MALATESTA. Good! I will send a letter with the news.
LANCIOTTO. I thank you, brother. [Apart to PAOLO.
PEPE. Ha! ha! ha!—O! O! [Laughing.
MALATESTA. Pepe, what now?
PEPE. O! lord, O!—ho! ho! ho! [Laughing.
PAOLO. Well, giggler?
PEPE. Hear my fable, uncle.
MALATESTA. Ay.
PEPE. Once on a time, Vulcan sent Mercury
To fetch dame Venus from a romp in heaven.
Well, they were long in coming, as he thought;
And so the god of spits and gridirons
Railed like himself—the devil. But—now mark—
Here comes the moral. In a little while,
Vulcan grew proud, because he saw plain signs
That he should be a father; and so he
Strutted through hell, and pushed the devils by,
Like a magnifico of Venice. Ere long,
His heir was born; but then—ho! ho!—the brat
Had wings upon his heels, and thievish ways,
And a vile squint, like errant Mercury's,
Which honest Vulcan could not understand;—
Can you?
PAOLO. 'Sdeath! fool, I'll have you in the stocks.
Father, your fool exceeds his privilege.