Andreuccio Joins a Tomb Robbery and Escapes the Tomb

Andreuccio Joins a Tomb Robbery and Escapes the Tomb is the episode in which a disastrous night in Naples turns on Andreuccio di Pietro’s ability to seize openings that others mistake for danger. Drawn into a robbery after losing his money, he is lowered into a well, forced to enter a tomb, and abandoned inside it; he escapes not through strength or rescue, but by exploiting the fear of people who do not know he is alive. The final reversal converts the night’s losses into a single valuable prize, though it sends him home without the horses he originally sought.

The Offer of a Share in a Robbery

After Andreuccio di Pietro has suffered a humiliating mishap, two men discover him by the light of a lantern and ask what has happened. He recounts his misfortunes. The men identify the house where they believe the trouble occurred and warn him that his money is beyond recovery; if the person responsible learns that Andreuccio is making an outcry, his life may be in danger as well. Their warning turns his loss into a choice between accepting defeat and taking a risk with them.

The men propose that Andreuccio join an undertaking that, they say, will earn him much more than the money he has lost. Desperate, he agrees. Their target is the recently buried Archbishop Filippo Minutolo, whose body has been laid in the cathedral in rich vestments. The archbishop’s ruby ring is said to be worth more than five hundred gold florins. The prospect of that prize draws Andreuccio into a second crime before he has had time to recover from the first danger.

The Well Becomes an Unexpected Exit

On the way to the cathedral, one of the thieves complains that Andreuccio’s stench will make their presence conspicuous. They suggest washing him at a nearby well. The rope is there, but the bucket is missing, so they lower Andreuccio into the well itself and tell him to shake the rope when he is clean. The practical solution is also a means of controlling him: he is left below while the men remain above.

Their plan is interrupted by members of the watch, who come to the well thirsty after pursuing another rogue. The two thieves flee before the officers see them. After washing, Andreuccio shakes the rope. The watchmen, supposing that a bucket of water hangs at the other end, begin hauling him up. Near the top, he releases the rope and grips the well’s rim with both hands. The men see him rise where they expected a bucket, panic, drop the rope, and run. Andreuccio holds on, climbs out, and finds the watchmen’s arms beside the well. Because he does not know what has happened and suspects a trap, he leaves the arms untouched and goes away.

The two thieves return to draw him out, expecting to find him where they left him. They are astonished to see him free and ask who pulled him up. Andreuccio explains what happened; they tell him that the frightened watchmen were responsible. The interruption has brought him back to the surface without either accomplice’s help, but it has not ended his involvement. The party resumes its journey to the cathedral in the middle of the night.

Inside the Archbishop’s Tomb

At the cathedral, the thieves reach the archbishop’s large marble tomb and lever its heavy lid open, propping it up so that someone can enter. Neither of them volunteers. They order Andreuccio to go in, and when he refuses, threaten to strike him dead with their iron bars. He enters under compulsion, already suspecting that they mean to take the valuables and leave him trapped below.

Andreuccio acts on that suspicion before passing the objects up. Remembering the ruby ring, he removes it from the archbishop’s finger and puts it on his own. He then hands out the crozier, mitre, gloves, and the dead man’s clothing, down to the shirt, while claiming there is nothing else. The thieves insist that the ring must still be inside the tomb and tell him to search. He pretends to comply, keeping them waiting while concealing the prize. His mistrust has not prevented the betrayal, but it has allowed him to secure a share before it occurs.

The thieves then pull away the prop holding up the lid and leave him shut inside. Andreuccio tries to raise the heavy cover with his head and shoulders but cannot move it. In the darkness and confined space, he imagines two possible ends: if nobody opens the tomb, he will die there among the dead; if someone finds him, he may be condemned as a thief. The episode reverses the apparent direction of his escape. After rising from the well, he has been brought into a more immediate confinement, with the ring his only gain and no clear way out.

A Second Robbery and a Narrow Escape

While Andreuccio is trapped, he hears people enter the church and realizes that another group has come to rob the same tomb. They force the lid open and argue over who will go inside. At last a priest volunteers, reasoning that the dead cannot hurt him. He leans his breast against the edge, turns his head outward, and begins lowering his legs into the tomb.

Andreuccio suddenly rises and catches the priest by one leg, making it seem that someone inside is dragging him down. The priest screams and springs away; the others flee in terror, leaving the tomb open. A second robbery, unrelated to Andreuccio and undertaken for the same purpose, has created the opening that his accomplices deliberately denied him. He scrambles out and leaves the church by the way he entered.

The Ring and the Return to Perugia

As dawn approaches, Andreuccio makes his way to the seashore and then back to the inn. His companions and the host have been worried by his absence through the night. After he relates what happened, the host advises him to leave Naples at once. Andreuccio takes the advice and returns to Perugia with the ring on his finger.

The ending makes the measure of his gain deliberately modest. He had come to buy horses; instead, he has invested his money in a ring, acquired through a robbery that nearly ended with his death. The episode’s sequence of reversals depends on how other people read what they see: the watch mistakes Andreuccio for an impossible substitute for a bucket, while the priest mistakes his sudden grip for a dead man’s attack. In both cases, another person’s fear gives Andreuccio a way out. His escape is therefore neither a clean victory nor a straightforward rescue: it is a narrow survival that leaves him richer than when the night began, but compelled to abandon his original purpose and depart the city.