Old Stories

Æsop. (Sixth century B.C.) Fables.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14.

Androcles


A SLAVE named Androcles once escaped from his master and fled to the forest. As he was wandering about there he came upon a Lion lying down moaning and groaning. At first he turned to flee, but finding that the Lion did not pursue him, he turned back and went up to him. As he came near, the Lion put out his paw, which was all swollen and bleeding, and Androcles found that a huge thorn had got into it, and was causing all the pain. He pulled out the thorn and bound up the paw of the Lion, who was soon able to rise and lick the hand of Androcles like a dog. Then the Lion took Androcles to his cave, and every day used to bring him meat from which to live. But shortly afterwards both Androcles and the Lion were captured, and the slave was sentenced to be thrown to the Lion, after the latter had been kept without food for several days. The Emperor and all his Court came to see the spectacle, and Androcles was led out into the middle of the arena. Soon the Lion was let loose from his den, and rushed bounding and roaring towards his victim. But as soon as he came near to Androcles he recognised his friend, and fawned upon him, and licked his hands like a friendly dog. The Emperor, surprised at this, summoned Androcles to him, who told him the whole story. Whereupon the slave was pardoned and freed, and the Lion let loose to his native forest.
“GRATITUDE IS THE SIGN OF NOBLE SOULS.”

Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves


In a town in Persia there dwelt two brothers, one named Cassim, the other Ali Baba. Cassim was married to a rich wife and lived in plenty, while Ali Baba had to maintain his wife and children by cutting wood in a neighboring forest and selling it in the town.

One day, when Ali Baba was in the forest, he saw a troop of men on horseback, coming toward him in a cloud of dust. He was afraid they were robbers, and climbed into a tree for safety. When they came up to him and dismounted, he counted forty of them. They unbridled their horses and tied them to trees.

The finest man among them, whom Ali Baba took to be their captain, went a little way among some bushes, and said, \"Open, Sesame!\" so plainly that Ali Baba heard him.

A door opened in the rocks, and having made the troop go in, he followed them, and the door shut again of itself. They stayed some time inside, and Ali Baba, fearing they might come out and catch him, was forced to sit patiently in the tree. At last the door opened again, and the Forty Thieves came out. As the Captain went in last he came out first, and made them all pass by him; he then closed the door, saying, \"Shut, Sesame!\"

Every man bridled his horse and mounted, the Captain put himself at their head, and they returned as they came.

Then Ali Baba climbed down and went to the door concealed among the bushes, and said, \"Open, Sesame!\" and it flew open.

Ali Baba, who expected a dull, dismal place, was greatly surprised to find it large and well lighted, hollowed by the hand of man in the form of a vault, which received the light from an opening in the ceiling. He saw rich bales of merchandise -- silk, stuff-brocades, all piled together, and gold and silver in heaps, and money in leather purses. He went in and the door shut behind him. He did not look at the silver, but brought out as many bags of gold as he thought his asses, which were browsing outside, could carry, loaded them with the bags, and hid it all with fagots.

Using the words, \"Shut, Sesame!\" he closed the door and went home.

Then he drove his asses into the yard, shut the gates, carried the money-bags to his wife, and emptied them out before her. He bade her keep the secret, and he would go and bury the gold.

\"Let me first measure it,\" said his wife. \"I will go borrow a measure of someone, while you dig the hole.\"

So she ran to the wife of Cassim and borrowed a measure. Knowing Ali Baba's poverty, the sister was curious to find out what sort of grain his wife wished to measure, and artfully put some suet at the bottom of the measure. Ali Baba's wife went home and set the measure on the heap of gold, and filled it and emptied it often, to her great content. She then carried it back to her sister, without noticing that a piece of gold was sticking to it, which Cassim's wife perceived directly her back was turned.

She grew very curious, and said to Cassim when he came home, \"Cassim, your brother is richer than you. He does not count his money, he measures it.\"

He begged her to explain this riddle, which she did by showing him the piece of money and telling him where she found it. Then Cassim grew so envious that he could not sleep, and went to his brother in the morning before sunrise. \"Ali Baba,\" he said, showing him the gold piece, \"you pretend to be poor and yet you measure gold.\"

By this Ali Baba perceived that through his wife's folly Cassim and his wife knew their secret, so he confessed all and offered Cassim a share.

