It has been quite long since I read any classical literature. At the start of the last year, I had decided to spend the year reading Hindi Literature classics. While I did that for a couple of months, the reading shifted to other subjects. Now it is the start of another year. Keeping my tradition, I have created multiple reading projects and one of them is to read Penguin Little Black Classics. Little Black Classics is a series of short books published by Penguin. It is meant to be an introduction to the larger universe of Penguin Classics. The first one in the series is Giovanni Boccaccio’s Mrs Rosie and the Priest.

Mrs. Rosie and the Priest is a collection of four tales from Boccaccio’s Decameron. I had seen Decameron on the list of classics several times but was not familiar with it. Consequently, this was my first reading of Boccaccio. And what a read it is?

I was expecting classic literature. Given the title, maybe a soul searching story. In contrast, this book is a collection of bawdy tales with a lot of sexual innuendos. There are four tales in this collection.

In the first one, a beautiful woman from the pleasure trade robs a young man. The young man is lucky to have lost only his wealth and not his life. The remaining story is about the adventures that the man goes through the rest of the night. The second one is about a middle-aged judge who takes a young wife. And then loses her to a corsair because he wasn’t able to make her happy in the worldly ways.

The third tale is “Mrs Rosie and the Priest”. Consider this –

“When the men were off somewhere, he would come visiting their wives more solicitously than any priest they’d had before…”

This tale is about a priest who uses his wit to get his ways with Mrs Rosie Hues. I found this to be the most hilarious tale of the collection. Boccaccio presents the priest in an extremely irreverent manner. The conversations between Mrs Rosie and the Priest makes the escapades that the Priest plans as if it’s a daily occurrence. I wondered whether the clergy was offended by this portrayal. Then I found out that The Decameron was also burnt in the Bonfire of the Vanities in 1497.

The fourth and the final tale in this collection is about a count who takes a destitute girl as his wife and tests her for devotion and obedience. It’s a story of virtue, patience and wisdom. But Boccaccio won’t be Boccaccio, if after the tale is over he is not giving the below commentary –

“Perhaps it would have served him right if the woman he happened to pick had let another man shake her muff when she was driven from home in her shift, and that way got herself a decent dress.”

These tales are from the fourteenth century Italy. The tales take place in the well known cities of Italy, such as Palermo, Pisa and Florence. These show a glimpse of life during that period. The life of a trader, judge, village folk and of course a Priest. It feels that the tales are based on the observations of daily life in Italy’s cities and villages. The conversations, the situations, the flow of life, all seems natural.

If you are not easily offended by bawdy language, these tales are hilarious. Specially, the second and the third one. As for myself, Decameron goes into my reading list. I look forward to more Boccaccio.