The nights of Straparola, volume 1 [of 2]Straparola, Giovanni Francesco
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The nights of Straparola, volume 1 [of 2]
Straparola, Giovanni Francesco
Fairy tales -- Italy; Tales -- Italy
Many days had not passed before Filenio essayed another bout of
love-making, casting amorous eyes on the other two ladies, Panthemia and
Sinforosia, and went so far as to find one evening an occasion to
address Panthemia, to whom he rehearsed his continued woes and torments,
and besought her that she would have pity upon him. Panthemia, who was
full of tricks and mischief, while feigning to compassionate him, made
excuse that it was not in her power to do his will; but at last, as if
vanquished by his tender prayers and ardent sighs, she brought him into
her house. And when he was undressed, and ready to go to bed with her,
she bade him go into a cabinet adjacent, where she kept her orange water
and perfumes, to the intent that he might well perfume his person, and
then get to bed. The scholar, never suspecting the cunning of this
mischief-working dame, entered the cabinet, and, having set his foot
upon a board unnailed from the joist which held it up, he and the board
as well fell down into a warehouse below, in which certain merchants
kept their store of cotton and wool, and although he fell so far he
suffered no ill. The scholar, finding himself in this dark place, began
to search for some ladder or door to serve his exit, but coming upon
none he cursed the hour and the place where he had first set eyes on
Panthemia. The morning dawned at last, and then the unhappy wight began
to realize by degrees the full treachery of Panthemia. He espied on one
side of the storehouse certain outlets in the wall, through which
streamed in a dim light, and, finding the masonry to be old and
moss-grown, he set to work with all his strength to pull out the stones
in the spot which had fallen most to decay, and soon made a gap big
enough to let him out. And, finding himself in an alley, clad only in
his shirt, and stockingless, he stole back to his lodging without being
seen of any.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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