“Pleasant nights” Staparoles in brief summary


Bishop of the small town of Aodi after the death of a relative, the Milanese Duke Francesco Sforza, becomes one of the contenders for the ducal throne. However, the turbulence of the turbulent time and the hatred of the enemies compel him to leave Milan and settle in his episcopal residence in Lodi; but also there, close to Milan, the rival relatives do not leave the bishop alone. Then he, together with his daughter, young beautiful widow Lucretia Gonzaga, leaves for Venice. Here, on the island of Murano, the father and daughter rent a magnificent palazzo; in this palazzo around Signor Lucretia soon the most refined society gathers: beautiful, well-educated, pleasant girls in passing, and in no way inferior to them gentlemen.

At the height of a grand Venetian carnival. In order to make the pastime even more enjoyable, the beautiful Lucretia suggests the following: let every evening after the dance five girls,

Defined by lot, tell guests entertaining novels and fairy tales,

accompanying them with ingenious riddles.

The girls around Lucretia turned out to be extremely lively and capable storytellers, and so they were able to give the listeners great pleasure with their stories, equally fascinating and instructive. Here are just some of them.

There once lived in Genoa a nobleman named Rainaldo Scalia. Seeing that his life was slipping towards the sunset, Rainaldo called on his only son, Salardo, and told him to keep forever in mind three instructions and never for any reason to deviate from them. The instructions were as follows: however much Salardo’s strong love for his wife, he should in no way reveal to her any of his secrets;

Under no circumstances should one bring up as his son and make an heir to the state of a child not born from him; in any case not to give himself in the power of the sovereign, unanimously ruling the country.

Less than a year after his father’s death, Salardo took his wife Theodora, the daughter of one of the first Genoese nobles. No matter how they loved each other’s spouses, God did not bless them with their offspring,

and therefore they decided to raise as their own child the son of a poor widow who was called Postumo. After a certain time, Salardo left Genoa and settled in Monferrato, where he quickly succeeded and became the closest friend of the local Marquis. Among the joys and luxuries of court life Salardo came to the conclusion that his father in his old age just died out of his mind: after all, violating his father’s instructions, he not only lost nothing, but, on the contrary, acquired a lot. Mocking at the memory of his father, the wicked son decided to break the third instruction, and at the same time, and be assured of the loyalty of Theodora.

Salardo stole the beloved hunting falcon marquise, took it to his friend Francois and asked to hide it for the time being. Returning home, he killed one of his own falcons and told his wife to cook it for dinner; to him he said that it was the falcon of the marquis killed by him. The submissive Theodora performed her husband’s order, but refused to touch the bird at the table, for which Salardo awarded her a good slap. The next morning, rising early in the tears of the resentment suffered, Theodora hurried to the palace and told the Marquis about the villainy of her husband. The Marquise burned with anger and ordered immediately to hang Salardo, and his property divided into three parts: one – to the widow, the second – to the son, and the third – the executioner. The resourceful Postumio volunteered to hang his father in his own hand, so that all property remained in the family;

Theodore liked his cleverness. Salardo, who bitterly and sincerely repented of his filial disrespect, was already standing on the scaffold with a noose around his neck, when Francoie delivered the Marquise an incontrovertible proof of the innocence of a friend. The marquis forgave Salardo and ordered him to hang Postumio, but Salardo persuaded the gentleman to let the scoundrel drop on all four sides, and in return for the property, which he wanted to take possession of, he handed over a noose, which was not tightening around his neck. About No one has heard anything more about Postumo, Theodora took shelter in a monastery and soon died there, and Salardo returned to Genoa, where he peacefully lived for many more years, having distributed most of his fortune to God-pleasing deeds.

Another story occurred in Venice. There lived in this glorious city a merchant named Dimitrio. His young wife Polisen, he kept in an unprecedented for their class of luxury, and all because he was very fond of her. Dimitrio often went away from the house for a long time on business, while a pretty spoiled little woman in his absence began to be confused with one priest. Who knows how long their shackles would last, if not for Manuso, the cousin and friend Dimitrio. House of Manusso stood directly opposite the house of the unlucky merchant, and one fine evening he saw the priest sneak past the door and how they and the landlady occupied themselves with what it is not convenient to call the words.

