Lisa’s love for King Pedro

Lisa’s love for Don Pedro is an enduring attachment shaped by an acknowledged gulf in rank. She understands from the outset that she is the daughter of an apothecary and he a king, yet her feelings outlast her efforts to resist them. The story resolves this unequal love not through marriage to the king, but through his generous recognition of her devotion: he arranges a marriage suited to her station, provides a substantial dowry, and preserves a ceremonial bond by continuing to call himself her knight.

The Unequal Attachment

Lisa knows the disparity between herself and Don Pedro. When he later tells her that he wishes to arrange her marriage and remain her knight, she explains that she had always recognized both his kingship and her own condition as the apothecary’s daughter. She had tried repeatedly to resist her love, but could not overcome what she describes as an inclination that does not follow a person’s deliberate choice of a suitable object.

Her confession presents the love as neither a misunderstanding of rank nor a calculated attempt at advancement. Lisa says she loved Don Pedro despite knowing that she could not appropriately address her passion to so elevated a person. Her devotion is therefore marked by self-awareness: she sees the social boundary clearly, even while admitting that awareness could not extinguish her feelings.

A Declaration of Fidelity and Restraint

When Don Pedro offers to choose a husband for Lisa, she accepts the arrangement as an honor and says she will hold dear the man he selects. Her answer makes obedience to his decision part of her devotion, but it also distinguishes the marriage he can arrange from the love she continues to bear him. She declares that she will love him always, while declining to accept the title of his knight without the queen’s leave and refusing the requested kiss unless the queen permits it.

The exchange gives Lisa a voice in the terms of the resolution. She does not conceal her love or claim a status she does not possess; instead, she speaks openly about both her feeling and its limits. Her restraint is not a denial of passion but a way of keeping it within the boundaries she recognizes, including the queen’s place in the encounter.

Don Pedro’s Answer

After Lisa has recovered, Don Pedro visits her father’s house on horseback with many barons. The queen arrives with a company of ladies, and the royal couple receives Lisa among them. Don Pedro offers her a husband of his choosing and says that he will continue to call himself her knight, asking only for a kiss as the token of her affection.

Lisa’s father and mother approve of the proposed arrangement. Don Pedro summons Perdicone, a young man of gentle birth but limited means, and marries him to Lisa with rings. He then grants the couple Ceffalu and Calatabellotta as rich estates for her dowry, while promising that further favor for Perdicone will become apparent in time. The queen and Lisa’s family are pleased with the match, and the narration reports that Lisa is pleased as well. In the queen’s presence, Don Pedro kisses Lisa on the brow.

A Lasting, Recast Bond

The marriage changes the form of Lisa’s relationship to Don Pedro without erasing its central feeling. She becomes the wife of Perdicone, whose marriage and new endowment provide her with an honorable future, while Don Pedro maintains a symbolic connection to her as her knight. The story says that he faithfully kept this pledge for as long as Lisa lived, continuing to use the title and wearing no other favor in deeds of arms than the one she sent him.

That repeated favor gives the private attachment a public, durable sign. Lisa’s love does not lead to possession of the king or to an overturning of social rank; it receives acknowledgment through his conduct, his marriage arrangement, and his continued loyalty to the token she provides. The episode accordingly makes his generosity part of his public reputation: the narration presents such treatment of a subject as a way for rulers to win affection, encourage good conduct, and acquire lasting renown.