THE MERCHANT OF VENICE Or The Twenty-Four Nights of Lorenzo and Poletto by Andrej Koymasky (C) 2006 written the 17th of June, 1991 translated by the author English text kindly revised by John
USUAL DISCLAIMER
"THE MERCHANT OF VENICE" is a gay story, with some parts containing graphic scenes of sex between males. So, if in your land, religion, family, opinion and so on this is not good for you, it will be better not to read this story. But if you really want, or because YOU don't care, or because you think you really want to read it, please be my welcomed guest.
CHAPTER 16 THIRD INTERLUDE The Four Tests
Two evenings later, after their usual stroll along the calli, squares and campielli, during a stop in a tavern, Fabrizio showed up. He sat at their table, not far from Poletto, but without looking at him.
That morning Fabrizio had already agreed with the tavern boy a line of conduct, so the boy went near him and asked, "What do you want, fool?"
"I'm not a fool, I'm a poet."
Zane touched Poletto with his elbow and gestured towards Fabrizio with his eyes.
The tavern boy went on, "Right so, therefore you are a fool. What do you want, this evening?"
"A mug of red wine."
"Paid with one of your poems?"
"You know that I have few baioccos, don't you?"
"I know. But you also know that no baioccos, no wine. And be grateful that I let you sit in here."
Then Zane said, "Hey, poet, may we offer you some wine?"
"Too much trouble, most illustrious."
"No, not at all. What's your name?"
"Fool... you heard it, didn't you?"
"Come on, what's your name, really?"
"Fabrizio, at your service."
"And you are a poet?"
"I write poems. But they earn me little to eat and even less to drink. Therefore I make shift doing a thousand little jobs and services."
"Do you have some poems with you to read them for us?"
"Not this evening, most illustrious, I'm sorry."
Poletto, to Zane's astoundment, intervened, "I'm barely able to read and write, and little more than just my name. I feel it wonderful that someone can even write poems. You are the first poet I met. What does one do to write poetry?"
"They come so, like a thought that rises light as a feather and twirls in the head until it alights and... it is a poem. A poet possibly had eyes and ears different from other people, who knows? Or perhaps he has a lighter heart. Or, instead, I really am a fool..."
"I wouldn't dislike being a fool as you say you are."
"And so, to write poems?"
"Yes, but only love poems."
"And you, young signore..."
"My name is Polo and am not a signore, but just the page of signor Zane here."
"And you, Polo, are you in love?"
"Love is the most beautiful thing that can happen to a human being. It gives a taste, a perfume and a light to the life."
"This is a poetic concept, do you know? And whoever is in love always becomes, at least a little, a poet..."
"Because he sees with different eyes, hears with different ears and has a light heart?"
"Exactly so."
"Therefore, poets are always somewhat in love?"
"An indisputable truth. You, Polo, seems to me a person really out of the common run. I had luck, this evening, to come and sit here at the same table with you."
Poletto blushed slightly and lowered his eyes.
"A sensitive and noble soul is that of he who is still able to have modesty about himself. You make me curious, Polo. I would like to come to know you better. Do you think this possible?"
"I am just a page, a person of little account..."
"Nobody, and never, is a person of little account. And even less a page, who has to be attentive to his master's needs. One who is able to be attentive to others is a person of value and not of little account. And you, Polo, besides your beautiful soul qualities, are also endowed with a beautiful appearance, and youth, that make you an enviable person. I'm not flattering you, believe me. Therefore I dare to renew my prayer - will you allow me to get to know you better?"
"I thank you. It would be nice for me also to come to know you, signor Fabrizio."
"May I come at your place and see you?"
At this point Zane intervened, fearing that Poletto would raise difficulties, "Of course. He lives at Zorzi mansion, on the Riva del Carbone. When he is free from his service he certainly can spend some time with you. But listen, there is not so much difference of age amongst is - why not to be less formal?"
"Sure, Zane and Polo, and I'm honored to be allowed."
After talking some more, they said good bye.
On the street, Zane said to Poletto, "A nice fellow, that Fabrizio, don't you think?"
