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Day 10: Eighth Tale
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Decameron, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Love and Sex
Men and Women
Moderation and Excess
Intelligence
Class and Character
Faith vs. Religion
Summary
Analysis
Panfilo praises Filomena’s description of friendship, then turns to his own story, which shows another eminently worthy and generous friendship—the friendship of Saladin and Messer Torello of Strà. Before the Third Crusade begins, Saladin disguises himself as a merchant and takes two counselors and a few servants on a secret tour of Europe to gather intelligence so that he can better defend himself. On the road between Mila and Pavia, they encounter Torello, who is on the way to his country estate. Torello deduces that the men are “foreigners of gentle birth,” and he wants to “do them honor.” He tricks them by saying they can’t reach Pavia that night and offers to have a servant take them to a place (his) to stay.
Saladin, 12th century sultan of Egypt and Syria, was renowned in medieval Europe for his military skill, wisdom, and generosity, even though he was a Muslim and an adversary of European interests in the Near East. Many other stories in the collection have shown that a poor or low-born person can still possess a noble spirit; Saladin shows that a non-Christian can be worthy of honor and friendship as well (at least in the confines of a story). In this context, it’s notable that Torello sees through Saladin’s disguise—not to his true identity, but at least to intuit his class status, which is well above the bourgeoise merchant class. The Third Crusade was organized to recapture Jerusalem from Saladin. In this tale, Saladin and Torello engage in a game of cleverness and generosity, where each one tries to outdo the other.
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Torello rushes to his estate, sets tables for a feast in the garden, and is ready to welcome Saladin’s group when the servant brings them to the gates. Saladin realizes that the reason for Torello’s trick was to keep him from refusing the invitation. He complains that it’s unfair to be offered hospitality that they can’t return, and Torello replies that he won’t be able to entertain them as well as they deserve. Because they all speak excellent Italian, Saladin and his men have no trouble talking with Torello over his fine wines.
Even in disguise, Saladin’s personal merit is evident to Torello, who honors him according to his worth. Torello makes a big to-do over Saladin as a mark of respect for his merit (even though he doesn’t realize that his guest is, in fact, royalty). But because Saladin is in disguise—not to mention on the opposing side of the coming war—he doesn’t expect to be able to return the favor and honor Torello, so it makes him uncomfortable to be in the honorable man’s debt.
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Saladin and his men find Torello to be the “most agreeable, civilized, and affable gentleman” they’ve ever met. And although they claim to be simple merchants from Cyprus, Torello (correctly) concludes that they are more distinguished than that and deserve a better feast. He sends a message to his wife (later identified as Adalieta), asking her to invite the Pavian nobles to a great banquet the following morning. With a princely spirit (instead of a womanly one), she pulls together the necessities for a “sumptuous banquet.”
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The next day, Torello invites Saladin to hunt, after which Saladin asks for directions to the comfortable inn in Pavia. Torello, offering to lead the way, takes Saladin and his men to his own home, where a crowd of gentlemen wait for them. They protest that Torello entertained them splendidly enough the previous night, but he claims that fortune prevented him from doing them justice by sending them to him too late in the day to make a proper feast. Now, he will breakfast them with the appropriate “pomp and ceremony.” Saladin, used to kingly treatment, marvels at the quality of this banquet.
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After breakfast, Torello introduces Saladin to his greatest treasures: Adalieta and their two angelically beautiful children. Adalieta gives Saladin fur-lined silk robes and silk jackets as gifts—things much nicer than a merchant would usually warrant. Saladin briefly worries that his identity has been discovered, but still graciously accepts them. Before he leaves the next day, Torello replaces his road-weary mounts with fine horses, proving himself the most courteous, considerate, and perfect gentleman ever born. Saladin thinks that if all Christian princes were this noble, his forces would never be able to resist them. He’s sad to leave Torello and—although still intent on winning the war—resolves to return his hospitality if he ever can.
