o I thrust
my hand into my purse and paid them all to their full satisfaction.

That evil fellow, my mortal foe, Messer Pier Francesco Ricci,
major-domo of the Duke, took great pains to find out how the affair
had gone. In answer to his questions, the two men whom I suspected of
having caked my metal for me said I was no man, but of a certainty
some powerful devil, since I had accomplished what no craft of the art
could do; indeed, they did not believe a mere ordinary fiend could
work such miracles as I in other ways had shown. They exaggerated the
whole affair so much, possibly in order to excuse their own part in
it, that the major-domo wrote an account to the Duke, who was then in
Pisa, far more marvelous and full of thrilling incidents than what
they had narrated.

After I had let my statue cool for two whole days, I began to uncover
it by slow degrees. The first thing I found was that the head of
Medusa had come out most admirably, thanks to the air-vents; for as I
had told the Duke, it is the nature of fire to ascend. Upon advancing
farther, I discovered that the other head, that, namely, of Perseus,
had succeeded no less admirably; and this astonished me far more,
because it is at a considerably lower level than that of the Medusa.
Now the mouths of the mold were placed above the head of Perseus and
behind his shoulders; and I found that all the bronze my furnace
contained had been exhausted in the head of this figure. It was a
miracle to observe that not one fragment remained in the orifice of
the channel, and that nothing was wanting to the statue. In my great
astonishment I seemed to see in this the hand of God arranging and
controlling all.

I went on uncovering the statue with success, and ascertained that
everything had come out in perfect order, until I reached the foot of
the right leg on which the statue rests. There the heel itself was
formed, and going further, I found the foot apparently complete. This
gave me great joy on the one side, but was half unwelcome to me on the
other, merely because I had told the Duke that it could not come out.
However, when I reached the end, it appeared that the toes and a
little piece above them were unfinished, so that about half the foot
was wanting. Although I knew that this would add a trifle to my labor,
I was very well pleased, because I could now prove to the Duke how
well I understood my business. It is true that far more of the foot
than I expected had bee