Today's episode marks six months of the podcast, and thanks to a record number of skipped stories in a row, also brings us almost to the halfway point of the Decameron! In our first story (5.4), a young man manages to sneak into his beloved's house for some quality time...only to be caught by her parents in the morning. There follows a brief synopsis of the stories I am skipping (5.5-5.8), due to the violence and coercion of women they contain. Finally, we hear a tragic tale (5.9) of a man whose unrequited love led him into poverty, and then to destroy the very thing his lover was about to ask of him, in an effort to please her. 

CONTENT WARNINGS: In the synopsis section, mentions of kidnapping and other violence against women, unwanted pregnancy, the usual influence-driven medieval justice system, and coercive sexual situations. In the second story, a main character kills a beloved pet as a meal for the woman he loves, unknowing that she came to ask him for the bird as a pet.