Landolfo Ruffolo's coffer of jewels

Landolfo Ruffolo's coffer of jewels is the object through which a shipwreck turns first into a struggle for survival and then, unexpectedly, into the recovery of a fortune. In the sea, the chest is a dangerous mass that overturns Landolfo's plank; once he loses the plank, it becomes his only support. On shore, its concealed precious stones transform an apparently light and nearly worthless burden into the means of his return to wealth. The coffer's significance lies in this sequence of reversals: its value is hidden until Landolfo has survived by clinging to it.

A Chest in the Tempest

After a storm breaks the carrack carrying Landolfo against a shoal near Cephalonia, merchandise, chests, and planks scatter across the waves. Landolfo, who had earlier wished for death rather than return home poor, now fears drowning and grabs a plank. At daylight he sees a chest floating nearby, but does not welcome it as a resource. Afraid it may strike and injure him, he pushes it away whenever it drifts close. The chest's first appearance is therefore defined by danger and resistance, not by any awareness of what it contains.

A sudden gust drives the chest violently against Landolfo's plank and overturns it, plunging him under the water. The collision destroys the support he had chosen, but it also changes his relation to the chest. Fearing he cannot reach the plank again, he swims to the nearby chest and lies breast-down across its lid, steering it with his arms. The object that had seemed likely to harm him now bears his weight. It offers no secure passage or control over the sea: Landolfo is carried wherever wind and waves take him. Yet clinging to it keeps him afloat through the day and the following night.

From Wreckage to Shelter

Landolfo reaches the coast of Corfu nearly spent, gripping the chest with both hands. A poor woman there is scouring pots and pans when she sees him approach. At first she recoils, unable to recognize a human form; only after looking more closely does she make out his outstretched arms and face above the chest. Her recognition turns the floating object from a private means of survival into the visible sign that brings help. She enters the now-calm water, takes Landolfo by the hair, and drags him ashore with the chest.

The woman then keeps the chest safe while she carries Landolfo to her hut. She warms and bathes him, gives him wine and confections, and tends him for several days until his strength and understanding return. When she judges that he can set out again, she presents the chest and tells him he may pursue his fortune. Landolfo has forgotten the chest during his rescue. He accepts it, but its lightness makes him expect little from it; he thinks only that it might cover a few days' expenses. At this point the object has already served as raft and rescued possession, but its contents remain unknown to him.

The Hidden Value

While his hostess is away, Landolfo breaks open the chest to discover what it holds. Inside are many precious stones, both set and unset. His knowledge of such things allows him to recognize their great value. The discovery reverses his judgment of the chest: what had seemed too light to be worth much contains a fortune. He gives thanks to God and is comforted, but he has also learned to fear another reversal. Fortune has twice dealt him a cruel blow in a short time, so he decides that bringing the jewels home will require caution.

Rather than reveal the contents or carry the chest onward as it stands, Landolfo wraps the stones as best he can in rags. He tells the woman that he no longer needs the chest and offers it to her if she will give him a bag. She agrees. The coffer is thus separated from its hidden wealth: the woman receives the chest, while Landolfo carries the jewels away concealed. His decision is both practical and shaped by his recent experience of loss. He does not treat discovery as a reason to resume risky trading, but as a chance to reach home without attracting attention to what he has found.

Return and Afterlife

With the bag over his shoulder, Landolfo takes a boat to Brindisi and travels along the coast to Trani. There, townsmen who are drapers hear his account of his adventures, clothe him for nothing, lend him a horse, and send him under escort toward Ravello, where he says he wishes to return. He tells them what happened but keeps the story of the chest from them. The stones remain his secret until he considers himself safe.

In Ravello he examines the jewels more carefully and finds that, even if sold at a fair price or less, they would make him twice as rich as when he had departed. He finds a way to sell them and sends a substantial sum to the woman in Corfu in repayment for bringing him out of the sea, as well as a sum to the people of Trani who clothed him. The chest itself does not return with him, but its effects extend beyond the shipwreck: it preserves his life, carries the wealth that restores his position, and prompts acts of repayment. Landolfo keeps the rest of the proceeds, lives in honor and esteem for the remainder of his days, and never trades again. The coffer's final significance is therefore not simply that it contains jewels, but that its accidental recovery leads Landolfo away from the trade that had ruined him and toward a settled life.