"
"Sweetheart," said the Prince, "watching will never make me ill when
I am engaged in preventing those who try to deceive me from going to
sleep."
So saying, he began to laugh so heartily that his wife begged him to
tell her of the matter. This he did at length, showing her the wolf's
skin (4) which his servant had brought him. After making merry at
the expense of the hapless lovers, they went to sleep in gentle
tranquillity, while the other two passed the night in torment, fearing
and dreading lest the affair should be revealed.
However, the gentleman, knowing right well that he could not use
concealment with the Prince, came to him in the morning when he was
dressing to beg that he would not expose him, and would give orders for
the return of his cloak.
The Prince pretended that he knew nothing of the matter, and put such a
face on it that the gentleman was wholly at a loss what to think. But
in the end he received a rating that he had not expected, for the Prince
assured him that, if ever he went to the lady's room again, he would
tell the King of it, and have him banished the Court.
"I pray you, ladies, judge whether it had not been better for this poor
lady to have spoken freely to him who did her the honour of loving and
esteeming her, instead of leading him by her dissimulation to prove her
in a way that brought her so much shame.
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