Novella about a pot with basil

The novel is told by Philomena on the 4th day, whose theme of the stories was chosen unhappy love. This is the 5th short story of the day.

The main character is Isabella (her name is Isabet in the correct Russian translation; in the original she is Isabetta and Lisabetta ) from Messina , a representative of a family of wealthy merchants, children of a man from the Tuscan city of San Gimignano (famous for his wool trade ^[1] ).

She begins an affair with a certain Lorenzo, who worked for her brothers and lived in their house. One night, one of the brothers sees Isabella going to the young man's room. To hide her sister's sin, her three brothers secretly conspire, kill Lorenzo and bury his corpse. They say to those around that they sent him somewhere out of town with an assignment. Lorenzo is Isabella in a dream and indicates where he is buried. Secretly digging his head, she puts it in a pot, where she plantes the Salerno basil and daily cries for a long time over it. The brothers take the pot from Isabella, after which she soon dies of grief. Assassins escaping from the city to Naples.

One of the most popular short stories of the Decameron.

History does not have an exact source, although the theme of the phenomenon of the ghost of a lover is found in Apuleius ' Metamorphoses (8.8; 9.13) ^[1] .

This is partly a fiction of a folk song, which the author cites in an excerpt in the text: “Something was evil for unchrist, / That my flower was stolen, etc.” (Qual esso fu lo malo cristiano / che mi furò la mìa grasta) - this text Songs of the XIV century are preserved and published ^[2] . This Sicilian folk song in a Neapolitan dialect is quoted extenso from the manuscript MS.Laurent.38, plut.42 in the publication "Decameron" (published by Fanfani, Florence, 1857) ^[3] . In general, it has been preserved in several versions, however, none of these versions, unlike the short story, explains why the heroine even cries over a pot of basil. The song uses a play on words: the heroine cries about a man who stole her pot of basil (ie virginity) ^[1] .

Like other short stories of the 4th day of the Decameron, dedicated to unhappy love, she describes violence directly directed only at men, but in which a woman becomes a secondary victim (dying from love, etc. - but all from natural causes or from own hand). Moreover, until the 4th day, women in the Decameron did not die at all ^{[4] [5]} . As in other short stories of the book, Isabella’s sin, terrible in the eyes of her brothers, is not at all condemned by the author and narrator, who considers this “sin” a woman’s natural right ^[6] .

In this story, the basil plant becomes a symbol of love ^[7] . It is curious that the Salern basil mentioned by Boccaccio is not famous for anything, commentators suggest that perhaps the author confused it with Benevento , which was really famous for its strong aroma ^[1] .

• Served as the source ^[8] of John Keats ' poem Isabella, or The Pot of Basil (1818, Isabella, or the Pot of Basil ), which inspired many British authors of other genres ^[9] . Keats's poem has some discrepancies with Boccaccio's text ^[10] , for example, he introduced a dog and moved the scene to Florence.

(...) She brought her home secretly
And each eyelash straightened
Around the tombs of the eyes, and a sticky lump
Combing his hair, pouring
Letting your tears like ice
Spring waters giving him a wash.
So over the head of the beloved she
Everything was crying, sighing in the dark.

Then satin carefully covered,
Soaked in sweet dew
Colors of the East; new grave
Now found. - The pot is simple
Flower laying, powdered
She is her treasure land
And planted a basil on it,
And irrigated the eyes with moisture. (...)
(Translated by Sergey Sukharev) ^[11]

• In the arrangement, Keats was very popular with the Pre-Raphaelites , who wrote many paintings on this plot ^[9] , including:
  • John Millet , Isabella (1849)
  • William Hunt , “ Isabella and the Pot of Basil ” (1856)
• Frank Bridge , symphonic poem "Isabella, or the Pot of Basil" (1907)
• The tale of Hans Christian Andersen's "Elf of the Rose Bush" tells a very similar story, but with the addition of a flower elf and retaliation to the plot.
• It was among the short stories selected by Pazolini for the film adaptation in his Decameron . However, in the film, the plot has a more optimistic ending ^[12] .

• Original italian text
• English text of Keats's poem

• Tommaso Cannizzaro. Il lamento di Lisabetta da Messina e la leggenda del Vaso di Basilico nella nov. V. giornata IV del Decameron: indagini. 1902
• Elena Valori. Il vaso di basilico e la novella di Lisabetta da Messina: Keats e Boccaccio. 1909