The Decameron

The era of the fruitful Incarnation of the Son…

It had been the custom…

There is no offence in putting one's brain…

Pampinea is absolutely right in what she says…

Thus dismissed by their new queen…

Finding himself without employment…

'Then tell me, my son…'

With this he fell silent.

When Philomena left off speaking…

The ladies listened with a tinge…

The queen and all the company…

Next to Philostrato sat Lauretta.

The sun was beginning to set…

How often has it happened that those…

Neiphile's account of the misfortunes…

The perils encountered by Rinaldo d'Este…

Seeing that this could be done without…

When Pampinea's story reached its triumphant…

Fiammetta began, for it was now her turn.

'Andreuccio, I'm sure that all this affection…'

This made Andreuccio quite convinced…

Fiammetta's account of Andreuccio's adventures…

Hearing of this from one of his gaolers…

Had Emilia's story gone on any longer…

The princess bitterly lamented her earlier…

Getting wind of this…

Now a gentleman called Antigono…

The various misadventures that befell…

This request delighted the count…

Perotto, meanwhile, had grown up in Wales…

After Elissa had served her turn…

Reluctant as he was anyway to kill her…

The story told by their queen was roundly…

So they went home to Paganino's…

This story had them all in such fits of laughter…

There are scores of men, and women too…

Philostrato's story made the ladies laugh…

When Pampinea finished speaking…

This said, she drew out from beneath her long…

When Philomena fell silent on finishing her tale…

Pamphilo concluded his tale of Brother Puccio…

Elissa had nothing left to say…

Having given Ricciardo's words more credence…

Fiammetta fell silent amid a chorus of praise…

'Now I'll have you know that I am a friar…'

He put on his hat and pilgrim's smock again…

Emilia's story reached its conclusion.

When he had finished eating…

If she was not to infringe Dioneo's privilege…

She bade them goodbye…

Dioneo had closely followed the queen's narrative.

Time and again the good ladies…

But that's as far as I want to take this story…

As she listened to her father…

Fiammetta's story had several times…

After lunch Lisetta, with a companion…

Hearing the end of Pampinea's story…

Lauretta concluded her story and fell silent…

Elissa finished her tale.

The ladies found Philomena's tale enormously…

When Pamphilo had delivered himself of his story…

Emilia's story reached its conclusion…

So ended Neiphile's story…

As the king had completed his tale…

Shortly afterwards the maid…

Here ends the fourth day of the Decameron…

So Cimone returned to his shipmates…

The queen spoke highly of Pamphilo's story…

Emilia's story was unanimously approved.

Elissa finished her tale and listened…

The story of the nightingale had sent…

The ladies had so much enjoyed Neiphile's story…

The ladies were all on tenterhooks…

As Lauretta finished, Philomena, at the queen's…

When Philomena finished speaking…

The queen concluded her tale…

The young wife, therefore, reached an…

Amused though they were by Dioneo's tale…

While Licisca was talking the women…

When Pampinea finished her tale…

The ladies were still chuckling over Giotto's…

Philostrato's story made the ladies…

Each one of the party had told a story…

Those simple folk, men and women…

Now certain of the ladies felt that this topic…

Had it been your pleasure, my lord…

Emilia's tale was greeted with boisterous…

Philostrato could not disguise his allusion…

When he heard the end of Elissa's story…

Lauretta ended her tale…

Well, what am I to say?

The entire company agreed that Isabella's…

It was generally agreed that Beatrice…

Arriguccio left his house and went as fast…

The ladies had so much enjoyed Neiphile's story…

Now a few days after killing the hawk…

Only the king was left to tell a tale…

Zephyr, the West Wind, got up as the afternoon…

Everyone, lads and lasses alike…

The ladies laughed so much at Pamphilo's tale…

When Elissa reached the end of her story…

Emilia came to the end of her story…

No sooner was Philostrato's tale finished…

Poor Calandrino, how the ladies laughed at him!

After a long, long time the night gave place…

After sunrise, Elena approached the wall…

Seeing that his drift tended entirely towards…

The ladies found it painful to listen…

The pooling of wives, as practised by the two…

'Speak freely: I see you still don’t know me all…'

There is no need to ask how much laughter…

Once Jancofiore was in possession of the money…

When Dioneo concluded his tale…

How pleased I am, my lady…

Philomena fell silent.

The things Calandrino said about his wife…

Neiphile finished her tale…

Calandrino spent the entire evening…

The party had derived amusement…

When Pamphilo's story was ended…

It remained only for the queen to tell a story…

The tale of the queen's had the ladies…

Dioneo wished that the ladies in his audience…

Everyone applauded the generosity…

Great, indeed, was the liberality of the King…

To be generous with one's own blood…

The entire merry throng, one and all…

Who could give a full account of the debate…

Fiammetta came to the end of her story…

These words Minuccio soon set to the soft…

When Pampinea finished…

Though Titus was embarrassed to accept…

'And so, looking at the matter reasonably…'

At the conclusion of Philomena's narrative…

The gentlemen were astounded…

Torello was over the moon when he heard this…

In accordance with his request…

It seems to me, my gentle ladies…

It took her a supreme effort…

Dioneo's story was ended…

They sang many more songs after that…