\"That I expect,\" said Cassim; \"but I must know where to find the treasure, otherwise I will discover all, and you will lose all.\"

Ali Baba, more out of kindness than fear, told him of the cave, and the very words to use. Cassim left Ali Baba, meaning to be beforehand with him and get the treasure for himself. He rose early next morning, and set out with ten mules loaded with great chests. He soon found the place, and the door in the rock.

He said, \"Open, Sesame!\" and the door opened and shut behind him. He could have feasted his eyes all day on the treasures, but he now hastened to gather together as much of it as possible; but when he was ready to go he could not remember what to say for thinking of his great riches. Instead of \"Sesame,\" he said, \"Open, Barley!\" and the door remained fast. He named several different sorts of grain, all but the right one, and the door still stuck fast. He was so frightened at the danger he was in that he had as much forgotten the word as if he had never heard it.

About noon the robbers returned to their cave, and saw Cassim's mules roving about with great chests on their backs. This gave them the alarm; they drew their sabers, and went to the door, which opened on their Captain's saying, \"Open, Sesame!\"

Cassim, who had heard the trampling of their horses' feet, resolved to sell his life dearly, so when the door opened he leaped out and threw the Captain down. In vain, however, for the robbers with their sabers soon killed him. On entering the cave they saw all the bags laid ready, and could not imagine how anyone had got in without knowing their secret. They cut Cassim's body into four quarters, and nailed them up inside the cave, in order to frighten anyone who should venture in, and went away in search of more treasure.

As night drew on Cassim's wife grew very uneasy, and ran to her brother-in-law, and told him where her husband had gone. Ali Baba did his best to comfort her, and set out to the forest in search of Cassim. The first thing he saw on entering the cave was his dead brother. Full of horror, he put the body on one of his asses, and bags of gold on the other two, and, covering all with some fagots, returned home. He drove the two asses laden with gold into his own yard, and led the other to Cassim's house.

The door was opened by the slave Morgiana, whom he knew to be both brave and cunning. Unloading the ass, he said to her, \"This is the body of your master, who has been murdered, but whom we must bury as though he had died in his bed. I will speak with you again, but now tell your mistress I am come.\"

The wife of Cassim, on learning the fate of her husband, broke out into cries and tears, but Ali Baba offered to take her to live with him and his wife if she would promise to keep his counsel and leave everything to Morgiana; whereupon she agreed, and dried her eyes.

Morgiana, meanwhile, sought an apothecary and asked him for some lozenges. \"My poor master,\" she said, \"can neither eat nor speak, and no one knows what his distemper is.\" She carried home the lozenges and returned next day weeping, and asked for an essence only given to those just about to die.

Thus, in the evening, no one was surprised to hear the wretched shrieks and cries of Cassim's wife and Morgiana, telling everyone that Cassim was dead.

The day after Morgiana went to an old cobbler near the gates of the town who opened his stall early, put a piece of gold in his hand, and bade him follow her with his needle and thread. Having bound his eyes with a handkerchief, she took him to the room where the body lay, pulled off the bandage, and bade him sew the quarters together, after which she covered his eyes again and led him home. Then they buried Cassim, and Morgiana his slave followed him to the grave, weeping and tearing her hair, while Cassim's wife stayed at home uttering lamentable cries. Next day she went to live with Ali Baba, who gave Cassim's shop to his eldest son.

The Forty Thieves, on their return to the cave, were much astonished to find Cassim's body gone and some of their money-bags.

\"We are certainly discovered,\" said the Captain, \"and shall be undone if we cannot find out who it is that knows our secret. Two men must have known it; we have killed one, we must now find the other. To this end one of you who is bold and artful must go into the city dressed as a traveler, and discover whom we have killed, and whether men talk of the strange manner of his death. If the messenger fails he must lose his life, lest we be betrayed.\"

One of the thieves started up and offered to do this, and after the rest had highly commended him for his bravery he disguised himself, and happened to enter the town at daybreak, just by Baba Mustapha's stall. The thief bade him good-day, saying, \"Honest man, how can you possibly see to stitch at your age?\"

\"Old as I am,\" replied the cobbler, \"I have very good eyes, and will you believe me when I tell you that I sewed a dead body together in a place where I had less light than I have now.\"

