Tergi: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 14:49, 21 November 2025

AdulteryBody fluidsConcealed loverDisguiseHumiliationHumourGullible husbandDeceptionDeceitful loverDeceitful womanIllnessLesson: women’s cleverness and deceitMedicineMistaken or concealed identityPregnancy

Note: This is the first of three stories about married women competing to see who can torment their husband the most, told in sequence by the sage Machidas in the Storia di Stefano (R). It is followed by Pirus incantata and Caupona.

A wife fakes an illness, and tells her husband she will die if he doesn't send for a specific physician, with whom she has secretly been having an affair. The doctor conceals himself in the next room instead of leaving, and the wife reports to her husband that the doctor has diagnosed her with a complex condition (possibly related to pregnancy), causing damaging growths on her back. The only cure for this, she explains, is to rub her back against her husband's back, while both are naked - and, she adds, the husband must be blindfolded, for looking at this condition might cause it to recur. So the husband strips naked, ties a blindfold about his face, and lies face down on the couch. His wife lies down on top of him, back to back. Then the doctor enters, takes off his clothes, and he and the wife begin to have sex. The husband does not complain about the weight or the movement of his wife's body. However, when he feels a sudden wetness, he cries out - but the wife explains that this is only the ointment, which she must apply to cure her malady. The doctor gets up and hides once more, and the husband rises and takes off his blindfold. He confesses to his wife that the smell of the ointment made him feel lustful, and the wife explains it smells like sex - and that that was key to the cure.

Note
Nishimura notes the following motifs and analogues: Motifs and Types: TMI K1514.1: Illness feigned to call physician paramour. K1545: Wives wager as to who can best fool her husband. K1825.1.1: Lover disguises himself as doctor to reach sweetheart. ATU 1406: The three clever Wives Wager. Reference stories, etc.: Afanasjew, Russian Ridiculous Tales, 60 ‘The Soldier and the Priest’. Sho-fu, 6 [256] ‘Kusuri o Nuru [Apply a salve]’ = Rakugo ‘Isha Maotoko [Doctor Adulterer]’. Nihon Mukashibanashi Tsukan, 28, ‘Type Index’ 660 ‘Maotoko no Isha (Doctor Paramour)’. Bibliography: Shorin Kanwa, Sawada Mizuho, p. 226. Nihon Mukashibanashi Tsukan, ‘Kenkyu-hen 2’, 660.

Critical Literature
Nishimura (2001), Rajna (1880)

Tergi appears in the following versions and secondary versions

Tergi is narrated in the following occurrences

Narrator	Pages
Malquidras	Storia di Stefano (R)

Tergi appears in the following manuscripts
This inset story appears in no manuscripts of the database

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 {{Inset Story
-|Has Summary=''Note: This is the first of three stories about married women competing to see who can torment their husband the most, told in sequence by the sage Machidas in the [[Storia di Stefano (S)]].''
+|Has Critical Literature=Nishimura (2001); Rajna (1880)
+|Has Motif=Adultery; Body fluids; Concealed lover; Disguise; Humiliation; Humour; Gullible husband; Deception; Deceitful lover; Deceitful woman; Illness; Lesson: women’s cleverness and deceit; Medicine; Mistaken or concealed identity; Pregnancy
+|Has Summary=''Note: This is the first of three stories about married women competing to see who can torment their husband the most, told in sequence by the sage Machidas in the [[Storia di Stefano (R)]]. It is followed by [[Pirus incantata]] and [[Caupona]].''
-A wife fakes an illness, and tells her husband she will die if he doesn't send for a specific physician, with whom she has secretly been having an affair. The doctor conceals himself in the next room instead of leaving, and the wife reports to her husband that the doctor has diagnosed her with a complex condition, causing damaging growths on her back. The only cure for this, she explains, is to rub her back against her husband's back, while both are naked - and, she adds, the husband must be blindfolded, for looking at this condition might cause it to recur. So the husband strips naked, ties a blindfold about his face, and lies face down on the couch. His wife lies down on top of him, back to back. Then the doctor enters, takes off his clothes, and he and the wife begin to have sex. The husband does not complain about the weight or the movement of his wife's body. However, when he feels a sudden wetness, he cries out - but the wife explains that this is only the ointment, which she must apply to cure her malady. The doctor gets up and hides once more, and the husband rises and takes off his blindfold. He confesses to his wife that the smell of the ointment made him feel lustful, and the wife explains it smells like sex - and that that was key to the cure.
+A wife fakes an illness, and tells her husband she will die if he doesn't send for a specific physician, with whom she has secretly been having an affair. The doctor conceals himself in the next room instead of leaving, and the wife reports to her husband that the doctor has diagnosed her with a complex condition (possibly related to pregnancy), causing damaging growths on her back. The only cure for this, she explains, is to rub her back against her husband's back, while both are naked - and, she adds, the husband must be blindfolded, for looking at this condition might cause it to recur. So the husband strips naked, ties a blindfold about his face, and lies face down on the couch. His wife lies down on top of him, back to back. Then the doctor enters, takes off his clothes, and he and the wife begin to have sex. The husband does not complain about the weight or the movement of his wife's body. However, when he feels a sudden wetness, he cries out - but the wife explains that this is only the ointment, which she must apply to cure her malady. The doctor gets up and hides once more, and the husband rises and takes off his blindfold. He confesses to his wife that the smell of the ointment made him feel lustful, and the wife explains it smells like sex - and that that was key to the cure.
+|Has Note=Nishimura notes the following motifs and analogues:
+'''Motifs and Types:''' TMI K1514.1: Illness feigned to call physician paramour. K1545: Wives wager as to who can best fool her husband. K1825.1.1: Lover disguises himself as doctor to reach sweetheart. ATU 1406: The three clever Wives Wager.
+'''Reference stories''', '''etc.:''' Afanasjew, ''Russian Ridiculous Tales'', 60 ‘The Soldier and the Priest’. ''Sho-fu'', 6 [256] ‘Kusuri o Nuru [Apply a salve]’ = Rakugo ‘Isha Maotoko [Doctor Adulterer]’. ''Nihon Mukashibanashi Tsukan'', 28, ‘Type Index’ 660 ‘Maotoko no Isha (Doctor Paramour)’.
+'''Bibliography:''' ''Shorin Kanwa'', Sawada Mizuho, p. 226. ''Nihon Mukashibanashi Tsukan'', ‘Kenkyu-hen 2’, 660.
 }}