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_Belluccia, daughter of Ambruoso de la Varra, wishing to obey her father and please him, carries out his orders with such good sense that she becomes the very wealthy wife of Narduccio, eldest son of Biasillo Guallecchia, and brings it about that her other poor sisters are given dowries by the same man and married to his other sons._ _Scarcely had the poor bridegroom left when they all nearly wet themselves laughing at the trick the mouse had played on him; and their laughter would have lasted until the following morning had the Prince not intervened to obtain a hearing for Donna Antonella, who was ready to tell her tale and began as follows._ Obedience is a safe commodity, yielding profit without risk;

and it is an estate that bears fruit in every season. This will be proved to you by the daughter of a poor tenant farmer, who, by showing herself obedient to her father, paved the way not only for her own good fortune but for that of her sisters, who through her were all richly married.

Once upon a time, in the village of La Varra, there lived a countryman named Ambruoso, who had seven daughters, and all he possessed to keep them respectably in the world was a string of garlic. This good man was a close friend of Biasillo Guallecchia, a rich man down in Resina, who had seven sons. Renzullo, the eldest and the apple of his eye, fell ill, and no remedy could be found for his sickness, though his father’s purse was always open. When Ambruoso went to visit him, Biasillo asked how many children he had. Ashamed to confess that he had managed to beget so many girls, he answered, “I have four boys and three girls.” “If that is so,” replied Biasillo, “send one of those sons of yours to keep my boy company, and you will do me a great kindness.” Ambruoso, caught out by his own words, could think of nothing to say, so he nodded his assent. Returning to La Varra, he fell into a melancholy fit that almost killed him, not knowing how he could face his friend. At last he called his daughters one by one, from the eldest to the youngest, and asked which of them would consent to cut off her hair, dress as a man, and pretend to be a boy, to keep Biasillo’s sick son company. At these words his eldest daughter, Annuccia, answered:

“Since when has my father died, that I should cut off my hair?” Nora, the second, answered, “I am not even married yet, and you want to see me shorn?” Sapatina, the third, said, “I have always heard that women should not wear breeches.” Rosa, the fourth, answered, “Miaow! I have no itch to go looking for something the apothecaries do not stock, merely to amuse a sick man.” Cianna, the fifth, said, “Tell this sick fellow to take a course of treatment and have himself bled, for I would not give one hair of my head for a hundred threads of men’s lives.”

The sixth, Lella, said, “I was born a woman, I live as a woman, and I mean to die as a woman; and I have no wish to lose my name as an honest woman by turning myself into a counterfeit man.” The youngest nestling, Belluccia, seeing her father heave a sigh at each of her sisters’ answers, replied, “If turning myself into a man is not enough to serve you, I will become an animal, and squeeze myself into a pinch of dust to give you pleasure.” “Oh, blessings on you!” said Ambruoso. “You give me life in return for the blood I gave you. Come now, let us waste no time: tops are made on the lathe!” And cutting off those locks, which were the golden cords of Love’s constables, and finding her a ragged little suit of men’s clothes, he took her to Resina. There Biasillo and his bedridden son received them with the greatest kindness in the world. Ambruoso went home, leaving Belluccia to attend the sick Narduccio, who, seeing such astonishing beauty shine through those rags, gazed at her, gazed again, and studied her from head to foot, saying to himself, “Unless my eyes are clouded, this must be a woman. The softness of her face betrays her, her speech confirms it, her walk bears witness, my heart tells me so, and Love reveals it to me: a woman, beyond a doubt! And she must have come disguised in men’s clothes to lay an ambush for this heart of mine.” Sinking deeper and deeper into these thoughts, he grew so melancholy that his fever worsened, and the doctors found him in a sorry state. His mother, who was all afire with love for him, began to say, “My son, the guiding lantern of these eyes, the crutch and prop of my old age, what can this mean, that instead of gaining strength you are losing health, and instead of going forward you keep shrinking backward, like pork rind on the coals? Can you really wish to leave your poor little mother comfortless, without telling her the cause of your trouble, so that she might find a remedy? Come, my jewel, speak, out with it, unburden yourself, ease your heart! Tell me plainly what you need and what you wish for, and leave the rest to me: I shall spare nothing to give you every pleasure in the world.”

Encouraged by these kind words, Narduccio let himself pour out the passions of his soul, telling her that he was certain Ambruoso’s supposed son was a girl, and that unless she were given to him as his wife, he was quite resolved to cut short the course of his life. “Gently,” said his mother. “To quiet that little brain of yours, we shall make a few tests to discover whether this is a girl or a boy, whether the field is bare or planted. Let us send him down to the stable and have him ride the wildest colt we possess. For if he is a woman, since women have little courage, you will see her quail, and we shall soon weigh these peas.” Her son liked this idea, and Belluccia was sent down to the stable and given a vicious young colt. She saddled it, mounted with the spirit of a lion, and began to perform wondrous paces, astonishing serpentines, breathtaking circles, dizzying turns, otherworldly curvets, and gallops that made one leap out of one’s skin.

