Griselda

Intro

Storyteller: Dioneo

Dioneo says that since the stories have been about nobility, he'll tell a story about a
marquis.

But that is where his cooperation ends. Instead of telling a story about munificence,
Dioneo is going to tell a story about a character notable for his brutality.

Don't try this at home, he says. Nobody should ever profit from this sort of behavior.

Editor's note: Chaucer did profit from the storyhe included it as "The Clerk's Tale" in
his Canterbury Tales.

Story

A man called Gualtieri becomes Marquis of Saluzzo. He's not married and spends all of
his time hunting, so his people are worried about the future of his estate.

They urge Gualtieri to marry and provide them with an heir.

Gualtieri finally gives in on one condition: he gets to choose his own wife and they'll
have to honor her as their lady, whoever she is.

His people agree and eagerly await his choice.

Gualtieri had taken a liking to a poor girl in his locality, so he approached her father and
made a bargain for marriage.

Then he returns to his own people and gives them the news, reminding them of their
promise.

The people, who never believed he would settle down, are joyful.

Gualtieri and his people plan a lavish wedding. He has a dress made to fit his bride and
buys rings and crowns for her.

Just one thing: he has to tell the girl that she's marrying him.

So on the day of the wedding, Gualtieri rides out to the village to get his bride. Since she
has no idea that he intends to marry her, she's standing around with the other village girls,
trying to get a look at the lucky bride.

We learn that her name is Griselda. Gualtieri sits down with her and her father and asks
her a series of questions. He wants to know if she'll obey him, no matter what.

When she agrees, Gualtieri brings her outside to his waiting kinsman.

Then he strips her naked in front of all the men and women present. Nice.

Only then does he call for the new clothes he's had made for her (perhaps he should have
done that before the stripping).

He asks her if she'll accept him as her husband (she does). He accepts her as his wife. It's
a done deal.

There's a huge party at Gualtieri's house, just as if he'd married a high-born lady.

And in fact Griselda turns out to be a treasure. She has excellent manners, treats her
husband's subjects well, and is totally compliant with Gualtieri's wishes. Everyone adores
her.

Griselda has a daughter and Gualtieri is super happy with her. But then, something
disturbing happens.

Dioneo says that Gualtieri's "seized" with a desire to test Griselda's goodness and begins
treating her badly.

She responds with total submissiveness and Gualtieri is pleased that she is passing his
tests. But he doesn't tell her that.

He's also not finished with her. He tells her that his subjects are complaining about this
low-born daughter of theirs.

So one day, a servant appears to Griselda and implies that Gualtieri has ordered him to
take the infant out and murder it.

Griselda obeys and hands over the baby even though she's heartbroken.

Gualtieri actually sends the child to be raised by a kinswoman in Bologna, but he lets
Griselda think she's dead.

Griselda then has another child, a boy. Gualtieri decides to play with his wife's emotions
some more.

He tells her that his subjects resent that they'll be ruled by the grandson of a farmer, so
he's going to do the same thing to the boy as he did to the girl.

Not only that, he's going to look around for someone better to marry.

Griselda says that he should do whatever makes him happy. She's nobody, anyway.

So the boy baby is taken from her in the same way, and Griselda responds as she did
before.

Gualtieri's subjects also think he's had his own children killed and they hate him for it.

The women who surround Griselda console her, but she simply says that her husband's
word is law.

Everyone loves Griselda even more because of her sweet nature and all the abuse she
suffers.

Years pass, and Gualtieri decides it's time for one more test. He's going to divorce
Griselda and marry someone else.

Gualtieri takes the cruel scheme to a whole new level: he pretends to have received
papers from the Pope that allow him to divorce Griselda.

He brings Griselda before his people and tells her his intentions. Griselda shames him
with her humility and steadiness.

She says that she never believed she was worthy of him, so she doesn't blame him for
taking these steps.

But would he please let her leave with a slip on so that she doesn't have to show her
nakedness to the world?

Gualtieri wants to cry at her goodness, but he keeps at it. Okay, he says, you can keep
your slip.

So Griselda returns to her village thirteen years after her marriage and takes up her old
sheep-herding job.

Gualtieri's subjects are not happy. But he's not done yet.

He tells everyone he's going to marry again. Since he no longer has a wife or serving
women to set the place in order for the wedding, he calls Griselda back to do it for him.

Amazingly, she complies. She cleans, arranges the bedrooms and sends the invitations.
She also has to stand by and greet all the guests as though she were still lady of the house.

Meanwhile, Gualtieri sends to Bologna for his children to be returned. At this point, the
girl is 12 and the boy is 6. He orders his kinsman to say that the daughter is to be
Gualtieri's bride.

At the wedding feast, Griselda greets the new "bride" and treats her well. Griselda sits at
the meal in her disgusting old dress and listens to the guests compliment the new, young
mistress. She compliments the young girl as well.

Gualtieri is so astounded at the patience of Griselda that he decides enough is enough.

Finally. We can't take one more second of this.

He asks Griselda what she thinks of his new bride, and Griselda lets a little bit of her
emotions show. She warns him not to treat her as roughly as he treated his "previous
wife," since the new lady is high-born.

Gualtieri reveals his purpose in tormenting her all those years: to keep the peace in his
household (for himself, of course), to teach her how to be a wife and to teach his people
how to choose a proper wife.

He then discloses the identities of the young lady and her little brother and professes
undying love for his perfect, obedient wife.

Shmoop may get sick now.

