Count Albafiorita and Marquis Forlipopoli lived in a Florentine hotel for almost three months and all this time sorted out the relationship, arguing, more importantly, a big name or a full wallet: the Marquis reproached the Count with the fact that his county was bought, the Count parried the attacks of the Marquis, recalling that he bought the county around the same time that the marquis was forced to sell his marquise. Most likely, disputes so unworthy of aristocrats would not have been fought if it weren’t for the hostess of that hotel, the charming Mirandolina, with whom they were both in love. The count tried to win the heart of Mirandodina with rich gifts, but the Marquis still trumped with the protection she supposedly expected from him. Mirandolina did not give preference to either one or the other, demonstrating deep indifference to both, while the hotel servant clearly appreciated the count, who lived on the workshop for a day, than the marquise, who spent three paolo on strength.
Once once again having started a debate about the comparative merits of nobility and wealth, the count with the marquise called the third guest, the gentleman Ripafratt, to the judge. The cavalier admitted that, no matter how glorious the name may be, it is always good to have money to satisfy all sorts of whims, but the reason why the debate flared up caused an attack of contemptuous laughter: they also figured out why to quarrel - because of for women! Cavalier Ripafratt himself never loved these same women and didn’t put anything at all. Struck by such an unusual attitude towards the fair sex, the count with the marquis began to paint the owner’s charms with the cavalier, but he stubbornly claimed that Mirandolina was a woman as a woman, and there was nothing in her that distinguished her from others.
Behind such conversations, the hostess found the guests, to whom the count immediately presented another gift of love - diamond earrings; Mirandolina, for the sake of decency, pushed away, but then accepted the gift so that, in her words, so as not to offend the Signor Count.
Mirandolina, after the death of her father forced to independently maintain a hotel, was generally tired of the constant red tape of the guests, but the cavalier’s speeches still touched her pride in earnest - to think only, so dismissively speak of her charms! To herself, Mirandolina decided to use all her art and defeat the stupid and unnatural hostility of the gentleman Ripafratt to women.
When the cavalier demanded to replace his bedding, she "instead of sending a servant to his room, went there herself, thereby repeatedly provoking the discontent of the servant, Fabrizio, whom his father, dying, had forgiven her as husband. For timid rebukes of the lover, Fabrizio Mirandolina replied that she would think about her father’s covenant when she was getting married, and while her flirting with the guests was very beneficial for the establishment, and when she came to the gentleman, she was deliberately humble and helpful, managed to start a conversation with him and, in the end, resorted to subtle tricks interspersed with rude flattery, even located him to her.
Meanwhile, two new guests arrived at the hotel, the actresses Dejanir and Ortensius, whom Fabrizio, misled by their outfits, mistook for noble ladies and began to call them "lordships." The girls were amused by the mistake of the servant, and they, deciding to have fun, introduced themselves as one of the Corsican baroness, the other as the countess from Rome. Mirandolina immediately figured out their innocent lies, but out of love for funny jokes, she promised not to expose the actresses.
In the presence of the newly arrived ladies, the marquises with great ceremonies presented Mirandolina with a handkerchief of the rarest, according to him, English work as the greatest jewel. Having looked rather not at the donor’s wealth, but at his title, Dejanir and Ortensia immediately called the Marquise to dine with them, but when the count appeared and presented the hostess with a diamond necklace, the girls, soberly assessing the situation in a moment, decided to have dinner with the count as if a man is undoubtedly more worthy and promising.
Cavalier Ripafratt on this day, dinner was served earlier than everyone else. Moreover, this time Mirandolina added to her usual dishes this hand-made sauce, and then she herself brought stew to the gentleman's room of unearthly taste. Wine was served to the stew. Declaring that she was crazy about Burgundy, Mirandolina drank a glass, then, as it were, incidentally, sat down at the table and began to eat and drink together with the cavalier - the marquise and count would burst with envy at the sight of this scene, since both repeatedly begged her to share a meal, but always met with a decisive refusal. Soon the cavalier put the servant out of the room, and spoke to Mirandolina with a courtesy that he had never expected from himself before.
Their solitude was violated by the annoying marquis. Nothing to do, they poured Burgundy and laid stew. When he was full, the Marquis took out of his pocket a miniature bottle of the finest, as he claimed, Cypriot wine brought by him in order to bring pleasure to the dear mistress. He poured this wine into thimble-sized glasses, and then, generously, sent the same glasses to the count and his ladies. He carefully clogged the remainder of the Cypriot — a vile swill to the taste of the gentleman and Mirandolina — and put it back in his pocket; there, before leaving, he also sent a full bottle of Canarian, sent in response to the count. Mirandolina left the gentleman shortly after the Marquis, but by this time he was already quite ready to confess her love.
