Kate's Tale

So you've seen the play by that wretched Englishman, have you? Oh, yet, I heard about it long before it infected Italy, but I kept silent, hoping that you would never know. An error in judgement, perhaps, but know that it was done out of love. It hurts to see you upset like this, with your eyes wide and questioning why the world should be such a cruel place.
 
That wretched piece of doggerel was bad enough in English; but they have coarsened it in our language, and play it broadly, like a commedia dell'arte. The theme is not new, in any case, but now they have seen fit to put the names of real people to the characters, thinking to heighten the amusement of the gossip-mongers. If we had attained the stature which our blood entitles us to, this drama would have not disgraced the stage long before the bodies of the players were found in the river; but we are ordinary people, and ordinary people have no recourse.
 
So -- it pleases you that we have no hired assassins? And you believe the law of the land should defend us from such slander? Ah, my innocent, learn this -- the law defends the rich, not the poor.
 
You are right, of course. We are rich enough. Though we do not strut at court, we do not lack for any creature comfort, and possess those intangibles that money cannot buy.
 
But enough of this philosophizing! You have asked me to tell you my side of the matter, and I will, so that you may hold your head high, and scorn the laughter of the rabble. Know that the union between your father and me is a holy thing, begotten of true love, as you are.  With love freely given and received, marriage is a crown of glory; without it, marriage is a hellish burden that makes death seem a pleasant alternative.
 
First of all, I am no shrew, and never was. Oh, perhaps I became somewhat strident after mother died, but I was the oldest, and the whole responsibility of maintaining the household fell on my shoulders when I was barely eleven. The servants thought they could do as they wished, and I had to develop a sharp tongue and ready hand to convince them otherwise. The story of breaking the lute over the music teacher's head is a pure fabrication. Mind you, I did threaten to do the act, if he did not remove his grasping hand from my breast. As it turned out, this teacher was an impoverished lord in disguise, hoping to woo me and gain the immense dowry it was rumoured my father had set to be rid of me. This charlatan knew nothing of music and even less of the art of love. I had no need of taming, but of respect.
 
When I first met Petruccio, he might have had cause to think me shrewish. A draughtman's horse had begun to munch on the flowers, and when the maids tried to chase it away, their skirts set it mad, and it went tearing through the garden fence, dragging its cart behind it. I saw the whole thing from the kitchen, and came flying out, shouting instructions which no one heeded. I ran after the brute, swearing as much as my breath would allow. 
 
When I was so winded that it seemed that I could no longer set one foot before the other, the horse stopped. I stumbled to its head, and saw the one who was to be my destiny. He had been passing by on his horse, and had leaped the garden fence to come to my rescue.
 
He was less nobly dressed than our family was wont to; but that mattered not a whit to me. His legs were nicely turned, and there was laughter in his eyes. I was too frazzled to thank him properly, but I did have the wits to invite him into the house to claim a reward for his good deed. He said that the privilege of being in my presence was reward enough. I tried to shrug that off as a mere courtly flattery, but my heart was strangely warmed. Though I could not admit it at the time, my destiny was irrevocably set that very moment.
 
There are those women whose love grows through time like a secret flower; there are those whose love is led by self-interest; and there are those like me, who see once and love forever. It was fortunate that he is cut of the same cloth, or I might now be a bitter old maid, mourning that single glorious moment when I first knew that I had a soul-mate in this world.
 
As it turned out, his father and mine were old friends, and Petruccio was immediately urged to stay the night. My father knew me too well for my comfort: he saw immediately how Petruccio and I looked upon each other, and began dropping broad hints of the fine dowry he was prepared to set upon me. 'Twas not necessarily that he wished to rid himself of me; but your aunt Bianca was imploring him daily, with tears in her eyes, to allow her to marry, and he would not consent unless I were married first. Bianca was a wilful soul then, and he feared that, despite all his best efforts to prevent it, she might one day elope or be found with child, and force the issue. Moreover, though it is not generally known, he had his eye upon a young gentlewoman no older than myself: and he thought (rightly so) that there would be endless strife if he established her in my household as stepmother and chatelaine.
 
After some sparring and double-edged discussions, Petruccio asked to speak to me privately. I pretended to be displeased; but my heart was pounding wildly.
 
