Ingenia 1 – The Trick: The Wiles of Women Collection
Ingenia 1a:
A man dedicates his life to the collection and record of antifeminist literature, until he has amassed a collection of stories of all of women's wiles. He arrives at a city bearing the book of women's wiles, and the lord asks his wife to attend him. Once the two are alone, the wife enquires after the old man's business, and he tells her that he has collected stories of every trick played by women. She asks him to sleep with her - in vengeange for her husband's infidelity, she claims - but once the two are in bed together, she screams loudly, and he faints in fear. When her husband rushes in, she tells him that the old man is ill, and choked and fainted when he tried to eat. The lord commends her care, instructs her to feed him honey-water, and leaves. The wife turns to the old man, now awake, and asks if his great book included that particular trick. He assures her it does not, and burns his book, recognising that it is useless.
[From Mischle Sendebar]
Ingenia 1b (a variation found in one of the Persian redactions):
A wise young man who has no female relations, has never (to his knowledge) seen a woman's face, and has no interest in women, spends his time collecting stories of women's wiles and wickeness. One day, he goes to town and meets an experienced man who has written down every example of the lies, excuses, tricks and schemes of women that he has discovered through his forty years of research. The man gives him a vast collection of these writings. On the way back to his camel, the young man is welcomed by one of the villagers. He leaves the box containing the writing outside, and accepts the man's hospitality. When his host suddenly has to leave, the young man finds himself the guest of a man’s wife, who takes over as host for her husband. She is stunningly beautiful, and as soon as he sees her, the young man falls head over heels in love. He staggers and turns pale, and the lady notices the change in his demeanor. From behind her veil, she welcomes him, and asks him what it is that he carries with him in his luggage outside. Flushed with feeling, and distracted by his own desire, the young man answers truthfully. Hearing his reply, she goes out to investigate. He is left behind, distraught to the point of self-doubt, and soon runs about madly, beating his chest with a stone, cutting his head, and finally dying, unable to bear the agony.
[From Nishimura's summary of the versification of the Sindbadnama text]
[Added by Jane Bonsall]
Note
The designated titles for Ingenia 1a and 1b are taken from Nishimura. The top story - Ingenia 1a - is the one found in all but one instance of this embedded story; the second iteration - 1b - appears only in the versified redaction of the Persian narrative.
This story is closely related to the other "Wiles of Women" stories, which are: Ingenia 2, The Trick: Hidden Under the Throne, in which a queen challenges a merchant to aids adulterous women to demonstrate his capacity for deceit, then outdoes him; Ingenia 3, The Trick: The Fish in the Field, in which a woman makes a fool of her misogynist husband by convincing him fish appeared magically in the surrounding fields; and Ingenia 4: The Fur Coat, in which a woman challenges her husband's misogynist scribe, who writes about women's wiles, into testing her capacity for creative adultery.
Nishimura notes several variations to this story, and also its parallel motifs, analogues, and reference stories:
Motifs: TMI K443.9 Woman leads man into intrigue and then shouts for help; K1210 Humiliated or baffled lovers.
Analogies: Seventy Tales of a Parrot, Textus ornatior 19, Textus simplicior 11; Marr, Vardan Fables, № 152.
Reference Stories, etc.: Kathāratnākara, 143 (based on Humorous Tales from India, pp. 64-66); Ser Giovanni Fiorentino, Il Pecorone, 2.2; Les Cent Nouvelle Nouvelle, 37; La Fontaine, Contes, 2.10; Jacques de Vitry, Exempla, 230.