This collection of a hundred brief tales was gathered in Tuscany in the late thirteenth century, before Boccaccio. Kings, philosophers, jongleurs and knights trade judgments and witty replies: Prester John tests the Emperor Frederick, a captive Greek sage judges a horse, King David counts his people, and a physician’s pupil tries eating egg-plant for nine days.
Edward Storer’s translation, with an introduction, of a founding book of Italian prose storytelling. Download the free EPUB.