Short summary - Brawling in Chioggia - Carlo Goldoni

Italy literature summaries - 2023

Short summary - Brawling in Chioggia
Carlo Goldoni

On the Kyōjin street, women—very young and older—was sitting, knitting while the fishermen returned. Donna Pascua and Donna Libera had their husbands gone to sea, Lucetta and Orsetta had their suitors. The boatman Toffolo passed by, and he wanted to chat with the beauties; First of all, he turned to young Kekka, the younger sister of Donna Libera and Orsetta, but she in response hinted that it would be nice for Toffolo to stomp his own way. Then the offended Toffolo sat down to Luchetta and began to be kind to her, and when a baked pumpkin seller happened to be nearby, he treated her to this simple delicacy. After sitting for a while, Toffolo got up and left, and a quarrel began between the women: Kekka reproached Luchetta for being too frivolous, she objected that Kekka was just envious - none of the guys pay attention to her, because she is poor from herself not so hot. Donna Pasqua, the wife of her brother, padron Tony, stood up for Luchetta, and her two sisters, Orsetta and Donna Libera, stood up for Kekka. Offensive nicknames were used - Kekka the creative woman, Luchetta the balabolka, Pasqua the cod - and very vicious mutual accusations.

So they cursed, shouted, just didn’t fight, when the fishmonger Vicenzo reported that Tony’s tartan had returned to the harbor. Here the women unanimously began to ask Vicenzo, for the sake of all that is holy, not to tell the men about their quarrel - it hurts that they don’t like it. However, as soon as they met the fishermen, they let it all out themselves.

It so happened that the brother of the padron Tony, Beppo, brought his bride Orsetta a beautiful ring, and left his sister, Luchetta, without a gift, Luchetta was offended and began to slander Orsetta in the eyes of Beppo: she already swears like the last bazaar trader, and shamelessly with the boatman Toffolo flirting, Beppo replied that he would deal with Orsetta, and he would hit the scoundrel Toffolo on the first number.

Meanwhile, Orsetta and Kekka met Tita-Nana and did not spare colors, painting how his flirty-tailed bride Luchetta sat obscenely next to Toffolo, chatted with him and even accepted a piece of baked pumpkin from him. The sisters achieved their goal: the enraged Tita-Nane declared that Luchetta was no longer his bride, and he would catch and cut the despicable Toffolo, give it time, into pieces like a shark.

Beppo was the first to stumble upon Toffolo near the house of padrone Tony. He rushed at the boatman with a knife, he began to throw stones at the enemy, but soon, to his misfortune, the padron Tony and Tita-Nane, both armed with daggers, ran up to the noise of the fight. Toffolo could only flee; running away to a safe distance, he shouted that let her take them this time, but he would not leave it like that and would certainly sue the offenders today.

Toffolo kept his promise and went straight from the scene of the fight to the court. The judge was temporarily away, so the complainant was received by his assistant, Isidoro, who had to listen to the chaotic story of an innocently injured boatman. His offenders - Beppo, Tita-Nane and padrone Tony - Toffolo most seriously demanded to be sentenced to the galleys. To tell the truth, the assistant judge did not really want to mess around with all this noisy company, but if a complaint was filed, there was nothing to do, it was necessary to appoint a trial. Toffolo named the padrone Fortunato, his wife Libera and sister-in-law Orsetta and Kekka as witnesses, as well as Donna Pasqua and Luchetta. He even volunteered to show the bailiff where they all lived, and promised to supply drinks if he hurried.

Donna Pasqua and Luchetta, meanwhile, sat and lamented about what troubles, and not for the first time, their womanish talkativeness brings, and Tita-Nane was just looking for them to announce his rejection of Luchetta. Gathering up his courage, he resolutely said that from now on Luchetga anemone can consider himself free from all promises, in response to which the girl returned every single gift to him. Tita-Nane was embarrassed, Luchetga burst into tears: the young people, of course, loved each other, but pride did not allow them to immediately back down.

The explanation of Tita-Nana with Luchetta was interrupted by the bailiff, who demanded that Donna Pasqua and her sister-in-law immediately go to court. Donna Pasqua, having heard about the court, began to bitterly kill herself, they say, now everything is gone, they are ruined. Tita-Nane, having finally overcome his confusion, again began to blame Luchetta's frivolity with might and main.

While Toffolo and the bailiff were collecting witnesses, Vicenzo came to Isidoro to find out if it was possible somehow to end the matter amicably. The assistant referee explained that yes, it is possible, but only on the condition that the offended party agrees to make peace. Isidoro himself promised to contribute in every possible way to reconciliation, for which Vicenzo promised him a good basket of fresh fish.