The robber was overjoyed at his good fortune, and, giving him a piece of gold, desired to be shown the house where he stitched up the dead body. At first Mustapha refused, saying that he had been blindfolded; but when the robber gave him another piece of gold he began to think he might remember the turnings if blindfolded as before. This means succeeded; the robber partly led him, and was partly guided by him, right in front of Cassim's house, the door of which the robber marked with a piece of chalk. Then, well pleased, he bade farewell to Baba Mustapha and returned to the forest. By and by Morgiana, going out, saw the mark the robber had made, quickly guessed that some mischief was brewing, and fetching a piece of chalk marked two or three doors on each side, without saying anything to her master or mistress.

The thief, meantime, told his comrades of his discovery. The Captain thanked him, and bade him show him the house he had marked. But when they came to it they saw that five or six of the houses were chalked in the same manner. The guide was so confounded that he knew not what answer to make, and when they returned he was at once beheaded for having failed.

Another robber was dispatched, and, having won over Baba Mustapha, marked the house in red chalk; but Morgiana being again too clever for them, the second messenger was put to death also.

The Captain now resolved to go himself, but, wiser than the others, he did not mark the house, but looked at it so closely that he could not fail to remember it. He returned, and ordered his men to go into the neighboring villages and buy nineteen mules, and thirty-eight leather jars, all empty except one, which was full of oil. The Captain put one of his men, fully armed, into each, rubbing the outside of the jars with oil from the full vessel. Then the nineteen mules were loaded with thirty-seven robbers in jars, and the jar of oil, and reached the town by dusk.

The Captain stopped his mules in front of Ali Baba's house, and said to Ali Baba, who was sitting outside for coolness, \"I have brought some oil from a distance to sell at tomorrow's market, but it is now so late that I know not where to pass the night, unless you will do me the favor to take me in.\"

Though Ali Baba had seen the Captain of the robbers in the forest, he did not recognize him in the disguise of an oil merchant. He bade him welcome, opened his gates for the mules to enter, and went to Morgiana to bid her prepare a bed and supper for his guest. He brought the stranger into his hall, and after they had supped went again to speak to Morgiana in the kitchen, while the Captain went into the yard under pretense of seeing after his mules, but really to tell his men what to do.

Beginning at the first jar and ending at the last, he said to each man, \"As soon as I throw some stones from the window of the chamber where I lie, cut the jars open with your knives and come out, and I will be with you in a trice.\"

He returned to the house, and Morgiana led him to his chamber. She then told Abdallah, her fellow slave, to set on the pot to make some broth for her master, who had gone to bed. Meanwhile her lamp went out, and she had no more oil in the house.

\"Do not be uneasy,\" said Abdallah; \"go into the yard and take some out of one of those jars.\"

Morgiana thanked him for his advice, took the oil pot, and went into the yard. When she came to the first jar the robber inside said softly, \"Is it time?\"

Any other slave but Morgiana, on finding a man in the jar instead of the oil she wanted, would have screamed and made a noise; but she, knowing the danger her master was in, bethought herself of a plan, and answered quietly, \"Not yet, but presently.\"

She went to all the jars, giving the same answer, till she came to the jar of oil. She now saw that her master, thinking to entertain an oil merchant, had let thirty-eight robbers into his house. She filled her oil pot, went back to the kitchen, and, having lit her lamp, went again to the oil jar and filled a large kettle full of oil. When it boiled she went and poured enough oil into every jar to stifle and kill the robber inside. When this brave deed was done she went back to the kitchen, put out the fire and the lamp, and waited to see what would happen.

In a quarter of an hour the Captain of the robbers awoke, got up, and opened the window. As all seemed quiet, he threw down some little pebbles which hit the jars. He listened, and as none of his men seemed to stir he grew uneasy, and went down into the yard. On going to the first jar and saying, \"Are you asleep?\" he smelt the hot boiled oil, and knew at once that his plot to murder Ali Baba and his household had been discovered. He found all the gang was dead, and, missing the oil out of the last jar, became aware of the manner of their death. He then forced the lock of a door leading into a garden, and climbing over several walls made his escape. Morgiana heard and saw all this, and, rejoicing at her success, went to bed and fell asleep.

