sister, that little merchant of no means? If I were you, having said what he said about her and doing what he's doing, I wouldn't be happy or satisfied until I got rid of him; and if I were a man instead of a woman, I wouldn't want someone else to do it in my place. Lord, make him feel bad, you filthy drunkard who has no shame!"
The young men, having seen and heard these things, turned to Arriguccio and said to him the greatest insults that had ever been said to any villain, and finally said:
-We forgive you for this because you are drunk, but be careful that from now on we don't hear any more news like this, because if any of this comes to our ears you will certainly pay us for this and that.
And with that, they left.
Arriguccio, who remained a fool, not knowing whether what he had done was true or whether he had dreamed it, without another word left his wife in peace; she not only escaped imminent danger with her sagacity but also opened the way for herself to be able to do whatever she wanted in the future without ever having to fear her husband again.
END
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