One is the ‘Clerk’s Tale’, dealing with the ‘Story of Grisilde’, the patient wife, told by Boccaccio as the very last of the ‘Decameron’, where he even made the clerk say he had learned the story from Petrarch.
Another one was ‘The Story of Constance’ which was to become ‘The Man of Law’s Tale’ in the ‘Canterbury Tales’.
Here is a brief summary of the tale:
Costance
was a beautiful girl living in the island of Lipari.
She fell in love with a boy: Martuccio Gomito, and he too.
So they wanted to marry but her father didn’t want because Martuccio was a poor boy. So he left the island with some friends and swore he would return back rich.
They stole everyone they met but after a period of luck they were punished: they were thrown into the sea and their ship was sunk.
They were taken prisoners and were brought to Tunis.
Constance heard of her lover's adventure and chose to die.
She came out at night and left the island on a little ship, thinking the wind would make the ship hit the rocks. She cried all time for her situation, but the sea was calm and the wind good and the next morning the ship landed in Susa, near Tunis.
A young girl saw her and went to ask her why she was there but Costance began to cry again because she was still alive.
The girl invited her to her house where she gave her food and finally had some explainations for her arrival.
She was Carapresa, at the service of some Christian fisherman. On hearing this name Costance startled and asked for help to escape from there. Carapresa took her to the house of her old mistress, a good lady and told Costance to wait there for a better sort.
At the same time, the king of Tunis wanted to take the power trying to send the old king away.
Martuccio, who was still a prisoner, heard about this and asked to speak to the king to give him some advice about the war. The king followed his plans and won.
Martuccio was given a good sum of money and becam rich.
Costance decided to meet him to see if the story she ahd heard was true. So Carapresa invited Martuccio to her house to see a servant. Finally they met and decided to go back to their island. Here they married and lived happily and in peace.
From the 'Decameron' by Giovanni Boccaccio.
If you want to read the tale, please click here.