Mrs Rosie and the Priest by Giovanni Boccaccio

Mrs Rosie and the Priest Reviews

• 
  Marpapad

  Unfortunately, the rest of the short stories were not as good as the first one. Especially, the last one was about a husband who tested the patience of his wife in a very sadistic way and I can admit that it was quite infuriating.
• 
  Leonard Gaya

  This booklet, № 01 in the Little Black Classics collection, includes four short stories —out of more than a hundred— from the
  Decameron (possibly a significant inspiration to Chaucer’s
  Canterbury Tales). These are primarily morality tales about swindle, dupery, even cruelty, where sex, used mostly for bartering, plays a central part. In many ways, these stories reminded me of the style and ribald subject of Medieval literature, especially in the
  One Thousand and One Nights, the
  Roman de la Rose, as well as later Spanish picaresque novels.
  
  Some of the sexual metaphors are particularly charming. For instance, a slutty young woman rebuffs her old impotent husband saying: “Squeeze you till you squeaked, and you still wouldn’t produce a spoonful of sauce”. Or a priest boasts to a pretty village girl: “I tell you, we do a much, much better job (than other men). And do you know why? It’s because we let the pond fill up before the mill starts grinding.”
  
  Very informative… Read this like you’d drink a glass of prosecco.
• 
  Sean Barrs

  This is the first in the series of Penguin’s Little Black classics, and is an amusing opener to the collection.
  
  There are four stories in here. Mrs Rosie and the Priest is by far the best. The plot is very simple: the priest wants to have his way with Rosie so he gives her his cloak as payment for her bedding him. Except afterwards he realises he wants the cloak back.
  
  “You’re not doing anything to me,” said the Priest, “but you don’t let me do what I’d like to you, which is love my neighbour as god commanded.”
  
  
  
  These short tales come from The Decameron, which is a Florentine collection of tales featuring lovers and intellectual women of a seductive nature. I did enjoy this sample of the stories, but not enough to procure a copy of the full work. It is not to my personal taste, however, I do recommend this to those that enjoy tales about lust filled flings, and those that enjoy Renaissance literature as a rule.
  
  Penguin Little Black Classic- O1
  
  
  
  The Little Black Classic Collection by penguin looks like it contains lots of hidden gems. I couldn’t help it; they looked so good that I went and bought them all. I shall post a short review after reading each one. No doubt it will take me several months to get through all of them! Hopefully I will find some classic authors, from across the ages, that I may not have come across had I not bought this collection.
  
  
• 
  Darwin8u

  "Wrongs of long ago are more easily criticized than put right."
  - Boccaccio
  
  
  
  Vol 1 of my Penguin
  Little Black Classics Box Set. I've read theses stories before (2014), but it was nice to revisit the cheeky stories from the mid 14th century. For more on Boccaccio's Decameron, go
  here.
  
  This book contains the following 4 stories from the Decameron:
  1. Andreuccio's da Perugia's Neopolitan Adventures (Day 2, Story 5; tale 15)
  2. Ricciardo da Chinzica loses his wife (Day 2, Story 10; tale 20)
  3. Mrs Rosie and the Priest (Day 8, Story 2; tale 72)
  4. Patient Griselda (Day 10, Story 10; tale 100)
• 
  Lucinda Garza

  Boccaccio escribió esto en el siglo XIV. Pero su frescura y picardía siguen vigentes, sigue entreteniendo con estas historias subidas de tono con personajes ridículos de morales dudosas.
  
  Es como leer chismes exageradísimos de hace cientos de años. Tengo que hacerle lugar al Decamerón completo en mis futuras lecturas.
• 
  Melora

