Page:The Book of the Courtier.djvu/292

 THE SECOND BOOK OF THE COURTIER thought that all the laughter was for the friar and not for me; and so I went up and down the Banchi several times with this fury always at my back, although the friar with tears in his eyes begged me to let him dismount and not to shame his cloth in this way. Then the knave had eggs given him on the sly by some lackeys stationed there for the purpose, and pretending to hold me fast to keep from falling, he broke them over my breast, often over my head, and sometimes on my very brow, until I was com- pletely bedaubed. Finally, when everyone was weary both of laughing and of throwing eggs, he jumped off my crupper, and pushing back his cowl showed me his long hair, and said : ' Mes- ser Bernardo, I am one of the grooms at San Pietro ad Vincula, and it is I who take care of your little mule.' " I know not which was then greatest, my grief, my anger, or my shame. However, as the least of evils, I set out fast for home, and dared not make an appearance the next morning; but the laughter raised by this trick lasted not only the next day, but nearly until now." 88.— And so, after they had again laughed awhile at the story, messer Bernardo continued: " There is another very amusing kind of practical joke, which gives opportunity for pleasantry as well, when we pretend to ^think that a man wishes to do something which in fact he does not wish to do. For instance, one evening after supper, when I was on the bridge at Lyons and jesting with Cesare Beccadello '" as we walked along, we began to seize each other by the arm as if we were bent on wrestling, for by chance no one else ap- peared on the bridge at the time. While we were standing thus, two Frenchmen came up, and on seeing our dispute they asked what the matter was, and stopped to try to separate us, thinking that we were quarrelling in earnest. Then I said quickly: ' Help me, Sirs, for this poor gentleman loses his reason at certain changes of the moon, and you see he is now trying to throw him- self off the bridge into the water.' Thereupon these two men ran, and with my aid seized Cesare and held him very tight; and he, telling me all the while that I was mad, tried harder to free himself from their hands, and they held him all the tighter. Thus the passers-by gathered to look at the disturbance, and i6o