Do you know the Decameron? Published between 1349 and 1353, it is a collection of one hundred short stories, written by the Florentine author Giovanni Boccaccio , known as Boccace.

Illuminated manuscript illustrating the fourth tale of the sixth day of Boccaccio's Decameron, translated by Laurent de Premierfait. From a parchment of 395 folios, bound in green morocco leather, with the arms of Paulmy. 15th century,

Origin: National Library of France, Arsenal Library, shelf mark Ms-5070 (digital version here)

The Cook and the Crane

Boccaccio, Decameron , Sixth Day, Novel IV

At the heart of Boccaccio 's Decameron , each day follows a chosen theme. The sixth day celebrates wit, repartee, and quick thinking—traits that allow one to avoid danger or extricate oneself from difficult situations through the power of words.
The story of the cook and the crane is one of the tastiest examples.

The story: when a lie becomes a mind

The wealthy Florentine citizen, Messire Conrard, captures a crane while hunting and orders his Venetian cook, Quinquibio , to prepare it for him. While the bird roasts, a neighbor, Brunette , with whom the cook is in love, demands a leg. He gives in and offers it to her.
When the crane is served, Conrard is surprised to see only one leg. Taken aback, Quinquibio confidently asserts that cranes only have one leg. The master, furious, decides to check the next day.
By a stream, they discover cranes asleep on one foot. The cook is triumphant, until Conrard frightens them by shouting: "Hou! hou! hou!", thus revealing their other leg.
Then Quinquibio replied:

“But, sir, you didn’t shout ‘Hou! hou! hou!’ at the one last night.”
This quick and ingenious reply makes Conrard laugh, and he immediately forgives him.

Speech as an art of living

Beneath the apparent lightness of the anecdote, Boccaccio unfolds a profound reflection on speech.

In a world where hierarchy imposes silence, Language becomes a space of freedom. Quinquibio is neither learned nor courageous: he is simply clever. His initial foolishness is transformed into victory thanks to his wit.
The word, here, is worth more than truth, and intelligence, in this story, is not that of knowledge but that of quick thinking, of a sense of the situation. Boccaccio makes it a human virtue, light and saving.

This news, like many others from Decameron proves that laughter is not just a simple form of entertainment, but that it is also a mode of wisdom.

NEW STORY IV - THE COOK

Text taken from Sabatier de Castres' translation, Boccaccio's Tales, p. 458 👈

"Madame Laurette had stopped speaking, and the whole company had applauded Madame Nonne's repartee, when the Queen ordered Madame Néiphile to tell her story. 'Although witty remarks,' this lady immediately said, 'are the product of a lively imagination, chance sometimes provides them to simple-minded people who would never have found them had they had the leisure to search for them for a long time. I will give you one example in the following story.'"