At daybreak Ali Baba arose, and, seeing the oil jars still there, asked why the merchant had not gone with his mules. Morgiana bade him look in the first jar and see if there was any oil. Seeing a man, he started back in terror. \"Have no fear,\" said Morgiana; \"the man cannot harm you; he is dead.\"

Ali Baba, when he had recovered somewhat from his astonishment, asked what had become of the merchant.

\"Merchant!\" said she, \"he is no more a merchant than I am!\" and she told him the whole story, assuring him that it was a plot of the robbers of the forest, of whom only three were left, and that the white and red chalk marks had something to do with it. Ali Baba at once gave Morgiana her freedom, saying that he owed her his life. They then buried the bodies in Ali Baba's garden, while the mules were sold in the market by his slaves.

The Captain returned to his lonely cave, which seemed frightful to him without his lost companions, and firmly resolved to avenge them by killing Ali Baba. He dressed himself carefully, and went into the town, where he took lodgings in an inn. In the course of a great many journeys to the forest he carried away many rich stuffs and much fine linen, and set up a shop opposite that of Ali Baba's son. He called himself Cogia Hassan, and as he was both civil and well dressed he soon made friends with Ali Baba's son, and through him with Ali Baba, whom he was continually asking to sup with him.

Ali Baba, wishing to return his kindness, invited him into his house and received him smiling, thanking him for his kindness to his son.

When the merchant was about to take his leave Ali Baba stopped him, saying, \"Where are you going, sir, in such haste? Will you not stay and sup with me?\"

The merchant refused, saying that he had a reason; and, on Ali Baba's asking him what that was, he replied, \"It is, sir, that I can eat no victuals that have any salt in them.\"

\"If that is all,\" said Ali Baba, \"let me tell you that there shall be no salt in either the meat or the bread that we eat to-night.\"

He went to give this order to Morgiana, who was much surprised.

\"Who is this man,\" she said, \"who eats no salt with his meat?\"

\"He is an honest man, Morgiana,\" returned her master; \"therefore do as I bid you.\"

But she could not withstand a desire to see this strange man, so she helped Abdallah to carry up the dishes, and saw in a moment that Cogia Hassan was the robber Captain, and carried a dagger under his garment.

\"I am not surprised,\" she said to herself, \"that this wicked man, who intends to kill my master, will eat no salt with him; but I will hinder his plans.\"

She sent up the supper by Abdallah, while she made ready for one of the boldest acts that could be thought on. When the dessert had been served, Cogia Hassan was left alone with Ali Baba and his son, whom he thought to make drunk and then to murder them. Morgiana, meanwhile, put on a headdress like a dancing-girl's, and clasped a girdle round her waist, from which hung a dagger with a silver hilt, and said to Abdallah, \"Take your tabor, and let us go and divert our master and his guest.\"

Abdallah took his tabor and played before Morgiana until they came to the door, where Abdallah stopped playing and Morgiana made a low courtesy.

\"Come in, Morgiana,\" said Ali Baba, \"and let Cogia Hassan see what you can do\"; and, turning to Cogia Hassan, he said, \"She's my slave and my housekeeper.\"

Cogia Hassan was by no means pleased, for he feared that his chance of killing Ali Baba was gone for the present; but he pretended great eagerness to see Morgiana, and Abdallah began to play and Morgiana to dance. After she had performed several dances she drew her dagger and made passes with it, sometimes pointing it at her own breast, sometimes at her master's, as if it were part of the dance. Suddenly, out of breath, she snatched the tabor from Abdallah with her left hand, and, holding the dagger in her right hand, held out the tabor to her master. Ali Baba and his son put a piece of gold into it, and Cogia Hassan, seeing that she was coming to him, pulled out his purse to make her a present, but while he was putting his hand into it Morgiana plunged the dagger into his heart.

\"Unhappy girl!\" cried Ali Baba and his son, \"what have you done to ruin us?\"

\"It was to preserve you, master, not to ruin you,\" answered Morgiana. \"See here,\" opening the false merchant's garment and showing the dagger; \"see what an enemy you have entertained! Remember, he would eat no salt with you, and what more would you have? Look at him! he is both the false oil merchant and the Captain of the Forty Thieves.\"

Ali Baba was so grateful to Morgiana for thus saving his life that he offered her to his son in marriage, who readily consented, and a few days after the wedding was celebrated with greatest splendor.

