I do not recall myself ever claiming to have read the Decameron in its entirety, so it was strange that you should be accusing me of such a lie. However, I do vaguely remember reading something of an excerpt or introduction to the Italian Boccaccio classic, in English translation of course, which gives me the general idea of a group of a dozen or so young persons of the aristocratic nobility who, while disease and plague is raging in the city, retreat to a palace where they can be free of contamination and sit around exchanging stories. A similar device, that of a pilgrimage, was used for Chaucer's Tales. But of the actual primitive and sometimes crude stories themselves we would prefer not to say very much. We are required to read these books in school due to their historical significance of cultural tradition and language development even if we might not want to invite these rowdy characters to our homes.
