LXII
Here is told a tale of Messer Roberto
Mount Arimini is in Burgundy, and there is a lord called Roberto, and it is a great county.
The Countess and her maids had a sottish door-keeper, who was, however, a man of robust build, and his name was Baligante. One of the maids began to lie with him; then she spoke of him to another until the Countess heard of him.
When the Countess heard how robust a man he was, she lay with him too.
The lord found them out. He had the man killed, and made a pie of his heart, and presented it to the Countess and her maids, and they ate of it.
After the meal, the lord came to the hall, and asked how the pie had been. They all answered: good! Then the lord said: it is no wonder, seeing that you liked Baligante alive, that you should like him dead.
And the Countess and the maids when they heard this, were ashamed, and saw clearly that they had lost their honour in this world. [[145]]
They became nuns and founded a convent, which is called the Convent of the Nuns of Rimino Monte.