At the end of a year Ali Baba, hearing nothing of the two remaining robbers, judged they were dead, and set out to the cave. The door opened on his saying, \"Open Sesame!\" He went in, and saw that nobody had been there since the Captain left it. He brought away as much gold as he could carry, and returned to town. He told his son the secret of the cave, which his son handed down in his turn, so the children and grandchildren of Ali Baba were rich to the end of their lives.

The Story of Lydia and Pyrrhus
Giovanni Boccaccio

Nicostratus, a wealthy patrician, married Lydia, a woman of great distinction and unsurpassed beauty. He was well advanced in years, while she was still a paragon of youth and vitality. Consequently, to state the matter delicately, their marriage did not leave the young wife entirely satisfied. Thus, it is quite understandable that Lydia found herself paying ever more attention to one of her husband's servants, Pyrrhus by name, who was elegant, handsome, young, and energetic. He was attracted to her as well, and gladly would have accepted her invitations to love, but the old man gave them no opportunity. What he lacked in vigor he made up with jealousy and perseverance, rarely leaving his beautiful young wife alone.

Their unrequited passion aglow, Lydia and Pyrrhus devised a daring scheme through which, even in the master's presence, they might satisfy their longing for one another. Accordingly, one day when the three were walking in the garden, as they often did, Lydia requested a pear from a certain tree. Pyrrhus climbed after the fruit, but once in the tree, he called to his master, \"Have you no shame, making love like that in broad daylight?\"

The master demanded an explanation for the strange remark, and Pyrrhus concluded that the pear tree was enchanted, giving the impression of unreal happenings below. To test the theory, he asked his master to climb the tree, and see if he too would behold impossible things below. His curiosity piqued, Nicostratus mustered enough strength to climb onto one of the pear tree's lower branches. Looking down, what did he behold but Pyrrhus and Lydia making fervent love. From his precarious perch, he shouted curses, threats, and insults at them. but they -- engaged with other pursuits -- quite ignored him.

Nicostratus climbed down from the tree, only to find Pyrrhus and Lydia seated discretely on a garden bench. Their innocent demeanor convinced him that nothing unseemly had happened. Fearing that only a bedeviled tree could be responsible for the vile images that he had perceived, he sent for an ax and had it cut down immediately.

From that time forth Nicostratus relaxed his watchful vigil over his young wife, and thus Pyrrhus and Lydia were able to pluck the fruits of their love at regular intervals, even without the help of their enchanted pear tree.

* Source: Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron, day 7, tale 9. Retold and shortened.

* © 1998 by D. L. Ashliman.

* Link to the entire story. This link will take you to day 7 of The Decameron. Follow additional links to tale 9. This site (sponsored by the Italian Studies Department at Brown University) includes the entire Decameron in both the original Italian as well as an English translation.

* The Decameron (Il Decamerone) was written between 1350 and 1355.

* Return to the table of contents.

The Merchant's Tale
Geoffrey Chaucer

In the town of Pavia in Lombardy there lived a worthy knight by the name of January. Although throughout his long and prosperous life he had partaken often of the fruits of love, he felt no need for marriage until he passed his sixtieth year, when suddenly he was overcome by a violent urge to become a wedded man.

\"A young and beautiful wife,\" he concluded, \"would be the fulfillment of my wealth and glory. Obedient, loyal, and untiring, she would attend to my every need in my waning years, and further, she may well present me with an heir.\"

\"Not so!\" argued some. \"A wife's interest will be more toward your fortune than toward your well being, and further, her unbridled passions may place your honor at risk.\"

But January listened not to these negative voices, paying heed instead to those who praised the virtues of womanhood and the benefits of marriage. And thus he soon announced to his friends his resolve to find a bride, \"But,\" he asserted, \"she must be under twenty years of age, for young veal is tastier than old beef.\"

His friends tried to dissuade him from this resolve, but to no avail, and at last -- driven onward by unrelenting fantasies -- he found the woman who satisfied his dreams. Although not of high rank, she was young and beautiful, and, in his love-blinded perception, she was also compliant and self-disciplined. Further, like old January himself, she too bore the name of a season: May.

