noon
This ballade , to which all heartily responded , albeit its words furnished much matter of thought to some , was followed by some other dances , and part of the brief night being thus spent , the queen proclaimed the first day ended , and bade light the torches that all might go to rest until the following morning ; and so , seeking their several chambers , to rest they went . -- Endeth here the first day of the Decameron ; beginneth the second , in which , under the rule of Filomena , they discourse of the fortunes of such as after divers misadventures have at last attained a goal of unexpected felicity . -- The sun was already trailing the new day in his wake of light , and the birds , blithely chanting their lays among the green boughs , carried the tidings to the ear , when with one accord all the ladies and the three young men arose , and entered the gardens , where for no little time they found their delight in sauntering about the dewy meads , straying hither and thither , culling flowers , and weaving them into fair garlands . The day passed like its predecessor ; they breakfasted in the shade , and danced and slept until noon , when they rose , and , at their queen 's behest , assembled in the cool meadow , and sat them down in a circle about her . Fair and very debonair she shewed , crowned with her laurel wreath , as for a brief space she scanned the company , and then bade Neifile shew others the way with a story . Neifile made no excuse , and gaily thus began . Martellino pretends to be a paralytic , and makes it appear as if he were cured by being placed upon the body of St. Arrigo .