to Boccaccio—and carry him into a room in the royal palace. When he wakes and finds out who he is, he goes into a fury, and maltreats those who come into his presence. He throws a man out of a window, insults his doting father, and all but kills his tutor Clotaldo. He is given another sleeping potion, and reawakes as a prisoner in his tower. He is told that he has been dreaming, and he believes it. He reels off a rosary of phrases on the idea that life is a dream and that dreaming is life, and becomes instantly a resigned and repentant model of Christian humility. King Basilio decides to abdicate in favor of the Duke of Moscow, a foreigner; but the army revolts, and soldiers break into the tower, liberate Sigismund, and hail him as king. He thinks he is dreaming again, and for a moment he hesitates. But then a military fury seizes him; and he sets forth. He declares war on his father, conquers him, pardons him, rescues a damsel, chooses a wife forthwith, and ends his career with a final volley of sententiousness.
With this plot there is interwoven a second and minor one which combines the barbarian themes of the daughter recognized by her unknown father, and the abandoned mistress who finally marries her fugitive lover. The public demanded a little complexity, and the ladies demanded a little love—and there had to be at least two heroines to make it a fashionable tale.
