Dante's Heart
The Seven Sages of Rome
The Husband and the Magpie
“…A cavalier had a wife, who loved a young man. The cavalier also had a
magpie that was trained to tell the cavalier whatever it saw, and he placed it
near the door of the bedroom. One time when the cavalier went hunting, his
wife sent for the young man. The magpie saw him and cried, ‘Lady! You do
wrong, because you will betray your lord, and I will certainly tell him about it.'
"The woman believed she could trick the magpie. She had her servant girl
climb on top of the roof of the house, making water fall into two basins so
that it would seem that it rained and stormed. Then she immediately sent the
girl with a light in her hand to close the door so that it would look as if it were
another day. When the husband came back from the hunt, the magpie told
him what his wife had done, and he wanted to kill her.
"The woman said, ‘Ask the bird when it was.’
"The magpie said, ‘It was yesterday.’
"The woman said, ‘What was the weather like?’
"The magpie said, ‘It rained, and there was lightning.’
"But that day the weather had been good. The woman said, ‘You see that
it tells enormous lies.’ The lord was greatly angered at the magpie, and he
killed it. And several days later, he looked and saw above on the roof a
basin which the servant girl had forgotten. Then he suspected the malice of
the woman; he made the servant come to tell him why that basin was up there.
She wanted to deny the truth. He had her put to the torture, and then she
told the truth. The cavalier immediately had his wife burned. Your majesty
the emperor, so must you do with your wife, who judges your son.”
Hearing this, the emperor ordered that the sentence be suspended. When
he returned that evening to his wife, she said to him, “So it will happen to
you as it happened with one who was killed by his son.”
"And how was that?"
And she said:
back next page: "The King's Treasure and the Son of the Thief"
The Husband and the Magpie
“…A cavalier had a wife, who loved a young man. The cavalier also had a
magpie that was trained to tell the cavalier whatever it saw, and he placed it
near the door of the bedroom. One time when the cavalier went hunting, his
wife sent for the young man. The magpie saw him and cried, ‘Lady! You do
wrong, because you will betray your lord, and I will certainly tell him about it.'
"The woman believed she could trick the magpie. She had her servant girl
climb on top of the roof of the house, making water fall into two basins so
that it would seem that it rained and stormed. Then she immediately sent the
girl with a light in her hand to close the door so that it would look as if it were
another day. When the husband came back from the hunt, the magpie told
him what his wife had done, and he wanted to kill her.
"The woman said, ‘Ask the bird when it was.’
"The magpie said, ‘It was yesterday.’
"The woman said, ‘What was the weather like?’
"The magpie said, ‘It rained, and there was lightning.’
"But that day the weather had been good. The woman said, ‘You see that
it tells enormous lies.’ The lord was greatly angered at the magpie, and he
killed it. And several days later, he looked and saw above on the roof a
basin which the servant girl had forgotten. Then he suspected the malice of
the woman; he made the servant come to tell him why that basin was up there.
She wanted to deny the truth. He had her put to the torture, and then she
told the truth. The cavalier immediately had his wife burned. Your majesty
the emperor, so must you do with your wife, who judges your son.”
Hearing this, the emperor ordered that the sentence be suspended. When
he returned that evening to his wife, she said to him, “So it will happen to
you as it happened with one who was killed by his son.”
"And how was that?"
And she said:
back next page: "The King's Treasure and the Son of the Thief"
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