r and altogether to submit himself to comply with
the lady's wishes, so but he might be certified that it was not a
trick to try him, and accordingly answered, 'Harkye, Lusca; all that
thou sayst to me I allow to be true; but, on the other hand, I know my
lord for very discreet and well-advised, and as he committeth all his
affairs to my hands, I am sore adread lest Lydia, with his counsel and
by his wish, do this to try me; wherefore, an it please her for mine
assurance do three things that I shall ask, she shall for certain
thereafterward command me nought but I will do it forthright. And the
three things I desire are these: first, that in Nicostratus his
presence she slay his good hawk; secondly, that she send me a lock of
her husband's beard and lastly, one of his best teeth.' These
conditions seemed hard unto Lusca and to the lady harder yet;
however, Love, who is an excellent comforter[354] and a past master in
shifts and devices, made her resolve to do his pleasure and
accordingly she sent him word by her chamberwoman that she would
punctually do what he required and that quickly, and that over and
above this, for that he deemed Nicostratus so well-advised, she would
solace herself with him in her husband's presence and make the latter
believe that it was not true.

[Footnote 354: Syn. encourager, helper, auxiliary (_confortatore_).]

Pyrrhus, accordingly, began to await what the lady should do, and
Nicostratus having, a few days after, made, as he oftentimes used to
do, a great dinner to certain gentlemen, Madam Lydia, whenas the
tables were cleared away, came forth of her chamber, clad in green
samite and richly bedecked, and entered the saloon where the guests
were. There, in the sight of Pyrrhus and of all the rest, she went up
to the perch, whereon was the hawk that Nicostratus held so dear, and
cast it loose, as she would set it on her hand; then, taking it by the
jesses, she dashed it against the wall and killed it; whereupon
Nicostratus cried out at her, saying, 'Alack, wife, what hast thou
done?' She answered him nothing, but, turning to the gentlemen who had
eaten with him, she said to them, 'Gentlemen, I should ill know how to
avenge myself on a king who did me a despite, an I dared not take my
wreak of a hawk. You must know that this bird hath long robbed me of
all the time which should of men be accorded to the pleasuring of the
ladies; for that no sooner is the day risen than Nicostratus is up and