"Katarina," he said gravely, "I would marry you gladly, but you must understand that I have nothing to offer you." 
 
"Nor do I, my lord," I said bitterly, "for I have nothing of my own, and am simply a chattel to be bandied about."

"Nay!" he exclaimed. "No wife of mine will ever be a chattel, but a partner, share and share alike." He bit his lip for a moment, then bared his heart to me. "I am indebted to money lenders, who hold the deed to my family's estate. If I have not paid twenty thousand crowns by Monday morning, they will kill me, seize the property, and turn my mother and my brother out into the street."
 
"Twenty thousand crowns!" I exclaimed. "The exact amount of my dowry. Perhaps it is fate."
 
He paced, then shook his head. "No -- I cannot ask it."
 
"If you do not, I may never be married," I said. "If truth be told, I would like a household of my own, away from Bianca's mewlings."
 
"Mother would welcome another woman to share her burdens," he said, "and she is not an overbearing sort."
 
"And your brother?"
 
"Crippled in a hunting accident," he said shortly.
 
It came to me then that perhaps God was offering me the chance to do some good in this world and save two people from destitution and bereavement.
 
"Do you love me?" I asked sharply.
 
He looked at me helplessly, then shook his head. "It is too early to tell."
 
I made my decision that very moment. It would have been a simple matter for him to say the easy words -- nay, even believe them, since they would save his life.
 
I will marry you," I said, "share and share alike, but you must promise me three things. Never lie to me; never visit another bed but mine; and never raise your hand against me."
 
He dropped to one knee and kissed my hand. "Kate, you are my salvation," he said, "and I will never forget it. What you have asked I promise freely, with all my heart."
 
"Do you swear?" I said, just to be sure.
 
"I do swear it on my father's grave," he said, crossing himself.
 
"Then let us go tell Father that he has a son at last."
 
There was much joyful consternation when we told our news, particularly since the wedding was to take place on Sunday, only four days away. Petruccio announced that he must leave for Venice first thing in the morning on business (those accursed money lenders!), but he would be back in time for the wedding. Father had the papers drawn up that very night, and promised that the dowry would be waiting for him on his return, in gold, to be paid over immediately after the ceremony. Bianca was in seventh heaven, planning the glorious details of my wedding and her own.
 
If ever I was a shrew, it was during the mad preparations for the nuptial feast. Cooking, baking, sewing, the sending of invitations to any kin who were near enough to attend. There was little time to listen to the priest's long-winded lectures about the virtues of wifely submission in the estate of Christian marriage. My impatience was seasoned with the fear that Petruccio would not come back.
 
Much too much is made of the circumstances of that wedding. It is true that Petruccio was late -- 'twas no fault of his own, since he was riding his pack mule, closely guarded by two henchmen of the money lender. He had been forced to sell his horse and gear to put food in his mouth. These ruffians insisted on being the official witnesses to our nuptials, so that they could stay near us throughout the entire wedding ceremony: and stick to him like glue until the dowry was in their possession. They searched Petruccio's person afterwards, and took the poor few coins he had, citing compound interest: but I have no doubt they kept them for themselves.
 
So great was his distress that he insisted on departing when the festivities had barely started. I changed to travelling gear, taking no other luggage but the money I had saved and the jewelry I had from my mother; and we departed, riding double on that wretched donkey with hardly a week's pay between us. I could feel the stiffness of his body when I leaned against him: only his pride sustained him in this terrible hour.

"Kate, I am destitute," he said at last, when we paused to rest under a tree.
 
"Destitute, but alive," I said. "And when there's life, there's hope."
 
I would have kissed him then, to comfort him, but he seemed so grim that I did not dare.
 
We stayed at the cheapest inn we could find on our way to Verona; but that was a grave error.  The bedbugs drove us forth before daylight. After that, we simply slept outdoors, filching fruits from the orchards we passed, and buying bread and cheese when the opportunity presented itself. The donkey grew tired of the load, and we took turns walking. It rained, and we slogged through the mud until we were both too miserable to speak.
 
We arrived at his estate looking like two clay figures; his mother had been watching the road and ran out to us. She took Petruccio in her arms, loudly praising God for his safe return; and then she embraced me without reserve. I had managed to keep a courageous countenance throughout the entire adventure, but now, to my horror, I began to weep. 
 