Marriage documents were executed, the holy sacrament of marriage was duly performed, and the priest united January and May as husband and wife.

One wedding guest was particularly moved, a robust young man named Damian, who served as a squire to Knight January. Ravished by May's fresh beauty, the squire fell madly in love with his master's young bride.

No one knows what young May was thinking in her heart as old January -- with his beard of stubble and loose skin shaking about his throat -- labored in the field of love. But Damian's thoughts were not entirely secret. He poured out his soul with pen and ink, then managed to slip the letter into the hand of his beloved May without being seen by the ever-watchful January.

May's only opportunity to read the letter came in that small place where everyone goes alone. There she committed Damian's message to memory, then tore the letter into pieces and threw them into the privy. But one thing is certain. She took no offense at the young squire's forwardness, for as soon as she could steal a few minutes' time, she composed a letter to the young squire, promising him the satisfaction he desired of her as soon as the time and place might present themselves.

In the meantime old January's fortune turned against him, and he lost his sight. The curse of blindness increased the knight's possessiveness and jealousy toward his young wife. Fearing that she might succumb to some temptation under the cover of his darkness, he never let her go out unless he himself had her by the hand. Nevertheless, by using private hand signals and smuggled letters, she communicated her forbidden love to Damian, and invented a plan whereby it might be consummated.

The tryst was to take place in a private garden where January and May often walked together. Following his beloved's plan, Damian let himself into the garden at the appointed time, then hid himself in the branches of a pear tree that grew there. A little later January and May, hand in hand, approached the tree, when May suddenly declared an intense appetite for a pear from the nearby tree.

\"Do let me climb the tree and pluck a pear,\" she begged of her husband. Then recalling his blind jealousy, she added, \"You can hold your arms around the tree to make sure that I am alone.\"

Not wanting to deny her this innocent request, he stooped over and let her step onto his back. Taking hold of a branch, she pulled herself into tree and into the arms of the waiting Damian. Now ladies, please take no offence, but I must tell the story as it actually happened. Damian forthwith lifted her smock and thrust away, with the deceived husband blindly hugging the tree beneath them.

However, this shameful tryst was not entirely unseen. The king and queen of Fairyland saw all, and the king -- horrified at the cuckoldry -- resolved at once to restore the old knight's sight immediately and thus expose his wife's and his squire's faithlessness. \"Do that!\" replied the fairy king's wife. \"But nothing bad will come to the young woman, for I will give her a bold and quick answer that will excuse her and her lover from all guilt.\"

And thus it happened. As granted by the fairy king, sight miraculously returned to January's aging eyes. But his rejoicing was short lived, for looking up, the first thing he saw was his wife engaged in an act that polite words cannot describe.

\"Strumpet!\" he called out angrily. \"What are you up to?\"

Now it was the fairy queen's turn to ply her magic, and -- as promised -- she put a quick response onto the wayward wife's tongue.

\"Sir,\" replied May, \"have patience. Don't you see what I have done? I was told that the only cure for your blindness would be for me to struggle with a man upon a tree.\"

\"Struggle?\" said he. \"It went right in!\"

\"Oh no!\" said she. \"You caught a hazy glimpse, my good sir, but your sight is still poor. Things are not as they first appeared to you.\" Then she continued, \"This slander is my reward for helping you to see.\"

\"Never mind!\" said he. \"Come down. But it did appear to me that Damian was enjoying you with your smock upon his breast.\"

\"Think what you will,\" said she, \"but it was only a false vision following your long blindness.\"

With that she jumped down from the tree, and January led her happily back home.

* Source: Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, \"The Merchant's Tale.\" Retold and shortened.

* © 1998 by D. L. Ashliman.

* The tale above combines elements of folktale type 1423 (the enchanted pear tree) with those of type 1419M (a wife convinces her husband that her infidelity has saved him from a curse).

* Link to a Middle English text of The Merchant's Tale. This link will take you to the Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library.

* Chaucer was born about the year 1340 and died in 1400. He began writing The Canterbury Tales in about 1386. The great work remained unfinished.

* Return to the table of contents.

The Woman and the Pear Tree
Italy, Il Novellino

There was once a rich man who had a very beautiful woman to wife, and this man loved her much and was very jealous of her.