  Bite-sized Boccaccio! Volume 1 of Penguin's Little Black Classics gets the series off to a lively start. Four short stories, all featuring a “battle between the sexes.” The first three are cheerfully, shamelessly bawdy, but in a good-natured way. The young man who leaves home in the first story for his first business trip is taken advantage of by a crafty lady, but education has always been a costly process, and he breaks even in the end. The husband in the second story, a judge who fails to account for his … limitations when choosing a wife, also learns a tough lesson, but in his case we feel that he was old enough that he should have known better. The third story, “Mrs. Rosie and the Priest,” seems to end in a draw, with the priest getting what he wants, but, then, it seems that Mrs. Rosie does too, and the duped husband gets what he, perhaps, deserves. The final story, Patient Griselda, was the only one I already knew, and also the one I really loathed. A psychopathic misogynist marries a helpless young woman and abuses her horrifically for thirteen years. And she accepts his abuse without complaint. Really makes the resourceful, if criminal, prostitute of the first story seem almost appealing. Sigh. Still, three out of four isn't terrible for a collection. No subtlety here or depth of character – these are just silly stories of lusty lads and lasses (and priests), plus the awful last story, which is highly skippable.
• 
  Floor Flawless

  I liked the first two stories the most. Boccaccio's writing is easy to read, which is not always the case with classics. This is a good place to start if you haven't read (a lot of) classics yet and want to ease into it. Though keep in mind that the last two stories are misogynistic
• 
  Iza Brekilien

  Reviewed for
  Books and livres
  
  There is this pretty Penguin little black classic collection, that you've probably heard about ; it appealled irresistibly to me. I endeavoured to read them all, one each month : it's a perfect way to discover of bit of different styles and authors I would have never thought to read. Number 1 is Mrs Rosie and the priest, by Giovanni Boccaccio.
  
  This little book of 53 pages comprises four short stories issued from The Decameron.
  
  The first, Andreuccio's da Perugia's Neapolitan adventures, is close to a farce, like those I've read from the French Middle Ages. It wasn't wonderful, but it was a nice read, telling the story of how a young man was tricked and finally learned from his mistake. Predictable but fun.
  
  The second, Ricciardo da Chinzica loses his wife, was the one I preferred. An old man marries a young wife, has a hard time satisfying her sexually and invents all kinds of excuses to avoid his marital duties. It was really fun and made me laugh.
  
  The third, Mrs Rosie and the priest, gave its title to the book. It was nice, but not great. How a priest wants to sleep with a farmer's wife and manages to trick her so he doesn't have to pay her price.
  
  So far, I would have given the book 3 stars, but here we come to the fourth story, Patient Griselda. It should have been called "Stupid Griselda and the sadist". A rich lord marries a poor girl and tests her - for years ! - to prove that she's a good wife. Nowadays, he'd end up in a tribunal for harassment. But if he's a sadist, she's a masochist. I know she's poor and used to obey but come on, she could have pushed him down the stairs when there was no witness ! I still need to cool down after reading that final story because it made me mad ! Her husband (inwardly) praised her by calling her wise while he mistreated her and did awful things to her... Here goes : 2 stars and I won't read The Decameron anytime soon.
• 
  Jason

  I have decided to read all of the Penguin little black classics and because of my OCD I am starting with book 1, the only sane way to do these things.
  
  Book 1 has 4 short stories by Giovanni Boccaccio. The first 3 are pretty quirky and I really enjoyed them. They were pretty racy for the time they were written, old school porn wooooooo
  
  The fourth story though made me angry, so angry in fact that I deducted a star for it. A husband abuses his new wife for 12 years and the ending is so dumb I am struggling to actually write this review without putting spoilers.
  
  All in all a good start to the series of books.
• 
  Marjolein (UrlPhantomhive)

  Read all my reviews on
  http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com
  
  Mrs Rosie and the Priest is the first of the (up to now) 126 Little Black Classics. As they occupy an entire bookcase, I'm planning to read them all in the near future. This was a light starter.
  
  When people think about 'old' literature, they often assume that it will be higher or more moral than recent works. Not so for the four stories, collected from the Decamerone, published in 14th century Florence.
  
  A very fast and light read. I hope more will follow as I continue to collection.
  
  Little Black Classics #1
• 
  Jennifer

  This was a remarkably terrible selection of writing. Who at Penguin thought, "Oh, yes. Let's start our celebration of classics with a trashy misogynistic trifle. That will surely mark the diversity of our publishing endeavors!" The funniest thing about this was that any modern reader might find these stories funny. Really, why no. 1?? Why, Penguin? Why? #smdh
• 
  ~Madison

  [re-read jan 6th 2022]
  again, the first three stories are banging but the last one is just weird and gross.
  -
  
  
  
  
  read- jan 1st 2021
  I loved the first 3 stories but the last story made me so uncomfortable :/
• 
  Tamsien West (Babbling Books)

  Loved this set of lewd tales from 14th century Italy. Written sometime in the early 1300's this takes the place of oldest work of fiction I've read, and it holds that title well. There are pimps and prostitutes, affairs and manipulation, pirates and princes, all getting caught up in highly titillating circumstances.
  