Finally, witnesses appeared: padron Fortunato and five women with him. All of them were extremely excited and began to all at once explain to the representative of the law each of their versions of the collision at the house of Padron Tony. Isidoro, forcibly shouting over the general hubbub, ordered everyone to leave his office and enter strictly in turn.

He summoned Kekka first, and she told him rather eloquently about the fight. Then Isidoro spoke to the girl on an irrelevant topic and asked if she had many boyfriends. Kekka answered that she had no suitors, since she was very poor. Isidoro promised to help her with the dowry, and then asked who Kekka would like to have as her boyfriend. The girl called Tita-Nane - after all, he still refused Luchetta.

The second Isidoro summoned Orsetta for interrogation. She was older and more sophisticated than Kekki, so it was not easy for the assistant judge to talk to her, but in the end he got her to confirm the story of her younger sister and then let her go. Donna Libera was the next to enter the office, but it was no use talking to her because she pretended to be deaf, mainly because she did not want to answer the question of how old she was. Padron Fortunato was naturally tongue-tied, and even spoke in such a wild Chiogin dialect that the Venetian Isidoro was unable to understand a word and after a couple of phrases, thanking for his help, put this witness away. He had had enough; He flatly refused to listen to Donna Pasqua and Luchetta, which offended both of them greatly. Beppo was tired of hiding from justice: he decided to go whip Orsetta on the cheeks, cut off Toffolo's ears, and then he could go to jail. But he met Orsetta not alone, but in the company of sisters, who, by their combined efforts, cooled his ardor, suggesting that in fact Toffolo did not play with Orsetta, but with Luchetta and Kekka. On the other hand, the sisters added, Beppo had to run, since Lucetta and Donna Pasqua clearly wanted to kill him, because it was not for nothing that they chatted with the assistant referee for an hour. But then padron Tony approached them and reassured them, saying that everything is in order, Isidoro ordered not to worry. Vicenzo, who appeared after him, refuted the padron: Toffolo does not want to go to the world, therefore Beppo must flee. Tita-Nane, in turn, began to refute the words of Vicenzo: Isidoro himself told him that the fighters had nothing to fear. The last word, it would seem, remained with the bailiff, who ordered everyone to immediately go to court, but there Isidoro assured everyone that, since he promised to settle the matter amicably, everything would be settled.

As they left the courtroom, the women suddenly quarreled again, taking to heart the fact that Tita-Nane had kindly said goodbye to Kekka, but not so much to Luchetta. This time it was the padron Fortunato who separated them. In the judge's office at this very time, Tita-Nane was taken aback by Isidoro, saying that he did not like Kekka, but he loved Luchetta, and if he said the opposite in the morning, it was from evil,

Toffolo also did not live up to the expectations of the assistant judge: he resolutely did not want to go to the world, arguing that Tita-Nane, Beppo and padron Tony would definitely kill him. Tita-Nana promised not to touch the boatman if he would leave Luchetta alone, and then it gradually became clear that Toffolo did not need Luchetta at all and that he was courting her only to spite Kekka. At this, Toffolo and Tita-Nane reconciled, hugged and gathered already in joy to drink, when suddenly Beppo ran in and said that the women were fighting again - they were fighting and covering each other for everything, up to “dog shit”. The men wanted to separate them, but they got excited and started waving their fists.

Isidore was tired of all this beyond measure. Without long conversations, he betrothed Kekku to Toffolo. Donna Libera and the padron Fortunato at first refused to accept a not very wealthy boatman into the family, but then they nevertheless yielded to the persuasion and arguments of Isidoro. Kekka, having previously ascertained from Isidoro that she had nothing to hope for on Tita-Nana, readily agreed to become Toffolo's wife. The news of Kekki's marriage puzzled Orsetta: how is it that the younger sister is getting married before the older one. It doesn’t turn out like a human being - it’s clear that it’s time for her to put up with Beppo. The reconciliation turned out to be easy, since everyone already understood that the quarrel was due to a trifle and a misunderstanding. Here Luchetta reared up: while she lives in her brother's house, the second daughter-in-law will not be there. But the way out suggested itself: as soon as Kekka marries Toffolo, Luchetta is no longer jealous of her Tita-Nana and can become his wife. Donna Pasqua thought about protesting, but Padron Tony had only to show her a heavy stick to stop all objections. It was up to Tita-Nane, but by common efforts he was quickly persuaded.

Preparations began immediately for three weddings, which promised to be fun and drunk. The happy brides sincerely thanked the generous Isidoro, but at the same time they also convincingly asked them not to spread rumors in Venice that the kyojin were supposedly quarrelsome and like to fight.