"Yes, he seems an interesting person. He really is the first poet I have met."
"I see. And also physically, he seems a handsome boy."
"He has beautiful eyes and a captivating smile."
"And a nice swelling in his breeches." Zane joked.
"Don't you think about anything else?"
"What's the matter. But it won't do any harm if besides a fine brain there is also a desirable body. Anyway, you see, he too is one of the encounters that the fortune-teller foresaw - the fool, right?"
On the following day, Simone showed up at the mansion. When the lackey informed Zane, he told him to take the boy upstairs, then he called also Poletto.
When Poletto arrived, Simone said, "I came to apologize, but I have not yet been able to gather the coins I owe you. I didn't want you to think that I don't want to give them back..."
Zane answered, "You have not to worry about me, I am not in hurry. But now, forgive me, I have to leave you..." and he went out of the room.
Then Simone said to Poletto, "And yet I would like to repay your kindness in a way or another... Tell me how can I do..."
"Simone, you don't have to worry about me either. It was just a few coins. If you can, you will give them back, but if you can't, it doesn't matter."
"Oh no, about giving them back, I will do it. Just it is not so easy to save money in a little time, with the work I'm doing."
"What work are you doing?"
"I'm a helper in a glassworks, where they blow the glass. It is so very hot, inside there, it is like being in hell, and we have to work almost naked even in the depth of winter. You are lucky to work in this beautiful mansion. And to be always so well dressed."
"Yes, it's true, I am lucky."
"Polo, forgive me if I can seem you cheeky, but... young master Zane, just before you came, told me that you like me... and I too like you. So then, I was thinking that I possibly know how to repay your kindness. I would really be ready to please you... do you understand?"
"No... I don't nderstand..."
"I mean... if you feel like making love with me, I would be more than glad..."
Poletto looked at him in amazement then said, almost in a whisper, "No, no no, not in that way..."
"You don't like me? Is it not true that you too like boys? Young master Zane let me to understand that..."
"Zane was wrong."
"So, then, it's not true that you like boys?"
"No, that isn't the problem..."
"You don't like me, then?"
"No, no, you are well built, for what your clothes let me see."
"Do you want me to undress? Do you want to see me first?"
"No... it's just that... I don't feel like making love..."
"That's a pity. Because I like you a lot and would have really liked making it with you. I'm a simple boy, not so refined, you have to forgive me, but... the thought that I could show you my gratitude in that way seemed to me very good and suitable. I really hoped... With young signor Zane no, he is not my type, but you, Polo, you really are a boy with whom I would have liked it a lot."
"I thank you, Simone, really. You are a handsome boy too and I like you. But I don't feel like doing it with others as well as with my man."
"Is Zane your man?"
"No, it's not him."
"And is your man jealous?"
"I don't know. But he has no reason to be jealous. Since I belong to him, I never did it with anybody else, and neither do I want to."
"That's a pity. It means I am not beautiful enough for you, or else you would do it with me. That's a pity, I'm really sorry."
"No, no, you are beautiful. I like you, I told you, I really like you. If I was not already with my man, I would surely have been happy with your offer, I would have accepted it at once..."
"Is your man... your master?"
"No, he's not him."
"Is he living here in this mansion?"
"No no."
"So then? He would never come to know if you and I did something. Come on, Polo, say yes. After I saw you, that night, I do nothing but think of you."
"Then, forget me, it is better."
Zane didn't worry, as he still had two cards to play, or rather three including Fabrizio. On that same day, while they were walking in the area of San Zanipolo church, they met Filipeto. The boy, who saw them coming, made them find him hanging head down, his legs folded over the horizontal iron bar that barred an archway.
When they were near him, Zane asked him, "Hey, boy, what are you doing so, head down?"
"I'm looking at the world upside down."
"And why?"
"Because to see it right is less interesting."
"And what do you see?"
"I see two youths who are looking at me and who stand on the ceiling. You are really funny."
"You're the one funny, here. We have our feet on the pavement, it's you that is upside down."
Filipeto quickly spun round and landed standing in front of them, "Here I am, right like everybody. Now you don't seem any more funny. What's your name?"
