about 7:30 a.m.
Some there were that did so ; others were too charmed by the beauty of the place to think of leaving it ; but tarried there , and , while the rest slept , amused themselves with reading romances or playing at chess or dice . However , after none , there was a general levee ; and , with faces laved and refreshed with cold water , they gathered by the queen 's command upon the lawn , and , having sat them down in their wonted order by the fountain , waited for the story-telling to begin upon the theme assigned by the queen . With this duty the queen first charged Filostrato , who began on this wise . -LRB- 1 -RRB- I.e. midway between prime and tierce , about 7:30 a.m. Masetto da Lamporecchio feigns to be dumb , and obtains a gardener 's place at a convent of women , who with one accord make haste to lie with him . -- Fairest ladies , not a few there are both of men and of women , who are so foolish as blindly to believe that , so soon as a young woman has been veiled in white and cowled in black , she ceases to be a woman , and is no more subject to the cravings proper to her sex , than if , in assuming the garb and profession of a nun , she had put on the nature of a stone : and if , perchance , they hear of aught that is counter to this their faith , they are no less vehement in their censure than if some most heinous and unnatural crime had been committed ; neither bethinking them of themselves , whom unrestricted liberty avails not to satisfy , nor making due allowance for the prepotent forces of idleness and solitude . And likewise not a few there are that blindly believe that , what with the hoe and the spade and coarse fare and hardship , the carnal propensities are utterly eradicated from the tillers of the soil , and therewith all nimbleness of wit and understanding .