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Summary: All Ninth-Day Stories 

Under the rule of Emilia, the companions get up just before dawn and take a walk in the meadows to enjoy the cool air. This morning they observe several wild creatures, and the animals seem tame and fearless. The companions meet at the fountain for storytelling at the usual hour.

Emilia allows the storytellers to speak on any topics they choose. The first story, told by Filomena, is about a woman with two unwanted lovers who persuades one to pretend death and the other to dispose of the body, ridding herself of them both. The second story, told by Elissa, is about a young nun who is discovered with a lover. The other nuns alert the abbess, who has a priest in her bed. In her haste to get dressed, the abbess covers her hair with the priest’s drawers instead of her headdress. The young nun uses the abbess’s mistake to escape discipline. In the sixth story, told by Panfilo, two young men stay overnight at a cottage and sleep with the daughter and wife of the house, partly by mistake. The companions continue with stories about people and their problems. The final tale, told as usual by Dioneo, is a bawdy tale about a peddler who asks a priest to turn his wife into a mare.

Summary of Selected Story: Ninth Day, Ninth Story

Emilia presents her view that women must be subservient to men and offers her story as a lesson to teach that principle. She argues that women are weak, tender, compassionate, and benign, admirable qualities that make it necessary to submit to men’s will. Emilia mentions Pampinea’s story from the previous day, about the scholar’s revenge, to support her argument.

Emilia’s story is set in the Holy Land, during the reign of the wise King Solomon. Two young men, Melissus and Joseph, seek King Solomon’s advice. Melissus knows people don’t like him even though he is always entertaining them, and he wants to know what he must do to be loved. Joseph wants to know how he can get his perverse, stubborn wife to obey him. King Solomon answers the question of Melissus with a single command, “Love.” Solomon’s answer for Joseph is “Go to Goosebridge.” The two young men do not understand King Solomon’s answers, so they go home, feeling foolish.

On the way home, they halt at a bridge because traffic is backed up. They observe one of the muleteers beating his mule until at last the animal moves and unblocks the bridge. Joseph and Melissus discover that the place is called Goosebridge, so Joseph concludes that King Solomon’s advice is to beat his wife. When he gets home, Joseph beats his wife severely, and the next morning she cooks his breakfast just the way he likes it. Meanwhile, another wise man explains the meaning of Solomon’s advice to Melissus: You must love in order to be loved.

Summary: Conclusion of the Ninth Day

After the tenth story of the day, Emilia places the laurel crown on the head of Panfilo, who will be the last ruler. Panfilo decrees a topic for their last day: people who have performed liberal or munificent deeds. At the end of the evening, Neifile sings a love song in which she compares her love, and her lover, to a flower.

Analysis: Ninth Day

The ninth day continues the routine of daily life at the enchanted palace. The early-morning appearance of wild animals that act tame is an allusion to paradise. The freely roaming animals also echo the idea that the stories for the day will be free-ranging.

Emilia’s decision to open the stories to any topic broadens the scope of the ninth day. The new variety of stories allows the storytellers to express their opinions and tastes. Filomena’s story features a strong woman who makes the prudent choice to rid herself of men who trouble her. Elissa’s main character, the young nun, is another woman who is not afraid to speak her mind. The stories of the ninth day also cover a wider variety of themes. Filomena’s story illustrates the virtue of intelligence, which allows the woman to control her destiny without surrendering her honor or reputation. Elissa’s story exposes more hypocrisy among supposedly holy people. Panfilo’s story is about the power of love to make people foolish as well as about the folly of yielding to lust.

The freedom of topic also allows the storytellers to improvise and respond to the tales they have just heard. After Filomena features a woman who rejects two potential lovers, Elissa introduces two women who do not reject men. After Emilia’s moral lecture about women’s place—as well as her story, which praises a man for beating his wife—Dioneo produces an especially bawdy tale to lighten the mood and to counter Emilia’s tendency toward violence. Dioneo also gently mocks Emilia by adding a mare as a comment on the mules in Emilia’s story.

Emilia uses her turn at storytelling, as well her story itself, as an opportunity to preach her opinions to the others. She insists that men are the natural masters of women and have the right to assert their mastery, a view that also flatters her vanity. Emilia refers to a previous story by Pampinea to bolster her argument that men have the right to punish female rejection. She wants the others to associate her with Pampinea, the leader of the company. Emilia sets her story in the Holy Land and uses King Solomon, a wise ruler from the Bible, to add more weight to her argument.

Emilia’s story of Melissus and Joseph contrasts the two men, their approaches to women, and their methods for controlling them. In his attempt to attract love, Melissus gives people the entertainment they want, but when Joseph wants something from his wife, he simply demands it. Melissus compensates for his insecurity with generosity, while Joseph shows his insecurity over his inability to please his wife by becoming more of a bully. In Emilia’s extreme view, husbands have the right to domestic violence. However, her story also ends with the moral that you must love in order to be loved, an appeal to men’s better nature.

Panfilo’s assumption of the crown sets the stage for the end of the retreat. He chooses the topic of liberal and munificent deeds for love or other reasons, a topic that ensures that the chain of stories will end on a moral and positive note. Panfilo’s chosen singer, Neifile, addresses her lover as a flower, reminding the company of the beauty of the walled garden in which they are sitting as well as of the fragility of love. The charm of Neifile’s song counteracts the violence and lust of the last two stories of the ninth day, setting a purer tone for the tenth and last day.

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