"Polo."
"And yours?"
"Zane."
"Ah, like San Zanipolo church here nearby. I am Filipeto. I am fifteen even though I seem older. I seem older, don't I? I'm well built, likeable, illiterate but clever, and hungry. Will you offer me something to eat?"
"Come with us, along the street we will buy you something."
"Willingly, Zanipolo. If we take that calle, there are pedlars, a man selling peanuts and also a woman selling fritters. You, Poletto, are you a clerk?"
"No, I'm a page. He is a clerk."
"Ah, a clerk, a page and a sluggard, that's me."
"Are you a sluggard?" Poletto asked him, amused.
"Yes, sure!"
"Sure? And why sure?"
"Because I like to enjoy myself, talk with people, eat, drink and then sleep in good company."
"Drink and eat in good company, and then sleep." Zane corrected him.
"Nossir! Also sleep in good company. And above all sleep, if the company is likeable. Guys like you, for instance."
"Do you mean that you... well, you... you give your body, for money?" Zane asked, pretending to be scandalized.
"Nossir! Who do you think I am! I do it only out of liking, never for money! And judging from how you were looking at me, mainly you, Zane, straight here between my legs, I understood that you too like sleeping in good company. Am I wrong?"
Poletto, surprised by that outspokenness, said, "But you are still a lad!"
"Because I'm fifteen? But my body is well developed and men or boys who made love with me never judged me too young! I'm more skilled than an adult, believe me!"
"Do you like only men or also women?" Zane asked him.
"If you were the men of the bargello, sent by the head of the state police, I would swear I go exclusively with women, may the sky fall on my head! But... I can tell you, as I know you two are like me - only and exclusively men, yessir. And above all men like you two, young, handsome, well dressed and likeable. And also ready to offer me something to eat. I bet that under these clothes you hide jewels to tempt a thief."
"And are you a thief?" Zane asked him playfully.
"Of that kind of jewel, yes, I am. Gold and money don't appeal to me. If you use them, they are finished at once and if you don't use them, they are useless. Those jewels, on the contrary, those hidden between your legs, the more you use them, the bigger they become!"
Poletto and Zane laughed. They bought something to eat and shared it with the boy. They sat on the edge of the canal, their legs dangling, with Filipeto in the center.
The boy, while eating with an appetite, said, "Listen, after we eat, will you come with me? I know a place where, while one is on watch, for safety sake, two can withdraw and can make love, under the sun, naked like Adam with Eve. Will you come? I will first make love with you, Polo, then with you too, Zane..."
Poletto said, "No, thank you..."
At the same time Zane exclaimed, "Sure, and with gusto!"
"You two can go..." Poletto said.
"But one must be on watch! Only so it would not be dangerous." Filipeto said.
And Zane added, "I would like very much doing it with Filipeto, especially because the boy I like doesn't let me even touch him...."
Poletto felt bad, ashamed, then nodded, "All right, I will be on watch."
"But, Polo... you don't know what you are losing. Look, I'm skilled! You have not to underrate me because I'm young. And then, not even very much younger than you."
Poletto was steadfast. All three went where Filipeto guided them and Poletto stayed on watch to warn them if somebody was approaching. Zane and Filipeto undressed, laid on the grass and started to make love. From where Poletto was, he could see and also hear their pleasure moans. He liked being able to look at them while they were having sex, and soon felt very aroused. The two naked boys were beautiful, under the sun, intertwined in a incessant dance of unrestrained erotism while they were giving each other pleasure in all possible ways.
When the two boys had reached their orgasm and had dressed again, Filipeto drew near Poletto and before he could escape, groped him between his legs, feeling his strong erection.
"You see, you have a hard-on. Come you too, come on, while Zane stays on watch. You'll see I'll make you enjoy it, you saw I'm skilled. Moreover I like you a lot, I'm already having another hard-on. Don't play the prude, come on!"
Also Zane insisted, but were not able to make him change his mind. So, saying good bye, Zane and Poletto went back home.
Three days later Fabrizio went to see them. He too made a skilled and assiduous court to Poletto, but he didn't succeed in breaching his determination.
