The Eaten Heart
Intro
- Storyteller: Filostrato
- You think those other stories are horrifying? Well, says Filostrato, this one's worse.
- That's because this story involves people of a higher social standing. Poor things.
Story
- This one takes place in Provençe, where two knights named Guillaume were friends.
- Guillaume de Roussillon has a beautiful and charming wife. Guillaume de Cabestanh is hopelessly in love with her.
- The lady returns her lover's affection, and pretty soon they're sneaking about the castle to fulfill their desires.
- But Guillaume the Husband finds out. He's miffed because Guillaume de Cabestanh had been his best friend.
- So Guillaume de Roussillon invites his good friend over to discuss a road trip to a major tournament in France. On the way, he ambushes Cabestanh and cuts his heart from his body.
- Roussillon has the heart sent on to his cook and instructs him to prepare this "boar's heart" in the most tasty way possible.
- When the cooked heart arrives at the table, Roussillon has no appetite. He gives the special dish to his lady, who eats up every delicious morsel.
- Roussillon asks if she enjoyed the dish. Why, yes, she replies, very much so.
- Then comes the big reveal. Roussillon tells her that he tore the heart out of her lover with his own hands.
- Instead of gagging and vomiting, the lady takes him to task for punishing the wrong person (she doesn't understand the whole friendship-bond thing).
- She declares that she'll never taste another piece of food since she has eaten the most perfect thing in the world. So she steps out the window casement and jumps to her death.
- Roussillon panics when he sees her mangled body on the ground below. He saddles up and heads out of town before his wicked deeds become known.
- The lady's family has her body and the body of Guillaume de Cabestanh buried in the same tomb—at her castle.