  I think stories like these help remind us that the generations of the past were not dry sentences in a textbook, they were people the same as us who laughed and smirked as naughty stories, who cheered on the good guys, and loved any opportunity to make fun of those in a position of power.
  
  My favourite of the Little Black Classics collection so far.
• 
  royaevereads

  I was totally (though I shouldn't have been because humans are humans) surprised by how crude this was, who knew 14th century literature could be like this! I had mixed feelings about the four stories and will be talking about this more in a video review - but the first one, Andreuccio da Perugia's Neapolitan Adventures was my absolute favourite. It had me in hysterics, one of the funniest texts I've ever read and probably now up there with my favourite short stories of all time. It's like The Hangover if it were set in the 1300s.
• 
  David

  And I wonder why I never manage to save any money...
  
• 
  Lea

  I was so stoked to get the first 80 "Little Black Classic" books as a boxset for christmas, so I dived right in and started at the beginning. The books are so short that I can read them quickly even if the subject matter or the writing wouldn't hold my attention for a whole novel. This way I hope I can expose myself to some things I'd normally probably wouldn't pick up.
  
  Well, "Mrs Rosie and the Priest" is something I'd definitely wouldn't have picked up. Wikipedia tells me Giovanni Boccaccio was an Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanist from Tuscany, who is "noted for his realistic dialogue which differed from that of his contemporaries, medieval writers who usually followed formulaic models for character and plot." I had heard the name before but didn't know much of anything about him.
  
  The four stories are all taken from Boccaccios story collection The Decameron written between 1348 and 1353. All the stories are pretty straight forward, easy to read and mildly entertaining. My main gripe with them is that they're all humorous stories, which are hardly ever my thing - mainly because I don't find them funny. Humorous stories about sex don't fare much better.
  
  "Andreuccio da Perugia's Napolitan Adventures" is about a rather naive man who gets tricked by a prostitute into believing she is his sister so she can steal his money.
  
  "Ricciardo da Chinzica loses his wife" is, as the title suggest, about a man losing his wife because he is too concerned with his studies and doesn't have enough sex with her for her liking.
  
  In "Mrs Rosie and the Priest" a priest wants to sleep with a married woman but after having done so realizes he doesn't want to pay what she asked for.
  
  "Patient Griselda" is about a woman whose husband tests her loyalty by treating her horribly. He convinces her that he killed their children and kicks her out of their home naked. Because she remains loyal to him and never talks back, he invites her to return home and reunites her with their children. This story was a bit different to the other three. I'm unsure if this is supposed to be a moralizing story, if so, it's a pretty horrible takeaway. I'd hoped in the end the woman wouldn't want her husband anymore and he'd be punished for treating her so badly. But no, they're both happy with his cruelties.
  
  I don't regret reading this book (also two stars for me really means it was "ok", not "bad") because it was interesting to read these kind of stories as someone who hasn't read a lot of Renaissance literature, especially not of this kind. But I guess it's just not really my thing in the end. I did enjoy the extensive use of mortar & pestle metaphors for sex, though. I'll have to keep these in mind.
• 
  Shruthi Mudireddy

  What rompy, lewd tales!! And they were extremely funny too! I can't believe this was from the 1300s! It was only during the Victorian era that there's so much emphasis on modesty and propriety. I guess before that period, people didn't care about no modesty!! Now I've got to pick up the whole Decameron for some more obscenity from the 14th century!
• 
  Galadrielė

  3.5
• 
  Rikke

  Tales of disastrous marriages, deceit, tricks and fortune in the tone of familiar folk tales.
  
  These small snippets reminded me that I really do need to read The Decameron soon.
• 
  catie

  i loved the first story, the second was fine, and then the other two were bad
• 
  Ecem Yücel

  Just bought this Penguin Little Black Classics box set of 80 books as a sub-challenge within my 2021 reading challenge and started reading from this one, since it is numbered as the first one of the set.
  