Now it happened, in God's pleasure, that this man had an illness of the eyes whence he became blind and saw the light no more.

Now it befell that this man did not leave his wife, nor ever let her out of his reach, for he feared she might go astray.

Thus it chanced that a man of the countryside fell in love with this woman, and not seeing how he could find an opportunity to converse with her -- for her husband was always at her side -- he came near to losing his reason for love of her.

And the woman seeing him so enamoured of her, said to him, \"You see, I can do nothing, for this man never leaves me.\"

So the good man did not know what to do or say. It seemed he would die for love. He could find no way of meeting the woman alone.

The woman, seeing the behavior of this gentleman and all that he did, thought of a way of helping him. She made a long tube of cane, and placed it to the ear of the man, and spoke to him in this fashion so that her husband could not hear. And she said to the good man, \"I am sorry for you, and I have thought of a way of helping you. Go into the garden, and climb up a pear tree which has many fine pears, and wait for me up there, and I will come up to you.

The good man went at once into the garden, and climbed up the pear tree, and awaited the woman.

Now came the time when the woman was in the garden, and she wished to help the good man, and her husband was still by her side, and she said, \"I have a fancy for those pears which are at the top of that pear tree, for they are very fine.\"

And the husband said, \"Call someone to pluck them for you.\"

And the woman said, \"I will pluck them myself; otherwise I should not enjoy them.\"

Then the woman approached the tree to climb it, and her husband came with her to the foot of the tree, and he put his arms around the trunk of the tree, so that no one could follow her up it.

Now it happened that the woman climbed up the pear tree to her friend, who was awaiting her, and they were very happy together, and the pear tree shook with their weight, and the pears fell down on top of the husband.

Then the husband said, \"What are you doing, woman? You are knocking all the pears down.\"

And the woman replied, \"I wanted the pears off a certain branch, and only so could I get them.\"

Now you must know that the Lord God and Saint Peter seeing this happening, Saint Peter said to the Lord God, \"Do you not see the trick that woman is playing on her husband?\" order that the husband see again, so he may perceive what his wife does.\"

And the Lord God said, \"I tell you, Saint Peter, that no sooner does he see the light than the woman will find an excuse, so I will that light come to him, and you shall see what she will say.\"

Then the light came to him, and he looked up and saw what the woman was doing. \"What are you doing with that man? You honor neither yourself nor me, nor is this loyal in a woman.\"

And the woman replied at once, \"If I had not done so, you would not have seen the light.\"

And the husband, hearing this, was satisfied.

So you see how women and females are loyal, and how quickly they find excuses.

* Source: Il Novellino: The Hundred Old Tales, translated from the Italian by Edward Storer (London: George Routledge and Sons; New York: E. P. Dutton and Company, ca. 1925), no. 57, pp. 130-133.

* Note by Storer: This novella is not in the Gualteruzzi edition, but is to be found in that by Papanti founded on the Panciatichiano MS.

* The usual Italian title of this collection of jests is Cento Novelle Antiche. The first edition printed in Bologna in 1525 by Carlo Gualteruzzi under the title Le Ciento Novelle antike.

* The tale above combines elements of folktale type 1423 (the enchanted pear tree) with those of type 1419M (a wife convinces her husband that her infidelity has saved him from a curse).

* Return to the table of contents.

The Simpleton Husband
1001 Nights

There was once in olden time a foolish and ignorant man who had abounding wealth, and his wife was a beautiful woman who loved a handsome youth. The gallant used to watch for the husband's absence and come to her, and this went on for a long while.

One day, when the woman was in seclusion with her lover, he said to her, \"Oh my lady and my beloved, if you desire me and love me, give me possession of yourself and satisfy my need in the presence of your husband, otherwise I will never again come to you nor draw near you as long as I live.\"

Now she loved him with exceeding love and could not suffer his separation an hour, nor could she endure to anger him, so when she heard his words, she said to him, \"Bismillah, so be it, in Allah's name, oh my darling, and the coolness of my eyes. May he not live who would vex you!\"

Said he, \"Today?\"

And she said, \"Yes, by your life,\" and made an appointment with him for this.

