Te la dico a te sola,
Qui nessun ci puo'l sentire
Una cosa ti vuo dire;
Se la senti la stemperona,
L'a un voce da buffona
Tiene in mano la corona. {103}
Per fare credere a questo o quella,
Che l'e sempre una verginella.'

"'Hear, O lovely maid, a word,
Only to thyself I'd bear it,
For it must not be o'erheard,
Least of all should the preacher hear it.
'Tis that, while seeming pious, she,
Holding in hand a rosary,
Her talk is all hypocrisy,
To make believe to simple ears,
That still the maiden wreath she wears.'

"Then another voice answered:

"'La risposta ti vuo dare,
Senza farti aspettare;
Ora di un bell' affare,
Te la voglio raccontare,
Quella donna che sta a cantare,
E una Strega di queste contrade,
Che va da questo e quello,
A cantarle indovinello,
A chi racconta: Voi siete
Buona donna affezionata.
Al vostro marito, ma non sapete,
Cie' di voi un 'altra appasionata.'

"'Friends, you'll not have long to wait
For what I'm going to relate;
And it is a pretty story
Which I am going to lay before ye.
That dame who singing there you see
Is a witch of this our Tuscany,
Who up and down the city flies,
Deceiving people with her lies,
Saying to one: The truth to tell,
I know you love your husband well;
But you will find, on close inspection,
Another has his fond affection.'

"In short, the imp, by changing his voice artfully, and singing his
ribald songs everywhere, managed in the end to persuade people that the
fairy was no better than she should be, and a common mischief-maker and
disturber of domestic peace. So the husbands, becoming jealous, began to
quarrel with their wives, and then to swear at the witch who led them
astray or put false suspicion into their minds.

"But it happened that the fairy was in high favour with a great saint,
and going to him, she told all her troubles and the wicked things which
were said of her, and besought him to free her good name from the
slanders which the imp of darkness had spread abroad (_l'aveva
chalugnato_).

"Then the saint, very angry, changed the devil into a bronze figure
(_mascherone_, an architectural ornament), but first compelled him to go
about to all who had been influenced by his slanders, and undo the
mischief which he had made, and finally to make a full confession in
public of every