Alibech Goes to the Thebais Desert to Practice Devotion

Alibech’s journey to the Desert of Thebais begins as a child’s earnest but inexperienced attempt to serve God. Leaving Capsa alone and in secret, she crosses from a settled household into the wilderness, where her search for instruction brings her to a chain of hermits and finally to Rustico’s cell.

The Desire to Serve God

Alibech is about fourteen and not a Christian. After hearing Christians in Capsa praise their faith and its service to God, she asks how a person might serve God with the least hindrance. She is told that those who withdraw most strictly from worldly life, like the hermits in the Desert of Thebais, serve God best. The account stresses that she acts from a childish fancy rather than from a considered religious vocation: the idea moves her, and she sets out the following morning without telling anyone.

The Journey into the Desert

Alibech travels alone for several days, pressing on despite considerable toil until she reaches the desert. Her passage is both a physical journey and a search for a teacher: on arriving, she sees a hut at a distance and approaches it, where a holy man asks what she seeks. She explains that she has come to enter God’s service and needs someone to teach her how.

From One Hermit to Another

The first hermit recognizes Alibech’s youth and beauty and, fearing the temptation that her presence might pose, praises her purpose but directs her to another holy man, whom he considers a better instructor. That man gives her the same answer, so she continues onward. Her journey ends when she reaches the cell of Rustico, a young hermit whom the tale describes as devout. Unlike the others, he receives her and prepares a small bed of palm fronds for her to rest on. This arrival brings her search for religious guidance into a private setting, where her dependence on a teacher will shape what follows in Dioneo’s story.