You may have heard or even seen for yourselves that Sir Conrard, a citizen of Florence, was always a man of great expense, liberal, magnificent, and very fond of dogs and birds, not to mention his other tastes. One day, while falconry, he caught a crane near a village called Perctola. Finding it young and plump, he ordered it to be given to his cook to be roasted and served at his supper. Note that this cook, a Venetian by birth, named Quinquibio, was a complete fool. He took the crane and roasted it as best he could. It was about to be cooked and giving off a wonderful aroma when a woman from the neighborhood, named Brunette, with whom Quinquibio was in love, entered the kitchen. The pleasant smoke rising from the bird, freshly taken from the spit, made the woman crave a taste, and she immediately begged the cook for a leg. He mocked her, singing, "You won't have it, Lady Brunette, you won't have it from me." "If you don't give it to me," replied the woman, "I swear you'll never have anything from me again." After much back and forth, Quinquibio, not wanting to displease his mistress, cut off the leg and gave it to her. That day, a large company was gathered for supper at the house. The crane was served with only one leg. One of the guests, the first to notice, expressed his astonishment, and Sir Conrard summoned the cook, asking him what had become of the other leg. The Venetian, a natural liar, brazenly replied that cranes had only one leg and one thigh. "Do you think I've never seen any other cranes than this one?" "What I'm telling you, sir, is absolutely true; and if you still doubt it, I'll gladly prove it to you with those that are still alive." Everyone burst out laughing at this reply, but Conrard, not wanting to make a fuss over the strangers at his table, simply replied to the oaf: "Since you're so sure you can show me, you scoundrel, what I've never seen or heard of, we'll see tomorrow if you keep your word; but, by Jove, if you don't, I assure you that you'll remember your stupidity and obstinacy for a long time; let's drop the matter now: leave." The next day, Sir Conrard, whom sleep had not calmed, rose at daybreak, his heart filled with resentment against his cook. He mounted his horse, made him climb onto another to follow him, and rode toward a stream, on the banks of which cranes were always seen at dawn. "We shall see," he said to him from time to time, in a spiteful tone, "we shall see which of us is right." The Venetian, seeing that his master had not recovered from the initial outburst of his anger, and that he was about to be put in his place, did not know how to exonerate himself. He would gladly have fled had he dared, so terrified was he by the gentleman's threats. But how could he, being less than well-mounted, look around, believing that all the objects he saw were so many cranes standing on two legs. Having arrived quite close to the stream, he was the first to see a dozen of them, all resting on one foot, as they usually do when they sleep. He immediately pointed them out to his master, saying, “See, sir, if what I told you last night isn’t true: look at these cranes, and see if they have more than one leg and one thigh.” “I’ll show you they have two,” replied Sir Conrard; “just wait a bit.” And having approached, he began to shout: “Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!” At this noise, the cranes awoke, lowered their other foot, and then took flight. “Well, you rascal,” said the gentleman then, “do cranes have two feet? What will you say now?” “But, sir,” replied Quinquibio, who no longer knew what to say, “you didn’t shout: Hoo! Hoo! Hoo! at the one last night; "For if you had done that, she would have put her other foot down, like these." This ingenuous reply pleased Sir Conrard so much that it disarmed his anger; and unable to stop himself laughing, he said to him, "You're right, Quinquibio, I really should have done what you say: go, I forgive you; but don't do it again."

And so, with a perfectly witty retort, the cook avoided punishment and made peace with his master.

The Decameron: A book to keep you alive

When Boccaccio (1313-1375) wrote the Decameron (1349-1351), he marked the entry of a new genre into European vernacular literature: the prose novella. For even though stories were present in religious literature (in Latin or in the vernacular), they previously only had an illustrative role.

In 1348, the Black Death ravaged Florence, carrying off families, children, entire cities. In this world paralyzed by death, Boccaccio chose to give voice to stories, to tell them.

The setting: Florence, 1348, fleeing death, inventing a refuge

Florence, 1348. The Black Death is raging. Ten young Florentines—seven women and three men—meet by chance in the Church of Santa Maria Novella and decide to leave the plague-stricken city. This brigade retreats to a villa in the countryside, surrounded by gardens, sunlit hills, and unspoiled nature. They establish a ritual: each person must tell a story daily, illustrating the theme chosen by the king or queen of the day.

Ten narrators, ten days, one hundred stories. Thus was born the Decameron , whose title comes from ancient Greek and means "ten days".

One hundred stories to tell the story of humanity

The stories in the Decameron offer a broad overview of the human condition. They include tales of passionate love, arranged marriages, and tantalizing deceptions, but also narratives of fidelity, sacrifice, and suffering. Boccaccio observes the society of his time with lucidity, sometimes with tenderness, and often with irony.

Love is alternately exalted, mocked, or shattered. Cunning often triumphs over strength, and women, far from being passive, appear as intelligent figures, sometimes even in control. Religion is present, but viewed without bias: sincere faith exists alongside the hypocrisy of the clergy. Boccaccio does not moralize. He shows, he leaves it to the reader to judge.

A free and foundational work

With the Decameron , Boccaccio chose to write in Italian, the language of the people, rather than in Latin. This bold choice makes his work one of the cornerstones of Italian literature, alongside Dante and Petrarch. Through its fluid style, realism, humor, and freedom of expression, the Decameron paved the way for modern literature.

Its influence radiated far beyond the Alps. Chaucer drew inspiration from it for his Canterbury Tales , Molière and La Fontaine borrowed plots and characters from it, and Shakespeare incorporated some of its stories. The Decameron became a wellspring of imagination for centuries to come.

Speaking out against silence

At the heart of this work, a single desire persists: to tell stories in order to remain alive. Boccaccio intimately reminds us, through literature and the invention of stories, of the resilience of the spirit in the face of death.

Laughter, love, wit and words are all tools that help us to remain standing in the face of fear and allow us, not to forget death, but to refuse it the last word.