When her husband came home, she said to him, \"I want to go on an outing.\"

And he said, \"With all my heart.\" So he went until he came to a goodly place, abounding in vines and water. Then he took her there and pitched a tent by the side of a tall tree. She went to a place alongside the tent and made there an underground vault, in which she hid her lover

The she said to her husband, \"I want to climb this tree.\"

And he said, \"Do so.\"

So she climbed it, and when she came to the treetop, she cried out and slapped her face, saying, \"Oh, you lecher! If these are your dealings with me before my eyes, what do you do when you are absent from me?\"

\"Said he, \"What is wrong with you?\"

And she said, \"I saw you futter the woman before my very eyes.\"

Cried he, \"Not so, by Allah! But hold your peace until I go up and see.\"

So he climbed the tree, and no sooner did he begin to do so than out came the lover from his hiding place and taking the woman by the legs fell to shagging her.

When the husband came to the top of the tree, he looked and beheld a man futtering his wife, so he called out, \"Oh whore, what doings are these?\" and he made haste to come down from the tree to the ground.

But meanwhile the lover had returned to his hiding place, and the wife asked her husband, \"What did you see?\"

He answered, \"I saw a man shag you.\"

But she said, \"You lie. You saw nothing. It was only your fantasy.\"

They did the same thing three or four times, and every time he climbed the tree the lover came up out of the underground place and mounted her, while her husband looked on, and she still said, \"Do you see anything, you liar?\"

\"Yes,\" he would answer, and come down in haste, but saw no one, and she said to him, \"By my life, look and speak nothing but the truth!\"

Then he cried to her, \"Arise, let us depart this place, for it is full of jinn and marids.\"

Accordingly, they returned to their house and spent the night there, and the man arose in the morning, assured that this was all but fantasy and fascination.

And so the lover won his wicked will.

* Source: Supplemental Nights to the Book of the Thousand and One Nights, translated by Richard F. Burton (Privately printed by the Burton Club, n. d.), v. 1, pp. 162-164.

* Translation modernized by D. L. Ashliman. © 1998.

* Return to the table of contents.

The Twenty-Ninth Vizier's Story
Turkey

There was in the palace of the world a grocer, and he had a wife, a beauty of the age, and that woman had a lover.

One day this woman's lover said, \"If your husband found us out, he would not leave either of us sound.\"

The woman said, \"I am able to manage that I shall make merry with you before my husband's eyes.\"

The youth said, \"Such a thing cannot be.\"

The woman replied, \"In such and such a place there is a large tree. Tomorrow I will go on an outing with my husband to the foot of that tree. Hide yourself in a secret place near that tree, and when I make a sign to you, come.\"

As her lover left, her husband arrived. The woman said, \"Man, I would like to go on an outing with you tomorrow to such and such a tree.\"

The man replied, \"So be it.\"

When it was morning the woman and her husband went to that tree. The woman said, \"They say that he who eats this sweetmeat sees single things as though they were double,\" and she ate some and gave her husband some to eat.

Half an hour afterward the woman climbed up the tree and turned and looked down and began, \"May you be struck blind! May God punish you! Man, what are you doing? Is there anyone who has ever done such a thing? You are making merry with a strange woman under the eyes of your wife. Quick, divorce me!\" And she cried out.

Her husband said, \"What is with you, woman? Have you gone mad? There is no one with me.\"

Said the woman, \"Be silent, you unblushing and shameless fellow. The woman is with you, and you deny it.\"

Her husband said, \"Come down.\"

She replied, \"I will not come down so long as that woman is with you.\"

Her husband began to swear, protesting, and the woman came down and said to him, \"Where is that harlot? Quick, show her to me, or else!\"

Again the man swore, and the woman said, \"Can it then be the work of the sweetmeat?\"

The man said, \"May be.\"

Said the woman, \"You too go up and look down on me, and let us see.\"

Her husband took hold of the tree, and while he was climbing, the woman made a sign to her lover. The man looked down and saw the woman making merry with a youth.

This time the man cried out, \"Away with you! What is with you, you shameless boy?\"

The woman said, \"You are lying.\"

But the man could not endure it and began to come down, and the youth ran off.

* Source: Sheykh-Zada, The History of the Forty Vezirs; or, The Story of the Forty Morns and Eves, translated by E. J. W. Gibb (London: George Redway, 1886), pp. 303-305.

* Translation modernized by D. L. Ashliman. © 1998.