- Lauretta abdicates the throne and hands it over to Emilia, saying an odd thing to her: sure, you're beautiful, babe—but are you good?
- She encourages her to be a pleasant queen and Emilia feels a little embarrassed ("Did she just call me beautiful?").
- After she makes arrangements with the steward for the next day, she employs a little ox and yoke metaphor. In order to take up the yoke of storytelling, Emilia says, they should be given a little freedom.
- So the theme for the next day will be open, so that once again the storytellers may choose the topic.
- She asks Panfilo to sing a song. As his name implies ("all loving"), Panfilo is one blissed-out dude. He sings a song about one who's happy in love—a nice change.
- But he also alludes to a "rapture" that he has to keep hidden, and that sparks wild speculation among the crew.
- Boccaccio hints that they were all quite wrong in their conjectures, but he doesn't give us the 411.