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Summary: All Second-Day Stories 

On the second day, Filomena is the queen. The day’s stories are about people who suffer misfortune but then unexpectedly find happiness. Neifile tells the first story, about a man who fakes a miracle cure but escapes punishment because his landlord happens to know the prince. Filostrato and the others follow with similar tales about the twists and turns of fate.

Summary of Selected Story: Second Day, Eighth Story

Elissa tells the story of Gualtieri, the Count of Antwerp. Gualtieri is a noble, intelligent man. He is so trustworthy that when the King of France goes off to war, he puts Gualtieri in charge of his kingdom. Gualtieri performs his royal duties faithfully.

The wife of the king’s son falls in love with Gualtieri. She invites him to her room, declares her love, throws her arms around his neck, and begins kissing him. Gualtieri rebukes her for this display of unseemly passion. After this rejection, the lady accuses him of attacking her. Gualtieri flees the country with his two small children, going first to Calais and then to England.

Gualtieri gives his children new names, Perotto and Giannetta. In London, a rich lady sees them begging and adopts Giannetta. Gualtieri travels on to Wales, where he places Perotto in the household of one of the king’s marshals. With his children safely settled, Gualtieri goes to Ireland and finds service with a rural baron. He works anonymously at a menial job for many years.

Eighteen years later, Gualtieri returns to England from Ireland. He is still poor, but to his delight, he finds his children thriving. Giannetta is married to her benefactor’s son Giachetto, and they have several children. Perotto is now a king’s marshal, appointed after his master died in a plague. Without revealing who he is, Gualtieri plays with Giannetta’s children. The children love this stranger so much that Giannetta and her husband hire Gualtieri to help look after the children and horses.

The King of France dies. His son, the new king, gets military aid from the King of England. Perotto goes to France as a king’s marshal. Giachetto, Giannetta’s husband, is Perotto’s second in command. Gualtieri serves anonymously as a groom. The new queen falls ill. Just before her death, she confesses to lying about Gualtieri’s attack twenty years before. The King of France then offers a reward for finding the Count of Antwerp. Gualtieri reveals himself to his Perotto and Giachetto. The King of France restores Gualtieri’s riches, along with all the honors due to the Count of Antwerp. Giannetta, her children, and Giachetto’s parents join Gualtieri and Perotto in Paris and celebrate the reunion of their family.

Summary: Conclusion of the Second Day

After the final story ends, Queen Filomena hands the crown over to Neifile, who suggests that they take a two-day break from storytelling to catch up on domestic tasks and move to a new location. Neifile announces that the next stories will be about people who by their own efforts achieve an object greatly desired or recover something lost. After some music and dancing, Neifile asks Pampinea to sing. Pampinea’s song praises love, especially the feeling of burning with desire.

Analysis: Second Day

On the second day, the stories are about misfortune and fortune—and the unpredictable nature of both. As always, the reality of the plague provides a dark undercurrent, a reminder that everyone is at the mercy of fate. By decree, the stories all have happy endings, but these turns of good fortune are as unpredictable as the previous turns of misfortune. For example, an unpredictable twist in Neifile’s story is that the main character’s landlord happens to know the prince.

The eighth story, told by Elissa, is about Gualtieri, the Count of Antwerp, and his noble behavior under misfortune. Gualtieri displays numerous honorable traits. He shows loyalty to his master, the King of France, by refusing the advances of the king’s daughter-in-law. He shows love and care for his children by taking them with him into exile and arranging good homes for them. He shows patience and humility by working for years as a servant. Finally, Gualtieri shows fidelity as a father when he returns from Ireland for an anonymous visit to his children and grandchildren. Gualtieri’s behavior is in marked contrast to the real-life parents back in Florence who deserted their children during the plague.

Fortune dictates the events that happen to the characters in the second day’s stories. Elissa gives Giannetta the good fortune of being adopted by people who treat her as a daughter, leading to her marriage to their son Giachetto. Perotto owes his good fortune to the misfortune of others. His master dies in a great plague, along with his wife, children, and relatives, creating an unexpected opportunity for Perotto, the new marshal. A series of chance events places Perotto, Giachetto, and Gualtieri in Paris when Gualtieri’s original accuser finally changes her story and reverses his fortunes. Gualtieri is a noble knight, and Elissa, the storyteller, makes sure that Fortune favors him in the end.

The story of Gualtieri, Count of Antwerp, touches on several general themes of The Decameron. The story examines the power of carnal love in the passionate emotions and unjust accusations of the king’s daughter-in-law, which lead to Gualtieri’s great misfortunes. Gualtieri and Giachetto’s parents exemplify parental love, which is passed on to the next generation, the children of Giannetta and Giachetto. Gualtieri barely escapes with his life after the false accusation against him. Perotto, his son, barely escapes death when the plague hits Wales. The sudden death of the new queen and the deathbed withdrawal of her charges against Gualtieri are also reminders of Fortune’s unpredictable turns.

Neifile’s proposal to break for two days and move the group’s location also provides a pause in which the reader can review and evaluate the stories. The storytellers of the second day vary in their interpretation of the assigned theme. In Neifile’s tale, pure chance decides the outcome, while in Elissa’s tale, the hand of the storyteller is much more apparent.

Pampinea’s song contains hints about the singer and comments on the content of the day’s stories. Pampinea sings about burning with desire, a clue that the singer is experienced in matters of love. Her ardent feelings also express empathy with story characters who burn with love, such as the rejected woman in the story of Gualtieri, the noble Count of Antwerp.

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