The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio

convention of placing quotation marks at the beginnings of paragraphs within a multiple-paragraph quotation. This idiosyncrasy has been preserved in this e-text. Archaic spellings have been preserved, but obvious printer errors have been corrected. In the untranslated Italian passage in Day 3, Story 10 , the original is missing the accents, which have been added using an Italian edition of Decameron (Milan: Mursia, 1977) as a guide. This e-text contains some Greek and Arabic words, which may not display correctly in all browsers. Hover the mouse over the word to see a pop-up transliteration, e.g., βιβλος . John Payne's translation of The Decameron was originally published in a private printing for The Villon Society, London, 1886. The American edition from which this e-text was prepared is undated. The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio Translated by John Payne WALTER J. BLACK, INC. 171 Madison Avenue NEW YORK, N.Y. PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Contents PROEM. DAY THE FIRST 1 The First Story. Master Ciappelletto dupeth a holy friar with a false confession and dieth; and having been in his lifetime the worst of men, he is, after his death, reputed a saint and called Saint Ciappelletto 16 The Second Story. Abraham the Jew, at the instigation of Jehannot de Chevigné, goeth to the Court of Rome and seeing the depravity of the clergy, returneth to Paris and there becometh a Christian 25 The Third Story. Melchizedek the Jew, with a story of three rings, escapeth a parlous snare set for him by Saladin 28 The Fourth Story. A monk, having fallen into a sin deserving of very grievous punishment, adroitly reproaching the same fault to his abbot, quitteth himself of the penalty 30 The Fifth Story. The Marchioness of Monferrato, with a dinner of hens and certain sprightly words, curbeth the extravagant passion of the King of France 33 The Sixth Story. An honest man, with a chance pleasantry, putteth to shame the perverse hypocrisy of the religious orders 35 The Seventh Story. Bergamino, with a story of Primasso and the Abbot of Cluny, courteously rebuketh a fit of parsimony newly come to Messer Cane della Scala 37 The Eighth Story. Guglielmo Borsiere with some quaint words rebuketh the niggardliness of Messer Ermino de' Grimaldi 40 The Ninth Story. The King of Cyprus, touched to the quick by a Gascon lady, from a mean-spirited prince becometh a man of worth…