On Bayard he plunged into the sea after the great fish in desperation. That whale went slowly, slowly; for it is very large and by nature grave (II. xiii. 65).
Marfisa, the woman knight, had her horse stolen and pursued the thief long in vain. The conception is grotesque; the execution, pure farce.
A fortnight had she followed him, nor was fed meantime on aught but leaves. The false thief, who was most astute, sped his flight with quite different food. For he was so quick and so bold that every tavern he saw he would enter and fall to eating, and then flee without paying his shot. And although the taverners and their waiters were after him with their pitchers and jugs in their hands, off he was, wiping his mouth and grinning (II. xv. 68-69).
Love, announced in the title Orlando innamorato and frequently asserted, has little more scope in Boiardo than in Malory. Whether the title expresses an original intention abandoned, or an appeal to court ladies, or merely a certain period in the hero’s life, Boiardo’s interest was elsewhere.
Long time Morgan, Alcina, and their magic wiles have kept me waiting; nor have I shown you a good sword-stroke (II. xiv. 1).
The good sword-stroke is what he gives with both hands, even as Malory.
Since the main interest is single combat, and all the fighters, even the Saracens, are memorable, there is a long roll of persons. Of the hundred mentioned in the first five cantos about a third never reappear; few are characterized consecutively; none is consecutively in action for any considerable period. The long poem is frankly a series, not a sequence. Boiardo’s usual method is to carry one of his stories to a crisis, leave it to pick up another, and so on.
Let us now return to Astolfo, who remained, you know, alone at the fountain (I. ii. 17).[36]