  I read only one story from Boccaccio's "The Decameron" for a class before, and have been curious about the whole work ever since. This little book has 4 of the 100 stories The Decameron includes, and they are fun ones, full of trickery, betrayal, sex, and cunning characters. It made me want to read The Decameron, which I'll definitely get around to when it's possible.
• 
  Stephanie

  HILARIOUS!! I must get a copy of The Decameron!!
• 
  [ J o ]

  14th Century debauchery and bawdiness from Toscana's Giovanni Boccaccio, book one of the Little Black Classics.
  
  Four short tales about women in an era that doesn't sound too far removed from our own. Whilst the tales are, probably, supposed to show the endeavour and cleverness of women, it does it in a way that is of its time. Well written but obviously translated. An interesting look in to the era of another country, where it's obvious these kinds of themes are universal.
  
  
  
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• 
  Summer SSS

  3.5 stars
  
  The stories are pretty interesting, they definitely feel like fourteenth century stories in a sort of medieval fairytale kind of way. They were pretty vivid and surprisingly easy to read (they must have edited the language) But obviously because they are so dated the ‘moral’ lessons are skewered in a misogynist sense #justiceforGriselda
  
  Although I will add that some people seem to interpret the moral of the second story as to avoid younger women because they are sl*tty but like clearly the message was to respect the fact that young women are h*rny ? Like look who got the happy ending and who literally died miserable. Moral of the story to me: F*ck your wife
• 
  Armand

  This Penguin Little Black Classic is a sampler of
  The Decameron by
  Giovanni Boccaccio, offering four stories from the original work.
  
  For a classics book it is truly bare bones. There's no introduction or afterword, not even a single annotation on the text. It's all good though - you can enjoy these tales in the spirit in which they're made since the prose is approachable and the events don't require additional context to be appreciated. And yes: they're so much danged fun. A gullible naïf taken for a ride by scheming harlots and thieves, an austere judge losing his unfulfilled wife to a brigand, a reprobate priest who cuckolds honest workmen, and a marquis who puts his low-born wife to the bitterest tests make up the delightful gallery of characters here. I do think that in the last story, Gualtieri went way too far in taxing his wife's fidelity. If the latter shunned him I would've thought it meet, attributing it to a healthy sense of self-respect on her part.
  
  I especially liked Boccaccio's waggish putdowns, as in the following passage:
  
  

  
  She was called Bartolommea and she was one of the best-looking and most fanciable girls in Pisa, though admittedly there aren't many there who don't look like hairy spiders.
  

  
  
  As expected, some rather racy situations are depicted here though they're far from being smutty. This isn't erotica at all.
  
  I'm only suppressing a star because I believe that only the complete book should get full marks. Though maybe the tales included here are really the best bits and the rest would prove underwhelming? Let's see.
  
  7.5/10; 4 stars.
• 
  Paula (lovebookscl)

  Este mini-clásico contiene 4 de los 100 relatos de The Decameron:
  
  1. Andreuccio's da Perugia's Neapolitam adventures
  2. Ricciardo da Chinzica loses his wife
  3. Mrs Rosie and the Priest
  4. Patient Griselda
  
  Disfruté cada uno, al punto en que quiero leer el clásico completo. Me gustó tener esta pequeña introducción al autor... creo que el formato de los Penguin Little Black Classics son muy convenientes para decidir si leer el clásico completo o no.
  
  De los 4 relatos, mi favorito es el segundo. En muy pocas páginas logra tener acción, drama y romance, lo cual amé. Sería feliz con un retelling de esa historia jajaja
  
  Los otros fueron igual de entretenidos y el último fue brutal, no sabía si estar indignada o asombrada por el relato jajaja En fin, lo disfruté mucho.
  
  Ladronas, amantes, esposas robadas y que a la vez huyen, tratos por debajo de la mesa y desafíos crueles... cuatro relatos muy interesantes.
• 
  Filipe

  Very funny. Will defo read the Decameron soon!
• 
  Mub

  أحببت أول ثلاث حكايات
  كرهت الرابعة
• 
  Andrew Sztehlo

  Weird horny strange funny stories from 14th century Florence? More of this please.