But Griselda does not. Somehow, she still loves this guy and is overjoyed by his
revelations.

And somehow, everyone forgives Gualtieri and actually believes he's a wise man for all
that he's done.

In the end, they feast for days and Griselda is restored to her rightful place.

Her father's set up properly in a comfortable house, and the daughter is married off to a
gentleman.

Dioneo ends by saying that Gualtieri probably didn't deserve Griselda. After all, most
women, being turned out in their slips, would have found a sugar daddy to buy them a
fine dress.

That's all he can say about it?

Dioneo's story causes controversy, so the crew argues and discusses it for a while.

Panfilo takes the lead in considering what they should do now.

What they need, he says, is to keep perspective: remember where they came from, what
they're doing here, and decide what should happen next.

He concludes that they've done a great job in behaving themselves and having fun, but
that if they stay longer, they'd get bored and people might talk.

Plus, lots of people know they're here and might show up and ruin the fun.

So, in his humble opinion, they should head back to Florence on the next day unless
anybody objects.

No one does. They continue with their regularly scheduled evening amusements,
featuring Lauretta (leading a dance) and Fiammetta (singing the concluding song).

Fiammetta sings of how jealousy ruins the security and bliss of love. But she's no
shrinking violetshe'll put the hurt on whoever steals her love away.

Dioneo laughs at the warning in the song and tells Fiammetta she should publish the
name of her lover so no one accidentally wins his heart away from her.

In the morning, they get up early and return to Santa Maria Novella, which was the place
of their departure.

The young men go off to find something else to amuse them and the ladies go home.

Seems a bit anticlimactic.

The Manciple's Prologue and Tale

Seeing the Cook drunk, asleep, and swaying in his saddle, the Host tries to awaken him in order
to demand a tale. But in spite of the Host's efforts, the Cook falls from his horse. The pilgrims
halt and, with great effort, restore the Cook to his saddle. The Manciple offers to tell a tale
instead.
In a faraway land, Phoebus is the ideal man: a great warrior, a skilled musician, and very
handsome and kind. He has a wife whom he loves more than life itself and bestows upon her all
the kindness and love at his command, but he is extremely jealous.

In Phoebus' magnificent household is a marvelous, pure white crow that can repeat the words of
any thing it hears. While Phoebus is gone, his wife's secret lover comes to the home and makes
passionate love to her. Upon Phoebes' return, the crow tells him the scandalous sight he has seen.
In a rage, Phoebus kills his wife. As his rage cools, the sight of his wife's dead body brings great
remorse. In anger, he pulls out the crow's white feathers and replaces them with black ones. Then
before throwing him out, Phoebus removes the crow's ability to sing and speak. The Manciple
ends his tale by admonishing all people to restrain their tongues.
Analysis
While this tale is quite simple, the Manciple's ornamentation turns the simple legend found in
Ovid's Metamorphosis into something almost ludicrously overblown. He alludes to all sorts of
classical lore, relevant or not. He even stops his narration for digressions and piles up pointless
rhetorical devices. The moral he appends to the tale is clear: Repeating scandal is a dangerous
business, so one should restrain one's tongue and think upon the crow.
Glossary
Bob-Up-And-Down a town very near Canterbury; the pilgrims must be in the vicinity of the
Cathedral of Canterbury.
'Dun's in the Myre refers to a type of rural game in which a group of youths brought in a log
and pretended it was a horse stuck in the mud.
Phoebus Phoebus Apollo, the Greek god of light, or the sun.
Bacchus the god of wine and interceder in quarrels.
Amphion the king of Thebes and husband of Niobe; he was noted for his beautiful singing voice.
plumb your wif have sexual intercourse.
THUNDER
Today is a winding road that's taking me to places that I
didn't want to go
Whoa (whoa, whoa, whoa)
Today in the blink of an eye I'm holding on to something
and I do not know why
I tried
I tried to read between the lines
I tried to look in your eyes
I want a simple explanation
For what I'm feeling inside

I gotta find a way out

Maybe there's a way out
Your voice was the soundtrack of my summer
Do you know you're unlike any other?
You'll always be my thunder, and I said
Your eyes are the brightest of all the colors
I don't wanna ever love another
You'll always be my thunder
So bring on the rain
And bring on the thunder
Today is a winding road

Tell me where to start and tell me something I don't know

Whoa (whoa, whoa, whoa)
Today I'm on my own
I can't move a muscle and I can't pick up the phone
I don't know (I don't know, I don't know, I don't know)
And now I'm itching for the tall grass
And longing for the breeze
I need to step outside
Just to see if I can breathe
I gotta find a way out
Maybe theres a way out
Your voice was the soundtrack of my summer
Do you know you're unlike any other?
You'll always be my thunder, and I said
Your eyes are the brightest of all the colors
I don't wanna ever love another
You'll always be my thunder
So bring on the rain
Yeah I'm walking on a tightrope
I'm wrapped up in vines
I think we'll make it out

But you just gotta give me time

Strike me down with lightning
Let me feel you in my veins
I wanna let you know how much I feel your pain
Today is a winding road that's taking me to places that I
didn't want to go
Whoa
Your voice was the soundtrack of my summer
Do you know you're unlike any other?
You'll always be my thunder, and I said
Your eyes are the brightest of all the colors
I don't wanna ever love another
You'll always be my thunder
And I said
Your voice was the soundtrack of my summer
Do you know you're unlike any other?
You'll always be my thunder
So bring on the rain
Oh baby bring on the pain
And listen to the thunder