Martellino
Story
- Storyteller: Neifile
- Neifile intends this story as a warning to people who would mock sacred things.
- Arrigo is a poor laborer in Trevisa who people believe is a saint.
- When he dies, a series of miraculous things happen, so the beliefs are confirmed.
- People want to get close to his body so that they might be cured of illness or win favor with the new saint.
- It so happens that three entertainers from Florence—Stecchi, Martellino and Marchese—show up in town during this exciting time.
- They want to get a good look at Arrigo's body, but the crowds are too intense.
- They need some kind of scheme to get through the crowds.
- Martellino comes up with one: he'll pretend to be a paralyzed man who needs the healing powers of the saint.
- So Stecchi and Marchese truss him up on a stretcher, and the crowd parts for them.
- Martellino's really playing up his part. The men surrounding Arrigo's body lift him up and lay him across the corpse.
- Martellino pretends like he's been cured.
- Unfortunately for him, there's another Florentine in the crowd who recognizes him and reveals the sacrilege to the crowd.
- The mood immediately turns ugly and the crowd's on the verge of lynching Martellino for mocking the saint.
- They start beating him, and Marchese and Stecchi have to get the watchman to keep the crowd from killing Martellino.
- Marchese and Stecchi allege that Martellino had "cut their purses"—like pick pocketing—so that the watchman will save his life by taking him into custody.
- But the crowds follow and some of the men claim that Martellino cut their purses, too.
- Martellino says he'll confess to the crime if the men can say when and where it happened.
- The men pick days that Martellino wasn't in the city. But the magistrate has a grudge against Florentines and is tempted to hang Martellino just for fun.
- Meanwhile, Marchese and Stecchi go back to their lodgings and ask the landlord to help them.
- He sends them to Sandro, a Florentine living in Trevisa. Sandro takes them to the prince.
- The prince has a good laugh at their expense, but in the end he goes to the magistrate and saves Martellino.
- He also feels sorry for their bad luck, so he gives them each a new set of clothes (Martellino definitely needs it).
- So the men return to Florence in one piece and richer by a new suit of clothes.