When Dimitrio returned to Venice, Manuso told him about what he knew. Dimitrio questioned the truthfulness of his friend’s words, but he prompted him how to check everything himself. And then one day Dimitrio told Polisene that he was leaving for Cyprus, and he secretly made his way from the harbor to the house of Manuso. Later in the evening he dressed as a beggar, smeared his face with mud and knocked at the door of his own house, praying not to let him freeze on a rainy night. The compassionate servant let the beggar go and took him to a room next to Polysena’s bedroom for the night. Demetrios’s doubts left no trace, and early in the morning he slipped out of the house, unseen by anyone.

After washing and changing clothes, he knocked again at the door of his own house, in response to the bewilderment of his wife, explaining that the bad weather had forced him to return from the road. Polisena barely had time to hide the priest in a trunk with dresses, where he was hiding, trembling with fear. Dimitrio sent a servant to call Polisena’s brothers for dinner, but he did not leave the house anywhere. The Shurins gladly responded to the invitation of Dimitrio. After dinner, the owner began to paint, in what luxury and contentment he kept their sister, and in evidence told Polisene to show his brothers all the countless jewelry and outfits. She, herself not her own, opened the chests one by one until finally, with the dresses, the priest was taken out to the light of God. The Brothers Polisena wanted to stab him, but Dimitrio persuaded them that killing a spiritual person, and besides, when she’s in the same underwear, it’s not good. He told his wife to lead the wife away. On the way home they did not restrain righteous anger. They beat the poor girl to death.

Learning of the death of his wife, Dimitri thought of the maid-she was beautiful, kind and plump. She became his adored wife and possessor of the outfits and jewels of the late Polisena.

Having finished the story about Dimitrio and Polisene, Ariadne, as was agreed, puzzled the riddle: “Three good friends once feasted / Behind the table with a table, / And the servant brings them to the finals / Three pigeons on a platter expensive. spending time on words, / Tidy up, and still there are two left. “

How could this be? This is not the most ingenious of the riddles that the storytellers offered to the audience, but it also put them at a dead end. And the solution is this: just one of the friends was called Everyone.

But what happened happened somehow on the island of Capraia. On this island near the royal palace lived a poor widow with a son named Pietro, and nicknamed Fool. Pietro was a fisherman, but a fisherman is useless, and so he and his mother were always starving. One day the Fool was lucky and he pulled out a large tuna from the water, which suddenly implored a human voice, say, let me go, Pietro, you will be more useful to me than to the fried one. Pietro complained and was immediately rewarded – he caught as many fish as he had never seen in his life. When he returned home with prey, the royal daughter, Luciana, as was her custom, began to laugh evilly at him. The Fool could not stand, ran to the shore, called the tuna, and ordered that Lucan become pregnant. He passed the deadline, and the girl, who was barely twelve years old, gave birth to a charming baby. A consequence was initiated:

To the palace, on pain of death, all the male islanders over thirteen years old were gathered. To everyone’s surprise, the baby recognized as the father of Pietro Durak.

The king could not bear such a disgrace. He ordered Lucan, Pietro and the baby to be put in a tarred barrel and thrown into the sea. The fool was not at all scared and, sitting in the barrel, told Lucians about the magic tuna and about where the baby came from. Then he called the tuna and ordered to listen to Luchan as himself. She also first ordered the tuna to throw the barrel on the shore. Leaving the barrel and looking around, Lucan wished that on the beach was built the most luxurious palace in the world, and Pietro was dirty and the fool turned into the most beautiful and wise man in the world. All her wishes were fulfilled in the twinkling of an eye.

