[063]
Albeit the Soldan had heard and understood all that had passed,
yet he did not as yet apprehend the object for which Sicurano had
pursued the investigation. Wherefore Sicurano thus addressed him:
[064]
"My lord, what cause this good lady has to boast of her lover and
her husband you have now abundant means of judging; seeing that
the lover at one and the same time despoils her of her honour,
blasting her fair fame with slanderous accusations, and ruins her
husband; who, more prompt to trust the falsehood of another than
the verity of which his own long experience should have assured
him, devotes her to death and the devouring wolves; and, moreover,
such is the regard, such the love which both bear her that, though
both tarry a long time with her, neither recognises her.
[065]
However,
that you may know full well what chastisements they have severally
deserved, I will now cause her to appear in your presence and theirs,
provided you, of your especial grace, be pleased to punish the deceiver
and pardon the deceived."
[066]
The Soldan, being minded in this matter
to defer entirely to Sicurano, answered that he was well content,
and bade produce the lady. Bernabò, who had firmly believed that
she was dead, was lost in wonder; likewise Ambrogiuolo, who now
divined his evil plight, and dreading something worse than the
disbursement of money, knew not whether to expect the lady's advent
with fear or with hope. His suspense was not of long duration;
[067]
for,
as soon as the Soldan signified his assent, Sicurano, weeping, threw
herself on her knees at his feet, and discarding the tones, as she
would fain have divested herself of the outward semblance, of a man,
said:
[068]
."My lord, that forlorn, hapless Zinevra am I, falsely and
foully slandered by this traitor Ambrogiuolo, and by my cruel
and unjust husband delivered over to his servant to slaughter and
cast out as a prey to the wolves; for which cause I have now for
six years been a wanderer on the face of the earth in the guise of
a man."
[069]
Then rending her robes in front and baring her breast, she
made it manifest to the Soldan and all others who were present,
that she was indeed a woman; then turning to Ambrogiuolo she
haughtily challenged him to say when she had ever lain with him,
as he had boasted. Ambrogiuolo said never a word, for he now
recognised her, and it was as if shame had reft from him the power
of speech.
[070]
The Soldan, who had never doubted that Sicurano was
a man, was so wonder-struck by what he saw and heard that at
times he thought it must be all a dream. But, as wonder gave
place to conviction of the truth, he extolled in the amplest terms the
constancy and virtue and seemliness with which Zinevra, erstwhile
Sicurano, had ordered her life.
[071]
He then directed that she should
be most nobly arrayed in the garb of her sex and surrounded by a
bevy of ladies. Mindful of her intercession, he granted to Bernabò
the life which he had forfeited; and she, when Bernabò threw
himself at her feet and wept and craved her pardon, raised him,
unworthy though he was, to his feet and generously forgave him,
and tenderly embraced him as her husband. [072]Ambrogiuolo the
Soldan commanded to be bound to a stake, that his bare flesh,
anointed with honey, might be exposed to the sun on one of the
heights of the city, there to remain until it should fall to pieces
of its own accord: and so 'twas done.
[073]
He then decreed that the
lady should have the traitor's estate, which was worth not less but
rather more than ten thousand doubloons; whereto he added, in
jewels and vessels of gold and silver and in money, the equivalent
of upwards of other ten thousand doubloons, having first entertained
her and her husband with most magnificent and ceremonious cheer,
accordant with the lady's worth.
[074]
Which done, he placed a ship at
their disposal, and gave them leave to return to Genoa at their
pleasure. So to Genoa they returned very rich and happy, and
were received with all honour, especially Madam Zinevra, whom
all the citizens had believed to be dead, and whom thenceforth, so
long as she lived, they held of great consequence and excellency.
[075]
As for Ambrogiuolo, the very same day that he was bound to the
stake, the honey with which his body was anointed attracted such
swarms of flies, wasps and gadflies, wherewith that country abounds,
that not only was his life sucked from him but his very bones were
completely denuded of flesh; in which state, hanging by the sinews,
they remained a long time undisturbed, for a sign and a testimony
of his baseness to all that passed by. And so the deceived had the
better of the deceiver.