At this his mother said to Narduccio, “Put this fancy out of your skull, my son, for you can see that this boy sits a horse more firmly than the oldest saddle-squatter at Porta Reale.” Yet Narduccio would not budge from his belief, but kept saying that this was a woman, whatever anyone might say, and that not even Scannarebecco could drive the notion out of his head. His mother, wishing to cure him of this whim, said:

“Easy, little blackbird! We shall make a second test to settle your doubts.” And having a musket brought to the room where they were, they called Belluccia and told her to load and fire it. Taking the weapon in her hands, she put gunpowder into the barrel and love-powder into Narduccio’s body; she set the match in the serpentine and fire in the sick man’s heart; and when she discharged the shot, she charged the poor fellow’s breast with amorous desires. Seeing the grace, dexterity, and fine bearing with which the lad fired, his mother said to Narduccio, “Rid yourself of this headache, and consider that no woman could do so much.” But Narduccio went on arguing and could find no peace. He would have staked his life that this lovely rose had no stalk, and said to his mother, “Believe me, Mother, if this beautiful tree of love’s delight will give this sick man a fig, this sick man will give the doctor the fig. So let us find out the truth at any cost, or I shall slip away; and rather than seek the road to a grave, I shall throw myself into a ditch.” His poor mother, seeing him more obstinate than ever, planting his feet and crying, “Scissors, scissors!” said, “If you want to be more certain, take him swimming with you. There you will see whether it is a triumphal arch or the tangle of Baiae, a broad square or a narrow fork, the Circus Maximus or Trajan’s Column.” “Splendid!” answered Narduccio. “Nothing could be better: you have hit the nail on the head. Today we shall see whether it is a spit or a pan, a rolling pin or a sieve, a spindle or a little box.”

But Belluccia, who had scented the scheme, immediately sent for a servant of her father’s, a very sharp and knowing fellow. She instructed him that, as soon as he saw her at the shore about to undress, he was to bring word that her father was at his last gasp and wished to see her before the spinning top of his life came to rest. The fellow stood ready to carry out his orders, and as soon as he saw Narduccio and Belluccia arrive at the sea and begin to undress, he did as they had agreed, coming to her aid at the very first stroke. Hearing the news, she asked Narduccio’s leave and set off toward Resina. When the sick man returned to his mother with bowed head, staring eyes, a yellowish complexion, and deathly lips, he told her that the business had gone against the current, and that the mishap which had befallen him had prevented him from making the final test. “Do not despair,” his mother answered, “for we must catch the hare with a cart. Go quite unexpectedly to Ambruoso’s house and ask for his son. Whether he comes down quickly or keeps you waiting, you will discover the trick and unravel the tangle.” At these words the colour returned to Narduccio’s cheeks, which had grown so pale. The following morning, when the Sun took up his rays and swept away the stars, he went straight to Ambruoso’s house and called him out, saying that he wished to speak to his son on an important matter. Ambruoso looked this way and that, then told him to wait a little and he would send the boy down at once. Belluccia, so as not to be caught in the very act, stripped off her skirt and bodice, put on her men’s clothes, and tumbled downstairs, but in her haste she forgot the little rings in her ears. When Narduccio saw them, just as bad weather may be foretold from a donkey’s ears, so from Belluccia’s ears he divined the fair weather he longed for. Seizing her like a mastiff, he said, “I will have you for my wife, to the vexation of envy, in spite of fortune, and though death itself should resent it!” Ambruoso, seeing Narduccio’s good intentions, said:

“Provided your father is content, where he gives one hand, I shall give a hundred.” So they all went together to Biasillo’s house, where Narduccio’s mother and father, delighted to see their son healthy and happy, received their daughter-in-law with boundless pleasure. They wished to know why Ambruoso had played this game of hide-and-seek by sending her dressed as a man; and when they heard that he had done so to avoid revealing that a Guallecchia had fathered seven girls, Biasillo said, “Since Heaven has given you so many girls and me so many boys, by my faith, we shall make one journey serve seven purposes.

“Go and bring them all to this house, for I shall provide their dowries. Heaven be praised, I have enough verjuice for all these little fish!” Hearing this, Ambruoso took wing to fetch his other daughters and bring them to Biasillo’s house, where they held a sevenfold feast, and the music and merrymaking rose to the seventh heaven. And as they all rejoiced together, it was plain to see _That Heaven’s blessings never come too late._