When Fabrizio, giving up, left the mansion, Zane said to Poletto, "Polo, I can't understand you! The fortune-teller was right, you already met three of the four that the tarots had foreseen, but you did nothing."
"Three? No, only two - the three of coins and the fool."
"And Filipeto, who was the hanged man, wasn't he? Don't you remember that we found him upside down?"
"Oh yes, you are right. Therefore only the two of cudgels is missing."
"Yes, but what for? The fortune-teller said you had not to let the opportunity slip , But you, on the contrary..."
"If the opportunity means having sex, I'm not interested in it at all. I thought she was talking about something different."
"Different, how?"
"I don't know, but different."
"It seems to me rather evident, instead, that she intended exactly that. Didn't you notice how quickly all three told you that they like doing it with men and that they like you? Do you think it to be just a chance? Or is not the destiny that put them on your way? Let's hope that with the fourth, at least, if and when you will meet him, you will be less stupid..."
"But I have my man..."
"Your man who will soon leave you, as the fortune-teller told you clearly!"
"But he hasn't left me yet..." Poletto stubbornly retorted.
A few days later the fourth meeting happened. They had gone to see Torcello island and on the way back, as they left the boat, Toffolo, with two cudgels on a shoulder, was standing and looking at all the people who were coming off of the boat.
Zane touched Poletto with his elbow and whispered, "Look... I think that that boy is right for your two of cudgels!"
"It could be."
"Do you like him?"
"Yes, I like him, but I don't..."
Toffolo approached them and asked, "Excuse me, most 'lustrious, would you kindly buy these two nice carved cudgels? I'll give them for just one baiocco each. Be so kind to buy them, they are the last two, so I will earn my day's coins. Be kind..."
"Did you carve them?" Poletto asked, examinining them carefully.
"Yes, most 'lustrious, do you like them?"
"Yes, and they are worth a biocco each. I'll buy both of them." Poletto said and took two coins fom his money-bag and gave them to the boy.
Toffolo, taking his hand, kissed it, "Thank you! I knew that today was my lucky day. The tarots told me so!"
"The tarots?" Poletto asked, curious.
"Yes, the tarots. A fortune-teller, right yesterday evening, in exchange for one of my carvings, read me the tarots. And she told me that I would meet two young men and one of them, the one of my age, would buy my two cudgels. You, most 'lustrious, are you seventeen like me?"
"Yes, I am." Poletto ansvered, amazed.
"So, you see, the old woman was right. Oh, how glad I am, most 'lustrious, oh how glad I am!"
"But two cudgels carved so well, with such skill, and for this price, everybody would have bought them. It is not something very difficult to foresee." Poletto objected.
"But the old woman told me also something more. She told me that the one who is the same age as I, that is you most 'lustrious, would do something I desire since a long time, something I never had the heart to try doing..."
"That is? What?"
"You have to forgive me... I feel somewhat ashamed, you know... But since it is the destimy, and that the destiny is so benign to me... What I desire... and that the fortune-teller told you will fulfil... yes, she said exactly so, that I have a secret desire and that you will fulfil it, even though she could not know what this desire I feel is... Well... how to explain you... it's a long time that I desire doing it... even though I never tried before... I wish to make love with a man!"
Zane exclaimed, "Polo! This is the sign! It couldn't be clearer!"
"I'm afraid the old woman was wrong... I am not the one who... who would fulfil your secret desire. I cannot make love with you."
"Thats impossible. This is the last boat coming from Torcello and you are the first coming off that boat, having my age, and you bought my two cudgels, therefore... Do you see that it's you the one who will at last teach me, initiate me to the pleasure of love between men!"
"No, I'm sorry, it will not be me. I'm really very sorry."
All the insistence and the reasoning of Zane and the prayers of Toffolo were at no avail. When they were back home, alone, Zane scolded him with some harshness.