"You are home now," she said gently. "All will be well -- you will see."
 
His younger brother Rodolfo was lying on a couch, his face as white as the sheets surrounding him; but he, too, welcomed us joyfully. After a bath and a meal, my future was much brighter.
 
"Where are Portia and Melissa?" my new husband asked.
 
"Gone to take positions elsewhere," his mother replied. "We could not afford to feed them, let alone pay them."
 
"All the servants have left us," his brother said, "save Grumio and Lucinda. They say we are like family to them, and they will lay down their lives for us, if need be."
 
Petruccio frowned. "Is there anything left to pawn, to hire labour for the harvest?"
 
"Nothing," his mother said, "except the ruby, and you know I will never part from it."

"We must do it ourselves, then," I said resolutely. "I for one, have never feared work." Bianca had always hated that about me, saying that the servants snickered behind my back when I tended the garden or helped in the vineyard.
 
We did our best, burning ourselves in the hot harvest sun. We wrapped rags around our hands, but still they bled. Besides the field work, there were animals to feed, cows to milk, and Rodolfo to tend. After two days of frantic labouring, it was clear to me that though we continue until we dropped from exhaustion, still the major part of the crop would rot in the fields.
 
"It is all my fault," Rodolfo said tearfully when we rested after our evening meal. "You should have let me die!"
 
Petruccio turned on him. "Never say that!" he shouted. "Never! We are blood, and we stand together or fall together!" He stormed out into the night.
 
Mother -- I already thought of her as mine -- comforted Rodolfo as we carried him up to bed. From their conversation, I gathered that in grieving his father's death, Rodolfo had become dissolute and contracted grave gambling debts, and the money lenders had broken his legs, and then his back in an attempt to collect their pound of flesh. To save his brother's life, Petruccio had sold everything that could be sold to make a partial payment on the debt. Then, to make matters worse, he borrowed more for a doctor who swore that he could make Rodolfo walk again, securing the loan with the deed to the estate.  His trip to Padua had been a last-ditch attempt to borrow money from friends.
 
When Mother and I were private in her bedchamber, she brought out the ruby whereof she had spoken: a family heirloom that had been passed down for so many generations that no one knew how it had come into the family. She gave it to me that night, on a golden chain; I have scarcely had it from neck since. As you can see, it is not large, but perfection itself. And it gives me a feeling of belonging that warms me in the darkest moments.
 
"It is yours now," she said, "for you are the daughter I never had."

"Not truly yet," I confessed, "for our nuptials have not been consummated. He married me for my dowry, and I does not find me winsome enough to bed me."
 
"I know my son," she said warmly. "Though he be an inch from hell, he would never marry a woman unless she had found a place in his heart. Do you love him?" she asked.
 
"More than I can say," I admitted at last. She held me in her arms a long time as I wept. When I was composed enough to listen, she said, "He loves you indeed -- I see it and feel it. But he is ashamed because he has fallen on such hard times, and dragged you with him. Be patient with him. It would not hurt to make the first move, you know."
 
I blushed. "I do not know how to play the vixen," I protested.
 
"But you are his wife. You have a right to his worship in body and in soul."
 
I thought long and hard on our situation that night. Before daylight, I slipped out. When I went to the barn to fetch a horse, I saw Petruccio sleeping in an empty stall his face relaxed. I felt like I was gazing upon the face of Cupid himself, and kissed him gently. His arm slid around me, and he opened his eyes. 
 
"Is this a dream?" he asked. "If so, I wish never to wake."
 
"No dream, my husband," I said boldly. "It is your wife, Katherine, come to demand her conjugal right."
 
"Oh, my sweeting," he groaned. "That you shall have, and more."
 
And so it was that he taught me my wifely duty there on the straw, and I have never lacked for lessons since. The sun was nicely arisen by the time I had my gown back on.
 
"I will see you anon," I said. "I have business in town."
 
"What, no breakfast?" he asked.
 
"Later," I said. "I have no stomach for food now." I was ravenous, but I had more important concerns than eating.
 
Some two hours later, before the day had become too hot, I returned with a batallion on day-workers. Most of the other harvests in the region were already complete, so workers were not difficult to find.
 
