The Clever Cobbler(Jared Shipley) Gracious ladies and noble gents, it shall now be my pleasure to bestow to you a tale in which cleverness and wit is sometimes shown to save one from the hardships of Fortune. For one clever remark made at a precise time of importance can prove enough to not only change the intentions of one who means harm, but also bring great fortune and peaceful consequence to he who makes the clever remark, improving the conditions he found himself in before.

In Florence lived an old man of great virtue who made a scarce income as a cobbler. His name was Veluccio Lostrado and Fortune had treated him badly in recent years. His wife was struck with sudden illness and died within a month. Veluccio wondered why he had been spared subjection to the illness, but did not question it, as he was a humble follower of God’s ways.

In his grief and mourning Veluccio was compelled to move away from Florence and the memory of his wife. He purchased a small farm outside the city limits, but in order to purchase this farm, he received a loan of two hundred Florins from Cilastrato, a merchant of great wealth and second cousin to the wife of Lorenzo de Medici, whom he had dined with on two occasions and held a friendly bond with. Cilastrato was known among the inhabitants to be a fair merchant in price and payment, but of also having a volatile temper and practice of being extremely cruel to those who defaulted on their debts. Veluccio did not wish to receive a loan from him, as he was afraid, but no other merchant would loan him the amount he required at such a low interest as Cilastrato offered.

Veluccio’s farm was not so far from the city that he could not deliver his work to his customers, but as Fortune was still putting him through whips and chains, he made very little income and was unable to pay back the merchant’s full amount at the agreed upon date.

On that day, Cilastrato rode on horseback to Veluccio’s farm to collect the money owed him along with the interest charged. Upon arriving, he found Veluccio in the field tending to a flock of chickens in their coop. Veluccio saw Cilastrato approaching and became very afraid, but being a man of virtue, did not flee as others in similar situations had done. Instead, he greeted Cilastrato quite cordially:

“Benvenuto, Signore Cilastrato! I hope this day is treating you well,” said Veluccio.

Cilastrato dismounted from his horse and approached him.

“Signore Lostrado, I have come to collect the rest of the debt that you owe me, which is two hundred and thirty Florins, as I recall we agreed upon.”

Veluccio was surprised at this figure, as he remembered agreeing to only fifteen Florins as payment in interest. But as he had not the money to pay the full amount anyway, he did not become any more nervous than he was before.

He said: “Would you like to join me for a glass of wine? I received it the day I buried my poor wife and have not yet opened it. It is very ripe and sweet.”

Cilastrato agreed to join him for a glass of wine, as the ride was long and his thirst was strong. Inside Veluccio’s farmhouse he saw an array of books, mostly of religion and philosophy. In the corner of the room was also a small cage which housed a small rabbit. Veluccio loved and cared for this rabbit as if it was his own child, and it gave him the only comfort he’d felt since the loss of his wife.

Then he sat with Veluccio and drank the wine. He was so thirsty he asked for two more glasses, which Veluccio was happy to oblige. His thirst still thrived, but Cilastrato did not drink another as he was getting distracted.

“Signore, it is now time for you to give me what I am owed,” said Cilastrato. “You agreed to pay me back the full amount I loaned you with the addition of thirty Florins on this day, and I intend to collect.”

On this prompting, Veluccio became afraid again and in desperation pleaded with Cilastrato to extend his time since only had one hundred and fifty Florins to give him, as business has been so bad and the expense of keeping his home and health was greater than expected.

At this news Cilastrato became so enraged that he threw his wine glass against the wall and took the man by his clothes:

“If I am to believe that your business is so bad that you have not the money to give me now, how am I to believe that you will give me my full amount in the future?” he said.

Veluccio did not know how to respond to this question as he did not know the answer. “If it please you, Signore, you may have something else of mine as payment.”

But Cilastrato saw nothing of Veluccio’s that would suffice for the amount he was owed. What he really wanted was to expunge the rage in him by hurting Veluccio, but his rage did not blind his foresight, knowing that he could easily kill Veluccio due to his small stature and old age, and be put in jail for it. Instead he set his sights on the rabbit in the corner.

“You shall give me your hundred and fifty Florins and also that rabbit of yours, that I may choke and crush it to death. This I will consider sufficient payment.”

Veluccio felt so foolish to offer him something of his as payment and was heartbroken at the thought of his dear rabbit also being taken by the hands of death.

As he froze in confusion of what to say next, Cilastrato had already removed the rabbit from the cage and was gripping it by the neck. The rabbit squirmed and twitched, but Cilastrato did not lose his grip. Just as he was about to twist the neck of the rabbit so hard to break it, through a compulsion Veluccio did not expect, and which he would for years following never understand, he spoke up with these words:

“Good sir, you would not like to be reviled for killing an innocent Christian!”

Upon hearing these words, Cilastrato stopped at the silliness of Veluccio’s statement, but did not kill the rabbit.

“What do you mean? This rabbit is not a human and surely not a Christian.”
Veluccio was pressed for an explanation and the same force that compelled him to make the statement continued:

“Why, sir, of course this rabbit is a Christian, as all rabbits are. You see, rabbits are by their very name followers of our sacred Lord who allows us all to live in his glory. For the name ‘rabbit’ ends with a ‘t’, and what is a ‘t’ but a small cross, like the one our Lord was crucified upon the day of his Passion? For you see, if you remove the cross from the word ‘rabbit’ you are left with ‘rabbi’ which would make them Jewish. But since the cross remains in the word, all rabbits are Christians.”

Veluccio’s explanation was so wildly absurd, yet clever, that instead of becoming more enraged, Cilastrato burst into laughter. The rabbit fell from his hands and safely ran to Veluccio, who was laughing as much as Cilastrato.

They laughed for a good long while to the point where afterwards Cilastrato felt so happy that his thirst had gone and his breath tasted sweet. He had not had a good laugh in a long while. Cilastrato felt so satisfied with laughter that he accepted Veluccio’s one hundred and fifty Florins and agreed to extend the loan until Veluccio was able to pay. He left the home and rode back to Florence, bursting into laughter again when recalling the tale in his mind.

The next week, Cilastrato was invited to the Medici estate to visit his cousin, in which he recalled Veluccio’s clever words to Lorenzo’s wife. She took such delight in this tale that she told Lorenzo also. He was impressed by Veluccio’s clever words so much that he invited the humble cobbler to his estate and upon seeing Veluccio’s shoes he had made, de Medici commissioned him to cobble a pair of shoes for himself and gave him the finest material to make them out of. Veluccio did this with great delight and special care.

De Medici was so delighted with the elegant shoes Veluccio made for him that he endowed Veluccio with a large sum without expectation of being repaid, and Veluccio was able to pay off his full debts and live comfortably with his rabbit for the rest of his earthly days.

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