The king and the queen, meanwhile, could not forgive themselves that they had treated her daughter and grandson so cruelly, and, in order to relieve their anguish, went to Jerusalem. On the way, they saw a beautiful palace on the island and told the ship-owners to land on the shore. Their joy was great, when they found a grandson and daughter, who had told them all about the miraculous story that had happened to her, as alive and unharmed. All of them later lived happily ever after, and when the king died, Pietro began to rule his kingdom.

In Bohemia, the next storyteller began her story, a poor widow lived. When she died, she left her three sons with only a quart, a board for cutting bread and a cat. The cat went to the youngest – Constantino Lucky. Compromised Constantino: what’s the use of a cat, when the stomach to the back of the hunger cling? But then the cat said that she would take care of herself. The cat ran into the field, caught a hare and went to the royal palace with prey. In the palace she was led to the king, whom she presented with a hare in the name of her mister Constantine, the kindest, most beautiful and most powerful man in the world. Out of respect for the glorious mister Konstantin, the king invited a guest to the table, and she, full of herself, deftly secretly stuffed full soup with dishes for the master.

Then the cat went to the palace more than once, with different gifts, but soon she got bored, and she asked the owner to completely trust her, promising that in a short time he would make him rich. And one day she led Constantino to the bank of the river to the royal palace itself, sectioned naked, pushed into the water and screamed that Messer Constantino was drowning. At the cry came the courtiers, dragged Constantino out of the water, gave beautiful clothes and took them to the king. The cat told him a story about how her lord was going to the palace with rich gifts, but the robbers, after learning about it, robbed and nearly killed him. The King did everything to please the guest and even gave his daughter Elizette for him. After the wedding, they equipped a rich caravan with a dowry and, under reliable protection, they sent a newlywed couple to the house. At home, of course, there was not any, but the cat arranged everything and took care of everything. She ran forward and whom she met on the way, all on pain of death ordered to reply that everything around belonged to Messer Constantine Happy. Having reached the magnificent castle and found a small garrison there, the cat told the soldiers that they must be attacked by a myriad of troops every minute, and that they can save their life only by calling Messer Constantine their master. So they did. Young comfortably settled in the castle, the real owner of which, as it soon became known, died in a foreign land, leaving no offspring. When the father of Elizetta died, Constantino, as the son-in-law of the deceased, rightfully took the Bohemian throne. that all around belong to Messer Constantine Lucky. Having reached the magnificent castle and found a small garrison there, the cat told the soldiers that they must be attacked by a myriad of troops every minute, and that they can save their life only by calling Messer Constantine their master. So they did. Young comfortably settled in the castle, the real owner of which, as it soon became known, died in a foreign land, leaving no offspring. When the father of Elizetta died, Constantino, as the son-in-law of the deceased, rightfully took the Bohemian throne. that all around belong to Messer Constantine Lucky. Having reached the magnificent castle and found a small garrison there, the cat told the soldiers that they must be attacked by a myriad of troops every minute, and that they can save their life only by calling Messer Constantine their master. So they did. Young comfortably settled in the castle, the real owner of which, as it soon became known, died in a foreign land, leaving no offspring. When the father of Elizetta died, Constantino, as the son-in-law of the deceased, rightfully took the Bohemian throne. and that they can save their life in the only way – to call Messer Konstantin his master. So they did. Young comfortably settled in the castle, the real owner of which, as it soon became known, died in a foreign land, leaving no offspring. When the father of Elizetta died, Constantino, as the son-in-law of the deceased, rightfully took the Bohemian throne. and that they can save their life in the only way – to call Messer Konstantin his master. So they did. Young comfortably settled in the castle, the real owner of which, as it soon became known, died in a foreign land, leaving no offspring. When the father of Elizetta died, Constantino, as the son-in-law of the deceased, rightfully took the Bohemian throne.

Many more tales and stories were told in the palace of the beautiful Lucrezia on the island of Murano for thirteen carnival nights. At the end of the thirteenth night, a bell rang over Venice, which announced the end of the carnival and the beginning of the Great Lent, urging pious Christians to leave their amusements for prayer and repentance.


1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

“Pleasant nights” Staparoles in brief summary