Page:Matteo Bandello - twelve stories (IA cu31924102029083).pdf/83



OST affable ladies, and you, courteous gentlemen, I would that our friend Messer Andrea da Melzi had not been obliged to leave after dinner, so that he himself could have told you what now I am about to relate, for he is as fine a speaker as any in Milan, full of witty sayings, and he knows the tale in question far better than I do. But in his absence, if you would like to hear about the tricks sometimes played upon miserly priests, I will endeavour to content you.

Not many years ago, in the village of Magenta, there lived a certain Don Pietro, who was the parish priest. He was an elderly man and unspeakably avaricious. Though he had a good stipend, and, besides this, got a living by the daily alms and offerings made for the dead, he was always afraid that he would die of hunger. 55