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As the Crusade begins, Torello, moved but undeterred by Adalieta’s tears and entreaties, prepares to leave. His only request is that, if he dies, she will not remarry sooner than one year plus a month and a day from his departure. Adalieta protests that she will be faithful to him, even in his death, and while he doesn’t doubt her words, he knows that her family will eventually force her to remarry. In that case, she promises to honor his instructions, and she gives him one of her rings as a gift when she bids him farewell.
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Torello travels to Acre, where the Crusader army falls prey to a plague. Because so many die, Saladin easily surrounds and captures the survivors. Torello, sent to Alexandria as a prisoner, is assigned to train hawks. He excels at his task, so Saladin frees him and appoints him falconer. Neither man recognizes the other. Torello, homesick, tries to escape; he also tries to send word of his imprisonment by giving a letter addressed to his uncle, the Abbot of San Pietro, to a Genoese emissary.
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One day, Saladin notices the way Torello smiles and recognizes his old host. Taking him to the royal wardrobe, he asks Torello if he recognizes anything, and Torello picks out the robes and jackets his wife gave to his onetime guests. When he realizes that this was Saladin himself, he is both delighted to have entertained such a guest and ashamed for his frugality. Saladin welcomes him warmly, dresses him in regal robes, and presents him to the Alexandrian nobility.
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Meanwhile, Adalieta believes that Torello has died, because on the day he was captured, another knight named Torello was buried, and camp gossip conflated the two men. After several months of mourning, her family begins to pressure her to remarry. They eventually wear her down (despite her tears), although she insists on waiting the agreed-upon period from Torello’s departure. About a week before it runs out, in Alexandria, Torello sees the man to whom he’d entrusted his letter. Learning that the voyage ended in disaster, he realizes that no one has heard from him in over a year. He falls into a deep despair on the suspicion that Adalieta must be about to remarry. When Saladin discovers the reason for this distress, he offers to get him home before the wedding.
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In one night, Saladin’s magician can send Torello, sleeping peacefully in a bed, back to Pavia. Although he understands Torello’s desire to return to Adalieta, Saladin mourns the loss of a friend with whom he would have shared his very kingdom. After dressing Torello in “Saracen”-style clothes and preparing a splendid bed—decorated with pearls and jewels in the opulent Eastern style—he tearfully says goodbye and begs Torello to come back to Alexandria if he ever can. Torello, also in tears, replies that he won’t ever forget Saladin’s “courteous deeds and sterling worth.” The magician gives Torello a sleeping potion and Saladin fills the bed with gifts of jewels, doubloons, and treasure.
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Torello and his bed are deposited magically in the church of San Pietro just before matins. Its sudden appearance surprises the sexton, who rushes to fetch the Abbot of San Pietro. As Torello stirs and wakes up, they are all frightened, especially when Torello calls his uncle by name—they think he’s a ghost. Eventually, the Abbot finds the courage to approach the bed, where he finds his living nephew. He tells Torello that, since everyone believes he’s dead, Adalieta’s wedding is happening this very day.
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After securing the treasure, Torello asks the Abbot of San Pietro to take him to the wedding feast as a guest so that he can observe Adalieta’s feelings. There, disguised in his eastern clothing, Torello sits across from her and observes her “troubled look.” He tells a servant that it’s customary in his country for the bride to welcome an honored guest like himself by sending him her own wine cup. The guest drinks what he wants, then sends it back with compliments, and she drinks the rest. With “her wonted tact and courtesy,” Adalieta sends her cup to him. He drinks almost all the wine and secretly drops in her ring. On seeing it in the cup, Adalieta recognizes the guest as Torello.
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Adalieta stands up so quickly she overturns the table, runs across the room pell-mell, flings herself on Torello and clings to him for dear life. Torello, promising to give her as many embraces as she wants later, convinces her to disentangle herself, and then narrates the story of his captivity and return. The embarrassed bridegroom gallantly relinquishes his claim on Adalieta. After celebrating, Torello sends news of his safe return to Saladin, and he lives happily with his lady for many more years.
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