I deem myself, honourable my ladies, that our
king should have given to me the precedence in a matter so arduous to
tell of as magnificence: for, as the sun irradiates all the heaven with
his glory and beauty, even so does magnificence enhance the purity and
the splendour of every other virtue. I shall therefore tell you a story,
which, to my thinking, is not a little pretty; and which, assuredly, it
must be profitable to call to mind.

You are to know, then, that, among other honourable knights that from
days of old even until now have dwelt in our city, one, and perchance the
worthiest of all, was Messer Ruggieri de' Figiovanni. Who, being wealthy
and magnanimous, reflecting on the customs and manner of life of Tuscany,
perceived that by tarrying there he was like to find little or no
occasion of shewing his mettle, and accordingly resolved to pass some
time at the court of Alfonso, King of Spain, who for the fame of his high
qualities was without a peer among the potentates of his age. So, being
well provided with arms and horses and retinue suitable to his rank, he
hied him to Spain, where he was graciously received by the King. There
tarrying accordingly, Messer Ruggieri very soon, as well by the splendid
style in which he lived as by the prodigious feats of arms that he did,
gave folk to know his high desert.

Now, having tarried there some while, and observed the King's ways with
much care, and how he would grant castles, cities, or baronies, to this,
that, or the other of his subjects, he deemed that the King shewed
therein but little judgment, seeing that he would give them to men that
merited them not. And for that nought was given to him, he, knowing his
merit, deemed himself gravely injured in reputation; wherefore he made up
his mind to depart the realm, and to that end craved license of the King;
which the King granted him, and therewith gave him one of the best and
finest mules that was ever ridden, a gift which Messer Ruggieri, as he
had a long journey to make, did not a little appreciate. The King then
bade one of his discreet domestics contrive, as best he might, to ride
with Messer Ruggieri on such wise that it might not appear that he did so
by the King's command, and charge his memory with whatever Messer
Ruggieri might say of him, so that he might be able to repeat it; which
done, he was on the very next morning to bid Ruggieri return to the King
forthwith. The King's agent was on the alert, and no