"Polo, I really cannot understand you. You are really spitting on your luck! You threw away all the four tarots, even though they were absolutely as it was foreseen. I can understand, even though I'm sorry about it, that you don't want to do it with me. But... your fidelity to a man who neglects you and who soon or later will leave you... The Fortune-teller told you, didn't she? She told you that your man, during his absence, will meet a person and will bound with him! And possibly, right in this moment he is in bed with another boy! Moreover, all four of them were fine boys, handsome, you cannot deny it!"
"Yes, it is so, and mainly Fabrizio, the blond poet..."
"As I said! Not even if your man was a god!"
"He could possibly be a god..."
"Don't talk nonsense! And Filipeto? He made love in a really exceptional way."
"I am glad for you."
"I am glad for you!" Zane aped him, furious not to have been able to carry out his task.
"Don't be angry with me, Zane. I just could not, can't you understand, I simply could not do it with other people."
"And yet I often saw you aroused, your clapper harder that the halberd of the guards at the Doge's palace! If I were in your place, I would not have turned my back on good luck in such way! I really cannot understand you!"
"My good luck is having my man."
"He has to screw you as a god, to have bewitched you so, my poor friend!"
"No, it is not just that. You cannot understand..."
"You are right, I really cannot understand! I thought you were more intelligent, Poletto. I was wrong."
"Yes, Zane." Poletto simply answered, serene.
Zane didn't know what more to do, to say. He would never have guessed he would fail so totally to do what Lorenzo asked of him. Still upset, he said, "You would deserve now that I go to look for all the four boys and that all together we jump on you and force you to do it. So there!"
"Nothing would change. You could only succed in making me screw, in arousing me, in making me come... but it would only be my body. And then only by using violence."
"Yes, I kow, you are right, forgive me. I had not even to say such a thing. But you really made me crazy, angry! Do you know that you are more stubborn than a mule?"
"Ye, I know. When it is worth it, I am so. And I am also able to be more yielding than water, when it is worth it. If you only could know my man..."
"Oh, my man, my man! I don't want ever again hear you say these words, you are just making me lose my temper!"
"All right."
"It almost makes me angry having to spend with you the rest of this month! Happily few days are left. I hope they will be back soon."
Poletto lowered his head and mumbled, "I am sorry I made you angry, I didn't want to. But you cannot expect me to... to do what I don't want to do. Will you tell my master you are displeased with me?"
"No way, these are just things between you and I, and I cannot for sure complain about you as a page. But as a friend..."
"You really are my friend?"
"Sure."
"Then, if I asked you, out of friendship toward me, to have sex with a woman, would you do it?"
Zane burst in laughter, "I feel tempeted to answer yes, just to tease you. But then you possbly would really ask it. No, sure... I understand. You are unbelievable, Polo. But I am glad I met a boy like you. Let's be good friends, for the days that remain, all right?"
"I ask nothing more."
"And forgive me if I tried it with you, but I do like you so much."
"You are forgiven, of course."
They spent the remaining days amusing themselves around and about, without a care. And finally Lorenzo came back. Zane gave him an accurate account of all that had happened.
And he concluded, "My dear signor Lorenzo, that boy is madly in love with you. Hold him really dear, and don't ever ever make him suffer, he really is a rare pearl. I, and not only I, at his place would have yielded a thousand and one times. But he did nothing but think and talk about you, even though he never revealed or let out a hint about your identity. I envy you, most illustrious sir, I would love to find a lover like Poletto. I would stop making the trade at once, and without a second thought, I swear!"
Zane said good bye to Poletto and, saying he was going back with his father to Bergamo, he disappeared.
When at last Lorenzo and Poletto were alone, the boy said, "Welcome back, dear master."
"Happy to see you, Poletto. Did you miss me?"
"So very much!"
"Did you amuse yourself with Zane?"
"Yes, sure, but I missed you... And... and you missed me a little bit?"
"No, not a little bit, but very much. And instead of staying here to chat, why not to go upstairs to my room and try to make up for lost time, at least for some of it, when we were so far from each other? It is a month since I made love, not even satisfying myself alone, and I'm full of desire."
"I am too, dear master. I'm feeling a fire inside me, from the moment I saw you!"
"So, let's go upstirs to warm ourselves at this fire, then!"
CONTINUES IN CHAPTER 17
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