Page:Peregrinaggio di tre giovani figliuoli del re di Serendippo.djvu/97

 And you will grease their heads with butter because they like this a lot and as they sense its smell, they will continue to climb hoping that the butter will be close by. So, one may hope that at least one out of a great number of these will be able to climb up here. If it pleases God that this will happen, I am sure that in a few hours I will escape alive. And bring together with the thin silk also a thick chord which you tie to the thin ones and which I will pull up, and to which then a thin chord is tied. And after the thick chord has been pulled up, I will tie it on top of the tower to a pulley. Bring all these things with you under cover from the city and with these I will certainly free myself from the danger of death.”

After the sorrowful woman heard these words she was comforted somewhat and rushed immediately to the city. In a few hours she was back at the tower with all what her husband had asked for. And after having carried out what he asked her to do, it happened that in a very short time he could pull the thick cord and the pulley to the top of the tower. And he secured the pulley to a heavy beam that was there and in the early hours of the night he sent one end of the chord to his wife below and ordered her to tie it to her waist. He did this because she did not have the strength to be able to support him if she just held the end of the rope in her hands. With her body as a counterweight he would slowly lower himself. And as soon as he had reached the ground, he would slowly send her down with the same end of the rope to which he had tied himself.