"What's this, my sweeting?" Petruccio asked in amazement.
 
"I have sold my jewelry," I said. 
 
His jaw dropped. "Everything?"
 
"Everything save what is most precious of all -- the family ruby." I pulled down my neckline a little so he could see it was still there. "Fear not -- there is enough money to get the harvest in, with some left to buy Rodolfo's medicine."
 
"Deo gratias," he said, crossing himself. "Kate, you are our salvation."
 
I came to him and kissed him shamelessly, in front of all the labourers I had hired. "No, my darling, you are mine. Few women are fortunate enough to marry the man they truly love, and I am more blessed than any of them."
 
His arms tightened around me. "Oh Kate," he murmured, "I love you more than life itself, but I was afraid to tell you."
 
He would have kissed me again, but I pulled gently away. "Later. There is much work to be done."
 
The next two weeks were more busy than you can imagine, but we saved the crops, and the fortunes of the family were re-established. When it was all over, we drove back to Padua in a carriage with our best horses, attired considerably more sumptuously than when we left, and carrying baggage suitable to our station. The sun was shining, and we sang. When we tired of singing, we kissed; when we tired of kissing, we spoke sweet nothings to each other; and when we tired of that, we sat in blissful silence. We spent the night in a fine inn, locked in each other's arms.
 
When we arrived at Father's estate, we discovered Bianca already married. Hortensio, her rejected suitor, had found himself a widow, the lady Alicia Palerno, somewhat worse for the wear, but well endowed in gold and property, and taken her to wife.
 
It was while we were dressing for the banquet Father had arranged in lieu of the wedding festivities we had missed, that I conceived the wicked idea of the famous bet, and persuaded Petruccio of its merit.
 
"We need the money," I said, "and I feel a certain hankering for revenge for all the cruel things that have been said about me."
 
"Then so be it," Petruccio laughed, "for I swear, my dear Kate, at this moment I can refuse you nothing."
 
The plan was ridiculously simple to carry out. I took care to act more headstrong than I felt at supper, and replied to even the mildest slight with a bellyful of fire. By the time the meal had ended, the stage was set to pluck our pigeons. I retired with Bianca and Alicia, and we began to compare our marital experience.
 
It was not long before the first message came. 

While Alicia was in the middle of a most engaging account of her first wedding night, Father's man Biondello entered, announcing suavely that Lucentio bade Bianca come to him. She answered impatiently that she was busy, and would see him at bed time. I smiled into my sleeve. Some ten minutes later, Biondello returned, saying that Hortensio entreated Alicia to come to him. She snorted at that, and said, "You just be jesting. Bid him come to me!"
 
At last, my turn came. My husband boldly commanded me to come. Biodello stood well away from me when he delivered it, his voice quavering. Everyone was most astounded when I complied instantly. Petruccio made a great show of ordering me to bring the others, which I did, enjoying the task more than a little. I was richly rewarded for my pains: Father announced that he would endower us with another twenty thousand crowns. To twist the dagger further in Lucentio and Hortensio's wounds (they had lost a hundred crowns each, and become the laughing stock of everyone in the dining hall), Petruccio ordered me to remove the cap I wore, which I did, grinding it under my feet. Then he told me to teach the other their duty as wives.
 
Such a speech I made about wifely submission! Petruccio and I could hardly keep from bursting into laughter at the astonishment all around. When my performance was completed, Petruccio applauded and bade me kiss him. I complied with all my heart. And so it was that we returned home much wealthier than we left, and the whole countryside was abuzz with news of Katerina Minola's transformation into a model wife.
 
Perhaps we let the matter get out of hand. But we took great pleasure in carrying out our little prank, and laughed about it for many nights to come. The money from Father allowed us to send your uncle Rodolfo to healing waters in England, and in consequence he is able to walk today. Your grandmother, alas, lived only long enough to see you take your first steps: but I feel her love in this ruby, which some day will be yours.
 
There you have it -- the truth about my taming, if such it was. You might say that your father and I tamed each other. For many years now, our first thought has been to please the other. That, if anything, is the secret of a happy marriage. If I were endowed with magical gifts, able to bestow upon you anything I chose, it would be that: a love such as I share with my Petruccio.