Monarch: Elissa
- The pattern continues: while the heat's low, the party's on. Everyone takes a walk before breakfast and then goes about their day of amusement.
- Dioneo and Lauretta sing a song about Troilus and Cressida (Boccaccio wrote a version of that story in Il Filostrato, so it's clearly still on his mind).
- When Queen Elissa is about to start the storytelling, they're interrupted by the quarreling of two servants, Licisca and Tindaro.
- The argument? Tindaro asserts that an acquaintance's wife came to the marriage bed as a virgin. Licisca, in some seriously colorful, euphemistic language, begs to differ.
- Why should she, Licisca asks, when she could enjoy herself while she's young? Fathers and brothers always wait too long to arrange marriages. By then, the girls are already experienced.
- The queen tries to stop Licisca from talking but she can't; everyone's laughing too hard anyway.
- Elissa defers the question to Dioneo to answer at the end of the day, but he answers right away: Licisca is right and Tindaro's an idiot.
- Licisca gloats in triumph, but a little too loudly and Elissa tells her to get back to the kitchen and be quiet or she'll be whipped.
- And so they can begin the storytelling in peace, starting with Filomena.