Over a fun dinner, the count and actresses laughed at the beggar and the greedy marquise. Actresses promised the count, when their whole troupe arrived, to bring this type on stage in a hilarious way, to which the count answered, which would also be very funny to imagine in some play the adamant woman-hater of the gentleman. Not believing that such things happen, the girls, for the sake of fun, undertook to turn the gentleman's head right now, but it didn’t hurt them. The cavalier reluctantly agreed to speak with them and more or less talked only when Dejanir and Ortensia admitted that they were not noble ladies, but ordinary actresses. However, after chatting a bit, he eventually all the same cursed the actresses and drove out.
The cavalier was not up to idle chatter, because, with perplexed fear, he realized that he had been caught in the Mirandolina network and that if he didn’t leave before evening, this charming woman would completely defeat him. Gathering his will into a fist, he announced his immediate departure, and Mirandolina handed him the bill. At the same time, desperate sadness was written on her face, then she shed a tear, and a little later, she completely fainted. When the cavalier gave the girl a decanter of water, he already called her nothing but dear and beloved, and he sent the servant who came with a sword and a road hat to hell. Coming to a noise with a marquis, he advised him to get out there and, for the sake of persuasion, launched a decanter in them.
Mirandolina celebrated the victory. Now she needed only one thing - so that everyone would know about her triumph, which should serve to shame the husband and the glory of the female sex.
Mirandolina stroked, and Fabrizio obediently brought her heated irons, although he was in frustrated feelings - he was desperate for the lover's windiness, her indisputable addiction to noble and wealthy gentlemen. Maybe Mirandolina would like to comfort the unfortunate young man, but she didn’t do this, because she thought that it was not the time. She was able to please Fabrizio only by sending back to the gentleman the precious gold bottle handed over to him with healing lemon balm water.
But it was not so easy to get rid of the gentleman - offended, he personally presented Mirandolina with a bottle and began to aggressively impose it on her as a gift. Mirandolina flatly refused to accept this gift, and in general she was replaced: she kept her cool with the gentleman now, answered him extremely sharply and unkindly, and explained her faint by forcefully allegedly pouring Burgundy into her mouth. At the same time, she emphasized gently turned to Fabrizio, and to top it all, after taking the bottle from the gentleman, casually threw it into the laundry basket. Here the cavalier, taken to the extreme, erupted with passionate love confessions, but in response received only evil ridicule - Mirandolina cruelly triumphed over the defeated enemy, who was unaware that in her eyes he was always only the enemy and no one else.
Left to his own devices, the gentleman could not come to his senses for a long time after an unexpected blow, until he was slightly distracted from the sad thoughts of the Marquis, who appeared to demand satisfaction - but not for the scolded noble honor, but material, for the splattered caftan. The cavalier, as one would expect, sent him to hell again, but then the marquis dropped by Mirandolina caught the eye of the marquis, and he tried to remove the stains with its contents. The bottle itself, considering it bronze, under the guise of a golden one, presented to Dejanir. What was his horror when a servant came for the same bottle and testified that he really was gold and that twelve guilds were paid for him: the honor of the marquis hung in the balance, because you can’t take the gift from the countess, that is, you had to pay for it Mirandolina, but not a penny ...
The Marquis was grimly interrupted by the Count. Angry as hell, he said that, as soon as the gentleman was awarded the indisputable favor of Mirandolina, he, Count Albafiorita, had nothing to do here, he was leaving. Wanting to punish an ungrateful mistress, he also persuaded actresses and a marquise to leave her, seducing the latter with a promise to settle free of charge with his acquaintance.
Frightened by the frenzy of the gentleman and not knowing what else to expect from him, Mirandolina meanwhile locked herself in herself and, sitting locked up, became convinced that it was time for her to quickly marry Fabrizio - marriage with him would become a reliable protection for her and her name, freedom , in fact, does no harm. The cavalier justified the fears of Mirandolina - he began to have the strength to rush to her door. The earl and marquis, who had run up to the noise, forcibly dragged the gentleman from the door, after which the earl told him that with his actions he had clearly proved that he was madly in love with Mirandolina and, therefore, could no longer be called a woman-hater. Enraged, the cavalier accused the count of libel in return, and there would have been a bloody duel here, but at the last moment it turned out that the sword borrowed from the marquise was a piece of iron with a handle.
Fabrizio and Mirandolina were taken away by unlucky duelists. Locked to the wall, the cavalier was finally forced to publicly admit that Mirandolina had subdued him. Mirandolina was just waiting for this recognition - after hearing it, she announced that she was marrying the one whom her father had read to her husband, - to Fabrizio.
Cavalier Ripafratt, this whole story convinced that it was not enough to despise women, it was also necessary to flee from them, so as not to accidentally fall under their irresistible power. When he hurriedly left the hotel, Mirandolina nevertheless experienced remorse. She politely but insistently asked the column with the Marquis to follow the gentleman - now that she had a fiancé, Mirandolina unnecessarily had their presents and, all the more, her patronage.
