Folco Kills Maddalena and Flees with Ninetta

Folco Kills Maddalena and Flees with Ninetta turns a concealed rescue into a chain of murder, deception, and forced flight. Folco kills Maddalena after discovering that she had secured Ninetta’s release by submitting to the duke; he then persuades Ninetta to leave with him, while others pay for a crime they did not know had occurred.

Discovery and Betrayal

The crisis follows the duke’s secret intervention on Ninetta’s behalf. He had arranged for Folco and Ughetto to be detained, made a show of threatening to drown Ninetta in a sack, and then carried her to Maddalena. The next morning, Folco and Ughetto were released, believing Ninetta had been killed. Maddalena had hidden her sister in the palace, but Folco soon learned that Ninetta was there. Already aware of the duke’s passion for Maddalena, he questioned her about the girl’s presence. Maddalena tried to explain it with a story, but Folco did not believe her and pressed her until she confessed what had happened.

Murder and Flight

Overcome by grief and inflamed with rage, Folco drew his sword and killed Maddalena despite her pleas for mercy. Fearing the duke’s anger and justice, he went to Ninetta and concealed the murder behind a false account: he pretended that Maddalena had arranged for him to take her somewhere safe, beyond the duke’s reach. Ninetta believed him and, frightened and eager to leave, went with him that night without saying farewell to her sister. They took only the small amount of money Folco could gather, reached the shore, and boarded a vessel. Their destination remained unknown.

Accusation and Aftermath

When Maddalena’s body was found the next morning, people who envied and hated Ughetto immediately informed the duke. He seized Ughetto and his wife, who knew nothing of either the murder or Folco and Ninetta’s departure, and forced them to confess that they, together with Folco, had killed his mistress. Facing death, the couple bribed their guards with money they had kept hidden for emergencies. They escaped by night without time to take their possessions and fled to Rhodes, where they lived in poverty and distress. Folco’s escape with Ninetta therefore does not end the consequences of his violence: his deception leaves Ughetto and his wife to bear the accusation, imprisonment, and loss of home. The tale’s closing judgment links these ruinous consequences to Restagnone’s reckless love and Ninetta’s rage.