Suddenly They Heard Footsteps by Dan Yashinsky

Author:Dan Yashinsky [Yashinsky, Dan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-36628-3
Publisher: Knopf Canada
Published: 2004-12-21T05:00:00+00:00

One of the stories told in Boccaccio’s Decameron features a similarly leaden-tongued raconteur:

[O]ne of the knights turned to her, and, perhaps because they were having to travel a long way, on foot, to the place they all desired to reach, he said, “Madonna Oretta, if you like I shall take you riding along a goodly stretch of our journey by telling you one of the finest tales in the world.”

“Sir,” replied the lady, “I beseech you most earnestly to do so, and I shall look upon it as a great favour.”

Whereupon this worthy knight, whose swordplay was doubtless on a par with his storytelling, began to recite his tale, which in itself was indeed excellent. But by constantly repeating the same phrases, and recapitulating sections of the plot, and every so often declaring that he had “made a mess of that bit,” and regularly confusing the names of the characters, he ruined it completely. Morever, his mode of delivery was totally out of keeping with the characters and the incidents he was describing, so that it was painful for Madonna Oretta to listen to him. She began to perspire freely, and her heart missed several beats, as though she had fallen ill and was about to give up the ghost. And in the end, when she could endure it no longer, having perceived that the knight had tied himself inextricably in knots, she said to him, in affable tones: “Sir, you have taken me riding on a horse that trots very jerkily. Pray be good enough to set me down.”

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.