Alfonso’s Test of Ruggieri’s Fortune turns a courtier’s sense of being undervalued into a test of judgment, then answers it with a gift. Ruggieri believes that Alfonso has failed to recognize his merit; Alfonso stages a choice between treasure and earth to show that chance, rather than indifference, has governed his rewards. The episode ends by making royal generosity an active answer to misfortune: Ruggieri leaves Spain with the treasure that his choice had seemed to deny him.

Background and grievance

Messer Ruggieri de' Figiovanni is a wealthy, high-spirited Tuscan gentleman who seeks service with Alfonso, King of Spain, because he believes that the customs and manner of life in Tuscany give him too little room to display his abilities. He arrives in Spain with arms, horses, and followers, wins recognition through his deeds of arms, and establishes a reputation for worth and courage.

After serving at Alfonso’s court for some time, Ruggieri concludes that the king distributes castles, cities, and baronies without sufficient discernment, rewarding men he considers unworthy while giving him nothing. He fears that the absence of a royal reward will diminish his standing. His grievance is therefore not simply about wealth: he says that he wants public acknowledgment of his merit. Believing that continued service cannot supply it, he asks leave to depart.

The king’s discreet test

Alfonso grants Ruggieri permission to leave and gives him one of the finest Mules he can find, a practical gift for the long journey. But the king also instructs a discreet servant to join Ruggieri on the road without appearing to be a royal agent, listen to what he says, and report back. The servant follows Ruggieri as he sets out for Tuscany.

During the journey, Ruggieri remarks that it would be sensible to let their animals relieve themselves. They stop at a stable, but the Mule does not urinate. Later, as they water the animals at a river, the Mule urinates in the stream. Ruggieri curses the animal for being made like the prince who gave it to him. The servant hears the comparison. Though he has listened throughout the day, he has heard Ruggieri say nothing else but praise of Alfonso.

The Mule’s mistimed behavior gives Ruggieri a compact image for the complaint he has so far kept largely unspoken: Alfonso, he believes, gives where he should not and withholds where he should give. The king’s surveillance makes the journey part of the test. Ruggieri is recalled to court before he can continue to Tuscany, and the private judgment voiced on the road becomes the subject of a public reckoning.

The coffers and the choice

Alfonso receives Ruggieri cheerfully and asks why he compared the king to the Mule. Ruggieri answers frankly that the animal failed to act when it should and acted when it should not, just as the king, in his view, gives to the undeserving and not to those who deserve reward. His explanation makes clear that he has not mistaken the king’s character for a simple lack of generosity; rather, he has interpreted the pattern of royal gifts as evidence that his own merit has gone unacknowledged.

Alfonso replies that he knows Ruggieri to be a valiant knight worthy of a great gift. He attributes the failure to reward him earlier to Ruggieri’s fortune, not to any failure of royal recognition, and offers to prove the distinction. In a great hall, before witnesses, he presents two large locked coffers. One, he explains, contains his crown, sceptre, orb, precious girdles, brooches, rings, and other jewels; the other is full of earth. Ruggieri may choose either, and what he takes will be his.

Ruggieri chooses a coffer. When Alfonso orders it opened, it proves to be the one filled with earth. The result briefly gives visible form to the misfortune Alfonso has described: Ruggieri’s own choice has landed him on the empty side of the offered fortune. But the test is not a refusal of reward. Alfonso laughs, reiterates that Ruggieri’s worth merits opposition to fortune’s power, and gives him the treasure-filled coffer after all.

Reward and meaning

Alfonso explains that he will give Ruggieri neither a castle nor a city in Spain because he knows that Ruggieri does not intend to become Spanish. Instead, he grants him the coffer that fortune had withheld, so that he may return to Tuscany with a tangible witness of his worth. Ruggieri thanks the king and joyfully carries the treasure home.

The episode’s reversal depends on keeping merit, recognition, and fortune distinct. Ruggieri’s service has made his ability visible, yet it has not produced the particular reward he expects. Alfonso’s two coffers turn that disappointment into a concrete choice, while the Mule’s behavior has already supplied the story’s comic emblem for badly timed giving. The king does not deny Ruggieri’s judgment that he has received too little; he reframes the cause and then corrects the outcome through deliberate largesse. Ruggieri’s departure is thus not a frustrated escape from court, but a return to Tuscany with both his dignity acknowledged and his journey enriched.